ATHENS HILLS WINTER CSA:

WEEK FIFTEEN

Hello Everyone!

Happy belated Equinox, Purim and Easter to all! This weekend was a chilly one for celebrating, but I hope you all felt the promise of spring in the air as well as the last touches of winter. This week’s bag of veggies certainly holds the promise of the next season for your taste buds if nothing else!

Spring is such a wonderful time here at Green Edge, and it begins our busiest time of the year as well. Before we know it we will have much to do each day. Fortunately, the daylight hours only grow longer and the temperatures warmer which make our time at work that much more enjoyable. It won’t be long before we are planting in the fields and transitioning the greenhouses to their summer residents, the heirloom tomatoes. It’s so exciting to be part of these yearly cycles. We hope you enjoy it too!

Our Green Edge Gardens worker profiles are coming to a close this week. We have for our grand finale none other than our quiet, yet devious resident mushroom expert, Tristan. Please have a look at the back of this newsletter for his brief autobiography. We all hope that you’ve enjoyed getting to know us over the last few months, and if you have missed the profiles of Kip & Becky, Dan, John, Margaret, Kate, Cale, yours truly, or Penny please let us know and we can email you that newsletter. Have a great week!

Best Wishes,

Claudia

FEATURED VEGGIES

Salad Mix (a mix of several lettuce varieties picked for their delicious taste and color combinations.)

Micro Mix (a mix of sunflower, buckwheat, radish, cabbage and kogani (pac choi)).

Mushrooms (pickers' choice of our farm-grown shiitake, oyster or trumpet mushrooms. Store these beauties in your refrigerator in a paper bag or in an unsealed plastic bag for a least a week.)

Spinach (A truly wonderful green vegetable, very nutritious and delicious. It adds wonderful color and texture to a salad when you chop it into strips and toss with the lettuces. The best storage for fresh spinach is to wash it, place it in a plastic Ziploc with a paper towel lain in between the side of the bag and the leaves. You can also wash, blanch and freeze to save for later. Enjoy this familiar staple this week—it might just help you avoid those yucky winter illnesses that have been hanging around.)

Carrots (These orange gems are so versatile it’s hard not to love them. Raw or cooked in your favorite dishes, these favorites pack in the nutrition along with their sweetness. Store in the refrigerator in a plastic Ziploc bag. They will keep for weeks and weeks, but I don’t imagine you’ll need to worry about long-term storage once you’ve tasted them!)

Swiss Chard (You know this green well by now. Enjoy!)

Recipe: Roasted Carrots (serves 6)

12 baby carrots (or equivalent of large carrots)
3 tablespoons good olive oil
1 1/4 teaspoons kosher salt
1/2 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons minced fresh dill or flat-leaf parsley

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

If the carrots are thick, cut them in half lengthwise; if not, leave them whole. Slice the carrots diagonally into 1 1/2-inch-thick slices. (The carrots will get smaller while cooking, so make the slices big.) Toss them in a bowl with the olive oil, salt, and pepper. Place on a baking sheet in one layer and roast in the oven for 20 minutes.

Toss the carrots with minced dill or parsley, season to taste, and serve.

(Recipe courtesy of The Barefoot Contessa website, 2008)

Recipe: Avocado and Grapefruit Salad

(Serves 4-6)

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
3/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup good olive oil
4 ripe Hass avocados
2 large red grapefruits

Salad Mix for 4-6 folks

Place the mustard, lemon juice, salt, and pepper in a small bowl. Slowly whisk in the olive oil until the vinaigrette is emulsified.

Before serving, cut the avocados in 1/2, remove the seeds, and carefully peel off the skin. Cut each half into 4 thick slices. Toss the avocado slices in the vinaigrette to prevent them from turning brown. Use a large, sharp knife to slice the peel off the grapefruits (be sure to remove all the white pith), then cut between the membranes to release the grapefruit segments.

Arrange the avocado slices around the edge of a large platter. Arrange the grapefruit segments in a second ring just inside the avocado. Place the salad mix in the center of the platter. Spoon the vinaigrette on top, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and serve.

(Recipe adapted from The Barefoot Contessa & the Food Network website, 2007)

TRISTAN WOLFE

My name is Tristan James Wolfe, and as English as that may sound, I was born and raised in Lancaster, Ohio. I moved to Athens after high school and have lived here for most of the 4½ after graduation. My duties here at Green Edge are to cultivate and ensure the general well being of our fragile fungal friends (that is, the mushrooms). It's my goal to set a good example for the mushrooms, thus encouraging them to grow up strong to be good citizens of your dining table.

I've been with the farm for nigh on a year now, through which I've been learning much and caring more and more about the food I put in my body. It is truly a great thing that there are places like Green Edge, where you know where your food is coming from and you know exactly what it is. It's even greater that there are people like you who support it.

Besides by my co-mission (Ed. Note: mycology is the study of fungi), music is most important to my life. Playing music with my friends is one of my greatest joys. Together with my brother and two of our friends, we play in the band, Men of Gentle Birth. It's wonderful to be able to travel occasionally with the band, meet new people and share ideas through mutual interest in music. In the words of the great Neil Young, "Keep on rockin' in the free world", and thanks again for your support.

Have a wonderful week and don’t forget you can contact us at:

(740) 448-4021 OR

greenedgegardens@verizon.net

We look forward to hearing from you!