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.

With Mother Nature's Cooperation, the Summer Program will be weekly until the

Welcome to Olin-Fox Farms 2007 CSA Summer Program! Over the past week we and the Family of Fine Farms have been planting and preparing for the start of the summer season. We are looking forward to harvesting lots of garden delights for you, including some late spring crops like asparagus, salad mixes, and Asian greens such as Pac Choi.

Those of you who are signing up for the CSA for the first time will learn more about the produce you eat and how it is grown as well as some suggested recipes for the produce you may not be familiar with. Being a member of a CSA, you learn to eat seasonally by what is grown locally and we mean locally. Not local as in supermarket terminology meaning it can be grown up to 3 states away.

Farm life, of necessity, revolves around the cycles of Nature. So now, in the fullness of spring, the seeming endless demands of work outdoors, perforce, trumps all else, even eclipsing the essential task of putting together a proper newsletter. Naturally, we still must manage to communicate critical logistic information to our members, but we ask you to bear with us until we emerge from this overwhelming crunch time. Thank you!

Have any of you heard about Dr. Masaru Emoto’s revolutionary research work with water? Reading his lavishly illustrated book, The Hidden Messages in Water, could radical change your worldview.

This internationally renowned Japanese scientist discovered that crystals formed in frozen water are remarkably altered when specific, concentrated thoughts are directed toward them. For instance, water drawn from clear natural springs that has been exposed to loving words, such as Love and Gratitude, produce brilliant, complex, and colorful snowflake patterns whereas, by contrast, polluted or even so-called ‘purified water exposed to negative words and thoughts, like ‘You fool!’, form incomplete, asymmetrical shapes with dull colors. Just think of the implications of this research. It could give us a whole new awareness of how we can improve not only our personal health, but also the health of our ailing planet.

Dr. Emoto’s investigations into the mysteries of water lead him to speculate that water is something not of this earth. The conventional explanation is that when the earth was formed 4.6 billion years ago, water turned to steam, evaporated, then fell as rain to fill our oceans, starting with the birth of the sun and the combination of gases, including hydrogen. However, another theory which is gaining wider acceptance is that water arrived on earth as lumps of ice from outer space, in the form of mini comets weighing hundreds of tons or more, which continue falling into the earth’s atmosphere to this day, at a rate of about ten million a year. Over forty million years, that adds up to oceans of water. Dr. Emoto writes, “It is universally accepted that there can be no life without water, and if we accept that water, the source of all life, was sent from outer space, then logic leads us to the conclusion that all life, including that of human beings, is alien to this planet.” Many of the books in the world’s libraries might need to be rewritten if this is so.

1 bunch Pac Choi Asian greens
3 tablespoons peanut oil
4 cloves garlic coarsely chopped into 3 or 4 chunks
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons sesame seeds

Optional for color and heat: 1 fresh red chile such as Holland, Fresno or cayenne, stemmed and sliced on the diagonal into thin pieces

1. Inspect the greens and discard or trim off spoiled stems or leaves. Trim the bottom ends off and discard. Wash the greens in several changes of the coldest possible water (tepid water might cause them to wilt). Pac choi tends to have pockets full of sand in the nooks where the leaves meet the center stem. Be sure to pull the leaves back slightly away from the stem when you're cleaning them.

2. Cut the cleaned greens into pieces 2-1/2 to 3 inches long. If any of the stems are more than 1 inch wide — or are tough or sinewy-looking, cut them in half lengthwise. Spin the greens dry in a salad dryer or set them aside to air-dry on a kitchen towel or paper towels; they needn't be bone dry.

3. In a large pot such as a wok, 12-inch skillet, Dutch oven, or soup pot, heat the oil over medium-high heat. When it's shimmery hot but not smoking, add the garlic, the salt, and, if using, the chiles. Sauté, stirring until the garlic just begins to lose its rawness, about 1 minute. (Try not to let the garlic turn golden or golden brown, which would give this dish an inappropriate roasted taste.)

4. Add the greens. Raise the heat slightly and immediately begin to vigorously stir-fry the greens around the pot. Continue to vigorously stir-fry the greens until they just begin to go limp but the leaves remain a spring-green color and the stems are still crunchy-crisp, 3 to 4 minutes. Taste for salt.

5. Transfer the cooked greens to a large serving platter, sprinkle with sesame seeds, and serve promptly. Greens continue to cook for a minute or two after they're removed from the heat, so do not place in a small bowl as they may become overcooked and mushy.