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July 31, 2005
What's in the box?
It is the small shares turn for blueberries this week. We are beginning the transition from our July bearing Tulameen raspberries into our everbearing raspberries. We will be selecting which ever variety looks the best for you this week. Corn is coming on strong and we have more for you along with one of my favorite summertime recipes. The carrots are unusually tender and sweet for this hot weather and sure to be a hit. Here is a good kid friendly recipe to enjoy them.
Small Shares:
1/2 lb salad mix, 1/2 lb spinach, 1 bunch carrots, 1 bunch onions, 2 ears corn, 1/2pt blueberries, 1 head lettuce.
Medium Shares:
All of the above minus the blueberries, plus more salad mix, spinach,
carrots and corn. In addition, they will receive beets, broccoli and raspberries.
Large shares:
All that is in the medium boxes plus more salad mix, carrots, onions, corn, lettuce and broccoli. In addition, tender haricot vert.
Posted by Christine at 11:02 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Katie's Carrots
This is Katie's, the farm cook, favorite way of cooking carrots. She says these are a big hit with kids!
Katie's Sweet Carrots
1 bn carrots
1/2 tsp butter
1 1/2 tsp olive oil
1 1/2 tsp honey
Fresh mint
Cut off the stem end of the carrots. Cut the carrots in half diagonally. Steam the carrots a couple of minutes until they are crisp tender. In a saute pan, melt the butter and honey into the olive oil. Add the carrots and toss. Garnish with fresh mint and serve immediately.
Posted by Christine at 10:51 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Spicy Corn & Barley Salad
At our house, we like the cooling effects of eating spicy foods. This salad can be made quite spicy tamed down for more sensitive palates by decreasing the amount of jalapeno and cumin.
Spicy Corn & Barley Salad*
2 1/2 c. water
pinch of salt
1 c. uncooked pearl barley
4 ears of sweet corn
1 small Willie's Walla Walla onion, finely chopped
2-3 small tomatoes, diced
1-2 jalapenos, seeded and minced
2-3 baby carrots sliced
1/2 c. fresh flat leaf parsley, chopped
1 large clove of garlic, minced
3 TBS seasoned rice wine vinegar
2 TBS olive oil
1/2 tsp ground cumin
Salt & freshly ground black pepper
Add the salt to the water and bring to a low boil. Add the barley and simmer uncovered on low until tender, about 15-20 minutes. Drain and rinse the barley with cold water. Set aside in a large bowl.
Remove the husks and silks from the corn. Cook the corn for only 4 minutes in boiling water, drain. Once the ears are cool enough to handle, cut the kernels from the ears with a sharp paring knife. Add the corn to the barley. Add the onion, tomatoes, peppers, carrots and parsley to the barley.
In a small bowl, whisk together the garlic, vinegar, oil and seasonings. Pour the dressing over the barley. Toss and chill.
This is very pretty served in crisp lettuce leaf "cups". It is also a great picnic/potluck salad that stands up well to hot weather.
*Adapted from an old Pike Place CSA recipe, where I was first introduced to Willie Green's!
Posted by Christine at 10:28 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
July 25, 2005
The taste of summer
Fresh corn for everyone this week! We worked really hard, babying our corn plants so we could give you an early taste of summer sweet corn this year. Our delicious Chiogga beets are here. These candy cane style beets are sweet and have a pretty red and white stripe when sliced. Try them in one of the soup recipes we have featured this week. The Chioggas make a lovely peachy colored and refreshing soup. Saute the beet greens and onion greens left over from the soup recipe for a nutritious side dish. One of our CSA customers also posted a really nice beet recipe awhile back. You can find it under the comments here. Thanks Linda!
As delicious as our raspberries are, we are giving you a break this week. Your fruit this week is Early Red Haven Peaches from Pipitone Organic Farms in Wenatchee. These juicy peaches are a semicling variety, great for fresh eating. Since the hail damaged much of our blueberries in May, production continues to be low. All medium shares will get blueberries this week, and small share customers get their turn next week.
Lots of nice bunched items this week, including carrots and bok choy to make one of Jeff's favorite recipes.
Small Shares:
1/2 lb salad, 1 bunch carrots, 1 bunch onions, 1 bunch beets, 1 bunch bok choy and 2 ears of sweet corn.
Medium Shares:
All of the above PLUS more salad mix, beets, carrots, peaches and corn. In addition, blueberries and head lettuce.
Large Shares:
All of the above MINUS the blueberries but PLUS more salad mix, lettuce, carrots, onions, beets, bok choy and corn. In addition, sugar snap peas and spinach.
Posted by Christine at 02:50 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Chillin' with soup?
There is something about beets that bring me more in touch with the land. Maybe it is their earthy taste, but I usually equate them with comfort food during the winter months. In the summer, they can be a tasty and refreshing treat. I like them best roasted, roasting them in the evening hours after the heat of the day has dissipated. Then, I enjoy them sliced in my salads. Beets also make a lovely chilled summer soup. Here are two versions.
Fruity Beet Soup
3 bunches of Willie Green Baby Beets
1 small Willie Walla Walla Salad Onion
1 TBS olive oil
1/2c. orange juice, maybe more as needed
1/2 tsp raspberry vinegar
1/4 tsp freshly grated ginger
Preheat the oven to 350. Cut the beet greens off, leaving about an inch of stem. Scrub the beets and place them single layer on foil. Drizzle oil on the beets. Wrap them in foil and roast for an hour until fork tender. Let the beets cool, then slip the peels off and remove the root and stem ends.
Saute the onion in the oil, until translucent. Place everything in a food processor or a blender until smooth. Add additional juice until the soup is the desired consistency. Chill and serve.
Creamy Dill Beet Soup
1 batch of Fruity Beet Soup
2 TBS yogurt
1/4 c. orange juice
1 tsp fresh chopped dill
Stir all the ingredients together. Chill and serve, garnishing with fresh dill if desired.
Posted by Christine at 02:23 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
One of my favorite sautes
Bok Choy, Carrot, and Mushroom Saute
6 carrots (sliced into 1/4 in.rounds if large or one inch pieces if baby carrots)
4 small heads bok choy or tatsoi (remove bottom core and coarsely cut)
12 fresh mushrooms (sliced)
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 sweet onion (sliced)
2 T butter
2 TBS olive oil
salt and ground black pepper to taste
1/4 c. chicken or vegetable stock
Lightly brown mushrooms in 1 T. butter over high heat. Use a large enough saute pan so mushrooms are not lying on top of each other (this ensures that the mushrooms brown instead of losing their water and becoming steamed). Remove the browned mushrooms from the pan.
Add 2 T olive oil and carrots to the pan. Sauté for 3 - 4 minutes over medium heat, stirring frequently. Add garlic, onion and bok choy. Sauté 2-3 minutes over medium heat, taking care to not brown the onion or garlic.
Add stock, basil, salt and pepper and the browned mushrooms. Bring to a boil over high heat. Stir in 1 T butter, stirring until the butter emulsifies the stock. Check seasoning and adjust to taste. Serve immediately.
Serves 4.
Posted by Jeff at 10:48 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
July 23, 2005
Is it summer yet...
After dragging irrigation pipes around for months only to find it raining that very night. It seems we are actually having our first stretch of hot summer days, when I have a moment a dip in the irrigation pond is a must, for the refreshing feeling and to clean off the dust which has innevitably collected on my face, but those are few and far between. These days always tend be harder and longer than the rainy ones, constantly worried about all the young starts and they're sensitivity to dry soil and hot conditions. We are carefully planning the days harvesting schedule to minimize the crops time in the sun, and moving irrigation pipes back and forth to keep everything healthy and growing. But the end of the day rewards you with a beautiful and different sunset everynight, and as I watch the irrigation sprinklers throw much needed drops of water over rows and rows of greens, I can for the first time all day relax and enjoy all that has been accomplished in the sun. No matter how tired I am, I always have a few minutes for that feeling.
Posted by Brett at 02:22 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
July 18, 2005
Simple Pasta with Complex Flavors
This recipe has an amazing combination of flavors. It may seem like a lot of onions, but the long simmering of the Walla Walla onions is what gives this dish a sweetness to temper the peppery arugula and rich blue cheese flavors.
Pasta with Carmelized Onion & Arugula Sauce
2 bunches of Willie's Walla Walla Salad onions or 2 medium Walla Wallas
3 TBS olive oil
1/2c. white wine
1 TBS fresh thyme, minced
8 oz bowtie, fusilli or penne pasta
1/4# arugula, chopped
2/3c. crumbled blue cheese
2/3c. chopped walnuts
Slice the onions, if using the salad onions, slice the white bulbs and the white portions of the stalk. Save the hollow green stems for another dish. Saute the onions in the olive oil over medium heat until translucent. Lower the heat, add the thyme and white wine. Simmer uncovered for about 15 minutes until the wine has reduced.
In the meanwhile, cook the pasta in boiling water until al dente. Add the chopped arugula and blue cheese to the onions. Cook about 5 minutes until the cheese has melted and the greens are wilted but still bright green.
Toss the cooked pasta with the onion sauce and top with the walnuts. Serve immediately
Posted by Christine at 01:09 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
July 17, 2005
This week's CSA
We have a colorful box for you this week, full of some old favorites and some things that may be relatively new to you. Arugula is the second bagged green, it is a peppery green that is a great addition to sandwiches and salads. It is also a great complement to pasta dishes. Try our pasta recipe this week, it is a hit around here and makes good use of our arugula and onions. I will be posting it soon. In the meantime, check out the main website recipes for more arugula ideas and for another green that you may not be as familiar with, rapini.
Our baby carrots this week are super sweet, certain to be a hit with kids and adults alike. This will be the last bunches of radishes for awhile, it is getting too hot for them but we will have them again when the weather cools.
Small Shares:
1/2lb salad mix, 1/4# arugula, 1 bunch onions, 1/2pt raspberries, 1 bunch carrots, 1/2# Haricot vert and 1 bunch turnips.
Medium Shares:
All of the above PLUS more salad mix, arugula, onions, raspberries, carrots and Haricot vert. In addition, rapini and radishes.
Large Shares:
All of the above PLUS more salad mix, arugula, carrots, Haricot vert, turnips and radishes. Large shares also get blueberries.
Posted by Christine at 03:18 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
July 15, 2005
Local Harvest
Local Harvest is a national website that focuses on local food. It has directories of restaurants, farms, stores, CSAs, and farmer's market all categorized by location and food type. It was recently featured on the front page of USA Today for it's excellent CSA directory. In addition, it provides small farms the means to do mail order business for products not adversely impacted by shipping. The site provides product information and a great crop database. It is a great resource for farmers and consumers.
While updating our listing with local harvest, I saw a delightful blog, called
Small Farms Blog. The author has been visiting and photographing small farms and farmers' markets in California. The stories and photos are great and reading the blog makes a nice break in one's day.
Posted by Christine at 11:50 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
July 12, 2005
You know it is berry season when...
at 9:30 at night I am still waiting for the pickers to finish for the day so I can do payroll. We started late this morning, the cars didn't start rolling in until about 6:30am. On morning market days, there is a steady stream of cars unloading pickers by 5:30am. Since we pick our raspberries at peak ripeness, they have to be picked while it is cool out. We have a crew in the morning hours and then they return at about 6 to do the evening picking. Some will stay at the farm to pick peas and beans that aren't as picky about the heat. The days are long now, a 12 hour work day is a short day in July. Busy with harvesting, we are also rushing to start our fall crops. It is a busy and bountiful time of year.
Posted by Christine at 09:31 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
July 11, 2005
Snap Pea Radish Saute
Snap Pea Radish Saute
1 lb Willie Green's Sugar Snap Peas
1 bunch radishes, thinly sliced
1 TBS olive oil
1 Willie's Walla Walla Salad Onion
1 TBS lemon thyme, minced
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
Snap the stem end off the peas and remove the string. Thinly slice the entire onion, white and green portions. Heat the oil in a large saute pan. Saute the peas for a couple of minutes, until the pods become vivid green. Add the radishes and onions, cooking until translucent. Season with thyme, salt and pepper. Serve immediately.
Posted by Christine at 12:25 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
CSA news and weekly content
Weather has made some of our harvesting a little unpredictable the past couple of weeks. The wet weather has diminished some of our berries, resulting in a lot of what I call "jam" berries. These berries need to eaten, frozen or made into jam right away. We are not comfortable selling them, as our customers expect well formed berries that will last a couple of days. These berries aren't pretty but they are tasty. As CSA customers, we will give you these berries for free if you come pick them up at the farm. Let me know if you are interested and I will let you know the next time I have "jam" berries.
This week, everyone will be receiving butterhead lettuce. These softer leaved lettuces are great for making lettuce wraps. Place your choice of spreads, lunch meats, cheese and/or sliced vegetables on the leaf and roll! Kids often like the finger food aspect of it. Lettuce wraps can be quick snacks or lunches or like our Asian Lettuce Wraps a main dish.
Sugar Snap Peas are back and look great. Although many people enjoy eating them raw, they are delicious roasted. Toss them with a bit of olive oil and then broil them on a single layer pan until they begin to brown in spots. Turn and cook the other side. You can toss them with a little sea salt and you have green "french fries" for the kids or sprinkle them with parmesan cheese and return them to the broiler for another minute. Mmmmmm
We have Walla Walla Sweet type salad onions this week. These sweet onions are good raw or cooked and you can use the bulbs and greens. Enjoy the onions, radishes and peas in this lemony saute.
Small shares:
1/2# salad mix, 1 head red or green butterhead lettuce, 1 bunch salad onions, 1/2pt raspberries, 3/4# sugar snap peas, 1 small broccoli and 1 bunch radish.
Medium Shares:
All of the above plus spinach and more salad mix, peas, raspberries and broccoli.
Large Shares:
Same as a medium plus strawberries and red kale and additional quantities of salad mix, onions, radishes and broccoli.
Posted by Christine at 08:35 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
July 05, 2005
Food... much more than just food!!!
With the farm in full swing and the bounty of produce coming off the farm, it takes me back 19 years or so when I was a chef in the Bay Area, reminding me of the passion I have for food and the joy of eating farm fresh, local, organic food that is in season. The simple pleasure of walking down a row of Rainier strawberries, finding "the one", warmed by the early morning sun, biting into a berry exploding with a complex, sweet flavor you become aware that your senses are on the "edge", alive with pleasure. The discovery that a freshly shelled English pea is not even a distant relative of the canned peas your mother prepared for you as a child. Pulling a bunch of pencil thin carrots, the sweet, musty smell of earth still clinging to it's fragile roots with skin so delicate and flesh so crisp and tender your kids will beg for one after another.
I ask myself how, in just two generations could we have become so far removed from our food source, from the very thing that brought our families together, around the table every evening, sharing our day with loved ones while eating the bounty that mother or grandmother just harvested hours ago from the huge garden "out back".
Is it possible to go back to that place, does anyone even care? Or are we so busy being busy that we will not slow down long enough to enjoy the simplicity that life can offer. What price do we pay for being so disconnected with everything around us, including ourselves?
Perhaps that is the price... we lose the essence of who we really are and with it a tiny slice of our humanity.
It is my hope that sharing my passion for food and offering the finest produce available, grown with love, to all of our wonderful customers at the farmers markets will inspire them to slow down, get back in the kitchen, prepare simple dishes using only the freshest ingredients, reconnect with loved ones and allow ourselves to experience the sensual pleasures of our food.
Posted by Jeff at 12:53 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Summer CSA bounty
It is beginning to look a lot like summer with these CSA shares! The raspberries are looking great this week: plump, large, sweet and flavorful. We have been enjoying them fresh out of hand, in smoothies, ice creams and sorbets. Check out Double Chocolate Raspberry Ice Cream for a rich and delicious treat. Or for something light and refreshing Raspberry Mint Sorbet.
Everybody gets some of those delicious, tender haricot vert this week. Yesterday, Jeff's mom made a simple pasta salad that was half gemelli pasta, half haricot vert tossed in a vinaigrette and topped with grated romano. It was so good that she had to make a second batch after the tasters were through to have enough for the picnic! We also pumped up an old classic potluck broccoli salad. We added crisp radishes for flavor, color and crunch. Our version is here.
Speaking of radishes, customers have told me that there are some great recipes for them in the current issue of Simple Living magazine. To take the enjoyment of radishes to an art form, visit Molly's blog on radishes as reward. Her photos and descriptions are amazing! Be sure to read the comments to get the full treatment. You will never think of radishes the same way again.
Small Share:
1/2# salad mix, 1 head lettuce, 1 bunch baby bok choy, 1 bn radishes, 1 head broccoli, 1/2 pt raspberries
Medium Share:
All of the above plus more salad mix, haricot vert, broccoli and raspberries. Plus 3/4lb baby spinach
Large Share:
Everything in a medium box plus more salad mix, spinach, haricot vert, broccoli and raspberries. Plus turnips and sugar snap peas.
Some days we need to harvest more than we can take to market. Somethings we are freezing like the raspberries but other things like the broccoli and sugar snaps need to be eaten or composted. We would much rather share the bounty with you. In the next couple of weeks you may find extra produce in your box. Please enjoy it yourselves, share it with friends and family or food bank it.
Posted by Christine at 07:18 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
July 04, 2005
Busy busy...
Time is short around here these days, as we have all become used to this time of year. Planting and maintaining crops for the rest of the season, some of which wont be harvested for 7 months, while at the same time organizing and harvesting for all of our weekly markets and our wholesale accounts. But it seems as though as the harvest's are more bountiful so is our energy level, no matter how long the day is there is always that little bit of energy left to do what has to be done to grow the best produce possible. Somehow through the craziness of a day we always manage to get it done, as the sun goes down and for the first time all day your not sweating, the feeling of looking over a beautiful field and just enjoying it is indescribable and keeps me here year after year.
Posted by Brett at 04:23 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Refreshing Raspberry Mint Sorbet
Raspberry Mint Sorbet
3 sprigs of fresh mint plus some leaves for garnish
1/4-1 c. sugar
3 c. Willie Green's organic raspberries
1 TBS lemon juice.
Strip the leaves off the mint. In a food processor, mix the mint leaves and 1/4c. sugar until well blended and the leaves are in small pieces. In a blender, puree the raspberries. For a lighter sorbet, pour the raspberry puree through a sieve and discard the seeds and remaining pulp.
Mix the mint-sugar, raspberries and lemon juice. Add more sugar to taste is desired. (Bean likes to use minimal sugar for a more refreshing taste and to use the sorbet as a palate cleanser or snack. More sugar makes a heavier dessert sorbet.)
Pour the raspberry mixture into a shallow pan and freeze until firm, about 2-3 hours. Serve with mint garnish.
Posted by Christine at 07:03 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Double Chocolate Raspberry Ice Cream
Double Chocolate Raspberry Ice Cream
5 oz high quality bittersweet chocolate
2 cup milk
4 cups cream
6 egg yolks, lightly beaten
1 1/2 cup raw sugar
2 cup raspberries
2 oz semi sweet chocolate chips
Melt the bittersweet chocolate over low heat. In a small sauce pan, heat the milk and 2 cups of cream until hot but not boiling. While the milk is heating, beat the egg yolks into 1 cup of the sugar until lemony yellow in a large bowl. Stir the melted chocolate into the milk/cream mixture until the chocolate is well blended. Add the chocolate mixture to the egg mixture. Stir in the rest of the whip cream and 1 cup of berries. Sprinkle the remaining sugar over the remaining berries and set aside. Pour into an ice cream canister and freeze as directed.
When the ice cream is almost frozen, add the remaining berries with their syrup and the chocolate chips.
Posted by Christine at 07:01 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Broccoli Bounty Salad
Broccoli Bounty Salad
10 slices bacon
1 lg head fresh broccoli cut into small bite size pieces
¼ head red cabbage shredded
1 bunch radishes, halved and sliced thin
1/2. red onion minced
1 cup red seedless grapes, halved
2TBS red wine vinegar
2TBS white sugar
1 TBS fresh lemon juice
1 c. mayonnaise
1 c. sunflower seed kernels
Brown the bacon in a heavy skillet. Drain, crumble and set aside.
Combine the broccoli, cabbage, radishes, onion and grapes in a medium bowl.
In a small bowl whisk together the vinegar, sugar, lemon juice, & mayonnaise. Add the dressing to the broccoli mixture, tossing to coat.
Refrigerate at least 2-3 hours, but it is best the next day. Toss with bacon crumbles and sunflower seeds and serve.
Posted by Christine at 06:53 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack