Greetings Farm Family!
We hope you all had a restful and enjoyable weekend! We took an extra few minutes on Saturday to work on our new catalog of vegetables. We know many of you have been a little stumped when it comes to identifying your greens, so we decided to gather up a sample of the more unique crops and take some pictures. We hope to have our vegetable identifying email with photos out to you all this week.
As mentioned in the last newsletter, we have set a date for our 2nd ever Farm Day. Farm Day will take place on Saturday, June 12th from 11:30 AM to 3:30 PM at our farm, and we hope you all can make it. Our lunch for the day will be pot luck style: we’ll be cooking up some delicious food on our huge grill, and we hope that many of you will come armed with a side dish (and your recipe) that all can enjoy. We’ll compile the recipes from the side dishes and provide to everyone during the season. We’ll also have some great live music and, of course, a tour of our farm and packing facilities. This is a great opportunity to see where all your vegetables are being grown and an even better opportunity to meet the rest of your farm family!
We have set up an RSVP site for farm day, so please click on this link, and let us know if you’ll be able to make it. Once we know you’re coming, we’ll send out another email to organize the potluck end. We just can’t wait to meet you all!
As you know, your pick-up day is tomorrow, Monday, May 17th. Our harvest this week includes kale, mustard greens, lettuces, cabbage, beets, spinach, swiss chard, strawberries, new Pinckney sweet onions, and the moment we’ve all been waiting for…yellow squash and zucchini! Please remember that box contents may vary according to share size and availability. When you receive your squash, you may notice that they have a greenish tinge. They taste absolutely amazing and are very tender, but they’re slightly different from the color you’re used to. We rely on many various factors in farming, and insects are one of the most important. The bees that buzz around our farm have a pretty important job of pollinating the plants. When they don’t do their job to the fullest, the squash don’t quite turn the bright yellow color we’re used to. But, believe me, the squash are just as good if not better than they’ve ever been.
We’d like to thank you for returning your empty share boxes to your drop sites. It seems like we’re off to a good start as we have received a good many back from these locations. If you haven’t been returning yours, please don’t be bashful about returning 3 at once. We just need them back so we can continue to rotate the boxes in and out as the season progresses.
We hope you’ll enjoy the produce this week. Please continue to offer your feedback and/or ideas for how we might make improvements. Each day is a learning experience, and we simply couldn’t do this without your constant encouragement, praise, and constructive criticism. Thanks for supporting our farm!
Regards,
Jody
Beet Salad with Walnuts and Goat Cheese
Ingredients
- 2 bunches medium beets, (about 1 1/2 pounds) tops trimmed
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
- 1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
- 1/2 cup walnuts
- 1 bunch arugula, trimmed and torn
- 1/2 medium head escarole, torn
- 4 ounces goat cheese, (preferably aged goat cheese) crumbled
Directions
Put the beets in a saucepan with water to cover and season generously with salt. Bring to a boil over high heat and cook until fork tender, about 20 minutes. When the beets are cool enough to handle, peel them–the skins should slide right off with a bit of pressure from your fingers. If they don’t, use a paring knife to scrape off any bits that stick. Cut each beet into bite-sized wedges.
Whisk the vinegar with salt and pepper, to taste, in a large bowl. Whisk in the olive oil in a slow steady stream to make a dressing. Toss the cut beets in the dressing; set aside to marinate for at least 15 minutes or up to 2 hours.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Spread the nuts on a baking sheet and oven-toast, stirring once, until golden brown, about 8 minutes. Cool.
Toss the arugula and escarole with the beets and divide among 4 plates. Scatter the walnuts and goat cheese on top. Serve.
