Newsletter for Week 4

Week #4 January 4, 2011


   Hello! Welcome back! Happy New Year! These are just a few of the greetings we send your way. It is certainly great to be back to the weekly routine. We missed you, and according to the emails in response to Rob’s message about the contents this week, many of you missed us just as much. I have to say, that makes us feel great too. The break from the cold temperatures last week was a real treat as it meant three days when no one had to come to help cover the houses in the evening. The sunshine today (Tuesday) has allowed the crew to harvest in complete comfort in the houses. Quite a treat for January!
  Two new items come to you this week: beets and kale. If you were with us last winter, you will remember that our beet crop failed, but not so this year. We hope to have enough for three deliveries this season. Alas, the butternut squashes are through. While most of the ‘off-time’ was taken up with simply managing with fewer staff, there were still some accomplishments around the farm. Kip was finally able to re-tie the strings that work the automatic side opener in the hothouse. Some of them were loose so the closure was not complete. This meant lots of cold air rushing in through the cracks. Repairs to the drain in the mushroom grow room and to a fan drive belt are also complete. Of course, the warmer weather meant that weeding was necessary, and we needed to run the drip irrigation in the houses. An improvement made to the irrigation tank last spring has made it possible to use the drip ir-rigation this winter. No more dragging hoses from one house to another and overhead watering. What a time saver!
  The postings for this summer’s internships are at OEFFA, ATTRA, and the WWOOF websites. These apprenticeships fill quickly. If you know of anyone with a desire to learn about and live on a farm, please have them contact us: info@greenedgegardens.com Don’t forget that you can check out all of the shenanigans at the farm on the blog: www.greenedgegardens.blogspot.com Look for new pictures of the veggies, the crew, and other things which catch Rob’s eagle eye!
From all of us at Green Edge, Becky (Kip, Dan, John, , Rob, Cale, Julia, Penny, Guinevere

THIS WEEK’S VEGGIES
Beets – The first of three times that we expect you will receive beets. These ‘Red Ace’ beets are typically uniform in size, sweet and tender. We hope you love them! Notes on page 2 for storing and ‘slipping the skins.’
Sweet Potato - You can refer to Week #3’s newsletter for storing tips and recipes. These delicious sweet tubers make a great side dish for meat, an addition to soups or served for dessert in a pie!
Salad Mix – In the mix this week are 7 varieties of lettuce, mizuna, and pe-tsai. The last two are mild Asian greens. This mix is best stored in an air-tight container with some paper towel or cloth to absorb any extra drops of water that can form.
Kale - One of our all-time favo-rites. We love it raw, massaged, steamed, in soup, etc., etc.
Collards- We hope you were able to try the sweet stems of these beauties last time. If not, well, there’s this week… In addition, the greens are sweet and flavorful, but remember they need a little longer cooking time than some of the other greens.
Mushrooms - Shiitakes again… you can bet on it. The shiitakes are so flavorful and meaty. We are also trying to grow enough oysters to have for you but so far, it remains elusive. We’ll keep trying though.
Sunflower Microgreens - If you’re not familiar with micro-greens, you are in for a surprise! Unlike sprouts (which are only grown in water), these are grown in soil and therefore im-part the nutritional additions from the soil. These have a mild, almost nutty flavor and are juicy and crunchy.

The Combo Corner

The apple selections from Cherry Orchard this week are Fuji, Mutzu, Yellow Delicious, and Red Delicious.
This week’s bread from The Village Bakery and Café is Oatmeal Stout Bread made from organic whole wheat, white flour and oats, stout ale, Cantrell honey, organic cocoa, salt, and yeast. Chewy and flavorful, it makes terrifically satisfying sandwiches, or you can enjoy it toasted with butter for breakfast.
 
StillTasty.com has some useful and interesting in-formation about kale. • Refrigerate kale in a plastic bag; do not wash until ready to use.
• Freezing kale can mean it will store up to 10 months. Wash the kale and remove the stems. Blanch (plunge into boiling water) for two minutes and chill quickly in ice water. Drain off excess moisture, package in airtight containers or freezer bags and freeze immediately.

ALL THINGS BEET…..

With beets, peeling is done after the cooking. My mom always called it ‘slipping the skins’. Cool the ccoked beet so that it can be held in the hand. Then you just squeeze a little and the skin will slip right off. Beets can be cooked a number of ways, steaming, baking, boiling or blanching. Boiling is probably the fastest method, but you can lose some of the color and flavor. Steaming works well also, but make sure you have enough water in the pan. A 2-3” beet will steam in 15-20 minutes. Baking results in less loss of color than any method. Many cooks however, prefer to use them raw and grated for salads and garnishes.

Recipes
MASSAGED KALE

Wash and dry the kale. De-stem the kale. You can save the stems for later sautéing. Tear the kale leaves into bite-sized pieces and place in bowl. Drizzle the kale with olive oil, ho-ney, and either lemon juice or apple cider vinegar. With both hands in the bowl, begin to ‘massage’ the kale. The acid from the lemon juice (or vinegar) reacts with the broken leaves and causes them to wilt and taste and appear cooked. It’s a remarkable dish. Ready in no time. Additions and enhancements that the farm crew has tried include dried cranberries, toasted sesame seeds, walnuts, and even more were great too!

SAUSAGE, KALE & WHITE BEAN SOUP

1 c. dry navy beans, soak in water overnight
1 large bunch kale, rinsed, stemmed & torn
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 pound spicy linguica sausage, sliced
1 cup sliced shallots (onions are okay)
4 cups chicken broth
salt and pepper to taste
½ teaspoon hot sauce, to taste

1. Drain and rinse the soaked beans. Cook the soaked beans in a pressure cooker in 4 cups of water for 25 minutes. Do not drain.
2. Bring a second pot of salted water to a boil. Add the kale and simmer until kale is bright green and tender, about 2 minutes. Drain in a strainer, and cool under cold running water. Set aside.
3. Heat olive oil over medium heat in the soup pot. Brown the linguica slices on each side, about 5 minutes. Remove from the pot with a slotted spoon and set aside. Add shallots to pot and cook until soft, about 3 min-utes. Pour in a splash of chicken broth and scrape up any browned bits of sausage.
4. Return the sausage to the pot along with the beans and their cooking liquid. Stir in the chicken broth. Bring soup to a boil, reduce heat to low, and simmer un-covered for 15 minutes. Add the kale and cook about 4 minutes longer. Season with salt, pepper, and hot sauce to taste. ~ from al-lrecipes.com

BEETS AND ORANGE SALAD - Slice cooked beets and combine with orange sections and minced scallions. Use a honey and curry dressing.


BEETS AND APPLE SALAD - Dice cooked beets and combine with diced apples in a vinai-grette dressing or that honey and curry one.

HONEY AND CURRY DRESSING – Whisk together 2/3 cup of salad oil, 3 tablespoons of lemon juice, 2 tablespoons white vinegar, ¼ cup honey, 1 teaspoon curry powder, ½ teaspoon salt, and ½ teaspoon pepper. Pour over salads. Yield about 1 ½ cups.

LEFTOVER BEETS can be made into a wonderful dip for raw vegetables. Puree the cooked beets in a food proces-sor. For every cup of puree, add 8 ounces of cream cheese (sof-tened), 1 teaspoon horseradish, 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard, 2 tablespoons minced red onion, ¼ teaspoon salt, and 1 table-spoon grated orange rind. Mix it all together in a food processor and chill well before serving.

PICKUP CONTACT NUMBERS & HOURS

NEW ALBANY – 614-216-9370 12-8pm
TIBET – 614-784-8124 11am-6pm
BEXLEY MARKET-614-252-3951 3-8pm
UPPER ARLINGTON- 614-506-3086 4-8pm
CLINTONVILLE COOP – 614-261-3663 11 am-8 pm
PLATES STUDIO –DUBLIN - 614-336-9502 4-8 pm
HYACINTH BEAN – 740-594-9302 12-6pm
Please remember to call your host first if problems arise. Since they are closer to you, they can usually resolve the problem. Feel free to call us if the host is unable to help you – 740-448-4021 Thanks! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Already it is time for me to start the nagging about the return of the green bags. This is important. Please help us with this. The bags represent your and our commitments to lessening the burden of packaging, but it only works when the bags are returned. If you have trouble with remembering, try bringing your own bags with you to pickup and simply transfer the veggies to your bags and leave ours at the pickup site. It could work….