In Your Share (March 3rd edition)

The leeks are such a blessing this time of year! They survive freezing temps, the snowpocalypse, and just keep on growing. Our tried and true varieties are King Richard and Blue Solaise. The King Richard is a very elegant long thin leek with beautiful white shanks. In cold winters it can look a bit worse for wear so we usually harvest it earlier in the season. Blue Solaise, on the other hand, can handle much harsher winters than we (hopefully) ever have here. It is a short & sturdy leek with leaves that turn a beautiful purplish-blue after the first frosts – hence the name. We’ve also been trying out a few new kinds of leeks and two of these varieties – heirloom Giant Musselburgh and hybrid Lexton – are in your share. Let us know what you think?

Lots of great ideas for using your leeks (and of course other veggies) in the Recipe Packet!

This week your share may include…

• Dry Beans: You’ll have your choice of either Black Coco or King of the Early this week. They’re both tasty and versatile beans and there are recipes in this packet as well as past packets if you’re in need of inspiration.
• Brussel Sprouts: The last of our tasty little winter brussel sprouts. Try the Momofuku inspired recipe below from shareholder Elizabeth Hammer – yum!
  
• Dried Cayenne Peppers: These definitely have some heat to them. Add whole ones to a pot of beans or chop them up for homemade red pepper flakes.
• Collard Greens: This bit of sunny spring weather has inspired the collard greens back to life!
• Leeks: This week we have both the Scottish heirloom Giant Musselburgh & hardy hybrid Lexton.
• Onions: Our old standby, yellow Copra onions.
• Potato: Yellow potatoes will be either Carola or Charlotte. Carola is a very popular creamy potato that can be served almost any way you’d like. Charlotte is generally smaller and is a classic european favorite for salad.
• Shallots: Conservor is a lovely red shallot that is mild enough to use in salad dressings and also makes a great batch of Pok Pok style crispy shallots.
• Winter Squash: In your share this week is the Thelma Sanders Sweet Potato Squash. How could we possibly go wrong with a name like that! It’s a nice medium size squash that has the sweet flavor of it’s cousins – delicate & acorn – but unlike them it lasts a lot longer in storage without looking that good flavor. We had an interesting meeting with OSU last week about the work their small farms team is doing on winter squash varieties. This coming season we’ll be trying some new techniques and varieties based on their research and  info from other farmers in the area. 

Coming soon… Fingers crossed for Raab, Rapini, & Broccolini!!