Week 1 Newsletter

June 16^th and 18^th

In your box:

–Bok choy

–Chard

–Head lettuce, “Red Romaine”

–Rhubarb

–Salad mix

–Spinach

Welcome to our 2015 growing season! We are grateful for your support as we launch our seventh growing season. We hope you enjoy the experience—may you try something new, be a little brave when necessary, and perhaps figure out what to do with a kohlrabi…..

This week’s box is brought to you by the color Green. But after months of white crusty snow and brown lawns, green things are a beautiful sight. This week we have both a salad mix of leaf lettuces and a beautiful red romaine head lettuce. Mix them up with your favorite dressing, and winter snows will be a distant memory.

We also have a bunch of chard, also called “Swiss chard” even though the Swiss have nothing to do with it. Chard is a close relative of spinach and beets, and has been cultivated to a wide variety of colors. They all taste more or less the same, and we grow a combination of yellow and pink to make a beautiful bouquet. Chard is a cooking green, meaning it is a little rubbery raw and is most often consumed after cooking in some fashion. Chard stems are edible and nutritious, but usually require a couple minutes of extra cooking compared to the leaves. Try chard in an omelet or quiche, or wilt it in hot oil or butter.

Spinach has never been easy for me to grow, so it was a delight to see it survive our two days of ninety degrees thus far without any complaint. Spinach is quick to “bolt,” putting out seed stalks as soon as summer warms up. This is the first time we’ve had spring spinach in five years, and we should have it for another week if the temperatures stay moderate. We also grow a crop in the fall, which is much more dependable. Try this spinach raw in a salad, baked on a pizza, or cooked in lasagna. Just don’t boil it to mush and force it on your kids! It took me twenty years to overcome the spinach abuse I witnessed as a child.

Maybe the least familiar crop in our boxes this week is the Bok Choy. Bok choy is always destined for stir-fry in our house, where its bulk makes it pretty much the only veggie you need to chop up. To use, first separate the green leaves from the white stems and wash thoroughly. Chop up the stems and throw these in the wok first, giving them about three minutes on their own before cutting the greens into ribbons and adding to the pot.

All of your veggies this week would prefer to be kept in a hydrator drawer in the fridge, and should keep well for up to two weeks. They would also prefer to be eaten before your next CSA box comes, since there are many greens still to come! We’re also expecting garlic scapes and strawberries next week.

Please feel free to contact us with any questions or suggestions throughout the season. You can always reach us via phone, 952-353-1762 or e-mail, foxandfawnfarm@gmail.com. And don’t forget to check out our website for recipes and ideas from past newsletters: www.foxandfawnfarm.com. We hope you enjoy the season!