CSA News for the Week of June 10th

 

[Reminder: This week we are distributing vegetable, egg and dairy shares. Next week is the final week of the spring share. It will be a veggie-only week.]


This Week's Vegetable Share

• Baby Beets
• Strawberries (from Mick Klug Farms, St. Joseph, MI)
• Purple and/or Green Kohlrabi
• Baby Leeks
• Purple and/or Green Asparagus
• Head Lettuce (Red Romaine)
• Spinach

Next Week's Vegetable Share (our best guess): lettuce, strawberries, arugula, green onions, zucchini, Swiss chard and more! 

 

This Week's Dairy Share

• Cultured Butter with Sea Salt from Nordic Creamery in Westby, WI
• Plain Greek Yogurt from Pastureland Co-op (made from the milk of pasture-grazed cows)
• 'Peace of Pasture', a Gouda-style cheese from the farmers of Pastureland Co-op, Albany, WI
• Fresh Mozzarella from Crave Brothers Farmstead Cheese, Waterloo, WI

More information plus great recipes are included with the dairy share.

 

 

Important Dates

Week of June 24th:  The Summer season starts! We will be distributing vegetables, fruit, dairy, meat and fish that week.  

Week of July 1st:  Due to Independence Day festivities, we will be operating on a slightly altered distribution schedule that week:

• Tuesday, July 2nd
• Grayslake Farm 4-7 (including members who normally pick up at the farm on Thursdays)
• Allstate 2:30-5:30
• Glenview 3:00-6:30
• Evanston 3:30-6:30
• Lake Forest 4:00-7:00
• Wednesday, July 3rd
• Buffalo Grove 3:00-6:30
• Barrington 4:00-7:00
• Glen Ellyn 3:00-6:30
• Clarendon Hills 3:30-6:30
• Oak Park 4:00-7:00

Notes from the Farm Kitchen

Beets seem to love the soil of our Grayslake farm. In a typical summer our members receive beets once every 3 to 4 weeks. Throughout the season you will receive beets of all different sizes. In order to get an early start on the harvest, these beets were started in the greenhouse in early March and then transplanted out to the field in mid-April. This is our first harvest of the year and we hope you enjoy them!  Small to medium-sized beets like these are so wonderful and tasty that you don't need to do a whole lot in the kitchen. I recommend boiling or steaming them, then slicing and making of salad of baby beets, thinly sliced spinach, olive oil, salt & pepper, a tiny bit of crumbled feta or goat cheese and a sprinkle of chopped green onions. In terms of the beet greens, they can be used in place of spinach in many recipes including egg dishes, lasagna, pasta sauces, curries, stir-frys, etc. The greens should be stored in a plastic bag and used within a week.

 

Kohlrabi is related to cabbage, cauliflower, kale and broccoli. It is delicious peeled and eaten raw. Just peel the bulb, slice into match sticks and serve plain, with hummus or with your favorite vegetable dip. It also makes a fantastic slaw when shredded or thinly sliced.

 

 

 

Know your Food, Know your Farmers: A Profile of Donna Arntzen

This is Donna's second season at Sandhill Family Farms. As Crew Leader at the Grayslake farm, she is in charge of organizing and supervising group projects such as harvesting and weeding. Like most us who work on the farm, the path that led Donna to farming was an interesting one. While working on her degree in photography from Columbia College in Chicago, she spent a lot of time photographing landscapes in the city and in the suburbs. She started to think about ways that urban dwellers can stay connected to nature. This interest led her to begin photographing urban gardens. Very quickly, however, she realized that taking pictures wasn't enough--she was itching to get her hands in the dirt! She traded her urban life in Chicago for a job on a farm in Northern California where she spent two seasons learning how to grow organic vegetables. Eventually, a desire to be close to family and friends brought her back to the Midwest. Donna hopes to have her own farm some day where she plans to spend her time growing vegetables, raising goats and taking beautiful photographs!

 

 

 

 

This Week's Featured Recipes

 

Butter-Braised Beet Greens with Lemon

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 tablespoon butter
1 garlic clove, thinly sliced
1 bunch baby beet leaves, washed and chopped
1 -2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice                                                  
sea salt & freshly ground black pepper

Heat the oil and butter in a large skillet or Dutch oven over low heat, and add the garlic. Cook gently, stirring frequently, until the garlic is fragrant but does not take on any color. Add the moist greens, raise the heat to medium-high, and cover the pan. Cook until the greens wilt, about 2 minutes, shaking the pan once or twice. Remove the cover; if there's any excess liquid, cook until it evaporates. Toss the greens with the lemon juice, salt, and pepper, and serve hot. 

 

Roasted Beets with Greek Yogurt
1 pound red beets (small to medium)
1 tablespoons coarse salt
2 tablespoons red-wine vinegar plus extra for serving
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil plus extra for serving
2 cups Greek yogurt
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
¼ cup fresh spinach, cut into thin strips

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place beets in a bowl and toss with coarse salt, red-wine vinegar, and olive oil. Wrap beets in aluminum foil and place on a baking sheet. Roast until beets are easily pierced with the tip of a small knife, 1 to 1 1/2 hours. Remove from oven and let cool slightly. Remove skins by rubbing beets with a paper towel. Cut beets into halves or quarters.

Spoon yogurt into the bottom of a large shallow serving bowl; top with a layer of beets. Drizzle with additional olive oil and vinegar; season with salt and pepper and garnish with the spinach.

 

Information on Upcoming CSA Farm Picnics

Interested in learning more about how we grow your food? This summer we're hosting two CSA picnics -- one in Grayslake and one in Brodhead. Pack a picnic basket (don't forget plates and utensils),  bring your lawn chairs or a blanket, and come enjoy some time on the farm. Water, lemonade and brownies will be provided at both picnics. Walking tours will start around 3:30.

• Picnic at the Grayslake Farm--Saturday, July 20th, 3-6 p.m.
•  Picnic at the Brodhead Farm--Saturday, September 7th 3-6 p.m

The Brodhead picnic will include time to pick your own tomatoes. (All of our tomatoes are being grown at the Brodhead farm this year.) Members may pick up to 40 pounds of tomatoes (heirlooms, hybrids or paste tomatoes) per share. The first 5 pounds are free, and you may pick an additional 35 pounds for $1.50 per pound. Can't make it to the farm but still want bulk tomatoes? We will have pre-picked 20 lb cases of beefsteaks and romas available in September for delivery to your pickup site. Beefsteaks will be $30 per case and romas will be $35.  Please RSVP to jen@sandhillfamilyfarms.com and let us know if you'll be attending one or both picnics.

 

And Finally... A Fun Farm Photo

 

 



 

At the Grayslake farm the Miller family cares for a group of about 20 'hobby' chickens. These are separate from the 300 hens that lay eggs for our CSA members. It's a diverse group whose members vary widely in age, size and color and whose purpose is to add beauty and diversity to the farm and to entertain the Miller kids. Last week Jen was delighted to discover that one of the hens had unexpectedly managed to hatch 4 baby chicks. This is a shot of one of her chicks keeping warm in its mama's feathers. Needless to say, the kids were thrilled, and I'm pretty sure Jen was too!