2023 CSA Farm Update: Week 1

Garlic with Scape

Welcome everyone to the first week of the Katchkie Farm CSA! We have a wonderful array of early season vegetables for you. Lots of greens, a few roots, and lovely culinary accents for it all.

I was thinking the other day about the cyclical nature of the seasons. For nearly twenty seasons of this farmer’s life, this has been the point in the year when the harvest season begins. Some of the first seasons’ harvests were met with scorching heat, others met with blowing wind and rain, others met with the perfect June day. This led me to wonder where is the memory of these seasons stored in nature? My most immediate response was the growth rings on trees. Each winter on the farm, unhealthy trees are harvested for firewood. Once a tree is felled, the growth rings can be seen by looking at the stump or the log. Reading these rings is akin to reading the biography of this particular tree. One can see which way it was oriented in the wind, how close it was to other trees, how well it grew in a particular year, and how old the tree was. I have to say it is quite humbling to read this biography and realize that a particular tree has stood in the one spot for years beyond my own!

This brought me back to the question of where is the memory of seasons stored in our vegetables? That is a very interesting question because most vegetables grown do not get to make seed. They make it to our tables well beforehand! The typical lettuce is sown in the greenhouse, transplanted in 3-4 weeks, grown in the field another 4-5 weeks, then harvested. A radish is from seed to table in a mere 4 weeks! The only part of our vegetable crops that could tell of the preceding seasons is the seed. Seeds do not have growth rings like trees, but oh what a story they can tell! Each year when plants are selected to grow seeds, we knowingly or unknowingly make tiny changes to how that plant will look, taste and produce the next time it is sown. The seed also carries with it the narrative of the soil. The healthier the seed, the more it weighs. If one took a glass filled with water, the most healthy seeds would sink, the less healthy would float.

On the farm, the only “seed” that we save is garlic, but that is saving a head and replanting it. Those heads can certainly tell a story over their years of being grown and saved on the farm. The other day Liz asked about letting some garlic go to flower instead of cutting the scape off beforehand. On the farm we remove the scape before flowering to increase bulb size, so the left-brain farmer in me had resistance to the idea. The right-brain farmer thought it would be a beautiful sight to let some garlic tell their whole story. Not to mention that it may be fun to save some seed from the flowers and plant a few out. Who knows what story they will tell.

Until next time,
Farmer Jon
 

WEEKLY HARVEST INCLUDES*

*We try our best to provide the most accurate CSA list in the newsletter! However, there’s always a chance of last minute substitutions in some bags if we don’t harvest enough of a vegetable.

DELICIOUS RECIPES TO TRY

Chef Andrew's Recipe Corner

Roasted radish with spring garlic butter and lemon


Spring garlic butter

  • 1-pound Unsalted butter

  • ¼ cup green garlic sliced thin

  • 1tbs lemon juice

  • 1 tbs chopped parsley.

 Roasted radish

  • 1 bunch Globe radish with top on split length wise 

  • TT salt

  • Water ½ cup

  • 1 tsp lemon juice

  • 2 tbs green garlic butter

 
Method
For the butter

  • Bring the butter up to room temperature till soft. Slice green garlic thin then add all ingredients to the softened butter and mix thoroughly. Then place into sealable container and refrigerate.

For radish

  • Split radish length wise leaving greens intact. In a large sauté pan over medium heat place the radish cut side down with greens on top of radishes. Add a small amount of cooking oil into pan. Season radishes with salt and allow to cook till radishes start to take on color.

  • Remove from heat and carefully add water to pan. Return radish to stove and cover with lid. Cook for approximately twenty minutes till radishes begin to soften.

  • Once radishes are cooked through drain off any excess liquid. Raise heat back to medium, add garlic butter to pan and allow to completely melt. Finish with fresh lemon juice a serve immediately

Farmer Jon UpdateGreat Performances2023 CSA