CSA 2011 - Week #3
What's in the Box - June 14,15 & 16
The contents of the box may change this week. Please check back daily for an updated list. You can click on a crop below for recipes and storage information.
Green Boston Lettuce - 1 head
Escarole - 1 giant head!
Baby Arugula - .35 lb bag
Toscano Kale - 1 bunch
Baby Bok Choi - 1 bunch
Cilantro - 1 bunch
Early Season Red Onions - 1 bunch
News from the Farm
More greens this week! Escarole may be a new one for many of you. It looks like lettuce, but it's actually a bitter green related to endive. The heads of escarole are huge, so you may want to try both recipes below. If you haven't enjoyed this delicious green before, I would recommend trying it once in a soup, or cooked recipe, and one time raw in a salad. I find that if eaten raw, it's best to pair it with a shaved cheese like parmesan or gruyere to balance out the bitter flavor. It's one of my favorites!
A note about strawberries...
The rain this past weekend wiped out a good portion of our strawberry crop. We do have some later varieties that we hope we can harvest this week so everyone gets a taste. Please remember that the strawberries are not an "official" part of the vegetable CSA share. We grow them mainly for U-Pick, so our members, and members of the community, can come to the farm to enjoy an interactive farm-to-plate experience. CSA membership fees do not go towards the strawberry crop, but we do try to include them in the share as a special "treat". This has not been a particularly good year for strawberries, and after talking with some other local farmers over the weekend, we're not the only ones who have experienced small yields. Just like with any crop, the success of the harvest is determined by weather (rain/sun/temps), weed pressure, disease, germination rate, and other seasonal fluctualities beyond our control.
News From the Fields
It's been a rainy weekend! I think most of Long Island and Queens got drizzle, but we got downpours! It was much more rain that we could use, so we're looking forward to drying out later this week. Extended periods of rain like this can cause big problems for farmers. We can't drive tractors in the fields when the ground is saturated (causing us to fall behind on field prep and transplanting), and the crops become more susceptible to disease when the leaves are covered in moisture. Let's all hope for sunny skies to carry us through next week. Our transplants could use some good old sunshine to get their "growing" on!
Explore our Website
We welcome you to explore our website to learn more about our farm and the wonderful things you can do with your weekly share. Check out our CROP GUIDE to find tips on maximizing the life of your veggies, and our RECIPE section to search for ways to cook up your box!
THIS WEEK'S RECIPE SUGGESTIONS
Escarole & White Bean Salad with Fennel and Gruyere Cheese
Escarole Soup
Tuscan White Bean & Kale Soup
More recipes for all the week's produce can be found here on our RECIPES page.