This week your basket contains: potatoes, onions, cabbage, garlic, beets, and leeks.

This is the time of year we start taking deposits from new subscribers (we will be asking you for renewal plans and deposits starting in April after the final monthly installments in March).  One great way to help us out is to send anyone you know who might be interested in subscribing to our farm (or another farm) to this year’s CSA SHARE FAIR.  About 30 CSA farms that serve Portland and the surrounding metro region will be at HOLLYWOOD FARMERS MARKET SPACE (44^TH & NE HANCOCK)  9:00 am to 2:00 pm on Saturday, March 11^th.  We have full details on our facebook page or on the web at Portlandcsa.org/events/.  Stop by yourselves just to say hello to us.  If you have a friend who signs up with us, we will thank you with a free bouquet of flowers on the week of your choosing this summer.

MAYE’S BEETS

This recipe calls for beets, but I have used turnips, rutabagas and celeriac too, and they were all great. The beets make a fuschia-colored salad though, and are definitely the prettiest. I have taken this dish to potlucks and gotten rave reviews, a pretty good trick for a root vegetable.

2-3 medium beets

3 T. sour cream or yoghurt

1 T. prepared horseradish, or to taste

¼  t. salt

¼ t. sugar

dash of black pepper, to taste

Cut off the stems of the beet greens, scrub but don’t peel. (Save the greens for another dish, or use them as a garnish for this one.) Boil the beets in water to cover until they are easily pierced with a fork. Drain and cool. When cool, rub off the peel, and cut into thin strips, or for the talented among you, julienne them. There should be about 2 cups. Blend the sour cream or yoghurt with the horseradish, salt, sugar and pepper. Add the beets and stir gently. Chill and serve.  From Sundays at Moosewood.

CABBAGE BEEF CASSEROLE

1 lb. lean ground beef
½ c. chopped onion
½ c. uncooked brown rice
1 c. tomato sauce
1 ½ tsp. beef bouillon
1 tbsp. Worcestershire
1 tsp. sugar
½ tsp. dried dill
¾ c. water
4 ½ c. coarsely chopped cabbage
6 oz. shredded cheese (Swiss or Colby)
Brown meat and onion and season to taste. Put cabbage in greased 9×13 pan. Sprinkle rice over cabbage. Sprinkle meat and onion over cabbage. Mix tomato sauce, bouillon, Worcestershire, sugar, dill, and water. Pour over cabbage mixture. Bake, covered, at 350 for 1 ½ hours. Remove from oven and sprinkle cheese over top. Let sit until cheese is melted.

If you want to try something a bit different with leeks, this idea from one of our subscribers is ideal.

MIDDLE EASTERN LEEKS

Try splitting them in half to clean and then chopping into one or two inch lengths and simmering  until tender in olive oil with some lemon, salt and pepper, dried mint, crushed garlic, a little bit of water and a tiny bit of sugar.  They are supposed to cool and then be topped with chopped parsley but they usually don’t last that long here.  They can also be boiled and the other ingredients (minus the water) poured over as a dressing.   See Claudia Roden and The New Book of Middle Eastern Food for more.

OUR CHICKENS HAVE STARTED TO LAY EGGS AGAIN. If you are on our egg list from last year, we will try to start giving you eggs again. If you want to be added to or removed from the list, please send us an email!

Our tulips and daffodils are emerging!  We will have $6 bunches available in the next few weeks.  Send us an email to order (one time or standing order).  The season usually lasts about 3-4 weeks.