PLAY WITH YOUR FOOD

In the E. Nesbit spirit of our recent newsletter,

check out this book from the library:

"Play With Your Food"

and sit down with a wee one to giggle a summer evening away.

Last Box of June

Suddenly it dawned on us, that we have the most lovely opportunity to surprise and delight each week. We've decided to toss random extras into boxes each week. (This will explain the odd ginger cookie or two some of you might find in your box.) We had some little broccoli shoots, and tossed them into some of your boxes...some of you have little bags of cilantro or dill or both (plus free grass!!) These are for to-die-for cilantro/lime marinades for grilled chicken breasts...or Independence day dill potato salad.

Some have an extra head of lettuce, or bag of peas...if our one year old ends up in someone's box please send her back priority mail! Basically, we want to share what the farm has to share....so after a certain degree of uniformity, everyone will be given little extras randomly.

The broccoli leaves may need some refreshing. Stick them in a jar of cold water.

For those of you who have never experienced this part of the plant:

http://www.recipes.southshoreganics.com/category/recipes/broccoli-leaves/

The Bee Balm has bloomed just in time for The 4th of July. They look like flowery fire works....or African Zulu headdresses.

Penelope has proven to be an excellent Mama. Her babies are all fat and healthy.

Where did June go? The tall grass is seeding itself, and the dragon flies are out. At night, walking back from the sheep pasture fireflies zing the air.

Plump green tomatoes are hanging on the vines....destined for outrageously delicious caprese salads. Happy Eating.

Soap Box Included

This week brings you shell, snow, and snap peas, Pak Choi, Lettuce mix, butterhead lettuce, bunching onions, and broccoli. Also included is a rant and rave about milk, small farms, big farms, and bacteria. No extra charge. Just humor the youth!

Some boxes will be packed with subsitutes, when we run out of shell peas, or dancine butterheads...but rest assured you will all be in salad heaven this week!

Happy Eating!

For Somebody

In 1982 Bl. Mother Teresa of Calcutta gave the address to the graduating seniors of my Alma Mater. Her words were simple and profound and very much remind me of our efforts at the farm:

" A few months ago, I had to go to Delhi, and one of the ministers was the top man in social works, and he said, 'Mother Teresa, you and we are doing the same social work. But there is a great difference between you and us. We do it for something, and you do it to somebody.'

This is for you young people: Remember, do it to somebody;that man, that woman, my brother, my sister-somebody."

In our minds, this is the beauty of the CSA farm. We are not a non-profit, assembled to save the world, and growing so big we lose sight of the individual human being before us. We are not a corporate farm feeding the nations...we are a little family run plot of earth growing veggies for Joan, Jim, Pam, Judy, Julie, and Steve. We are all us supporting something we can see and touch, something small enough to love, and big enough to gain from.

It's a privilege and an honor.

Cheers.

June 16th Box

This week's share was a tad smaller, due to unforseen emergencies on the farm on Harvest day.

This left only one of us bringing in the harvest, and we weren't able to get to the greens mix and the onions. It just means more next week!

The tops of your radishes can go into pasta sauces, on pizza, saute'd with onions for omelets...check out our wilted greens omelet recipe below!

A few of you didn't get radishes this week...but we threw in some other extras to make up for their absence.

Next week will bring SUGAR SNAP peas, onions, salad mix, greens mix, and more!

In other news:

We've trapped 4 racoons. How can something this cute be such a killer??

(Picture a beautiful morning on the farm. Mrs. Farmer is making breakfast and humming a cheery tune. Little darling daughter walks into the kitchen:

"Mama, guess what Papa and I found out in the grass??"

Mrs. Farmer is thinking: "Flowers? Butterfly? Shiny pebble?"

Comes the unexpected reply:

"CHICKEN HEADS!!")

That's when the coons first starting coming around for chicken binges.

The good news is the rampages have stopped. Perhaps there were only four? You tend to picture a whole herd of racoons out there in the darkness stalking your meaty birds...it's like the American farm version of that Val Kilmer movie about the killer lions....

Bread and Cheese

There are chocolate lovers. There are bread lovers. ("Fresh Bread, warm from the oven, slathered with oodles of butter, clutched, devoured....") Of course, there are chocolate AND bread lovers.

In "Wives and Daughters" there is an great scene in which the heroine describes her father's fondness for "Bread and Cheese"

"He'd just as soon eat bread and cheese as anything else."

The scene makes you want to dash into the kitchen, cut yourself a wedge and feast simply.

With the debut of Dixie's STATE FAMOUS little flower farm CHEVRE we thought you might appreciate a DIVINE bread recipe to spread that rich cheesy goodness upon.

This bread recipe is for all those who simply don't have time to make their own bread. It will change your life OVERNIGHT. Guaranteed. Best of all: You can make pizza dough from it, and cinnamon rolls...and....

"No-Knead Crusty Bread"

3 cups warm water

1 and 1/2 tablespoons salt

1 and 1/2 tablespoons yeast (if dried, 1/3 of that if fresh.)

6 and 1/2 cups of all- purpose flour

Mix all the above together in a big bowl with a wooden spoon. Feel domestic. Feel empowered. Feel earthy. Feel nurturing. Feel happy. Let your toddler stir a little.

Cover with plastic wrap and let rise for 2 hours in a warm place.

After this, you can bake it into loaves or rolls or pizza dough if you wish, and freeze the extras, or bake one loaf and refridge the rest for later in the week, as the dough turns into a sour dough. Amazing stuff this.

To bake:

Preheat oven to 400.

Wipe a baking sheet or loaf pan with a butter wrapper. (Save those! They come in handy!)

If making a boule Grab a large chunk of dough and gently pull the edges under itself for a round loaf. Do the same if placing into a loaf pan.

Dust with flour and slash thrice with a serrated knife or razor blade to aid the rising in the oven.

Bake for at least 40 minutes, maybe more. Check to be sure. Tap the bottom. Should sound hollow.

This makes for the most pleasant of Sunday picnics...spread with CHEVRE or one of those incredible imported FRENCH CHEESES.

"A loaf of bread, a jug of wine and thou

Beside me singing in the wilderness

-- And Wilderness is Paradise enow. "

Omar Khayyam

Love Story

There comes a point when you truly believe there is nothing in this wide world as beautiful as a deep purple bunching onion.

The all-star lettuce mix grow like a frilly ribbon in the field. It reminds one of those lovely bakery cakes with the expertly applied frosting around the rim....

The farmer. Weary in his boots, caked with dirt and manure. Head over heals deep in a love affair with the bounteous soil.

There's a lot of drama going on out on those dusty country roads folks. A lot of passion. A lot of...weeds.