Week 6 Newsletter

Athens Hills CSA
The bounty continues in the garden. Who could have guessed that a season that started so wet and cold would have produced the plenty that abounds in every garden and field? We are so thrilled to have the first harvest of beets this week. And we are more thrilled to have the beginning of the tomato season finally! Speaking of bounty, there are boxes of extra squash at all of the pickup sites. Let us know if there’s not enough. We can send more, but don’t want it to be a burden on the hosts (i.e. – not all of it is taken…) We are still not completely caught up and have resigned ourselves to some tasks simply not getting done this year. Mowing continues to be at least three weeks behind and we are grateful that we don’t have to cut hay! As we drive by our neighbor’s hayfields, the ‘1st cutting’ bales still wait to be lined up. But with the pop-up storms happening two or three times a week, it is easy to understand why the 2nd cutting is still not done. We continue to plow and disk new areas to be planted soon for fall crops. One new project that Kip will be working on soon is re-lining the watering troughs in the microgreen house. Over the years, the lining has developed holes and is leaking. With the tomato harvesting now a part of the routine adding to the already hectic harvesting schedule for squashes and cucum-bers, we are glad that he doesn’t currently have more things to occupy his time. In the fall, this will all change and the numbers of projects are plentiful! We are upgrading the electric fence charger. With the new run of fence that was recently installed, the old charger is no longer powerful enough to send a ‘meaningful’ charge through the wires. It’s not designed to kill anything, but is strong enough to act as a deterrent so the animals won’t challenge it again. There is too much time used every week in search of the one or two spots that have become entangled. Two wires touching each other or weeds high enough to touch the wires will ‘ground’ the fence making it ineffective.
From all of us at Green Edge,
Becky (Kip, Dan, John, Maria, Kurt, Rob, Marie, Penny, Guinevere, Diedra, Bethany, and Janell

This Week's Veggies
Salad Mix – In the mix this week are 7 varieties of lettuce. This mix is best stored in an air-tight con-tainer with some paper towel or cloth to absorb any extra drops of water that can form.
Mushrooms - This week you receive either oyster or shiitake.
Sunflower Microgreens - These have a mild, almost nutty flavor and are juicy and crunchy.
Beets - The 1st beets of the season and these are tender and marvelous. The greens can be cooked like chard. Unlike chard, beet greens have a distinct fla-vor that some folks crave!
Heirloom Tomatoes - Heir-loom tomatoes differ from hybr-ids. Their amazing flavor is the trade-off for their delicate na-ture. Easily bruised and thin-skinned, they are difficult to transport.
Onions – From another local or-ganic grower, these are as fresh as can be. Sweet, not hot – try them sliced thinly into a salad. Yummy!
Sweet Basil -Week #1 newsletter talks some of pesto making and different ingredients that can be used to make this herbal ‘paste’ for dipping, pasta sauce or a spread for bread.
Summer Squash – There is about 3 lb. in the bag this week. We grow several varieties. Look on the blog for pictures of each with the name.
Cucumber - Week #1 newsletter had several uses for cucumbers, but none of them mentioned slic-ing and marinating in a mild vinai-grette.

The Combo Corner
The fruit selections from Cherry Orchard this week is a bag of sweet and juicy peaches.
This week’s bread from The Village Bakery and Café is Batard. This is similar to the Galette with a different shape. This is a classic French bread meaning no oil or sugar added, but also different from classic French with whole grains like kamut added. It is wonderful for sandwiches.
This week’s Cheese Share from Integration Acres a young raw milk Gouda that is aged over 90 days. It is still creamy but has some sharp-ness developing.

PICKUP CONTACT NUMBERS and 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
PILATES 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!


Please let us know if you are interested in any of the following items:
CANNING TOMATOES
SUMMER SQUASH FOR FREEZING
CUCUMBERS FOR PROCESSING
BASIL FOR PROCESSING
We have plenty of each of these!!!

The Controversy of Basil Storage
There are 2 ways most commonly practiced. 1) at room temperature in a glass of water, and 2) stems wrapped in a damp paper towel in a re-sealable plastic bag in the warmest part of the frig - in the veg crisper where the humidity is highest, no colder that 50o, or the door if your frig doesn’t have a ‘crisper’ drawer. For the counter method, re-cut the stems before you put them in the glass of water (just like flowers). This is the method I use, but I tend to use the basil quickly. I do wonder though if an air-conditioned home vs. non-air-conned is the real difference. (One market customer put a plastic bag over the leaves, used it for 2 weeks when roots ap-peared. Then she planted it! Rob says he’s been using this method sice the first weeks, but he changes the water daily. It ’s been growing and he’s been harvesting!)

Recipes:
Tomato, Basil & Cucumber Salad
Try making a yummy summer salad with your heirloom tomatoes, cucumbers and basil. Cut the veggies to desired size, mince the basil, add minced garlic, balsamic vinegar, olive oil, salt and pepper to taste. Enjoy!
You can add just about anything to bulk up this salad: add your csa onions or microgreens! Add nuts or seeds. If you get the cheese share, try adding a bit of Raw Gouda. You could add pasta to make it into a pasta salad, adjust your vinegar, oil and spices accordingly.
Roasted Baby Beets with Braised Beet Greens
~ from About.com
Ingredients: 1 bunch of beets with greens attached 2 tablespoons olive oil, divided 1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar Salt and pepper to taste
Preparation: You will be using all parts of the beets, both the greens and the roots, and a different preparation method for each: Roasting the beetroots (which will take 30 to 60 minutes) and then braising the beet greens (which will take only seconds). Chop the beet green tops off of the beets and save both the beetroots and the greens.
Roasting the Baby Beets - Wash the baby beet roots. You don't have to remove any long stringy roots as these will come off with the skin after roasting. Make a pocket of aluminum foil by tearing off about a 12-inch piece of foil, placing the beets in the foil with a tablespoon of olive oil, then folding up each point of the square and crumpling them together at the peak to close the pocket. Make sure the beets are coated with the oil. You may wish to add a couple sprigs of rosemary.
Roast in the oven or on a grill until the beets are tender. Tiny beet roots cook in about 30 minutes at 400 F. Larger roots would take longer. If you are baking other items, simply place the beets in the oven alongside the other dishes and test the beets after 30 minutes. You can test the beets with a fork. When they have softened enough to be pricked with the fork, they are done. Once done, remove from heat and allow to cool a bit. Once cool enough to handle, you can rub off the outer skin with a paper towel. The beets are now ready to arrange for serving.
Braised Beet Greens - Save this step until right before you are about to serve the meal, as it will go very quickly. Wash the beet greens. Heat a tablespoon of olive oil in a small frying pan. Rip the greens into sections, discarding any large central stem or vein. Toss them in the pan with the hot oil just until they are wilted, about 30 to 60 seconds. Add a teaspoon of balsamic vinegar and toss with the greens in the pan briefly. The greens are now ready to serve.
Serving: You can arrange the greens on the plate with the roasted beets on top for an elegant presentation. You can salt and pepper to taste, but I found them not to need any additional seasoning.

10 Tips for Roasting Vegetables
1. Preheat the oven. A cool oven will not brown the veggies. An oven at least at 375o-400o F.
2. Cut the Veggies into Even Pieces. Pieces that are the same size will be done in the same amount of time.
3. Toss Veggies in Oil. This coats them and helps them brown. Add other seasonings now if wanted.
4. Don’t crowd the Veggies. Plenty of hot air around them causes the browning.
5. Sprinkle Veggies with Salt. Sprinkle before and add just a little when they’re done too.
6. Roast Veggies at the Top 3rd of the Oven.
7. Shake or Turn as Veggies. As browning starts, shake them or use a spatula to move them so they brown evenly.
8. Roast Veggies Thoroughly. Browned and tender are the goals for roasted veggies. If they brown too quickly, cover with foil until tender, and then uncover for the last minutes. If they aren’t browning, raise the heat in the oven.
9. “Finish the Veggies.” A final drizzle of olive oil and a sprinkle of salt is a good start. Other flavors can include fresh ground black pepper, fresh lemon juice, minced herbs, or balsamic vinegar.
10. Serve Veggies Warm or Let Them Cool. They are great while still warm, but can be served at room temperature; just be sure to let them cool in a single layer (covered or not) so that the steam will not keep cooking them and cause them to be soggy.
~from LocalFoods.About.Com