June Twenty-Nineth
Wow, what a weekend! We had a very eventful Saturday and Sunday on the Farm! Saturday was our Early Summer Strawberry Pick, Farm tour and Potluck on the farm. We had a modest turnout for the Strawberry Farm Tour and Potluck (I think next year we will have Vanilla Ice Cream on hand and offer a free pint of Strawberries for members) and a spectacular turnout for the Bike the Barns on Sunday! We had the farm all cleaned up, the wagon hitched to the tractor and our clean clothes on! The weather was fine and spirits were high!
Sunday’s Bike the Barns event was a very well attended event celebrating local area farms (like ours!) and also a fund raising event for the Partner Shares program that Fair Share organizes. The 53-mile Bike Ride began in Viroqua and the first water and snack stop was at our farm. We offered wagon-pulled farm tours, strawberries, strawberry picking, and there were GoMacro bars and OV Fuel Drinks available for the riders. The riders then rode on to Knapp Creek Farm, another CSA Farm several miles away where there was an all-organic lunch served featuring local area produce and farms. After lunch, the riders trekked over to Nordic Creamery for a little local ice cream and cheese and then biked 10 miles of head-wind back to Viroqua to finish off the day evening with Turtle Stack Beer, WiscoPop Sodas, Maple Lattes from Kickapoo Coffee, Music from a few local area musicians, and finally another delicious meal served up by Rooted Spoon Culinary for dinner showcasing, again, all-organic and veggie-filled dishes loaded up with veggies donated by several of the areas organic vegetable farms.
Whew! We were busy this weekend, folks! There is nothing that fuels our fire so much as to see so many people so passionate about eating local, organic and fresh vegetables and to have them come out and celebrate food justice and sustainable farming. The Bike the Barns Driftless Ride raised thousands of dollars for the Partner Shares program that helps low-income families afford CSA Shares from dozens of area CSA farms.
There was a videographer at each farm stop interviewing the farmers. Mike from Use Your Words Videography was asking us questions about the Partner Shares Program and our role in the program, what a CSA Farm is, and why we think it is so important for people to buy and support local, organic farms. Why is local so important? While I felt like I struggled a bit answering his questions on camera with my four year old on my lap, I know in my heart why local is best. The food is fresher than anything available in a grocery store. Organic farms help keep our communities water, soil and air clean. Organic farms are local families that support our local economy. The money stays in our state and keeps our state’s financial health strong. Local farms provide work for local people. Local farms are operated by people we know and trust. Maybe your child or you or your cousin works on a local farm and learns about where and how food is grown by their experiences on a farm. I am a living example of this.
This farm is important because we are a living, breathing, and eating community. Without this farm and others like it, what would our food system look like? Food does not need to be imported from the other side of the country or the other side of the world needlessly using precious oil to transport food ridiculous distances. Our food autonomy is at steak here. We are perfectly capable of growing food right here at home where the soil is healthy, it actually rains, and there are people who want it grown at home. People like you! You are part of the living example of why local food and farms are important. I feel endless gratitude and empowerment from our community of friends who help nurture this movement along. We wouldn’t be here without you!
Sooo….What’s in the Box????
Strawberriy Quarts- Another wonderful week of Strawberries! Strawberries are extremely perishable! We recommend eating these guys up ASAP and do keep them refrigerated if you need to keep them a day or two before eating them.
Garlic Scapes– What is a garlic scape? The scape is the garlic plant’s attempt to make a seed head. They shoot up these scapes, and if left on the plant, the small nodule toward the top of the scape would swell and bloom into a flower or seed head, but we are sure to snap them up good and early so the garlic plant puts more effort into making a larger garlic bulb, and not into growing out the seed heads. The garlic scapes also happen to be delicious if diced up into almost anythiung you’re cookinug. They’re great used like you would normally use garlic in almost any dish with a seasonal look. Have fun!
Green Cabbage- The green cabbages were looking great, so we got them while they were still small and quaint. Green cabbage is great for slaws or egg rolls! Cabbages will keep for a few weeks in your fridge, but don’t plan to hold onto them too long as you’ll need that room in your fridge for next week’s giving of veggies.
Purple Kohlrabi- We tried a new varity of purple kohlrabis this year called Kosiak that we really love! We have never had such great looking and tasting purple kohlrabis before at this stage in the season. Peel them and use them as veggie sticks for your favorite home-made veggie dip or hummus!
White Kohlrabi- More white kohlrabis as well. Remember that the greens on your kohlrabis are edible like kale leaves. Kale and Kohlrabi are in the same family of plants, the brassicas.
Broccoli- Either one large or two small heads of broccoli per member this week. For some reason, or early summer successions of broccoli are not turnung out quite as we had hoped. We had to harvest many of them smaller because they were showing signs of heat stress. Broccoli is a cool weather loving plant, and we do our best to choose heat-tolerant varieties, but we never can tell what they’re going to do in the Spring.
Swiss Chard- Goorgious bunches of Swiss Chard. If you’re new to this green, this is NOT rhubarb. Many people who are new to this plant commonly mistake it for rhubarb. Swiss Chard is in the same family of plants as spinach and beets. Chard has an earthy flavor, one that I have grown to love and appreciate over the years;) The stems are edible as well and make a nice addition to a stir fry! Chard comes in red, pink, orange, yellow and white. Fun colors to eat!
Green Onions- Green onions are edible from the bottom on the white stalks all the way up to the tops of the greens. These guys are still quite young and tender. Such a fun early summer treat to hold us all over until actual full sized onions are ready for harvest in late July or early August.
Rouxi Green Lettuce- These are the smaller, lime-green colored lettuce heads with leaves shaped like oakleaves. The Rouxi are meant to be a smaller, more compact head.
Romaine Lettuce or Red Leaf Buttercup- Either a Romaine Lettuce head or a red leaf buttercup head for everyone. Lettuce keeps best in a plastic bag in your refrigetrator to preserve moisture.
Snap Peas- .75lbs per memeber! A wonderfully generous giving of peas for everyone this week! We’re very happy about this! Fresh snap peas are wonderful snacks, cut up on top of a seven layer salad or even in stir frys.
Zucchini and Summer Squash- The beginning of the summer squashes! There were between 3 and 5 squash per member this week depending on the sizes. Squashes acutally keep best at about 50 degree storage, so a refrigerator is not necessarily ideal storage for them. If there is no room in your fridge, they sometimes keep well on the counter. Either the fridge or the counter, but neither is actually a perfect storage temp for them. Luckly these are versatile little vegetables that I’m sure you’ll find many uses for so they won’t be laying around for too long;)
Next Week’s Best Guess:
Disclaimer: This is only our best guess from what we see up and coming from field walks. Next week’s actual box may look slightly different from this projection.
Lettuce, strawberries, kohlrabi, zucchini and summer squash, fennel, peas, maybe cabbage, maybe broccoli, kale or collards, maybe cucumber, garlic scapes, bunching onions,
Recipes
Kohlrabi, Berry and Fennel Salad
