June 6th 2012 – First CSA box of the season
June 5, 20122012 CSA week 1 June 6th
In The Box
2 pints of STRAWBERRIES!!
1 bunch Sugarsnax Baby Carrots
1 head each Red and Green Leaf Lettuce
1 lb Sugar Snap Peas
1 bunch Green Garlic
1 bunch Sweet Spring Onions
4 each Artichokes
Hello,
Thank you all for being a part of the 2012 season CSA at Creative Growers. By joining with us this season you’ve demonstrated your dedication to local farms, locally grown food and seasonal eating. Lori and I, along with our dedicated crew, are happy to be bringing you and your family the best the season has to offer, direct from our farm to your kitchen. It’s been a wacky spring so far with flooding in January and March covering the farm in as much as five feet of water. After cursing profoundly for several days we have been working steadily ever since to try and make this season the best yet. Over 5000 tomato plants are in the field, the cherry tomatoes in the greenhouses are already loaded with green fruit and the winter squash is already planted. It appears that the farm (if not the farmers) have recovered nicely and most of our crops are doing well. It has inspired a search for a new, larger farm, (preferably one on slightly higher ground) and we’ll keep you updated on the quest as it continues. We’re hoping to find ground closer to Portland so that we can connect more with our CSA members and expand on what we already do. Our chef customers have been busy this year and our produce has already been to New York City with Vitaley Paley of Paley’s Place and Matt Christianson of Urban Farmer and we’re getting ready to send crops to Aspen with Jenn Louis of Lincoln Restaurant for a ‘Food and Wine’ magazine best new chefs event. Your boxes this week reflect the ecclecticness of the weather so far with a mix of cool season spring crops and STRAWBERRIES! YAY! The random bursts of sun and heat we’ve had in this part of the valley ripening the fruit just in time for the first boxes. For me the snap peas are one of life’s simple and addictive pleasures and the kids deciding to call them ‘snack’ peas reflects that. Simple, delicious and healty eaten raw right out in the field (or out of the veggie box.) With thoughts of bountiful harvests and long summer days to come we’ll muddle through the next few days of rain planting eggplant and pepper plants into the field and readying ourselves for the coming days of wide brimmed hats and cooling dashes through the sprinklers. At least when we’re irrigating we get to control how much water goes on the field. Check out earlier posts to see a picture of the flooding.
Enjoy,
Dave, Lori and the crew
LOGISTICS FOR GRAND CENTRAL BAKERY PICK UP SITES: Your bread coupon should be tucked into one of you strawberry pints. You can redeem it at the counter for your free loaf of bread. (NW YORK pick up. We ran out of bread coupons….oops. We’ll get it together better next week. Just talk to the lovely folks at the counter and they’ll take care of you.)
One very important note if you pick up at any of the Grand Central Bakeries. If you cannot get to the pick up site during the alloted window, please try to make arrangements for someone else to pick up your box. Grand Central CANNOT HOLD BOXES OVERNIGHT THIS SEASON. All boxes not picked up by closing time will be donated. Thank you for your understanding on this one. As always please consider the generosity of Grand Central in allowing the cafes to be pick up spots for our CSA and try to keep the tote area neat and tidy. Direct any questions to csa@creativegrowers.com or to 541-935-7952.
Thank you and happy cooking!
CROP NOTES AND RECIPES
Carrots: Keep carrots in plastic in the fridge. Remove greens as soon as you get home and toss or feed the bunny. the greens slowly take sugars and energy of the root of the carrot.
Moroccan Carrot Salad Chez Panisse Vegetables, Alice Waters
Peel baby carrots, (I personally skip this step), leaving 1/4 inch of stem attached. Cut them in half lengthwise and boil until tender in salted water with a crushed clove of garlic. Drain and cool to room temperature. Toss them with a little ground cumin, paprika, and salt, and a pinch each of cinnamon and cayenne. Toss together with lemon juice, olive oil and chopped parsley,and set aside to marinate for at least an hour before serving.
Green Garlic: Simplest way to use green garlic: substitute for regular garlic, I chop it up like a green onion, then I use it sparingly raw, and abundantly cooked. The beginning of a soup, hummus or egg salad, thrown in with the onions at the beginning of many dishes that start with ‘cook the chopped onions in oil or butter’.
Artichokes: Keep in fridge in a plastic bag. Use within a week of harvest. They can keep longer, but are best eaten within a week.
Herbed Artichoke Lemon Salad
This one can be made ahead, and the ingredients can be changed as they are available in your cabinet/refrigerator.
2 pounds young artichokes, or the smallest you can find and quarter them if they are large 3 T olive oil 1 T chopped garlic 3 T spring onions 1 T lemon juice Salt & Pepper to taste
Clean the artichokes by chopping the tips off with your sharpest knife. Cut into quarters if they are as large as your fist or larger. Steam in a steamer until tender, 25-45 minutes, depending on their freshness and size. You’ll know they’re done as with a baked potato: poke with a fork or bamboo skewer to make sure they are tender all the way through.
Toss with 2 Tablespoons olive oil and all the garlic, then let cool to room temperature, or at least 30 minutes (the heat helps tame the garlic). Add the lemon juice and onions and marjoram and S & P just before serving, mix gently, and you have a salad!
Snap Peas: Store in a plastic bag in the fridge. They can be eaten whole, raw or cooked. (With a couple of kids in the house, snap peas that come in to the kitchen usually don’t even make it to the fridge)
Sesame Snap Peas 1/2 pound snap peas, trimmed and strings discarded 1 teaspoon Asian sesame oil 1 scallion, sliced thinly on diagonal 2 teaspoons sesame seeds, toasted lightly Salt as needed/wanted Slice snap peas into 2 or 3 sections with a sharp knife. Saute in a pan with the oil on med high heat until bright green. (it’s ok if some of the peas come out). When serving, sprinkle with the scallions and sesame seeds. Add Salt if desired.
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