The Week's Offerings

Spring CSA Week 5

Week Five of the Spring CSA will include a mix of the following: Pinto Potatoes, Purple Daikon Radish, Pea Shoots, Mix of Greens (Escarole, Lettuce, and/or Kale), and Fat Moon Farm Shiitake Mushrooms.  Please note that the weekly photo is not an exact depiction of what is in your share, but rather a reference image…we assume you will recognize the shrooms 😉

This week we have another fun addition to the Spring CSA, we are sourcing Shiitake Mushrooms from Fat Moon Farm in Westford, MA.  Shiitakes resemble the traditional button mushroom in appearance, flavor, and uses.  I find it easy to sub this particular variety into all my favorite mushroom dishes.

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.  Most of the letters will be composed by Halley Stillman, though Genevieve Stillman may jump in from time to time.

Lunenburg Members Take Note: Easter Sunday’s (April 4) CSA delivery will be rescheduled to the previous Saturday, April 3, 12-2pm.  If you have a conflict and cannot find a sub to pick up for you, please contact us.

Recipes

Weekly Featured Item: Escarole

Escarole is a lettuce-looking green that is part of the Chicory family – along with endive and radicchio – and is often know as a “bitter green”.  However, escarole has only the most mild of bitterness.  You can use it fresh in a hardy seasonal salad, it pairs well with any “sweet” ingredients…maybe your julienned purple daikon radishes, peas tendrils, and a maple Dijon dressing.  Or, if you’re like me, escarole is one of your absolute favorite greens to cook with!  Not as hearty and overpowering as kale, but not as tender and slimly as spinach – escarole holds its own in any cooked dish, and is especially wonderful in soups or brothy one-pot meals. Below is the recipe for “Sausage, Beans, and Greens”, one of the world’s easiest one-pot recipes and a definite favorite in our family’s dinner rotation.  I learned this recipe from an old farmer friend, and always think about him when I make it…he taught me a lot about “farm food”, seasonal eating, and loving odd vegetables.  

Sausage, Beans, and Greens   

1 pound sausage (I usually like something with fennel, marjoram, and thyme)
1 large onion, chopped
1 Tbsp chopped garlic
1.5 pounds potatoes
2 cans white beans
2-3 cups chicken broth
1 cup white wine
1 large head of escarole
EVOO
S&P
Parmesan cheese
Heat a glug of EVOO in a large skillet. Sauté crumbled sausage, onion, and garlic together until sausage is cooked mostly through. Add cubed potatoes and two cans of beans, broth, and wine. Simmer until potatoes are cooked through. Add chopped escarole and simmer another 3-5 minutes. Season with S&P, lemon juice, and a splash of wine (you can add a bit more broth if you want a soupier dish). Serve in a bowl, garnish with grated Parmesan and crusty bread for dipping.

Escarole and Beans

#cookingwithStillmans

Making an amazing dish with Stillman’s or Still Life Farms produce??? Take a picture and post it to your social media with the #cookingwithStillmans.  Every week a winner will be chosen at random and receive a fun farm prize!

The Week Four winner of our #cookingwithstillmans challenge goes to @dalpiazkitchen, for turning her baking apples into this delicious crisp!  She’ll be receiving a little extra farm prize this week at CSA pick-up!  🙂

Farm Dirt

Micro greens cutter

Farm Dirt

Stillman’s Farm.  Things are buzzing away at the farm in New Braintree.  Glenn and Merrick worked together to get the first two early fields plowed and harrowed, and prepped for planting!  The greenhouses are spilling over with transplants waiting their chance to get into the fields.  Tomatoes were transplanted into one of our three tomato high tunnels.  The crew also started seeding peas.  in the quest for farm efficiency, yet another piece of equipment has arrived at the farm – the new greens cutter.  This cutter is perfect for microgreens.  Not only is is much faster than hand snipping, but the yield is greater.  Saving time on one project leaves more time for another.

Still Life Farm.  As you know, Curt and I were lucky enough to receive a Food Security Infrastructure Grant that we are using to construct a new wash/pack/storage barn.  This week Brown’s Excavation arrived and began changing the landscape around here.  Kip is beside himself with all the new construction equipment on the farm!  Space for the future foundation is being carved out as I type this newsletter.  Pretty exciting, but lots to do and lots to plan for.  Curt also managed get onto one of our fields.  He plowed, harrow, made beds and direct seeded greens, carrots, and radishes.  We continue to turn over the greenhouses from winter crops to new spring crops.  Hakurei turnips just got transplanted and look super happy!

Eat well & love your food,

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

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