July 8th Market CSA Pick-up #8

The 4th of July holiday always one of our favorite holidays. It is the pentacle of the growing season and everything is ON full force. I am so happy when I folks send me pictures of their family celebrations. One of our CSA members sent me this picture from her 4th of July cookout. Chicken burgers with feta, red peppers, and spinach topped with goat cheese, avocado, and our onions and fresh field greens. She paired it perfectly with a side of olive oil, rosemary, and sea salt baked fries made from our potatoes.

The 4th of July is also when we begin planting for fall in the hopes of bringing a full bounty to market for Thanksgiving! It’s hard to believe isn’t it?

Many folks ask us about our growing practices which is always a good question. As a small family farm that we hope to pass on to our child, we take sustainability very serious. Matt always incorporates as many natural methods as possible to grow our produce. One of them is the use of cover crops. Matt recently planted a tropical legume called Sunn Hemp.

This crop grows fast, out competes weeds, adds nitrogen to the soil and builds organic matter. Here we are crimping the stalks to flatten it. Now we have a natural mulch that is anchored to the soil and wont blow away. He will transplant directly into it. No tilling equals more earthworms!! We are serious about our soil at the farm and go above and beyond to ensure its health.

I am very excited about Matt’s tropea onions! This has been the first time he has grown this variety of onion and it is awesome. These onions are from a beach town in Italy called Tropea and are celebrated for both their unique sweet taste and medicinal values.

Italian experts say that the onion can alleviate colds and flu, and even cure them completely. It contains vitamin C which has an anti-haemorrhagic effect, strengthens the cells, tonifies the veins and arteries and helps defend against infections. The tropea onion contains iron and keeps the number of red blood corpuscles in the blood at the right level. It just goes to show that food IS medicine!

Our CSA members will find kohlrabi, carrots, beets, fingerlings potatoes, arugula, spicy microgreens, tomatoes, squash, basil, and tropea onions!

Here is my menu for the week to assist our CSA members eat everything in their bags.

Monday: Grilled Steak with Grilled Tropea Onions and roasted fingerling potatoes

I heat the oven to 425 degrees and the grill up at the same time. I then toss the fingerling potatoes in olive oil, chopped fresh rosemary and salt and pepper. I put them on a sheet pan and roast them for about 30 minutes. I love a nice New York Strip steak and Bobby Flay has the best and easiest recipe for it! Just brush the steaks with olive oil and then heavily salt and pepper the steak. I like my steak medium rare, so I really just char the outside of the steak on the grill for no more than 10 minutes and then I let it rest for another 10. While the steak is resting, I cut the tropea onions length wise, brush them with olive oil and season them with salt and pepper. Grilling them makes them even sweeter!

Tuesday: Grilled Steakhouse Burgers and Kohlrabi Fries

One of our CSA members made kohlrabi fries and it inspired me (and also gave me reason to make another great burger!

I found a great recipe on Rachael Ray’s website and thought it was worth a share. Here is her segment on her show about it.

These fries are really good and so healthy! They are great served with my favorite burger recipe that tastes like it came from a serious steak house! Serve the burgers with the spicy mictogreens on top and you have a delicious dinner!

Wednesday: Chicken Pesto Bake with Orzo Salad

This recipe is from Skinnytaste, my favorite clean, healthy food blogger. As soon as my tomatoes come in, I make this right away. It is so good and tastes like the very best of summer!

The orzo salad served along side this is excellent. I love to take the leftovers of this salad to work and it it for lunch the next day. with some of the leftover chicken. YUMMMMM!

Thursday: Balsamic Beet Salad with Grilled Chicken

This salad is so good and so easy. Just clean and boil the beats and boil them. You can prepare them up to two days in advance because you want them served cold on this salad. I serve it with a grilled chicken to ensure I have enough protein in my diet.

Picture from A Dish of Daily Life Recipe Blogger

My son loves loves this salad. The sweetness of the beats is a nice touch wit the arugula, walnuts and goat cheese.

Friday: Roasted Moroccan Carrot Salad with Chickpeas

Image from Delicious Every Day

When making this, be sure to use your tropea onions and arugula. I usually use the arugula rather than the spinach since we only eat what is in season locally. The chickpeas is a great source of protein. This dinner is very tasteful and hearty!

So what is coming to market? We look forward to seeing you at the South of the James Farmer’s Market from 8-12 this Saturday!