Late spring lovelies

Encouraged by the nicely-timed rains of the past few weeks, the onslaught of weeds has seemed unstoppable lately. But the farm crew has been out valiantly battling them every day, trying to beat them back with everything we've got. A walk through the fields this morning left with me the feeling that we're about to turn a corner, thankfully.  With good effort--and a new crop of volunteers slated to start this week--I think we can gain the upper hand, and hopefully keep it for the rest of the season.

Cabbage seedling in the greenhouse.
photo: Sophie Shillue

Our new crops this week--beets, fennel, and cabbage--have been a long time coming. Late spring crops like these take lots of patience. It feels like forever ago that we seeded them in the greenhouse, while we still had a blanket of snow covering the fields. Months have gone by--we planted, hoed, irrigated, hoed them again--and now they're finally ready. Enjoy!

In your share this week: chard, spring cabbage, the last of the garlic scapes for this year, fennel, beets, kale, a greenhouse cucumber, and a basil pot. Pick Your Own is your choice of sage, oregano, or dill, or a mixy bunch of the three.

Wondering what to do with the PYO herbs? If you don't have a use for them this week, they're so easy to dry and save for use later. You can use the oregano in August to make a tomato sauce, sage pairs well with winter squash in October (or make sage honey, sage butter, or sage maple syrup!), and dill with the new potatoes we'll have in a few weeks. This article has a full list of options for drying your herbs, but here's the quickest way. Find someplace warm and dry (like your pantry or broom closet), wrap your herb bunch very loosely with cheesecloth, or put into a paper bag and cinch the bunch and the top of the bag closed with a rubber band or twist tie. Hang upside down and come back and check it in a few days. When the leaves are brittle, it's done! Crumble the dried leaves with your fingers and store in a labeled jar.

Recipes of the Week 

This week we have some new veggies--some that aren't American staples like corn and potatoes. These three easy recipes are guaranteed to make you fall in love with these ugly duckling veggies.

Basic Roasted Beets
Never had beets and liked them? When you roast them they sweeten up and become really tender and delicious. It's easy and it's my favorite kind of cooking--set it and forget it.

1 bunch beets
1 Tbs of olive oil
Pinch of salt

Preheat the oven to 425. Trim the greens off the beets, leaving about an inch of the stems on (save the greens to saute with your chard!), and trim off their roots. Scrub them well with a veggie scrub brush. Make 2 foil packets, put the beets in, drizzle with a splash of olive oil and a pinch of salt. Put the packets on a baking sheet and roast for 45-60 minutes, until the beets can be easily pierced with a fork. Let the beets cool in their packets. Since a lot of the nutrition in beets is in the skin and in the layer right under the skin, it's best to eat them with the skins on. Slice them into wedges and serve as a side.

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Peanut, Carrot & Cabbage Slaw
from one of my favorite food blogs, thekitchn.com

For the dressing:
3 tablespoons peanut butter
3 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 tablespoons freshly-squeezed lemon juice

For the salad:
3 cups cabbage, shredded (from one head of a cabbage)
4 large carrots, grated
4 green onions, sliced thinly
4 large radishes, sliced thinly
1 teaspoon sesame seeds, to top
1/4 cup chopped peanuts, to top

To make the dressing, combine all of the dressing ingredients in a small bowl and whisk vigorously to combine.

In a large salad bowl, combine cabbage, carrot, green onions and radishes. Toss with dressing. Top with sesame seeds and peanuts. Serve immediately or chill before serving. This salad is best the day it's prepared although it's just fine the next day if covered and refrigerated.

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Fennel Citrus Salad 
Giada de Laurentiis on the Food Network

This is favorite in my family. We save some of the wispy tops of the fennel bulbs, chop them small and sprinkle them as a garnish over the finished dish. The important thing with the fennel is to slice it super thin--if you have a mandolin, that works great. Otherwise use the large slots on a box grater, just watch your fingers!
Giada has a quick video of the recipe on the Food Network page.

1 large orange, peeled and ends trimmed
1 grapefruit, peeled and ends trimmed
1 large fennel bulb, very thinly sliced; reserve tops for garnish
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 cup packed fresh basil leaves, roughly chopped (I've subbed in an 1/8th of a cup of mint, finely chopped and that worked too.. but you can use the basil in your share here!)
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/3 cup chopped walnuts, toasted (hazelnuts work great a substitution here too!)
2-4 Tbs finely chopped fennel fronds for garnish

Place a sieve over a medium bowl. Hold the orange over the bowl, and using a paring knife, cut along the membrane on both sides of each segment. Free the segments and let them fall into the sieve. Repeat with the grapefruit. Squeeze the membranes over the bowl to extract as much juice as possible, reserving the juices in the bottom of the bowl. Don't squeeze the fruit segments you just created. Place the fruit segments and fennel in a salad bowl.

In a blender or the bowl of a small food processor, blend together the oil, basil and 3 tablespoons of the reserved juice until smooth. Season with salt and pepper, to taste. Pour over the fruit and fennel. Add the chopped walnuts (or hazelnuts) and toss until all the ingredients are coated. Garnish with the chopped fronds.

On our way to the Weymouth Food Pantry with our first Food Access Fund delivery of the year.
Left to right: Isaiah, Casey, volunteer Katya, and Rory.
Photo: Sophie Shillue