FARM HANDS OPPORTUNITIES THIS WEEK
Sometimes I will put out a call for Farm Hands. These are opportunities to help out on the fields. A few people mentioned wanting to get involved, so if that was you... Want to get your hands dirty and feel productive? Help feed us all? Get some gardening experience? This week we have a lot of planting to do, email or text me if you’d like to set up a time to plant some seedlings this week. I’ll show you how, then leave you to it. A good job for adults. If a family wants a task, I have some power washing needs that could keep a whole family busy! These plastic crates have been sitting untouched for way more than a week (probably since fall, actually).
WHAT’S GROWING ON
I like to put a bowl of sliced salad turnips and kohlrabi (peeled and sliced) on the table while everyone is hungry and waiting for dinner. They always get snacked on as an appetizer. My dinner table was so bountiful tonight! I made a Spinach-Napa coleslaw, dressed with a sweet sesame-soy dressing. It uses napa cabbage, scallions, tatsoi or spinach, could have chopped bok choy in it. I grilled BBQ shrimp and scooped it with sauteed veggies in a bok choy leaf spoon. What fun things did you do with your first harvest? Spring greens are the feature for the first few weeks. Succulent, crunchy, crisp green things. Napa cabbage is an edible plate or wrap, bok choy is an edible spoon. Always gets me in the mood for hummus or bean dip. Tatsoi (Asian spinach) makes a great spinach salad, but can be cooked in all the ways you cook spinach. Pea shoots are great in a sandwich or salad, or very lightly sauteed at the end of a stirfry. I usually eat turnips raw, but I had them in a stirfry yesterday and they were very good that way. Enjoy your explorations with these fresh, delicious spring greens!
WHAT’S NEW: GARLIC SCAPES
Garlic scapes “are a fun and loopy byproduct of the garlic plant. It’s the seed pod, and since you don’t even grow garlic from its seed (you plant its cloves from the bulb), you can snap off these seed pods. i love that they are edible. They have a garlicy juice that stays on my hands for a day or two after harvesting. Chop em up and scapes are wonderful in stir-fries or roasted or baked.” Go to the blog for more fun photos of my sons modeling the scapes (a long time ago) and more info and recipes. http://blog.houseinthewoods.com/2010/07/01/loopy-garlic-scapes/
RECIPE CONNECTIONS
- Harvie has recipes for you linked with each delivery. You can also join their Facebook page called Harvie Members.
- If you’d enjoy a real actual hold-in-your-hands cookbook to inspire you, I highly recommend Recipes from America’s Small Farms by Joanne Lamb Hayes and Lori Stein. I really like how it is organized and the prep tips at the start. My asian slaw came from the Coleslaw Collection, three different flavors. This book features vegetables that CSA’s tend to offer. Yes, even kohlrabi!
- We have a nice collection of recipes on the farm blog, like this one for spring crops which includes our ever-popular turnip fritter recipe, contributed by Mareena Wright probably 15 years ago. Our blog is searchable so just put in the veggie of concern and some ideas will pop up for you.
- Join our farm Facebook group called House in the Woods Farm and Friends. This is a great place to post some photos and share your own foodie creations, ask questions, and read tips and ideas from others.
