Watershed Farm CSA - 03 July 2012 - Delivery #3

Happy Canada Day!

This is the rainbow that greeted us early this morning.  It was raining to the west, and the sun coming up made a huge double rainbow across the sky.

Lucky for you, we don't take the long weekend off!  But we did take a couple of trips down to the swimming hole in the river at the hottest part of the day these past couple scorchers.  For some reason (because he's nuts!) the heat doesn't bother Jon as much as Lisa and I.  He runs circles around us with the rototiller, and the most we can handle is to pull weeds and make barely coherent conversation with each other.  The heat also limits our harvest window considerably, meaning that we were up well before the roosters this morning, and well into the evening packing.  As I write this, Jon is outside with a flashlight, squishing striped cucumber beetles. 

I could say I'm exhausted, but I barely feel like this is "work", I love it so much!  Jon and I often marvel at the fact that this is what we do, and feel so fortunate for it.  I flipped the calendar onto the correct month yesterday (It was actually still on May, which shows how up-to-date we are!) and saw the quotation: "Not all of us can do great things.  But we can do small things with great love."  That's how I feel about what we are doing here, up on our hilltop farm.  It may be a drop in the bucket-- growing healthy organic food for people in our community-- but it's at least a step in the right direction.  Though it's a small thing we're doing, it's a great thing, and we do it with the deepest kind of love.  I'm sure it rubs off on the vegetables, all the way to your table! 

We've decided that you need to see the farm!  So, we will be holding a CSA Open Farm Day on Saturday, July 14 between 12-5.  Show up when you can, and if possible, please RSVP so I know how many people to expect.  You can meet all of us as well as our sheep, ducks, chickens, turkeys, and even maybe even take home a kitten or two.  We'll be hosting another one of these days later in the season as well, so if you can't make it we'll catch you another time.

A surprising number of you have paid $9 for your bags already (Thank You!), and if the rest of you could possibly remember to include $9 in cash or cheque in an envelope with your name on it in your bag return this week, that would be great.  Also, just another reminder: if it's easy for you to drop off your cooler bag at your location before Tuesday, that really helps us, as then we can pick them up as we drop off the full ones.  Please, please, please remember to return your bags, as it makes our job so much easier!

Small Share folks: Are you jealous that the full shares got beets a week early, and turnips this week?  Are you finding that our stuff is so great, you have no problem eating the whole bag before Tuesday?  If you'd like to upgrade your share to a full-size, you can do so by emailing me and letting me know and including a cheque for $95 in your bag return this week.  What this gets you is an upgrade for the rest of the season, which is about a $7 value or more per week, starting next week (14 weeks of delivery left).

Here's what we have for you this week (stop reading now if you'd rather be surprised!)

Radishes - Back again, our beautiful spicy radishes.  I make a great dip with goat cheese, chives, garlic scapes and grated radishes, here's the recipe:

Radish Dip
6-8 radishes
8 oz. fresh soft goat cheese
1/2 cup plain yogurt
1/2 cup chopped fresh garlic scapes and chives
zest and juice of 1 lemon
salt and pepper to taste
Directions:
Finely grate radishes and mix with all other ingredients.  If you like a thicker dip, add less yogurt, and vice versa.  Try making this dip with different herbs as they are seasonally available.  If you are not eating it immediately, you should grate the radishes and strain the juice out so that the dip does not separate.  Goes great with bread, veggies, or crackers.

Chives - Use these anywhere you need a burst of fresh onion flavour, or in the recipe above.  They're great in a salad, and you can lightly sautee them with other items in your basket (beet tops, kale, turnip tops).

Peas - Some of you will get peas in the pod (the kind you just eat the peas inside) and some will get sugar snap edible pod peas (eat the whole thing).  Peas are a true taste of summer, whatever the variety: sweet and delicious!  Don't worry, we labelled them, so if you're not sure: the snap peas have no label, and the pod peas are labelled "shelling peas".

Kale - I have a great kale salad recipe that I love... it's so great, you forget you're eating something that's actually healthy!  We had it for lunch today:

Kale Salad
1 bunch kale, finely chopped
1/4 cup organic apple cider vinegar or balsamic vinegar
2 T olive oil
handful of chopped parsley and chives
1/2 cup nuts and/or seeds and/or raisins
Directions:
In a large bowl, massage oil and vinegar into kale (this helps the hearty leaves absorb the flavour).  Toss with herbs and nuts, seeds, raisins.  You can also add apple, sprouted lentils, or other fruit as desired.

Today, since we had some help from our wonderful work share helper Susan, Lisa and I spent the afternoon making some goodies to sell at the farmer's market.  Lisa made kale chips, which are just kale leaves (stems removed) tossed in some oil and then other ingredients, with your imagination as the limit.  She made some spicy ones with cayenne and crushed peppers, some salt and vinegar, and some flavoured with curry spice.  We had both dehydrators going, as that is the best way to retain the most nutrition in the chips, but she also made some in the oven.  Simply spread out on a cookie sheet and bake until they become light and airy.  They're so much like chips, you won't even miss chips!

Head Lettuce - We thought we'd give you small shares a break from salad mix and give you something to put on your barbequed hamburgers! 

Baby Beets - Candy, for veggie lovers!  The tops on these are gorgeous, and delicious, too!  Since these are baby beets, you don't have to peel them, which saves you some mess in the kitchen.  We enjoy them cut in half and sauteed for 3-5 minutes, and then the tops added and sauteed until they wilt. 

Fennel - A true gem, that most people overlook and you're fortunate enough to get to try!  I never got it until I tried it sliced as thin as possible with oranges... delicious!  We're planning a salad with fennel, orange, and beets as soon as we get our hands on some oranges.  I also have tried adding it with roasted vegetables, which is great because your dinner guests will never guess what that delicious mystery vegetable is!  You can add the fronds (the green feathery tops) to your salad or use them as you would a herb- I added some to potato salad the other day.

Scapes - We have a lot of scapes, and love them so much that we want to make them last longer than the season for them, so Lisa and I pickled some today.  Here's the result:

Gorgeous!  I can't wait to eat them.  I hope you find something equally exciting to do with your bunch.

Full-Size share also gets:
Turnips - The white ones are called "Hakurei" and the red are "Scarlet Lady".  Both are sweet, crunchy, and delicious, and you can eat the tops, too!  They're great sauteed with garlic scapes, but let's be honest, what isn't great sauteed with garlic scapes?!

Salad Mix - I think I've said all I can about salad mix in past weeks, so here's a picture of a cute kitty to finish off this email!

--
Teri Dillon

Watershed Farm
768 Allen Frausel Road
Baker Settlement, Nova Scotia
B4V 7H8
c. 902.212.2301 | p. 902.685.3901

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