Hi everyone,
Exciting news! We’re doing a collaboration dinner with Next Door Dinners and Traverse at Loft Lucia in West Loop on June 18th. The venue is gorgeous and the menu was designed by my friend and chef, Tom DiCarlo. All proceeds will go to Market Box to support their work in distributing locally sourced produce to low income families across the south side. You can get your tickets here. We hope to see you all there!
We’ve been reflecting recently on all the relationship building it takes to make a small business like Gard Mo successful. It really takes a village. Then to imagine the amount of collective effort necessary to create a regenerative food system to replace our current broken one seems… daunting.
We say “CSA” a lot, but maybe we don’t say what it stands for enough; Community Supported Agriculture. We believe in the ethos of Community Supported Agriculture wholeheartedly as the solution to not only the industrial food system, but also to the disconnect so many of us feel as a result of the material-individualism ingrained in us. Thank you all so much for being part of the community.
Hope you all enjoy the share!
-Ben
Earlier in the year, a friend mentioned to me that he loves Nichols’ celery. A couple weeks later Nichols referred to it as their ‘world famous’ celery. I’ve been convinced; I’m definitely team celery. 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.
Crisp and refreshing romaine. I was hoping to leave the heart of the romaine whole for you all, but it was in need of a little love so we had to trim it up. Those are the breaks of CSA eating. We adapt, adjust, and make do, thankful that the land provided any which way.
These Bok Choi are cute and small. With a mild brassica bit, they don’t need much more than a quick sauté.
Dill is in the carrot family and shares fresh green notes with other members in the family like parsley or cilantro. Its recognizable woody characteristic is from a chemical that is unique enough to dill that it is name after it: dill ether. Dill is popular in northern European cuisine, often served with fish, as well as in Mediterranean sauces and slaws. It’s also used in the handfuls in a Persian rice dish called Baghali Polo.
We had red onions back in the first share. These are the same ones, just with an extra month of growth. They’re beginning to look much more like an onion than scallion with the end starting to look like a blub. In about another month or so they will be ready to harvest and cure to develop the papery skins that you would typically have on onions from the grocery store.
Last spring’s weather was dramatically different than this year’s. Between draught like conditions along and a mite issue, Nichols produced very few strawberries. This year, the farm reports that the mite issue is lingering a bit, but there will be enough for us all to enjoy. They are a deep red and very delicate, although a little bigger than they were just a week ago.
The mild varieties of lettuces that we eat today are descended from an inedible bitter weed that grew in Asia and the Mediterranean. Thanks to 5,000 years of cultivation and improvements by thoughtful growers, we’re able to enjoy these varieties that are tender with only a pleasant touch of bitterness.
Kohlrabi translates from German to “turnip cabbage” and I think that is perfect. Kohlrabi is like one big broccoli stem. Its peel is fibrous and can sometimes be pulled off like an orange. Try out this Sweet and Sour Kohlrabi recipe from last year if you’re looking for inspiration!
Shelled like this, peas are super easy to add to just about any dish. These ones are firm and sweet and do well quickly sautéed. Peas also freeze really well. Best practice is to blanch first before freezing, but in a pinch you can just toss them in the freezer raw.
These are the leaves from the celery stalk. We like to use them as you would any other herb (more like cilantro or parsley, and a little less like basil or mint). Add as a garnish to about any dish for added freshness and aromatics. The celery flavor comes through for a nice earthy depth.
The scapes are the tender stem and flower bud from the garlic plant. I have overheard people looking for these at the market since April. They carry the garlic flavor you would expect from the bulbs, but bring with an herbiness that’s a nice twist. I also think they’re a bit easier to cook with than garlic. I’ve trimmed them down to manageable pieces. Simply slice, and use as you would garlic (figure 2-4 pieces is equal to 1 clove of garlic).
