Whats in the Box: Kohlrabi (green), salad mix (all lettuce blend), joi-choi, buttercrunch lettuce heads, swiss chard (bright lights), easter egg radish, oregano, and kale.
What’s going on at the farm: This week is a pickup week for full season members only, this means that if you are a Standard or Basic share you pick up but bi-weekly or half share members have the week off and will pick up again next week. It was another productive and tiring week of work on the farm. So many weeds were pulled by hand around many crops as well as cultivating more open spaces to kill off weeds. All our greenhouse tomatoes were pruned and clipped for the third time this week and we will be pruning and clipping them weekly as they develop fruit this month. We delivered the first shares of the season and attended three farmers markets this last week and so the harvest and delivery season will go weekly. The greens are loving this cool weather and there are plenty more to enjoy this week. More radishes coming your way this week and I trust I do not have to familiarize anyone with them but they are great with cultured butter and salt sautéed or used as a snack or in salad. Kohlrabi is in this week! Kohlrabi comes from the German language and means cabbage-apple and like its meaning it is crisp and sweet like an apple with a cabbage taste as well. I like kohlrabi skinned and sliced up as a snack with salt and cheese. It is very good with butter and cream, salt and pepper sautéed too. It can also be grated or sliced thinly for salads. The leaves on kohlrabi are edible but not recommended raw or with the stem.s They could be used minced in a soup or stock but I rarely use them. Swiss chard is in as well this week and is very tender and tasty. It is best used in pasta dishes or with eggs. I describe it to most as a dark green like spinach but it’s related to beets so it has that color and mineral taste to the stems, which you can eat as well. I always chop the stems coarsely like celery and add them first as they cook slower then the leaves which will wilt down like spinach. The last of the Joi-choi is in your share as well and it can be cleaned quickly by slicing off the base so the stems all fall apart for cleaning in a colander. Lastly we have butter crunch lettuce which has bib outer leaves and a dense crisp center which is slightly blanched in the middle. The outer leaves are wonderful for wraps and the center could make a fantastic wedge salad or go with the current trend i’ve seen and heard people doing which is a lightly grilled lettuce wedge salad. Kale is back again this week too and of course is a superfood packed with nutrients more so then almost any other vegetable. It is great sautéed massaged with oil for a raw salad or blended/juiced in smoothies etc… Our crops are looking great this year and we are getting very close to harvesting some other new crops over the next couple weeks including zucchini, summer squash, strawberries, mini english cucumbers, broccoli, garlic scapes, arugula, radishes, golden beets, chioggia beets, and more! Enjoy!
