Craving real vegetables? Main season shares still available

 Do you find yourself craving fresh spring greens, radishes, carrots, spinach, and all that spring has to offer?  Sign up for a share in our main season Community Supported Agriculture (CSA), and you won’t have to plant a garden or fight the farmers’ markets crowds to ensure that you get the fabulous fresh veggies you crave.  Our main CSA season will be starting in just a few weeks, and we still have some small- and large-share spaces available.  As a CSA member, you come and pick up a delicious selection of veggies each Tuesday or Thursday evening on our farm, in the cool shade of the pick-up shed.  Even when the harvest and farm work have us running in circles, pick-up time is a time for us farmers to slow down, relax, and get to know our members.  It is a pleasant time to chat a little about veggies and a lot about life.  And, there’s more; the rich harvest does not end with the spring produce.  We have broccoli, lettuce, and cabbage out in the fields and growing happily under row covers; our greenhouses are filling up with tomato and pepper plants, the cucumber and melon seedlings are multiplying, and corn and beans are ready to transplant soon.  The promise of summer’s bounty is in the soil…

Our main CSA season runs 20 weeks, from May 15th and 17th to September 25th and 27th.  A large share costs $500; a small share costs $300.
Ready to join?  Print out this signup sheet and mail it with a check for your deposit to:  Molly's Island Garden, 3340 Craw Rd, Langley, WA

Ready to Join? 

Print and fill out two copies of the following form, keep one copy for your records and mail the other with a check for your deposit to: Molly’s Island Garden, 3340 Craw Road, Langley, WA 98260.

Molly’s Island Garden 2012 CSA Membership form

Sign me up!                                                                                           

I want to join the Main Season  (20 weeks; May 15^th or 17^th to September 25^th or 27^th) 

 ____   small share ($300)     ____   large share ($500)  

                                                                                                        

I am enclosing: $________ (required deposit of $200 per share, or you may pay in full)

 We’ll send you an email to let you know we’ve received your deposit. A few weeks before the season begins we’ll email you a reminder of your first pick-up day with directions to the farm.  The remainder of your share cost is due on the first pick-up day.

Contact information:

_________________________________

Name

_________________________________

Address

_________________________________

City                                         State   Zip

__________________________________

Phone                                    Email

Circle your preferred pick up day:

Tuesday 5:00-6:30PM   

Thursday 5:00-6:30 PM

What is the best way to contact you?

Email    /   phone   /   mail   (circle one)

Membership Agreement: As a member of Molly’s Island Garden Community Supported Agriculture Program I understand that my share payment does not guarantee me an exact amount of produce.  I am making a commitment to support local farmers and to share in the rewards and the risks of the growing season.  I also understand that if I am out of town or unable to pick up my share at any time during the season, I am responsible for contacting a friend or neighbor to gather my vegetables (If I cannot pick up my produce, I will call or e-mail my farmers at least two days prior to pick-up day and ask that my share of the weekly harvest be either spread among the other members or donated).   

______________________Signature

Roots

This winter, on one of those days when the rain thunders on the roof until it sounds like waves on the hull of a boat, I didn't go out and work on the fences, or prune the fruit trees, or mulch the raspberries: instead I pulled out our family photo collection: a big box of half-filled albums, rolls of film, unlabeled envelopes, Christmas cards, wedding announcements, graduation pictures, and all the rest.  I thought I'd share some of my favorite farm photos with you guys: here's the first one. 

This is John and Molly, on their first farm in Sumner, Washington.  This is where they first raised pigs, learned how to make wine, grew amazing corn and squash in the rich floodplain soil, and decided to start with a puppy before they decided whether or not to have children. 

Early Spring CSA Week 3: April 24th

This Week’s Veggies:

French Fingerling potatoes
Green onions
Scarlet Queen Turnips
Collard Raab
Blue Vates kale
Spinach & friends

Shallots*
Garlic*
Pea shoots*
Lovage*
Sea Kale*

*”Large” share items; not included in the “small” share.

Please Remember to Wash Your Vegetables Carefully and Thoroughly.

This Week’s Recipe:

Japanese Turnips with Miso

Gourmet | September 2009

by Maggie Ruggiero

The small, round, mild turnips known colloquially as Japanese turnips are at their most delicious when simply cooked with their greens. A last-minute swirl in miso butter (which is fantastic on pretty much any vegetable) gives them an almost meaty underpinning.

Yield: Makes 2 servings

  1 tablespoons white miso
  1 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened, divided
  1 pounds small (1 1/2-to 2-inch) Japanese turnips with greens
  1/3 cup water
  1 tablespoon mirin (Japanese sweet rice wine)

Stir together miso and 1 tablespoon butter.

Coarsely chop leaves. Halve turnips (leave whole if tiny) and put in a 12-inch heavy skillet along with water, mirin, remaining tablespoon butter, and 1/8 teaspoon salt. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, then boil, covered, 10 minutes.

Add greens by handfuls, turning and stirring with tongs and adding more as volume in skillet reduces. Cover and cook 1 minute. Uncover and continue boiling, stirring occasionally, until turnips are tender, about 5 minutes. Stir in miso butter and cook 1 minute.

News from the Farmers:

            This week we are transplanting onions, leeks, and shallots.  We are also planting the last row of potatoes-- we ordered some seed potatoes from Moose Tubers in Maine; due to their cold weather, they don't start shipping until early April.  Alas, we didn't get our shipment until the 23rd of April, which is pretty darn late for us to be planting potatoes, so I don't think we'll be ordering from them again next year.  The carrots, spinach, and beets that we planted in the Forest garden have all germinated and are ready for their first weeding-- so this is the day that we pick up our hoes, and don't set them down again until September.  In the mean time, the Bayview and Tilth Farmer's markets both start this weekend (Saturday and Sunday, respectively), so wish us good luck and good weather

Early Spring CSA Week 2: April 17th

This Week’s Veggies:

Shallots                                                Carrots
Green Onions                                      Mustard Greens
Kale Raab                                            Salad Mix
Chard*                                                            Pea Shoots*
Spinach*                                              Potatoes*

*”Large” share items; not included in the “small” share.

Please Remember to Wash Your Vegetables Carefully and Thoroughly.

This Week’s Recipe:

Frittata with Mustard Greens and Fontina

Bon Appétit | October 1997

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 small bunch mustard greens, stems trimmed, leaves cut into 1-inch-wide strips
1 tablespoon finely chopped garlic
4 large eggs, beaten to blend
1/2 cup diced Fontina cheese

Preheat broiler. Heat oil in medium broiler-proof skillet over medium-high heat. Add greens; stir until wilted and tender, about 2 minutes. Add garlic; stir 1 minute. Sprinkle generously with salt and pepper. Pour eggs over greens; stir to blend. Sprinkle with cheese. Cover skillet; cook until frittata is almost set but top is still runny, about 2 minutes. Place skillet under broiler. Broil until top is set and cheese bubbles, about 1 minute. Cut around frittata to loosen. Slide out onto plate.

News from the Farmers:

          Everything is blooming!  The pear trees are in blossom, the first tulips are opening up, and the dinosaur kale that overwintered in the field is vivid with flowers.  In the last week, we've finally had consistently warmer weather-- sunny days without freezing nights (well, there was one late frost)-- and the plants are responding. 

We've been transplanting tomatoes into the greenhouse: Moskovich is a hardy Russian variety; Sungold is our favorite cherry tomato, and Brandywine is the tried-and-true best known delicious heirloom.  We're planting some Legend as well-- they are bred for resistance to late blight.  The tomatoes should be safe from this blight inside the greenhouse, but Whidbey is known for late summer epidemics, and when there's enough spores in the air, and enough damp, clammy weather, even the greenhouse can be vulnerable.  We're also transplanting peppers into the greenhouse beds-- sweet King of the North and hot Early Jalapeno and Ring of Fire. 

We're still a couple weeks away from the usual last frost date, but Molly is starting snap peas, squash, and corn in flats in the greenhouse-- they need warmth to germinate, but hopefully in a couple weeks they'll be big enough (and the weather will be warm enough) for us to plant them outside.

The early spring CSA season has started! Week 1 Newsletter

April 10th

This Week’s Veggies:

Spring Raab                                                        Red Tinged Winter head lettuce

Parsley                                                                 New Zealand Spinach

French Fingerling Potatoes                          Green Onions

Broccoli Florets (green and purple)*       Salad Mix*

Komatsuna (young bunch greens for salad or stir-fry)*

Shallot and Garlic*          

*”Large” share items; not included in the “small” share.

Please Remember to Wash Your Vegetables Carefully and Thoroughly.

This Week’s Recipe:

Sauteed Raab with Sun-Dried Tomatoes and Pine Nuts

(Recipe adapted from Vegetables Every Day by Jack Bishop.)

Ingredients:
1 bunch raab
1 T olive oil (or more, depending on your pan)
3-4 large cloves garlic, cut into thin slices
1/4 cup sun-dried tomatoes
1 T toasted pine nuts
pinch of Aleppo Pepper or your favorite hot pepper flakes
sea salt to season if desired

Rinse raab. Slice garlic cloves into thin slices. With stove on medium-high, heat olive oil in large wok or frying pan with deep sides. Add garlic slices and saute about 30 seconds (just long enough to get the garlic flavor in the olive oil, don't let the garlic brown at this point or it will get bitter.) Add raab, sun-dried tomatoes and hot pepper flakes and saute 2-5 minutes, until tomatoes are hot and slightly softened and raab is bright green and tender.

While raab is cooking, heat pine nuts for 1-2 minutes in dry pan over high heat. They should be barely starting to brown.
Arrange raab on serving dish and sprinkle with pine nuts. Season with sea salt if desired and serve hot.

News from the Farmers:

            Here we are again at the beginning of another spring growing season.  Thanks and welcome to those folks who are joining us again, and thanks and welcome to the newcomers as well.  We are excited about the start of the new season and are glad to see everyone after the long winter.

It certainly does feel like spring is here these last few days.  After all of that rain, it is great to have a sunny spell.  Things in the greenhouses are growing like crazy and we have been planting out lots of seeds and transplants in the fields.  We have also been busy establishing a hedgerow of native plants along the eastern edge of the farm; we are hoping that they will someday be able to out complete the blackberry incursion over there. 

The compost truck arrived from Cedar Grove yesterday, so we now have 30 cu yards of compost to help grow beautiful veggies for you (our soil is sandy, so it is great to have more organic matter to help hold water and nourish the plants). 

In other farm news, our friends from Blue Feather Farm over on Maxwelton Road have agreed to graze some steers on our pasture for a part of the upcoming season.  We will be happy to host them; there is a lot of land here that just doesn’t grow veggies very well, but we don’t have the time to raise animals ourselves since we are so busy growing veggies.  It will be nice to see our pasture being put to better use.