Life on the Farm (Week 27)

The birds are tweeting and chirping and singing, the sun is shining, a gentle breeze is blowing, and the bees are in a frenzy gathering their nectar and pollen from all of the bolted (i.e. flowered) early spring brassicas.
(Note the “pollen baskets” full of yellow pollen on both sides of rear legs.)

It’s going to be a beautiful day out in the fields. Other than more rain Friday night making the soil difficult to work and plant, growing is going well here at Farm WLIG.

Our weekly deer story is of a curious yearling venturing into the high tunnel. With all of the string trellising installed, it is a challenge for a biped with a higher order brain to navigate, let alone a quadriped with a flighty brain. We had visions of mass destruction of the tomatoes and cucumbers, as we ran out to ask the youngster to evacuate. Thankfully, it is a happy ending to this week’s deer story. She/he turned and sauntered out (I think they are completely without a startle reflex here in WI.)

The cucumbers are getting fat and sweet peppers are actually starting to turn colors. Soon, very soon!

Herbs headline The Market this week— a version from every culinary corner of the world. And more leafy things.

Ordering will be open from Sunday morning until Monday 8pm. Get your orders in now so harvesting can begin specific to your requests.

Deliveries will be made Wednesday per usual to your chosen Dropsite Location .

Recipes for your consideration

Kale, Lentil, Sausage Skillet

2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 package Kielbasa Tofurky-brand sausages, sliced
1 large onion, thinly sliced
2 tablespoons chopped garlic
Pinch of crushed red pepper, or to taste
2 1/2 cups water
1 1/2 cups red wine
1 cup lentils, preferably French green
8-12 cups chopped kale leaves
1 teaspoon chopped fresh sage
1/4 teaspoon salt
Freshly ground pepper to taste

Add the oil and onion to large skillet and cook until browned, 4 to 5 minutes. Add garlic and crushed red pepper and cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 15 seconds. Add water and wine, increase heat to high and bring to a boil, scraping up any browned bits. Add lentils, reduce heat to maintain a simmer, and cook, partially covered, for 40 minutes.

Add kale, sage, sausage and salt and cook, covered, stirring occasionally, until the lentils and kale are tender, about 10 minutes more. Add black pepper to taste.

Adapted from: EatingWell magazine
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Gravy Every Day

We eat a lot of gravy…it is a simple one-pan way to make up something flavorful and then just add a protein and top a starch or greens. This recipe is where we start, and modify the herbs as cravings direct.

1 # button mushrooms, sliced or chopped
1 large yellow onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 Tbsp olive oil
¼ cup dry white wine (optional)
¼ cup fresh parsley, chopped (or 1 Tbsp dried parsley)
5-10 fresh sage leaves, chopped (or 1 tsp dried, ground sage)
¼-½ tsp fresh ground pepper
4 cups vegetable broth
¼-1 tsp sea salt (if needed)
½ cup wheat flour or cornstarch
¼ cup nutritional yeast (optional, gives robust flavor)
1 cup cold water (1/2 cup margarine, for high fat version)

Sauté mushrooms, onions, garlic in olive oil until onions clear and mushrooms tender. Add wine (if using); allow to evaporate a few minutes.

Add parsley, sage and black pepper.

Add vegetable broth, cover and bring to a light simmer for 10-15 minutes.

Add salt if desired.

Mix flour and nutritional yeast with cold water in a container with lid. Shake vigorously to create a thick, pourable paste with no lumps. Add more water as needed.

Alternatively, for high fat version, melt margarine in pan, mix in flour and nutritional yeast. Add more melted margarine as needed to make a paste (roux). Stir over low heat for 2-3min.

Slowly pour paste into simmering broth while stirring constantly with whisk or slotted spoon. Note gravy consistency; stop adding or make up more paste as needed to achieve gravy consistency you prefer.

Did You Know…

“Until 100 years ago, most recipes didn’t call for specific measures.” (From The Science of Good Cooking) Recipes were basically suggestions of ingredients. And since most people had limited repertoires, had learned traditional cooking at the elbow of another cook (another family member or work supervisor), and were limited to (or blessed with) local, seasonal ingredients, meal variety was not what it is today. Considering our dietary dependence on fossil fuel these days, maybe limited variety and local ingredients is something to get back to!

But today we have measuring devices; if you want to be uber-precise, go with weight measuring. Short of that pain-in-the-neck, make sure you have both “dry” measuring cups, “liquid” measuring cups, and measuring spoons to reduce variability. Nowadays, you can find dry measuring cups with the added convenience of 2/3 and ¾ cup; and measuring spoons with 1 ½ Tbsp and drop/smidgen/pinch options too!

To use a dry cup, dip it into your dry ingredient, hold level and sweep the top edge with a flat blade/knife. To use a liquid cup, set it on a level surface and pour your liquid ingredient in while holding your eye at cup-level; fill until the liquid at the center of the cup (not edges) is at the appropriate line. To use measuring spoons for dry ingredients, follow the dry cup dip-and-sweep method. To use measuring spoons for liquid ingredients, hold steady and level and fill to the brim.

Easy conversions for scaling up or down your recipes: 1 Tbsp = 3 tsp and 4 Tbsp = ¼ cup

Produce Subscription Highlights

Anticipated this week for the CSA produce subscription boxes:

Salad turnips
Salad mix
Kale
Spinach
Broccoli
Thyme
Sage
Cilantro
Cucumber (maybe)

Start your meal planning now!

We hope to feed you soon!

Roger and Lara

**If you’d like to stop receiving emails, just jump into your account on the website (farmwlig.locallygrown.net, My Account) and scroll to bottom; check appropriate box.