This week's share feels really festive, probably because we're including roselle again, but also because there are other colorful foods to prepare fun meals with.  People often tell us that they join the CSA because it helps them get out of boring shopping ruts.  At the grocery store everything always looks the same and finding inspiration to make new and exciting meals out of the same limited selection of vegetables every day of your life is really hard.  We get it.  That's also part of the reason why we became farmers.  We were also bored with the options at the grocery store and wanted access to real food with as much variation as nature has to offer.  We hope this week's share inspires some sizzling colorful meals in your kitchen.

 IN THE SHARE THIS WEEK:

Purple daikon radishes are our new favorite variety.  They are relatively easy to grow (just gotta keep a keen eye out for aphids which LOVE radish tops and can wipe out a whole crop over a weekend if they are left to their own devices), they are super mild in flavor with a nice balanced texture somewhere between crisp and tender and most impressive is their coloring.  The shade of purple is really beautiful and the starburst of color at the core surrounded by a ring of color along the edge makes a striking pattern.  These guys are best eaten raw however you might enjoy a raw radish... as part of a crudite (crudites are traditional French appetizers consisting of sliced or whole raw vegetables which are typically dipped in a vinaigrette or other dipping sauce), on tacos, on toast (like fancy toast with cream cheese and herbs or avocado) or as part of a snack. 

Roselle is also known by many other names in different cultures, mostly cultures that surround us here in South Florida.  In Jamaica it is known as Sorrel, which also refers to a holiday drink made with this beautiful plant.  In Mexico it is known as Flor de Jamaica, which again is a refreshing drink you can get pretty much anywhere in Mexico.  We've also known it as Florida Cranberry and you've probably had it or heard of it as Hibiscus tea.  Roselle is in fact a hibiscus family member, but it's an annual crop that flowers only once and produces unusual fleshy pods after blooming.  Technically speaking the pod is the flowers calyx which swells around a woody seed pod after the flower fades.  The part used for eating and making drinks is the bright red and juicy calyx.  If you were to google this product you'd find it is plentiful in a dried version.  It is almost impossible to find it fresh because it is only in season for a few short weeks and only in the tropics.  We've been including fresh Roselle in our CSA for many years, but this year we are extra proud of our crop because for the first time ever it was grown by our main man Chris French.  Chris started French Farms 4 years ago and has been one of the main growers for our CSA.  You'll see his name pop up all over the place in the list of CSA veggies every week.  Ok, so Roselle, how to use it...  When you are ready to make a drink you'll want to  peel away the fleshy part away from the woody seed pod inside.  The seed pods are discarded.  The fleshy parts (pictured above after the seed pod is discarded) are either stored in the fridge for up to a week, dried in a dehydrator for long storage or used right away.  There are millions of recipes for making Roselle drinks.  We are particularly fond of adding lemongrass and honey to make an iced tea, but the Jamaican holiday version includes cinnamon, cloves, ginger, nutmeg, sugar, rum and other fruits and it's good either cold or warm depending on the freaky tropical winter weather!

Did you know that grapefruit is full of amazing health benefits?  It's full of vitamins and antioxidants. Vitamin C: A powerful, water-soluble antioxidant that is present in high amounts in grapefruit. It may protect cells from damage that often leads to heart disease and cancer.  Beta-carotene: It's converted into vitamin A in the body and thought to help reduce the risk of some chronic conditions, including heart disease, cancer and eye-related disorders like macular degeneration.  Lycopene: Known for its potential ability to prevent the development of certain types of cancer, especially prostate cancer. May also help slow the growth of tumors and decrease the side effects of common cancer treatments. Flavanones: Their anti-inflammatory properties have been shown to reduce blood pressure and cholesterol levels, reducing the risk of heart disease. Grapefruit also contains a lot of water and is, therefore, very hydrating. In fact, water makes up most of the fruit's weight.  There are almost 4 ounces (118 ml) of water in half of a medium grapefruit, which accounts for about 88% of its total weight.  After all of those fun facts, check out this recipe for Broiled Grapefruit with Cinnamon, we think it looks like the yummiest and healthiest dessert!

Corn again because we gotta take advantage of it while we can! 

French Farms posted this picture on instagram of his brassica field a few days ago.  Impressively neat.  The brassica family includes many of the most common western vegetables like broccoli, cauliflower, kale, cabbage and even arugula and mustard.  We like to give you guys lots of greens in the CSA and this season our bunching greens have been a bit late to start, but alas, this week we get to hand out the first kale and chard bunches of the year.  Hopefully we'll be able to keep them coming so get ready to sautee, steam, fill dumplings, juice or however you like to eat your greens. 

Lots of beautiful produce this week.  We are getting into the swing of it now and some of the really fun crops of the season are rolling in.  Chris French is harvesting his first batch of multi colored beets and Michael Borek is harvesting his big annual corn crop.  These two already sweet crops will be even sweeter this week with the cold snap we just got.  Cold weather makes plants store more simple sugars in their cells which makes them taste sweeter (read more here).  Chill in the air is also super beneficial for farmers themselves because it relieves some physical strain while working out in the fields and it slows down many pests which in turn lessens the work load for the farmers.  It's a win win win!

In the shares this week:

Beets are a storage crop, which means they keep fresh for a long time (months even) in the fridge.  You'll be getting beets with tops attached so make sure to cut off the tops and store them separately if you will be leaving them in the fridge for more than a couple of days.  When root veggies keep their leaves attached for a long time the leaves act as if they are still planted and growing and they continue to "drink" water from the roots, causing them to get soft and shriveled.  Did you know that beets are related to chard?  If you look closely, beet tops and chard are almost identical.  They can be eaten the same way too.  Getting bunched beets is like getting two veggies at the same time!   Save your beet tops and cook them up.

Michael Borek sent me this picture on Monday along with a big announcement that he is harvesting his corn this week.  Very exciting news because fresh sweet corn is rare in these parts.  Michael harvests corn only once or twice per year and his crop has been beautiful the past few years.  We are really excited to be able to share it with you!  I suppose you all have plenty of ideas of what to do with this treasure.  Instead of sending a recipe link, maybe this time I'll ask you to share how you eat this corn with us.  Send us photos or recipes by email or tag us on instagram.

Pac choi is a variety of bok choi that is set apart by it's extra large and crisp white petioles.  What are petioles?  The petiole is the part of the plant that attaches the leaf to the base or stem of the plant.  Usually people cut the petiole or "stalk" off of large leafy greens, but when it comes to bok choi the petiole is one of the yummiest parts.  The bok choi plant is harvested whole at the base and the whole plant is consumed, stalks leaves and even the core.  In fact, it is commonly prepared by cutting it into wedges lengthwise so that part of the leaves stay attached to a section of the core.  You'd start by cutting it in half as shown in the picture above, then cut each half in half and each of those quarters in half.  This youtube video is actually pretty great at showing how to make the most basic, but probably the best recipe for sauteed "Chinese style" pac choi. 

This will be your first time getting Salanova this season.  Salanova is a very unique type of lettuce that recently revolutionized the salad mix farm scene.  Salanova lettuces (there are a bunch of different varieites within the Salanova umbrella, including green butterhead, red butterhead, green oakleaf, red oakleaf, etc...) are unique because they don't grow full sized leaves, instead they grow really compact heads of small leaves.  Instead of growing true baby lettuce leaves for salad mix, a farmer can grow Salanova to full maturity, harvest the whole head of lettuce and get perfectly sized "baby" leaves for salad mix.  Not only is it "easier", but because the leaves of Salanova are more mature they are sturdier and less delicate than true baby lettuce leaves which tend to go bad much faster.  Salanova leaves are soft and tender, but don't go bad as fast.  See the magic?!!!  Anyway... We also want to rant about the new salad bags that Chris started using this season.  Have you noticed them?  They are super cool because they are sturdy enough to keep the greens from bruising, they are perforated for perfect moisture control, they have handles for convenient carrying and best of all, they are easily REUSABLE!!!  We can't take them back from you to use later, but you can clean them out and resuse them.  If you pick up at Legion Park, bring your cleaned out bag to the farmers market to refill them yourself!  We'll have loose salad mix on hand for you to refill your bag.  Very exciting news right?  Now let's see how many people actually do it...

CSA members will be getting either kohlrabi or Hakurei salad turnips this week.  Kohlrabi is in the cole family, a family of veggies which includes cabbage, cauliflower, brussel sprouts and broccoli; Can start to get a sense for it's flavor profile?  This odd veg is pretty popular in other cultures, mostly European.  It's an old world vegetable, like turnips.  The part you eat is the stem; in the case of the kholrabi the stem swells into a round ball with leaves sticking out in every direction.  The inside of the stem is like a glorified broccoli stem, much sweeter and tender than broccoli stem, think juicy and crisp as an apple, but with a broccoli taste.  Anyhow, after peeling the round stem you can simply eat it raw in salads, or cut it into sticks for a crudite.  There are some cooked kohlrabi recipe out there so feel free to google around and try something warm too.  Keep in mind that the leaves of your kohlrabi are also edible and can be used pretty much like kale.  Another 2 for 1 like bunched beets ;)

ENJOY!

We love the holiday season and the extra family time that comes with it.  The best part about Thanksgiving is reflecting on everything we have to be thankful for and teaching our kids to be thankful.  On the other hand, Thanksgiving week is pretty intense when it comes to food.  The build up of everyone advertising dinner ideas, the shopping craze, the sad turkey industry and the over eating.  Every year we put together a CSA share for you to pick-up on the Saturday after Thanksgiving and we tend to focus on cleansing.  We're assuming most fridges will still contain some leftovers and most of you will be glad to stock up on light, quick and easy veggies for the upcoming week.

It's hard to say who is the star of this week's share, but if I had to choose I'd say it's the French Farms purple sweet potatoes.  Chris planted them back in the spring, watched over them all summer (lots of weeding and pest management to be done) and finally made the big decision to dig em up yesterday!  What a journey.  It took his crew a few hours to gather up a couple hundred pounds for all 130 of our CSA members.  He's been digging up small amounts for the past few weeks so we've all had a chance to try them.  Their color is completely out of this world, you're going to love cooking these things. 

Alderman Farms in Boyton Beach specializes in organic vegetables that are botanically defined as fruits, things like zucchini, eggplant, peppers and tomatoes. This week we're including their beautiful large zucchini in the CSA.  Zucchini is one of the most versatile vegetables.  While some require cooking, others can be prepared in every conceivable way: raw, sautéed, grilled, steamed, boiled, broiled, baked, fried, microwaved or freeze-dried.  Easily puréed for soups, cakes, pies and quick breads, it also can be spiced and added to rice pilafs, cubed and grilled on skewers, added to stews and made into famous dishes like ratatouille and pumpkin pie.  Served alone or as a side dish, the diverse flavors of zucchini lend itself to any occasion.  Did you know that every part of the squash plant can be eaten, including the leaves and tender shoots, which can be cooked in omelets or made into soup. And, did you know that it is remarkably high in antioxidants and calcium.

Empower Farms is a local Homestead farm with a non-profit status and a focus on programing for individuals with disabilities.  They have been doing amazing work for the past few years, building a beautiful eco-friendly farm model and growing top quality produce.  Our favorite crop to source from them is turmeric, which is an important cleansing ingredient in this week's share. Turmeric is a root native to tropical areas that promotes healthy inflammation levels all over the body.  In Ayurvedic medicine it is traditionally made into a calming tea before bed to promote restful and restorative sleep.  Turmeric is widely available as a dry spice, but using the fresh root is preferable for optimum health benefits and using freshly harvested local turmeric root is a straight up luxury.  You can add it to foods like you might add fresh ginger and you can add it to juices and soups.  If you've never had golden milk, the Ayurvedic bed time tea, give it a try this week.  Your body will thank you after all of that Thanksgiving food drama.  Here's a link to a luscious vegan golden milk recipe, just note that you'll be replacing the ground turmeric with 1-2 tablespoons of grated fresh turmeric (and in our opinion you can do without ginger if you don't have it).  

Starfruit is also known as carambola and it's considered an exotic fruit in most of the country, but for us in South Florida it is a common backyard fruit.  Carambola are beautiful small trees so many people have them in their yards.  They grow really well in our hot tropical climate and produce fruit two to three times per year.  This week we've connected with Cool Runnings Farm in Homestead to include their beautiful startfruit crop in the CSA.  Starfruit is a sweet juicy fruit that is best eaten right out of hand, but cutting star shaped slices is pretty irresistible and adds a special touch to a breakfast plate or a snack.  They are a good source of fiber and vitamin C. 

ENJOY :)

We are super excited to start a new harvest cycle with a new group of CSA members.  Many of you have been with us for multiple years (some of you have even been in our CSA for as many as 7 years!!!) and we are forever grateful and honored to continue growing food for you.  Growing food for people creates a bond almost as strong as actually sharing a meal with them and as our CSA membership grows (we have 130 members this season) we hope to continue connecting with as many of you as possible.  This blog space on our website is here exactly for that purpose.  When we started our CSA back in 2010 we had 12 members and they picked up their veggies on site at our urban farm.  For us it was important that they get to see the farm every week and truly connect with the process of eating locally.  Now we are a multi-farm CSA which means many amazing farmers are putting work into growing your food and we're going to do our best to show you the process right here on this blog.   We'll be uploading a weekly blog post with pictures from the fields and of us harvesting along with information about the veggies you are getting; a list of everything in the share and what farm grew it, descriptions of unusual varieties, storage tips to make the share last all week, cooking inspiration and recipes.

We welcome and encourage all of you to visit both our urban farm and French Farms in Homestead anytime.  Get out there and take a walk through the rows of vegetables that will one day end up on your plate!  If you can't seem to find a random day to visit, keep in mind that we'll be hosting a Farm Open House in three weeks on Sunday December 9th.  Check out our calendar for details. 

 IN THE SHARE THIS WEEK:

The first item on the list for this week is super special.  Roselle is also known by many other names in different cultures, mostly cultures that surround us here in South Florida.  In Jamaica it is known as Sorrel, which also refers to a holiday drink made with this beautiful plant.  In Mexico it is known as Flor de Jamaica, which again is a refreshing drink you can get pretty much anywhere in Mexico.  We've also known it as Florida Cranberry and you've probably had it or heard of it as Hibiscus tea.  Roselle is in fact a hibiscus family member, but it's an annual crop that flowers only once and produces unusual fleshy pods after blooming.  Technically speaking the pod is the flowers calyx which swells around a woody seed pod after the flower fades.  The part used for eating and making drinks is the bright red and juicy calyx.  If you were to google this product you'd find it is plentiful in a dried version.  It is almost impossible to find it fresh because it is only in season for a few short weeks and only in the tropics.  This is why it is so special for our CSA!  The time and place are just right for fresh Roselle on the branch.  We've been including fresh Roselle in our first CSA pick-up for many years so it's kind of a tradition at this point.  This year we are extra proud of our crop because for the first time ever it was grown by our main man Chris French.  Chris started French Farms 4 years ago and has been one of the main growers for our CSA.  You'll see his name pop up all over the place in the list of CSA veggies every week.  Ok, so Roselle, how to use it... First of all, it's beautiful in a vase for a few days.  When you are ready to make a drink you'll want to snip off each pod and peel away the fleshy part away from the woody seed pod inside.  The seed pods are discarded.  The fleshy parts are either stored in the fridge for up to a week, dried in a dehydrator for long storage or used right away.  There are millions of recipes for making Roselle drinks.  We are particularly fond of adding lemongrass and honey to make an iced tea, but the Jamaican holiday version includes cinnamon, cloves, ginger, nutmeg, sugar, rum and other fruits and it's good either cold or warm depending on the freaky tropical winter weather!

We also have a bit of a tradition of including French Breakfast radishes in the first share of the season.  They are one of earliest crops every year and their spicy fresh taste is a great way to warm up your local palette.  We will often give you radishes with their greens still attached because radish tops are edible and delicious.  We suggest eating them cooked or juiced because they often have a slightly prickly texture that goes away when the leaves are cooked.  Anything from a light steam to a sautee will result in velvety greens to accompany a meal.  If you're going to store your radishes for more than a couple of days it's best to remove the roots from the leaves and store them separately to avoid wilting.  When they are stored attached the plant kind of thinks it's still alive and the leaves continue to adsorb moisture from the roots causing them to get squishy.  Small radishes like these are really yummy raw in salads, tacos or toast.  Check out this recipe for French Breakfast radishes and cream cheese toast from a blog called Killing Thyme.

You'll become very familiar with French Farm's spicy salad mix over the season.  Chris has pretty much mastered the salad greens game over the years and will be harvesting some form of baby greens almost every week for you guys.  This week the mix includes arugula, mizuna, red mustard, purple pak choi and tatsoi.  A perfect blend of flavor, spice, color and texture that Chris has been honing through trial and error.  This mix is so good it barely needs to be dressed or accompanied by anything else for a bowl of salad.  The only catch is that you should try to eat it within the first few days of the week for optimum freshness. 

Our favorite crop to grow in our urban farm field is bok choi!  You'll be getting these cuties about once per month this season, if not more!  We are partial to two varieties, this one is called Li Ren and it's a petite, but very compact bok choi.  The other variety we grow is called Pak Choi and it's a big guy with super dark green leaves and white petioles (that's the "stem" part of bok choi).  The compact nature of Li Ren makes it good for sauteing, cut in half or quarters lengthwise so that the leaves are attached at the base.  A simple olive oil, salt and pepper will do just right, but you can also go the Chinese route and cook it with butter and garlic.  Bok choi keeps for a while in the fridge so there's no need to rush with it.  If one or two of the outer leaves start to turn yellow you can peel them off and the core will still be perfect. 

We hope you enjoy the first share of the season!

We've made it to the last share!  This calls for a giant Thank You to all of you who made the commitment to join our CSA last year and see the season through, week by week, rain or shine.  At the end of every CSA season I get very sentimental when I think about how how personal and amazing the whole process is.  You guys trusted us to grow your veggies for the past 5 months and you came out to meet us at the farmers market every Saturday since November 2017.  That's big.  Thank You!

We're including a 4oz honey jar in the shares this week to send you off with something sweet to remember us by.  We've been stoked about our friend Tessa Wogan's honey all season.  Tessa and her partner Dan have been key players in your CSA veggies behind the scene, working at French Farms.  Tessa started beekeeping recently among many other agrarian endeavors including raising heritage chickens for beautiful eggs and 2 pigs for her brothers wedding.  We've been selling her honey under the name Colony and Comb and sometimes a few dozen of her colorful eggs at the farmers market all season and she's preparing these cute little hexagon jars for the shares this week.  The honey is a mix of wild flowers in Homestead and it's harvested and bottled fresh and raw. 

You'll be getting purslane in your share this week.  Purslane is known as a weed in the US because it grows wild in farm fields, backyards and even city sidewalks.  It's not a domesticated plant like arugula or broccoli, although it is a common food in certain cultures.  In Greece it is a typical addition to their most basic salad which also includes tomatoes, cucumbers, feta, herbs and a simple dressing of olive oil, red wine vinegar, salt and pepper.  It is also used in variations on tzatziki sauce with yogurt, cucumber, dill, lemon and garlic.  Purslane is very healthy by the way.  It contains more omega-3 fatty acids than any other leafy vegetable plant as well as many minerals and vitamins.  For farmers purslane is a like a gift because it grows on it's own.  Instead of planting and cultivating it's seeds like we do with all other crops, we simply let purslane grow where it wants to and harvest it from the edges of the fields or from under the radish crops.  The mild and dry weather this winter and spring has brought us more purslane than every before and it'll be the first time we can share it with our CSA members.  We're amazed!

Another item in the share this week that we haven't been able to share yet is jalapenos.  Jalapenos are so yummy in salsas, sauces, dressings, bbq, soups, sandwiches, etc etc etc.  There are so many ways in incorporate their unique flavor and spice.  Check out Bon Appetite's amazing post titled "55 Jaalapeno Recipes Because Some Like It Hot" for serious meal prep inspiration.  Some of the things on the list that jumped out at me are home made green harrisa, a texan nacho cheese dip and corn jalapeno fritters. 

Small shares:
French breakfast radishes from our fields
Purslane from our fields
Salad mix from French Farm
Jalapenos from Worden Farm
Kale from Worden Farm
Cherry tomatoes from Michael Borek Farm
Honey from Colony and Comb

Large shares:
French breakfast radishes from our fields
Purslane from our fields
Salad mix from French Farm
Jalapenos from Worden Farm
Kale from Worden Farm
Cherry tomatoes from Michael Borek Farm
Honey from Colony and Comb
Bulb onions from French Farm
Eggplant from French Farm
Cucumbers from French Farm

Did you love the French Farm cucumbers last week?!  Those crisp and sweet little pickling cukes are one of the yummiest veggies ever.  This week you'll get to choose either those or French Farm summer squash which is also incredibly beautiful and tasty.  I've been eating those petite summer squash all week and my whole family doesn't get sick of them, not even my picky 5 year old.  We mostly cook them on a cast iron skillet, cut lengthwise down the middle and seared in olive oil or butter on either side for a few minutes until they get golden and toasty.  We can eat them like all day after day, for breakfast lunch or dinner.  Tonight I'm making a tomato, onion and zucchini ratatouille-type thing to go with cheese tortellini. 

Also on the agenda for this weekend are French Farm carrots, the very last harvest of the season.  Carrots are an easy CSA item because they last forever so there's no rush to eat them up.  Plus, they are so versatile.  Juice them, shred them, roast them, steam them, make carrot cake (that's what I've been doing, carrot cake almost weekly!).  My go to carrot cake recipe is in the good ol' Joy of Cooking; if you don't have a copy you can find many of the recipes from the book online by googling for the recipe and including Joy of Cooking in the search key words.  I do have my own special twist to this recipe; I use half olive oil half coconut oil instead of vegetable oil.  I also reduce the sugar by 1/4 cup and I add extra shredded carrots by about 1/2 cup.  More of the good stuff, less of the bad stuff.

I hope you enjoy the last crop of salad turnips this week.  These little turnips are so incredibly delicious, we will miss them dearly during the long summer months.  In the Fall they are one of the very crops to come out of our fields so they hold a special place in our hearts and stomachs.  Their sweet and crisp texture make them ideal for eating raw, but sometimes it's nice to cook them with sausages or just butter.  We like to sear them pretty much like we do the summer squash (come to think of it we cook a lot of our veggies that way, especially for a quick lunch). 

Small shares:
Japanese salad turnips from our fields
Salad mix from French Farm
Carrot bunches from French Farm
Choice of cucumbers or summer squash from French Farm
Bok choi from our fields
Butternut squash from Worden Farm
Choice of parsley, cilantro, mint or lemon balm from Worden Farm an our fields

Large shares:
Japanese salad turnips from our fields
Salad mix from French Farm
Carrot bunches from French Farm
Choice of cucumbers or summer squash from French Farm
Bok choi from our fields
Butternut squash from Worden Farm
Choice of parsley, cilantro, mint or lemon balm from Worden Farm an our fields
Hon tai tai from our fields
Napa cabbage from French Farm
Extra butternut squash

The shares last week were small, but they've been extra big other times.  Our CSA is a true reflection of the seasons and we only give you guys veggies that are grown by us or the small group of farmers we work with.  Every season the CSA shares start a bit small and build up to be big and bountiful during the peak of the season which is January and February.  We are now three weeks away from the very last harvest so we are winding down to smaller shares.  Thank you for participating in our CSA and sharing the burdens and bounties that nature has to offer as we go with the flow of the seasons.

That said, we've got a pretty great share this week with a few highlights worth getting excited about.  French Farm is harvesting a bumper crop of pickling cucumbers to you and for the farmers market.  These small super crisp cukes are not necessarily for pickling, although if you're into that this particular variety makes a mean pickle.  If you've ever tried the pickles we sell at the market sometimes, we make them with these cucumbers.  You'll be getting fresh dill in the shares this week too which would be great for cucumber pickles or any type of cucumber salad. 

We're also getting a very crop of purple sweet potatoes from Worden Farm.  I wish I had a picture to show you the rich color of the inside of these things... it's almost unreal.  They are very sweet and silky smooth too.  This may be one of the most exciting CSA items of the year!  I would recommend a very simple preparation for these because they totally speak for themselves in every way, color, texture and flavor.  You can steam or roast them and serve cut open down the middle, or smashed into a pure with butter and salt.  Something like that...

French Farms is going to harvest a big batch of baby gem lettuces and each one of you gets to pick two heads.  These are really fun because they are all different varieties and they are the cutest things you've ever eaten.  They are small, but compact so they can be served as whole lettuce heads cut in half or you can cut out the core for a loose leaf salad like the mix you've been getting in the CSA other weeks.  I think the novelty of a small compact head cut lengthwise is too good to pass up.  You would drizzle your dressing over the halves on a plate and eat with a fork and knife instead of making a bowl of salad.

Small shares:
Gem lettuces from French Farm
Pickling cucumbers from French Farm
Shunkyo radishes from our fields
Bok choi from our fields
Choice of collard greens or kale from all of our farms
Beets from Worden Farm
Purple sweet potatoes from Worden Farm
Dill from Worden Farm

Large shares:
Gem lettuces from French Farm
Pickling cucumbers from French Farm
Shunkyo radishes from our fields
Bok choi from our fields
Choice of collard greens or kale from all of our farms
Beets from Worden Farm
Purple sweet potatoes from Worden Farm
Dill from Worden Farm
Extra bok choi
Kohlrabi from French Farm
Onions from French Farm

Romanesco is probably the coolest modern vegetable we know of.  Every time we have it at the farmers market people go nuts.  Chefs go nuts over it too.  Even we go nuts over it.  The only reason we don't grow more of it is because remonesco plants take up a huge amount of space in the field for a really long period of time and they yield a relatively small crop.  Romanesco is very closely related to cauliflower and broccoli, both of which also take up a lot of space in the field hence you don't see them on our market table as often as we'd like.  All of that aside, this vegetable is beautiful and really fun to cook and eat.  It has a very unique texture and flavor (kind of a hybrid between cauliflower and broccoli) and it's great both cooked or raw.  If you're leaning towards wanting to cook it, check out this recipe for roasted romanesco with golden raisins, tahini and sumac.  Honestly though, I've also just roasted it with olive oil, salt, pepper and a bit of lemon for a most yummy and simply side dish.  The vegetable really speaks for itself with very simple dressing. 

Then there is this other beauty!  Caraflex cabbage has been one of our favorite varieties for many years because of it's beautiful rose shaped head.  Most of the people don't even recognize it as a cabbage.  When you pick up your share the cabbages wont look exactly like this because we peel away all of the outer leaves (the outer leaves are tough and not so good to eat) to process and pack them, but you'll recognize the pencil sharp point!  They will be smaller than the average cabbage too, but we feel that makes them more manageable.  One of my favorite recipes for cabbage is this Roasted Cabbage Wedge Salad from a really nice food blog called The Yellow House.  You can search their archives to find all sorts of great rustic home-cooking style recipes that are very vegetable forward.  Anyway, the little caraflex cabbages in the shares this week would be pretty awesome prepared this way.

First and foremost I want to say, NEVERMIND THE STICKER.  This photo was sent to me from the farmer in Homestead who grows these fragrant pink guavas and the stickers are just part of his modus operandi.  If you look past the sticker you'll see what I see, awesome local guavas at the height of their season (which means best flavor and most sustainable).  I hope you enjoy these!   Eat them from the palm of your hand like you would an apple, but keep in mind that guavas have tons of seeds that you'll want to avoid crunching on cause they are hard as rock.  You'll want to chew gently and softly, kind of like an old person without teeth. 

Small shares:
Bok choi from French Farm
Summer squash from French Farm and Worden Farm
Spicy salad mix from French Farm
Baby caraflex cabbage from French Farm
Romansch from Worden Farm
Pink guavas from Homestead

Large shares:
Bok choi from French Farm
Summer squash from French Farm and Worden Farm
Spicy salad mix from French Farm
Baby caraflex cabbage from French Farm
Romansch from Worden Farm
Pink guavas from Homestead
Leeks from Worden Farm
Extra guavas
Extra zucchini

You may have noticed that the shares are starting to reflect the downward slope of the growing season.  The shares tend to swell and get really big at the peak of the season around January and February.  With just 4 weeks left and volatile weather that fluctuates from cool to hot the variety of crops we have available are now starting to decrease.  We still have a great share this week and we'll continue to hook you up with awesome veggies until mid April, but you'll notice the down turn.

Worden Farm has grown a beautiful crop of Italian eggplant which the large shares got to enjoy last week.  This week everyone gets a taste!  Eggplant is definitely not loved by the masses like heirloom tomatoes.  They are tricky to cook and there's no option to eat them raw.  They require seasoning and proper cooking; otherwise they are just bitter.  Lately I'm a sucker for Bon Appetite and when it comes to eggplant inspiration they don't disappoint.  Trust me, click on this link to their 36 eggplant recipes that go way beyond baba ghanoush.  Eggplant goes really well with yogurt, cheese and/or pasta.  I love eggplant because during the week we don't cook much meat at our house and eggplant provides richness and earthiness in vegetarian meals.  It's the bacon of vegetables when done right.

 We're harvesting a radish relative for you this week.  Turnips, another "unpopular" vegetable that I should help you get inspired about.  I know why turnips get a bad rap, it's because the only turnip available for the past few decades were the big winter turnips that old people stew.  But there's been a turnip revolution in the West and small farmers have been growing Japanese "salad turnips" which are summery, small and sweet little balls of crunchy goodness.  They are amazing eaten raw in a salad with pretty much any kind of dressing.  They are naturally sweet so they don't need much dressing.  I also love to braise them with sausages and greens.  Just the other night (I harvested a handful of the turnips in the field to check for readiness) I cooked three turnips sliced into wedges like the ones in the picture with Proper Sausages and baby bok choi cut into halves.  It all went into a big cast iron skillet for 20 minutes and dinner was juicy, delicious and easy peasy. 

Small shares:
Salad turnips from our fields
Lemongrass from our fields
Italian eggplant from Worden Farm
Carrots from French Farm
Celery from French Farm
Lettuce mix from French Farm
Choice of herbs from French Farm and our fields

Large shares:
Salad turnips from our fields
Lemongrass from our fields
Italian eggplant from Worden Farm
Carrots from French Farm
Celery from French Farm
Lettuce mix from French Farm
Choice of herbs from French Farm and our fields
Purslane from our fields
Kale from French Farm
Extra carrots