Month: June 2014

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Farm Share Week 4 June 25-28, 2014

With the arrival of this box-we have completed one month of farm share already! It’s hard to believe that 4 weeks can fly by this fast-but as they do the farm is harvesting more and more goodies for us to enjoy in our boxes.  The final day of school (for the kids I watch) is tomorrow and I am looking forward to a summer of camping and canning and freezing what extra goodies I can to enjoy all year round.

This next bit is from Jenny-and is an update on the farm.

Hi everyone! What an adventurous few weeks it’s been. We’ve had some pretty fearsome storms, especially the one that resulted in tornadoes for a couple nearby towns on June 17. Farmers live by necessity in rhythm with the weather. There’s no ducking into your cozy office on those wild weather days- there’s a whole lot of forecast-watching and “making hay when the sun shines”. We get out in the field right away if weather permits, to avoid as much as possible harvesting things in torrential rains (which I have definately also done ;).
Hopefully all this rain will give a few crops that final push to be ready for next week. If you have had your share of “what is this vegetable?” moments, know that some of the usual favorites are likely to appear next week: carrots, peas, beans and zucchini are almost ready! You cannot imagine my excitement. Also, red currants will be ready next week. They’re sour but yummy and antioxidant-packed, and no, you do not need to make them into a jam that is 80 percent sugar! They are a nice addition to salads, oatmeal, or as a snack with dark chocolate. Oh, yes! And if that doesn’t appeal, add it to a smoothie with some banana and whatever else you fancy.
So, in sum, the great variety of summer is coming! Try to enjoy all the bok choy and kale you can as you will see them in the coming weeks (especially for half shares).
Half Shares
-Strawberries, asparagus or zucchini (would that we had enough of any one of these!)

-arugula
-green swiss chard
-romaine
-red leaf
-black kale
-garlic scapes
-chinese cabbage
-green onions
-radish

Whole Shares
-green kale
-rhubarb or
-bok choy
-green leaf lettuce
-dill

This weeks recipe is my favorite although I have yet to make it this year.  Last year was our first year with the farm share program and neither myself of my husband had ever seen swiss chard (but it’s now our favorite!).  This recipe could easily have other greens added to it (the crunchy part of the bok choy could be added at the same time as the chard stems and then the leafy green part of the bok choy at the same part as the leafs of the swiss chard).  I will update with a photo as soon as I make it but we’re leaving this week for a camping trips.  If you do make it feel free to share it 🙂

  • 2 tablespoons butter
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 tablespoon minced garlic
  • 1/2 small red onion, diced

  • 1 bunch Swiss chard, stems and center ribs cut out and chopped together, leaves coarsely chopped separately

  • 1/2 cup dry white wine

  • 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice, or to taste
  • 2 tablespoons freshly grated Parmesan cheese
  • salt to taste

Melt butter and olive oil together in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Stir in the garlic and onion, and cook for 30 seconds until fragrant. Add the chard stems and the white wine. Simmer until the stems begin to soften, about 5 minutes. Stir in the chard leaves, and cook until wilted. Finally, stir in lemon juice and Parmesan cheese; season to taste with salt if needed.

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Farm share week 3 June 19-21, 2014

We’re into our 3rd week with our farm share box program and this week Jenny worked hard to harvest enough strawberries for the full share boxes! More will be coming since it’s early in the season-so we’ll be able to enjoy more of them as the weeks come.

My husband and I have decided to do our first juice fast this week.  We juiced enough for breakfast and lunch last night (for today) and tonight we will juice dinner and breakfast and lunch for tomorrow.  We plan on ending our juice fast Friday at lunch since we have company coming in from out of the country for a visit.  When completed it will be short-only 2.5 days-but we’re hoping that this is only the first of many in the years to come!

I know quite a bit about juicing since I’ve researched it quite a bit over the years-and we even upgraded our juicer to the huron slow juicer last spring.  It’s amazing and I highly recommend it since it allows the juice to be stored for greater periods of time-allowing you to juice more meals at once instead of for every meal.

Contents in the boxes this week are:

Half Shares
-baby bok

-radish
-spinach
-romaine
-green leaf lettuce
-jerusalem artichokes
-dill
-green onions
-swiss chard
-rhubarb
Whole Shares: same as above with:
-asparagus
-big bok choy
-arugula
-garlic chives
-strawberries
-green kaleThis week’s recipe is a juicing recipe.  I figured since not everyone is interested in a juicing fast but many would love to juice the most important meal of the day-breakfast.  This recipe is called Morning Glory and I got it from a juicing blog (that has a grocery list and different juices for a 3 day fast) and it’s AMAZING.For those who are interested here is a link to the 3 day fast
http://www.justonjuice.com/3-day-juice-fast-plan/Since both my husband and I are doing the fast we doubled everything in the recipe.  Remember to stain your juices before drinking to remove any excess pulp :)Morning Glory

  • 2 Apples
  • 1 Cucumber
  • 1 cup Blueberries
  • 2 cups of Grapes
  • 2 Kale Leaves
  • 1″ Ginger
  • morninggloryjuice
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Week 2 Farm share June 11-14

I hope you all enjoyed the yummy produce that you got last week in your boxes-I know we have! We enjoyed steaks from the farm (Howards Farm in Newmarket is where we get our meat/fish)with baked potatoes and grilled asparagus-it was a wonderful way to welcome in the warm weather that we had last weekend.

As promised-this weeks recipe is a bit more adventurous than last weeks.  Last night I made pitas  and soup (sauteed onions-mushrooms-jerusalem artichokes in a pan and then added chopped cooked bacon and smoked chicken breast-and lastly throwing in chopped bok choy and spinach) we had it with sour cream and another sauce that we get at costco and a little cheese.
IMG_3136
The receipe I am sharing is a parsnip and carrot soup.  I found it on a lovely blog.  http://www.eatingbirdfood.com/2012/11/amazing-carrot-and-parsnip-soup/

Now I will I couldn’t find miso paste so I had to omit that-I also forgot the shallots and didn’t do the garnish.  Overall it came out pretty well but for me-it had too much cumin-so next go I’ll reduce it by half.

It uses a ton of stuff that you’ll be getting in your box-including fresh sage.

Here is what you can expect to see in your boxes this week-enjoy!

Half Share
-baby bok choy

-asparagus
-basil pots
-green leaf lettuce
-kale
-jerusalem artichokes
-rhubarb
-red leaf lettuce
-radish
-double asparagus
Whole shares: same as above but also with:
-leeks
-parsnips
-big bok choy
-garlic chives

-sage

Amazing Carrot and Parsnip Soup (credit to Brittany Mullins-Eating Bird Food)
IMG_3135

Serves: 4
Ingredients
  • 1 Tablespoon coconut oil
  • 1 onion, chopped
  • 1 shallot, chopped finely
  • 1 teaspoon minced garlic
  • 1 lb. carrots, peeled and chopped
  • ½ lb. parsnips, peeled and chopped
  • 5 cups of vegetable broth or water
  • ⅓ cup uncooked quinoa, rinsed and drained
  • 1 teaspoon fresh thyme
  • 3 fresh sage leaves, finely chopped
  • 1 teaspoon cumin
  • ¼ teaspoon turmeric
  • sprinkle of cayenne pepper
  • ground black pepper, to taste
  • 1 Tablespoon miso paste, dissolved in 1 Tablespoon warm water
  • sea salt, to taste
  • scallions, as garnish
  • 1 ounce gruyere cheese (optional)
Instructions
  1. In a large stock pot, heat coconut oil on medium heat. Place onion, shallot and garlic into the pot and sauté for about five to seven minutes or until onions are translucent.
  2. Add herbs and spices (thyme, sage, cumin, turmeric, cayenne pepper and ground pepper) to the pot and stir.
  3. Add chopped carrots, parsnip and quinoa to the pot. Pour in vegetable broth or water. Bring mixture to a boil. Reduce to simmer and cook for about 20-40 minutes until veggies are tender.
  4. Remove from heat and let stand 3-5 minutes until cooled slightly. Using an immersion blender, blend the contents of the pot until a smooth even consistency is reached. If you don’t have an immersion blender, you can blend the soup in your blender in small batches.
  5. Dissolve miso in warm water and stir into the soup. Miso gives the soup a wonderful flavor but if you don’t have miso, simply season the soup with a little sea salt.
  6. Serve immediately garnished with scallions and shredded gruyere cheese. Enjoy!
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Farm Share week one June 4-7, 2014

After a seemingly never ending winter the first week of farm share is here! I hope you all are as excited as I am about the sun shining and the wonderful fruits and veggies that the farm will provide us all again this year for the next 22 weeks 🙂

Last year was my first year as a member of the farm share-and my family and I picked up a weekly half share and decided this year to do a bi-weekly whole share since the produce lasted so long from week to week (I even had some for 4 weeks without issues…what can I say-I am still learning to love beets lol!)

The recipe this week is something simple-since it’s my husband’s birthday today and he requested lasagna and garlic bread-neither of which things from the share could help much with.  I decided to make a simple salad-which easily could be adapted to your families tastes (feta cheese-nuts-apples-croutons-etc).

Growing up I wasn’t a big fan of salad-because it was pretty much lettuce and dressing.  Last year was my first experience with bok choy (other than ordering stir fry from the restaurants) and I decided I loved how fresh and crisp and refreshing it was.  So I began throwing it in pretty much everything-our salads included.   This simple salad everything came from the share.  Super exciting I know-but I promise more adventurous recipes as the weeks pass 🙂

One baby bok choy-bottems chopped off (kept the stems but separated them from the leaves just so they are in a more manageable size)
One green onion chopped
Spinach
A few pieces of kale
One radish

Here is what you can look forward to in your boxes this week.

Half Share
  • asparagus
  • rhubarb
  • green onion
  • leeks
  • green kale
  • baby bok choy
  • radishes
  • jerusalem artichokes
  • parsnips
  • spinach or 2nd kale

Whole Share

  • asparagus
  • rhubarb
  • green onion
  • leeks
  • green kale
  • baby bok choy
  • radishes
  • jerusalem artichokes
  • parsnips
  • spinach
  • garlic chives
  • basil pots (please do not refridgerate)
  • turnip (nice and mild)
  • 2nd asparagus
  • 2nd baby bok choy