In the share this week:
1 bunch collard greens
1 bag/pint sugar snap peas
1 bag spicy salad mix
1 bag salad mix
1 bunch radishes
1 bunch salad turnips
1 bunch garlic scapes
Thoughts from Farmer Anna:
Hope you all had a wonderful Memorial Day weekend! The weather was near perfect from my perspective and it looks to continue to be beautiful working weather this week - dry and 70s. I'm hoping we'll be able to get a little caught up on some bed prep and mowing. Our two-wheel tractor was out of commission last week, but I got the replacement part in this weekend and just got everything put back together tonight. Fingers crossed it's back in good working order tomorrow! The farm is exploding with plant growth (both the veggies and the weeds) as evidenced by the shot I took of some of our brassica beds above. I can't believe how big the collard greens are already and how fast the cabbages are coming on this year! This is our first year growing collard greens and I'm pleased with how big and healthy the plants are right now. We're hoping that these greens will stay nice a little longer into the summer than our kale typically does. If you aren't familiar with collard greens, they are an excellent cooking green and can be used to substitute for kale in most recipes as well. They have large smooth, flat leaves that are easy to chop up before cooking and a good bite to them that enables collards to keep a nice texture even when cooked. I was thinking you might like to try cooking up the collards along with your turnip greens and the turnip roots too, in something like this recipe:
If you decide not to cook the turnips, you could plan to just snack on these beauties raw. We love to eat them sliced in rounds with just a sprinkle of salt or if the kids are feeling spicy they might do cajun seasoning. The radishes would also be great raw as a snack or a salad topping, but you can also cook radishes too! If you aren't a fan of the spiciness of radishes, I highly suggest giving them a try roasted with a little oil and salt. You could even substitute or add radishes as the cooked root in the greens dish above.
One of the fun items in the share this week are garlic scapes! These are the immature flower stalks of the garlic plant and are only around for a couple of weeks each year. We pull them both because they are delicious and because it tells the garlic plant to put it's remaining energy into bulb production for the last few weeks of growth. The scapes have a mild garlic flavor and can be chopped and added to any dish that calls for garlic. They can also be used to make a simple pesto like this recipe:
You have both regular salad (a mix of baby lettuces) and spicy salad (a mix of baby mustard greens) in your share this week. They are wonderful to mix together to create a more interesting blend of taste and texture in your salad. The spicy mix can also be cooked down if you prefer to eat it that way. It's great paired with eggs!
We have so many spectacular spring veggies on tap for you in the coming weeks - kohlrabi, broccoli, cabbage, green onions, sweet onions, beets, and the first of the summer squash and cucumbers. The tomatoes are growing well and starting to set fruit too! If we're lucky maybe we'll start picking those in about a month. Hope you all have a great week!