Ashley here - I'll be taking over the CSA blog this week. For those who don't know me - I'm the CSA Share Room Manager. Hopefully I've had the chance to introduce myself to you at pick up - it's been great getting to know the friendly faces of shareholders over the past weeks. If we haven't had a chance to meet, please introduce yourself at pick up. I'm in the share room every day and I'm happy to answer questions, address concerns, tell you about programs at the farm, and let you know what's happening in the fields. Last season I worked as a Farm Educator and helped out at the Friday Farm Dinners, so I have first hand experience with our great programs and would love to let you know more about them if you're interested.
The farmers are nice enough to let me tag along and help out in the fields every Monday morning. This has provided me with wonderful insight into what we will likely be seeing in the share room each week. So if you're wondering about when your favorite vegetable is making it's way to the share room, ask me! I can't guarantee I'll have the answer, but I'll be happy to figure it out for you. Last time I was out we harvested kale and transplanted watermelons. I'm also out their checking the progress of the pick your own fields - beans, basil, and dill will hopefully be ready for picking soon.
We are still encouraging share holders to submit to our recipe blog. If you have a great CSA recipe you just can't get enough of, please share it with the rest of us! Thank you Stephanie for your wonderful recipe a couple weeks back! I printed out recipe cards and people were excited to try the recipe themselves. Please submit your recipes to: appletonrecipeexchange@gmail.com. See week 2's blog post for more information about recipe submissions.
Have you noticed the beautiful garlic scapes have made their debut in the share room this week? I know many people were anxiously awaiting their arrival, and they are here! Curious as to what to use them for? Here's my favorite use for garlic scapes: pesto!
The most recent batch I made is as follows:
Garlic Scape Pesto
-1/2 cup fresh basil
-1/2 cup garlic scapes, chopped
-juice from half a lemon
-a few pinches of sea salt
-1/3 cup olive oil
-1/3 cup lightly toasted pine nuts or cashews
-1/2 freshly grated parmesan cheese
Instructions:
In a food processor, blend basil, garlic scapes, lemon juice, nuts, and salt. Slowly add olive oil while blending. Once finely blended, stir in parmesan cheese.
See you in the share room!
-Ashley Chapman
CSA Share Room Manager
From the Field:
In the share room this week:
Lettuce
Salanova
Cabbage
Broccoli
Garlic Scapes
Kale
Scallions
Kohlrabi
PYO Herbs
PYO Flowers
New This week:
Chard
Beets
Summer Squash
News from the Field:
After some light rain in the beginning of the week we are back to dry weather. Keep your fingers crossed for some good rain this Saturday. We really need a full day of very steady precipitation, 1” or more, to get us back on track. The continued lack of rain is definitely having a deflating effect on certain crops, especially on higher, well drained ground with sandy soils. If this dry spell keeps up we may need to sacrifice one of the apprentices as an offering to the weather gods. Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.
We are coming to the end of our spring crops but with our cooler bulging with stored broccoli, cabbage and kohlrabi there may well be brassicas in your diet until late summer. The summer squash has started up and our first succession looks very strong. In another week or two the pickling cucumbers should begin with the slicers soon to follow that. With any luck we should shift into seamlessly into the summer bounty without missing greens and turnips too much (they will be back again in the fall).
The Garlic Harvest is swiftly approaching! Come one come all to help pull, bunch and hang our garlic. If you are interested in volunteering to assist with harvesting garlic we would love to have your help on Saturday July 16th from 8am-noon (or whenever you are able to arrive until noon). This is a very fun and social event for aspiring farmers between the ages of 8 and 80 and we can accommodate all ability levels and levels of physical intensity as there will be activities happening both out in the field and in the shade of the barn. Help us Bank the Stank!
Ryan Wood
CSA Manager
