Late Breaking News, and Lots of It!
Because of all the craziness with the storm, and the resulting lack of electricity from around 6:30 last night until 3:00 this afternoon (more on that below), there have been some last-minute changes — both additions and subtractions from what we put out in yesterdays email.
For the additions:
First Japanese Cucumbers from the Hoophouse — come early if you want one!
Big Wild Greens Week! So go crazy with the delicious and nutritious Amaranth, Lambs, Quarters, and Purslane! See Food Notes below.
Just like lettuce, purslane is great on sandwiches and in salads. But unlike lettuce, it’s super-high in healthy Omega-3s! Try this recipe for a Turkish Purslane Salad with Garlic-Yogurt Dressing.
Last of the Garlic Scapes and Green Garlic for the Season
Henry said he’s never seen the garlic mature this fast. So even though last week was the first week for garlic scapes, this week is the last! Time to make a big batch of garlic scape and/or green garlic pesto!
Last Big Week for Lettuce — Look for Special Prices on Endive & Escarole
Thanks to the unseasonable heat, Henry’s final two plantings of lettuces all matured at the same time — which is why he brought a record number to market last week (and then had to bring a fair amount back home again), and also why you’ll see a lot this week — but very little after this week.
Although you’ll see a lot of lettuce this week, there won’t be the usual huge number of varieties, since many have not done well in the sustained heat and humidity. What you WILL see a lot of are Green Romaine, Escarole, Endive, and Frisee — which all somehow did fine in the heat.
Look for the Special Prices on the Escarole and Endive and stock up — both will keep well for over 2 weeks in your refrigerator.
Don’t miss the incredible broccoli, kohlrabi, snow peas, and sugar snap peas!
Food Notes: WILD GREENS, including AMARANTH & PURSLANE
Even though lettuce season is over until the fall, and even though the deer ate pretty much all of the Chard, Nature provides us with an abundance of wild greens. Since I mentioned Purslane last week (high in omega-3s, and great either raw in salads, or sauteed with eggs or other greens), we’ll talk about Amaranth this week, and I urge you to give it a try because to my mind it’s even better than spinach or chard because of its deep, rich flavors.
Although it is known to most Midwestern farmers as pigweed, and ruthlessly poisoned with herbicides, the tender leaves of Amaranth are a valued food all over the world, from Asia to the Himalayas to North and South America and the Caribbean. In China, tender young amaranth leaves are used as a stir-fry vegetable called yin choi. In the Caribbean it is known as callaloo, and used in delicious soups and sautees.
Although the stems are large, they cook down nicely, and there's no need to strip the leaves from the stems. Just chop the stems and leaves roughly, and then use amaranth in your favorite dishes that call for cooked spinach. (True Saag Paneer is made with wild amaranth greens!) And you can use amaranth in quiche, lasagna, or on its own as in this simple and delicious recipe:
SAUTEED AMARANTH
1 Tb olive oil
2 onions, chopped
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1/2 cup chicken or vegetable broth
1 pound Amaranth greens and stems, washed, rinsed and sliced
Salt and pepper to taste
In a large skillet, heat the olive oil, and then add the onions, and cook until soft. Add the garlic and cook another minute. Then add the broth and bring to a simmer. Add the greens, in batches if needed. Cook until soft, stirring often. Season to taste and serve.
NUTRITIONAL HIGHLIGHTS: Like most native plants, amaranth is rich in vitamins and minerals, including vitamins A, B6, C, riboflavin and folate, as well as calcium, iron, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, zinc, copper and manganese.
Farm Notes: No Electricity = No Water
Because we’re out here in the boonies and rely on our well for water, when we lose power, we also lose water. That’s because the well pump runs on, you guessed it, electricity!
So after we all came up from the basement yesterday evening to widespread power outages, Henry could not pick up where he left off and wash all the just-harvested root vegetables. Instead, he went to bed and hoped to wake up to the wondrous thing we call electricity.
We woke up instead to a continued outage of “unknown duration.” So Henry and his farmhands got to work moving the wash tanks over to the mobile home where Henry and his family lived decades ago, which has its own well, and is served by a different electric company. That’s where nearly all of your vegetables were washed today, with truckload after truckload coming up from the field, getting unloaded and washed near the trailer, then put back on the truck to go over to the packing shed.
Because of all the extra work, we did not have time to harvest your cabbage. So contrary to what was in last night’s email, you won’t see those tomorrow but — barring any more weather-related power outages — you will see them next week!
