Spring CSA

Bag 5/Week 9 of the Spring CSA should include the following: Ramps! Spinach, Swiss Chard, Mesclun Mix OR Bok Choi, Fresh Herbs (Cilantro, Dill, OR Chives), Sweet Potato, Parsnips, Carrots, Beets OR Spring Radishes, Apples (Gala?), Potatoes (Magic Molly OR Purple Peru), Onions, and Pinto Beans. Please note that the weekly photo is not an exact depiction of what is in your share, but rather a reference image.

The 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:

 April 15, April 29, May 13, May 27
Jamaica Plain, 12-3pm

Sundays:

April 30, May 14, May 28
Lunenburg, 12-1pm

Thursdays:

May 4, May 18, June 1
Boston (Boston Public Market) 12-6pm
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

Weekly Featured Item: Ramps

Sometimes called Wild Leeks, Ramps are our native wild allium. They are related to garlic and onions and can be enjoyed in anything you wanted that flavor profile in. I think of them more like leeks because I love them sautéed in butter and served up with scrambled eggs. Simply trim off the roots, rinse carefully, and use the entire stem and leaf. Sautee whole or chop them up, it’s all good. Ramps are high in vitamins A and C.  Our ramps have been sourced from a partner farm in the Connecticut Valley (that’s still in MA) that sustainably harvests these delightful alliums.

Wild Ramp and Swiss Chard Pesto from Domestic Dreamboat

With a rich, garlicky flavor and thick, spreadable texture, this Wild Ramp and Swiss Chard Pesto is a great springtime addition to all your favorite foods.

• ½ cup walnuts
• 4 ounces Swiss chard, washed
• 2 ounces wild ramps, cleaned, root ends trimmed
• ½ cup shredded Parmesan cheese
• tap here
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• ½ teaspoon kosher salt
• ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 2 Tablespoons olive oil

Toast walnuts in a small, dry skillet over medium heat until they are lightly browned and fragrant. Remove from heat and cool.

Coarsely chop the Swiss chard leaves and stems and the ramps. Add them both to the bowl of a food processor with the walnuts, Parmesan, salt, and pepper. Process until everything is finely chopped, about 10-15 seconds. Slowly stream in the olive oil until the mixture forms a thick paste, using a spatula to scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed.

Serve with pasta, as a sandwich spread, as a raw vegetable dip, or in any other way you think might be delicious. One of my favorite ways to eat it is spread on crusty toast with a fried egg on top. Refrigerate in an airtight container for up to a week, or freeze.

I worked out on typing up my recipe for a quiche and never saved it, so I think I am going to just share the crust and you can make whatever filling you want with all the glorious things in your bag this week. I used spinach, ramps, onions and feta as my filling 🙂

Potato Crust Quiche

• ~ 1lb potatoes, sliced very thin (break out your mandoline or food processor for this)
• 1 TB EVOO
• S & P

Preheat oven to 350. Toss potatoes with oil, S & P to coat. Grease 9 inch pie plate and arrange slices, overlapping, covering bottom and up the sides , extending over rim a little because not only will they will shrink a little, they will get super crispy and extra yummy. Bake until potatoes are tender, about 30 minutes. While it is baking, prep your filling. After crust is baked, fill, but don’t over fill the crust and bake until egg is set.

And I just came across this that I am going to try out: https://www.sweetashoney.co/healthy-sweet-potato-crust-spinach-quiche/

Farm Dirt

Stillman’s Farm. Go! Go! Go! This time of year we find ourselves moving plants from one place to the next: out of the headhouse into a greenhouse, from a greenhouse into a coldframe or to benches outside, from outside into a field for planting… LOTS of touches these plants get. The most exciting time (and stressful for weather reasons) is the actual planting. When those plants go in the ground, they not only free up space for new plants in the greenhouse, but they have also made it to their final growing destination, which is the exciting part – PLUS it is very rewarding to see the beautifully grown plants we have been fussing over all Spring get into the ground. Any of you who garden know how satisfying planting is on a number of levels. Speaking of gardening, we have been faithfully picking tomato and pepper orders, some staying local and others headed to FL, TX, NJ, IL, etc – that’s fun.  We have plants at the JP and BPM markets, but a drive out to the New Braintree farm is a worthwhile venture.  Looks like we will have plenty of baskets ready for Mother’s Day and for those who aren’t into hanging baskets, we have loads of herbs, veggies, and colorful annuals. Ditto about the stone fruit Halley writes about below, it’s very disappointing, and we too are focusing on the apples and berries to keep you all in fruit this summer. Tomatoes are fruit right? LOL. What’s that saying? Intelligence is knowing a tomato is a fruit, wisdom is knowing not to put it in a fruit salad.

Still Life Farm.  Curt, Halley, and Kip escaped for a week to TX to soak up the sun and spend some time at the beach – it was lovely!  Lots to do as soon as we returned home.  Our first greenhouse has been flipped from winter greens crops to early squash and zucchini crops, so that’s exciting!  Baby layer chicks have arrived at the farm, so we have 30 new souls peeping about.  Tony was able to weed and mulch a good portion of our perennial berry crop and they are looking marvelous.  We’re trying to put extra love into the berries this year because it looks like we will have very little to no stone fruit crop.  Remember that night about a month back where nighttime temps dropped to 17 degrees?  Pretty much devastated the stone fruit crop.  The cherry orchard has just a couple blooms in it, but nothing compared to what it should look like.  I have also noticed that we have almost not forsythia bloom in our area of Central Mass, and I am wondering if it is due to the same cold temperatures.  An excellent example of why you should never put all your eggs in one basket.

Eat well & love your food,

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