This weeks share...

Hello from the farm desk!

This week in your share, you will find:

• Potatoes
• The first of our cherry tomatoes (more next week along with standard tomatoes.)
• hot peppers/ chilis
• Cilantro
• Garlic
• Green beans (well actually purple, yellow wax, and italian--but they all cook and eat the same as green beans--steam them until just tender toss with butter and salt

Here are some ways to use your produce this week.
pico de gallo--or fresh Mexican salsa
Coarsely chop cherry tomatoes;  add a tablespoon of cilantro; 1 tblsp. onion (hope you still have some left from last week); 1 garlic clove, juice of 1/2 a lime, 1 hot pepper--if you like it hot, otherwise 1/2 or none.
Add salt and pepper to taste and serve it with chips or over burritos, tacos, etc.

Another option to use most of your produce this week is a coconut milk curry. This recipe is available on the Thai curry paste jar or the coconut milk can, which is available in the ethnic section of most grocery stores.
1-4 Tbls. Thai curry paste (green is my favorite with chicken, shrimp, or vegetarian--red goes well with red meat).
1 can Coconut milk
Thai fish sauce (optional)
1/2 to 3/4 cup of broth (chicken or vegetable)
cilantro and basil
potatoes
Thai chili (small green one)
carrots
meat of your choice (or vegetarian is great too--add beans or peas-if you have some left over)
Steam carrots and potatoes until just tender. Sear meat until brown on the outside-set aside. In a large skillet or wok, combine curry paste and coconut milk over medium to low heat. Heat and combine thoroughly. Add a splash of fish sauce, the broth and your veggies and meat. Cook for 15-20 minutes to combine flavors. Serve with cilantro and basil garnish.
 Bon appetite!

In your share this week-and garlic harvest

In your share this week:
Radicchio
Beets
Basil
Summer squash
Cauliflower
Sweet onion

This past weekend was the garlic harvest. We ended up growing some beautiful big garlic this year. Now it just needs to cure for a week or two and you will start receiving some in your share. We hold the bigger bulbs back for seed to replant in October, but have plenty left over this year to provide for your eating pleasure.

Garlic to plant and garlic to eat...The big stuff on the left we will plant this year.

For those of you not familiar with Radicchio, it is an Italian chicory with a nutty flavor. I will sometimes serve it as a warm salad with roasted beets (see previous entry on how to do this), goat cheese and balsamic vinaigrette. This is a way to use both the beets and Radicchio in one dish. Another great recipe from Epicurious (Say, I should try to get advertising from them, I refer their recipes so much!) uses it marinated in balsamic with fresh ricotta.

Balsamic-Marinated Radicchio with Fresh Ricotta
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Balsamic-Marinated-Radicchio-with-Fresh-Ricotta-352870

Steam the cauliflower and serve with just some butter and salt. Seth loved it this past weekend. In fact you are lucky to be having some in your share--he would have it every day if he could! It looks like the summer stuff is finally kicking in. Next week we should have the first beans and cucumbers of the season.

Your share this week:

New Potatoes
Shell peas
Carrots
Leeks
Chard
Dill
Margoram

What's that stuff on my potatoes?
The new red potatoes in your share have a bad case of scab. We harvested them early because of this. Scab is a superficial fungus that affects the surface of the potatoes. Certain varieties are more susceptible, thus we will not be growing these Red Norlands next year. You can peel the worst part off or just scrape it off when you wash them because the skin is so flaky with the new potatoes. It does not affect the flavor at all. We thought we would let you know though, so that you are not left wondering.

Recipes for your goodies:
New Potato Salad with Bacon, Shell Peas and Dill
We tried this this pastweekend and it was wonderful with the flavor of new potatoes. Wash and quarter the bigger potatoes--some you will not need to cut at all. Stem them in a pot until tender. While the potatoes are steaming, shell the peas and cook four slices of bacon.
Add potatoes, peas, bacon to a bowl. Add 1/4 cup of mayo and 1 tbls. of mustard and dill (more to taste if you like). Mix it well and add salt and pepper to taste.

What is the huge beautiful leafy green in your share this week? Chard!
Chard is a great side dish to lamb chops, elk steaks and other strong red meats- or any other Italian meal. I have pasted a recipe below from Epicurious that calls for both chard and leeks (both of which you have in your share this week.)
Seared Rainbow Chard with Leeks
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Seared-Rainbow-Chard-with-Leeks-103721

Your share this week:

• zucchini
• broccoli
• sugar snap peas (you do not have to shell them-just eat the pod)
• baby beets
• sweet baby carrots
• new onions
• mint

The farm is really kicking in!

I am sure you will soon be sick of zucchini, but for now, enjoy the young and tender stuff. Saute it in a bit of butter and add some salt and pepper.

I love roasting the beets. Cut off the greens, and long tips, toss with olive oil, salt and pepper and bake at 375 for 40 -45 minutes, or until tender. The bigger beets you may have to quarter. You can add the onions and carrots to this mix too, but the carrots are pretty yummy all on their own!

For those of you drinkers out there, Ben and I made some really tasty mint juleps the other night. A very refreshing summer cocktail.

4 fresh mint sprigs
2 1/2 oz bourbon or Irish whiskey
1 tsp powdered sugar
2 tsp water

Crush mint leaves, powdered sugar, and water in a collins glass. Fill the glass with shaved or crushed ice and add bourbon. Top with more ice and garnish with a mint sprig. Serve with a straw.

Our tasty mint juleps.

For those of you who are not into cocktails, use the mint to make peppermint sun tea. Wash the mint and place it in a big jar with water. Set it out in the sun for a day. strain off the mint leaves and keep it in the refrigerator for a refreshing drink.

A word about our production practices:

I wanted to take a moment to write about how we are trying to do things here at Nana Louie farm. We are non-certified organic--meaning we follow the National Organic Standards, but we have not gone through the formal certification process. Organic not only means producing without synthetic fertilizers and pesticides, it  also means taking a wholistic long-term approach to soil and pest management. Two of the practices that we have employed this year are cover cropping and farmscaping. Cover crops are planted but not harvested in any way. They are turned into the soil at the end of the year to help build soil and nutrients without using synthetic fertilizers.

This picture is of our buckwheat cover crop. Ben's bees love this stuff too!  

Farmscaping is planting plants and flowers that attract beneficial insects. We have built a few beds in the middle of our cropped beds and planted yarrow and cleome, both of which attract parasitic wasps and other "good" bugs that eat our "bad" bugs.

Yarrow in the foreground attracts beneficial insects. So far no good though. Seth and I attempted to collect insects the other day and only found the "bad" bugs.  Maybe next year!