May 26th Market & Farm Share Pick-up #2

The farm has received more than 10 inches of rain in one short (or very long) week! To say we were worried is an understatement! Matt is truly a sustainable farmer and he builds his beds with mulches and great compost. This is why we have beautiful produce on a consistent basis but it is also why we didn’t wash away!

This is a movie Matt made of our new growing space. You can clearly see, once Matt puts in place mulches and compost, our crops are protected. This practice also protects our watershed and prevents heavy run off keeping our soil fully amended. The space next to and behind the asparagus is the space that Matt is working on for next year. Just prior to the storm, Matt put down hundreds of dollars of cover crop seed. We are hoping that the seeds started germinating and we did not lose our investment.

As you can see, we have a rain gage, but the gage spilled over after 6 or 7 inches of rain. I have to say we feel very blessed that Matt has put in all of his hard work of heavy mulching to protect our crops for upcoming markets and Farm Share Member bags! We know some farms weren’t as lucky as us and they are in our prayers. Farming is the hardest job you can ever have but the weekly reward of the harvest is amazing!

I can’t tell you how much we love our Farm Share Members! I am so rewarded when they send me pictures of the food they have prepared for their families!

One of our members made this beautiful Bok Choi stir fry! She said it was so easy to whip together and so tasty! I am making it tonight with shrimp and mushrooms from Hasshroms!

This same Farm Share Member made the quiche I suggested last week! She even got her ricotta cheese from GoatsRUs!

I love seeing our field greens served right up next to it! This Farm Share Member works full time and is a new mom. Her and her husband amaze me with their tag teaming of making each dinner together special!

So, what’s in the bag for our farm share members (and on the table for our South of the James Customers?

Strawberries
Green Garlic
Field Green Salad
Boc Choi
Tokyo Bekana
Radishes
Turnips
Garlic Scapes
Kale

Here is my menu:

Monday: Balsalmic Strawberry Chicken Salad served atop Tokyo Bekana
Strawberry season is short, so make the best out of it! This is a GREAT salad and so easy to make on a busy Monday!

Photo courtesy of Will Cook for Smiles.

I love grilled chicken, so I fire up the grill and while that is heating up, I make the rest! I serve it on top of the Tokyo Bekana leaves.

Photo courtesy of High Mowing Organic Seeds

These leaves are like loose romaine lettuce. They stand up well and are so delicious. You can either chop it up and make a salad (the stems are great) or wrap them up and serve them Last summer, these became very popular at market and are one of my favorites! You can even put them in stir fries!

Tuesday: Crunchy Bok Choi Salad

Y’all, we are at the end of the school year, we are under testing stress, and the kids are ready for summer. It is at this point that I am “pretending” I have it together. I NEED easy dinners! This is another easy one!

Image courtesy of Will Cook For Smiles

To make this a meal, you really need to add some protein to it so I add some shrimp because it cooks up super fast!

Wednesday: Garlic Scape Pesto Pizza

Our son loves this one! He actually helps me put this together. I am looking forward to the day I can tell him to make dinner! I am a cheater, I buy store bought pizza dough, or sometimes I will be buy Naan bread or pita bread and use it for pizza! Cottage Bread from Norwood Cottage is tasty as well just slice it in half and heap on the good stuff! If you want to make your own crust, it is better but it is Wednesday! =) I don’t have a recipe so I just get creative! I start off by making Garlic Scape Pesto. It is easy really. I am so lazy I make it in my smoothie bullet because I don’t want to pull out my food processor (Don’t judge, it is the end of a school year). I have even used this pesto to mix in with pasta it is so good!

Picture courtesy of West Coast Seeds

I spread the pesto across the bread, dough, pizza crust. I then get some ricotta cheese from Goats R Us and dollop it on the pizza crust. I swear their ricotta is the creamiest I have ever found. I then slice up some radishes and sprinkle on some parmesan cheese and top with some of our arugula. I cook it for 10 minutes and serve it with our field green salad that is in your bag! It is so good. If you aren’t an arugula fan, or if you want to use what is in your bag, kale is real good on top of this pizza too!

Thursday: Slow Cooker Turnip, Kale, and Lentil Soup

It is Thursday and I have almost made it to Friday! I need a slow cooker recipe by this point. A slow cooker is like having a housewife. I come home from work and dinner is ready! I can’t tell you how happy it makes me. It does take some prep, I prepare it either before bed or I get up 20 minutes early to get it together. Matt will come in from the field and turn it on at the appropriate time so we can have dinner. I know many of you don’t have that options so if you have an instant pot, you can do it with that too. The instant pot is really helpful if you don’t want to prep prior or if you are like me and work 10 hour days and you don’t want your food to burn up.

Recipe courtesy of Chef De Home

I serve this along side our field green salad and and my favorite bread from Norwood Cottage. I love his Red Pepper Flake Parmesan with this! When you eat healthy you can eat bread, right!?!

Friday: Avocado Salmon Salad served atop Field Greens, chopped up Tokyo Bekana, Kale, and radishes.

We are putting our beautiful kale in our Farm Share Member’s bags and are bringing it to market! It is beautiful and salad quality! I am using what is left in my bag to serve up this salad! You can use the rest of the field green salad, Tokyo bekana, and Kale. If they need to be freshened up, pop them in a glass of water as you would flowers and leave them in the refrigerator like that while you are at work.