Solstices, Super Moons and Summer Storms

6:47 PM Adrian 0 Comments

....If you are plugged in or tuned to the natural world, there's no need to explain how such events rumble through farm life.  For those of you who don't follow, we'll explain.  But first....we have an exciting CSA table this week!  At first glance it may seem kinda short, but the following list could very well look different tomorrow (as in, there will be some wonderful, surprising additions to your share...expect the unexpected!).

Our spread this week:

• Head Lettuce
• Garlic Scapes
• Kale bunch
• Collards bunch
• Fennel (frond & bulb)
• Sugar Snap Peas
• Spring Onions

...and more!


This week has been quite the showcasing of Mother Nature's forces at work!   This past Friday was the Summer Solstice during a waxing moon, followed two days later by the pinnacle of the Full Moon; which, to make it even more extreme, happened to be a "Super Moon."   Supposedly this is when the moon is at its closest to the earth in its orbit during the year, and is said to look 30-40% larger than usual (I went outside to look at the moon on the night of its "superiority"...sadly it was behind a thick veil of clouds and looked like an indeterminate-sized blob, so I cannot speak of the stunning size and visuals of the super moon from experience).

If you have had any encounter with the wild effects of the moon when it's full, you probably have an idea of what a Super-Full Moon could do.  Think of ocean riptides, coyotes and wolves (werewolves too), hippies in the desert if you give them a dope spot and enough djembes, you or your girlfriend's mood swings (she won't admit it but it's true) or the mayhem on the OB/GYN floor of a hospital as almost all expecting mothers go into labor simultaneously (just ask my mom).  In the natural world, plant and animal life is going crazy too, there is so much energy and sunlight coming from the sky all of the time, that the plants are having an all-you-can-eat photo-synthesis buffet and the animals are following suit and making their own huge buffet of them.  Our plants are no exception, and the deer out here are getting braver and braver in order to dine on them, venturing quite close to the barn these days!  Our crops have not known when to stop growing.  I have literally blinked and seen our kale plants grow an inch.  Well, maybe that is hyperbole; let's just say, this week our vegetables will grow more than they ever will at any point in the year.  Since it's the Summer Solstice, they are receiving more daytime rays for nourishment than ever during the longest days of the year, and because of the full moon at night, the photo-synthesis doesn't end!  Not a whole lot of people may know, but plants greatly benefit from the solar energy reflected from off of the moon at night.  Things are just growing and growing! 

Which would be a good thing, right?  Except (and some believe that perhaps this is the Super-Duper Moon's fault) we've had some pretty crazy, destructive storms.  We were visited by large hail a couple of nights ago which, regardless of how much our plants are benefiting from the 24/7 light show right now, really banged up a lot of them, especially our lettuces.  So just a little "heads" up...our head lettuce may have sustained some hail damage, and may have some bruises and holes in the leaves.  They will still taste delicious but we hope for your understanding of such unpredictable weather events!

And to add to the crazy, yesterday's storm almost sent a tornado our way!  Weather watchers saw one touch down only a couple miles away from us, and there was quite the intimidating wall cloud which passed over the farm.  We're glad it missed us (and that our greenhouses are still here)!

With that said, we hope you all have a great week and that mama nature calms down a little.  See you at market!


Recipes

Spicy Grilled Shrimp with Rice and Mango Salad and Sesame Sugar Snap Peas (www.bonappetit.com)



Spinach* and Kale Turnovers (www.myrecipes.com) 
 *Echollective Twist: they can also be just Kale turnovers!  Substitute spinach amount for kale (or collard!) amount.

Ingredients

• 2 teaspoons olive oil 
• 1 cup chopped onion 
• 1 garlic clove, chopped 
• 3 cups chopped kale (about 1 small bunch)
• 1 (6-ounce) package fresh baby spinach 
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper 
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 3/4 cup (3 ounces) crumbled feta cheese
• 1 (11.3-ounce) can refrigerated dinner roll dough (such as Pillsbury)
• Cooking spray
• 2 1/2 tablespoons grated fresh Parmesan cheese

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 375°.
2. Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion; sauté 10 minutes or until tender and lightly browned. Add garlic; sauté 2 minutes. Add kale and spinach; sauté 8 minutes or until kale is tender. Stir in pepper, salt, and nutmeg. Remove from heat; cool slightly. Stir in feta.
3. Separate dough into 8 pieces. Roll each dough piece into a 5-inch circle. Spoon about 1/3 cup kale mixture on half of each circle, leaving a 1/2-inch border. Fold dough over kale mixture until edges almost meet. Bring bottom edge of dough over top edge; crimp edges of dough with fingers to form a rim.
4. Place turnovers on a baking sheet coated with cooking spray. Lightly coat turnovers with cooking spray; sprinkle each turnover with about 1 teaspoon Parmesan. Bake at 375° for 18 minutes or until golden brown. Let stand at least 5 minutes before serving; serve warm or at room temperature.

Caramelized Fennel (putneyfarm.com)
(Adapted from Chez Panisse Vegetables)

Notes Before You Start:

• The key to this dish is to brown, not steam, the fennel. Keep the pan hot and spread out the fennel, no crowding. Cook in batches if necessary- the only problem will be that you will finish the first batch before the next batch is done. Yes, this dish is that good.

What You Get: A great fennel recipe. Really.
What You Need: No special equipment is required.
How Long: 20 minutes, maybe more if cooking in batches. 5 minutes of prep and 15 minutes of cooking. You can make this dish any time.

Ingredients:
(Serves 4 as a side dish)

• 2 Large fennel bulbs
• ¼ Cup olive oil
• Kosher salt
• Black pepper
• ½ Lemon

Assemble:

1. Using a very sharp knife, cut the top and bottom from the fennel bulbs and then remove tough or bruised outer layers. You will end up with a bulb about the size of your fist.
2. Slice the bulbs in half and then remove the cores from the fennel. Then cut the fennel lengthwise into 1/8 inch slices (it is ok if a little thicker).
3. Heat a large skillet or sauté pan over medium-high heat. When hot, add the olive oil and then the fennel slices. Spread the fennel out in the pan to encourage browning.
4. Cook for 10-12 minutes, flipping the fennel slices every few minutes, until golden brown.
5. Remove the fennel from the pan and drain off any excess oil. Season with salt, pepper and lemon juice, to taste. Serve.

The Cusp of Summer

7:07 PM Adrian 0 Comments

The sun has been out, the days have become hot and incredibly long, the storms have receded and we are starting to pick a LOT of scapes.  The garlic greens are crisping at the edges, a sign that they are dying back and it is almost time for the great Garlic Pull (it's still a few weeks away though; but soon!).  It must mean summer is here, or at least that it will be soon enough.  This week is indeed the week of the Summer Solstice, as it approaches us this Friday.  It is a day many know and dub the longest day of the year, or some people may just know it as a day that the Celts might really like for some reason.  For us farmers out here, we sometimes don't really know how to feel about it.  On one hand, we dread such a long day, feeling impelled to work all hours of daylight and get as much as we can done.  Sometimes the sun feels like a really over-bearing, high-heat-exuding work supervisor who looks down from us at the sky and shakes his finger, saying "get to work!"  There is always some pressure to get things done while it is light, and the longest day of the year is no exception.  But on the other hand...it means that the days that come after will be getting shorter!

So we have a little announcement in regards to CSA's we will be offering, quite possibly at the end of this summer: we are introducing the University Student CSA Share!  The plan is still in formulation, but it will go something as follows: You don't have to be a student, not necessarily.  CSA duration will be from August until Nov./Dec. (TBA).  We have seen the need for many folks to want to sign on to our CSA Summer season in August, whether they are a U of Iowa student who wants some organic veggies or if you are away for summer....it don't matter!  More details to come, so stay tuned.

As for the here and now, CSA this week includes:

• Salad Mix
• Head Lettuce
• Garlic Scapes
• Cilantro
• Dill
• Green Onions
• Collard Greens (or Kale)
• Fennel

We are excited to bring you Fennel this week, and no, not the seeds....the whole bulb and fronds!  We have truly produced a gorgeous crop this year, and we will be providing you with some amazing recipes on how to prepare this delicious plant, considered both a vegetable and culinary herb.

Stay cool, and we'll see you at market!


Recipes 

Carmelized, Braised Fennel Bulb (www.huffingtonpost.com)

Garlic E-"Scape"-ade!

6:29 PM Adrian 1 Comments

Greetings all!

Garlic season looms closer as our now tall, graceful alliums begin to put up their flowers!  For those of you who are unfamiliar, garlic flowers are popularly known as "scapes", which grow out of the top of garlic plants like little curly-q's, or perhaps like pig-tails.  Typically, scapes are prepared in raw recipes, such as pesto to which they frequently lend themselves; some folks cook them, lightly sauteeing them with butter or lightly pan- or oven-roasting....but over-cooking them can make them quite unpalatable.  But it can be done!  Stay tuned for some garlic scape recipes, one of which was contributed by a wonderful CSA member from last season!

We are also excited to bring to you, new this week: Sugar Snap Peas!  'Tis the season!

(*If the title of this newsletter confused you, no, we will not feature recipes of Garlic Scape Lemonade or Limeade beverages...that's a bit too experimental, even for us.)


On the table this week:

• Salad Mix
• Kale Bunch
• Head Lettuce
• Green Garlic
• Garlic Scapes
• Mint
• Asparagus
• Cilantro
• Dill
• Green Onions
• Sugar Snap Peas

*Special this week: CSA members get a discount on gourmet Oyster Mushrooms from Oak Savannah Mushrooms sold right at our table, next to your CSA buffet!  $3 instead of $4 pints of the most beautiful mushrooms you'll ever see!


This time of year signifies somewhat of a shift in attitude and fluctuation for the Echollective.  This week is our last week of picking asparagus so make sure you grab some for your CSA share this week!  It'll be the last you get from us until next year.  Other crops will soon follow suit, such as our salad mixes, although we are going to make a great effort this year to grow shade-cloth lettuce....we can't make any promises, but we hope to be able to provide you all with fresh, cool salads all summer long!

For the last couple months of summer, a lot of focus will be given to our alliums, which is a fancy-latin word for our onions, garlic, leeks, shallots, and green onions.  We have already been dedicating a lot of time these past couple of weeks fighting off the weeds in our onion fields with all this rain, and were are quite positive that we will reap a considerable onion harvest, if all continues to go well!  Cross your fingers for us.  The recent rains have been super ideal for our alliums, although with a lot of rain and warmth come the weeds.  So our energy has gone a lot towards weeding and protecting our crops, along with picking them, while the bulk of our summer planting is behind us (although we are still popping eggplants, lettuces, and peppers into the ground!).

And how could we not mention the Great Garlic Pull?  It's not here yet....we have weeks worth of scapes to pick yet, but come July, we'll be pulling so much garlic that we'll be literally sitting in mountains of it.  Literally.

Echollective will soon have to open its own fruit stand, because our fruit trees are almost exploding with fruit.  Several apple and pear varieties have swelled due to all the rain and intermittent sunshine!  We expect our black raspberry bushes out in the woods to be doing the same this year!

There's a lot to look forward to, and we hope you look forward to our big spread this week, and other delicious produce in the future.  See you at market!


Garlic Scape Recipes

Following are a few garlic scape recipes, engineered by one of our very own CSA members, Elizabeth Hinds.  Thanks Elizabeth!
 

•      ½ cup garlic scapes, roughly chopped
•     1 med onion, halved and cut into 5mm slices
•     1 lb stew beef, marinated in red wine vinegar* for at least 30 mins
•     ⅔ cup peas (fresh or frozen)
•     ⅔ cup broccoli (fresh or frozen)
•     ¼ cup shoyu (can use soy sauce)
•     ¼ cup hoisin (also called Peking sauce)
•     1 tbsp raw sugar   
•     3 tbsp butter

•     ½ cup garlic scapes, roughly chopped
•     ½ cup snow peas, roughly chopped
•     1 oz raw cashews
•     1 cup olive oil
•     ⅓ cup grated parmesan
•     1 tbsp lemon juice

• 2 garlic scapes, cut to fit container and sliced in half lengthwise 
• Sprig of rosemary
• 2 cups extra virgin olive oil

•     2 turnips, sliced into 4mm thick disks
•     2 radishes, sliced into 4mm thick disks
•     bunch of spinach, stems removed
•     ¾ cup barley
•     3 qts garlic scape vegetable broth

•     ½ cup garlic scapes cut into 1cm rounds
•     1 cup arborio rice
•     ½ cup dry white wine
•     4 cups vegetable broth
•     2 tbsp olive oil
•     ¼ cup chopped fresh sage
•     greens from 2 turnips, chopped medium
•     ½ cup freshly grated parmesan

Era of Leafy Greens

6:54 PM Adrian 1 Comments

The wetness of spring overlaps with the warm and sunny beginnings of summer at around this time...creating this prime season for our leafy greens, but especially lettuce!  Well, normally, this time would have been about a month ago but what with all the weird weather patterns lately we just don't know anymore...we're just glad when it happens. 

But if you leave the farm for a couple days when there is plenty of sprinklings alternating with periods of sunlight in between, you will be pleasantly surprised (or maybe not) upon your return that your lettuce has grown up to 2 inches bigger!  Lettuce loves it wet, and once it's given a big long drink and the clouds part and it warms up a bit, this crispy, delicious vegetable just goes crazy.  Our rows of it look amazing, like enormous, glistening jewels in perfect rows.  A handful of our farmers got out there today in the nice cool midday to weed around it to perfection.  Head lettuce is absolutely beautiful and this weather couldn't be better for it!  Our varieties- Cherokee, New Red Fire, and Winter Density to name some- form the most perfect clusters of crispy, mouth-watering leaves in many shades of purple, pink and green; and we have way too many varieties of leaf lettuce to count, with names like Tropicana and Coastal Star, some of them perfectly round or incredibly frilly, ranging from vivid fuschia to deep purple to emerald green...which always make me feel like I should be eating them in a salad while lounging on a beach, with a mojito, in Rio De Janeiro, or something exotic like that.

Anyways, this has also been a great time for our other greens as well, such as spinach, chard and orach (a strange, little-known plant related to spinach but prettier), and our entire array of brassicas, or "greens from the cabbage family" (not to be confused with "kids from the cabbage patch"), which is called Brassicaceae.  That would be kales, bok choi, arugula, tat soi and most other asian greens, all of which contribute to our braising or salad mixes.  Of course, the stinging nettle is doing good, but they always do good without a lick of our help. 

What I'm mostly trying to say, is that it won't be wet and perfect forever!  Our era of leafy greens will end before you know it, so enjoy it while it lasts!  We'll be featuring a lot of our best for CSA this week, but the time for arugula and stinging nettles has already come and gone, and it won't be long until the season closes.  The age of asparagus has numbered days, too.  But like they say, when one door closes, another door opens....soon we'll be ushering in mid-summer delights like sugar snap peas, beets, squashes, green onions, garlic scapes and more!

What to expect this week:

• Braising Mix
• Salad Mix
• Head Lettuce
• Green Garlic
• Mint bunch
• Asian Greens/Bok Choi bunch
• Cilantro
• Purlsane

What is purslane?  Don't be deterred; a lot of people may be unfamiliar, but we think it's so great we want to share in it's deliciousness.  Last week, you received it in your box as an additional surprise.  Purslane is a wonderful, succulent herb that most folks out here in North America consider a garden nuisance, but which natives of the Middle East and Mexico consider a sought-after delicacy!  It is one of the highest plant sources of Omega-3 fatty acids which, if you're not eating a lot of trout or almonds, may be a challenge to fit into your diet...especially of you are vegan or vegetarian!  Those fatty acids are really important, so give it a try.  We had a delicious pasta dish this past week for lunch featuring a purslane and dill sauce.  Absolutely delicious!



Well, hope to see you at market and have a wonderful week!


Recipes

Salmon Summer Salad (www.yummly.com)


Asparagus and Purslane Soup (www.canellevanille.com)
serves 4 to 6

• 1 pound (450 g) green asparagus
• Salt
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/2 medium red onion, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 medium fennel bulb, diced
• A few springs thyme
• A few stems chervil (optional)
• 2 cups water
• 4 ounces (110 g) purslane, tough stems removed
• Whole milk yogurt, optional
• Chive blossoms, optional

Cut the tender tips of the asparagus. Bring a small saucepan of water to a boil. Season with a bit of salt and add the asparagus tips. Cook for 1 minute or until tender but still have a bite. Drain them and immediately submerge them in a bowl of ice water to stop the cooking process. Drain them well and set aside.

Dice the rest of the asparagus stems.

Heat a medium saucepan over medium high heat. Add the olive oil, onion, garlic, and fennel. Add a pinch of salt. Cook for 5 minutes or until tender but not browned. Add the thyme, chervil, and diced asparagus stems. Cook for 1 minute. Add the water and bring liquid to a boil. Cook for 7 to 10 minutes or until asparagus are tender. Add the purslane and cook for 2 more minutes.

Transfer to a blender and puree the soup. Adjust seasoning and liquid if needed.

Serve warm topped with asparagus tips, yogurt, chervil and chive blossoms.


Green Garlic Mayonnaise (www.mariquita.com)

• 2 whole eggs
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon or a little less dijon mustard
• 4 stalks green garlic, cleaned as you would leeks, white and pale green parts chopped roughly
• 3 teaspoons lemon juice or rice wine vinegar
• 2 teaspoons more rice or white wine vinegar
• 1 1/4 cups corn or other vegetable oil

Whirl all ingredients except oil in food processor with the metal blade. With machine running, add oil in thin steady stream through opening until all oil is completely incorporated. If the food pusher has that little hole, use it by pouring the oil into that, it works great.