THIS WEEK YOUR BASKET CONTAINS: baby carrots, salad mix (lettuce & spinach), kohlrabi, garlic scapes (half shares only), turnips (full shares only) SWEET ONIONS, kale, and SNAP PEAS OR SNOW PEAS.

Our pea harvest is just starting and we are happy to say that it is looking like this could be a good year for peas!  Both snow peas and snap peas are edible pod types that can be snacked on raw, added to salads or cooked.  We will have peas for weeks to come.

We continue to harvest Asian broccoli and hand it out on a rotation.  If you don’t have it in your basket today, you will soon.

One of the greatest things about late May and early June is that it is STRAWBERRY SEASON!  We grow our strawberries without any inputs (other than compost prior to planting).  Not using any fertilizer each year means that while we give up a bit of size, our berries are more intensely flavored; an easy trade off in my book! We can add berries to your delivery $4/pint, $22/half flat (6 pints), or $42/flat (12 pints).  Please order by email by noon the day before your delivery.  We often have a lot of orders to fill and will do our best to get your full order to you in one go, but may need to stretch your order over a two weeks.

The recipe below can be made with either kohlrabi or turnips (or both!).  We love it any way we’ve tried it.

KOHLRABI AND CHICKEN STEW

3-4 lb. Chicken

2 lb. kohlrabi/broccoli stems

3/4 lb. Carrots

4 Tb butter

4 cups sliced onions

1 cup peeled, chopped tomatoes

2 tsp salt

1 tsp black pepper

pinch saffron threads

1/4 tsp turmeric

1/2 tsp cinnamon

2 tsp ground coriander

1 quart chicken broth or water

4 sprigs parsley

1/2 small cabbage

Cut chicken into serving pieces. Peel kohlrabis and/or broccoli stems; cut larger ones into 1-inch chunks. Cut cabbage into 1/4-inch strips. Peel carrots and slice diagonally into 1/2-inch thick pieces.  In a large saucepan, heat the butter and sauté the onions, tomatoes, salt and spices for 4-5 minutes. Add the chicken and cook for 5 minutes. Add the broth or water and parsley. Bring the broth to a boil, reduce heat, cover and simmer for 20 minutes. Add the kohlrabis and carrots, cover, and simmer for 10 minutes. Finally, add the cabbage and simmer, uncovered, 10 minutes longer or until all the vegetables are completely tender.  Adapted from The Victory Garden Cookbook by Marian Morash

We have a bit of a love/hate relationship with the onions in your basket this week.  They were seeded in August, transplanted in September, and have been growing (slowly) in the hoop house ever since.  It is this long timeline that drives us a bit crazy. The tiny onions are susceptible to slugs, and cold weather all winter. Covering them to protect from cold can damage their greens and encourage mold.  Weeds also grow more quickly than the onions suppressing the growth of the onions and therefore they need a lot of attention.  It makes us wonder why we grow them.  Then we taste one and we are hooked for another year!  These onions are perfect for burgers, in potato salad, or even raw in salad.

The salad mix is NOT table ready.  While we do wash and rinse the greens before we put them in the bags, we are not able to guarantee that all the soil and/or bugs are out of all the leaves.  The best way to rinse your greens to ensure that no stowaway slugs remain is to dissolve 2 tsp. of salt in a little warm water in the bottom of your sink.  Fill the sink about half full with the coldest water and add the greens.  It is best if there is enough water to float the greens.  Swish the greens gently and let them sit in the water for five minutes or so.  Gently lift the greens from the water so as not to disturb any soil that has settled to the bottom of the sink and either pat them dry with a towel or spin them dry in a salad spinner.

VINAIGRETTE

1 clove garlic

1 tsp salt

3 Tbs red wine vinegar

1 tsp wet mustard

5 Tbs extra virgin olive oil

black pepper

Press garlic into the bottom of  your salad bowl.  With a fork, mix well with salt until it forms a paste.  Mix in vinegar and mustard until salt is dissolved.  Whisk in olive oil to make an emulsion.  Add black pepper to taste.  These proportions are in no way set in stone.  You should experiment to find the proportions you prefer.  Also, other spices, herbs, and vinegars can be used to vary the dressing.