Hi everyone,
Thank you so much for joining us for the season! It’s going to be a summer filled with delicious produce.
First, quick note on tinyshop pickup this week; tinyshop’s buildout is still in the works so the plan is to just setup outside. However the weather is looking a little questionable so, if it’s stormy Friday evening we will deliver the shares. I’ll send out a reminder text Friday morning either way.
This year is the second season of the CSA Club and we’re hitting the ground running. We’re grateful to have those of you returning from last year and thrilled to be welcoming many new members, so let us give a quick introduction.
We’re a three person team this year: myself (Ben), Lisa, and Azziza. Azziza is new to the team and we are so excited to have her joining. Ironically, we all began our food journeys by studying food science, but we’ve come to understand that industrial food isn’t capable of fixing the many problems our current food system faces. Instead we believe that answers lie closer to home. We believe that a local food system made up of diversified, regenerative farms is not only the answer, but possible. We hope that Gard Mo can help fill gaps on the way to that system.
The CSA Club starts two weeks earlier this year which will ensure we’ll see a healthy portion of the asparagus crop, in addition to an abundance of greens, spring onions, and greenhouse goodies. We hope you’re all ready.
-Ben
Spring is a funny time of year with both overwintered and new-crop spinach available at the same time. This baby spinach is crispy and light, perfect for a rich vinaigrette.
We love radishes, but know they aren’t for everyone. The french thing to do is to eat them raw with a liberal smear of butter (so tasty). If you don’t like radishes, try roasting or sautéing them until soft and translucent (but not too long). The spiciness mellows and allows their sweetness to shine.
To be honest, I didn’t realize Nichols’ celery was so renowned (although, a friend did mention it the other week). You can usually tell how sweet celery will be from how light it is. A lot of times farmer’s market celery will be dark green and bitter. These are a light bright green, crispy and sweet.
Believe it or not, these sweet potatoes were harvested last fall, likely in November. After being cured, sweet potatoes keep extremely well when stored in the right conditions (potatoes similarly store well). Nichols harvested over 30,000 lbs of sweet potato last year so that we can still be enjoying some this week.
Over the winter, Nichols Farm added a couple greenhouses to their already impressive amount. In these greenhouses, they plant directly into the earth giving them the both the protection of a greenhouse and the amazing soil they have cultivated over many seasons. With this, they are able to perform the magic act of having tomatoes and cucumbers available in the middle of May.
Green garlic is regular garlic harvested in the spring before the scape has begun to show. It’s bright and garlic-y. The stems can be used just like you would a clove and pack a similar punch.
Baby head-lettuce, not baby-head lettuce. This lettuce is surprisingly flavorful, in the best way. Salads sound great for this upcoming heat wave they’re forecasting.
These are some cute little cukes. Crisp and refreshing, although maybe not quite as sweet out of the greenhouse as they will be from the field come summer.
Similar to the cucumbers, the slicing tomatoes we’ll see later in the season from the field will have a little more oomph than these from the greenhouse (not cherry tomatoes though, the greenhouse ones are pretty dang close). Still, definitely not bad.
Celery leaves can be used as an herb, playing the same role that parsley typically does. The darker leaves (like these ones) tend to be a little bitter but bring a depth of celery earthy, herbaceous aroma.
When you can’t wait until fall for onions, you get spring onions. These are the exact same thing as the red onions we’ll see later in the season, just harvested early and small. You can use them the same way you would green onion or scallion or just the white/red part like you would any onion.
Asparagus is the spring veggie. At the peak of the season, the asparagus is so sweet that I like to eat it raw. Simply diced and tossed with a zesty vinaigrette, something pickled and thinly sliced radishes makes for a great salad (look out for a full recipe to be posted next week).
