This week your basket contains: green elephant garlic, SNAP PEAS, BABY BOK CHOY, Asian broccoli OR kohlrabi, spinach, BEETS (full shares baskets), carrots (half share baskets), garlic scapes (full share baskets)  and lettuce mix. 

WELCOME TO OUR 29^TH YEAR OF SUBSCRIPTION FARMING!  We are excited to be growing food for you and your family.  We’ve included an extra sheet today with tips on how to get the most out of your basket each week as well as other information to help make your subscription as useful and enjoyable as it can be.  MESH PRODUCE BAGS are part of our efforts to reduce our use of plastic.  We’ve made a bulk purchase of bags that we can provide to you at cost.  We will write your name on them and when you return them to us in your empty basket we will fill them again the next week.  They cost $2 per bag and we suggest 4-6 bags (2-3 for each of your baskets).  Just email to order.

One effect of the driest May on record is that spring greens are bolting (i.e. putting up flower stalks) faster than usual.  We’ve seen early signs that our spinach is headed that way so moved on to harvesting whole plants rather than leaves like we did last week.  Fortunately, we staggered plantings so we will have good spinach for a while yet.  This is a great way to use a lot of greens.

SPANAKOPITA

1 lb. mixed greens

1 onion or 2 leeks, chopped

½ lb. fresh mushrooms, sliced

2 Tbsp. olive oil

1 clove garlic

3 eggs

6 oz. feta cheese

¼ c. parmesan cheese, grated

1 tsp. oregano

¼ tsp. rosemary (optional)

¼ tsp. nutmeg

¼ lb. butter (1 stick)

1 lb. filo dough

Wash and chop greens into ribbons. Bring 2 quarts of water to the boil. Drop in greens and boil for about 5 minutes. Drain in colander. Saute the onion, garlic and mushrooms in the olive oil with salt and pepper until tender. Squeeze any remaining moisture out of greens and stir them in to sauté pan. Cook for a few more minutes, then remove from heat.  Beat the eggs in a large bowl and crumble in the feta. Add the parmesan, black pepper, nutmeg, oregano and optional rosemary. Add a little salt, remembering that feta is salty. Stir in greens sauté mix.  Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Melt the stick of butter and brush a 2 or 3 quart oblong baking pan with it. Spread the filo dough out flat next to the pan. Brush the top layer with butter and lift it and the layer under it onto pan. brush next sheet with butter and lay it and the layer under it onto pan at a slight angle to the last layer. Continue to layer the sheets of filo, brushing every other one with butter and turning each one slightly so that the edges fan out over the sides of the pan. Stop when you have about 8 sheets left.  Spread the greens mixture evenly over the filo dough in pan, pushing it to the corners. Fold the edges of the filo dough over the mixture. Take the remaining sheets of filo and layer them on top of the greens mixture, again brushing every other sheet with butter, but this time pushing the edges down into the sides of the pan. It is difficult to do this neatly; just rumple the edges down into the sides of the pan (they will form a nice crisp edge after baking). Brush the top of the spanakopita with butter and make 1/2” deep diagonal slashes across it with a sharp knife.  Bake for 50 minutes, until the crust is puffed and golden. Cut into squares or diamonds and serve immediately.

Baby bok choy is an item requested in one survey returned to us (we’ll be making a blog post soon to let you know more survey results). We usually either harvest leaves for greens mix or let the bok choy go to full size before harvesting.  This time we double planted the bed (5 rows by 6 inches instead of 3 rows by 12 inches) and cut out every other row for baby sized plants.  We’ll have at least one more harvest, of larger bok choy.  This is a great sauce for stir fry (a great way to cook baby bok choy).

SESAME GINGER STIR-FRY SAUCE

4 Tbs toasted sesame seeds

2 Tbs lemon juice

1 Tbs grated ginger

4 Tbs soy sauce

3 Tbs rice vinegar

1/4 cup veg. or sesame oil

hot pepper oil (optional)

2 cloves garlic, minced

Whisk together oil, lemon juice, ginger, soy sauce, vinegar, garlic, sesame seeds, and hot pepper to taste.  Pour over stir-fry when all ingredients are cooked and mix well.

STRAWBERRIES ARE READY (thanks to our friends at Blooming Junction).  They cost $3.50 per pint, $18 per half flat (6 pints), $34 per flat (12 pints). Please let us know your order (via email) by noon the day before your delivery. Thanks!