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This Week's Share:
Asparagus
Lettuce:
Red Butterhead
Radishes
Rainbow Chard
Pea Vines
Rhubarb
Scallions
Strawberries
Some locations may receive:
Yakina Savoy
EOW Will Also Receive:
Lettuce:
Green Butterhead
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Dear Members of Turtle Creek Gardens,
Greetings! The coming week marks the first of our summer deliveries for Full (18 weeks) and Group A (9 weeks) shares. In addition to TCG-grown produce, your box will also contain some items from our partner farms:
- OG strawberries from Klug Orchards in Barien, MI--supplementing TCG strawberries
If you need tips on how to best store and process your veggies, follow the link to our
Storage & Handling guide.
Read on to get the full scoop on what's happening at the farm this year...
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What’s New for 2018?
This year Steve and I have decided to take on a couple of new projects. Just what we need, right? With the decline in CSA membership and stagnant market for small farms such as ours, we felt a need to explore other high value crop options to supplement our operation. I will address these things more fully as article highlights throughout the season.
Oil Seed Pumpkins
This highly sought and obscure oil is rich in omega 3 and 6, and its byproduct, pumpkin meal, contains 50% protein, making it more valuable than the oil itself. China dominates the world market for pumpkin oil and meal but companies who seek traceability and quality want domestic sources for their high-end labels.
This year we are growing 5 acres of oil seed as a trial, in partnership with Rohrer Organics in East Troy. This involves setting up the cleaning and drying facility and a pressing room. Hopefully, as an outgrowth of this project we can offer services for handling a variety of oil seeds for farmers who wish to produce alternative crops for a new market.
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Industrial Hemp
The big hype this year was the legalization of Industrial Hemp in Wisconsin and we jumped on the bandwagon. We are growing 5 acres of grain hemp and 1/3 acre of CBD (cannabinoid) hemp. The grain hemp is entirely mechanized production. It’s planted like corn and mechanically tended and harvested. The seed is used for food crops such as oil, hemp hearts, and high protein meal.
CBD hemp is grown very much like vegetables. Starting with a seedling and transplanting it to the field, each plant is grown for the flower and this is what’s harvested and sold as CBD bud. The CBD is extracted from the flower and then all sorts of products can be made from the oil.
Two Goats
We adopted two goats from the neighboring goat dairy to bring another species to the farm organism, possibly to raise goat meat for our Hispanic clientele, and have some babies on the farm for my grandson to tend. It’s a mini experiment so not sure what the verdict is but will keep you posted.
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Pigs and Cattle
We now have 10 Duroc piggies living in the rye forest. We cycle our pigs throughout the farm and they help clean up problematic areas for us, such as thistles, or where perennial crops need to be recycled.
We are at around 30 or so head of cattle that we raise for the Zinniker farm. So when you purchase Zinniker meat, you are purchasing the cattle raised here at Turtle Creek. This is part of our farm partnership which helps build markets and supports two farms working in collaboration.
Farm Collective
The farm collective is a forming group of local farms who share product, markets and essentially believe in the power of collaboration. We do not grow all our food but source from the collective such as potatoes, asparagus, strawberries, etc…We will indicate when certain products are coming from another source.
2018 spring Losses
There are always losses in farming largely due to weather and sometimes are own foibles. We continue to have unsuccessful pea germination. With the cold and wet, the pythium rotted the seed. It might be that we stop trying to grow this crop and leave it another farm with a different soil type.
We also had low spinach yields due to poor germination in the wet cold weather. The spike in 90-degree temperatures didn’t help our spinach either. We had a short spinach season and unfortunately it happened before the CSA began. We should have another shot for some good fall spinach.
On a brighter note, we’ve planted more sweet potatoes for our fall shares!
Bricks-and-Mortar Farm Store
Our new physical farm store will be open at CSA pick up (Wednesdays) and every Friday and Saturday through the season.
Our volunteer carpenter, Carl, has been very busy building beautiful screen windows, doors, window boxes, shutters and counter to get it ready for the new season.
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Each week we'll offer a recipe that can be used over and over with different vegetables as the season progresses. This week it's
Basic Sauteed Greens. You can use this recipe with yakina savoy, Swiss chard, spinach, kale, pac choi, beet or turnip greens--whatever you've got. Mix 'em up, too!
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Five Things to do with Pea Shoots
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Pea vines, aka pea shoots can be eaten raw or lightly cooked. They have a delicate pea flavor.
To prepare, rinse, drain, and chop into desired lengths.
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- Add to a tossed green salad, egg salad, potato salad, any kind of salad...
- Garnish a stir-fry
- Stir into mashed or roasted potatoes just before serving
- Lightly saute with garlic, red pepper flakes, and salt to taste. Sprinkle with coarsely chopped toasted peanuts or cashews.
- Tofu Breakfast Scramble
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Quick Asparagus & Lemon Pasta
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Hands-on time: 15 min. Total time: 15 min.
Ingredients:
2 T. olive oil, divided
1 onion, finely chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 LB fettucine
1 bunch asparagus, ends trimmed, cut into 1" pieces
1/2 c. finely grated Parmesan cheese
Zest from 1 lemon
Salt and pepper to taste
Method:
Bring large pot of salted water to a boil. Meanwhile, heat 1 T. olive oil in medium skillet. Saute onion until soft; add garlic and saute 1 minute more. Remove from heat.
Add pasta to boiling water. Cook according to package directions. During final 2 minutes of cooking, reserve 1 c. of pasta water and add asparagus to boiling water.
Drain pasta and asparagus. Return to paot; add 1 T. olive oil, onion and garlic mixture,, Parmesan, lemon zest, and 1/2 c. reserved pasta water. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Toss and serve, adding additional pasta water if needed.
Serves: 4-6
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Rhubarb: Sweet or Savory?
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Rhubarb is traditionally featured in desserts, but creative chefs have been finding new ways to use this classic old garden favorite:
Beef Tenderloin with Rhubarb and Red Wine
Ingredients:
3 T. whole grain Dijon mustard
2 T. prepared cream-style white horseradish
1 3/4 LB slender fresh rhubarb stalks, trimmed, cut crosswise into 3-inch-long pieces, pieces halved lengthwise if thicker than 3/4 inch
1/2 c. dry red wine (such as Pinot Noir)
1/2 c. sugar
1 2 1/4- to 2 1/3-LB beef tenderloin roast
Olive oil
Fresh Italian parsley sprigs (for garnish)
Method:
Mix mustard and horseradish in small bowl for sauce. DO AHEAD Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover and chill.
Preheat oven to 425°F. Arrange rhubarb pieces in single layer in 13x9x2-inch metal baking pan. Pour wine over rhubarb, then sprinkle sugar over; set aside.
Place roast on small rimmed baking sheet. Rub roast all over with oil; sprinkle generously with salt and freshly ground black pepper.
Roast beef 20 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 375°F.
Place rhubarb in oven alongside beef. Roast until rhubarb is tender but still intact and instant-read thermometer inserted into thickest part of beef registers 125°F for medium-rare, 12 to 15 minutes for rhubarb and 15 to 20 minutes longer for beef.
Remove rhubarb and beef from oven. Using slotted spoon, carefully transfer rhubarb to plates, dividing equally. Pour juices from rhubarb baking pan into small saucepan and boil until slightly thickened, about 3 minutes; pour syrup over rhubarb on each plate.
Transfer beef to cutting board; cut crosswise into 3⁄4-inch-thick slices and arrange beef slices atop rhubarb on each plate. Spoon mustard sauce over beef. Garnish with parsley sprigs.
Serves: 6
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Turtle Creek Gardens, LLC | 262-441-0520 |
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