Here are a few tips on how to store, and enjoy the produce you receive each week:

Double bag your Basil, or put the bag in a Tupperware container, to prevent it from turning brown in the fridge.

Tarragon is a great herb to use with Chicken.  Place a few sprigs in the body cavity and some under the skin and then  roast.

Arugula is a spicy salad green, delicious raw by itself or added to other salad greens.  It can also be wilted as a side dish or garnish.

Turnips can be boiled, steamed or sautéed or eaten raw.  I cut them in ¼ in slices or ¼ the smaller ones.  Larger ones can be cut into 1/8ths. Sauté them in a small amount of oil for a couple minutes, then add water and steam for a few more minutes, until fork tender (the amount of time depends on the size).   In my book, you can never go wrong with adding butter, salt and pepper.

Leafy greens are prolific throughout the early CSA pick-up season.  If you begin to tire of them you can always slice them, throw them in a ziplock bag , squeeze the air out and then put them in the freezer.  These can be added to soups during winter months.

Braising Mix:  Chop the greens, heat oil or butter in the pan to very hot then add the greens per cooking times:

• Collards (bagged separately): 10-20min
• Escarole: 5-10min
• Swiss Chard: 5-10min
• Spinach: a few seconds to a few minutes
• Curly Endive: 3 minutes

While cooking your Braising Mix or any greens you could add any of the following combinations for flavor:

• Fennel, onion and butter
• Bacon and goat cheese
• Olive oil and lemon
• Chili Flakes and crushed Peanuts
• Toasted Sesame Seeds, minced Ginger, minced Garlic, then after cooking drizzle with Toasted Sesame Oil.

Greetings HeartEye Village CSA members!  It’s Stunning Box Four this week!  And wow, who would have thought that the Turnips would have gone bananas before the Basil? Although, the Basil is blessing us mightily at the moment.   Another blessing is that we did NOT get decimated by the hail on Monday. Whew and Hallelujah!  We were prepared and had virtually everything covered with floating row cover.  I had just taken the row cover off of the Winter and Summer Squash, since it was unhappily straining against it.  My mistake…  But Jillian and I ran out there and braved the hailstones to place the row cover back over the squash.  Being slightly battered is a small price to pay to save our precious Patty Pans, is it not?  Thank goodness we were here otherwise those squashes would look like Swiss Cheese about now (as does some of the Spinach in your Braising mix today)!  And you know I just have to ask, is that Escarole not sublime?!

Enjoy!

Tracy

We had our first CSA harvest today! It is still early in the season, so expect a lot more in your boxes as the farm bursts with life!