Text Box: Spicy Cucumber Salad - from Asparagus to Zucchini 2 cucumbers 1 Tbsp. white vinegar or rice wine vinegar 2 Tbsp. sesame oil ½ tsp. salt 1 tsp. soy sauce 1 Tbsp sugar 1 Thai Dragon hot pepper or equivalent Peel the cucumbers if you’d like, cut lengthwise in two, and scrape out the seeds. Cut cucumbers crosswise into half moons. Whisk the remaining ingredients together and toss with the cucumbers to coat them. You can control how hot the dish becomes by removing the seeds and pulp of the pepper, or you can use just a slice or two of the hot pepper. If you don’t have a Thai Dragon hot pepper, substitute hot red pepper flakes or hot pepper sauce. Makes 4 servings.

Maple Syrup

Our annual delivery of maple syrup is in your box today. We’ve been getting syrup from the same family located in Dorchester, Wisconsin for fifteen years, and every year it’s always a delight to offer. Gathered and processed in the old time traditional way, this maple syrup in quality far surpasses what you find in most grocery stores. To us it’s worth the extra cost to get the best. I’ve had many of our members request to purchase extra but unfortunately this year we didn't get enough. If you’d like extra next year let us know when you sign back up in October and we’ll pick up extra up for you when we go to get it. Enjoy!

Pole Beans

The long slender green pod in today’s delivery are an Italian flat pod pole bean. Don’t be alarmed by the size and unusual shape of the bean because this is the way they grow and are delicious even at their size.

The best way to prepare them for cooking is to lay them on a cutting board and cut them lengthwise into thin strips. Once they’ve been cut the cooking of the bean only requires steaming for a short period time some where between 3 – 4  minutes. Any vegetable overcooked won’t have the appealing flavor of a lightly steamed vegetable. Once steamed, lightly salt and butter, or add olive oil with a touch of balsamic vinegar and  walah! Your ready to enjoy a meal of delicious pole beans.

 

June 18th, 2009

Rare Earth Farm

www.rareearthfarm.com

Cucumbers

Maple Syrup

Mushrooms

Pole beans

Spinach

“Edilble Garden” Cell Packs

Hello everyone! Welcome to the farm! For the next 21 weeks you’ll be experiencing a wide assortment of different vegetables. Maybe even some you’ve never seen or had before. Our newsletters we hope will keep you well informed of what’s going on at the farm as well as offering ideas on what to do with your food. You’ll have to forgive us at times when we’re brief. After all we have to remember you paid for food not to subscribe to a savvy farm newsletter. We will be brief but overall we want to keep in touch as well as we can manage.

One of our biggest changes this year is we will be discontinuing our newsletters in the form of paper. Starting next week we will be going to exclusively to E-newsletters. We’re making a considerable effort to reduce our paper and ink consumption while also offering more information to you in both words and pictures. Something we we’re never quite able to do well with a photo copier. One of the greatest benefits to you is we will be publishing our weekly newsletter on Wednesday night. In addition to our e-mails, our newsletter will be posted on our website too.  Planning a menu for the

week and combining the trip to pick up your box of food  with perhaps a visit to your local grocery store may be a little easier for you now.

We understand this may be an adjustment you’ll need some time to get use to however, we do feel the benefits will out weigh any inconveniences. In the meantime we’ll do our best to iron out any wrinkles that come up along the way.                                                                                

                                                                                                        Steve & Debra Jo

 

 
Text Box: When picking up your box Picking up your box is easy and becomes a regular routine after the first couple deliveries. Here are some important details when picking up your box. Check-off your name on the list. When you come to pick up your box check off your name on the pick-up list. If you are an egg share member just under your name there is a number associated with the number of dozen eggs you are entitled to for the week. If it says “0” then that’s a week you don’t get eggs. Those of you sharing a box of food may not find both of your names on the pick-up list. Just simply check off either your name or the person your splitting the share with. Return and collapse your boxes. All food boxes serve as shipping containers for us to get your food to the pick up site. These boxes need to be returned each week throughout the season. Transfer food from these boxes into your own personal container when you pick up your food, or make certain to return them the following week. Please take care in opening, and collapsing the boxes. Their design makes it possible to open & collapse the flaps without tearing them. We also recycle egg cartons. If you build up a stack of them at home return them so they can be reused. Do not return any plastic clamshell, or egg containers that did not originally come from the farm. Adhere to pick-up times. Standard pick-up times are between 4:00 and 8:00pm. Any time outside the standard time are exclusively arranged with the site host.

Mushrooms! Our delivery today includes mushrooms from a local family owned farm in Eden, Wisconsin.  “Gourmet Delight” is the name of their farm and they’ve been in operation for 24 years. They are certified organic by “MOSA”

They raise their chemical free mushrooms in an indoor facility of about 20,000 square feet (not quite one and one-half football fields). 

I never regarded mushrooms to have much to offer in the line of nutrition, but from the information I received mushrooms seem to be abundant in some nutrients that are good to include in your diet. High in Folic Acid, and all B vitamins, they also contain a significant amount of minerals such as calcium, phosphorus, potassium, iron, copper, and manganese.

We like to include products from local producers who like us, take pride and special care in growing the best food. We’d like to do more but unfortunately we have a budget to contend with. Enjoy the mushrooms.

Gourmet Delight mushrooms are available at Whole Foods groceries.
Text Box: Crop Progress Report Snap Peas— peas in bloom stage, harvest will begin in two weeks Strawberries— berries are ripening, 1—2 weeks Kale— sizing up, will take another 1—2 weeks Lettuce—lettuce reaching full maturity. Should be in next week’s box Text Box: Fresh Spinach Mushroom Frittata 2 tablespoons butter 3 cloves garlic, minced 1/2 cup onion, sliced 8 ounces mushrooms, quartered 2 cups fresh spinach, chopped 6 eggs 1/2 teaspoon salt 1 dash pepper 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese Melt butter in an oven proof skillet. Add garlic, onions and mushrooms cooking until onions are translucent. Add spinach, sauté for 2 minutes. Beat eggs, salt& pepper together. Pour over mixture in skillet, stirring to combine. Cook eggs for about 4 minutes, eggs will be almost but not quite set and still moist on top. Sprinkle with cheese and put in oven. Broil 6" from heat for 3-4 minutes or until eggs are set and cheese is lightly browned. Text Box: Radishes— sizing, 2 weeks from first harvest

These pictures of our crew transplanting watermelon and cantaloupe were taken on June 14th. Now that the threat of frost is over we were finally able to get them into the field. If everything goes well they’ll be ready for harvest  in early September.