Circle M Farm

When we started to plan last fall for our first CSA season, we decided to offer every-other-week boxes. The half-share niche was needed in the CSA market, we thought, because many of our Chicago friends with weekly farm subscriptions ended up giving lots of food away. We also thought bi-weekly deliveries would be easier on us, as we wouldn’t have to choreograph big harvests every week. What we didn’t factor in was how much food was going to be ready in the garden on those off weeks! Hence, we have now switched to every week deliveries, one week for local customers, and the next for Madison. Readers, we hope you’ll enjoy the weekly updates on what can grow in one Wisconsin garden. And we hope you’ll take advantage of the recipes wherever you are.

Kriss in Garden 1, this year’s spring patch. Still growing: cabbage, carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, scallions, radicchio, garlic and parsnips. The peas and lettuce have come out, and in their places are beans, eggplant, leeks, onions and celeriac.

Cabbage Red and Green – This spring wasn’t the easiest for cabbage. Too cold early on, then too dry and now too hot. I’ve been babysitting these little heads daily, looking for the pointy tops indicating an imminent bolt that would split the heads from inside. Thankfully, these have grown to a nice size and are absolutely delicious! Some do have guests living inside; cute and devastating cabbage worms. I squeezed one today and it squirted in my eye! Yuck. But squishing is really the only method of control once the cabbages have outgrown their floating row covers.

Dill, Basil, Parsley and Cilantro – Yummy yummy yum! The season of green flavors has begun. Guacamole and tabouli and pesto, o my!

Purple Globe Turnips – Julia Child is a big fan of turnips, and so am I. If you are a fan, too, you’ll be tempted to just slice these spicy/sweet balls and eat them raw. But they are fantastic washed, peeled, diced and sauteed in butter or stock. That’s what Julia would do. Don’t forget to use the greens off these and the smaller salad turnips. They are as nutritious as it gets! See the Ham Hocks with Greens recipe from June 11.

Salad Turnips – My friend JayDee and I, who work together both here and at another organic farm, spend many of our days together talking about food. By lunchtime we are absolutely ravenous. Our most frequent topic is meat, the second is salad turnips. We both like them raw, though lots of people cook them. Lately, though, JayDee’s been experimenting with fermentation, and I suspect these turnips may go into some kind of aged kimchi thing.

Scallions – Sandwiches are the bomb with these, as I’ve said many times before. But at this stage, when the bunching onions have gotten a bit larger, a nice change would be Grilled Scallions. Clean and trim the tops to about 8”. Some people enjoy the roots on, and they do get cute and crispy, but you might want to trim them off, too. Roll in olive oil, sprinkle with coarse salt and ground pepper, and lay crosswise on a hot grill until seared, just about 5 minutes on each side. You could also dip them in a Korean-style marinade instead of olive oil. Here’s a general recipe:

Korean Marinade
1 T Sugar
3 T Soy sauce
1 T Sake
4 Cloves garlic; finely chopped
2 t Finely chopped ginger
2 t Toasted sesame oil
2 T vegetable oil

Spinach – I can’t believe these plants are still producing in our garden! The seeds were sown in April, and the plants have been harvested repeatedly since then. I’ve pinched the bolting tops off multiple times, and at this point the spinach is over a foot tall and producing baby leaves all up the stalks. Delicious, tender, probably the last harvest. Enjoy!

Chocolate Mint – See the Cuban Mojito Recipe a few posts back.

Carrots – These are still just thinnings from the carrot patch, as I try to keep making space for the larger roots to develop. Carrots get better as the weather gets colder in the fall, but these do taste wonderful. Like a carrot, only more.

Baby Beets – These, too, are thinnings from in among the crowded rows. Every beet seed is actually a pod with multiple seeds in it, so it is pretty essential to thin the shoots to get beets of any size. The baby beets are wonderful and tender, though, try these whole or halved on a grilled kebob. Other chunks to skewer this week would be turnips, carrots, scallions and maybe some beef or lamb. Season with olive oil and salt and pepper, or try the Korean Marinade.

Snow Peas – Just a little snack is all we’ve got left on these still-lovely vines. What fabulous plants these have been! Oregon Giant Snow Peas from Johnny’s Selected Seeds. Every seed germinated, every plant produced and they’ve been producing straight from May through July. They are slowing down a lot now, but it’s been a great season.

Let me digress a bit here and give a quick acknowledgment of this seed company. If you haven’t ordered from them before, I encourage you to give them a try. Usually I spend months in the winter scouring different catalogs and ordering from many different seed houses. This year, though, I felt extra-busy and decided to just order from one place. I can’t say enough how happy I’ve been with Johnny’s products. The cultural information both in the catalog and on the seed packets is thorough and easy to understand. Every seed germinates. Every plant is beautiful. In addition, Johnny’s carries tools designed by Elliot Coleman, my most favorite garden writer. The broadfork, my favorite tool, is a Coleman design from Johnny’s. I am this week going to place another order, both of seeds for the fall crops, and of tools. I’m finally going to get myself the lightweight scythe I’ve been looking at for two years, and some hand and stirrup hoes so I can better deploy my children and my Work Share Members against the weeds.

Squash Blossoms – Everyone who’s every grown vegetables has likely had the experience of endless zucchini and summer squash clogging up the summer garden. The answer to that over-abundance is to pick the squash blossoms and enjoy them before and while the squash are coming on. My mother was introduced to this dish while living in Italy, where the daily outdoor markets feature blossoms with little squash attached. I prefer to just harvest blossoms, because it’s difficult to store the long fruit/flower combination. The blossoms are delicious stuffed with a ricotta/mozzarella concoction, the same as you’d use in a lasagne, then sauteed in olive oil. A little salt, pepper, and basil and you’ve got a delicious and really stunning entree.

Nasturtium Blossoms and Leaves – There are so many ways to get creative with these bright and peppery blooms and lily pad leaves. They taste pretty much the same and are most often used in salads. But they are fabulous as a soup garnish. They can also be used much like arugula, spread on top of a rustic pizza or wilted and tossed with pasta.

Goat Cheese – People ask me all the time if I make goat cheese, since I do milk dairy goats. But I am terrible at cheese making, as it requires the kind of watching in the kitchen that I find next to impossible to pull off in the middle of my many-layered days. My friend and fellow shepherd Hilary, of Linden Valley Farm here in Blanchardville, makes this delicious chevre from the milk of her small goat flock. She’s been experimenting with dill, but you could also add cracked pepper, chives or even a fruit marmalade. I eat it so fast, I never get to put anything in it at all, but I thought I’d pass the idea along, anyway.