Hi everyone! The journal is a few days late this week – thanks for your patience. We usually write this on Monday during or after lunch and Christine had a doctor’s appointment during lunch so..here we are at 5:30 am Thursday morning writing to you allJ We got a bit of rain this week – what folks got in South Hero or North hero can differ from what we get here in Grand Isle. It has been humid and muggy and the air so full of water but for so many days – we would just get a sprinkle just to wet the lips of the soil. The top looks soaked, but then when you kick the soil, only the top 1/8 of an inch is wet and that soon evaporates by noon day sun. On Wednesday late afternoon, we got a good dumping of rain – I think it soaked down about an inch. We watch storms come across the lake and split and go to the north and to the south. It would be good to get more rain. Mother nature does a much better job in watering crops with rain than we as mere humans can do with hoses, drip lines, sprinkles and watering wands. Adam has been watering everything on set timers and moving lines and sprinklers and valves 24 hours a day. Here’s to hoping more rain is in the forecast today.
We finally picked the first sugar snap peas on Monday and wowee! They are sweet! Honestly, the best way to eat them is raw – pod and all. You can de-string them if you like – we don’t – and just eat them. You can cook them – sautee, roast, grill, or steam but raw is the sweetest in our humble opinion. The greatest little snack. The sugar snap pea was created in the 1960s by crossing a snow pea (the flat pea you usually see in stir fry) with an english shelling pea. Sometimes when we are picking, we will catch a snow pea in the mix. We hope to have sugar snap peas for you for two weeks – as long as the heat lets us. Peas don’t like it too hot and that hot spell stressed them a little. We also hope to have them again this fall.
Another new veggie this week in the share is the Hakeri Salad Turnip. This turnip is more like a radish in the heat of summer than a turnip. It has the heat/pepperiness of a radish and sweet like a turnip. In the fall, the turnips are more sweet with a little heat. Sadie and Delia like to eat them like apples – Delia likes the fall ones better because they are less pepperyJ Sadie loves them and will dip them in hummus and eat them as snacks throughout the day. They are great in salads. These can be roasted and sauteed. Usually the greens can be eaten – they are ppery as well – you can eat them now but they look a little weary due to the extreme heat a few weeks ago. Also, there are some light brown scaring in them, that is perfectly good to eat but is also from the stress of the heat – kind of like when we get freckles from the sun;) We also harvested late last night after Farmers Market and a family Zoom call for Thursday CSA and by the truck head lights Delia hosed them off. Sorry if they are a little muddy. J
If you ever miss or would like to look at old CSA journals – most of them are archived on our websiteJ
Those who ordered chicken this season, we are hopefully starting to process chickens next week. Our hope is to get 2 or 3 chickens out to each person who pre-ordered 5 or 10 chickens in this round and then get the rest of your order in the next two rounds – which are a month apart. We will give them to you fresh – and then you can cut them up or freeze them whole or just have chicken J for dinner that night. I think we are hoping to start processing on Tuesday with the folks picking up at the farm or farmers market on Wednesday.
More info to follow. We will email everyone who pre-ordered.
Ok, well I better go. I need to help with packing CSA delivery, milking, and feeding chickens. See you all soon. Thanks for reading.
Thanks for being part of our farm. We look forward to farming with you this season.
Peace, your farmers, Christine, Adam, Sadie, Delia, Claire and Norma
What’s in the share this week:
This list is what is in a full share this week. Things may change between Monday and Thursday and Individual and Salad share will get differing amounts and may not get everything on the list. Lettuce mix, rainbow chard, zucchini, summer squash, Hakerei Salad Turnips, Lettuce head, and Sugar Snap Peas!
Eggs for sale We have the pretty girls’ eggs for sale – these are free-range, certified organic chicken eggs that are brown eggs– with the brightest yellow/orange yolks you ever seen. The eggs are $6.00 a dozen. $3.00 half dozen
RAW Jersey Milk for Sale: 1/2 gal jars available of Sandy and Skye’s Milk – cream is so creamy and they love all this spring grass. $5 a jar and if you don’t have a half gal jar to swap $3 deposit. Available at on farm pickup on Mondays and Thursdays.
RECIPES:
The fresh greens you get in your share this week can be eaten raw and put in a salad.
You can add fresh greens like kale, spinach, chard on pizza, in eggs, in smoothies. so good and very high in vitamins and minerals.
Summer Squash and Zucchini when picked young have a sweet, nutty taste when they are sauteed or grilled. Just slice them in half the longway and put some olive oil on them then place them on the grill. These small ones can also be used to make bread and butter pickles, eaten raw in salad, and make great additions on pizzas (we love pizza in this house – Every Friday night we make homemade pizza and it is truly amazing all the great combinations we come up with). With the larger zucchinis you can cut them longways in half and scoop out the inside and stuff them, veggie burgers, make zucchini bread, make zucchini chocolate cake (yum), or freeze shredded zucchini into portions that you need for bread making, soups or whatever kind of recipe you will need later – this is great to have in January. Zucchini and summer squash can be used interchangeably and adds lots of moistness to baked goods.
Fudgy Zucchini Muffins – The Washington Post, August 29, 2007
These are worth making even when you don’t have too many zucchinis on hand.The muffins are best eaten within 2 days. They can be individually wrapped, gathered into a heavy-duty resealable plastic food storage bag and frozen for up to 1 month (expel as much air from the bag as possible before sealing). Makes 12 large muffins
2 1/2 cups flour (may combine 1 1/2 cups flour and 1 cup whole wheat flour)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/3 cup corn oil or other flavorless vegetable oil
2 1/2 ounces unsweetened chocolate, in pieces or coarsely chopped
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
2/3 pound zucchini, trimmed and finely chopped (about 2 cups)
1/3 cup low-fat or nonfat vanilla yogurt
2 large eggs
3/4 cup chocolate morsels
Position a rack in the center of the oven; preheat to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a large-cup muffin tin with nonstick cooking oil spray or line with paper muffin cups.In a medium bowl, combine the flour, salt and baking soda and mix well; set aside. In a medium saucepan over medium-low heat, heat the oil and chocolate just until the chocolate has melted, stirring to combine. Remove from the heat and add the sugar, zucchini and yogurt, stirring until the sugar has dissolved. Add the eggs, stirring vigorously until well blended. Add the flour mixture and chocolate morsels just until evenly incorporated. Use a large spoon or half-cup measure to divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups; they will be full. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of the center muffin comes out clean — except for the bottom 1/4 inch, which should look wet. Transfer the muffin tin to a wire rack to cool for at least 15 minutes before serving.
Veggie Burgers – BHF CSA Member
1 each zucchini and yellow squash, shredded
2 carrots, shredded
1 onion, shredded
A couple cloves of garlic
1 cup oats
1 egg
1TB soy sauce or tamari
Cook the onion & garlic in olive oil till soft, then add the other veggies & cook 3-4 more minutes. Add egg, oats and soy sauce & mix. Once it’s cool enough to touch, make into patties and grill…coating in flour helps it not stick. You can either top with cheddar or shred it and mix it w/ patty mix…
Sara’s Great Frittata Recipe (twosmallfarms.com)
2 lbs summer squash
Salt
Green onions(healthy fistful chopped)
Basil leaves(fistful again)
2 garlic cloves
4 eggs
1/4 Cup oil
1 Cup flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 Cup parmesan/pecorino cheese
The summer squash, green onions, and basil make a wonderful frittata.In the main bowl of a food processor, grate about two pounds of summer squash. Put the squash in a colander and lightly salt. Leave to drain, and put the chopping blade in the food processor. Add a healthy fistful of onions and the leaves from a bunch of basil. Toss in a couple garlic cloves if you have them, and pulse until well chopped. In a big bowl, mix around a cup of flour with a couple teaspoons of baking powder and about a half cup of grated parmesan or pecorino romano cheese. Lightly beat four eggs and a quarter cup of oil (if you’re feeling decadent and there are no vegetarians in the crowd, add a couple spoonfuls of bacon grease). Put the grated squash in a thin clean dishtowel or heavy duty paper towel and squeeze out excess liquid. Combine all the ingredients in the big bowl. You should have a thick, fragrant batter. Pour the batter into a greased 13×9 baking pan and sprinkle a little more cheese on top. Bake at 375 degrees until golden, about 30-45 minutes (it depends on the moisture left in the squash). When cool, cut into squares and serve.
Chocolate & Zucchini Cake – chocolateandzucchinni.com
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
1 scant cup light brown sugar (I use unrefined cane sugar)
1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature, or 1/2 cup virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 teaspoon instant coffee granules or 2 tablespoons strong cooled coffee –- this is just to deepen the chocolate flavor, you won’t taste it in the finished product
3 large eggs
2 cups unpeeled grated zucchini, from about 1 1/2 medium zucchini
1 cup good-quality bittersweet chocolate chips, or chopped chocolate
Confectioner’s sugar (optional)
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease a 10-inch round springform pan or a 8 1/2-inch square pan.In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. In the bowl of a mixer (or by hand in a large mixing bowl), beat the sugar and butter until fluffy. Add the vanilla, coffee, and eggs, mixing well between each addition.
In a large mixing bowl, combine the zucchini, chocolate chips, and about a third of the flour mixture, making sure the zucchini strands are well coated and not clumping too much. Add the rest of the flour mixture into the egg batter. Mix until just combined; the batter will be thick. Fold the zucchini mixture into the batter, and blend with a spatula without overmixing. Pour into the prepared cake pan, and level the surface. Bake for 40 to 50 minutes, until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Transfer onto a rack to cool for 10 minutes, run a knife around the pan to loosen, and unclasp the sides of the pan. Serve slightly warm or at room temperature. Sprinkle with confectioner’s sugar or a chocolate glaze if desired.