CSA Share Week #20

Excavators have been at work in the back of our farm digging a new pond (see pic). We know…it’s square. It was dug in a part of the farm that always lies wet but was--no surprise--bone dry as they dug, up until the last week.

            This will be the 3^rd pond on our farm, and it was built for the sole purpose of irrigation, as was pond #2.

The 1^st pond was here when we bought the farm. It’s a long, narrow pool of water that is too shallow to pull water from but makes a nice habitat for water birds (a mallard couple, every spring) and place for skipping rocks in summer and ice skating in winter.

The new pond will provide irrigation for the very back of our farm where we established new vegetable fields in just the last couple of years.

We’ve been aware of the vulnerability of these new fields in terms of water access, but the cost of building another irrigation pond seemed too daunting. After this past summer, we’ve realized it’s much too costly not to have a pond out there. So, there we have it—1 million “gallons” of soil scooped up and relocated to build us a hole. The pond is too far out for ice skating, but we are thinking it would make a great spot for a camp site once we’ve re-established some grass around its…square (?) edges.

In this week’s share:

1 Napa cabbage

1 bunch green onions 

1 bunch turnips

1/2 pound spinach

1 butternut squash

1 bunch collard greens

1 bunch carrots

2 heads of garlic

 Fruit Share: Bosc pears

TENDER TURNIPS

This week’s Japanese-style turnips are known for their milder flavor—mild enough to eat in a salad but also something you can cook without its turnip-y flavor being too intrusive. The skin is delicate and thin, so peeling is not necessary. Here are a few recipes that looked tempting to us:

Japanese Turnips with Miso (uses the greens!) 

New Orleans Coleslaw (lets you use this week’s green onions and Napa cabbage too)  

Glazed Turnips (this recipe uses the greens too)

We agree with cookbook author Susie Middleton, who says in the opening of this great Collards recipe, “The trick to quick-cooking collards (which are typically braised slowly for tenderness)is cutting them into very thin slices.” This recipe is on Fine Cooking magazine’s web site but also can be found in her book Fast, Fresh and Green (a handy book for helping you navigate through all of your CSA greens!)

You might also check out her web site, sixburnersue.com, for this recipe for Roasted Turnips and Pears with Rosemary-Honey Drizzle as well as a whole lot of other ideas for what to do with your fresh produce.