Week 4 Produce CSA box

Between the garden, animals and trying to finish most of our homeschooling for the school year, boy is it busy around here. We are staking tomatoes this week, fighting with the potato bugs for rights to the potatoes, pulling weeds and grass sucession planting vegetables. We have just planted a new batch of beets and swiss chard as well as some more tomatoes, okra and peppers. We even have a few baby tomatoes on some tomato plants. We just dug the first of the new potatoes this week as well as harvesting baby Bok choy and the first of the zucchini and yellow squash. Strawberries are beginning to wind down. We are also trying to get the summer grazing planted for all the animals.

Here is what is in your box for this week: Lettuces, Spring Onions, Baby Bok Choy, Spinach, Sugar Snap Peas, Pink or Red Radishes, Tarragon, Thyme, Greek Oregano, Zucchini/Yellow Squash, New Potatoes, Pea Tendrils (to go in your salads or on your sandwiches) and Strawberries.

I know you all know what to do with potatoes. But, I will share with you my favorite way of fixing them. If they are small, I 1/2 them and then drizzle with Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Sea Salt, Black Pepper and put in a few sprigs of rosemary. Add this to a roasting pan. Roast in pre-heated 450 degree oven until crunch on the outside. The kids love them and they are infused with that wonderful heady scent of rosemary.

I found this cool video on You Tube on how to prepare and use Baby Bok Choy. Here is the link in case you have never done anything with Bok choy. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EttMCuWXep8 It is for a Garlic Ginger Bok Choy. Bok Choy is called Chinese cabbage. Bok Choy is a member of the "Rape" or Brassica family along with Kale and many other greens. By the way, we have rape planted in our pastures and at certain times of the year the sheep and cattle are grazing it. Members of the Rape family are very high in Vitamin A and Calcium. You could even saute some Bok Choy and use with a rice pilaf or a quinoa as a side dish for a chicken meal.

Finally, I want to share with you my favorite thing to do with strawberries. http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Strawberries-with-Balsamic-Vinegar/Detail.aspx I absolutely love Strawberries in Balsamic Vinegar. The author of the recipe is right. The Balsamic vinegar brings out the full flavor of the strawberries. This is a great recipe served with homemade pound cake. Depending on how sweet the strawberries are that you have for the dish, you don't have to add that much sugar. Or you can choose to use a sugar substitute like Stevia.

We hope you are enjoying the veggies and the challenge of creating meals around what is in your box. As you can see, we are starting to get a couple of the late spring/early summer veggies. So, some variety of things. We will be at the Uptown Market in Greenville on Wednesday from 5-8 pm and also at the New Bern Farmer's Market this Saturday from 8-12noon. We will be bringing our Grassfed Beef this week as well as all our other meats. Look forward to seeing you soon.

The Rainbow Meadow Farms family