Weekly Share May 24th – 30th

Frisee
Arugula
Swiss Chard
Butterhead Lettuce
Red Gold New Potatoes
Carrots or Beets
Garlic Scapes
Dill

This past week has been extremely productive on the farm, perhaps we were taking advantage of the really comfortable working conditions. Last Sunday we had our first CSA work share day of the season and we got a lot done. We planted summer crops; sauce and specialty greenhouse tomatoes, all the eggplant, and about half of the peppers, weeded the potato field, cleaned seedling trays, pounded stakes in for the peppers, and trellised the high tunnel tomatoes. Later in the week, along with our stellar work crew, we hand weeded and hoed -carrots, beets, fennel, mustards, lettuces, and our larger brassica block, cleared and prepped beds in a tunnel for the next round of tomatoes, prepped and planted the winter squash, seeded okra, potted up basil succession 2 seedlings (their high tunnel space is not ready for them), all while Brian was running non-stop irrigation. Have we mentioned that we have had less than a ½” of rain in over a month and now we are into 90degree temps, so keeping crops hydrated is the number one priority right now. We are quite happy that we invested in shade cloths for our high tunnels this season. Usually it’s an issue from late June through August, when it is super hot and we have flowering crops in our tunnels. Too much heat can cause the flowers to drop, hence less fruit. We have been meaning to invest in shade cloths for years, but finally got around to it this past winter. Anyhow we already have one up and are planning on getting the others up this week, as this early heat wave is a reminder to get it done.
This week’s share included our garlic scapes, we are at peak harvest of this very short seasonal crop. We have this lovely delicacy for only two or three weeks each year and we look forward to them all spring.  A longish scape will be equivalent to 1-2 cloves of garlic. You can mash them, mince them, or use in bigger pieces for some garlic punch. The scape would eventually become the flower bud on each garlic plant. By pulling them out, more energy is put into growing the bulb, making for larger garlic in the end. The scape on its own is tender with a little crunch and has a superb garlic flavor without a ton of heat. They will store in a plastic bag for at least 3 weeks, but can also be pickled using the brine for a basic dilly bean recipe and they make amazing additions to any pickle plate. Other options for the scapes are making garlic butter (blend the scapes, mix with softened butter and a little salt, then using wax paper make the butter into a log roll, wrap in plastic wrap, freeze, and use as needed.) or garlic scape pesto. Feel free to use them as a substitute for garlic in recipes, just add more volume than recipe requires, as the scapes are definitely more subtle than a clove of garlic. We have included many recipes below that call for garlic in them, try using the scape as a substitute.  This share makes me want a meal of boiled new potatoes with garlic scape butter and dill, paired with your favorite protein, and a finely chopped frisee salad tossed in a salty, lemony vinaigrette topped with grated/marinated carrots or beets and your favorite cheese. But that is just me. Enjoy the share……Autumn & Brian

Chickpea Salad with Carrots and Dill

Greens Gratin
Use 2 garlic scapes to replace garlic cloves in the recipe

Beet & Blue Cheese Salad

Simple Roasted Beets & Garlic Scapes

Arugula, Frisee, and Red Leaf Salad with Strawberries

Frisee & Arugula Salad with Mustard Bacon Vinaigrette
Our frisee is much larger than in the recipe, 1 head is more than sufficient. Also play around with adding finely grated salty hard cheese, olives, grated/marinated beets or carrots, as well as herbs to this salad if you want.

New Potato & Frisée Salad

Swiss Chard & Potatoes

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