June 29th – wk #4 2021 – Ever Green Farm CSA

Snow Peas
Romaine Lettuce
Summer Squash
Red Kale
Garlic Scapes
Lettuce Mix
Bok Choy
Asian Greens – Pac Choy & Tatsoi
Swiss Chard
Basil

Reminder: NO CSA Deliveries July 5th-July 9th.

For more information about your weekly veggies, you can find storage and usage tips on the Vegetable Directory. This can be found from the menu on the website or the link above. We also have Pinterest boards for all veggies.

We hope that you have been keeping up with your veggies. Greens can look overwhelming, but remember when you cook them they shrink substantially. You will have a week to catch up. Clean out your fridge and stock your pantries. Make a big salad, stir-fry, curry, pasta primavera, or pesto. CSA Shares will resume Tuesday, July 13th.

Quick Tips & Recipe ideas: A quick note about washing- most items are given a rinse at the farm. We do recommend that you rinse at home as well. We do not use pesticides so no worries there. You will be cleaning off any remaining soil or pests. The lettuce mix may have some weeds. We do our best to remove them ….it can be an impossible task. The weeds that may be present are edible except for the grass. Snow Peas: cook quickly on med-high heat or steam; will turn bright green when done, do not over cook, they should still be crunchy , sesame oil, salt and pepper Garlic Scapes: info in the directory, mild garlic flavor added to stir-fry, pesto, dressing, can be frozen Swiss Chard: a simple sauté/braise remove the stems and add to the pan with a bit of liquid or olive oil, when tender add the chopped greens, they cook quickly and turn bright green, drizzle with a little lime juice, salt and pepper to taste. Crystal City Olive Oil has a lime infused olive oil that is amazing on cooked greens. Chard & Garlic Scape Pesto or Chard Stalk Hummus Asian Greens: Pac Choy & Tat Soi – Salad, Braised, or stir-fry; eat the stems too; quickly braise in a bit of soy sauce, ginger, and garlic Basil: try Creamy Basil Dip ; use quickly, cut into thin strips or whole leaves, chopped and added to pasta, pizza topping, egg dishes, pesto Summer Squash: great on the grill; cubed or sliced or chunks in a quick sauté with garlic scapes then add thinly sliced basil at the end of cooking.

Farm News: Is hot enough for you? We are constantly watering something on the farm these days, even us. Everything is looking great and summer crops will begin to make their appearance. We are still busy starting seeds and transplanting. Additional tasks added are weeding, pest picking, and cultivating. Over the week break we are anticipating to complete the transplanting of the fall crops -remaining cabbages, kale, broccoli, collard greens, beets, and more direct seeding. Lets hope for some milder temperatures and bit of rain. The passing scattered showers have missed us. These past few days it has been too hot to transplant or weed anything.

Some of you have asked — and Yes! We do still have room in the CSA. If you have a friend or co-worker that would like to join. Send them to our website and have them complete a membership form.

Our final student from Ever Green Farm Academy has graduated! For those of you that don’t know we have 3 boys (26, 23, & soon to be 18). We started our farm in 2005 when we moved to the area and homeschooled for the past 16 years. This is a huge milestone for us, however, bittersweet as they move on with their own lives in college and find their path. They built this farm up with us. We would not be as successful today without all of their help and hard work on the farm. We have not had outside employees and been a family working on the farm together. We thank them greatly and are excited to see what their futures bring. Another member of the family that has contributed greatly to the farm is Maxine. She will be 16 years old on July 9th. She has been a great protector of the farm. Keeping a watchful eye on predators when we had chickens and keeping out the wildlife that like to munch the veggies. We know what her future holds. We hope that she makes it to her Sweet 16!

We are planning to have events on the farm again this season. We will let you know the dates when we return from the week break. Looks like the Garlic Harvest and the Potato Harvest events are in the mix. Everyone has really enjoyed these in the past.

Photos this week: