“Find a place inside where there is joy – and the joy will burn out the pain.”
~Joseph Campbell
Week 1 Produce list:
Braising mix
Scallions
Asparagus
Radishes
Mint
Broccoli
Kale
Romaine lettuce
Garlic Scapes – full/single
Chives – full/half
Week 1 Farmer Notes
We are so happy to have you join us for the season
June has been extremely wet so far
Braising Mix is the “Vegetable of the Week” for box 1
Make pesto from the scapes or stir fry them
Lots of options for a yummy salad
Let us know if we need to add someone to our list serve
We reuse our boxes, ice packs, and egg cartons so please handle them with
care and make sure we get them back – no one wants to create garbage
Asparagus is awesome on the grill al dente with olive oil/s+p
Try to make a time to visit the farm this season
Some recipes coming next week
Wash all of the produce before you eat it
Vegetable of the Week–Braising Mix
Braising mix is a delicious addition to add some spice to your cooking. In general, braising mix is an assortment of leafy greens named after the cooking style that involves searing your main ingredient in hot oil before slowly simmering it in liquid.
The mix you’re receiving this week is an assortment of green and red mustards, kale, tatsoi, and hon tsai tai. We encourage you to taste each leaf raw prior to cooking to experience the unique flavor of the various greens.
While braising mix is most commonly sautéed, you can also eat the greens blanched, steamed, stir-fried, stewed, raw, or about any other way you can think to experiment! Raw, this mix will have a bit of spice, so if you prefer a tamer flavor, feel free to cook or mix it with some of the other fabulous produce you picked up this week. (Essentially, it’s delicious – just ask the flea beetles!)
Braising mix will compliment any wholesome diet. You’ll notice these greens are more than just green… Not only does color feed your eyes, bringing more color into your diet also helps you bring in a wider variety of nutrients. Additionally, all of the produce you’re receiving was harvested within 3 days of delivery. Less time traveling and minimal handling ensure that produce can retain as much nutrients as possible. On top of being a colorful whole food (unprocessed and with all of it’s dirt-fresh nutrients), braising mix can encourage you to find new ways to interact with your usual tried and true ingredients. We hope you enjoy experimenting with these fresh, unique flavors!
I am constantly amazed by the productivity of the earth, sun, air and water. It seems
to have been an early spring with minimal frost in the ground from a mild winter. I
have never delivered garlic scapes or broccoli in the first summer box before this
year! We have had plenty of nice rainfall and also periods of very warm weather to
go with it, and the crops are all responding very nicely. We have our pumpkins,
watermelon, 2 nd sweet corn planting and popcorn just itching to see field soil, but the
ground has been saturated for the last 10 days or so. Hopefully by this Friday and
Saturday we can get planting again.
I have the privilege to be working along side 5 wonderful young interns who are
energetic and passionate about growing food in a sustainable way for the local
community. You will enjoy the fruits of their labor and meet them if you visit. They
will also contribute to the newsletter from time to time, Patrick and Olivia wrote
about the Braising Mix this week and Chamberlain and Maddie are responsible for
posting this newsletter onto our website. Samson will be delivering the produce
boxes to Austin and Rochester tomorrow afternoon.
We are all excited to be working together at Earth Dance Farm to bring you fresh
and tasty, chemical free produce. We are also very grateful to have you folks to
grow for and who make our endeavor possible. Please let us know how we are
doing and if there is anything we can do to make your CSA experience a great one
this season.
~ farmer Norm
