Circle M Farm

I’ve decided to write down each week’s harvest list in order of what should be consumed first, in terms of longevity in storage. As you’d expect this time of year, the garden is all about fresh, raw and green! Salads and stirfrys, sautés and crispy snaps. I’m thankful for every last bite, as these tender veggies have weathered floodwaters, tornado winds and torrential downpours in the past two weeks. Not to mention the heaviest insect pest load I’ve ever seen on this property. Bugs always move in when the plants are stressed. But don’t panic, it’s organic! Ignore those little holes and enjoy – they’re proof that you aren’t eating pesticides!

Many of you are already aware of the floods our little valley farm endured in the past weeks and you are probably wondering whether you can expect much from your boxes. Well, we did lose one garden, probably for the duration of the season, and had several crop losses. Luckily, however, the floods came early enough in the season that we can replant everything but the late-summer storage onions that stayed under water for over a week. Beets will be a few weeks later than we planned, and we probably won’t have a second-crop of salad mix and spinach before the heat hits. But to compensate for the ground lost, we ploughed up and planted 1/3 of our horse pasture in lots of sweet corn, zucchini, cucumbers, beans, squash and pumpkins. We now have gardens twice as big as when we started planting this spring. So we may have a few thin boxes around week 2 and 3, but we’ll make up for it with a huge bounty later in the season. Get ready! And thanks, Farm Members, for your support as we journey together through this unusual growing year!

Hooray for this hardy lettuce, spinach, cabbage, kohlrabi, garlic and scallions that grew right on through wind and flood.

Baby Salad Mix – This blend of green and red lettuces is at it’s tasty peak right now – eat first! Enjoy with just the lightest of vinaigrettes.

Spinach – Yummy! Obviously, the flea beetles find them delicious, too. These young leaves are tender enough to eat either raw or sautéed.

Mache Rosettes – These tiny cool-season greens are a favorite in European salads. Mix them in with your lettuces, or enjoy a few leaves on your sandwiches this week Because they are a bit firmer than lettuce, they’ll hold up better if you have to make a sandwich in the morning and eat it at lunch.

Pea Shoots and Greens – Known as Dou Miao in China, these unusual greens are a favorite in Chinese cooking, but are also all the rage with fresh food chefs here in America. Check out the myriad recipe ideas on google. A most common use is to simply stir-fry the shoots with garlic and sesame oil, then serve over rice. But these are so fantastic raw, I generally use them to garnish salads and other simple dishes. One taste and you’ll be convinced that the pea plant is every bit at delicious as its pods. See this terrific serving suggestion.

Snap Peas – Please don’t even think of cooking these! Simply grasp the stem, pull the string off the pod, and eat the whole thing. Spring heaven in a pod!

Heaven on a vine!

Salad Turnips – Turnips. You either love ‘em or hate’ em. I’m in the love column on turnips, but even if you aren’t a fan, do try these crisp, sweet Hakurei salad turnips. Intended to be eaten small and raw, these can be sliced into salads or enjoyed as a cool snack with beer. If you can tolerate the flea beetle holes, the greens also make a delicious cooked addition to soups and vegetable-rice dishes. Dark greens are the best nutrition there is.

Chocolate Mint – Absolutely the best mint for sweet recipes, a few sprigs of this will take your lemonade to the next level. And don’t even get me going on Mojitos. Chew a leaf just for fun.

Rhubarb – Many thanks to our neighbors at Hillspring Farm who donated a picking of rhubarb to our CSA shares when they learned we’d lost crops in the floods. And what lovely rhubarb it is! Ours tends to be green with just a hint of pink, but these gorgeous stalks are ruby red. The ends of these may split, since they prefer not to be cut for storage, but you can just cut those frayed bits into whatever you cook up.

Herbs - You’ve got a few little bags of herbs. One has long branches of French Tarragon with a sprig of Lemon Balm. Another has a handful of sage. And another has blue-green Polish Dill, round-leaved Oregano and prickly-looking Summer Savory. If you are unfamiliar with any of these, I recommend taking a taste of a leaf and making what inspires you. We’ve also included some recipes.

Sage- Lovely with chicken, turkey and breakfast sausage, but I love sage this time of year in baking. It’s got such a fresh green taste. Try the unusual Sage Tea Cake recipe from my mother-in-law Rhonda, who always has an enviable herb garden. I love this pound cake with lemonade.

French Tarragon Tarragon is one of the four “fines herbes” of French cooking, and particularly suitable for chicken, fish and egg dishes. Tarragon is one of the main components of Bearnaise sauce.

Oregano – Mince these finely when you cook with them, as they can be quite strong on the tongue. However, when using fresh herbs, you actually have to use double what a recipe calls for dried.

Summer Savory – This spicy leaf is valued for sausages. It plays an important role in Bulgarian cuisine, providing a strong and pungent flavour to the most simple and the most extravagant of dishes. Instead of salt and pepper, a Bulgarian table will have three condiments: salt, paprika and savory. When these are mixed it is called sharena sol (colorful salt). It is reported to be a helpful expectorant for lungs and head and rubbing a sprig of Summer Savory on a bee or wasp sting is said to give instant relief. In fact, if you chew a leaf, you’ll see it makes your tongue numb for a minute! This is terrific on pizza, over green beans and with cabbage – so dry some to have when we send you those veggies.

Polish Dill – This lovely blue dill is great to mix into soft cream and goat cheeses. Sprinkle over fish and salad. We’ll give you more when the pickle cucumbers start coming on.

Lemon Balm – This one sprig will make a lovely pot of light summer tea, or a few leaves will flavor an iced black tea. For tea, with any herb, all you need to do is rinse the leaves with cold water, stuff into an old-fashioned ceramic teapot, and pour boiling water in. Pour in 10 minutes. If you don’t have a teapot, a Pyrex mixing bowl will do, but then you’ll have to strain out the leaves.

Brats – We’ve included a package of our very own brats, made special for us, without nitrates and corn syrup, by Ruf’s Sausage House in New Glarus. We’re hoping to get you hooked so you’ll order more of these to grill through the summer! You could have any one of our flavors: Apple, Sauerkraut and Onion, Italian, HiCheeMama Hot Italian, Smoked and Breakfast.

Recipes

Rhubarb Scones

2 C flour
½ c brown sugar
2 t baking powder
½ t baking soda
½ t salt
5 T butter
2/3 c sour cream
1 t vanilla
½ c fresh thinly sliced rhubarb, with ¼ sugar sprinkled over and set for 1 hour

Oven at 400. Mix dry ingredients, cut in butter. Make well and add the rest. Drop by 1/3 cups on to cookie sheet, or flatten into a large circle and cut into 8 pieces. Brush with beaten egg and sprinkle over with raw sugar. Bake 20 min.

Sage Tea Cake
1/2 C milk
2 T chopped fresh sage
1/2 C butter
1/2 C sugar
2 eggs
2 C all-purpose flour
3 t. baking powder
1 t salt

Cook milk and sage to near boiling. Let cool. Beat butter until soft, add sugar and beat until fluffy. Beat in eggs, one at a time. Add remaining ingredients together, then add alternately to butter mixture. Spread in greased, floured 9-by-5 loaf pan. Bake 50 to 60 minutes at 350. Cool 10 minutes on rack before removing and wait til cool to slice.

Mojitos
This drink is one of the reasons I hover over the mint patch waiting for it to erupt each spring. My first taste of this addictively refreshing treat was with a Cuban friend in Chicago who actually smashed the sugar cane for each glass he served. I use raw sugar, but simple syrup will do just fine, too. “Mojo” means soul in Spanish, thus “Mojito” means little soul. Have a little soul this week!

3 fresh mint sprigs
2 tsp sugar
3 tbsp fresh lime juice
1 1/2 oz light rum
Club soda

In a tall thin glass, crush part of the mint with a fork to coat the inside. Add the sugar and lime juice and stir thoroughly. Top with ice. Add rum and mix. Top off with chilled club soda (or seltzer). Add a lime slice and the remaining mint, and serve.

Ginger Mint Lemonade
This is always a favorite at Circle M workdays and festivals. Fill a one gallon pitcher with hot water from the tap. Add 1 3/4 cups of sugar – white or raw will do. Stir to dissolve. Add 1 inch from a fresh ginger root, 3/4 cup lemon juice and 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar. When lukewarm, add 3 sprigs of chocolate mint. Pour over ice and enjoy!

The potato/bean patch is looking lush and starting to flower – we could have new potatoes for the next box!