Hello! Hope everyone is having a great start to the week. Below are this week’s farm notes. See you at the market on Wednesday!

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April 22nd Produce

Here are some of the items you may have picked up at market last week:

• Black Summer Pok Choi: toss this Sesame Pak Choi with Asian noodles or rice and protein and you can have dinner on the table in no time.
• Red Russian Kale: give this recipe a try for Garlicky Kale Salad with Crispy Chickpeas and use the green garlic in the dressing!
• Rainbow Swiss Chard: don’t throw away those chard stems! See the recipe below for a little inspiration.
• Tronchuda Beira Kale: I love fritters and these Potato, Scallion and Kale Cakes look like something I need to make very soon.
• Butterhead Lettuce: we have grown this variety before called Adrianna. It has grown so strangely this year but is still very tender with a buttery texture. It is not washed because it is so delicate. Try this lettuce with some Red Russian Kale and the Summerfest Asian greens for a delicious salad.
• Summerfest Komatsuma Asian Greens: wonderful rich flavor for salad, saute or soup.
• Green Garlic: try this in the garlicky kale salad dressing listed above!

April 29th Produce

Below are some items that you can expect to see this week:

• Red Dragon Mustard Greens: I thought this nutritional breakdown from Whole Foods was very interesting:
  • The cholesterol-lowering ability of steamed mustard greens is second only to steamed collard greens and steamed kale in a recent study of cruciferous vegetables and their ability to bind bile acids in the digestive tract. When bile acid binding takes place, it is easier for the bile acids to be excreted from the body. Since bile acids are made from cholesterol, the net impact of this bile acid binding is a lowering of the body’s cholesterol level. It’s worth noting that steamed mustard greens (and all steamed forms of the cruciferous vegetables) show much greater bile acid binding ability than raw mustard greens.
• Garlic Chives: high in Vitamin C also rich in vitamins A & B, iron, calcium, sulfur and magnesium. Good tonic herb to take regularly.

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Recipe :: Chard Stem Relish

Looking for a fun way to use your Swiss chard stems? Here is a great recipe from Steven Satterfield’s Root to Leaf: A Southern Chef Cooks Through the Seasons. I made a batch this past weekend but haven’t used it on anything yet. I might drizzle a little over blue cheese on crackers. Let us know how you use it!

Ingredients:

• 2 cups diced Swiss chard stems
• 1 cup red wine (I used Cabernet Sauvignon)
• 1/2 cup red wine vinegar
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Directions:

1. Combine all ingredients in a medium saucepan and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Cook until stems are tender, 8-10 minutes. Remove stems with slotted spoon and reduce liquid by half. Let cool separately and combine. Store for 4 weeks.

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Events

May 16th: Wildwood Harvest is having an open house from 10am-2pm. I plan on bringing a picnic to enjoy on the farm – hope to see you there!

May 22nd: Crabtree Farms is hosting a “Buying Local on a Budget” class from 6-7:30pm.

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Other News

Have you read Alice O’Dea’s latest article? Check out her latest article on the benefits of eating beans!