This Week’s Box
Produce:
Spring Onions, Carrots, Lemon Basil, KMK Farms, Kingsburg, CA, Lacinato Kale, Curly Kale, full share only, Strawberries, Fava Beans, Sugar Snap Peas, Beets, Sweet Potatoes
Fruit Share:
Navel Oranges, Las Palmalitas Ranch, Carpenteria, CA, Strawberries, Rancho Calypso
What’s happening on the farm?
We are getting excited and geared up for your visit to the farm next weekend, May 7! It will run from 11-2– the directions are included in your box. If you are not receiving a box or lose the directions please contact Julie so we can get you directions via e-mail. Have you noticed that many of our drop sites we have “Swap Boxes”? If you have not noticed that, it really is a neat service that we began to use several months ago. Here is the idea– we stock it up with various produce items so folks can swap out produce if they so choose, having the ability to somewhat “customize” their box. So maybe you would prefer extra carrots and you choose to leave your kale. Maybe the next person comes by and wants the kale you left and leaves something else. Anecdotally, we have heard good feedback, but we would like to get a better picture of how it is working. We will be putting a survey in your box and would really appreciate it if you would send them in. We are always trying to improve our services; provide the highest quality produce and a user friendly program. This is one way we can do that! We look forward to hearing back from you and I can’t wait to see you all next Saturday! Have a great week! Michelle
What to do with what we grow…
This week we have the first Fava Beans of the season. Usually you need to remove the beans from the pod and then remove the second skin from each bean, but I got a great idea a few years ago to cook the beans whole on the grill or you can roast them in the oven. Then you can serve the beans whole like edamame, and have everyone peel their own beans at the table. This really helps to transfer the labor from the prep cook to the eaters. The first recipe for Grilled Fava beans, explains the details. If you don’t have a grill, roast the beans in the oven at 425 degrees for 20 minutes. The second recipe is a Sugar Snap Pea and Carrot Salad with Hard Cooked Eggs. This easy recipe really dresses up the simple ingredients. It would be great for a special dinner. The third recipe is for Sweet Potato – Kale Soup with Cumin and Lemon. If you don’t have cumin seed, you can substitute with ground. I do think that if you like cumin a lot, you should go out and buy the seeds. With any seed or spice, the flavor will deteriorate quickly once it is ground. I love this combination of kale and sweet potatoes, if you don’t love soup, use all the same ingredients and roast the onions, cumin, salt, sweet potatoes and kale together, then toss the cooked vegetables with the onion greens, herbs seasoning and cheese. Just omit the broth. Remember to eat your vegetables, Julie
The Vegetable of the Week – Fava Beans
We have Fava Beans available right now. One of our special spring vegetables. You will need to remove each bean from the pod and then remove the skin from each individual bean. To make it easier to remove the second skin, boil the beans for one minute. You can then sauté the beans in a little butter and garlic.