In Your Share (Week of March 27th)

We have purple sprouting broccoli in the share!! It has been slow to mature this year because of all the cold rainy weather. Most of this crop was seeded in July and requires tremendous patience, but about 7 months after planting we are rewarded with beautiful purple buds : ) This year we planted almost an acre, including 10 different trial varieties. Our goal with the trial is to find a few more tasty, hardy, open pollinated varieties that can help us extend the season. We think with better varieties we could start harvesting in Feb and keep going through April. This is the second year we’ve done this Purple Sprouting broccoli trial with Johnny’s Seed Co. The results so far: one of the trial varieties died in the cold, a few look good but don’t taste very good and a few we plan to keep and try agin next year. We don’t have any great early varieties yet, but some of the later maturing ones look promising. We’re not there yet, but definitely made some progress toward better broccoli this year!

Make sure and sign up for the Summer CSA this week!! The Early Bird Special ends March 31st!! We’ve already bought all the supplies & hired all the folks needed to grow your delicious food for the summer so now all we need is some LOVE from our members in the form of sign ups : ) Early memberships help us get a jump on the season so if you get your check in by March 31st you’ll get a BIG THANK YOU from your farmers and a TREAT from one of our favorite restaurants!!

This week your share may include…

  • Carrots: What could be better than sweet winter carrots : )
  • Collard Greens: Got to love those winter greens!
  • Leeks: Lovely winter leeks. This is perfect weather for a potato leek soup or a leek galette.
  • Popcorn: The Amish Butter is back! If you love real popcorn with real flavor then you are in for a treat : ) We were first introduced to this variety by Anthony & Carol Boutard at Ayers Creek Farm. The seed is now available from Uprising and it is a surprisingly versatile variety – it can also be ground into polenta, cornbread or made into masa. Pop it on the cob in the microwave (in a brown paper bag, max 3 min) or take the kernels off the cop and pop it any way you choose.
  • Yellow Potatoes: Yum : )
  • Purple Sprouting Broccoli: All parts of this cute little broccoli are edible – leaves, stems and florette are all tender and tasty!
  • Tuscan Kale Raab: The flowering tips of the kale can be used just like you would the Purple Sprouting Broccoli or like Kale leaves.
  • Sibley Squash:  This is one of the oldest heirlooms we grow. It is teardrop shaped, dusty blue to peachy in color, with sweet deep orange flesh. The amazing flavor combined with its cultural significance has earned it a spot in the Slow Food Arc of Taste. An excellent keeper, this variety was popular in the midwest back to at least the 1840’s, believed to be of Native American origin, possibly from Mexico; it was introduced commercially by Hiram Sibley & Co. of New York in 1887. Try any of these recipes for roasted winter squash. And don’t forget that you can make “pumpkin pie” out of any of the winter squash we’ve given out this month. Everyday is Pi(e) Day with all these fabulous squash to work with : )

Coming soon… overwintering cauliflower!