Early June 2016 Seasonal CSA Produce & Flower Subscription

Willoway Farm Giant Garlic

Good Day Everybody,

This is Jacqueline to give you some notes about our CSA and what was in our basket. We will do podcasts in the future but for now Dan and I thought sending some photos with text would help get people acclimated to receiving their first seasonal local produce basket. It is Week 1 of our 20 week CSA and you can smell and taste the goods of early June. This spring has been ever interesting with the variant temperatures.  The occasional rains have been plentiful to aid in growth for the crops. We are seeing our typical June activity take hold, plants are growing and the weeds are as well. Our activities include more to be planted, more seeding to occur, harvest and the continuous maintaining of the weeds via hoeing or hand weeding. June is another critical months to stick to the garden which will reflect on the growing season. We have noticed perennial and crops planted in the fall such as garlic seem to be at least a week at last ahead at this time of  year. Asparagus for instance started production early and is slowing down in production so the weeks ahead with asparagus are numbered. 

In your baskets this week we were a  short of one item -many of you received it but some did not -Baby White Turnips. The Baby white turnips can be eaten raw or cooked. Grating the turnips is a nice method of using them whether you add to a salad or sauté for a sauté dish.You also can glaze them or roast them too! Removing the edible greens will help the turnip keep fresh. I have also cut off tops and stored in water in the refrigerator to help keep them firm and fresh longer. We seem to have an ever present maggot worm that loves to munch on baby turnips and radishes. Therefore we have been composting and feeding parts of the undesired pieces to our rabbits-(they eat the greens). We have had the maggot issue before but this year they are hitting lots of our radish/turnip successions. 

Other then that this is what you would have gotten- 

HERBS: most herbs you can dry for a later use or slip into vinegars for extra flavors

 Oregano- larger fuzzy leaf bunch

Lemon Thyme

Lemon Thyme- This has small leaves great with poultry or fish dishes, or homemade salad dressings.

Red Russian Kale- Eat this fresh allowing it to sit in some vinegar of choice (we have used balsamic with  fresh grated parmesan. Or you can sauté and add to dishes with your green onions, or add to omelettes etc. Red Russian Kale is known to be one of the sweetest varieties of the kale varieties.

Bellesque Frisee

 Frisee (a little bitter in flavor, can be added to salads , or cooked(wilted) in a pan. There're many recipes for Frisee if you google it.

Lettuce Head- most were tensional butterhead, there were a few Red romaine and then some green volunteers that reseeded from last year which got huge in our High Tunnel.

Heirloom Lettuce Mix tripled washed and spun out dry. The bags holding it are biodegradable and keep the lettuce mix fresh. We have been told it has kept for 10 days.

Asparagus

Rhubarb- can be frozen just as is no process, sometimes this is done to save for the ripening of strawberries since typically rhubarb is ready to harvest sooner then strawberries.

Green Onions (strong flavor)

spinach (we were a little short on spinach due to poor germination-Milwaukee delivery received spinach) (Tuesday members received pea shoots)

*Next Week we anticipate strawberries and succulent garlic scapes to be new items in the baskets. 

Flower Bouquets (somewhat varies but these are all the different materials I have growing on the farm that made it into bouquets.)included:

Peonies, Pasque seed heads, Solomon seal, anemones, ranunculus, chocolate mint, Motherwort, lupine, foxglove, siberian Iris-buds will open but not last very long, sorrel seed heads for filler. I might be forgetting one but that pretty much covers it. 

**Poppies are just beginning and I did have a loss in my poppy transplants this year so I may not have as many poppies as planned-they last maybe 2 days in a vase. Poppies sap from the cut stem polite the water for other flowers. Each stem is seared to seal it otherwise it could wilt and kill off other blooms. So when recutting stems take that poppy out and handle differently- you could recut it but sear it in boiling water first if you can.

Please note the bushel containers and mason jars can be taken home. We encourage to return the containers and mason jars when returning for the following week's basket or bouquet. If you have your own cloth bags or vases to minimize potential breakage of glass jars bring them and leave the bushel container at the pick-up location. It is necessary for us to have those containers to properly and efficiently package the goods for you so returning them is important to us.

Thank you all for having patience as we getting adjusted to the beginning of the season. We would be happy to receive questions that we could answer in a FARMCAST , because if you are wondering about something chances are someone could be wondering the same thing. Questions will help everyone communicate and have a greater understanding of Willoway Farm and what we grow~~Jacqueline