May 31,
2005
Welcome CSA Members!
Happy Spring! Welcome to a brand new season and the third year of Arcana’s CSA project. We are delighted to be providing new and returning members with another year of fresh, organic produce each week. If you have any requests, suggestions, feedback of any kind, or submissions for the weekly newsletter, please don’t be shy! We love to hear from our members, and we take your input very seriously. There will be a “Share the Harvest” basket with pens and paper by the bulletin board in the farm stand that will serve as a place for such communication. Just make sure we know who it’s from!We’d like to remind everyone that pick-up is from 3:30 to 6:30 every Tuesday (note the new start time, as it differs from last year). Please try to be here by 6:30, because at the end of the day we’re tired, hungry and ready to go home. For the month of June we will “pre-bag” your shares. This is for our own convenience, as we are still actively selling seedlings from our retail greenhouse and customer traffic is still quite high. If you do not pick up your bagged share (June) on Tuesday we will hold it until the following day, but it will obviously not be as fresh . After Wednesday any unclaimed bags will be donated to the food shelf. We are really looking forward to July, when we will be laying the produce out on tables for you to select and weigh for yourselves. The harvest tables should be a veritable cornucopia! If you can’t make it, CALL AND INFORM US. You are welcome to send a friend or neighbor in your place to pick up your share as long as you tell us ahead of time. Also, feel free to bring in your own recycled bags or baskets to bring your share of the harvest home in, otherwise we’ll supply the bags...and the smiles!
In response to last year’s surveys, we have made some changes to our growing plan to serve you better. We hope to provide you with even more salad fixings this year. We will be praying for sun and warmer weather this year for good crops of corn and tomatoes. We have boosted our production of many of these things (more than we think we’ll need) and are hoping for better growing conditions this year. We have also come up with acceptable harvest minimums for each individual crop, as we understand that it sometimes was a bummer to get home with too few of something to follow a recipe or to feed a family of four. We will do our best to address these issues of quantity. In turn, we ask that you understand the seasonal nature of our harvests. While your weekly bounty will average 15 pounds per week, the spring harvests are bound to be lighter, as they are “heavy” on the greens. And the harvests that come later may weigh in well above 15 pounds with squash and potatoes and other heftier items. We thank you for your understanding and your participation in this dialogue as we try to bring you the best of what we have to offer. We hope you enjoy!
This Weeks Harvest:
Mesclun salad, spinach, radishes, chives
back to top
Farm Updates:
-Cool and wet weather means the soil hasn’t warmed up so crops are coming on slower. Some decent sunshine will give them all a boost!
-Greenhouse tomatoes are looking great
-The Strawberries are flowering
-We are planning on totally revamping the u-pick herb area in front of the farm stand. There will be a small vine-covered structure and larger, lower boxed-in garden beds. The design is still in the works, but look for many changes in this area.
-The baby robins have successfully fledged from their nest in the perennials pergola.
You-Pick
We will inform you as soon as the U-Pick area is ready for U to Pick. At the request of last years’ CSA members, the crops in the U-pick area will be well labeled for your convenience. There will always be someone available to help you when you come to harvest your own goodies out of this area.
U-pick times are Tuesdays thru Sundays, during Arcana’s retail hours (check these—they change seasonally)Crops in the U-pick: Strawberries, beans (several varieties), peas (shelling, snap, snow), cherry tomatoes, pineapple tomatillos, tomatillos, ornamental corn, gourds, small pumpkins, sunflowers, zinnias, herbs (in boxes): cilantro, dill, basil, rosemary, thyme, mint, chives, savory, oregano, marjoram, bay, and sage.
CSAnything!
We are excited to be joining our efforts with other local farms to offer add-ons and feel that it contributes to the quality of our CSA. The majority of the additional items we are offering will be available on a subscription basis. In other words, you prepay and then receive your allotted amount(s) in a time-dispersed manner (e.g. every week, every other week). Items will be priced on a pro-rated basis depending on the number of weeks of delivery, so the prices indicated below may vary due to the date you sign up. The LAST date to place orders will be June 28th. In accordance with the spirit of CSA, orders placed cannot be refunded. Purchasing local products in this way provides much-needed support to local producers. We hope you agree with this philosophy and choose to take advantage of the many delicious products available to you through our CSA.
We can assure the availability of the following items:
Organic Bread (Red Hen Bakery) – 2.5 lbs. loaf every week for $110.00 ($5.50/wk). (Half-loaves for half-shares at half the price.) These special CSA loaves are not available in stores and alternate every week between a “standard” loaf, and surprise loaves. The standard loaf is a light, whole wheat bread made from grain that is grown and milled in VT! In the past surprise loaves have included maple walnut, rye pumpkin seed, and apple.
Organic Goat Cheese (Doe’s Leap) – Approximately 8 oz. per week. They give members a rotation of their delicious cheeses. You can purchase full or half shares. A full share means you’d receive cheese every week with pick-up. A half share means that you’d receive cheese every other week. A full share is $95 for the full season (20 weeks of cheese) and a half share is $50 for cheese every other week (10 weeks of cheese).
Top Quality Eggs (Vermont Compost Co.) – Full shares get 1 dozen eggs per week with pick-up at $65.00, or $3.25 a dozen, and half-shares will get a half-dozen eggs per week with pick-up for $32.50. These will be available starting next week.
Fair Trade Organic Coffee (Vermont Coffee Company) – These luscious coffees are available in 1 lb. bags only. They are available in Dark Roast, Mild Roast, and Decaf. Dark and Mild are $9.00/lb. Decaf is $11.00/lb.
Organic Free-Range Chickens and Turkeys (Well’s Family Farm) – We are offering 3 share sizes with the 20 bird share (a bird every week) for $300.00, the 10 bird share (a bird every other week) at $150, or the 5 bird share (one bird per month) at $75. The chickens will average 4.5 pounds, dressed. These yummy free-ranging chickens will be ready June 21st, and Erik will be here that day with some samples to try if anyone is still on the fence. The Wells will be taking orders for fresh Thanksgiving or Christmas turkeys in September, so we will let you know when the orders go in.
We will also be selling local raw honey from Honey Garden Apiaries in Hinesburg, as well as Arcana’s own value-added products during CSA pick-up if you are interested (herbal teas, dried herb blends, jelly and jam, salsa, and pickles). Those will be available for on-site purchase. For more information about any of these items, please inquire in the farm stand for brochures.
The Recipes
Baked Blue Flower Chive Omelet Recipe
4 eggs
4 tablespoons milk
Salt and pepper to taste
2 tablespoons minced chives
3 tablespoons butter
Several chive blossoms, gently washed and dried
Melt the butter in a frying pan then combine the remaining ingredients (save the blossoms) in a blender and pour into the hot, buttered pan. As the edges of the omelet begin to set, reduce the heat somewhat and with a spatula turn the uncooked eggs to the bottom of the skillet until they are all cooked.
Sprinkle the washed blossoms across the top of the eggs and then fold the omelet over and let cook another few minutes. Serve.
Yield: 2 servings
Recipe from: Cooking in the Shaker Spirit by James Haller and Jeffrey Paige (Yankee Books)
Creamy Chive Salad Dressing
This would work well on a summer pasta salad.
2 tablespoons lemon juice
3 tablespoons light olive oil
2 tablespoons light cream
1 tablespoon mayonnaise
2 tablespoons snipped fresh chives
Combine all of the dressing ingredients in a small bowl. Add salt and pepper to taste. Whisk together thoroughly. Pour the dressing over the salad and toss thoroughly.
Radish Salad with Vella’s Dry Jack Cheese
The Vella family’s Dry Jack cheese from Sonoma County in California is one of our national food treasures. It’s increasingly possible to find nationwide, but if you can’t get your hands on some, use Parmigiano-Reggiano. This is a very pretty, bright, and lively little salad. You can stray successfully from its utter simplicity by adding some freshly blanched and peeled fava beans, radish sprouts, or very small arugula leaves.
2 bunches breakfast radishes or mixed varieties
2 tablespoons thinly sliced chives
olive oil, as needed
2 to 4 ounces Dry Jack or Parmigiano-Reggiano
salt and pepper
radish sprouts, leaves, or arugula greens, optional
1. Set aside a handful few of the most tender radish greens. Trim the radish roots, leaving just a bit of the stem, and wash them well. Wick up the excess moisture with a towel, then thinly slice, either lengthwise or crosswise. Put them in a bowl and toss with the chives, radish greens, and enough oil to coat lightly.
2. Put the radishes on a platter, shave the cheese over them, and add pepper and the optional greens, if using.
From Local Harvest by Deborah Madison.
Fresh Spinach Salad with Poppy Seed Dressing
1/2 c. white sugar
3/4 c. vegetable oil
1 tsp. dry mustard
1 tsp. minced onion
1 tsp. grated lemon peel
1/3 c. lemon juice
1 tbsp. poppy seed
2 to 3 drops red food coloring
Fresh spinach leaves
Mandarin oranges
Almonds, sliced and toasted
You can make dressing up ahead and refrigerate. Blend all ingredients very well. Wash fresh spinach and arrange on salad plate. Top with 6 to 8 sections of mandarin oranges, sprinkle the toasted almonds around and pour the dressing around salad.
A great tasting salad to go with most any type of meal.
back to top
