Greens are the New Black

June is light and leafy, fresh and green.  The first few weeks of the summer will prime the proverbial pump of our summer diets lots of leafy greens.  Some of you are well-versed in world of greens while others may be having a stare down with those bags in your fridge wondering where to start.  We are here to help!  We encourage you to jump in with both feet and find your food muse amongst the leaves of chard, kale and spinach. Start simple and combine these greens with things you and your family already like to eat.

  1. Salads of course – and making your salad into more of a meal by adding other veggies, nuts, chicken, legumes or other proteins.  (See below for dressing recipe.)  We find that if we have a delicious dressing already prepared, we are way more likely to eat a salad for a quick lunch.
  2. Stir fries and sautés. I’ll include some more on this next week.  For now try this video how to…
  3. Is pesto a favorite?  Lightly steam your chard or kale, and throw it in the blender or food processor with garlic, onions, basil, or other herbs, toss it on pasta or pizza with oil or butter, and cheese.
  4. Bacon.  We heard from a mom this week who cooks the bacon in a pan, and then adds in the greens.  Her children devour every bite!
  5. Spanikopita.  We’ve been making variations on this for years.  I use kale, chard, or spinach, I use whatever cheese I might have, and I rarely use the filo dough due to time constraints.   Sometimes I’ll top it with bread crumbs, roasted sunflower seeds, or even crushed up tortilla chips.  We call it kale pie.  I like to steam the greens and then puree them in the food processor.  And lots of basil.
  6. Smoothies!!  Green smoothies are all the rage these days.  If you’re not doing it already, then get on the trend! Throw your greens in the blender along with fruit, juice, and you’ll be powered up for the day!
  7. Here’s a funny article about fashionable kale and another about a reluctant kale eaters conversion into the fold (with recipe).
  8. The internet of course has all the answers we need.   Here is a list of recipes on Vegetarian Times with kale.
  9. Facebook?  We have not been very active on our facebook page – but I have to admit it is a great way to share recipes.  We will put some recipes on there – so I encourage you to “like” us if you are so inclined, and to share recipes with each other – especially since we are all working with the same ingredients from week to week! https://www.facebook.com/crystalspringcommunityfarm
That is probably a good start for today.  If you enjoy something that you want to share, let me know & we’ll include it in our newsletters, facebook, and our webpage.   Yikes!
Here is a recipe from Kripalu, a retreat center with incredible food, for a versatile dressing for steamed veggies and salad.  It keeps for two weeks in the refrigerator, so make enough to last awhile!

Kripalu House Dressing

Makes about 2 cups.
1 cup sunflower oil or grape seed oil
2 tablespoons toasted sesame oil
¼ cup tamari (natural soy sauce)
¼ cup lemon juice
⅓ cup sesame tahini
2 cloves garlic
½ tablespoon dry mustard powder
½ teaspoon salt
½ tablespoon chili powder
pinch cayenne
½ cup water
Combine all ingredients and blend using a standard blender or immersion blender.

Weather We Like it or Not

Consider your vocation. What is the biggest unknown variable that controls the outcome of all that you do. If you make things maybe its the chain of supplies or the price of materials, if you work with people maybe its your clients, or if  you work for a large company maybe its those in management above you. If you are a farmer this big unknowable is the weather. Every winter we spend the cold months in the office pouring over the last years crops, putting together a plan for the season to come. Frost dates, rainfall patterns and high temps are all noted. We look at hundreds of new varieties of vegetables bred for earliness, or heat tolerance (and hopefully they don’t forget flavor!).  All of our fields are mapped by which ones warm early, dry out when the rain stops or flood first when the downpours come. The pasture rotation for the animals relies of low fields staying green in the dry months of August and July and the high fields producing grass early in May before we run out of last summers hay in the barn. All of this planning and thinking is based on averages. What has happened over the years we have been here guides us in what may happen in the year to come. With ten years on this farm we feel like we are just starting to get a handle of the set points that make up the extremes that lie on either side of what we call normal. And the hope is that we make the appropriate informed guess for what mother nature is serving up for the months ahead.

Piglets Take Over the Barns

Most of the sheep are on pasture and just in time as our piglets have arrived this week and have taken over on ofd the barns. How’s this for a daily schedule: eats, root and sleep, repeat. Come say hi when you puck up your share.

Organic Eggs and Maine Mushroom Shares

We still have shares available for both organic eggs and mushrooms. Add some local zing to your produce. Here’s a link with direction on how to sign up online…

Farm Camp!

Week of June 24th has a few openings.  This week of camp will be our traditional farm camp week, but with an added bonus  of fun movement, stretching, and mindfulness.  Ages 8 and up!  More info on our webpage:

http://crystalspringcsa.com/farm-camp/

What’s in the share this week…

Kale

Chard

Baby Bok Choi

Spinach

Lettuce Mix

Radishes

 

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