No Delivery This Week

The gardens were looking beautiful yesterday.  We had just finished weeding them, when a storm started brewing out West.  We thought it might head North, but it didn't look good when we came inside to look at the Radar.  The thunderstorm exploded right over New Salem.  We got quarter to nickle sized hail, strong winds, and heavy rain.  Thankfully, the storm only lasted for a short amount of time.  All of the plants in the gardens were damaged, but many are starting to look better today.  We may have a small amount of loss and the plants are set back, but we think most should recover.  It will just take some time.  It is cloudy, cool, and rainy today...Good weather for the plants to recover.

I still plan to deliver the chicken to those of you that ordered it.  Plan to deliver chicken between 4:00 and 5:00 on Tuesday.

Here are some pictures of the damage.  I just wish we had taken some pictures before the storm hit, because everything looked so beautiful yesterday.

This is the pile of hail by our front door.

Foreground to Background:  Peppers, Cabbage, Beans, Cauliflower.

We had hail a week or two earlier than this last year, and the Cauliflower and Cabbage still did great.  We think that will happen again this year.  The beans weren't damaged too bad, so they should be fine.  The peppers were the one thing that didn't look good before the storm...It's been to cold for them.

This tomato looks pretty bad.  The Early Girl Tomatoes in the Paddock Garden were pretty much destroyed, but only this one and another one were damaged in the Pasture Garden.  I think we'll still get plenty of tomatoes.

Here are the onions that you got last week.  Hopefully they'll send up new shoots and form the bulbs bigger.

Here is the House Garden.  The lettuce and spinach had been so beautiful!  I was so excited to pick it for you!  Most of it should come back.  Lettuce is something that you pick, let it grow, and pick again.  It should be back to picking height in a week or two.

June 21st Delivery

*Please Note*:
Please return your CSA box and plastic bags each week.  We would like to reuse them to lower our costs and impact on the environment.  Thank you!
Also, Please return the canning jars if you do not plan to reuse them.  Thanks!

I plan to deliver between 4:30 and 5:00 on Tuesday, so I can beat the 5 o'clock rush.  Please let me know if this will not work for you.

You'll find the following in your basket this week:
Leaf Lettuce
Spinach - see pg 142-143 in From Asparagus to Zucchini
Radishes - see pg 128-131
Onions - see pg 106-107
*Rhubarb - see pg 132-133
*Oregano - see pg 108-109
Apricot Butter
*If you do not want the rhubarb or oregano, please e-mail us at logreenacres@westriv.com.

How we eat it:
We have been enjoying the lettuce and spinach in mixed salads.  We like to eat the radishes dipped in our favorite dressing (ranch and western).  I like to use the small onions in macaroni salads or added to any cooked dish.  I suggest drying the oregano and saving it for when the tomatoes ripen (late August-early September).  The apricot butter tastes great on toast, peanut butter sandwiches, pancakes, waffles, french toast, and ice cream.  I also mix it with plain yogurt.  We have been eating a lot of Rhubarb Crisp (or Crunch, as my sister-in-law calls it).  We also tried this recipe copied from http://www.rhubarbinfo.com/drinks

Strawberry Rhubarb Lemonade

Ingredients:

3 1/2 cups water
1/2 pound rhubarb, trimmed and cut into 1-inch pieces (about 2 cups)
3/4 cup sugar, or to taste
Two 3-inch strips of lemon zest removed with a vegetable peeler
plus additional for garnish
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups sliced strawberries
1 cup fresh lemon juice

Procedure:

In a saucepan stir together the water, the rhubarb, the sugar, 2 strips of the zest, and the vanilla, bring the mixture to a boil, stirring until the sugar is dissolved, and simmer it, covered, for 8 minutes. Stir in 1 cup of the strawberries and boil the mixture, covered, for 2 minutes. Let the mixture cool and strain it through a coarse sieve set over a pitcher, pressing hard on the solids. Stir in the remaining 1 cup strawberries and the lemon juice, divide the lemonade among stemmed glasses filled with ice cubes, and garnish each glass with some of the additional zest.
Makes about 7 cups, serving 6.

Josh holding Radishes.

Thunderstorms Last Night

We had a few thunderstorms last night.  We had a little hail, heavy rains, and wind.  I think our children were more traumatized than some of the plants.  We woke them up twice to rush them to the basement.

The House Garden and Paddock Garden received the most damage.  The lettuce and spinach have a few hail holes and look wind whipped, but should be fine to eat.  They may not last as long in the fridge though, so plan to eat them as soon as possible.  The hail snapped off 3 Early Girl tomato plants, but we have plenty of Celebrity tomatoes in the Pasture Garden that look great.  The Celebrities just start producing a little later than the Early Girl.  The North & South Pasture Gardens look a little wind blown and have a few plants with little hail holes, but they should recover just fine.  The potato garden just looks wind whipped.

Our family was very blessed to stay safe and to have little damage from these storms!

1st Delivery

We will have our first "Official" delivery this Tuesday at 5pm.
Here is what you'll find in your first basket:
Rhubarb - pg 132-133 in From Asparagus to Zucchini
Spinach - pg 142-143
Radishes - pg 128-131
Oregano - pg 108-109
Leaf Lettuce
Popcorn
Chokecherry Jelly

 

Making Popcorn...

1. Cover the bottom of a sauce pan with a layer of popcorn.  (I use a 1.5 Qt kettle and get enough for a snack for our family.)
2. Barely cover the popcorn with your favorite cooking oil.  We use canola.
3. Cover with lid and cook on Med-High.
4. Shake pot (horizontally) every 15 or so seconds to keep the heated oil evenly distributed over the kernels.
5. Cook until most kernels have popped.  (You will have a few old maids.)  As you are shaking the kettle, you'll be able to hear/feel when most of the corn has popped.  The kettle should be full of popcorn, sometimes it may even push the lid up if you put too much in.
6. Put Popcorn into a large bowl and salt to your taste.  Popcorn salt works best.

How the Gardens look this week...

"House Garden"

The little wood rectangles have herbs in them.  This garden also has lettuce, spinach, onions, garlic, and strawberries in the very back.

Here is a closer picture of the leaf lettuce that will be in your baskets this week.

"Paddock Garden"

This garden has radishes, beets, onions, zucchini, carrots, and more.

The wooden hoops with plastic on the bottom are for the tomato plants.

"North Pasture Garden" with "South Pasture Garden" to the back left and "Strawberry Bed" to back right.

The North Pasture Garden has peppers, cauliflower, broccoli, cabbage, beans, and peas.  The South Pasture Garden has all of the vining plants (they are just germinating, so not much to see amongst all the straw).  We just planted the 100ft x 50ft strawberry bed this spring.  We plan to sell U-Pick out of it starting next summer.

"North Pasture Garden" in front and "Strawberry Bed" in back.

You can see the 2 pea fences in the left.

"Potato Garden"

"Potatoes Up close"

We hope you like potatoes!  There is a lot of them.  We planted a few different varieties this year.  It'll be fun to see how they turn out.

We mulch all of our gardens with straw.  It helps keep the moisture in, so we don't have to water as often, and it keeps the weeds down.  We wait until the plants are a couple inches tall, before we mulch around them, so they don't get lost in the hay.  That's why you can still see the dirt in some rows.

No Delivery this Week

We are sorry to say, that the cool weather we've had this spring will delay our CSA deliveries.  The plants had been growing slowly up until this weekend, when we started to get some nice sunny, warm weather.  We are hoping to make a delivery next week.  We'll keep you updated.

Thursday Delivery

This week we are giving an early delivery.  We have rhubarb, chives, oregano, and a little asparagus.  We will be referencing the book From Asparagus to Zucchini for recipes and other info on the veggies we deliver.  I also plan to put up some recipes of my own on the blog for you to try.

From Asparagus to Zucchini (3rd edition)
Rhubarb - pages 132-133
Chives - See Onions on pages 106-107
Oregano - pages 108-109
Asparagus - pages 18-19

Rhubarb
I already picked and canned rhubarb sauce for our family.  Here is a variation of the rhubarb sauce (so you don't have to can it, just make it fresh).  ~ from Ball Blue Book of Preserving
Wash rhubarb; drain.  Discard leafy tops.  Cut stalks into 1-inch pieces.  Measure.  Put rhubarb in sauce pot.  For each quart rhubarb, measured, add 1/2 to 1 cup sugar (I used 1 cup).  Stir to coat rhubarb with sugar; let stand 3 to 4 hours (mine sat overnight) in the fridge.  Bring slowly to a boil; boil 30 seconds.  At this point, the recipe calls for the canning process.  To eat it now, cook slightly longer until tender enough to mash.  Mash and serve warm or cold; it's good both ways.  You could eat it plain or drizzled over ice cream.

If you are looking for more ideas for the rhubarb, check out this website http://www.rhubarbinfo.com/recipes.  I've tried a few that are pretty good.  Our favorite was the Strawberry Rhubarb Lemonade, but it took a lot of prep.  I plan to try a rhubarb crisp recipe tonight.  You might find one in your own cook books.  There is sometimes a variation for rhubarb under apple crisp.

Chives
I like to dice chives and add to meat that I am cooking in the crock pot.  It gives an onion flavor.

We have a simple dehydrator that I use to dry herbs for future use.  Once dry, I store them in glass jars, but you could use plastic containers or Ziploc baggies.

As a kid, my favorite 'chive recipe' was to dice chives into sour cream to make a dip for potato chips.

Oregano
I add oregano to meat in the crock pot and to my tomato sauces (pizza, spaghetti, etc.).

I'm not sure if you'll have enough to dry this week.  Drying shrinks herbs considerably.

Asparagus
We dice and steam asparagus until tender.  Sometimes we eat it raw.  It is very good fresh!

We did not wash any of the produce this week.  Washing shortens shelf life, so rinse in cool water just before use.

Welcome to Lo-Green Acres CSA!

We are Lo-Green Acres, a local, family owned vegetable farm. Our farm is dedicated to providing wholesome, chemical free food for your family to enjoy.  Both of us grew up in families that grow and produce their own food.  Until we had a family of our own, we did not fully realize the nutritional benefit and financial savings of locally grown farm fresh produce.

About Community Supported Agriculture (CSA)

CSA is a unique social and economic arrangement between local households and farmers who work together to share the responsibility of producing and delivering fresh food.  Households support the farm by paying an annual fee in the winter or spring that entitles them to a “share” of the season’s harvest.  Once the harvest begins, a weekly basket of fresh food is delivered to the household’s door.  A typical CSA runs from the beginning of June through the end of September.  Our season will start the first week of June and end the last week of September, excluding the week of July 24^th (16 weeks).  CSA farmers use sustainable and natural methods to produce high quality food and to reduce the impact of agriculture on the environment.

Benefits of CSA

-         provide households with fresh foods picked at the peak of ripeness and nutritional value

-         guarantee the farmer will have the income to cover the costs of growing food

-         ensure the viability of local, environmentally sustainable family farms

-         protect the environment through stewardship of the land

How does CSA Work?

A CSA member purchases a “share” of each seasons produce.  One share is generally enough to feed a house of four.  Half-shares are also available.  The food is distributed weekly to the CSA member’s home or other agreed to drop off location.  In general, the food received is more economical compared to produce found at farmer’s markets and retail stores.  Included with each week’s share of produce will be recipes on how to prepare certain vegetables.