Greetings Country Valley Farm Members,
This is week 3 of the season. Reminder we are skipping next weekend May 29th. Week 4 will be the following week Sunday June 5th.
We are still actively signing up new members. We are including some basic info and reminders in the newsletters to ensure everyone sees it. You can also view ALL of our previous newsletters on our website at www.countryvalleyfarm.com
Thank you for being a member of our community. Your commitment to organic, local, family-farmed, healthy food means a lot to us. We take our responsibility as your farm seriously. It is our goal for the CSA farm share program to be a positive part of your weekly menu. We hope that you are trying some new foods or recipes, enjoying some old favorites, taking time to savor the flavor and freshness, reflect on how close to your home this food is grown, enjoy the care and love that goes into it, and inspired to be curious and continue your food journey in a good way. If you have any feedback at all, we welcome it – Items you love and want more of, items you want less of or prefer to not to get etc. We can’t customize every share – but we are here to help and will make accommodations where we can.
Members who have signed up for home delivery – will receive their delivery about 1 hour earlier this week than the past few weeks; still allowing a 30-60 minute window for traffic and other potential slowdowns. We are still working out the schedule and adjusting the route. It is our intention to be on time consistently. If you won’t be home during the delivery, please leave a cooler on your front porch with some ice packs or frozen water bottles etc.
For all the members who pick up shares – that happens at Genesis of Ann Arbor (St. Clares Episcopal Church/Temple Beth Emeth) 2309 Packard. Please come to the back parking lot behind the building. Adam will be there from 4pm-6pm distributing shares. We arrive right at 4pm and leave at 6pm promptly every week – please be on time to pick up your shares.
If you need to skip a week, please give us at least 1 week advance notice. You can add a week to the end of the season or add a double share later in the season. If you’d rather have a friend or family member pick up your share, please let us know who to expect. Missed weeks that didn’t include at least 1 week advance notice, won’t have shares added to the end of the season.
We distribute our farm shares in clear plastic ½ bushel totes with lids. We have 2 totes for each member. Empty totes are collected from the prior week, each week when new shares are distributed, totes are then sanitized to use for the following week. Please be sure to return your empty tote weekly.
Most produce is washed and cooled before we pack it (we don’t wash tomatoes and peppers and items that don’t like to be washed in advance). That said, this is farm-level washing to remove most of the soil and to ensure the produce is well hydrated and super fresh. We very much recommend washing at home before preparation. Personally, we like to do a triple wash before we cook anything.
Most items should be placed in your refrigerator as soon as possible after receiving your share. We don’t recommend transporting the produce in the trunk of a car, as there is no airflow and temperatures can really heat up fast. Any item that should be stored in the refrigerator will be packed into new plastic bags, items that can be stored on the counter will be packed into pint or quart recyclable cardboard containers or packed loose in the tote. Most of these okay on the counter items will have a much longer shelf life if you store them in the refrigerator also – it all depends on how soon you plan on eating them. Tomatoes are an exception and item that we don’t recommend refrigerating.
A bit about what is going on the farm:
- We are wrapping up late-spring planting this week by planting the last of our potatoes, sweet peppers, and basil. We will then spend the new few weeks focusing on weeding beds and cleaning up pathways, moving lots of mulch and compost, and getting irrigation balanced across all of the fields.
- We are in the peak of green garlic harvest and are very thankful for the great crop we are seeing this year.
- Soon we will be harvesting garlic scapes, which will be in the shares. Then in July, we will harvest garlic bulbs to get us through the season. After the garlic is harvested, late-summer and fall crops will begin to be planted.
- The onion crop is looking healthy. We are harvesting the last of our wintered over green onions this weekend for the shares. Then we will begin harvesting from the new onion beds in late June and throughout the season.
- We look to have (from our farm) radishes, lettuce, and braising greens in the shares starting in early June, along with other culinary herbs and also lots of other veggies from Cinzori Farm.
This week’s small shares contain the following items:
- Green Onions – 1 bunch from our farm
- Green Garlic – 1 bunch from our farm
- Oregano – 1 bag from our farm
- Mullein – 1 bag from our farm
- Asparagus Spears – 2 bunches from Cinzori Farm
- Spinach – 1 bag from Cinzori Farm
- Sunflower Sprouts Microgreens – 1 package from Gardenworks
- Medium shares will receive an extra 1 bunch of asparagus, an extra bag of spinach, and an extra bunch of green garlic
- Large shares will packed as 2 small shares.
Some preparation and cooking tips:
- Green Onions were started last year and wintered over and resumed growth this Spring. The entire portion is edible except the roots. We love them cooked as well as raw, simple soups, rice or noodle dishes are vastly improved simply by topping with fresh chopped green onions.
- Green Garlic is an item that has a relatively short season and is a chef favorite. It is the tender young shoots of garlic that have yet to develop a bulb. The entire plant is edible, other than the small root tip which should be removed similar to green onions/scallions. You can use green garlic anywhere you would use green onions or garlic. It is a milder flavor than garlic bulbs when cooked, but is a bit stronger tasting when served raw. We use them in almost any savory dish we cook. They are great sauteed with veggies or meat, excellent in soups, chopped and served raw atop ramen soup, cooked into mashed potatoes, basically very tasty and healthy when eaten any way you like. Included in this week’s recipe.
- Oregano, this is Greek oregano. It has the traditional oregano flavor and versatility, and is extremely aromatic and flavorful. It can be washed, chopped and used in many dishes of course. Included in this week’s recipe.
- Mullein is a native herb that is supportive of our respiratory system and a gentle healer. It also has a nice earthy flavor. It can be used to make a simple tea infusion; simply wash the leaves and add to your favorite tea pot, separately bring a quart of water to a gentle boil and pour over the mullein, cover for about 10 minutes, remove the mullein, add honey or sweetener of choice and enjoy hot or cold. It can also be used in savory dishes. Included in this week’s recipe.
- Asparagus is hand harvested and trimmed so there really shouldn’t be much if any woody bottom part to remove. We like it roasted with just a little salt, pepper, olive oil and now and then a squeeze of lemon juice. Included in this week’s recipe.
- Spinach is a Spring favorite among Michigan farmers. It grows great during the cool and changing weather. This spinach was grown in a hoophouse and is of excellent quality. It can be eaten raw or cooked (fresh spinach cooks very fast so be careful it only takes a minute or so at a low heat).
- Sunflower Sprouts are a member favorite amongst the microgreens. They are grown in a greenhouse from sprouted sunflower seeds. They have a nice succulent texture and a nutty and fresh flavor. We like them on sandwiches, in salads, or served on top of almost any entrée. One of our members shared that she likes them in her morning granola and notes how the nutty flavor of the sprouts pairs well with the granola, and what a healthy way to get the benefits of the microgreens into the morning routine.
Country Valley Farm Spring Forward Soup Recipe
- Wash and chop the following:
- 1 bunch of green garlic
- 1 bunch of asparagus
- Fresh oregano to taste (we use it liberally but encourage folks to do what best fits your preference of course)
- 1-2 leaves mullein
- In a large soup pot, add enough olive oil to cover the bottom of the pot and set to a medium heat. We also use a good amount of olive oil since we don’t add meat or another fat source to the soup.
- Add the above chopped ingredients a few seconds after heating the pot and well before the oil starts to smoke.
- Cover, stirring every minute or so for a few minutes.
- Add 1 quart of your favorite broth or stock (we use veggie stock, but chicken stock could work well also)
- Add 1 quart of water
- Add salt and black pepper to taste
- Add 2 cups cooked beans. We like to soak and cook dry beans when we plan for it, but we also are happy to have good quality canned beans available for when we need them. A strong bean like a kidney or lima would go great in this soup, but a mild bean like a navy or great northern would also go well in this soup.
- Bring to a gentle boil, stirring occasionally. Reduce heat, cover and cook for about 15 minutes.
This soup makes almost a gallon. It reheats and freezes well. It can be served with bread or crackers and make a nice seasonal meal. You can add other veggies or seasoning, or meat or meat substitutes if you like, or keep it super simple as listed above. Enjoy!
That’s all for now. Looking forward to seeing everyone soon.
Adam Mitchel
Country Valley Farm