This week your basket contains: leeks, potatoes, Swiss chard, mustard greens, salad mix (lettuce, spinach, arugula, and endive), and Purple Sprouting Broccoli or raab or cauliflower.We have become aware that our deliveries could help other farmers whose markets at restaurants have been cut off.  One such farm family, Lise & Steve of Fraga Farm in Gales Creek have reached out to us about offering their spectacular goat cheese as an add on.  Lise says “Fraga Farmstead Creamery is Oregon’s only certified organic goat dairy. We milk 72 very happy goats on our farm in Gales Creek  and turn the milk into a wide range of delicious cheeses. Since 2019 we are also licensed Animal Welfare Approved.”

Chevre a mild and creamy cheese that goes with absolutely everything. We use it a lot in cooking and baking as well. Three flavors: Plain, Chefs Blend (Garlic herb) and Olive Tapenade. Our Chèvre is packaged in a 4.5 ounce Mason jar that is returnable – there is a one dollar deposit for it the first time. Price is $7 (plus $1 deposit)

Raw Feta -Along with the Chevre our most popular cheese. It comes packaged in a 1/2 lb or a 1lb Mason Jar in brine. It has a very long “life expectancy” of over three month and is a wonderful “pantry staple” to have on hand (in the fridge of course). Our farmers market shoppers tell us that they us it in “absolutely everything – Feta makes everything better….”1/2 lb of feta in Brine packaged in pint jar $15; 1lb of feta in Brine packaged in quart Jar $25

The following cheeses are sold by weight in cryopac of about .25 lb (range of .23 to .30)

Goazarella- a meltable, stackable goats milk cheese, very milk. $5.25 for a quarter pound

Farmhouse- a crumbly mid cheese a favorite in several restaurants, it can top anything.  $5.25 /quarter pound.

Fenugreek- a hard aged cheese with fenugreek rubbed on the rind Somewhere between a Manchego and a Parmesan. This cheese as well as our feta is made with raw milk and aged for 4-8 month.  If you like to try the cheeses first, they can send a sample pack of all of the cheeses except the Chèvre, it doesn’t pack well in sample packs 

Patrick Thiel of Prairie Creek Farm in Enterprise has been working with us for years to provide us with late winter potatoes.  He is also the farmer who supplies most of the finer restaurants in Portland with potatoes.  Needless to say, he is hurting right now and we have purchased extra potatoes to help out.  In an effort to help you use potatoes in a different way, we offer this recipe.

POTATO GNOCCHI

2 Lbs Potatoes

1 ¼ cups flour (more if needed)

3 Tbs cold butter

½ cup freshly grated Parmesan

salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Pierce the potatoes and bake until tender (45 min. to 1 Hr).  Peel while hot and pass through a food mill or ricer, letting them fall into a large bowl so they stay light and fluffy.  Let cool 15 minutes then sprinkle with the flour and 1 tsp salt.  Using your hands, gently work until you have a smooth, soft dough.  If it seems sticky, add a few Tbs. more flour, but don’t overwork it.  Take ¼ of the dough and roll into a long rope about ½ inch thick.  Cut it diagonally into pieces about ¾ inch long and roll into small balls in your hands.  Set them in a single layer on a baking sheet lightly dusted with flour.  Repeat with remaining dough, then cover with a towel and refrigerate for a few hours if you are not ready to cook them.  Bring a large casserole or skillet of water to a boil and butter a large gratin dish.  Add salt to the water then lower to a simmer.  Add up to 15 gnocchi and cook gently until they float to the top.  Count to ten and lift them to the dish with a strainer.  Repeat with all the gnocchi.  When you  are ready to eat, preheat the oven to 400 degrees, shave the cold butter over the gnocchi and cover with a thick veil of cheese.  Bake until bubbling and browning, about 25 minutes.  Add fresh pepper and serve.  From Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone by Deborah Madison 

Another sure sign that true spring is right around the corner is that TULIPS AND DAFFODILS are on the verge of blooming!  Polly will be offering bunches of 10-12 blooms (plus greens) for only $6.  Order now via email (see below) and we will send them along as the are available.  In addition, RHUBARB is ready.  We’ll send along approx. 1 Lb. for $3.  Just email to order.