Helsing Junction Farm Newsletter Archive

Happy Solstice!
We are pleased to report that the new payment center on our web site is up and running and much easier to use. We can now accept payments directly; you no longer have to go through PayPal to make your monthly payments. As we mentioned in last week’s newsletter, we do not automatically deduct monthly payments from your account. You should follow the dates on the accounting schedule that you received from us and go to our web site to make payments. Or if you prefer, you can pay by check.

The half flat of strawberries that comes with your Bulk Share will be delivered this Wednesday June 24th for people who have a Wednesday pick up, this Thursday June 25th for people who have a Thursday pick up and next week Tuesday June 30th for people who have Tuesday pick up. Your Bulk Share/half-flat of strawberries will be delivered to your regular drop site but will not be marked with your name (as stated in last week’s newsletter). There is a half flat of strawberries per Bulk share. To determine whether or not you have a Bulk Share, please look on the sign- in sheet at the drop site under the category “Bulk Share.” If there is a “yes” next to your name you are slated to receive a Bulk Share. If we have made a mistake and you are supposed to receive a Bulk Share but have not, please contact us and we will make sure you get one. The 2nd half of the bulk share (2# of basil and 10# potatoes) will be delivered in August and September respectively; we will provide you with the exact date via the newsletter. Members who have elected not to receive flowers will be receiving the bulk and storage share instead of the flowers. (Storage shares will be delivered in October.) Sorry this is a little confusing!
Please accept our apologies for not including a packing list in last Wednesday’s or Thursday’s boxes. There was no arugula or radishes in Thursday’s boxes. We have another planting of both those crops coming along nicely, the arugula should be ready to harvest for Thursday’s boxes and the radishes will be ready the week after next. Though we try to forecast as accurately as possible, the list in this newsletter of what’s in your box will not always be correct. In an effort to use less paper we are going to send the packing list (a list of exactly what is in your box) electronically to Wednesday’s and Thursday’s members. There will also be an accurate list of what is in your box in the newsletter that we leave at the drop site. We feel it is important for you to know specifically what is in the boxes in order to help you identify what everything is and to make sure that you received everything you were supposed to. We have implemented several measures to ensure that both high quality standards are met and that nothing is missing from your box. To that end, we now pack our boxes using rollers, with each person putting in 2-3 items per box, before pushing the box down to the next person. Also we now inspect every box that comes off the line before loading it on the truck. That said, the occasional weird bunch of something gets put in or left out. If you are missing items from your box or you have any quality issues please e-mail or call the farm to let us know. We will send you the missing/damaged items in the next week’s box, which will be pulled aside and have your name on it.

There is a lot of personal responsibility involved with running a CSA and being a CSA member. Even though we've been running a CSA for the past 19 years we are still constantly amazed by how unique a business model it is. There is a need for trust that is inherent in the relationship between CSA consumer and farmer. As a consumer, you have to trust that we will deliver the correct amount of fresh food in a timely manner. As farmers, we have to trust that you will pick up your box on time, take the correct amount of food, eat it and then return your box each week. Can you imagine if this was the way all businesses worked? You would show up at a store, hand them some money and then weeks later they would deliver what ever they felt like to someone else's house. Conversely, can you imagine if all stores were self-service? The beauty of CSAs is that despite all of the tenuous and novel ideas it employs, it actually works! For the amount of people we feed, we actually have very few problems. Thank you so much for trusting us to feed you and for being so trustworthy yourselves! It seems to us that the CSA model spawns more than just dinner, it is actively promoting faith in both farms and human nature, not to mention the weather!

We thought we would devote some time in this week’s newsletter to how to get through your box each week. We realize that we are writing this newsletter to people of all levels of CSA experience, so please excuse us if this seems redundant…
Use the recipes; we try to include recipes that are easy to make and don’t require a lot of additional ingredients. A lot of the produce in your box, especially in spring is kind of unusual. We will try to include information about things such as garlic scapes or cilantro in an effort to make them seem less formidable. Not to sound like your mom, but please give everything in your box a chance, even if you think you don’t like it. Eating farm fresh food makes a big difference, fresh produce such as beets has little resemblance to the canned version you may have eaten in the past. Convenience food CSA boxes are not. Lettuce needs washing, greens need cooking and there is a lot of chopping involved. The bottom line is, even though there is more effort involved the payoff for eating your vegetables is huge. Farm fresh food tastes better and is better for you. If you and your household make a concerted effort to eat your box each week, you will see an improvement in your health. To quote one of our new members from last year, “…We noticed that we changed our diets entirely, eating vegetarian most nights instead of meat and rice or pasta. My husband lost 15 lbs over the course of the CSA and became an amazing chef. He would look in the fridge to see what needed to be used and have a delicious meal on the table in an hour.” Sadly we can’t promise you all such outstanding results with your partner, but the truth is eating lots of vegetables is good for you. And with a little effort and a little less eating out, you should be able to get through your box each week. One important rule of thumb is to eat what is most perishable in your box first. In these boxes the most perishable things are strawberries and arugula (which is in Thursday’s box only). We try to pick strawberries very ripe so that they taste the way a strawberry should but this also means that they don’t have a long shelf life. Strawberries should be stored in the fridge, along with almost everything else in your box, with the exception of garlic or onions that have been cured. Also, it is very important to store everything in plastic bags or containers. We have left rolls of plastic bags at all of the drop sites, please help yourselves. Greens are pretty perishable too, so if you are planning on having a salad for dinner one night, it is best to do it earlier in the week instead of later. Semi-perishable are rainbow chard and bok choy, so maybe think about eating them next. Carrots, snow peas, garlic tops and onions should last longer if properly stored. Your CSA box will change a lot over the course of the season. From the greens of spring to sweet corn, green beans, potatoes and summer squash of summer you will be eating your way through the seasons.


Recipes
Cilantro Information:
Cilantro is edible from the stems to the leaves. We don’t bother taking the leaves off of the stems any more as it is too time consuming and the stems actually have the best flavor. Leaving the rubber band on your bunch of cilantro, run it or swish it under cold water. Thoroughly shake dry, then finely chop the whole bunch all the way down to the rubber banded end, which you can then discard. If you only use part of a bunch at a time, just chop what you want off the bunch and then use the rest later.

Snow Peas and Garlic Scapes with Pancetta and Onion:
*Pancetta is unsmoked Italian bacon; if you can’t find it you can use thick cut bacon instead.
-Heat 1 TBS of olive oil in a large skillet.
- Chop up 6-10 garlic scapes into 2 inch pieces, discarding the top 2 inches of the flower head. Cook for 3 minutes.
-Add 2 ounces thin sliced minced pancetta and 1 finely chopped small onion. Cook until golden, about 3 minutes more.
-Take the tops and strings off of a pound of snow peas. Add to the pancetta and cook for about 3 min. until barely tender.
-Season with salt and pepper to taste and sprinkle with a TBS or 2 of chopped chives.

Stir-Fried Bok Choy with Roasted Peanuts:
-Fry 3-4 TBS whole raw peanuts in 1 tsp peanut oil until golden brown.
-Chop up the peanuts with 1/8 tsp red pepper flakes and a pinch of salt and set aside.
-Slice the stems off of 1 bunch of bok choy, and cut the stems into ½ inch pieces. Leave the leaves whole.
-Chop up 6 garlic scapes and 1 sweet onion. Mince up 4 tsp fresh ginger.
-Put a wok or sturdy pan over high heat and add 1 more tsp peanut oil.
-When hot, add the garlic scapes and the minced ginger and stir-fry for about 1 minute.
-Then add the bok choy stems and leaves and the onion and stir-fry until wilted and glossy.
-Mix together 2 TBS soy sauce, 1 tsp cornstarch mixed and 3 TBS cold water.
-Add to the pan and stir-fry for another 1-2 minutes. Add the crushed peanut mixture and serve warm.

Sesame Snow Peas with Baked Tofu:
For the baked tofu; cut 1# of tofu into 1-inch cubes.
-Place on a baking sheet, sprinkle generously with olive oil and soy sauce and toss.
-Sprinkle with salt and bake at 375 for about 25-30 minutes until golden brown.
For the snow peas: Combine ¼ cup chicken or vegetable stock, 1 TBS soy sauce and 2 tsp toasted sesame oil in a small bowl and set aside.
-In a dry skillet, toast 2 TBS sesame seeds until lightly browned.
-Take the strings off of 1# of snow peas, chop up one onion and 4-6 garlic scapes.
-In another larger pan, heat 1 TBS peanut oil until shimmering but not smoking.
-Add the garlic scapes and stir-fry 1 minute.
-Then add the snow peas and onion and stir-fry for 30 seconds.
-Add 1 TBS minced ginger and cook until about 20 seconds more.
-Add the stock, cover and reduce heat to medium, cooking until peas are just tender, about 2 min.
-Uncover and reduce sauce, another 1-2 minutes. Sprinkle with sesame seeds and serve along side tofu.

Rainbow Chard Salad with Maple Walnuts and Dried Cranberries: (Good, good looking and good for you!)
-Finely chop one bunch of raw rainbow chard, stems and all. (Cut the stems off the chard and chop them separately- then stack the leaves on top of each other, roll them up, and then cut them into thin slivers, which you can then easily chop.)
-Then put ½ cup walnut halves to a heavy frying pan, add a splash of maple syrup (or a pinch of sugar) and a TBS of butter.
-Cook stirring often until just golden brown. Add to the chard mixture.
-Then add ¼ cup dried cranberries or dried currents, a splash of olive oil, the juice and zest of 1 lime (or lemon), 1 finely chopped clove of garlic, 3 TBS finely chopped cilantro (optional), 3 TBS chopped chives, a splash of maple syrup and a pinch of salt. Mix together well.
-Top the salad with ½ cup of crumbled feta cheese and serve.

Coconut Milk Soup:
-In a soup pot, combine two 14 oz cans of coconut milk, 2 cups water OR chicken stock OR vegetable broth, 2 TBS freshly grated ginger, 3-5 minced garlic tops, 1-2 tsp. curry paste (depending on how hot you like it), and several 2 inch strips of lime rind.
-Bring to a boil and simmer covered for 10 minutes.
-Chop up 1 bunch of carrots and 1 small onion.
-Wash and cut the leaves off of 3-4 bok choy. Slice the stems into ½ inch pieces and chop up the leaves.
-Add the carrots and the bok choy to the soup and cook for 5 minutes. Add a half pound of stemmed snow peas.
-Cook for another 3-5 minutes or until vegetables are just tender.
-Finish the soup with the juice of 2 limes, ½ bunch chopped cilantro or chives and 2 TBS fish or soy sauce.

Salad greens with Balsamic Vinegar and Baked Chevre Goat Cheese:
-Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Coat a small baking pan with 1 TBS extra-virgin olive oil.
-Place ¾ cup bread crumbs in a flat bowl.
-Place 2 TBS extra-virgin olive oil into another small bowl.
-Cut 6 ounces very cold chevre goat cheese into 4 rounds.
-Dip each round into the oil and coat with the breadcrumbs. Transfer to the baking pan and proceed with the others.
-Bake until the rounds turn golden brown, about 8 minutes.
-Wash and dry a head of 1 head of lettuce.
For the dressing, whisk together 1 TBS Balsamic vinegar and 4 TBS walnut oil or extra-virgin olive oil with some salt and pepper.
-Drizzle the dressing over the greens, add 2 TBS chopped chives and toss to coat. Put the salad on individual plates and top with a goat cheese round.

Chicken Salad with Fennel and Winter Density Lettuce:
-Poach 2 large boneless organic chicken breasts by placing in boiling water to cover by 1 inch.
-Reduce heat and simmer gently for 18 minutes.
-Turn off heat and let sit for 30 minutes in the poaching liquid.
-Drain, cool completely and then dice the chicken into cubes and put it in a mixing bowl.
-Finely chop up 3-4 small fennel bulbs. Steam for 5 minutes until just tender. Add to the bowl.
-Chop up 1 dill pickle or add a TBS of rinsed capers and a few TBS of good mayonnaise.
-Add a squeeze of lemon juice, 2 TBS minced cilantro and salt and freshly ground pepper to taste.
-Serve on a bed of torn winter density lettuce with a sprinkle of Balsamic vinegar and a slice of lemon.