Shared Legacy Farms CSA Newsletter Week 2 (June 25-July 1, 2023)
Farm Newsletter Week 2
June 25 – July 1, 2023 | “B” Week
What’s in the Veggie Box this Week?
CARROTS (with tops) ~ SAVE THE CARROT TOPS! You can make really cool stuff with them… To store, first take the tops off your carrots and put them into a plastic bag in the fridge. The roots should be stored separately in the crisper in a plastic bag. If they get soft, just put them in some water tocrisp them up again. Eat within 3 weeks.
Don’t throw the carrot greens away! Use them to make carrot top pesto! Or dehydrate them on your counter and add them as a parsley-type herb to future dishes. Or throw them into a “veggie scrap bag” in your freezer (with other things like the tops of celery, onion skins, carrot ends). When the bag gets full, use it to create your own DIY veggie broth (which you can then freeze into ice cubes for later use!) Not sure how to make DIY broth?… grab our guide here.
GREEN HEAD LETTUCE (1) ~ Store unwashed lettuce in a Debbie Meyer Green bag or Tupperware FridgeSmart container in the refrigerator. To store lettuce that you have already washed and dried with a spinner, place back in a plastic bag with a dry paper towel in the bag, and place the package in the vegetable crisper bin. Use within 4 days. To prep: Slice the head at its base with a knife and let the leaves fall open. Discard any damaged or leathery outer leaves and tear large leaves into bite-size pieces. Wash leaves in a basin of cold water. Dry in a salad spinner. To freeze: Not recommended.
DILL WEED ~ Store upright in a container with an inch of water. Then cover the herbs loosely with a plastic bag and refrigerate for up to 2 weeks To prep: Chop the leaves and stem before cooking. To cook: Dill is a standard in pickling. It also combines well with green beans, broccoli, cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, tomatoes, parsnips, potatoes, spinach, cucumber, squash, eggplant, and eggs. To freeze: Trim off the long stem ends leaving only an inch attached to the feathery foliage. Place a couple of sprigs together inside a resealable plastic freezer bag; press out all of the air and seal. When you need fresh dill for a recipe, remove the frozen sprig and snip off what you need while still frozen. Do not let it thaw.
CILANTRO ~ To store: For short-term storage, stand upright in a container with an inch of water. Then cover the herbs loosely with a plastic bag and refrigerate for up to 2 weeks. To prep: Chop the stem and leaves with a butcher knife. The stems can be eaten too.
WHITE SCALLIONS ~ Place your scallions into a glass filled with an inch of cold water and place it in your fridge (or leave on the counter). I like to place a baggie over the tops of the greens, if it’s going in my fridge to keep them from drying out. Refresh the water every 3 days. These will last a long time stored this way. You can trim the green tops off the scallion and use them to garnish tacos or salads or meat dishes. You can also chop them up and freeze them for later use! The purple tips of the onions are often used in salad dressing vinaigrettes, on salads, or enjoyed grilled with a little olive oil and s/p.
BROCCOLI SHOOTS ~ Store your broccoli shoots in a plastic bag in the crisper of your fridge and try to eat it within 5 days. I like to steam the entire stalk/head for 4-5 minutes and then top with butter and salt. Blanch in boiling water for three minutes or steam for five minutes. Remove and dunk in ice water for 5 minutes. Drain. Individually quick freeze broccoli on a parchment-lined tray and then package into air-tight freezer bags.
Notice how the broccoli was cut and that spurred other shoots to form!
DINOSAUR KALE (1 bunch) ~ To store: Place kale unwashed, wrapped in a sealed plastic bag in the crisper drawer of the refrigerator. Best used very fresh, but may last for a week. To prep: Wash leaves in basin of lukewarm water to remove grit. If your greens have thick stems, you must remove them. Fold each leaf in half and slice out the stem. Then stack the leaves up and slice them diagonally into 1-inch-wide strips. To use: Saute in olive oil. Use in soups, spaghetti sauce, pesto, quiche, or kale chips. You can also eat the stems. To freeze: Blanch washed greens for 2-3 minutes. Rinse in cold ice water to stop the cooking process, drain, and pack into airtight containers. Stems can also be frozen.
RED RADISHES (NO TOPS) ~ Store the radish roots dry and unwashed in a plastic bag in the refrigerator for 1 week. I like to roast these with other root vegetables in some olive oil at 400 F until soft! They’re also good on the veggie tray with some dip. And if you haven’t tried pickled radishes, they will blow your mind.
PURPLE KOHLRABI ~ To store: Store kohlrabi globe and leaves separately. The bulb will last for 2 weeks refrigerated in a plastic bag. Wrap leaves and stalks in a plastic bag and keep in the crisper drawer of the refrigerator. To prep: Rinse under cold running water just before use. Cut the outer skin off with a knife. Trim off the remains of the stalks and root. Grate, slice, or chop as desired. To cook: Cut raw kohlrabi bulb into sticks for a refreshing addition to a raw vegetable tray or grate it for salads. Try raw kohlrabi smeared with peanut butter. Lightly boil, steam or bake it, or add it to stews and stir-fries. Young kohlrabi leaves can be used in recipes calling for greens. To freeze: Cut into cubes or slices and blanch for 3-4 minutes. Place into ice water bath to stop the cooking. Drain and dry. Place in Ziplock freezer bag.
POTTED HERB PLANT ~ You will be given a choice at pickup of several herb types. When you take it home, put it in a sunny place in your garden or on your kitchen windowsill. Then be sure to “prune” the plant as it grows. This means cutting the herb leaves along the stem. This will cause the plant to branch off where you pruned it, and get bushier over time. It’s important to stimulate growth by pruning!
WEEK #1 ADD-ON SHARES: We are Week “B”
Odd-numbered weeks of our CSA season (week 1,3,5) are called “A” weeks. And even-numbered weeks (week 2,4,6) are called “B” weeks. If you have any kind of non-veggie, bi-weekly share, you have been assigned to either “A” or “B” week for the season. If you get a cheese share, it always comes on Week “A.”
WEEK 2 FRUIT SHARE:
NOTE: WEEK A and B will receive a fruit share this week!
SWEET CHERRIES (2 lb.) ~ (from Eshleman Orchards, Clyde) Sweet cherries will be a dark red color and are best for eating out of hand. Store cherries in your refrigerator in a plastic, perforated bag in the crisper drawer for up to a week. To prep: Remove stem. Pit the cherries after washing. To freeze: Choose firm, ripe cherries. Pit cherries first (although you don’t have to). Flash freeze on a sheet pan. Then pop into a Ziplock bag. Freeze for up to a year.
RED CURRANTS (HALF PINT) certified organic ~ (from Wayward Seed Farm, Fremont) To store: Store in the fridge. Do not wash until you eat them. These will last about 3-4 days. To prep: Rinse and remove stems. To freeze: Remove stems and lay flat inside a Ziploc freezer baggie. Pop into freezer.
Ice Cream Flavor of the Week:
Strawberry from Knueven Creamery. Note: be sure to stop and pick up your ice cream from the Knueven milk truck at your pickup site! They will be located either right before or after your veggie pickup. Your farmers will not be passing this out in their delivery line.
COFFEE Flavor of the Week:
Maddie & Bella Coffee Company ~ Monsoon Malabar
The Cool Bot is the small micro-processor unit that attaches to the AC unit.
Meet the “Cool Bot”
Our CSA produce is stored each week in a walk-in cooler that is powered by a unique piece of technology called the “Cool Bot.” A farmer named Ron Khosla invented the Cool Bot in 2006, after being frustrated by the high cost of a walk-in cooler and condenser (about $3500). He was sure there was a way to use a regular window air conditioner unit to cool a room, but ACs won’t go below 60 degrees or they freeze up. Ron invented the Cool Bot which is a 4-inch micro-processor that attaches to the air conditioner unit, and somehow “tricks” it into dipping to temperatures as low as 32 degrees!
The result? A nicely cooled space that saves us lots of money on equipment (only needed to buy an AC unit), installation, electricity, and repairs. And at a price of $300, that’s not a bad deal! We decided to buy Cool Bot last year because we couldn’t afford the condenser system. Looking for alternatives, we took a risk on Cool Bot, and we love it! Our parents were so impressed by Cool Bot’s cooling power, they bought and installed one on their cooler as well. You can read more about Cool Bot online at storeitcold.com.
Me and the boys planted tomatoes at 9:30 PM on Thursday night to get them in before the rain!
FARMER KURT’S FIELD NOTES
We made it through week 1! It was GREAT seeing you all again. I had so much fun passing out cookies and talking with you.
This week, we got 6/10 of an inch of rain on Friday. It came down nice and easy — just how we like it. Anticipating the rain, I had my crew running hard on Thursday, trying to get some of our fall crops planted. They were able to get in fennel, winter squash, and cucumbers. They are SO FAST. I can’t tell you how awesome it is to be away from the farm for 4 hours doing a CSA pickup, and knowing that my team is getting the production work done without me. Noah and John have been managing the front gardens and greenhouses — keeping things watered and weeded.
The crew did speed planting on Thursday of cucumbers and winter squash
I made the boys help me plant 3 beds of tomatoes in the dark after Perrysburg pickup this week. We had a great time. They didn’t complain one bit.
Gooseberries are almost ready to harvest! It’s a good yield this year. Because I moved my currant bushes this year, I don’t think I’m going to have as many of those from my own place. I’ll see if I can source some from Adam at Wayward Seed. For those of you who are new, you should know that our farm is part of a cooperative known as “Great River Organics.” It’s made up of 2 other farms in Dayton, Fremont. We work together to grow product for wholesale accounts, including a HUGE initiative this year to provide produce to local food banks (funded by a USDA grant). It’s nice having this partnership, because we sometimes help each other out. We share trucks, tools, and even produce when things run tight. If I run short on something for the box, I can see if one of my partners in GRO can help out.
The crew harvests lettuce with a special tool that makes it really fast!
Did you enjoy the garlic scapes? This year, my garlic crop is three long beds — not as much as years ago, because garlic seed is so expensive. I should have enough scapes to offer in the online store, but not enough to give to everyone again in the CSA box. Corinna has started freezing them, because she loves to use them in the winter.
Some of you are asking if we can do an earlier pickup on July 4th. We’re looking into it. Corinna sent out a survey to find out how many of you want an earlier pickup, and we’re also looking at site and staff availability. I’ll let you know mid-week next week either way.
Jinelle, the Occasional Baker, baked your welcome cookie for last week!
I want to say thank you to Jinelle Markley — the “Occasional Baker” who baked those chocolate chip cookies last week. Jinelle is a 7th grader who LOVES to bake, and has a bit of an entrepreneurial side. Corinna and I love her cookies, and we wanted to do something to say “Welcome” to all of you on week one. We asked Jinelle if she could help, and I thought she did a great job.
We are taking the boys to FliteFest.com on Friday/Saturday this weekend in Canton. This is a big RC Flyin event, where thousands of fans from around the country come to fly RC airplanes. I’m borrowing my mom’s Suburban, and we’re loading it up with planes. It feels great to get away from the farm for a weekend.
The Pack Shed now has an operating silver cooler. I was able to get the CoolBot unit installed and electric working. The roofer showed up to close up the gap between the cooler and the side of the barn. It’s so awesome being able to roll in carts of CSA bins right into a cooler — instead of having to walk them in over a step. It saved us so much time and effort when loading up our trucks.
My line washer is one of my most-used pieces of equipment on the farm. This past week, it went down right before my bin washers started washing bins. I tore it apart and discovered that the recirculation pump and the high-pressure pump and malfunctioned. This is just normal wear and tear stuff, but the timing wasn’t great. I had to order two different times to try and figure out what was wrong. But we got it working again!
For the next two weeks, I’m trying to get the new Jumbo silver cooler operational. I’m waiting for the compressor to arrive. This cooler is large enough that we can’t use a CoolBot to cool it down. (See article about CoolBots above). Once that’s in, I’ll be able to take down the old cooler in the Packing Shed, which will free up so much space!
We moved a barn swallow bird nest to a new location.
This week I had to do a baby bird nest rescue! While cleaning out the Pack Shed, I noticed a nest of barn swallows perched above the door. Since we’re not allowed to have wildlife (and birds) in our food safe pack shed, I had to move it. But when I saw that there were 5 babies inside, I decided to try a slow migration. I set the nest on a ladder, so the momma could see it. I’ve slowly been moving this ladder every day into the barn, so that they can still be cared for by their parents. It’s been fun watching the babies stick their little heads out of the nest for food.
Two more weeks of crazy, and things should settle down into a routine. Thank you to my wife, my crew, and my awesome site hosts for being a mighty force this week!
~Your Farmer, Kurt
Last week’s CSA box
WEEK 2 ANNOUNCEMENTS
- Don’t forget to bring back your plastic veggie tote back on week 2. We’ll sub it out with a fresh one. Simply leave it in your car wherever you want the next bin to be placed by our team. Please return all egg cartons. We can re-use them.
- FRUIT SHARE WEEK A GETS FRUIT THIS WEEK! This week, the fruit share will be passed out to BOTH week A and B members (as well as to weekly fruit members). Since we missed last week, we’re going to catch you all up!
- Do we have Pickup On July 4th? — Your farmers are still deciding. A survey went out to Sylvania and Elmore customers on Friday morning via email to try and determine how many of our community would prefer a morning pickup option. We also have to check and see if the Temple is available
- Car Sign Contest is being extended one week! We saw lots of SLFarms Team Spirit last week at our pickup sites! Our thanks for bringing the energy to our first week. Due to an accident on I475, that delayed Farmer Kurt to the Sylvania site, we weren’t able to get pictures for the Sylvania location. So… we will prolong the Car Sign Contest ONE MORE WEEK.
- Watch our weekly Live Unboxing video this Tuesday around 8 PM inside the private Facebook group. Cadie Jardin, our CSA coach and dietitian, will show you what’s in the box, share storage tips and ideas for how to use your product. You can find the Facebook group at this link. If you aren’t on Facebook, we download the unboxing video into the digital Academy library (which you all get free access to). Reach out to me if you can’t figure out how to get into the Academy. (www.sharedlegacyfarms.com/academy) — note: you should NOT pay for a membership to the Academy. You get in for free with your membership!
- This week, I’ll be scheduling volunteers for the first 8 weeks of the season. If you’d like to help out one time during a CSA Pack night (Mondays and Wednesdays from 4-8 PM), please email me. I could also use help having a “site host” at the Elmore pickup site on Tuesdays from 5:30-6:30 PM.
- You can order additional items from the Shared Legacy Farms online store. Our store link is super easy to remember: www.sharedlegacyfarms.com/store. Just be sure to select the right pickup site that coincides with your pickup location. If the pickup option is greyed out or not available, it means you missed the window to order. You need to place your order 36 hours before your site. We harvest the product on Monday and Wednesday mornings — early. This week, the store will have:
Order Your Wild Alaskan Salmon Now
Order Your Wild Alaskan Salmon Nowfrom Citizen Salmon Alaska
Our Community Supported Fishery partner begins fishing for wild Alaskan salmon very soon. Aaron is trying to get an idea of how many folks will be wanting fresh wild salmon, so he can schedule his small-crew fishermen. Place your order for salmon, halibut, or scallops now at www.CitizenSalmonAlaska.com. You can order ANY time of year while supplies last.
The fish is SUPER fresh — processed and blast-frozen within 5 hours of the catch. Aaron processes it into smaller cuts (individual portion sizes) and each portion is vacuum-sealed. It arrives frozen on your doorstep, or your money back. And you’ll get a notification from Aaron once it’s shipped so you can keep track of its progress.
As a CSA member you get a 5% discount on ALL online orders with CitizenSalmonAlaska.com through December, 2023. Use the coupon code we gave you in your email. Note that the price of overnight FedEx shipping is included in the cost you see per pound on the website. You get a significant savings the more fish you buy. So a 40 lb. order of salmon will be much less than a 15 pound order. CSA members are organizing group orders right now inside the CSA Facebook group. So if you only want 20 lbs, you can partner up with other folks to get to the 40 lb. level and get the big discount.
Robert Seaney made this egg sandwich with halloumi cheese and homemade bread.
WEEK 2 CSA RECIPES
Members: You can download these recipes as a PDF here. These recipes are designed to inspire you to use your box this week! Please check inside our private Facebook group to find your fellow members sharing ideas for what to make with their box! Share a photo and you might be featured in next week’s newsletter!
Creamy Herb Dressing
Creamy Dill Sauce
Avocado Mango Kale Salad
Stir Fried Rice Noodles with Kohlrabi and Basil
Kohlrabi Slaw
Kohlrabi Carrot Fritters with Avocado Cream Sauce
Simple Roasted Carrots and Radishes
Scallion Fish with Sesame Kale
Garlicky Broccolini
Sheet Pan Meatballs and Broccolini
Pickled Scallions
Roasted Carrots with Dill
Grilled Pork Tenderloin with Cherries
Cherry Vanilla Dark Chocolate Overnight Oats
Red Currant Jam
Red Currant Crumb Bars