Spring CSA

Week Two of the Spring CSA bag will include some mix of the following: spinach, Swiss chard, purple-top turnips or rutabaga, carrots, Yukon Gold potatoes, kale, and green cabbage .  Please note that the weekly photo is not an exact depiction of what is in your share, but rather a reference image.

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.

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.  

Coming up: microgreens, potatoes, sweet potatoes, turnips, apples

Weekly Featured Item: Turnips

Did you know that the original Jack-O-Lanterns came from Irish folklore, were carved from either turnips or beets, and were quite terrifying!  Pretty cool and pretty spooky!  Did you know Swedes or rutabagas are a cross between a cabbage and a turnip? And did you know this often maligned vegetable is high in vitamins B, C, E, and K as well as calcium, iron,  magnesium, manganese, potassium, phosphorous,  and zinc. AND how ’bout those glucosinolates? Yes, rutabaga smell a little funky when they are cooking, but they are actually tasty AND good for you.

I will be tossing the carrots, turnip/rutabaga, and cabbage into a pot with a ham for a yummy boiled dinner!

Here’s a good one from The Spruce Eats Spicy Potatoes, Cabbage and Carrots

• 1 small onion
• 1 small head green cabbage
• 6 cloves garlic
• 3 medium potatoes
• 3 medium carrots
• 1 to 4 tablespoons butter, or vegetable oil
• 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt, plus more to taste
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon turmeric
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 2 cups water

If it looks good, go ahead to their site at link 🙂

BRAISED PORK WITH HARD CIDER, APPLES AND TURNIPS
Recipe credit goes to Edible Boston. This recipe has been a huge hit for Still Life Farm Winter CSA members, enjoy.

1 tablespoon olive oil, duck or bacon fat
2½-3 pounds boneless country-style pork ribs
Sea salt, to taste
1 onion, thinly sliced
1 pound carrots, peeled and diced into 1-inch pieces
1 medium bulb celeriac (or 3 sticks celery), peeled and diced into 1-inch cubes
½ cup local dry hard cider
½ teaspoon cumin
¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes
2 tablespoons tomato paste
2 tart apples, peeled and cut into large chunks
2 turnips, cut into 1-inch chunks
2 bay leaves
2 cups chicken broth
¼ cup minced fresh parsley

Preheat oven to 350° F. Pat the ribs dry and lightly salt them all over. In a braising pot or Dutch oven, heat the oil or fat over medium- high heat. Sear the pork on both sides, working in batches as needed. Remove the pork to a plate and set aside. Reduce the heat to medium and add the onion, carrots and celeriac to the pan; sauté for ten minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the cider and deglaze the pan, scraping up any brown bits, then add the cumin, red pepper flakes, tomato paste, apples, turnips and bay leaves to the pan and stir well. Nestle the pork into the vegetables and pour over the chicken broth. Cover the pot and place in the oven for 2 hours, removing the cover during the last 30 minutes to allow some of the moisture to evaporate and the meat to brown. Remove from oven, add more salt and pepper to taste and garnish with the parsley before serving.

Little tidbits from the farms:

Stillman’s Farm.  This week has the greenhouses in full swing and packed to the brim! Glenn finished seeding the peppers – SO MANY. I wandered out to the greenhouses on Sunday to find him pouring sweat and choking from handling all the specialty hots! The Carolina Reapers and Scorpions almost did him in. 50 varieties to date and we just had someone drop off another 2 varieties for us to custom grow…because 50 varieties is clearly not enough, LOL. The greenhouse tomatoes were transplanted and will grow on until ready for their final transplant into the ground inside at the end of the month. Now on to the HUGE round of tomato seeding. 164 varieties, phew.

Still Life Farm.  This week they seeded all the cherry tomatoes, specialty peppers, and hearty herbs.  If you have ever shopped at our farmers’ market stall, you will  have surely seen Curt’s colorful assortment of cherry and grape tomatoes. They prepped greenhouses and planted them with lots of new Spring CSA greens crops! There is some gorgeous red mustard, choys, and more in that planting – lots to look forward to!

Sightings of spring include Snowdrops, a few daffodils poking up in the garden, the Mockingbird is singing, Redwing Blackbirds…and now it snows as I publish this.

Eat well & love your food,

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