7/25 Vegetables

This week's veggies: green beans (full shares), yellow wax beans, lettuce, lettuce mix (full shares), scallions, basil, pearl onions, zucchini, beets with tops, parsley, cucumbers, cabbage (half shares), summer squash, Eur. cuke (full shares), spinach

Next week/soon: zucchini/summer squash, cukes, green beans?, carrots, lettuce, red torpedo onions, Swiss chard,

Recipe: Easy Grill-Steamed Green Beans (from subscriber Tiana Krenz)

Trim green beans and rinse thoroughly. Do not pat dry.
Place green beans on piece of foil large enough to wrap beans completely. (Heavy foil is preferable)
For every 1/2 c. beens, add one clove pressed garlic and one pat of butter.
Sprinkle with 1-2 tsp. water.
Wrap foil package tightly, making sure you can open and reclose the top.
Place package on hot grill.
Open package carefully to check beans after about 15 minutes. If they beans haven't reached desired tenderness, re-wrap the package and grill for a few minutes more.
If you still have other dinner preparations to complete, you can keep the beans fairly warm for a few minutes simply by keeping the foil wrapper closed tightly. Enjoy!!




Recipe: ITALIAN ZUCCHINI CRESCENT PIE


4 c. thinly sliced, unpeeled zucchini
1 c. coarsely chopped onion
1/2 c. butter
1/2 c. chopped parley or 2 T parsley flakes
1/2 t. salt
1/2 t. black pepper
1/4 t. garlic powder
1/4 t. basil leaves
1/4 t. oregano leaves
2 eggs, well beaten
8 oz (2 cups) shredded muenster or mozzarella cheese
8 oz can refrigerated crescent dinner rolls
1 t. dijon or prepared mustard


Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In 10-inch skillet, cook zucchini and onion in butter until tender, about 10 minutes. Stir in parsley and seasonings. In large bowl, blend eggs and cheese. Stir in vegetable mixture. Separate dough into 8 triangles and place in ungreased 11" quiche pan, 10" pie pan or 12" by 8" baking dish, press over bottom and up sides to form a crust. Spread crust with mustard. Pour vegetable mixture evenly into crust. Bake 18 to 20 minutes or until knife inserted near center comes out clean. Keep crust from becoming too brown by covering with foil during last 10 minutes of baking. Let stand 10 minutes before serving. Makes 6 servings.

Have a great week!

The Seelys

Next Week's Vegetables

Dear Subscribers and Friends,

Salad Mix Looks really good! Eat it right out of the bag!
The salad mix for Friday looks like it is
molding in the field already,too much moisture!
So we will see!

Lettuce Some looks awesome and some varieties are not
tolerating this moisture very well nor the hard driving rains!
Not too much there but you will receive
something.

Parsley The curly kind.

Beets Some folks are putting them on the grill!

Pearl Onions Tuesday folk will get the white variety one more
time and hopefully the red kind will be big enough on Friday.
These are great on the grill too I heard.

Scallions

Zucchini and Summer Squash

Cucumbers Regular field ones and the long European greenhouse
one.

Green Beans

Basil There will be enough on Monday to make pesto.
Friday got a lot last week but there is enough for Friday
to get some again this week.

Some folks might get a little kohlrabi,cabbage or cherry tomatoes.

Carrots are hanging in there because it is too wet to dig.

Last week Monday received a couple garlic bulbs and Friday got a lot
more so we want Monday to catch up. It is really busy on the farm
right now because everything needs to be weeded. So we might give
Monday more garlic next week versus this week!

Chard and spinach is a possibility this week.

I wish you all lived closer because I would invite you to come and
help us weed if you had a spare moment!

Adios for this week and we hope to "speak" with you again next week!

Bernadette,for the farm!

Another Recipe

Here's another recipe using lots of today's veggies:

Spinach and Zucchini Soup Recipe

3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2 medium onions, roughly chopped
big pinch of salt
2 1/2 cups potatoes (2 medium) cut into 1/2-inch cubes
2 1/2 cups zucchini (2 medium), loosely chopped
4 cups vegetable stock
4 cups fresh spinach leaves, loosely packed
1 cup cilantro, loosely chopped
one lemon

In a large, thick-bottomed pot over medium-high heat, add the olive oil. When the oil is hot (but not smoking) add the garlic and onions and saute for a few minutes along with pinch of salt - just until they soften up a bit. Stir in the potatoes and zucchini. Add the stock. Bring to a simmer and cook until potatoes are soft throughout, roughly 10-15 minutes.

Stir in the spinach, and wait for it to wilt, just ten seconds or so. Now stir in the cilantro. Puree with a hand blender until smooth. Whisk in a big squeeze of lemon juice. Now taste, and add more salt if needed. Finish with a drizzle of olive oil and serve.

Serves about 6. From Heidi Swanson at 101cookbooks.com

Vegetables for 7/18/2008

This week's veggies: lettuce mix, zucchini, summer squash (full shares), green beans, cilantro, pearl onions, scallions, spinach, garlic, basil, broccoli (full shares), kolrabi (half shares), cabbage


Next week/soon: beets w/greens, parsley, red onions, lettuce mix, lettuce, swiss chard, scallions, green beans, more basil, zucchini/summer squash

Recipe: Zucchini Bread - Melanie DeVriend’s mom's recipe
3 eggs
2 cup sugar
1 cup oil
2 t vanilla
1 cup shredded zucchini
1/2 cup nuts
1/2 t salt
1/4 t ginger
1/2 t cinnamon
3 cup flour
1 t baking soda
1/4 t baking powder
1 cup chocolate chips :)
Mix in order given. Makes 2 loaves. Bake 1 hour at 350 degrees.

Cilantro-Mayo Spread
3/4 cup mayonnaise 3/4 cup cilantro
1 Tblsp. fresh lime juice 1 tsp. soy sauce
1 clove garlic to taste
Place all ingredients into food processor and blend smooth & spreadable.
Great with turkey, roasted red peppers, and green onion wrapped in lettuce leaf.


Fabulous Cilantro Pesto From allrecipes.com
"This is a delicious version of the classic with a little more zip! You can substitute the vinegar with lime juice, lemon juice or Italian salad dressing."
1 (16 ounce) package farfalle pasta
1 bunch fresh cilantro
5 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 cup walnuts or pecans
salt to taste
1/2 cup olive oil
1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the pasta, and return water to a boil. Cook pasta for 8 to 10 minutes, or until al dente; drain well.
2. In an electric food processor or blender, blend cilantro, garlic, vinegar, Parmesan cheese, cayenne pepper, nuts, and salt. Add 1/4 cup of the olive oil, and blend the pesto. Add more olive oil until the pesto reaches your desired consistency.
3. Pour pesto in a small saucepan and warm over low heat, stirring constantly, until pesto begins to simmer. Pour over cooked pasta and toss.

On the farm: Lot of crops to take care of right now -- we are planting the fourth and final sweet corn planting and the fall broccoli and cauliflower, weeding everything (even a couple of times), harvesting what's mature and needs to get out of the field right away and into your boxes, and trying to cover our 5 greenhouses with some endwalls and plastic so the tomatoes that are planted in them will get a little protection.

Short note this week!

Till next time!


The Seely Family
Springdale Farm

Here it goes for July 15th and July 18th:

Salad mix
We do wash and spin dry this mix so you can eat it out of the bag practically speaking!

Lettuce
May be only for Tuesday,just a little though. But more coming in a week or two.

Cucumbers

European Cucumbers
These are the long cucumbers.We grow them in greenhouses and you CAN eat the skin,it is soft enough! Some folks will get them,not everyone yet since they are JUST starting.But more to come really soon.

Zucchini

Summer squash
This is the yellow pear shaped thing. Eat it as you eat zucchini.

White pearl onions
You can eat the greens also!

Green beans
They are just starting and they are BEAUTIFUL looking! Since they are starting, not all of you might get them.If you don't get them this week then you can count on receiving them the week after!

Cilantro
This is an herb that is used in Mexican food and you find it also in the Thai kitchen! It looks like flat leaf parsley but paler in color. Put them in tortillas or in soups!

Garlic
We pulled some out today and they smell and look GREAT! We will try to give you as many as we can and please leave them OUT on your counter or in your garage or anywhere where they can dry out and cure since they are so fresh! Take them out of the bag and lay them out in a shady breezy place otherwise they will mold.
DO NOT REFRIGERATE!!

Carrots
They have arrived at the scene and if it is dry enough to dig them on Monday we will!

Here are the maybes this week: BASIL, BROCCOLI, SCALLIONS and SPINACH. If you get them the quantity will not be too great!

We are loving the weather and are very thankful for the rain yesterday!

Many greetings from all of us here on the farm!

Bernadette

11 July 2008

This week's vegetables: spinach, lettuce mix, lettuce, scallions, pearl onions, beets with tops, snap peas, broccoli (full shares), zucchini, summer squash (half shares), cucumber, kohlrabi (full shares), green beans (half shares)

Next week: lettuce, zucchini/summer squash, scallions, pearl onions, cilantro, green beans, cucumbers

Soon: carrots, parsley, more beets

Vegetable tidbits: Today's spinach might be the last till mid/late September. (It fares poorly in hot weather, so we stop seeding it in late June and July.) Today's box also contains the last of this year's peas. The tops of the small, white onions can also be eaten; it is virtually identical to the scallions also in your box. Spring broccoli is winding down as well; you'll see a lot broccoli in September, October, and (probably) November. Like spinach, broccoli likes cooler weather. There are just a few beets so far that are ready; more coming soon. If you don't like beets, toss them into the Exchange Box, found at your pick-up site. (See below about the Exchange Box.) There weren't enough strawberries left on Monday to give everyone a final pint, though if you are in the area of our farm, and want to pick a few extra quarts, you could do that, the sooner the better. The berries are always smaller at the end of the season, but they still taste good!
Recipe: Spinach Soup from Tiana Krenz
Serves 6
Fry in bottom of soup pot:
8 slices bacon
Remove slices to paper towels, and set aside.

Add to bacon fat:
2 large leeks, 1 medium white or yellow onion, or 6-12 scallions (depending on size), chopped
8 medium potatoes--don't peel, just wash and dice
1 tsp. salt
3 cups boiling water
Cover and simmer 15 minutes.

Melt in seperate saucepan:
2 tbsp butter
Wisk in:
3 tbsp flour
1 tsp. vegetable or chicken broth powder/bullion
When combined well and bubbly, add:
3 cups whole milk
(if you prefer to use skim milk, wisk 1 c. dry milk solids into the milk before combining with other ingredients to ensure proper thickness. For 2%, use 1/2 c, dry milk solids. This recipe can also be done by combining 3 c. water with 1 and 1/2 c. dry milk solids, but whole milk lends the best flavor.)

Cook and stir until thick. Add to cooked vegetables in soup pot, and reduce heat to low (overheating will break the soup).
Add:
1 1/2 cup finely shredded spinach
crumbled bacon
dash ground nutmeg
fresh ground black pepper, to taste

Cook and stir over low heat until soup is desired consistancy.

If you have chives overgrowing your garden or sidewalk cracks, as we do, you might want to try snipping a few of these and sprinkling them on just before serving. Serve this soup with a loaf of your favorite whole-grain bread.

Reminder: We can reuse the plastic clamshell containers that we put, for example, the peas in. (Later we will use them for the cherry tomatoes.) So bring them back to your pick-up site, along with the boxes and egg cartons. We'd rather you not bring back a host of other clamshell containers, though, (unless you have several hundred of the same size), since it's too cumbersome for us to have dozens of different sizes of them.
Speaking of clamshell containers, we might perhaps eventually switch from plastic bags (usually zip-loc) to bigger clamshells for the spinach and salad mix. At least we could reuse the clamshells. With plastic bags, it doesn't seem possible. We did find one source of plastic bags that are made mostly out of recycled plastic, so at least when we have larger quantities of spinach, or a couple of heads of lettuce that could use a bag, we have a slightly better bag for those situations.

Exchange Box: For newcomers to Springdale Farm, for most of the season, we place one or several Exchange Boxes close by your boxes at each of the pick-up sites. You can place into the Exchange Box anything that you wouldn't want in your box, and alternatively, you make take out an item or two from the Exchange Box if it meets your needs and wishes. (You need not make a donation in order to take something out of the Exchange Box, though we ask you to limit yourself to one or two items so others can also enjoy something extra.) Often the Exchange Boxes will be full or half-full when they leave the farm, though not always. (Today, for example, we threw the last of some garlic scapes in there, extra broccoli, and pearl onions as well.) The Exchange Boxes can be recognized because they will usually be a different style of box than the normal full and half shares boxes, and will be labeled as well.

Boycott Kelloggs: The Organic Consumers Association sent a letter to the Kellogg company to ask them to pledge to use sugar processed from sugar beets that were not grown with Monsanto's genetically-modified roundup ready seed. In a response, Kelloggs said that the American consumer does not care whether their food comes from genetically engineered seed. While that certainly might be true for a majority of Americans, for those of us who see the introduction of GM foods as a blight on our environment and food system, we can certainly contact Kelloggs, as well as refrain from purchasing their products. As there will be no labeling of which products will contain the GM sugar, it will be impossible to determine which products contain it (just as it currently is with the majority of products that contain GM soy or corn. (90% of soybeans grown in the US are GM, and 65% of the corn is GM, so that 65% of products on grocery shelves contain unlabeled GM ingredients.) Give Kelloggs a call (800-962-1413); further information can be found at http://organicconsumers.org/kelloggs.cfm.

Other news: No More Pesticide Reports: the USDA plans to stop publishing its annual pesticide use report, despite opposition from scientists, farm organizations, and environmental groups. "What we'll end up doing is understanding pesticide use through getting accident reports," said Steve Scholl-Buchwald of the Pesticide Action Network. "And that's a lousy way to protect public health." Over in Germany, on the other hand, 8 pesticides have been banned following a link to massive bee deaths following the application of Bayer pesticides. In Japan, a 34 year-old farmer was taken to a hospital after he drank chloropicrin, a pesticide, in a suicide attempt. After doctors pumped his stomach, the man vomited, releasing toxic fumes into the air before he died. Treatment for chemical poisoning had to be administered to 23 patients and 31 hospital workers before the air was finally cleared.

Have a great week, and thanks for buying pesticide-free food!

The Seelys

From the NYT

The 7/10 2008 New York Times had a good article on CSA's.

Cutting Out the Middlemen, Shoppers Buy Slices of Farms
By SUSAN SAULNY

CAMPTON TOWNSHIP, Ill. — In an environmentally conscious tweak on the typical way of getting food to the table, growing numbers of people are skipping out on grocery stores and even farmers markets and instead going right to the source by buying shares of farms.

On one of the farms, here about 35 miles west of Chicago, Steve Trisko was weeding beets the other day and cutting back a shade tree so baby tomatoes could get sunlight. Mr. Trisko is a retired computer consultant who owns shares in the four-acre Erehwon Farm.

“We decided that it’s in our interest to have a small farm succeed, and have them be able to have a sustainable farm producing good food,” Mr. Trisko said.

Part of a loose but growing network mostly mobilized on the Internet, Erehwon is participating in what is known as community-supported agriculture. About 150 people have bought shares in Erehwon — in essence, hiring personal farmers and turning the old notion of sharecropping on its head.

The concept was imported from Europe and Asia in the 1980s as an alternative marketing and financing arrangement to help combat the often prohibitive costs of small-scale farming. But until recently, it was slow to take root. There were fewer than 100 such farms in the early 1990s, but in the last several years the numbers have grown to close to 1,500, according to academic experts who have followed the trend.

“I think people are becoming more local-minded, and this fits right into that,” said Nichole D. Nazelrod, program coordinator at the Fulton Center for Sustainable Living at Wilson College in Chambersburg, Pa., a national clearinghouse for community-supported farms. “People are seeing ways to come together and work together to make this successful.”

Read it all here.

July 3rd Vegetables

This week's veggies: lettuce mix, spinach, scallions, strawberries?, snap peas, snow peas (half shares), mushrooms, broccoli, zucchini and summer squash, kohlrabi



Next week/soon: lettuce, zucchini/summer squash, snap peas?, scallions, beets, pearl onions, spinach?, lettuce mix?, broccoli, kohlrabi?

Next week: Back to Friday delivery again.

Reminders: If you cannot make it to the pick-up site yourself, and send a friend or family member to pick up your box for you, be sure that they are told which size box they should take, that they should check off your name on the list, and that they should take the bread and/or eggs only if you are signed up for them. It's a real bummer when folks come and they leave partially or totally empty-handed because someone else has taken the box of produce/bread/eggs intended for them. Also, keep the pick-up sites neat and orderly; the pick-up sites have been gracious to offer their garage for our use, so let's keep it clean for them. Thanks.

Recipe: Spinach Wild Rice Sent to us by subscriber Sori Marocchi, adapted from a recipe from the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel
3/4 cup white rice 1/2 cup brown rice 1/4 cup wild rice
Fresh or (thawed) frozen spinach, chopped
Fresh or canned mushrooms, chopped
1 small red onion, chopped
1/2 cup vegetable oil 3T cider vinegar 3T soy sauce 2T sugar
4 slices bacon, cooked & crumbled, if desired
Cooked & diced chicken or pork, if desired
Cook rices as directed (wild & brown may be cooked together), then cool.
Whisk together dressing (oil, vinegar, soy sauce & sugar).
Mix all chosen ingredients together & toss with dressing.
Salt & pepper to taste. I use a glass 13 x 9 pan.
Serve cold, room temp, or warm up in 350 degree oven, covered, for 30 minutes.

Spinach and Scape Frittata (adapted from dakotagarlic.com)
3 Tbsp. olive oil 10 eggs
1 cup (1/2 lb.) chopped raw spinach 1/2 c. grated Parmesan cheese
1 Tbsp. chopped parsley or basil 1/2 c. finely chopped garlic scapes
salt and pepper to taste
Preheat oven to 350°. In a large bowl mix all ingredients except oil and scapes. Heat oil in a 10-inch ovenproof skillet on the stove. Add the scapes and saute until tender on medium heat for about five minutes. Pour egg mixture in skillet with garlic and cook over low for three minutes. Place in oven and bake uncovered for 10 minutes or until top is set. Cut into wedges and serve.


Give Mr. Kohl a call: Our Wisconsin senator sits on the Agricultural Appropriations Committee, and shortly after July 4th the committee will vote on the 2009 budget. One item to be voted on is funding for ATTRA (Appropriate Technology Transfer to Rural Areas). ATTRA is a very small government program in which staff answers specific farmer questions, and holds educational workshops. (This past year they handled 38,000 technical requests for assistance, and the demand continues to grow from farmers all across the U.S.) Farmers can call an 800 number and request help in either a general (e.g. how can one grow strawberries organically?) or specific (e.g. what kind of ration would be best for chickens that are raised on pasture?) realm. As far as advice goes, ATTRA has been by far the most beneficial government program for our farm. They have repeatedly found answers to questions that we have had, either by directly researching our topic, or by referring us to other articles or books that handle that same matter. ATTRA has been funded at the $2.5 million level for the last six years, and is requesting a slight increase to $3 million (given the huge increase in the number of requests it receives). The president has offered a total of zero dollars for ATTRA for 2009. In the past, Senator Kohl has usually been supportive of ATTRA, but it is important that he (and his assistant for agricultural matters, Phil Karsten) continue to hear from his constituents what is important and what is working for them. And ATTRA is a great program, and is extremely inexpensive, as far as federal programs go. So give the office a call in the next day or two -- the number is (202) 224-5653 -- and tell them that a farmer that you know has been helped tremendously by the service that ATTRA offers, and that he should give it the full funding that it requests. There are very few government programs which I can back 100%, but ATTRA is one that deserves every penny of its budget. (For more info on ATTRA, you can visit their website - www.attra.org.) Thanks.

This year's farm crew: We'd like to introduce this year's labor force that gets the crops in and out of our 15 acres. In addition to our family's help, including Anneke (20) who divides her time between the office and coordinating the boxing up of the 550 boxes that is split up between the Monday and Thursday boxing days, Jim (18) who is currently traveling and working on organic farms in Costa Rica, though will return in mid-July, Marika (14) who has added tractor driving to her all-around farm skills, and Esther (6) who voluntarily acts as a scout to determine when the vegetables will be first ready, in addition to helping Anneke in the barn occasionally, we are aided by interns Daniel Gnidovic and Veronica Sotolongo, who live on the farm and are learning the do's and don't's of vegetable growing. Daniel's a Chicago suburb native, though has several seasons experience working on a well-known organic vegetable farm in Virginia, and Veronica (whose parents came to Florida from Cuba in the 60's), is accompanied by her two cats and two dogs, the latter of which go into mourning when she leaves the farm with the truck on Tuesdays to deliver the boxes. (Daniel makes the Friday deliveries.) We have added a few more worker shares this season, so that about 35 households now come weekly or biweekly to the farm to help us with the planting, weeding, harvesting, washing, bunching, bagging, boxing, and cleaning. A couple of other local helpers include Eric Zimmerman (who has enjoyed playing with a 100% raw diet for over a year now, and finds the farm with plenty of both cultivated and wild plants to keep him happy), and greenhouse builders Ed Strzelczyk, Randy Wright, and Jed Tinkle. Our ever-faithful crew of Hmong women, joining us a couple of days per week from Sheboygan, help us again this season with some of the most difficult hand weeding and harvesting tasks, as they have done for about 15 years. We also will be getting a few visits from WWOOFers (which stands for Willing Workers on Organic Farms) this summer, whereby travelers can volunteer at organic farms in exchange for room and board. (It's a great way to travel through different countries if any young people out there might want want to look into it! Our son Jim is 'woofing' in Costa Rica right now.) We were sad to see Zachary Drossman, a WWOOFer from New York City, leave last Saturday, after having spent a month with us. His enthusiasm for our farm life was infectious, though he's less excited about returning to his 80 hours per week management consultant life in midtown Manhattan. (At least our kids now have a welcome mat in New York City that they didn't have beforehand!)

Have a great week!

The Seelys