Notes from our CSA

June 12, 2009

2009-06-19T05:44:00.000-07:00

Springdale Farm News

This week's vegetables: garlic scapes, cilantro, strawberries, lettuce, spinach, salad mix, scallions, zucchini, European cuke (full shares and some half shares)

Next week: spinach, lettuce, strawberries, mushrooms, parsley, scallions, zucchini, European cucumber, maple syrup

Soon: snow peas and snap peas, more scapes, basil, broccoli, more pea shoots?

Vegetable tidbits: New subscribers may be unfamiliar with the thin, curly, 'sticks' that are in today's boxes. These are part of the garlic plant, which we remove from the plant in order to encourage it to send more energy into its bulb. They can be used either fresh or cooked. Website? Some of today's strawberries are on the dirty side, as we were picking them shortly after a hard rain which splashed some dirt onto the berries. Better for you to wash them than us, since they should be eaten soon after being washed. Today there's both a fair amount of lettuce, along with salad mix. We aim to have either of the two every week; while many weeks there might be both. As the salad mix will probably deteriorate quicker than the lettuce heads, it might be good practice to eat the mix first, and save the heads for later in the week. Spinach quantity will decrease greatly from now on. To help get rid of today's quantity, check out the recipe(s) below.

False Bread Warning: Last week we mentioned that you might be receiving a sample bread from a new baker that we will be working with this year. We got our day wrong -- it is the Tuesday's pick-up sites that are receiving the free sample, not the Friday folks. (We deliver our shares twice a week, with roughly half of our total members on both days.) The baker, Dean Malloy of Fond du Lac, is able to deliver his 100% organic, sourdough bread on Tuesdays, but not Fridays, and will be providing a weekly bread to bread share purchasers for nearly our entirely delivery season. His number is (920) 251-6036 and his e-mail address is surrealbread@yahoo.com if this sparks your interest.

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.

Spanakopita from Moosewood Cookbook
( a little oil, butter or - 2 lbs. of fresh spinach, stemmed and finely chopped
oil spray for the pan) - 5 medium cloves garlic, minced
2 Tbs. olive oil. - 3 Tbs. flour
2 c. minced onion - 2 cups (packed) crumbled feta cheese ( about 1 lb.)
1/2 tsp. salt - 2 cups cottage or pot cheese
1 Tbs. dried basil - black pepper, to taste
1 Tsp. dried oregano -

1/3 c. olive oil - or 1/2 c. melted butter - or oil spray
1 lb. filo pastry (16 to 20 leaves), thoroughly defrosted

1) Preheat oven to 375F. Lightly grease a 9 by 13-inch baking pan.
2) Heat the oil in a Dutch oven or deep skillet. Add onion, salt, and herds, and saute for about 5 min, or intil the onion softens. Add the spinach, turn up the heat, and cook, stirring, until the spinach wilts (5 to 8 min.). Stir in the garlic.
3) Sprinle in the flour,stir, and cook over medium heat 2 to 3 more min. Remove from heat.
4)Mix in the cheeses, then correct the seasonings, adding black pepper to taste along the way.
5)Place a shet of filo in the prepared pan, letteing the pastry edges climb up the sides. Brush it all over with olive oil or melted butter, or spray it with oil spray, then add another sheet.
Keep going until you have a stack of 10 oiled or buttered sheets.
6) Add the filling, spreading it evenly to the edges.Continue layering and oiling or buttering the remaining filo on tpo the filling.
Oil or butter the top layer.
7) Gently (with a serrated knife in a sawing motion) cut the unbaked Spanakopita into squares. Bake uncovered for about 45 minutes or until golded and crispy. Serve hot or warm

Good to know about: 1) From the Weston A Price Foundation:

HR 2749 FOOD SAFETY BILL

A new food safety bill is on the fast track in Congress-HR 2749, the Food Safety Enhancement Act of 2009.

HR 2749 gives FDA tremendous power while significantly diminishing existing judicial restraints on actions taken by the agency. The bill would impose a one-size-fits-all regulatory scheme on small farms and local artisanal producers; and it would disproportionately impact their operations for the worse.

HR 2749 does not address underlying causes of food safety problems such as industrial agriculture practices and the consolidation of our food supply. The industrial food system and food imports are badly in need of effective regulation, but the bill does not specifically direct regulation or resources to these areas.

To read a detailed account of the bill, go to: http://www.ftcldf.org/news/news-15june2009.htm.

Some of the more alarming provisions in the bill are:

* HR 2749 would impose an ANNUAL REGISTRATION FEE of $500 on any "facility" that holds, process, or manufactures food. Although "farms" are exempt, the agency has defined "farm" narrowly. And people making foods such as lacto-fermented vegetables, cheeses, or breads would be required to register and pay the fee, which could drive beginning and small producers out of business during difficult economic times.

* HR 2749 would empower FDA to REGULATE HOW CROPS ARE RAISED and HARVESTED. It puts the federal government right on the farm, dictating to our farmers.

* HR 2749 would give FDA the power to order a QUARANTINE of a GEOGRAPHIC AREA, including "prohibiting or restricting the movement of food or of any vehicle being used or that has been used to transport or hold such food within the geographic area." Under this provision, farmers markets and local food sources could be shut down, even if they are not the source of the contamination. The AGENCY can HALT ALL MOVEMENT of ALL FOOD in a geographic area.

* HR 2749 would empower FDA to make RANDOM WARRANTLESS SEARCHES of the business records of small farmers and local food producers, without any evidence whatsoever that there has been a violation. Even farmers selling direct to consumers would have to provide the federal government with records on where they buy supplies, how they raise their crops, and a list of customers.

* HR 2749 charges the Secretary of Health and Human Services with establishing a TRACING SYSTEM for FOOD. Each "person who produces, manufactures, processes, packs, transports, or holds such food" would have to "maintain the full pedigree of the origin and previous distribution history of the food," and "establish and maintain a system for tracing the food that is interoperable with the systems established and maintained by other such persons." The bill does not explain how far the traceback will extend or how it will be done for multi-ingredient foods. With all these ambiguities, it's far from clear how much it will cost either the farmers or the taxpayers.

* HR 2749 creates SEVERE CRIMINAL and CIVIL PENALTIES, including prison terms of up to 10 years and/or fines of up to $100,000 for each violation for individuals.

ACTION TO TAKE

Contact your Representative now! Ask to speak with the staffer who handles food issues. Tell them you are opposed to the bill. Some points to make in telling your Representative why you oppose HR 2749 include:

1. The bill imposes burdensome requirements while not specifically targeting the industrial food system and food imports, where the real food safety problems lie.

2. Small farms and local food processors are part of the solution to food safety; lessening the regulatory burden on them will improve food safety.

3. The bill gives FDA much more power than it has had in the past while making the agency less accountable for its actions.

2) The USDA has extended the public comment period to June 30th on its proposal to overhaul (& weaken) its oversight of genetically modified crops, which if implemented, would increase our exposure to untested and unlabeled genetically engineered foods. See the Center for Food Safety's website for more details (www.centerforfoodsafety.org).

3) A good source of food-related issues is the Organic Consumer's Association website and newsletter, found at www.organicconsumers.org

Other stuff available: Next week we'll supply you with more information about the possibility of ordering chickens, beef, extra maple syrup, etc., assorted fruit, etc. In the meantime, happy June while it lasts!

New Season - 2009

2009-06-12T05:40:00.000-07:00

I'm not sure if I'll keep this up, but I will for a little while. Here's this year's first newsletter for June 12, 2009.

Springdale Farm News
This week's vegetables: lettuce, spinach, zucchini, pea shoots
Greens Share: additional spinach and pea shoots

Next week: lettuce, spinach, zucchini, parsley, sample bread from Fond du Lac baker, eggs (for those who ordered them)

Coming soon: garlic scapes, mushrooms, scallions, peas, strawberries, cilantro, broccoli, maple syrup

Notice: For those of you who get eggs, we will not be delivering them today, but will be delivering them every other week starting next week.

Welcome to the new season! It sure has been a cool spring so far. We even had two very late killing frosts, one in early June that took out a bunch of tomatoes that we had transplanted to the field a few days before. (Fortunately, we had replacements ready to go, so we should still have many tomatoes coming your way!) Usually by Memorial Day it is safe to plant the warm weather crops outside (such as the tomatoes, squashes, melons, etc.), but this year we had to cover all those crops with buckets, blankets (some of which are huge, covering a 1/2 acre in area!), or straw to keep them from freezing. Luckily our efforts were largely successful, with the exception of some low-lying tomatoes that succumbed to the cold. In our five large greenhouses, one is filled with zucchini, which is already producing, one has European cucumbers, which have also suffered some damage due to the cold, and the other three have tomatoes, which are all looking fantastic so far. In the field, the lettuce and spinach does fine with the cold weather, as does the onions, peas, and garlic, while the strawberries seem to have suffered some winterkill, to our huge disappointment, which will likely lead to a few less berries than we were hoping for.

Lots of spinach this week. As usual, despite successive plantings with intervals of 5 to 7 days, the spinach from several plantings seem to want to mature all together, so look for lots of spinach these first couple weeks.

New vegetable: pea shoots. Thanks to a couple of our Hmong helpers, who have continually encouraged us over the years to eat the tender growing tips of the pea plants, we finally succumbed to their pressure and tried them. And we like them. And now you are getting some, too, packed in the bag with your spinach. You could either fry them in some oil, and boil or steam them, and add some salt if you like. Coincidentally, we planted a crop of oats and peas on part of our field that is remaining fallow till late summer, so we went ahead and clipped off the growing tips of those peas. (I would not dare to clip off the growing tip of the sugar snap or snow peas that we are growing for you, since I wouldn't want to adversely affect the yield of the mature peas.) (By the way, these peas are not the new vegetable promised in our questionnaire last fall -- there'll be something else new coming later as well.)

Pick-up reminders: Plan to come every week from now on (till late October) to pick up a box. Barring some horrendous weather, there will be something ready to harvest for you each week, and though the early boxes are always on the lighter side, the planting is going well, and we look forward to a good season. Return the box to your pick-up site the following week, unfold the box (as shown in the 4-minute clip accessed via our website -- www.springdalefarmcsa.org), and place it neatly in a stack.

Exchange Box: At each pick-up site we leave one or a couple of boxes labeled "Exchange Box". We often put some items in the Exchange Boxes before they leave the farm. This week there is some extra spinach in the Exchange Boxes. If you wish, you can take a small quantity of the contents of the Exchange Box to add to your own box. Alternatively, if you find something in your box that you do not want to bring home with you, you can place it in the Exchange Box for someone else to enjoy. For the first month or so, there are usually not so many extras to be found in the Exchange Box, but do keep it mind, both for extras for yourself, and to pass along to others what you may not enjoy in your own box.

More news, information, recipes, etc. to come in the following newsletters. In the meantime, lots of details for us to attend to to make sure these first deliveries go smoothly!

10/3

2008-10-03T06:02:00.000-07:00

This week's vegetables: broccoli, cauliflower (from separate crates), tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, roma tomatoes, swiss chard, leeks, delicata squash, spinach, salad mix, peppers, eggplant (for half shares), cabbage (some received a half cabbage), European cucumbers (for full shares), green beans

Note: For both full shares and half shares, the cauliflower did not fit in the boxes. Look for your cauliflower in separate black crates. Full shares should take 2 heads, and half shares 1. Also, full share green beans did not fit in the boxes. Look for a separate bag or container for the full shares' beans.

Next week: potatoes, onions, carrots, broccoli/cauliflower, eggplant/peppers, spinach, salad mix/lettuce, kohlrabi?, tomatoes, winter squash

Schedule of remaining deliveries: Oct. 10, 17, and 24, Nov. 7 and 21, and Dec. 5.

Vegetable tidbits: Look for extra spinach, and basil, and kale, in the exchange boxes. 95% of you that responded to our wondering whether you mind us splitting large cabbages had no problem with getting a half-cabbage. For the few of you that would have preferred us to not split them, apologies if you were one of the recipients. Lots of broccoli again this week - it was intended to be spread over two or more weeks, but when broccoli is ready, it needs to be picked, so here it comes. For the next couple of months, your box should contain at least one kind of winter squash. We start out with delicata, a favorite, since it is usually a very sweet one. You'll be receiving delicata probably one more time, to go along with buttercup and butternut squash, both of which usually store much better than the delicata.

Recipe: Braised Leeks and Swiss Chard from subscriber Sarah Wood
Preparation time less than 30 mins
Cooking time 10 to 30 mins

Ingredients
2 lbs. leeks, trimmed, sliced and well washed
1lb. Swiss chard
3 tbsp olive oil
salt and freshly ground black pepper

Preparation
1. Take the leaves off the chard and shred the stalks and leaves finely. Wash and drain well.
2. Put the oil in a large pan add the leeks and the chard stalks. Season well, cover and cook slowly until tender.
3. Mix in the chard leaves and allow to wilt. Serve at once.

Recipe: Tofu Broccoli Cashew Peanut Madness from former intern Rob Summerbell
1 Tbsp. butter or oil
1 large onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 pound herbed tofu, cubed
2 Tbsp. tamari or soy sauce, divided
1/2 -3/4 cup peanut butter, preferably crunchy
2-3 tsp. lemon juice
1/4 tsp. cumin or more to taste
cayenne to taste
1 medium head broccoli, peeled and chopped
hot, cooked brown rice
handful of toasted cashews, chopped
Heat butter or oil in skillet; add onion and garlic; saute until soft. Add tofu and 1 Tbsp. tamari; saute until brown. Remove from pan. In same pan, mix peanut butter, lemon juice, remaining tablespoon tamari, cumin, and cayenne. Thin with up to 1 cup water to obtain gravylike texture. Stir in tofu mixture. Steam broccoli. Serve sauce over broccoli and brown rice, topped with cashews. Makes 4 servings.

Russian Vegetable Pie

Ingredients:
2 pie crusts (enough for the bottom and top shells of a 9-inch pie)

3 TBs butter
1 small head cabbage, shredded
1 med. onion, chopped
8 oz. mushrooms, sliced

5 eggs, hardboiled
8 oz. whipped cream cheese (room temperature)

1/4 tsp. dried marjoram, basil, and tarragon (or to taste; I usually use more)
Fresh dill (or dried will do)--about 2-3 TBs
Salt and pepper to taste

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Unroll first pie crust and spread on bottom of 9-inch pan (I use a Pyrex pie dish as it tends to work better).
3. Melt 3 TBs butter in a large skillet. Add cabbage and onion and saute until the onions are translucent. Add mushrooms and continue to saute as the mushrooms release their moisture. Add marjoram, basil, and tarragon, salt and pepper. Continue to saute until the cabbage is wilted and the onions are soft, stirring frequently. (You can speed this along by covering the pan to trap moisture and steam the veggies for you, but be careful not to burn your veggies.) Set aside.
4. Spread softened cream cheese on the bottom pie shell. Slice hardboiled eggs and arrange the slices in a layer over the cream cheese. Sprinkle with chopped dill.
5. Spread cabbage, mushroom, and onion mixture over the eggs and dill; use a slotted spoon to remove the veggies from your fry pan if there is a lot of moisture still left or else your pie crust will end up soggy. Cover with the second pie crust; press edges together and flute. Cut several short slashes through top crust.
6. Bake in 400-degree oven for 15 minutes, then turn temp. down to 350 and bake for about 20-25 minutes until crust is light brown.
7. Let rest for about ten minutes; slice and serve.

A worthy organization: The Cornucopia Institute, based in Wisconsin, initiates legal battles against the government, and educational campaigns highlighting corporate wrongdoings, all in order to preserve organic farming, local food choices, and safe food. Judging by what has happened in the securities industry, when restraints are eliminated that restrict greedy and outrageous decisions, it seems worthy to keep such watchdog organizations in business. Check out their website at www.cornucopia.org, and send them a few bucks if you agree that they do good work. An example of a recent action of theirs is the federal filing of a lawsuit against the USDA to overturn their mandated "pasteurization" of raw almonds with a toxic fumigant or steam heat. (It is becoming no longer possible to buy a truly 'raw' almond in this country.)

Have a good week!

The Seelys

"To preserve their [the people's] independence, we must not let our rulers load us with perpetual debt. We must make our selection between economy and liberty, or profusion and servitude" - Thomas Jefferson

Vegetable Curry Recipe

2008-09-26T05:45:00.000-07:00

Here is a recipe sent in by subscriber Terry Niehoff. She says "I'm attaching a recipe for Spicy Mixed Vegetable Curry, one of my absolute favorites of all time. It is from 1000 Vegetarian Recipes. Many different kinds of vegetables are used; and even better, substitutions work well."

Enjoy!

Anneke Seely

SPICY MIXED VEGETABLE CURRY

½ # turnips or rutabaga
1 eggplant
¾ # potatoes
½ # cauliflower
½ # mushrooms
1 large onion
½ # carrots
6 T vegetable ghee or oil
2 garlic cloves
2 inch piece ginger root
1-2 fresh green chilies, seeded and chopped
1 T paprika
2 t coriander
1 T curry powder
2 c vegetable bouillon
2 c canned chopped tomatoes
Salt
1 green pepper
1 T cornstarch
2/3 c coconut milk (lite coconut milk works fine, and is less calories)
2-3 T ground almonds

Chop vegetables.

Heat ghee/oil in large pan. Add onion turnip potato and cauliflower and sauté 3 minutes.

Add garlic ginger chilies and spices and cook 1 minute while stirring. (I used double the amount of spices.)

Add bouillon, tomatoes eggplant and mushrooms and season with salt. Simmer 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Add the green pepper and simmer 5 minutes.

Blend the cornstarch with the coconut milk to a smooth paste, and add to vegetables along with the almonds and simmer 2 minutes.

9/26

2008-09-26T05:43:00.000-07:00

Springdale Farm News

This week's vegetables: sweet corn (the last!), lettuce, onions, potatoes, cherry tomatoes (for full shares), tomatoes, green beans (for half shares), broccoli, European cuke (some half shares), peppers, carrots, spinach, basil, roma tomatoes, cauliflower, eggplant

Please note: Not everything fit in your boxes this week. Full shares and half shares should take a bag of potatoes from the appropriate crates (which will be marked at your site). Half shares should also take one box of green beans. Boxes are heavy -- be careful when transporting!

Next week: swiss chard (last time!), leeks, lettuce/salad mix, cauliflower, tomatoes, delicata squash, broccoli, peppers/eggplant

Directions to the Farm for those of you coming to the Farm Day this Saturday: Take I43 north. A 1/2 mile past the Saukville/Port Washington exit Hwy 57 splits off from 43. Take 57 north. You'll go for 20-25 miles or so until you've passed through a tiny town called Waldo. A couple miles past Waldo take a left on County Rd. U. After a couple of miles take a right on County Rd. S. Then take the first road to the left called Silver Spring Ln. If you started going uphill on S you've gone too far. Our farm is the first farm you see on the left.

Recipe: Cauliflower Cheese Pie with Grated Potato Crust from Moosewood Cookbook
Crust:
2 cups (packed) grated raw potato
1/4 cup grated onion
1/2 tsp salt
1 egg white, lightly beaten
flour for your fingers
a little oil

Filling:
1Tbs. olive oils or butter
1 cup chopped onion
2 medium cloves garlic, minced
1/2 tsp. salt
black pepper to taste
1/2 tsp basil
1/4 tsp thyme
1 medium cauliflower, in small pieces
2 eggs
1/4 cup milk
1 cup (packed) grated cheddar
paprika

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Oil a 9-inch pie pan.
Combine grated potato and onion, salt, and egg white in a small bowl and mix well. Transfer to the pie pan and pat in to place with lightly floured fingers, building up the sides into a handsome edge.
Bake for 30 minutes, then brush the crust with a little oil and bake it 10 more minutes. Remove from oven, and turn the temperature down to 375.
Heat the olive oil or butter in a large skillet. Add onions, garlic, salt, pepper, and herbs, and saute over medium heat for about 5 minutes. Add cauliflower, stir, and cover. Cook until tender, stirring occasionally (about 8 to 10 minutes).
Spread half the cheese onto the baked crust (ok if it's still hot). Spoon the sauteed vegetables on top, then sprinkle on the remaining cheese. Beat the eggs and milk together, and pour this over the top. Dust lightly with paprika.

Tomato Pie from subscriber Melanie De Vriend.
pie crust
sliced tomatoes
In a bowl, mix:
mayo
fresh basil
fresh chives
pepper
Smear this concoction on top of the tomatoes in the pie crust
top the whole thing with shredded cheddar. Bake.
YUM!

Olive Garden's Alfredo from subscriber Melanie De Vriend
1 stick butter
1/2 cup half and half cream
8 oz cream cheese
3/4 cu grated Parmesan
Dash of salt
Garlic - to taste

Place first 4 ingredients in a sauce pan and heat, stirring, over low heat until melted and creamy.
Add salt and garlic. Serve over cooked pasta and a pile of the Seely's veggies, stir fried!

Reminders: Schedule of remaining deliveries: Oct. 3, 10, 17 and 24, Nov. 7 and 21, and Dec. 5. Farm day this Saturday! Come anytime between 10:30 and 4:30; we'll have a pot-luck at 12:30! Tour of the fields after lunch, and help with harvesting (leeks, cabbage) either before or after lunch. if you would like to come out to the farm, but can't make this one, we'll be doing it again on Oct. 25th.

Get ready for radiation of spinach and lettuce: Last month the FDA issued a new federal regulation permitting the use of ionizing irradiation for the control of food-borne pathogens and extension of shelf life in lettuce and spinach. (The USDA is also considering allowing low-level radiation of animal carcasses at slaughtering plants.) Have there been studies done on the long-term effects of such radiation? Certainly not that have been made public. Is there a more obvious solution to minimizing the amount of e-coli, salmonella, and other cases of food poisoning? Perhaps we should be taking a look at our factory farming methods of agriculture, and see how those methods are contributing to the occurrences of food poisoning; that evidence is out there, should any official or legislator have the courage to take a look at it!
Just to be safe, though, would anyone be willing to donate funds (tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars) to our farm so that we could purchase a radiation machine, too? We love new toys! (JUST KIDDING!)

Have a good (radiation-free) week!

The Seelys

"We know that dictators are quick to choose aggression, while free nations strive to resolve differences in peace." George W. Bush UN Speech Sept 2004

9/19

2008-09-26T05:42:00.000-07:00

This week's vegetables: beets, lettuce mix, basil, cilantro, parsley, scallions, zucchini/yellow squash, sweet corn, tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, roma tomatoes (for half), broccoli, baby turnips with greens, peppers

Next week: potatoes, carrots, onions, salad mix, sweet corn, lettuce?, tomatoes, peppers/eggplant, winter squash?, spinach, chinese cabbage?, cauliflower?

Soon: kohlrabi, cauliflower

Recipe: Butter-Braised Turnips adapted from How to Cook Everything by Mark Bittman
2 Tb. butter
1Tb. canola or other neutral oil
1 pound baby turnips, more or less, with the greens trimmed off.
salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
1/4 cup white wine or broth
1 Tb. balsamic vinegar or other vinegar
1 tsp. sugar
Minced fresh parsley leaves for garnish
Combine the butter and oil in a medium to large skillet that can later be covered; turn the heat to medium. When the butter melts, add the turnips and cook, stirring, until they are coated with butter, just a minute or two longer. Season with salt and pepper.
Add the remaining ingredients, except the garnish, stir, and cover. Turn the heat to low and cook until the turnips are barely tender, about 5 minutes.
Uncover and raise the heat to medium-high. Cook, stirring, until the turnips are glazed and the liquid is syrupy, another few minutes. Taste and adjust seasoning, garnish, and serve.

Basil salad dressing from epicurious.com, send in buy subscriber Julia Kathan
1 cup loosely packed fresh basil
1 1/2 tablespoons chopped shallot
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
2 tablespoons mayonnaise
6 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

Preparation
Blend all ingredients in a blender until smooth.

Cooks' notes:
• Use dressing on mixed greens or sliced tomatoes or for chicken salad.
• Dressing keeps, covered and chilled, 1 day.

Warm Turnip Green Dip from myrecipes.com

5 bacon slices, chopped

1/2 sweet onion, chopped

2 garlic cloves, chopped

1/4 cup dry white wine

1 (16-oz.) package frozen chopped turnip greens, thawed (Of course, substitute our fresh ones!)

12 ounces cream cheese, cut into pieces

1 (8-oz.) container sour cream

1/2 teaspoon dried crushed red pepper1/4 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan

1. Cook bacon in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat 5 to 6 minutes or until crisp; remove bacon, and drain on paper towels, reserving 1 Tbsp. drippings in Dutch oven.

2. Sauté onion and garlic in hot drippings 3 to 4 minutes. Add wine, and cook 1 to 2 minutes, stirring to loosen particles from bottom of Dutch oven. Stir in turnip greens, next 4 ingredients, and 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese. Cook, stirring often, 6 to 8 minutes or until cream cheese is melted and mixture is thoroughly heated. Transfer to a lightly greased 1 1/2-qt. baking dish. Sprinkle evenly with remaining 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese.3. Broil 6 inches from heat 4 to 5 minutes or until cheese is lightly browned. Sprinkle evenly with bacon.

Vegetable tidbits: We had not planned on giving beets out so soon again, since we know some of you don't especially care for them, but the newest bed of beets was growing so fast, and the beets were getting bigger and bigger, that we figured before they get too large we should give them out. Although on the large side, they are still tasty, so don't be afraid to cook them up. (Throw them in the Exchange Box if you don't care for them! There are only a few in there!) Or grill them! Days are getting shorter, the nights are getting colder, and it's getting closer to the time when a freeze wipes out the remaining basil, tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, and cucumbers. The cool temperatures are also important, on the other hand, to produce excellent cole crops (of the brassicas family, including broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, and brussels sprouts); we 'surprise' you today with some baby turnips (also a member of the brassica family), with greens; we wonder if you are pleased with this addition! (Our guess: 2/3 of you like, or don't mind, them, while 1/3 of you would just as soon not get them.)

Further salad mix suggestions: From two different subscribers we received the following, both of which offer tips for making the salad mix last longer:

"We found a way to improve storage time by using 'green bags' which absorb the gases that causes fruits and vegetables to spoil. They do work, and allow us more time to eat the food. I think they cost $10 for 20 bags. They are reusable for 8-10 uses. I'm not sure if they are biodegradable. There is an inconvenience though. The inside of the bags get wet, so must be dried with a paper towel." and, (coincidentally),

" I usually slide a sheet of paper towel (well, you could use a dishtowel) into the bag under the greens, which absorbs the moisture which will eventually start to create yucky leaves. It seems to hold that off from happening longer than when there's no towel in the bag."

The lettuce leaves do seem to last longer if they are not dripping wet, though with our spinners that we acquired this year, they should leave the farm without pools of water like sometimes has happened in the past. But it might be worthwhile to get the leaves even drier, especially if they have been, and will be, sitting in their bag for a number of days.

A possible action: We haven't been suggesting very much letter-writing, or phoning, so far this year, to help influence decisions that guide our agriculture and food policies, maybe partly because it seems both our legislators, and (especially) the non-elected members of the regulatory agencies (FDA, USDA, etc.) have been overwhelmingly coopted by the lobbyists of the major corporate entities, that citizen feedback, no matter how well-reasoned or passionately expressed, does little to sway those whose decisions affect us all. In case that's not true all the time, here's one message you could send to food processors and packages: let's not used cloned animals for food, even though the FDA has apparently okayed it. See http://ga3.org/campaign/cloning_companies, and/or click on the other 'Urgent Actions' on the Center for Food Safety's website!
What perhaps works better is for us to express ourselves through our pocketbook, as evidenced by Monsanto's giving up on its bovine growth hormone due to consumers seeking dairy products without the added hormone. Watch out, though, for what they might be trying to sneak into our food (e.g. the sugar beet industry is now beginning to accept genetically modified beet seed, after initially being against it, and all the while knowing that consumers, if given the choice, would opt for non-GMO sugar), or into our laws, without our notice! Can you believe that this very same company (Monsanto) is trying to claim patents on the pig? (I don't mean to be too harsh on Monsanto, since others are also guilty of similar feats, but how brazen, and how greedy, can they get?) If you are dubious of this last accusation, check out the article at: http://www.greenpeace.org/international/news/monsanto-pig-patent-111

Reminders: Unfold your box neatly. (Now you should know how, with both the sheet with pictures, as well as the You-tube clip, that we have made available to you!) And place it neatly in a pile at your pick-up site. The containers that we send cherry tomatoes, green beans, eggs, etc., in can be brought back to your pick-up site, but at this point don't bring back odd-shaped containers that you get from the store that contained other produce, that don't nest neatly with the containers you have received from us. Work/fun day at the farm on the 27th of September; details again next week. We do have chickens and pork available in case you've missed an earlier newsletter; contact us for details. Grass-fed beef info coming soon as well.

Have a great week!

The Seelys

"It is part of the general pattern of misguided policy that our country is now geared to an arms economy which was bred in an artificually induced psychosis of war hysteria and nurtured upon an incessant propaganda of fear." -General Douglas MacArthur, Speech, May 15, 1951

9/12/08

2008-09-12T05:38:00.000-07:00

In your box this week: watermelon or cantaloupe, sweet corn, cucumbers, roma tomatoes, zucchini, eggplant, yellow squash (for full shares), scallions, carrots, onions, cherry tomatoes, salad mix, tomatoes, peppers, green beans, bok choi, lettuce (for full shares), kale. Look for chard and/or arugula in the Exchange Boxes.

Next week: tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, salad mix, parsley, basil?, cilantro?, chinese cabbage, beets

Soon: potatoes, broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, delicata squash

Recipe: Simple Carrot Salad, a Springdale Farm Special
Grated carrots
mayonnaise
salt
dried dill
nutritional yeast (optional)
raisins
toasted sunflower seeds
Mix as much mayonnaise as you'd like. Add salt, nutritional yeast (optional) and dried dill to taste. Mix in raisins and sprinkle the toasted sunflower seeds over the top of the salad. Enjoy!

Kale-Potato soup - The New Laurel¹s Kitchen
1 Tblsp. butter 1 large onion, chopped 2 large potatoes
1 clove garlic, minced 1 large bunch kale salt & black pepper to taste
5 cups chicken or vegetable broth, divided (or use part stock part water)
Heat butter in skillet, add onion and sauté until nearly tender. Add garlic and continue to cook until onion is translucent and golden. Add potatoes and 2 cups of the stock; simmer, covered, until potatoes start to soften around the edges. Meanwhile, wash kale, remove stems, chop and steam. When potatoes are very tender, pureé half of them with remaining stock, salt and pepper. Combine everything and heat gently, thinning, if necessary, by adding hot water or milk. Four servings.

Schedule of remaining deliveries: Here are the dates for the remaining deliveries for this season: Sept. 19 and 26, Oct. 3, 10, 17, and 24, Nov. 7 and 21, and Dec. 5. Note that there will be no deliveries on Friday, Oct. 31, and Nov. 14 and 28. The storage share delivery date is still to be determined.

Feedback received on the salad mix: Perhaps not surprising, given that we have over 500 full and half shares, the variety of responses to our request for feedback on the addition of non-lettuce greens to the lettuce mix was extensive. For example:

" I LOVE the stronger tasting greens. The other mixes, with no arugula or other spicy or strong tasting greens, can be very boring and dull."

"We prefer the plain salad mix, but it is still nice to change it up every now and then."

"We pick through and find that much of the less traditional greens in the salad mix have overpowering flavors (one in particular is quite bitter) that detract from what WE are used to. We've given it the ol' college try and just cannot develop an appreciation for that taste. So we just pick many of the more 'flavorful' greens out. It doesn't take much to overpower the rest, just like--if you're not a fan of cilantro--a few sprigs of cilantro completely change the entire flavor of the recipe."

"LOVE IT"
"We do like the Asian greens mixed in"

"We prefer the plain salad mix, but it is still nice to change it up every now and then. We REALLY like the washing and spinning!"

"Loved the arugula and other spicy bits in the salad mix"

"We did not care for the salad mix this week at all. The addition of the chard and beet tops made it taste pretty bitter. All of the other salad mixes have been wonderful, but this week we had to pick out the beet/chard leaves (took a while because there were a lot!). I should mention that white I do like beets, I don't use the beet tops, and we are not swiss chard fans, so that goes in to the exchange box for us. Just wanted to give you some feedback on the thought of adding these greens to our lettuce mix on a more regular basis as you were considering. It is the one thing so far this year that we didn't care for. Again, we absolutely adore the lettuce mixes though!"

Perhaps, as a compromise, we will often include some of the other greens, but not always! Thanks for the feedback!

On the longevity of the salad mix: Sometimes the salad mix stores well, and other times it goes bad quickly. Why? Some of the factors include the growing conditions -- including fertility and moisture levels --in the field the lettuce is planted in; the varieties of lettuce chosen; how 'old' the salad mix is when it is harvested; how densely the lettuce is planted; the length of time between harvesting and delivering; how tenderly it is handled in harvesting, washing, drying, and bagging; how hot it is on the delivery day; and how long it is kept without refrigeration (i.e. when it is picked up and placed in your home refrigerator). If we have made good and timely decisions on all of the above (and perhaps other) factors, then it is likely that the salad mix would last for the better part of a week. If we (or nature or you) did not do a good job on one or several of the above, then the mix can start to deteriorate in a day or two. Besides picking up your box as soon as possible, and refrigerating the mix asap, there's not a whole lot that you can do about it to influence its longevity. (Perhaps you could also pick out the bad leaf or two that may be found upon initially receiving your box.) We could also possibly look into vacuum sealing bags which, by limiting the oxygen that the leaves are exposed to, drastically curtails the spoilage rate. We are not sure of the expense of such a solution, nor how much we'd actually gain by vacuum sealing the bags we put the mix in, so we're not actively looking at that possibility, though it certainly might be worth considering. Actually we are considering moving over to the rigid plastic containers like the ones we put cherry tomatoes in, since there are now biodegradable clamshell containers. They are much more expensive than the ziplock bags we currently use, but at least they do not contribute to the problems associated with plastic production and disposal. A couple of you suggested not washing the lettuce at all, with the hope that it would store longer by not getting wet, but the leaves would actually become limp within hours if they are not hydrated, so we do need to get them wet, and keep them moist, for them to stay fresh. We also expect that many of you like the convenience of not having to wash the lettuce so thoroughly, if at all, before putting it into your favorite salad bowl. We do, too!

In other news: Hooray for Monsanto's unloading their rBST (also called rBGH, or bovine growth hormone) product, after consumer concern over its safety, as well as the pledge of many food processors to use only milk that was not produced from cows injected with their bio-engineered sex hormone. Although somewhat successful in inducing cows to give more milk, Posilac (their trade name for the product) was not healthy for the cows, and was not proven to be safe for humans. Monsanto had fought tooth and nail to prevent Posilac milk to be labeled as such, and legally fought farmers and dairy processors and retailers who labeled their products that didn't contain milk from Posilac-injected cows as rBGH free, but even giants such as Wal-Mart responded to consumer rejection of rBGH by selling milk without the hormone, and so Monsanto has apparently decided to sell their Posilac line. Consumers can claim a small victory, though another competitor has bought the product, so we cannot yet exclaim R.I.P.

Have a great week!

The Seelys

Week of 9/5

2008-09-05T05:39:00.000-07:00

This week's vegetables: salad mix, lettuce (for half shares), garlic, basil, cucumbers, tomatoes, roma tomatoes (for full shares), cherry tomatoes, leeks, cilantro, peppers, sweet corn, watermelons, cantaloupe, beets, zucchini, yellow squash (for full shares), swiss chard (for full shares), spinach

Next week: salad mix, scallions, bok choi?, sweet corn, tomatoes, carrots, cukes, cantaloupe, peppers/eggplant

NOTE: The watermelons and cantaloupe did not fit into the full share boxes, so the full shares should take one watermelon and one cantaloupe from the black crates situated close to your boxes. No kale (as promised) this week. You will receive it next week.

FALL FARM DAYS: Join us on Saturday, Sept. 27th, and/or Saturday, Oct. 25th, at the farm to see where your produce is coming from. We'll probably be harvesting something on both of those days, perhaps even planting garlic on the October date, amidst sharing a potluck meal, and touring around our fields and buildings. (Unfortunately, no chickens this year!) Come anytime between 9:30 and 4, and we'll have the potluck meal at 12:30.

St. Germain Soup from subscriber Alicia Hitzler Burke
The name is in honor of a group vacation to the Northwoods of Wisconsin. My friend Jill created this using fresh veggies from her garden and froze it and shared it with friends in St. Germain.

3-4 pounds of medium sized zucchini chopped into approx 1" pieces.
1 very large onion chopped (any kind but red)
3-4 Tbl. olive oil
1-2 cloves garlic crushed
1/2 cup to 1 cup (depending on your taste) of fresh basil chopped.
salt and pepper to taste
1 large can of tomato juice

Heat oil in large frying pan, add chopped onion and zucchini, cook on med-hi heat until soft and breaking down about 10-15 minutes, add salt and pepper, stir as needed, add garlic and basil. Cook for a few additional minutes. Mixture should appear soft/loose but semi firm.
Add 1/2 of this mixture into the blender and add 1/2 the can of tomato juice, puree.
Do the same with the remaining mixture and juice, combine all of it in a large sauce pan, heat on med-low, when gently simmering, add 1 cup heavy whipping cream or 1/2 and 1/2. FYI, do not boil or simmer once cream is added.Turn off and serve, garnish with basil ribbons, croûtons, hard cheese shavings( Fontina, Parmesan, Romano,)

To make ahead and freeze follow all of the instructions, but omit the cream, when ready to defrost and heat, simmer until heated through then add the cream and serve.

HOMEMADE ZUCCHINI RELISH sent in by subscriber Edel Logan

Hands-on time: 60 minutes up front, an hour or so to can
Time to table: 6 hours
Makes 8 or so pints but can be canned in half pints if preferred

VEGETABLES
15 cups grated zucchini, from about 4 + pounds of fresh zucchini
1 pound carrots, grated
6 cups chopped onion, from about 5 onions
8 sweet peppers, a mix of red and green, chopped (I used 2 red, 6 green)
1/3 cup table salt (Linda's sister suggests using pickling salt)

Mix these together in a very large bowl. Let stand at least three hours. (This batch stood overnight.) Drain in a colander or wrap in cheesecloth so the excess liquid can be squeezed out.

LIQUID & SPICES
3 cups vinegar (cider is preferred because it's gentler and more fruity but I used plain white vinegar and it was fine)
6 cups sugar
3 teaspoon celery seed
1-1/2 teaspoons black pepper
1-1/2 teaspoons turmeric
1-1/2 teaspoons nutmeg
3 tablespoons cornstarch stirred into a little cold water to make a paste

Mix ingredients in a very large kettle, stir until sugar is dissolved. Add drained vegetables and bring to a boil. Let cook just a few minutes, until liquid is mostly gone. Transfer relish into sterilized jars and seal. Process in a hot water bath for 10 minutes.

KITCHEN NOTES
Large zucchini can be seedy and spongy in the centers -- cut this out before grating. If large pieces of skin get through the grater, pull these out, they'll likely be tough. The small slivers cook fine, however.
Grate the zucchini and carrots in the food processor. Onion and peppers get mushy in the food processor so should be chopped by hand.

Mexican Vegetable Medley (Colache) from Rolling Prairie Cookbook

2 tablespoons oil
2 cloves garlic, minced or pressed
1 small onion, chopped
3 or 4 small summer squash (any variety or color), cut in 1/4 inch thick slices
1 red bell pepper, cut in matchsticks
2 cups corn kernels (fresh is best)
2 medium tomatoes, peeled and coarsely chopped
1/2 teaspoon salt
freshly ground black pepper to taste
1/4 cup (or more to taste) chopped fresh cilantro

Heat oil in a large, deep skillet over medium heat. Add the garlic and onions. Saute for 2 to 3 minutes. Add the squash and bell pepper. Saute for another minute or two. Add corn and chopped tomatoes. Reduce heat to medium-low. Cover and simmer vegetables until just tender - approximately 5 minutes. If vegetables begin to stick, or mixture seems too dry, add a small amount of water. Season with salt and pepper. Toss in the cilantro. Serve immediately. Serves 6.

Cheese and Leek Quiche from subscriber Marsha Christensen

3 eggs
1 8-oz container whipping cream
9 inch deep pie crust
6-oz cheddar cheese
1 leek, finely chopped
chives, optional
dash of salt, pepper, garlic pwd, garlic salt

If you like things spicy, I usually add Louisiana hot sauce and crushed red peppers. Add everything together and stir, pour into crust and bake at 425 for approximately 30 minutes. Enjoy!

Have a great week!

The Seelys

Week of 8/29

2008-08-29T05:38:00.000-07:00

In your box this week: lettuce, swiss chard (half shares), salad mix, tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, roma tomatoes, parsley, yellow squash, carrots, zucchini, cucumbers, cantaloupe, onions, peppers, eggplant (half shares), watermelon (in separate crates).

Coming next week: cucumbers, zucchini, sweet corn, leeks, tomatoes, watermelon?, lettuce/salad mix, beans?, cantaloupe, cilantro, kale, Swiss chard (for full shares), basil?

Notice! We will have watermelons at your pick-up site, but they are not in your box. Both full shares and half shares can take one from the black crates.

Peaches coming today
For those who ordered peaches, they will be delivered today. We will not be putting a bill in your box. If you ordered 13lbs your total is $23 and if you ordered 25lbs your total comes to $43. Just mail us a check made out to Springdale Farm (address below). If the boxes that the peaches came in are still in good shape you can return them, and the same with the cherry boxes.

Visiting the farm
Several of you have requested a date when you can come to the farm. Next week Monday is a holiday for many of you, but we will still be harvesting and packing veggies so if you'd like to come help, you'd be welcome to! We will be planning another Saturday in the fall when we will have our annual farm day and pot-luck, but we have not decided on a date yet. We will let you know next week!

Organic pork, and chickens, and grass-fed beef available
Our final supply of organic pork is in the freezer and we'd love to find a home for it! The hogs were raised organically and their processing included no msg, nitrates, and the like. We are selling the hogs by the quarter, and the cost for a 1/4 hog which receives all of the steaks, chops, and hams is $4 per pound, and includes 40-45 lbs of meat (the approximate equivalent of a full share sized box). There is an additional $20 charge if you want the ham and bacon smoked. Approximately 8-10 lbs of the meat will come to you as ground pork, unless you'd like it made into breakfast links and/or brats, in which case there would be an additional $15 charge.

Chickens will also be available in a couple of weeks. They are free-range and their feed did not contain hormones or antibiotics. We sell only the whole chicken, and they weigh approximately 5 lbs. The cost is $2.50 per pound, and if you buy 10 chickens, you'll get the 11th free.

We have a limited supply of both chickens and pork, so we're selling it at a first come, first served basis.

The grass-fed beef will also be available later in the fall.

September 1st installment checks
We will be depositing the final installment check next week, a day or two after September 1st.

Recipes: Swiss Chard Ribs with Pasta and Cream (serves 4)
1 lb swiss chard, yielding 2 cups of chopped ribs
1/4 cup (half a stick) butter
3/4 to 1 cup heavy cream
Enough dry pasta to make about one quart of cooked pasta (use rice pasta if gluten-free is required)
Salt and pepper
1 Separate the ribs from the greens. (Check out http://www.somethinginseason.com/2006/03/preparing-leafy-greens-cutting.html for an easy way to do so.) Cut the ribs into 1/2-inch to 1-inch pieces. Blanch the ribs in lightly salted boiling water for 3 minutes.
2 Melt butter in a saucepan on medium heat. Add the drained, blanched ribs and simmer for 4 minutes. Add heavy cream and cook until cream reduces by two-thirds.
3 While the cream is reducing, cook up your pasta according to the pasta's package directions.
4 Mix creamed chard with pasta. Season lightly with salt and freshly ground pepper.

White Bean Soup With Swiss Chard from Amy Stanley
8 ounces great northern beans
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 large onions, chopped (red & white)
2-3 carrots, peeled and finely chopped
1/2 lb red swiss chard, ribs and leaves coarsely chopped
5 cups vegetable broth
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 bay leaf
1 teaspoon fresh coarse ground black pepper
3 tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped

1. Place the beans in a large pot and cover with water. Let them soak overnight.
2. The next day, drain the beans, reserving 2 cups of liquid.
3. In a large pot, heat the oil. Add the onions and saute until tender, about 5 minutes. Add the carrots and saute for an additonal 3 minutes. Add the chard and cook until wilted, about 3 minutes. Add the broth, reserved bean liquid, beans, garlic and bay leaf. Partially cover and simmer for 1-2 hours, until beans are tender.
4. Remove bay leaf. Puree half of the soup in a blender. Return to pot with remaining soup. Add salt, pepper and parsley.

Juicy Sauteed Swiss Chard
1 bunch swiss chard
2 tsp sugar
2Tbsp. olive oil
1/8 tsp tabasco sauce
1 small onion
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil
2 medium tomatoes
1/4 cup sour cream
2 Tbsp. red wine vinegar
salt & pepper
Trim and chop chard, dicarding any tough stems. In a large skillet, heat olive oil, add onions and garlic, and saute 2-3mn until softened. Add chard, tossing to coat leaves. Cover pan with lid and heat 3-5 mn until chard is wilted and tender. Add tomates, vinegar, sugar, tabasco sauce and basil. Heat 2-3 mn. Remove from heat; mix in sour cream. Add salt and pepper to taste. Makes 4-6 servings.

Crustless Swiss Chard Quiche from recipezaar.com
1 teaspoon olive oil
1/2 sweet onion
1/2 bunch swiss chard
2 1/2 cups shredded cheese
4 eggs
1 cup skim milk
salt
pepper
Directions
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.Wash and dry swiss chard. Cut off the very ends of the stems. Roughly chop (leaving stems intact) the chard.Add onion and Chard to the oil and saute until stems are tender (do not overcook). Add salt & pepper to taste.Meanwhile, grate 2.5 cups of cheese. Use whatever varieties you want/have. Be creative! I used Swiss, Cheddar, Parmesan, and Cojito.Wisk eggs. Add milk and cheese. Fold in the onion/chard mixture. Add salt & pepper to taste, if necessary.Pour into a pie dish that has been sprayed with nonstick cooking spray. Bake for 35-45 minutes or until golden brown and no liquid seeps when you poke it with a knife.

Have a great week!

Week of 8/22/08

2008-08-22T05:53:00.001-07:00

This week's vegetables: lettuce, salad mix, leeks, zucchini, summer squash, cucumbers, basil, yellow and green beans, sweet corn, tomatoes, cherry tomatoes (half shares), roma tomatoes, eggplant (half shares)

Next week: lettuce/salad mix, onions, zucchini, cucumbers, sweet corn?, beans?, tomatoes, carrots, parsley, swiss chard

Soon: melons/watermelons, potatoes

Vegetable tidbits: We had planned to give out chard this week, but harvesting everything else took way too much time, and the chard should still be in excellent shape next week (unlike the corn, the salad mix, the tomatoes, etc. which do not last anywhere near that long in the field. ) To save transplanting time, we put a couple of leek seeds together in our seeding flats, and then transplanted them together in the field. Without a lot of elbow room in the field, the leeks didn't develop into the full-sized leeks that is possible, but instead turned into more of a 'baby' leek size. The flavor will be the same; only the diameter of the leeks is smaller than what we may be accustomed to.

Today's salad mix had a relatively high (35?) percentage of chard and beet greens as components of the mix. We wonder if you like this addition, or would rather have us rely predominantly on different varieties of lettuce, and not include the immature beets and chard. It's a bit more of a hassle for us, but if it were up to us, we would opt for a greater variety of components of the salad mix, including both the beets and chard, as well as the assorted spicier greens, which were also in today's mix.

For the rest of this season, just a couple more times we will include the beets/chard in the lettuce mix, though in the future, we could make it a regular addition to the mix.

Speaking of the spicier greens, in addition to putting some arugula in the mix, we also put bunches of arugula in the Exchange Boxes, for those who like it, or for those who wonder what it may be if you see it in the Exchange Box. In the summer and fall, arugula is not very difficult for us to grow, so if the demand were there, we could give everyone bunches of it a few or several times during the season.

Be forewarned that a percentage of the sweet corn will have some critters (e.g. worms) accompanying them. One common method of organically preventing the worms from entering the ears of corn is to 'inoculate' each ear of corn at an early stage of the plant's tasseling, introducing a (organically approved) bacteria which when ingested by the larvae ends up killing the larvae. To actually apply this bacteria, though, requires taking something similar to an intravenous needle, and manually injecting (by hand) the bacteria into every (future) ear. Practically, I refuse to take such an inordinate amount of time to attempt to prevent worms from establishing themselves into our ears of corn. But another possible method involves spraying the bacteria, using a high-pressure misting sprayer that we now have, over the entire planting of corn, which would take us less than an hour vs. the hours the hand-held injecting system requires. We are trying this system on our later plantings of sweet corn; we'll see how successful it is!

Recipe/Serving Suggestion: Grilled Corn
Remove all but the innermost layer of the husk of the corn. (Grilling with the husk completely removed loses some of the corn juices, while keeping the entire husk on doesn't allow the grilled flavor to come through.) Cut the long silks showing through the tip of the ear. Grill the corn over medium-hot heat, rolling 1/4 turn every two minutes for a total of 8 minutes. The husk will be charred, and you'll be able to see the dark outlines of the kernels. Remove the husk, and dip in butter! (Source: Outpost Exchange, July, 2008)

Dilled Cucumber Dressing

3 Cups
1 cup mayonnaise
2 Tbs fresh dill leaves, chopped finely
1 clove garlic, minced
1 Tbs chives, minced
1 tsp lemon pepper
2 cups cucumbers, pared, seeded & chopped
1 cup yogurt, plain

Stir the mayonnaise, dill, garlic, chives and pepper together. Add cucumbers. Fold in the yogurt. Chill.

Cucumber Salad with Mint and Feta from simplyrecipes.com
INGREDIENTS
Salt and freshly ground pepper
1/4 pound feta cheese
Olive oil
White vinegar
10 mint leaves thinly slice
2 or 3 red radishes thinly sliced
1/4 red onion thinly sliced and cut into 1-inch long segment
1 lb cucumbers.
METHOD
In a medium sized bowl, gently toss together the sliced cucumbers, red onion, radishes, mint leaves with a little bit of white vinegar and olive oil, salt and pepper to taste. Right before serving, sprinkle on crumbled bits of feta cheese. Serve immediately. Serves 4.

A Springdale Farm website: Thanks to Sheboygan's Josh Harvey, of snowshoefilms.com (which, incidentally, we encourage you to visit to learn of many stories that our conventional media has chosen not to pursue as significant), we are now the proprietors of the website www.springdalefarmcsa.org. Although still in its infancy, the site will eventually be a home to the recipes that we have sharing over the past years, along with some basic information about what the farm offers and aspires to. For now, we would call your attention to the 4-minute clip that can be accessed through the home page of the site, (in fact, it's almost the only thing on the home page), which instructs you as a shareholder who receives our produce in waxed boxes, how you might best unfold the boxes upon returning them to the pick-up sites so that they may be re-used multiple times. Next week we will also be including in every box a single paged sheet with pictures that depict the same procedure, forcing all of you to entertain the idea that there might be a wrong way and a right way to unfold the boxes, but the video will definitely be a bit more humorous to watch than the single paged sheet, so for those with (high-speed) internet access, you may choose to check it out directly. (P.S. my chipped tooth has, in the meantime, been fixed.) Josh is also helping us put together a collection of interviews and documentaries that present an assortment of issues related to our food and agriculture that might be of interest to any or all of us; look for it sometime in the near future!

Have a great week!

The Seelys

8-15-08

2008-08-15T05:26:00.001-07:00

n your box today: sweet corn, cucumbers, onions, zucchini, carrots, peppers, yellow squash (for half shares), tomatoes, eggplant (for half shares), green beans, yellow beans, lettuce, beets with tops (for full shares), cilantro (for full shares)

Next week: leeks, swiss chard, zucchini, tomatoes, cucumbers, corn?, beans, basil

Soon: peppers and eggplant are starting to dribble in. Melons are still a few weeks away.

Vegetable tidbits: Today's lettuce mix includes a bunch of mildly spicy greens, including arugula, red kale, and an assortment of Asian greens (mizuna, tatsoi, etc.). We will occasionally be adding these, and perhaps some other non-lettuce greens (including baby spinach, beets and swiss chard) to give the mix a little variety of taste, texture, and appearance. It's disappointing to see our first (of four) corn planting, which was disturbed by the flooding this spring, not be able to form decent ears to give out this week. Usually we would be distributing corn by now. The plants had showed some promise, in rebounding from the stress of the excess water in the fields, but didn't quite get all their 'gears' in order to come up with something worth harvesting and adding to your box. Later plantings, which begin as early as next week, look pretty strong, so we expect corn soon

Recipe: Mock Apple Crisp from Subscriber Sarah Kohls

Filling: In a medium saucepan, simmer 8 c. of peeled and sliced zucchini with 1 c. lemon juice until the zucchini is tender. Add: 1 c. sugar, 1 tsp cinnamon and 1/2 tsp nutmeg. Let cool at least 15 - 20 minutes.

For the crust: With a pastry blender, mix together 4 c. flour, 1 1/2 c. margarine, 2/3 c. white sugar and 1 c. brown sugar.

Pat 1/2 of crust mixture in a 9 X 13 pan. Bake 10 minutes at 350 degrees.

Spoon cooled zucchini mixture over crust and sprinkle the remaining crust mixture on top. Bake for 45 minutes at 350 degrees. Serve with whipped topping or ice cream for a special treat.

Note: This recipe makes a lot of crust - you can reduce the crust portion by about 1/3 if you prefer less crust.

Fall outlook: Looks like it will be a good brussels sprouts year this year; the plants look quite healthy, and there are a lot of them! Much less cabbage, which will please some of you who repeatedly ask us to cut down on the number of times we give out cabbage. Fall broccoli and cauliflower look good as well. The crops that love the hot weather (such as eggplant, peppers, tomatoes, and corn) have definitely been slow developing this year, so we need to continue to be patient to let these crops mature at their own speed.;

Peach ordering: Watch out for an announcement about peaches coming soon. We will be heading out to make a rendezvous with a Michigan grower who produces (unfortunately again not organic) luscious peaches that are picked tree-ripe, and can bring back additional boxes, like we did with the cherries, for those who would be interested in ordering some.

Have a great week!

The Seelys

Next Week's Vegetables

2008-08-11T05:55:00.000-07:00

Dear Subscribers and Friends,

I apologize for forgetting to send you a veggie e-mail last week. Two
weddings in one weekend is too much,it threw me off!

Here we go for the week of August 12th and 15th:

Cucumbers
not as many as previous weeks

Zucchini and Summer Squash
same,not as many,luckily?!

Green Beans
as beautiful as ever,never had such a consistent good quality bean all summer long!

Carrots

Beets with greens
except for Friday half shares,they got theirs last week

Tomatoes

Spanish Onions

Salad Mix
we are not sure on this one,we'll see what happens over the weekend

Green Peppers and Corn
might be ready for picking starting on Friday

We are still holding up pretty good this summer,usually we are
burnt out by now but it hasn't been too hot yet...!! We are very glad
about that!!!

Next week the leeks will enter the stage! I can't wait,it is one of
my favorites....

Adios,

For the farm,

Bernadette

Week of 8/8/08

2008-08-08T06:11:00.001-07:00

This week's vegetables: lettuce mix, red torpedo and round onions, cucumbers, zucchini, summer squash, tomatoes, basil, beets (half shares), green beans, garlic, broccoli (full shares), parsley

Next week/soon: spanish onions, leeks, sweet corn, more tomatoes, lettuce, eggplant, peppers, green beans, swiss chard, beets

Vegetable tidbits: Lots of cucumbers and zucchini. They won't last forever though. Maybe only another month of zucchini! Looks like we'll have lots of corn coming on soon! Tomatoes are trickling in, though there should be lots more in a few weeks.

Computer down: And sorry for the lack of list of expected veggies last Friday.

Recipe: Moroccan Cucumber Salad

This fresh salad of grated cucumbers is flavored with orange zest and juice and a touch of cinnamon for an exotic and fresh taste. Refreshing and cool during the summer heat, it goes well with spicy or grilled food. Quantities can be adjusted proportionately.
2 cucumbers, peeled, seeded, and grated
Zest of one orange
Juice of one orange
1 tsp. sugar
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
fresh pepper
freshly chopped parsley
Peel, seed, and coarsely grate cucumbers. Drain about 15 minutes in a colander.
Use a grater or zester to remove the zest (surface rind) from the orange and mix it with the cucumber. Add the juice of the zested orange to the cucumbers. Mix in sugar, cinnamon, and fresh pepper. Adjust seasoning to taste, adding salt if you wish.
Garnish with fresh parsely. Serve immediately.

Springdale Farm Favorite Cucumber Salad

Three cucumbers, sliced
1-2 tomatoes, chopped (optional)
mayonnaise
salt
pepper
dried dill

Add as much mayo, salt, pepper, and dill to the cucumbers as you'd like. Enjoy! We eat this salad at least once a week!

Have a good week!

A Recipe

2008-08-02T10:01:00.001-07:00

Dear Subscribers,

Here is a recipe forwarded to us by subscriber Amy Stanley.

Anneke Seely

Chicken and Green Beans in Spicy Peanut Sauce!

Gotta love this dish. One of our all time favorites. COOKS NOTES: Substitute baby spinach (or swiss chard!) for green beans. We also like to serve with basmati rice.

30 min | 15 min prep

SERVES 4

* 1 cup uncooked long grain white rice
* 2 cups water
* 1 lb fresh green beans, trimmed and snapped
* 2 teaspoons olive oil
* 1 lb skinless boneless chicken breast halves, cut into chunks
* 3/4 cup low sodium chicken broth
* 1/3 cup smooth peanut butter
* 2 teaspoons honey
* 1 tablespoon low sodium soy sauce
* 1 teaspoon red chili paste
* 2 tablespoons lemon juice
* 3 green onions, thinly sliced
* 2 tablespoons chopped peanuts (optional)

1. Bring the rice and water to boil in a pot. Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer 20 minutes.
2. Place green beans in a pot fitted with a steamer basket over boiling water, and steam 10 minutes, or until tender but crisp.
3. Heat the oil in a skillet, and cook the chicken 5 minutes on each side, or until juices run clear.
4. Mix the chicken broth, peanut butter, honey, soy sauce, chile paste, lemon juice in a saucepan over medium heat.
5. Cook and stir 5 minutes, until slightly thickened.
6. Mix in the green beans and rice.
7. Serve over rice. Garnish with green onions and peanuts.

Week of August 1, 2008

2008-08-01T05:34:00.001-07:00

This week's vegetables: beets w/tops, red/torpedo onions, Swiss chard, cucumbers, zucchini, summer squash, tomato, scallions, carrots, broccoli, green/yellow beans, cherry tomatoes (full shares), eggplant (full shares), salad mix

Next week: mushrooms?, torpedo onions, parsley, cucumbers, zucchini/summer squash, lettuce mix

Soon: leeks, more tomatoes, Spanish onions, sweet corn

Vegetable tidbits: Those that received broccoli this week should eat it soon -- it will not keep so well at this time of year. Those that do not like beets, be sure to place them in the Exchange Box -- others would be happy to take them off of your hands. For those unfamiliar with Swiss chard, today's new vegetable, check out the recipe below. Expect carrots on average every two weeks from here on out.

Salmon wrapped in swiss chard from subscriber Sarah Wood
150g butter, diced
300g mushrooms, sliced
4 large leaves of Swiss chard
4 salmon fillets, skinned
fish stock fresh, cube or concentrate made up to 300ml
a small piece of fresh horseradish, grated or a spoonful from a decent jar
1.Heat a couple of cubes of butter in a pan and cook the mushrooms until golden and caramelised, then cool.
2.Cut the Swiss chard leaves from the stalk and central veins. Shred the stalks and simmer for 2 minutes. Lay a leaf down and put a salmon fillet on top. Put some cooled mushrooms on top of the fillet and wrap tightly so it forms a neat parcel. Repeat to make 4 parcels.
3.Steam the salmon parcels in a steamer set over a pan of simmering water for 6 minutes. Meanwhile, bring the fish stock to a simmer in a pan, add the butter, then use a hand-blender or whisk to emulsify and thicken it. Season. Add the horseradish and the Swiss chard stalks and heat through. Serve with the salmon.

Juicy Sauteed Swiss Chard
1 bunch swiss chard
2 tsp sugar
2Tbsp. olive oil
1/8 tsp tabasco sauce
1 small onion
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil
2 medium tomatoes
1/4 cup sour cream
2 Tbsp. red wine vinegar
salt & pepper
Trim and chop chard, dicarding any tough stems. In a large skillet, heat olive oil, add onions and garlic, and saute 2-3mn until softened. Add chard, tossing to coat leaves. Cover pan with lid and heat 3-5 mn until chard is wilted and tender. Add tomates, vinegar, sugar, tabasco sauce and basil. Heat 2-3 mn. Remove from heat; mix in sour cream. Add salt and pepper to taste. Makes 4-6 servings.

White Bean Soup With Swiss Chard from Amy Stanley
8 ounces great northern beans
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 large onions, chopped (red & white)
2-3 carrots, peeled and finely chopped
1/2 lb red swiss chard, ribs and leaves coarsely chopped
5 cups vegetable broth
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 bay leaf
1 teaspoon fresh coarse ground black pepper
3 tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped
1. Place the beans in a large pot and cover with water. Let them soak overnight.
2. The next day, drain the beans, reserving 2 cups of liquid.
3. In a large pot, heat the oil. Add the onions and saute until tender, about 5 minutes. Add the carrots and saute for an additonal 3 minutes. Add the chard and cook until wilted, about 3 minutes. Add the broth, reserved bean liquid, beans, garlic and bay leaf. Partially cover and simmer for 1-2 hours, until beans are tender.
4. Remove bay leaf. Puree half of the soup in a blender. Return to pot with remaining soup. Add salt, pepper and parsley.

Have a great week!

The Seelys

7/25 Vegetables

2008-07-25T05:45:00.000-07:00

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

2008-07-19T07:08:00.001-07:00

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

2008-07-18T08:11:00.001-07:00

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

2008-07-18T05:54:00.000-07:00

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:

2008-07-12T05:00:00.000-07:00

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

2008-07-11T14:44:00.000-07:00

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

2008-07-10T10:37:00.000-07:00

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

2008-07-03T05:53:00.000-07:00

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

Next Week's Vegies

2008-06-29T06:38:00.000-07:00

Dear Subscribers,

Expected vegetables for July 1st and July 3rd (we will deliver on Thursday this coming week,same times and places!):

Sugar snap peas

Mushrooms These are from a nearby organic farm

Spinach For Tuesday folks. Friday got it last week. Many (organic) farms, including us, had trouble growing spinach this spring so we are glad we have some! We wash the spinach and spin dried it this time so you can eat it right out of the bag. No need to wash it again!

Garlic-Scapes

Parsley

Zucchini

Summer squash This is the yellow pear shaped one. Some will receive this not all because it is just coming on.We keep track of who gets what and make sure that everyone gets the same amount!

Salad mix Which now only includes all kinds of lettuces. We wash this mix and then spin dry it so you can eat it right out of the bag. No need to wash it again!

Strawberries Strawberries are a difficult fruit to grow organically partly because they are a perennial and so you have to weed your strawberry patch all through the year. Last year we didn't keep up with the weeds so this year we have less. We continue our "fight" against our foe and hope that we can keep all the strawberries weeded this summer so that we will have more next year!

Scallions

Broccoli

Beets (may be) It is raining right now and we hope that by Monday the beets are big enough to pick! I personally love the beets especially in the spring! The "old" ones from last year don't compare!

A notice for folks that pick up at Sylvan Studios!!!!!
Matt Bohlman a fellow subscriber who owns the building is going to take all the boxes that are left after 6pm on Fridays and will put them in the cooler at his italian restaurant, Pizzeria Tazza on 5010 West Vliet Street. If you forget to pick up your box on Friday you can go to Pizzeria Tazza on SATURDAY from 11:30am till 5pm to retrieve your box. Peter and I really appreciate Matt doing that for you all and I hope you do too! We ask you not to make it a habit to pick up on Saturdays since that is NOT the pick up day,this solution is just for emergencies!

June 27th, 2008

2008-06-27T08:56:00.001-07:00

This week's vegetables: spinach, lettuce, scallions, strawberries, sugar snap peas, maple syrup, zucchini, broccoli (half shares)

Next week/soon: peas, strawberries, broccoli, scallions, zucchini, lettuce, spinach?, beets, parsley, pearl onions, lettuce mix, scapes

Vegetable tidbits: You don't need to 'shell' the peas; the whole pod can be eaten!

Recipe: "Slair" from subscriber Melanie De Vriend.

"This is an old Dutch family recipe. It's a vague recipe, no one has really written it down, but it's nice to use up a lot of lettuce."

bacon - fried crisp, save grease
leaf lettuce - preferrably fresh from garden
1 small onion, minced, optional (could also use scallions or chives)
a medium sized pot of freshly mashed potatoes
hard boiled eggs, chopped (also optional)
4 T vinegar
8 T water

Clean lettuce, tear into pieces, and place in large bowl, along with minced onion if desired.
Pour a little bacon grease over the lettuce to wilt the leaves. Add crumbled bacon, mashed potatoes,
and eggs. Heat water and vinegar on the stove until warm, and add slowly to the potato mixture.
Should have a wet or "sloppy" texture. Good plain or with meatballs.

Pasta with Sugar Snap Peas, Asparagus, and Parmesan cheese from cooks.com

1 lb. asparagus, trimmed, cut into 1 1/2 inch pieces
1/2 lb. bow-tie pasta
1/2 lb. sugar snap peas or snow peas, trimmed
3 tbsp. olive oil
1/2 c. freshly grated Parmesan cheese (about 1 1/2 oz.)
Additional freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Add asparagus to large pot of boiling salted water. Cook until just crisp-tender. Drain. Cook pasta in separate pot of water, boiling until just tender but still firm to the bite. Add peas and boil two minutes. Drain well. Return pasta, peas and asparagus to pot. Add oil and toss to coat. Add 1/2 cup cheese. Season with salt and pepper. Serve immediately, adding cheese.

Spicy Sugar Snap peas with Mustard

1 lb. fresh sugar snap peas
1 tbsp. whole mustard seeds
4 tbsp. vegetable oil
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 hot dried red chili
Salt and pepper to taste

Heat the oil in a large skillet over high heat. When hot, add the mustard seeds. As soon as the mustard seeds begin to pop, add the garlic, then add the red chili and stir for a few seconds.
Put in the sugar snap peas and season to taste. Let cook for a few minutes until they have absorbed the flavor of the spices.

Weather update: We've had some beautiful days, eh? Some crops look great, and others are still a little yellow from being submerged for a week or so. Long-term damage is hard to ascertain -- sometimes crops green up right away, while others only display the symptoms of stress closer to harvest time. At least our planting schedule is getting back on track, and the fields are gradually filling up. Even our final planting of spring spinach shows some life of producing something harvestable. The first green beans and beets, on the other hand, look pretty pathetic, but since we sow them four or five times during the year, the overall yield shouldn't be affected much. Having missed four or five lettuce mix plantings due to the rains, we planted a huge amount last night, so that in a month there should be (almost literally) tons of lettuce mix to share. If only we could get it to ripen very gradually, then we'd be in good shape!

Other food news: We recommend visiting occasionally, or getting on the e-mail list of, the Organic Consumers Association. They are a fantastic resource of issues and articles about food, health, and sustainability. Their website is www.organicconsumers.org. Also helpful in the same vein is the Weston Price Foundation, dedicated to promoting the nutritional research begun by a dentist (named Weston Price), who during the 1930's visited numerous cultures who had not (yet) succumbed to the western diet of refined foods, white flour, white sugar, etc. and which also did not suffer from the debilitating conditions (including many dental problems!) that plague us in the affluent west. An excellent website, (www.westonaprice.org) and cookbook (Sally Fallon's Nourishing Traditions), can correct many misconceptions currently promoted via the mainstream media. They also send out action alerts at times when folks can collectively pressure legislators or bureaucrats to stand up for health-promoting policies or legislation. Another huge issue right now in various parts of the country is the ability of consumers to buy milk directly from farms. Check out the Campaign for Real Milk at the westonaprice site for the background on the battles occuring in many states, most notably right now in California. We hope to distribute a DVD fairly soon of a collection of other noteworthy stories concerning our food system; we'll let you know soon.

The Seelys

Next Week's Vegetables

2008-06-21T05:33:00.000-07:00

These are the expected veggies for Tuesday June 23rd and Friday June
27th:

Lettuce
Spinach?
Sugar snap peas? These two ? are for Tuesday, by Friday they will
have grown enough to give out for sure.
Maple syrup
Broccoli ( a little)
Scallions
Zucchini, some pick up sites will get it and next week the others
will till there is enough for all.
Strawberries,probably a pint for everyone and next week there will be
more.

We wish you all a wonderful weekend!

Bernadette for the farm.

Parsley Storage Tip

2008-06-20T08:54:00.000-07:00

Dear Subscribers,

Here is a tip on how to store parsley and cilantro, sent in by subscriber Jason Ruona.

Anneke

Springdale Farm

Peter and Anneke,

I hope all is well at the farm. We were thinking of you last night with all the wind and flooding going on.

I have a tip for your newsletter on how to keep cilantro or parsley fresh:

1. Cut 1/2" off the stems off the cilantro/parsley
2. Fill a glass jar with drinking water (small canning jar works great)
3. Stick the unwashed cilantro/parsley in the water, like you would a bouquet of flowers
4. Cover with a plastic bag and put in the fridge (somewhere where you won't spill it, like the door)
5. It should keep fresh for a week or possibly more. After a few days, change the water and remove any bad stems.

Adapted from "Dr. Richter's Fresh Produce Guide"

Jason

This Week's Vegetables

2008-06-20T05:38:00.000-07:00

Springdale Farm News

This week's vegetables: lettuce, scallions, cilantro, garlic scapes, mushrooms, parsley, broccoli

Coming soon/next week: lettuce, peas, scallions, garlic scapes, strawberries, maple syrup (next week)

Vegetable tidbits: For those of you who are unfamiliar with the strange curly looking things in your box, they are called garlic scapes and are the beginning of the garlic flower. The tip can be cut off and the stem used in the same way that you use garlic. Chopped garlic scapes are especially delicious in soups and stir fries, and if you're truly adventuresome, you can mix them raw into a salad!
We aim to have a variety of vegetables ready for the first delivery, so you would be coming for more than just some greens. We are currently in the process of building several greenhouses, which will eventually enable us to have tomatoes and cucumbers in our first boxes, though that plan will need to wait for another season, at least, before coming to fruition. In the meantime, the quantity of vegetables in the boxes for next few weeks will be on the slim side, especially with the effect of rain on (some of) the crops.

Recipe: Easy Guacamole from Subscriber Melanie De Vriend

3-4 avocados, peeled and cored
1 Large tomato, chopped
1/4 - 1/2 red onion, chopped (can be replaced with scallions and/or chives)
Handful of fresh, chopped cilantro (can be replaced with parsley)
1 Lime

Dice and smush until mixed. Squeeze either half or whole lime (to your taste)
and mix in. Salt and pepper to taste. Serve immediately with tortillas, chips,
or sandwiches.

Garlic Scape Pesto with Pasta from subscriber Tim Larson
(from Milwaukee Journal Sentinal)

20 fresh garlic scapes (about 1 1/2 cups chopped)
2 cups grated Parmesan cheese
1 1/2 cups hazelnuts, Brazil nuts or pecans
2 cups safflower oil
1/2 cup good white wine (optional)
salt and pepper
1 pound linguini
Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Puree scapes, cheese and nuts in food processor. Add oil and then wine, if desired, until pesto is desired thickness. Season to taste. Serve over cooked pasta as a tasty side dish. To make a main dish, add roasted, sliced chicken breast. Makes about 4 servings.

Leftover pesto may be frozen in muffin tins for single serving portions.

White Bean and Garlic Scapes Dip from a New York Times article published June 18, 2008 sent in by subscriber Leanne DeMuijnck. To read the full article go to: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/18/dining/18appe.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

1/3 cup sliced garlic scapes (3 to 4)
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice, more to taste
1/2 teaspoon coarse sea salt, more to taste
Ground black pepper to taste
1 can (15 ounces) cannellini beans, rinsed and drained
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil, more for drizzling.

1. In a food processor, process garlic scapes with lemon juice, salt and pepper until finely chopped. Add cannellini beans and process to a rough purée.

2. With motor running, slowly drizzle olive oil through feed tube and process until fairly smooth. Pulse in 2 or 3 tablespoons water, or more, until mixture is the consistency of a dip. Add more salt, pepper and/or lemon juice, if desired.

3. Spread out dip on a plate, drizzle with olive oil, and sprinkle with more salt.

Yield: 1 1/2 cups.

Flood report: Fortunately, most of our crops have weathered the downpours pretty well. Our fields usually drain pretty quickly (especially since our subsoil is primarily gravel and stones that are typical of the Kettle Moraine area), so only a small percentage of our field ends up in standing water. But some have suffered, including eggplant, onions, and the spinach that we should be harvesting this and next week. Our planting schedule has been altered as well; when the fields are too wet, it is simply impossible to get the soil ready for planting, so several succession sowings of assorted crops, like green beans and lettuce mix, have to wait till dryer times, consequently leaving harvest 'holes' later in the season. Hopefully things will dry up soon! The hard, driving rains also washed away portions of several of our newly seeded beds; it's sad to see such erosion occurring right before our eyes!

Bread and eggs: Many of you are purchasing bread, and/or eggs, from us; you will be able to confirm that by checking the pick-up list posted at your pick-up site. Be sure to take the appropriate quantity, and the correct kind of bread (if applicable) you ordered. (This week begins with the whole wheat bread; next week is the herbed bread.) We did have an accident with an L.P. heater in our chicken coop in the winter (we suspect), resulting in the burning down of the entire chicken coop (including 400 baby chicks). It was a sad day for us, to be sure. To keep our commitment to have eggs for you, though, we arranged to get eggs from another poultry farmer, Norman Miller of Pardeeville, who was happy to supply us for this season. His certified organic eggs will be taking the place of our own for the time being; perhaps later in the season we'll rebuild our chicken coop.

Reminders: Please return your box to your pick-up site, unfolded, and stack it neatly in the appropriate pile. We hope soon to send to you a link where you can view a short video on how to break down your box without ripping it apart, (rendering it unusable,) but in the meantime, be gentle with the flaps as you 'wrestle' with the box! We do need a bunch more egg cartons, so if you have a chance to grab some, bring them to your pick-up site (whatever their original source), and we'll make use of them for Norman's eggs. Thanks.

Chickens and pork: We do have a supply of frozen, whole, free-ranged meat chickens (with most about 5 lbs. total weight) that are available for immediate purchase. Cost is $2.50 per pound, and if you buy 10, the 11th is free. We would bring them to your pick-up site, insulated with newspaper, if you would like to purchase some. We also have 1/4 hogs available, if you'd want to try some organic pork. The cost of a 1/4 hog (comprised of about 45 lbs. of assorted cuts, including some ground pork that can be made into ground sausage, or links or brats) would be just above $4 per pound, depending on your processing choices. Send us an e-mail or call us (920) 892-4856 for the details. Although we will probably have the chicken and pork available for much of the season, we'd be happy to minimize the amount of rental freezer space we will need to maintain, so soon would be a great time (for us) to order some. Excellent quality for both the pork and chicken.

Have a good week!

The Seelys

Expected vegetables

2008-06-14T10:17:00.000-07:00

Dear Subscribers,

We are starting a new tradition!

Every Friday night we will try to walk through the field to see what
will be in your box in the upcoming week. And we will let you know
through an e-mail that night.

We might miss an item or two once in a while but we think that it is
worth a try since many of you have requested knowing ahead of time what
to expect.

VEGGIES EXPECTED FOR JUNE 17TH AND JUNE 20TH:

Lettuce
Spinach (small amount)
mushrooms (from an organic,local mushroom farm)
parsley
scallions
cilantro
scapes
eggs
whole wheat bread (these last two items are for the folks who ordered
them in advance)

Scapes;

The garlic plant sends up a juicy center stem in a feeble attempt to
go to seed. But we pick the scapes before the seed is formed so that
the garlic plant can use all its energy and nutrients to form a
decent size root bulb.

You can cut them up and use them in a stir-fry or wherever else
garlic is called for.
Chopping them up very finely and tossing them in a salad/ salad
dressing or in a soup is also very tasty.

A subscriber who lived in Austria for over 30 years uses finely
chopped scallions in potcheese as a spread for on bread or crackers.
To make potcheese,she puts regular Dannon yoghurt (without flavor) in
a cheesecloth and hangs it over her sink to drip out through the
night. In the morning you have potcheese. Cut up your
scallions,garlic scapes and any other fresh herb that you like and
add it to the potcheese. Add salt and pepper and you will have a
wonderful and healthy spread. She also used the potcheese instead of
the cottage cheese in the Spanikopita recipe from last week.

We wish you all a wonderful weekend!

Bernadette and Peter.

13 June 2008

2008-06-14T10:14:00.000-07:00

Our first delivery was spinach and cilantro.

Two More Recipes

2008-06-13T07:26:00.000-07:00

Easy Guacamole

3-4 avocados, peeled and cored
1 Large tomato, chopped
1/4 - 1/2 red onion, chopped (can be replaced with scallions and/or
chives)
Handful of fresh, chopped cilantro (can be replaced with parsley)
1 Lime

Dice and smush until mixed. Squeeze either half or whole lime (to
your taste)
and mix in. Salt and pepper to taste. Serve immediately with
tortillas, chips,
______________________________________________________________________________
Hi, Peter. this is my favorite recipe for greens - it works with any kind, and uses up a lot of greens. Most importantly, it is a favorite of even people who say they don't like greens. If you'd like, feel free to share it with the group!

Namaste,
Maggie

Gratin of Greens

Source: Yoga Journal

Qty Measure Ingredient
------------------------------------------------------------
1 large yellow onion
4-2/3 Tablespoons Butter
2 Pounds savoy cabbage, one head or any greens you have (when using spinach, use a more)
1 Teaspoon Salt
1 Teaspoon Pepper
1 Tablespoon Flour
1 Cup milk or soy milk
2 Tablespoons each freshly grated parmesan and gruyere cheeses
3 Tablespoons breadcrumbs

Instructions:
1. Cut the onion in half lengthwise, then slice it into thin slices
2. In a large, heavy-bottomed skillet with a tight-fitting cover, melt 4 tablespoons of the butter over medium-high heat. When it foams, add the onions, reduce the heat to low, and cover the pan, letting the onions sweat, stirring them occasionally, until they are nearly dissolving. (maybe 20 minutes?)
3. Cut the cabbage into very thin slices, and add them to the onions. Cover and cook until the cabbage has wilted, 10-15 minutes. Remove the cover and continue to cook, stirring until the cabbage is soft and translucent, another 10-15 minutes.
4. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Butter baking dish with 1 t. butter.
5. Sprinkle the salt, pepper and flour over the greens, stir. Increase the heat to high, stirring, then add the milk, a little at a time, continuing to stir, creating a sauce for the vegetables.
6. When it has thickened (5 mintes), spread the mixture evenly into the prepared baking dish. Mix the cheeses and breadcrumbs together and scatter over the surface. Dot with the remaining butter, and bake until the top is crusty and golden and the edges bubbling, about 20 minutes. Serve immediately.

Three Recipes

2008-06-13T06:36:00.000-07:00

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.

_______________________________________________________________________

The Springdale Farm crew's favorite spinach recipe. (From Moosewood Cookbook)

This recipe can easily be cut in half, and prepared in a smaller pan.

Spanakopita
Heavenly Greek Spinach Pastry

( a little oil, butter or - 2.5 lbs. of fresh spinach, stemmed and finely chopped
oil spray for the pan) - 5 medium cloves garlic, minced
2 Tbs. olive oil. - 3 Tbs. flour
2 c. minced onion - 1 to 2 cups (packed) crumbled feta cheese ( about 1 lb.)
1/2 tsp. salt - 2 to 3 cups cottage or pot cheese
1 Tbs. dried basil - black pepper, to taste
1 Tsp. dried oregano -

1/3 c. olive oil - or 1/2 c. melted butter - or oil spray
1 lb. filo pastry (16 to 20 leaves), thoroughly defrosted

1) Preheat oven to 375F. Lightly grease a 9 by 13-inch baking pan.
2) Heat the oil in a Dutch oven or deep skillet. Add onion, salt, and herbs, and saute for about 5 min, or until the onion softens. Add the spinach, turn up the heat, and cook, stirring, until the spinach wilts (5 to 8 min.). Stir in the garlic.
3) Sprinle in the flour,stir, and cook over medium heat 2 to 3 more min. Remove from heat.
4)Mix in the cheeses, then correct the seasonings, adding black pepper to taste along the way.
5)Place a sheet of filo in the prepared pan, letting the pastry edges climb up the sides. Brush it all over with olive oil or melted butter, or spray it with oil spray, then add another sheet.
Keep going until you have a stack of 10 oiled or buttered sheets.
6) Add the filling, spreading it evenly to the edges. Continue layering and oiling or buttering the remaining filo on top of the filling.
Oil or butter the top layer.
7) Gently (with a serrated knife in a sawing motion) cut the unbaked Spanakopita into squares. Bake uncovered for about 45 minutes or until golded and crispy. Serve hot or warm

_______________________________________________________________________

Here's another spinach recipe sent in by one of our subscribers, Dave Nicholson, who said that it was a favorite in his family.

Cheryl's Spinach Cheesy Pasta Casserole

INGREDIENTS
• 1 (12 ounce) package medium seashell pasta
• 1-2lbs fresh spinach, sauteed and chopped
• 2 eggs
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1/2 cup bread crumbs
• 1 1/2 (26 ounce) jars tomato basil pasta sauce
• 1 (8 ounce) package shredded Cheddar cheese
• 1 (8 ounce) package shredded mozzarella cheese

DIRECTIONS
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Cook pasta in boiling water for 8 to 10 minutes, or until al dente; drain. Bring 1/2 cup water to a boil in a saucepan, and cook the spinach 4 to 6 minutes, until tender.
3. Place the cooked pasta in a medium bowl. In a small bowl, whisk together the eggs and oil. Toss the pasta with the cooked spinach, egg mixture, and bread crumbs.
4. Cover the bottom of a 9x13 inch baking dish with 1/3 of the pasta sauce. Pour half of the pasta mixture into the baking dish, and cover with another 1/3 of the pasta sauce. Sprinkle with half of the Cheddar cheese and half of the mozzarella. Layer with remaining pasta mixture, and top with remaining sauce. Sprinkle with the rest of the Cheddar and mozzarella cheeses.
5. Bake 45 minutes in the preheated oven, or until bubbly and lightly browned.

First Springdale Farm Newsletter

2008-06-12T05:46:00.000-07:00

Dear Subscribers,

Again, welcome to the 2008 season!

The first pick-up will be tomorrow Friday, June 13th. Thereafter we will be delivering every week until late October, when we switch to biweekly deliveries. (With the amount of rain we've gotten the last few days, our planting schedule has indeed been altered, but we'll let you know if there are any changes to the later delivery schedule.)

In tomorrow's box you will find lots of spinach, lettuce, and cilantro. A couple of plantings of spinach were simultaneously ready, so you'll be receiving a lot. The lettuce got pretty trashed from the driving rain yesterday, unfortunately, but it seems that there were still enough half-decent leaves to have made it worth our while to harvest it for you.

Next week, in addition to spinach (probably) and lettuce, there should be some cilantro and perhaps some scallions and mushrooms. The maple syrup from the Drewry's will be coming soon as well. (We are not sure exactly when it will come, since one member of the Drewry family has been in the hospital recently.)

In a couple of weeks, the peas, strawberries, scallions, garlic scapes, etc. will be coming. Then after that some zucchini and cucumbers.

Bread and Eggs coming NEXT week! For those of you who ordered eggs, and/or Bread Option #1 (whole grain), they will be at the pick-up site for you next Friday, June 20th. They will be delivered every other week. The week after that, on June 27th, we will be delivering Bread Option #2 (white flour w/herbs), which we will also be delivering every other week. Bread Option #2 will always alternate weeks with the eggs and Option #1. If you can't remember which one you ordered, just look on the check-off sheet next to your name.

We'll be sending you an e-mail newletter every week this season, updating you on what is in the current and forthcoming boxes, sharing a recipe or serving suggestion, informing you of things happening at the farm, as well as letting you know the availablity of our meat chickens or other items. If you have anything you would like to contribute (whether a favorite recipe, a burning issue, or questions for your farmers), we welcome your additions. The rest of this first newsletter contains important information regarding picking up your box. If, especially for the newcomers, you have any questions at all about picking up your box, or finding your pick-up site, do contact us, we'd be happy to answer all your questions so that these deliveries can go smoothly!

Below is a list of the pick-up sites, times to pick up your box, and the phone number of the pick-up site host in case you need to contact them. If you cannot remember which pick-up site you signed up for just send us an e-mail!

FRIDAYS STARTING JUNE 13th PICK-UP TIMES PHONE

Springdale Farm, W7065 Silver Spring Ln., Plymouth 11:00 - 7:00pm (920) 892-4856

Marcia Kaminski¹s, 832 6th Ave, Grafton 11:00 - 7:00pm (262) 377-8406

The Check's, 5020 N. Idlewild Ave., Whitefish Bay (in garage in back) 12:00 - 6:00pm (414) 962-9958 or (414) 305-8170

The Flaherty's, 2500 E. Newton Ave., Shorewood 2:00 - 6:00pm (414) 332-3361

Sylvan Studio, 1169 N. 62nd St., Wauwatosa 2:00 - 6:00pm
This is our pickup location.

Milk 'N Honey, 10948 W. Capitol Dr., Milwaukee 3:00 - 7:00pm (414) 535-0203

Total Health, N81 W15062 Appleton Ave. Meno. Falls 3:00 - 7:00pm (262) 251-8543

GENERAL PROCEDURE FOR PICKING UP YOUR BOX
Come to your pick-up site within the time frame listed above. If, for an exceptional reason, you cannot make it that day, then, if applicable, you can call your pick-up site host before the end of the pick-up time period, and they probably will keep it for you until the following day (unless they¹re on vacation). However, they are under NO obligation to do so, and if they do not hear from you, they will find another home for your box at the end of the allotted time. Whether a business or an individual's residence, your pick-up site has been generous in volunteering to provide space for our boxes. Please treat them with the appropriate courtesy and respect! Do not call any pick-up site after 9:00 pm. Thank you!

Be sure to take the correct box, and the correct amount of eggs and/or bread if you ordered them. The half share boxes are always smaller than the full share boxes. A list telling you what size share you have will always be posted, including the amount of eggs and bread that each ordered. The eggs will be found in the coolers and your bread will be in big plastic containers at your pick-up site.

Check off your name on the list. This is a great way for us to make sure that everyone has picked up their box. If you miss the first week or two, your pick-up site may call you to remind you, but they won't be doing that regularly.

Bring your old box and any egg cartons or other containers (but not plastic bags) that we give you along with you the following week to be reused. Please do not bring other containers that you may get from other stores. UNFOLD the box first, so it will be easier for the pick-up site to store the boxes. Try not to demolish the box when unfolding it! Stack it neatly, in the appropriate pile.

Make use of the Exchange Box: At all of the pick-up sites, and for most of the year (though perhaps not in the first few deliveries) there will be an Exchange Box at your pick-up site with assorted extras, or seconds, and/or less common and less popular vegetables. If you see something in the Exchange Box that you would like, you may take it, keeping in mind that others might also enjoy things in there as well. If there is something in your box that you would not use, you may donate that into the Exchange Box.

We look forward to a great season, and to sharing our produce with both new and old subscribers!

Peter Seely & Family

Springdale Farm
W7065 Silver Spring Ln.
Plymouth, WI 53073
(920) 892-4856

First Delivery Confirmed for June 13th

2008-06-11T11:59:00.000-07:00

Matt,

That would be fine! Thanks for running it by us first!

I also just want to let you know that we are going to start the vegetable deliveries this week Friday. You're down for a half share, and a half dozen eggs every other week.

The egg pick-ups will start next week Friday

Have a great day!
Anneke

On Jun 10, 2008, at 8:17 AM, Matthew Piette wrote:

Anneke--

With your ok, I want to start archiving these newsletters on a new blog I'm starting.

You can see them, and other links here.

Let me know if you have any issues with that. We have a number of people who are interested in hearing about it.

Thanks.

-Matt

The First Delivery Of The Season

2008-06-10T06:13:00.000-07:00

Dear Subscribers,

Hope that you are all enjoying the warmer weather that has started to come our way!

We are probably going to start delivering the vegetables on Friday, June 13th, and then on Tuesday, the 17th. We have had quite cool weather this spring, causing everything to grow a bit slower than anticipated.

Sometime before the deliveries start we will be giving every one of you a telephone call just to confirm the date of your first delivery and your pick-up location. In addition to that we will be sending everyone an e-mail on the proper procedures for picking up your box and other helpful information.

If you have any questions, please feel free to give us a call or an e-mail, but you'll hear from us again soon!

Sincerely,

Anneke Seely

Springdale Farm
W7065 Silver Spring Ln.
Plymouth, WI 53073
(920) 892-4856