- Arugula
- Strawberries (from Mick Klug's Farm near St. Joseph, MI)
- Head Lettuce
- Broccoli or Zucchini (depending on your pickup site*)
- Green Onions
- Red Or Green Curly Kale
- Asian Cabbage (Tokyo Bekana)
- English Cucumbers or Basil (depending on your pickup site*)
*We don't always have a large enough quantity of a particular crop to make identical boxes for all pickup sites. This is especially true when new plantings are just beginning to mature. We keep careful records so that all members receive approximately the same types and quantities of produce over the course of the season.
Early Summer at Sandhill Organics
It's official! Summer is here and we couldn't be more excited about all the new crops coming in. While we're still harvesting lots of wonderful leafy vegetables (kale, chard, lettuce, arugula, etc.), we're also starting to harvest certain vining and fruiting crops such as cucumbers and zucchini, as well as the first planting of brassicas like broccoli, kale, kohlrabi and cabbage.
Farm Photos
Monday morning our crew was back and ready for a big week. In addition to harvesting, they've been spending a fair amount of time pounding in stakes for tomato trellising and planting fall crops like broccoli and cabbage. Alltogether we are a crew of about 15 people. Pictured here are Mara, David, Tyler and John.
Click here to view more photos of early summer at the farm.
Announcements
Notes from the Farm Kitchen
This week's box contains a few types of greens that may be unfamiliar to some of you. Here's little help with vegetable ID: Arugula is the smallest of this week's bunched greens. Tokyo bekana is taller and has pale green leaves and thick white stems. Your kale has thick leaves with curly edges. Kale is closely related to broccoli, cabbage and cauliflower. The key to cooking kale is letting it simmer long enough so that it becomes tender. Before cooking with kale, take a sharp knife and slice out the tough, center rib. Add steamed or boiled kale to omelets, quiches, scrambled eggs, lasagnas, and casseroles. Add chopped raw kale to hearty soups and pasta sauces mid-way through the cooking time.
Arugula, also known as rocket or roquette, is a peppery salad green that seems to grow particularly well on our farm. Because arugula is closely related to the radish, it has a mild kick but is not bitter. Because of it's tender texture, we prefer to enjoy it in salads rather than to cook it. We also love it on sandwiches in place of lettuce and as a pizza topping.
Leafy vegetables must be refrigerated in a plastic bag. Some items (such as the leaf lettuce) are bagged by us at the farm. You will need to supply plastic bags for other items such as head lettuce, kale, etc. Keeping these items in plastic helps prevent wilting. If you’ve got lettuce or some other tender vegetable that appears droopy, soak it in cold water for a few minutes and refrigerate in a plastic bag until it perks up. On another note, we rinse the vegetables here at the farm, but you should always wash them again prior to eating.
Some of you will receive English cucumbers this week and some will receive them next week. They come from our friends Kay Jensen and Paul Ehrhardt who have a certified organic farm in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin.
Next Week's Harvest (our best guess)... baby beets, carrots, kohlrabi, baby leeks, head lettuce, radishes, garlic scapes, broccoli, zucchini and cilantro
