Spring CSA

Disclaimer: when we plan out the weekly bags, we are pretty sure what will be in them, BUT, sometimes we are short of an item and make appropriate substitutions. At times, we may not have enough of all the same greens and you may get something different than what we posted…however, you are almost certain to get the “as advertised” greens the following week 🙂

The first Spring CSA bag should include the following: a stunning hydroponic lettuce, pea tendrils, red cabbage, French Fingerling potatoes, bok choi, beets, potatoes, an onion.  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.  We have the additional luxury of greens coming out of our high tunnels and greenhouses, so cherish those!

Spring CSA 2022 premier week!!  You are part of a relatively new wonderful family collaboration between Stillman’s Farm and Still Life Farm, joining forces to bring you a most satisfying addition to our varied CSA offerings. Family Farm Force! Pretty catchy, right? 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.  

Coming up: apples, winter squash, beets, turnips, greens

Pea shoots!

This week’s featured item is pea shoots!  Pea shoots are literally the delicate edible tips of the pea plant.  This is a great, low effort crop that we are able to cultivate in our greenhouses throughout the winter.  They have a beautiful sweet pea flavor that evokes all the happiness of spring.  Enjoy them stir fried, steamed, folded into soft scrambled eggs, or raw in salads…they are a nice source of iron, vitamin C and fiber.

I LOVE them piled on top of a grilled chicken sandwich (any sandwich)!

For a quick delectable salad, whip together a dressing of lemon juice, Dijon mustard, shallot, EVOO, S&P, then fold in your pea shoots, thinly sliced pear, and some Parmesan.

Little tidbits from the farms:

The vultures are back! They must be ticked off no sooner they arrive we get 10″ of snow, LOL. They will be fine.

Stillman’s Farm Dirt.  It has been a struggle to get greenhouses with the bitter cold weather, but there’s nothing for it now, so we are busting out of our confines this week! Woo! The greenhouses are in full swing! Glenn spent the last week seeding of alliums (including 500 trays of onions!!!) and is pretty sick of leaning over the seeder, but it’s pepper time!  Some of you may have heard about us purchasing a mechanical flat-filler is going to make seeding a lot more efficient this season. That’s been hibernating out in the back barn, but with a larger crew here today for CSA packing, we will be moving it and getting it cranking (if it can thaw out ;)). Normally, the first of our awesome crew from Jamaica would be here this week, but there was a snafu with filing our paperwork and now we won’t see the guys for 3 more weeks. It’s going to be a tough go of it here, as we are already short handed…we will get it done though!

Still Life Farm.  Having just wrapped up Winter CSA, Curt and Halley are taking inventory of what is remaining in their vegetable storage.  Curt has begun to till up some space in our high tunnels to make more room for spring crops.  Spring seeding has also begun for SLF.  This week Curt will be seeding his famous cherry tomatoes in anticipation of summer!  They have also finished the brand new, beautiful storage barn/wash floor/pack floor. The new space is fantastic and allows us to wash and pack inside an insulated building, and even Kip has his own area to play, scoot, and be a kid. He celebrated his 2nd Birthday in the new space and got to run around with his cousins unencumbered – no layers of winter clothing and piles of snow.

Eat well & love your food,

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