Another 3 days of sun, another 1,900 bales of hay in the barn. As we fire-lined the sweet smelling bales into our hay loft I heard someone on the crew remark “this is like filling your barn with stored sunshine in preparation for winter!” So true. Our New England summers are fleeting, but with a little forethought and preparation we can capture the smells, flavors and nutrients of the warm months and squirrel them away for cozy winter days. While the animals munch hay in the barn we’ll be pulling a mason jar of tomatoes off the pantry shelf, peeling the paper away from an opaque clove of garlic, or roasting a chicken in the oven.
Food preservation is one of those age-old traditions that can be both inspiring and daunting. A cauldron of bubbling tomato sauce is a beautiful sight, but also a lot of work! As you eat through your CSA share each week this season, I encourage you to put some of it up for winter, a little bit at a time. Though canning is a great option for some bulk preservation, the freezer is a quick and easy way to store small batches of veggies for use in soups, stir fries, casseroles and more. Below are a few links to help get you started, but the basic idea is to blanche the vegetable quickly in boiling water before packing and freezing them in air-tight bags or containers. I’ve been doing this with spinach and kale so far this season, and plan to do the same with my Hakurei turnip tops this week, for use in a greens soup this winter that will bring summer back to the kitchen.
But in the mean time, let’s enjoy summer while it’s actually here! Here’s what is coming out of the fields this week (in addition to hay!)
Cheers, Norah and the Sweetland Crew
CSA week 6, Brimming Basket
- Napa cabbage, 2 heads
- Garlic scapes (this is the flower bud of the garlic plant, and can be chopped and used just like garlic cloves), 0.5 pounds
- Radishes, large bunch
- Hakurei salad turnips, large bunch
- Lettuce, 1 head
- Asparagus, 1/2 pound
- Greens (Arugula or hearty salad mix), 0.6 pounds
CSA week 6, Half Pint
- Napa cabbage, 1 head
- Garlic scapes (this is the flower bud of the garlic plant, and can be chopped and used just like garlic cloves), 0.3 pound
- Radishes, small bunch
- Hakurei salad turnips, small bunch
- Lettuce, 1 head
- Asparagus, 1/2 pound
- Greens (Arugula or hearty salad mix), 0.3 pounds
Pick-Your-Own
We will place flags next to all PYO crops that are open for picking and have a list on the chalk board.
- Kale
- Chard
- Dill
- Cilantro
- Summer Savory
- Thyme
- Spinach
- Flowers
Recipes of the Week
- Here are the links to easy food preservation:
- I’ll be adding a few diced garlic scapes to this Shrimp with Napa Cabbage recipe
- Add your Hakurei turnips to this Spring Sheet Pan Salmon recipe, along with the asparagus and radishes it calls for, and you’ll really be taking it up a notch!
- Also, remember sandwiches?!? My go-to lunch lately has been hummus, cheddar cheese and a mound of lettuce or salad greens between 2 slices of seedy bread. Mmmm…