Greetings Country Valley Farm Members,
This is week 7 of the season – first share in the month of July!
A bit about what is going on the farm:
We have 99% of the garlic scapes harvested and they are packed in cold storage. – this is one of the shortest season specialty items around. Scapes will be in the shares this week and next week. Garlic bulb harvest is looking like it will begin in 2-4 weeks.
Plans are coming together for what will go into the field the garlic is harvested from.
We planted tarragon and red Russian kale this past week and they are settling in nicely.
We’ve continued to water almost daily, rotating through the fields, We have gotten some rain which is especially appreciated by all of the plants.
Looking ahead in the coming weeks: basil and dill are almost ready for their first cutting, fresh coriander seed is starting to set, peppermint is spreading and will really branch out soon, sage is past its spring flowering and making nice leaves, our thyme plants are taking their time before they are ready for a cutting. The mini sweet pepper plants are really growing strong now and showing a solid first fruit set. The tomato plants are loading with their early fruit and setting an abundance of blossoms. The potato crop is looking great from what we see above ground.
Next week we will resume including some produce from Cinzori Farm and hoping for new potatoes to be followed by a cornucopia of other summer veggies.
We are including 2 packages of microgreens this week in the shares, and will be skipping microgreens for some weeks after this and then will rotate them in now and again throughout the season.
This week’s small shares contain the following items:
- Garlic scapes – 1 big bunch from our farm
- Purple curly kale – 1 big bunch from our farm
- Rainbow chard – 1 big bunch from our farm
- Turnip Roots – 1 big one or 2 smaller ones from our farm
- Yellow sweet onions with tops – 1 bunch from our farm
- Lemon Balm – 1 big bunch from our farm
- Broccoli sprouts – 1 package from Gardenworks farm
- Pea shoots microgreens – 1 package from Gardenworks farm
- Medium shares will receive an extra bunch of rainbow chard, an extra package of mixrogreens or sprouts, and a head of leaf lettuce
- Large shares will packed as 2 small shares.
Some preparation and cooking tips:
- Garlic scapes – this is the easiest and mildest garlic one could ever use. The entire scape is edible. They are great raw or cooked. Excellent on the grill. They also make a legendary pesto – included in this week’s recipe.
- Purple curly kale – similar to green curly kale, only this has a deep red/purple color. Excellent and easy to make into kale chips. A great all around healthy green. We love to cook them following the callaloo recipe from our website and improvising and changing it up a little each time. https://countryvalleyfarm.com/recipes/
- Rainbow chard – these can be used raw or cooked. Chard tastes similar to spinach or beet greens. These come in a great rainbow of different colors – see if you notice the slight taste difference from one to another. If you don’t include greens in your weekly menu, now is a great time to make the change. Greens can be used in a salad, they can be steamed, sauteed, stewed, cooked in a soup, even made into baked chips. Included in this week’s recipe.
- Turnip roots – one of our favorite. These also can be eaten raw or cooked. If you are grilling, these bring a tangy flavor that is remarkable. You can peel the turnip roots or not, either way is great. As they can be eaten raw there is no right or wrong with how long to cook them for – low and slow cooking them in barbecue sauce or whatever broth you are working with is worth trying – or roasting them at a high heat is also delectable.
- Yellow sweet onions with tops – these go by many names like spring onions, knob onions, fresh onions etc. These go great cooked with grrens. They also would be wonderful on the grill.
- Lemon Balm – aka Melissa Officianalis; an amazing herb that can be made into a tea or used in any dish where you want to add some lemon flavor and a bit of herbacity. Included in this week’s recipe.
- Broccoli sprouts – said to be the healthiest of all sprouts, they also taste great. There is some solid research done on broccoli sprouts that is compelling, if you want to learn more – check out this link: Search (hopkinsmedicine.org)
- Pea Shoots – one of the standard microgreens and super versatile. Adding these atop a sandwich or eating out of hand as a simple snack is an easy way to make sure you get these into your diet.
The pesto blurb repeated from last week’s newsletter:
Most everyone is familiar with pesto made from basil. Did you know that can make pesto with many different herbs? It can also be made with a variety of nuts and seeds – and you can add greens or veggies to it to make it a super tasty raw food dish to enjoy during the summer months. The key to good pesto is to have some bold flavors and balance the oil and salt with the garlic, herbs, nuts/seeds, and veggies. We will include some different pesto recipes throughout the season. Pesto is easy to make and can really help lift a menu. It can be used as a sauce for pastas or pizza, it can also be a simple dip for a nice crusty bread or crackers, you can even mix it with cooked veggies, top your favorite meat or tofu/seitan etc. Our pesto recipes don’t include cheese, but it is traditional to use a nice dry cheese in pestos – like a parmesan. Feel free to add cheese to your pesto recipe and just reduce the amount of nuts proportionately.
Country Valley Farm Garlic Scape Lemon Balm Pesto
1 bunch of garlic scapes (about ¼ lb)
1 bunch of fresh lemon balm
½ bunch of rainbow chard
1 cup of olive oil
1 cup of almonds walnutsm (pine nuts, sunflower seeds, pistachios, or pecans also work great in this)
Salt and black pepper to taste (we encourage lowering the salt and letting the herbs and veggies carry the flavor)
Wash the scapes, lemon balm and greens, remove most of the stems from the lemon balm. Add to the food processor or blender with the oil, nuts/seeds, and salt and pepper. Cover and puree slowly. You may have to add a bit of water or extra oil if it is too thick – we often do that and just add a bit of water and oil slowly until we see the pesto is blending well. Serve while fresh. Any portion not being eaten now will store well if it is in a nice container with not a lot of air space and a good lid, and refrigerated ASAP after making. You can also add a bit more olive oil to the top before putting the lid on to help preserve it. Oftentimes the top of pesto gets a dark color, that is totally okay if you know you refrigerated and covered it correctly.
Check out our website and peruse old newsletters for additional cooking tips and recipe ideas: https://countryvalleyfarm.com/newsletter/
That’s all for now. Looking forward to seeing everyone soon.
Adam Mitchel
Country Valley Farm