Spring CSA

Spring CSA Bag Three is headed to you!

This week’s bag should include the following: shredded savoy cabbage, basil (or some other herb), chard, farmer’s choice greens (either red Russian kale, red mustard, wasabi mustard, bok coy), red onion, parsnips, celeriac, potatoes, and eggs from our friends in New Braintree… If you are eating with us for Spring CSA, you are really getting to the nitty-gritty of farm food and seasonal eating.  Eating local and seasonal during the early spring means lots of overwintered roots, apples, and squashes.  BUT, we have the additional luxury of  greens coming out of our high tunnels and greenhouses, to be cherished!

Correct storage of the items in your CSA share is the key to successfully eating seasonally.  Here is a Storage Cheat Sheet that I hand out with Winter CSA that also applies to Spring CSA.  Check it out if you need storage tips.

This weekly letter will be coming to your inbox the day before your pickup and is also available at stillmansfarm.com/blog and stilllifefarm.wordpress.com.  

If you cannot recycle or reuse them, we are accepting returned CSA bags.  Please be sure that returned bags are clean and in good condition.

We will see you in TWO WEEKS for your next bounty of Spring bag. The schedule is also on our website calendar.

Saturdays:

March 9, March 23, April 6, April 20, May 4, May 18, June 1
Jamaica Plain, 12-3pm

Sundays:

March 10, March 24, April 7, April 21, May 5, May 19, June 2
Lunenburg, 12-1pm

Thursdays:

March 14, March 28, April 11, April 25, May 9, May 23, June 6
Boston (Boston Public Market) 12-5pm
Brookline (Beals Street) 1-6pm
Watertown (City Hall) 12:30-1pm
Natick (Princeton Rd) 1:30-6pm
Worcester (Deadhorse Hill Restaurant) 5-9pm
Hardwick (Still Life Farm) 4-6pm
New Braintree (Stillman’s Farm) 12-6pm

Spinach (mustard or choy works too ;~) Basil Frittata

• Ingredients:
  
• 6 x large eggs beaten with S&P
• Spinach
• Basil
• onions/shallot/scallions
• Garlic
• Salt
• Pepper
• Olive oil
• grated/shredded cheese(optional)

Method:
Pre-heat your oven to 350℃
Sauté garlic and whatever form of onions you are using in oil in a large oven-proof pan until golden. Turn heat to low, sauté spinach gently until wilted.
Distribute the veg evenly around the pan, and slowly pour the egg over it. Top it with your fresh basil, turn the heat to medium, this is where I move the veg around in the pan a little to make sure the egg is settling in around everything. After the egg begins to set up, sprinkle optional cheese over the top and put the pan in the oven. It should be set up completely in 5-10 minutes, egg cooked in the middle. Enjoy with a salad!

Running the below again because you have shredded cabbage this week! If you are not feeling the slaw, then whip up a stirfry?

Genevieve’s go to Slaw Dressing

Simple, simple, simple: To 1/3 cup cider vinegar add 1/2 tsp kosher salt (sea salt would be good too), a bunch of black pepper, a fat TB of Dijon or spicy brown mustard, 1/2 tsp celery seed (if you like); slowly whisk in 1/2 cup oil (something light, I use canola or safflower), Toss over anything shredded: kohlrabi, radish, cabbage, carrot, apple…

Baked Risotto with Greens

1 T olive oil
1 small onion, minced
1 cup arborio rice
1 3/4 cups low-salt vegetable or chicken stock
1/2 cup tomato sauce (jarred pasta sauce will do)
3/4 cup grated parmesan or pecorino cheese
1 bunch greens such as kale, beet greens, or chard, stems removed, washed and coarsely chopped (about 4 cups)
salt and pepper to tastePreheat oven to 400. In 1-quart baking dish, combine oil and onion over moderate heat. Cook until onion is soft, 3-4 minutes. Add rice, stir to coat with oil, and cook for 1 minute. Add the chicken stock, tomato sauce, and greens, and simmer for 3-4 minutes. Turn off heat. Add half the cheese and smooth out the top with the back of a spoon. Add salt and pepper to taste. Sprinkle with remaining cheese. Cover and bake for 30-35 minutes, until rice is cooked through and has absorbed most of the liquid. Should be moist but not soupy.
Erica Fletcher (adapted from Patricia Wells’ Trattoria cookbook)

Sautéed Mustard Greens
Rinse leaves, let them stay wet, chop loosely. Add a splash of olive oil to skillet over medium-high heat, toss in a couple crushed garlic cloves and pinch of red pepper flakes, cook until garlic starts to brown, to infuse with flavor, then discard the garlic. Add in the mustard and sprinkle with salt. Cover and cook until tender (a couple of minutes), drizzle with balsamic and enjoy!

Yummy dressing for kale salad

• ¼ cup EVOO
• 3 Tb apple cider vinegar
• 1 Tb dijon mustard
• 1 Tb maple syrup
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• 1 Tb white wine vinegar
• 1Tb white wine
• S&P to taste

Pour this over your chopped kale and massage in. Add some sliced red onion, slivered almonds, shaved carrot…

Greens Sauteed with Garlic, Raisins and Pine Nuts

 

Farm Dirt:

Well, the crocus and tête a têtes and phlox WERE pretty on Easter…covered with ice and snow at the moment. Looks like the weather will warm next week (today is the 5th) and we can get to plowing fields.

Stillman’s Farm.  The seed potatoes have arrived! We are looking forward to plowing something beside snow and putting down the first plastic. Then we can actually start planting the potatoes and getting peas in the ground! We depend on the plastic mulch to prevent weed seeds in the soil from germinating and competing with the actual planted crop. Weeds not only take up the nutrients in the soil, but take extra water (hmmm, maybe could be useful!!!!), light and aeration away from the desired plant. The alternative to plastic is mechanical or chemical weed control. The creation of genetically modified or engineered organisms is partially a response to effective and more economical weed control. Just to recap what you already know, we do not grow any GMO anything here and we use, at much higher expense, plastic and/or manpower to keep the weeds at bay; this is why we could never compete with big ag and why, back to potatoes, we cannot compete with price. It is important to us to continue to conscientiously grow with integrity and offer not only safe produce, BUT THE MOST DELICIOUS! that goes for SLF farm too 🙂

Fun fact: we get a lot of questions about whether we spray our crops with gramoxone (Roundup is a popular brand). We evebe have been asked if we spray our apples with gramoxone.  No, we don’t. One would have to be growing GMO, gramoxone-ready crops to be able to spray over them with gramoxone. We don’t have a crop on the farm that would not die if we sprayed it with a non-selective herbicide/plant killer.

Still Life Farm: Busy pruning orchards, seeding in the greenhouse, transplanting crops into the greenhouse for Spring CSA and transplanting seedlings into the grow house. General farm cleanup activities like pulling plastic, burning brush, garden cleanup and of course, shoveling and snow plowing this week, sigh.

Speaking of plastic: The containers the herbs and microgreens are packaged in ARE NOT PLASTIC. They are 99% plant-based package with no BPAs, phthalates or other chemicals you might be avoiding. They are certified compostable and recyclable. They are also 2x the price of conventional containers, which is why you are not going to see everyone switch over to them in an industry where every cent matters on low margin products. This is an extra tough choice right now when all of our costs are up.

Eat well & love your food,

Halley Stillman (Still Life Farm) & Genevieve Stillman (Stillman’s Farm)