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This weeks harvest:
- Arugula - Spicy, nutty greens that are great in salads or lightly cooked on pizza.
- Beet Greens - Very similar to chard--great sautéed with olive oil/garlic or fresh in salads. Many of these have small beets that are delicious cooked with the greens.
- Broccoli Raab - Tender broccoli-like florets and delicious greens
- Lettuce - Our favorite red looseleaf, Red Sails and delicious Buttercrunch.
- Green Onions - Sweet spring onions. Give us feedback on bunch sizes - we can give more or less of these if you prefer. We've been eating these whole!
- Garlic (green) - Garlic that has not yet matured -- entire plant is edible and has strong garlic flavor. Slice as you would green onions.
- Cilantro
- Parsley
- Mint - Makes a great garnish and even better tea!
- (Peas) - Some of you may get sugar snap and/or snow peas this week!
- (Broccoli) - Some may get heirloom broccoli as early as this week!
Storage tip:
For best veggie storage, we like to keep a cooler on hand with several ice packs. We put the ice packs in the cooler with a moist, small towel. Most greens/lettuces will keep much longer in these conditions rather than in the fridge. We just fill plastic bottles with water and keep several in the freezer to replace melted ice packs as needed.
News From The Farm
What a season it has been already! In only two weeks we've experienced unbelievable rainfall and flooding, hail, damaging winds, unusually hot and dry April weather, and the CSA has not even begun! I know many of you have been concerned about our crops and the coming season--as have we--so here's the scoop:
Sulphur Creek, the stream that flows next to our main gardens, rose from it's usual depth of 1 ft. to about 12 ft. This new, 300' wide river washed through our lower gardens and our new shed/kitchen, taking several important things with it. The losses include several sections of our 8' deer fence, about 250 shiitake mushroom logs, our earliest plantings of squash, beans, and cucumbers, our entire spinach crop, about 20 tons of compost, and several inches of top soil from our fields (8"+ in some areas).
View of main fields and shed during flood Snap peas, onions, lettuce, broccoli, etc.
In many ways, the flood damage is only now, over a week later, being realized. Even though our spring crops were planted--wisely I might add--on our highest, driest ground, the plants were drowned by the rain. In the following days we experienced temperatures reaching into the high 80s, causing the top layer of saturated ground to form a hard crust. Plant roots need air, and the suffocating conditions were hard on our already-stressed crops. Stressed plants do a number of things that we would rather them not do like attracting pest insects, going to seed too early, catching diseases, and dying. I have several more things to add to this dismal report, so now seems like a good time to start looking at the positive!
For starters, everything will be fine. Many of our farmer friends/CSAs have lost a lot more than we have (a lot as in everything). Besides, the majority of our veggies still look darn good and taste even better. We will still start the West Nashville pick up as scheduled, and the Farm/East Nashville pick ups will start a week early. Although the pea plants are dying, they're completely loaded with incredibly sweet peas that will surely give us at least one good harvest before the plants leave. As for me, this stress is doing what it usually does--it's making me plant like crazy. In the past week and in the coming days we will over-plant more beans, cucumbers, squash, peppers, basil, melons, tomatoes, and much more to assure we have our "plates full" this season. We may experience a slight gap in about a month, as our first plantings for summer were wiped out. That said, we will surely make up for it later in the season.
Thank you to everyone who gave us support and checked in on us during the flooding. We hope everyone is safe, dry, and ready to eat well!
Your farmers,
Eric, Brooke, George, Kevin, Adrian, and more!
Again, pick up times and locations are as follows:
Pick up Location
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Directions (click) |
Day/Time |
First pick up |
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Sulphur Creek Farm |
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Tuesdays
4 - 6pm |
May 11! |
East Nashville Farmers Market
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Wednesdays
3:30 - 6:30pm
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May 12! |
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West Nashville Farmers Market |
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Saturdays
9am - 12pm |
May 15! |
Recipes
Quick & Simple Greens
To fully enjoy the season's
first greens, I highly recommend simply sautéing them
quickly in a very hot pan.
- Greens (Beet Greens and/or
Raab)
Coarsely
chop the greens, and remove the stems which can be reserved for a
vegetable stock or composted. Heat the pan and add enough butter or
olive oil to coat it. Add some fresh chopped garlic if you prefer, then throw in the greens and cook while stirring until
wilted. Salt and pepper to taste. If I have it on hand, I like to
squeeze a wedge of lemon over the greens just before eating them.
Brooke's Basic Vinaigrette Recipe
1
cup
-
1/4 cup good-quality red wine vinegar (balsamic is great, too!)
- 1 garlic clove, pressed
- 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
- fresh herbs, if you
please
- Combine the ingredients in a jar that will seal
tightly and shake vigorously to emulsify.
- The
dressing can be kept, refrigerated, for up to 10 days. Once it has been
refrigerated, let stand at room temperature for 10 minutes before
shaking so the olive oil will flow. Always shake well again just before
tossing with a salad.
Arugula and Bacon Quiche
This is a great
quiche recipe. Modify it according to what veggies or cheeses you have
on hand.
Crust
- 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon
sugar
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup (2 sticks) chilled
unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
- 6 tablespoons (about) ice water
For Crust:
Mix flour, sugar, and salt in processor. Add
butter; pulse until coarse
meal forms. Gradually blend in enough ice water to form moist clumps.
Gather dough into ball; divide in half. Form dough into 2 balls;
flatten into disks. Wrap each in plastic; chill 2 hours or overnight.
Position rack in center of oven and preheat to
400°F. Bake crust until golden brown, piercing with fork if crust
bubbles, about 20 minutes. Transfer crust to rack. Reduce temperature
to 375°F.
Filling
- 6 bacon slices, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
- 1/2
cup chopped shallots
- 8 ounces arugula, stems trimmed,
leaves coarsely chopped
- 2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar
- 1 cup whipping cream
- 3 large eggs (or 4
small ones)
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon ground
black pepper
- 3/4 cup shredded Gruyère cheese (about 2 1/2 ounces)
For
filling:
Cook bacon in heavy medium skillet over medium-high heat until crisp,
about 5 minutes. Using slotted spoon, transfer to paper towels and
drain. Add shallots to same skillet and sauté until tender, about 2
minutes. Add arugula and sauté until just wilted, about 1 minute.
Remove from heat. Add balsamic vinegar; toss to combine.
Sprinkle arugula mixture, then bacon over crust. Whisk cream, eggs,
salt and pepper in large bowl to blend. Stir in cheese. Pour mixture
into crust.
Bake quiche until filling is slightly puffed and golden, about 35
minutes. Let stand 10 minutes. Cut into wedges.
Enjoy!
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