Week #2 — Note from the Farmer

Dear CSA Member

Refrigerators will be full of greens this week. Each season there is a week when all of the lettuces are ready. This week the lettuces are beautiful and we are sending four different varieties: Romaine, Red Sails Red Leaf, Tropicana Green Leaf and Buttercrunch. There is nothing that can beat a salad spinner this time of year. All of the greens are given a rinse right after we pick them but they will need a wash at home. We have had very heavy rains over the last week and the soil splashes between the leaves. I have found it works well to wash greens by cutting the stem portion off, giving the leaves a good rinse in a bowl or sink full of water, drain and rinse again, spin dry. The lettuces will keep for at least a week in the salad spinner if you have enough room in your refrigerator or in a plastic bag or container. Some members re-use the rinse water to water their plants. If it gets toward the end of the week and your refrigerator is still full of lettuce, try Melissa Clough’s Lettuce Soup. The Recipe section can be found under The Farm tab on the farm web site home page.

For the first time this season Bright Lights Swiss Chard. Beautiful multicolored stems of yellow, reds, oranges adorn the Bright Lights Swiss Chard. Oriental Greens and Red Mustard Greens are delicious served with Locust Point CSA’s Spicy Peanut Sauce. The recipe for Spicy Peanut Sauce can be found on the farm Recipe section under Sauces and also on the farm Face Book page.

Garlic Scapes are the green pig tail looking stem. The scape is the immature seed head of the garlic plant that we remove to send more growing energy to the bulb below the soil. The scape grows from the center of the above ground portion of the garlic plant. Garlic Scapes have the same flavor and use as the garlic bulb. Delicious Garlic Scape Pesto is easy to make found on the farm Recipe section under Garlic heading or use your favorite pesto recipe substituting the scape for basil.

Marketplace items Honey, Maple, Organic Fair Trade Kosher Coffee in ground or whole bean, Organic Tree to Bar Dark Chocolate bars and Cocoa Powder can be ordered any time during the season and will be delivered with your CSA shares. The Organic Dark Chocolate is delicious. To place an order from the online CSA Marketplace log into your CSA Member Account from the farm website home page. Place your order and it will be delivered with your CSA shares. All of the products we offer on the Marketplace are produced by small family farms locally, in Central America and Grenada.

Enjoy the Harvest
Deborah
for everyone at Stoneledge Farm

 

Week #2 — What’s in the Bag

FULL VEGETABLE SHARE
Red Sails Red Leaf Lettuce-1 head
Tropicana Green Leaf Lettuce-1 head
Mizuna-1 bunch
Red Mustard-1 bunch
Romaine Lettuce-1 head
Garlic Scapes-4
Arugula-1 bunch
Butterhead Buttercrunch Lettuce-1 head
Bright Lights Swiss Chard-1 bunch
Chinese Cabbage-1 head

MUSHROOM SHARE
Shiitake

A note about the Mushroom Shares.  The Mushroom Share consists of 5 different varieties of Mushrooms during the season, one variety per week. Some varieties are much more expensive than others and so the amount in the share will depend on the variety and expense of the mushrooms.