Weekly Weeder

Olin-Fox Farms Volume No. 10 Issue No. 11 May 21, 2008

www.olinfoxfarms.com Summer Season Week 1

STANDARD REMINDER

Please be sure to wash your weekly share thoroughly before serving. To preserve freshness, it is NOT ‘table ready’ (i.e., pre-washed). We deliver your Olin-Fox Farms’ produce right from the fields to ensure highest quality.


REMINDER: This is the first week of the Summer Program.

June 11-14 will be an OFF week (providing it works that way with Mother Nature).

The Summer Program schedule is attached.

Schedules can also be found on our website, www.olinfoxfarms.com


This Week's News From The Farms

Welcome to the first week of the 2008 Olin-Fox Farms CSA Summer Program! We are much looking forward to providing you with fresh, seasonal, locally grown produce.

From all indications, Mother Nature has been very cooperative so far this year. The projected harvest for many crops should provide another bountiful season.

As we move out of the transition of spring type vegetables, we will be moving towards varieties such as yellow squash, zucchini, cucumbers, and new potatoes, followed by such Summer favorites as tomatoes, watermelons and corn to name a few.

The recent cool weather has caused the yellow squash and zucchini to slow down, so they are delayed by a couple weeks. Because of this cool weather, shares this week are quite varied from location to location, with limited quantities of certain items that cannot fulfill the entire CSA. As always, over the course of the weeks, we do our utmost to ensure that everyone gets some of everything!

A little reminder that it is of utmost importance to pick up your produce on the agreed-upon day. Not only does the quality suffer if picked up on subsequent days, our distribution sites are not necessarily suited for overnight storage.

There are a few options if you are unable to pick up your produce on a particular day. You can give your share for the week to a family member, friend, or neighbor, thereby enabling someone else to enjoy the share and learn about CSAs.

If you absolutely cannot pick up your share and do not have a substitute, it is your responsibility to arrange with your site coordinator if you want to pick it up another time. You should have the contact information about your pick up location, and if not, please email or phone us and we will provide it to you.

Those who pick up at the farm choose a particular day, but please remember that we do have 3 options (Wed 1 -5 pm; Fri 1-5 pm; Sat 1-5 pm) and would much rather see you change your day than to have your produce suffer. We ask that you notify us by the Monday of the pickup week so we can adjust the schedule.


In Your Produce Basket This Week

Asparagus, Garlic Scapes

As stated there's quite a variety this week throughout the CSA!

See your site's produce list for more details.


For Those With Fruit Shares: Strawberries



Please Note: With elements beyond our control such as the start or the end of a harvest, or extreme weather conditions that may limit the quantity of produce coming in, we systematically address each delivery and pick up group each week and do our very best to see that everyone receives some of everything.


Recipes/Information

Garlic Scapes


From Star Chefs, the magazine for culinary insiders, written by Kelley Snowden

“This is the sprout of the garlic plant, a thin, green stalk that curls above the ground and is more tender and sweeter than the cloves that lie below. But there’s a reason the scape is not widely known, and that is

because it must be picked within the first two weeks that it breaks the surface of the soil. If you wait too

long and the stalk straightens out, the scapes become tough and unappetizing. These early spring gems

have long been a part of Korean and Eastern European cooking. American farmers, however, have long

cut these stalks off and discarded them, but some are just now starting to offer them up for sale in farmer’s markets.”


View the Star Chefs website for some really interesting Garlic Scape recipes

http://www.starchefs.com/features/garlic_scapes/html/index.shtml


Use them raw as you would chives, chopped into salads or for any time you want a nice, mild garlic

garnish.


We at Olin-Fox Farms have fallen in love with a recipe we call:

Garlic Snakes

Ingredients: Garlic Scapes, Olive Oil, Salt


Preheat oven to 350. Liberally oil a baking dish with the olive oil, place the garlic scapes in the dish, and

sprinkle heavily with salt.

Mix it all around so the scapes are evenly coated with the oil and salt. Spread the scapes around the

baking dish so they don't touch (or barely touch). Bake at 350 degrees until they get

crispy (about 30 minutes). Yum!!! Works as a stand alone snack or a garnish for salads or fish.



Newsletter written by John Cooper and Alice Hershiser.


Bon Appetit!