Week 8 7-6-2011

Week 8 box

Carrots (the last for now, so enjoy)

Beets- They have a sweet earthy richness that so many people love. Others just can’t understand this diamond in the rough. Once you’ve boiled the beets ‘til fork tender, rinse with cool water, and slip the skins from the beets. Then prepare as you wish. See a recipe below that is a delightfully delicious summer salad. (These are the types of salads we eat when lettuce is out of season.)

Red Russian Kale- I just love the Epicurious website. I peruse the site and then always vary the recipes base on my own whims and the seasonal or available ingredient. Try this recipe: Kale with Panfried Walnuts …http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Kale-with-Panfried-Walnuts-356015

Swiss Chard- I’ve been adding basil and goat cheese to the Chard dishes we’ve prepared lately. Mmmmm…

Cucumbers- Do you put cucumbers in your pasta salad? Try mixing in nice triangular chunks of cucumbers.

Squash/Zucchinis- One other item that I’ve discovered is raw, shredded squash and zucchinis along with cucumber chunks and shredded carrots. I dress this mixture with a basil vinaigrette.

Bell Pepper- The plants are beginning to bear fruit. As the plants mature, we’ll allow the fruit to ripen into nice red and yellow peppers.

Basil- See the vinaigrette recipe below. I know I’ve put it out there many times, but allow your creativity take over as you make it and add your own twists. (I like to crank up the amount of basil and call it a “Basil Vinaigrette.”

On the way!

Cherry Tomatoes

Green beans (snap beans)

Pigs Corralled!

Last Wednesday was a hectic adventure with many pig escapades. The final escape occurred during CSA pickup. A member came down to the house and said “are there supposed to be pigs on the driveway?” Nope! By the time I got fencing supplies in the truck and got up there they were headed toward the neighbor’s yard. Luckily I caught them before they made it there. I herded the 7 or so 250 pound hogs back to their home fence area. Then I fixed there fence-so far it has held. Instead of the one wire that has proved sufficient for the previous 40 or so pigs we have raised these 13 trouble makers required 2 hot wires and a ground wire to make sure they really get shocked! The gang of 13 has taken the title of worst behaved animals previously held by the sheep for their triple escape weekend. We attribute their ability to escape to their athletic prowess. Off to the butcher in 3 weeks (not that we’re counting).

Spiny pig weed

In the garden it is spiny pigweed season. Spiny pigweed is a hot weather weed in the amaranth family. The family includes many not so bad weeds most of which are edible. Spiny pigweed is the bad seed in the bunch. The entire stem is covered in needle sharp, nearly invisible spines. When touched these spines practically jump off the plant into your finger. They will penetrate gloves, socks, or the mesh portion on a running shoe. Once in your finger the spine is almost invisible and breaks off easily when tweezed. In short it is, a highly irritating painful, hard to get pain in the finger. Unfortunately, spiny pigweed is highly tenacious if you simply cut the plant it will grow several branches where there was only one. The only way to deal with this hydra of a plant is to pull it up by the roots. So with gloves and fork I did battle this week. Now where the pig weed had moved in edamame soybean seeds are beginning to germinate! We look forward to their delicious seeds in fall!

Cooling Rain

Today we suffered a setback during chicken butchering. When I went out early this morning to start the scalder up so that it would be ready when we start butchering, it wouldn’t light! Fortunately, we were able to fix it, but not before 7:30-when we were supposed to starting to butcher. Once lit the water takes nearly 2 and half hours to heat up. So we had to go find other things to do for that time-move chicks to pasture, move the horse, clean, relax, eat a snack. We didn’t start butchering until almost 9:30. We had an amazing crew though and we made up much of our lost time, finishing only about an hour later than usual at 2:30. As we ate lunch on the porch the clouds began to move in thicker. As the crew pulled out of the driveway the first few drops began to fall. The breeze and rain came in earnest and we enjoyed a lovely afternoon storm bringing a much needed 1.35 inches of rain. I had front row seats to the storm from the chick brooder. As I cleaned out the space in preparation for the next batch of chicks the storm crashed around me. There were frequent lightning flashes with thunder following just on its tail. Crack-boom! Crack-boom! The coolness and energy of the storm transformed the normally hot and tiresome job into an almost fun task. Poor Petunia didn’t think so though. She eventually found me in the shed as she nervously sought shelter from the storm. She eventually settled down in the fresh shavings as I finished the job. She does not like storms!

Recipes

Classic Tangy Vinaigrette https://sites.google.com/site/bluebirdfarmnc/homeC/recipes/classic-tangy-vinaigrette … Variation: Pack the basil in this recipe. I like to reduce the mustard and then add around 12 leaves of basil into the blender or food processor.

Orange-Beet Salad

From Better Homes and Gardens annual Recipes 2001

Note: I used olive oil instead of walnut oil and plain chevre instead of feta cheese. I also omitted the orange peel (the peel of conventional citrus have a high concentration of pesticides) and used 1 extra tablespoon of orange juice. I let the beets marinate overnight in the dressing and topped the beets with the walnuts and cheese on the dinner plates. It was delicious!

3 medium beets (about 9 oz)

3 Tbsp. walnut oil or salad oil

1 tsp. shredded orange peel

2 Tbsp. orange juice

1 Tbsp. white wine vinegar or white vinegar

2 Tbsp. broken walnuts toasted

3 Tbsp crumbled feta cheese

¼ coarsely ground pepper

1. Wash beets well. Cut off and discard root tails and all except 1 inch of stems. Do not peel. Cook, covered in lightly salted boiling water for 40 to 50 minutes or until just tender. Drain. Let cool until easy to handle.

2. Slip skins off beets under running water. Carefully slice each beet into 1/4 inch thick slices, removing and discarding remaining stem ends.

3. Meanwhile, for dressing, in a screw-top jar combine walnut oil or salad oil, orange peel, orange juice, and vinegar. Cover and shake well.

4. In a medium mixing bowl gently toss the beet slices with the dressing. Cover and chill for 2 to 24 hours.

5. To serve, let mixture come to room temperature. Gently stir walnuts into beets. Sprinkle with feta cheese and pepper. Makes 4 servings.

Week 6 6-25-2011

Please remember to return your boxes each week

Week 6 box

Carrots

Spring Onions

Red Russian Kale

Cucumbers

Squash/zucchini

Large Shares only-Napa Cabbage (Chinese cabbage)-Napa cabbage is a mild cabbage that forms a looser head than European cabbages. When we cook them we like to slice the leaves off the white stem first. We cook the stems in some olive oil with onions until they are almost done. Then we add the diced greens to wilt. Napa cabbage is a great addition to a stir-fry or sauté to serve with rice, cous-cous, or potatoes.

Beets-Never had beets? Don’t like them? I’d say give them a try. Think sweet and earthy when you eat them. See preparation and recipes at end of newsletter.

Basil!!! Don’t refrigerate basil, because it can turn brown and spotty. Store at a cool room temperature. If possible, place stems in water like a flower bouquet. This week the basil is mostly bud trimmings, so they won’t fit in a vase or jar. Don’t worry, basil is still fine to use when it is wilty. Basil ideas: Grilled Zucchini and Squash with Basil. I slice the zucchini and squash into long, flat strips. Then I brush each side with olive oil, and sprinkle with salt, pepper, and chopped basil. Grill. You can also try sprinkling chopped basil over just about anything. In the summer, I always have basil in the kitchen in a little vase, and I love its aroma as I walk into the room.

Parsley- Chopped parsley is very good with cooked beets and a touch of lemon juice.

Barn Rafters of Garlic

Happy summer! Yesterday marked the sun’s nothernmost track in the sky. For a few days the sun will stay in relatively the same place on the horizon, before slowly working its way back south.

Last Monday we harvested all of the garlic. Last week you received fresh garlic in your box. This is a bulb that we dug up, cut off the stalk and passed along directly to you without curing it. The rest of the garlic we have sorted and hung up to dry, or cure in the rafters of the barn. This will ensure that the bulbs dry down slowly so they can keep for as long as possible without rotting. Cured garlic can store for a very long time in a cool, dark, dry place.

When we hung the garlic up we carefully selected the largest, best formed, most even bulbs of each variety to set aside as this fall’s seed garlic. We cure these bulbs along with all the rest and just kind of forget about them. Then, in October, we will pull them out take all the cloves off the bulb and push them into the ground to start the cycle over again.

This is about half of it!

Garlic is an interesting plant because it is planted in the fall in October. In the sprouts up to about 6 inches then waits dormant for the rest of the winter. In the spring it takes off, quickly becoming the tallest, most lush green plant in the early spring. Their growth and vigor begins to slow in May when they start to think about flowering. This is when they send out their garlic scapes. The scapes are the closed blossom of garlic. Garlic reproduces both vegetatively and sexually. However, if it is allowed to fully flower and create seed it invests far less energy in the roots, the part we want to eat. So we cut off the flowers before they open, this is what was in you box several times in May. After the flower is cut the above ground portion of the plant starts to decline. The tips of the leaves begin to yellow and no new growth is seen. Meanwhile, the plant is working to make its bulbs as large as possible to give thee, energy to regrow the next year. Once several leaves have fully died on the stalk we know it is time to dig them up.

In a few weeks, we’ll pull down the cured, dried garlic and put them in your boxes. We’ll have several exciting varieties to taste and enjoy.

Flowering cilantro. Look closely to see all the pollinators it attracts to the garden.

Recipes

Basic Method for Cooking Beets:

Beets, butter, salt, freshly ground pepper, chopped parsley

WASH WELL. Cut off all but 1 inch of the beets top; do not pare or remove the roots. Drop the beets into enough boiling water to cover them, and cook them, uncovered, until they are tender, allowing 30 minutes to 1 hour, depending on the age of the beets. Drain the beets, drop them in cold water for a minute or two to cool them slightly, then slip off the skins. Leave them whole or quarter them, or slice them. Toss them with butter, salt and pepper to taste, and some chopped parsley, and reheat them, if necessary, before serving.

(from The Fannie Farmer Cookbook)

Beet and carrot salad- a great simple salad with raw carrots and beets

Wash carrots and beets well. Remove tops and roots. Finely grate carrots and beets. Mix. Add salt, pepper, olive oil, vinegar, parsley, and other herbs to taste.

Baby cucumbers for August fruit.

Cucumber yogurt salad

Wash cucumbers well. Finely slice, dice, or grate cucumber. Mix with plain yogurt (greek style yogurts are particularly good for this recipe). Add as much yogurt as you prefer. This salad can range from being almost purely cucumbers with a yogurt dressing to a bowl of yogurt with some cucumbers in it. Salt to taste. For flavor try adding dill, crushed garlic, diced spring onion, parsley, or another of your favorite herbs.

A bumblebee visits our Echinacea