Category: Box of Good

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Organic, Conventional, and Chemical

I was reading in one of my farm papers and I was drawn to an article about biotech sugar beets and how this massive farm company (19,000 acres) was so thankful that the USDA had deregulated GMO sugar beets. I have actually met the president of this farm company a few years ago, which is also why the article caught my attention. I have been following the GMO debacle for years. What really set me thinking was a new shift in thinking.

In the past, farmers have been categorized as either conventional (those that use synthetic chemicals) or organic (those that don’t). But this president was also thankful that the USDA allowed GMO sugar beets, because one of his field managers said, and I paraphrase, “I was going to quit if I had to go back to conventional farming.” What this means to me is we have moved from two types of farming paradigms to three. We now have organic, conventional, and chemical farmers now! That field manager didn’t want to go back to using plows, discs and mechanical weeding, he just wants to plant, spray, and harvest. Talk about having to reread and reread and reread that statement. I am so grieved by this thinking. We are moving farther and farther away from the ability to farm without Monsanto’s GMO laced poison crops. Sure there are pockets of farmers like ourselves, but there are literally hundreds of millions of acres of acres now being farmed chemically and using GMO crops that it will be harder and harder to turn the tide on this trend.

We need to win this battle for good food. There are two ways to win this fight. First, don’t buy GMO products. This alone would cause these companies to change farming practices. Right now the money is too good to change. Hit them in the pocketbook and we will see change. And second, labeling. MANDATORY LABELING of GMO foods will “encourage” farmers, processors, and marketers to change more quickly when the public shies away from GMO products.

Future generations of people deserve the right to eat real food, from seeds that are not injected with pesticides and herbicides, grown in soil that is alive and fertile. That is what we believe and that is how we farm.

Thanks for being co-laborers in this fight for good food.

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What a Hit!

Alright, truth be told, I didn’t know what to expect when I announced to my team that we were going to have a Squash Fest. Having never hosted an event like this and with such short notice, I was thoroughly blessed to see so many of our customers on Friday and Saturday. An even bigger shocker to me was the turnout of seniors and super seniors.

In my mind, I imagined several young families coming out to “see” where their box of good comes from. While young families did show up, it was our “more mature” customers who wanted to buy squash, and lots of it. We even had repeat shoppers. Three customers in particular came back the second day for more of their favorites. As a farmer, it really blessed my heart to know they wanted more of the food that I grow and that it was worth the second trip in order to “stock up.”

Saturday was also a production day for us, so we had a crew out harvesting squash and bunching spinach. With all the activity of my crew working, customers picking, and tractors in the field, one customer commented that the picturesque scene remind her of Norman Rockwell’s artistry.

To help sort and accumulate the pumpkins into nice piles, I enlisted the help of a few young strapping boys. My crew, after handling several thousands of pounds of squash, was thankful for their help. So, thank you Caden and Chase for your help. And, of course, thank you Brenda for bringing your boys out to the farm.

For those of you who couldn’t make it, we harvested lots of squash that we will be sending your way over the next few months.

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Cover Crops, Soil Fertility, and Labeling

We have planted all of our open ground to cover crops this fall. Cover cropping is the practice of covering your fields or gardens with a living crop. It can be wheat, vetch, rye, peas, clover, and even weeds. The purpose is to maintain organic matter in the soil, which helps hold nutrients in the growing zone areas of the soil. Another purpose is to prevent erosion.  Down here where it floods, a lot of bare soil can move around quickly, but ground that is covered rarely erodes.  Also, the cover crop will take nutrients up into the growing plant and hold those nutrients all winter in the plant, preventing them from leaching away in the soil.

In particular, with our rainy winters, nutrients can migrate out of the upper six inches of soil and be lost. The loss of nutrients is a big deal because those nutrients represent lost money to the farmer and in the spring more fertilizer will need to be purchased to replace what nutrients leached away. But even more importantly, our environment is impacted when minerals are leached away and end up in rivers, streams, lakes, the ocean, and even work their way down to aquifers. And polluting our drinking waters with excessive agricultural chemicals and nutrients is not wise.

While farming can be a culprit for water table issues, in areas like the Puget Sound  our urban neighbors have a huge impact with the use of lawn and garden fertilizers and chemicals. Sadly, agriculture usually gets targeted for this issue because a lot of the urban chemical use is upstream of farmers and is filtered through the flood plains on their way to the ocean. Another reason the regulators sometimes blame farmers for water pollution is because, quite frankly, farmers represent less votes (approximately 1% nationally) than urban corridors.

On our farm we plant cover crops so we can grow healthier food, prevent erosion and feed our soil microbiology in the spring.  Without healthy soil, you can’t have healthy food. And if American’s health issues are an indication, American farmers should change their farming methods!

I think we could change the health of the American food supply by doing two simple things: first, start requiring labeling for GMO foods and secondly, before any farm subsidy is given out, the farmer needs to demonstrate that their soil fertility is being maintained by submitting soil samples. By doing these two things we would radically change the direction of our food supply for the better.

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Each day deserves to be special

Slowly backing my car out of the unfamiliar driveway, I watched my friend shuffle for her keys and lead her two young girls into the house they were staying in while visiting from out of town. As I drove away, tears began to well up inside me as I thought of my friend carrying on with her life after suddenly losing her husband just two months prior.

It is so cliché to come away from that scene and think that I will live my life differently, as her tragedy was a reminder of life’s frailty. Driving the ten blocks back to my house, I imagined myself collapsing into my husband’s arms, shaking from tears and trying to squeeze out the words, “I love you.” But by the time I got home my mind was already focused on tomorrow’s activities and all that needs to be done in and around my home. I said a quick hello to my husband and then set about my to-do list.

Our days are so filled with activities: lists of things that need done, children to care for, a home to clean, businesses to tend to, etc. It’s too easy to forget that at any moment it could all be gone.

For me, food has the ability to gently remind me of life’s gift—that this place is temporary and we are just passing through. Often when we eat, we have a moment to press “pause” on our day. I hope that perhaps we can press “pause” for a bit longer.

On the days when meals become another thing to simply cross off the to-do list, I try to remind myself that, as with life, food is a gift. Taking a few moments to slice fresh tomatoes and to top them with goat cheese, basil and olive oil, provides me the soft, sweet reminder that this day deserves to feel special. Each day deserves to be special.

Food is used to aid in celebrations, to welcome life, honor unions, and mark traditions. When an ordinary day is marked with a meal that feels somewhat out of the ordinary, then suddenly I am reminded that each day is a gift and there is no reason for it to feel like every other day. Life is far too short.

by Ashley Rodriguez

Chef, food blogger, and full-time mom. Read more of her writings at www.notwithoutsalt.com

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Imagine Children's Museum Harvest Festival, Oct. 8, 2011

We are so excited that Klesick Family Farm has been invited to participate as the resident organic farm during the Imagine Children’s Museum’s Harvest Festival scheduled for Saturday October 8, 2011.

What is the Harvest Festival?

From April to June, Imagine Children’s Museum hands out free seeds (pumpkin, zucchini, sunflower) for their program “Kids in the Garden,” which encourages families to get in the dirt together and plant a garden. One of the main components of the Harvest Festival is to ask children to bring in something they have grown in the garden and we display these “fruits of labor” in grand style. In addition to the “what have grown display” there will be harvest games, veggie art, vegetable science with our resident Dr. Science and just simple wonderful inside harvest fun.

Here at Klesick Family Farm, we have a wonderful representation of organic farming, and we will be  sharing our knowledge with visitors at the Harvest Festival. We encourage all of our fans and customers to come to the Harvest Festival to learn more about local organic farming!

For more information on the Harvest Festival, please visit the Imagine Children’s Museum website here!

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Right2KnowMarch.org – A MOBILIZATION FOR GMO LABELING

I have been thinking about the state of our national health and the health of our national food supply. Frankly, it is really pretty poor. We (the government) have been incentivizing corn, soybeans, cotton, and canola for far too long. Ironically, these are also the crops that the biotech industry has been promoting for years. And one could draw a parallel between the health of our people and the health of our food supply.

Sadly, legislative change is the only solution to America’s nutritionally void food crisis.  Farmers need to be encouraged to stop planting GMO (Genetically Modified Organism) crops and start planting more fruits and vegetables—more real food with real nutrients for the dinner plates of Americans. It is then that we will see the health of Americans improve. But this is no easy task. Half of the senators in DC are have constituents in the regions that grow GMO crops and the USDA is pro-biotech. And if half of the senators are going to vote favorably for GMOs in their district, it is nearly impossible to make meaningful legislative change.

What is the solution? Labeling, labeling, labeling! The only thing that will stop GMOs and this nutritionally poor USDA food policy is labeling. Give consumers the right to know what they are eating and stop hiding the GMOs in processed foods. We deserve the right to know if our food contains GMOs or not.

Starting this week, on October 1st, there is going to be a “Right to Know” march from New York City to our nation’s capitol.  For 16 days, concerned citizens are going to be marching to bring awareness to the importance of labeling. This is truly a fight, a good food fight, and our children’s children are beneficiaries. The biotech companies of the world do not want this to happen. They are adamantly opposed to labeling, but this is America and Americans should have the right to know if their foods contain GMOs or not!

You can follow along at right2knowmarch.org

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Not Until You Eat Your Veggies!

You know the routine. Opening up the vegetable drawer in the refrigerator to fill it up with produce from your box of good and, lo and behold, there are the beets from the last delivery—limp, wilted, and once again destined for the compost. You know that you would eat them, but no one else will eat them if you prepared them.

Now, growing up I didn’t like things like beets, kale, or other green things. For me, the only thing to do with beets was paint my plate, lips, and face with them, until my mom caught sight of it and then I still had to eat them, which I did, but with great reluctance.  (As a child, I discovered that if you plug your nose when eating foods you can’t stand, you can’t taste them as well so they’re easier to swallow!) My sister, however, loved beets and sometimes she was nice enough to eat mine for me. Today, I eat beets, along with many other veggies, probably largely due to my mother’s persistence in getting me to eat my veggies.

Good food should be something one enjoys! Often, certain veggies are an acquired taste—it takes time before we come to the point of enjoying them. If your family has recently made the switch to healthy eating, it can be a bit of a challenge changing your diet from processed, and/or high-sugar foods, to one that includes home-cooked meals with organic ingredients and more fresh vegetables.

A balanced diet is important when it comes to your personal health, but it is doubly important in your children’s. Diseases that were only heard of with adults over 50 are now a legitimate concern among our country’s youth. What your child is eating now is laying the foundation for later in life, and your behavior and attitude about food will make an impression on them every time you sit down at the dinner table.

For a three year old, a plate of veggies may not seem very exciting. Changing perception can go a long way in getting your children to eat healthy and balanced meals. A plate of veggies that is colorful and topped with a homemade cheese sauce can be very fun. Incorporating the flavors s/he is familiar with and enjoys may be the difference between food introduction failure and success, and first impressions are very important when it comes to introducing new foods.

“If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again!”  This rings true in the food world. Remember, taste buds do change over time. Also, by trying different ways of serving up the veggies your children may finish the entire serving the second or third try, despite having a declared hatred for it! The secret is to either make the vegetables tasty or go completely unnoticed. Serving up veggies on their own may not be that appetizing, but as soon as you throw a good dressing into the mix or pile them into a tasty casserole, you can enjoy watching as they are happily devoured!

Consider grating or chopping veggies to make them go unnoticed. Broth-based soups are a nutritional wonder and when puréed many things that have difficult textures are easier to swallow. Finding creative names for veggies is a great way to add a fun perspective to eating. Cool names can make cool foods: “dinosaur broccoli trees,” “elf trees,” “power peas,” or “X-ray vision carrots.” Getting them to try something new is 90% of getting them to like it!

In summary, when it comes to changing your family’s eating habits, Mom, you are the one who makes it happen. You are changing your family’s futures for the better. And you are doing an awesome job!

Cheers!

Marty, for the Klesick Family Farm

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Labor Day Holiday Delivery Schedule

Our office will be closed September 5th in observance of Labor Day. Because of this closure, our deliveries for that week are scheduled as follows:

For delivery Wednesday:

Tuesday customers and Wednesday customers in Monroe and Anacortes.

For delivery Thursday:

Thursday customers, except south Marysville (south of 100th St NE) and remaining Wednesday customers.

For delivery Friday:

Friday customers and Thursday customers in south Marysville (south of 100th St NE).

If you are planning on being away during the holiday week, please inform us if you will need to skip your delivery or, better yet, consider having us deliver your Box of Good to a local food bank through our Neighbor Helping Neighbor Program.

Have a happy Labor Day!

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Know Your Produce – Kohlrabi

Have you ever eaten a kohlrabi? These little sputnik-shaped vegetables come in green or purple, can be eaten raw or cooked, and taste a lot like broccoli stems. The word kohlrabi is German for cabbage turnip (kohl as in cole-slaw, and rübe for turnip), though kohlrabi is more related to cabbage and cauliflower than to root vegetables. We usually eat them raw, just peeled, sliced and added to a salad, but they are also delicious cooked and are often used in Indian cuisine.

If the kohlrabi leaves are still attached to the bulb, trim the  m and store separately. If the leaves are in good shape—firm and green—they can be cooked but will need to be used within a couple of days. The bulbs should be stored, unwashed, in a plastic bag. They will hold for about a week in the refrigerator.

Simple preparation: Tender, young kohlrabi is delicious eaten raw. Peel the outer skin with a paring knife. Slice, dice, or grate, and add to salads. Use on raw vegetable platters or serve with a creamy dip. Substitute in recipes calling for radishes. Grated kohlrabi can be added to slaw, but lightly salt it first and let stand for several minutes. Squeeze to remove any excess water before adding dressi  ng. Kohlrabi can also be steamed or boiled. For this preparation don’t peel until after they are cooked. Steam or boil until bulbs are tender, peel skin, and season with butter, salt, and pepper, a cheese sauce, or just enjoy plain.

If the leaves attached to the kohlrabi bulb are fresh and green, they can be enjoyed as a cooked green. Wash the leaves and remove the ribs. Blanch in boiling water until just wilted, 3 to 5 minutes. Drain and squeeze excess water from leaves. Chop leaves, then sauté in a little olive oil or butter. Season with salt and pepper. Add a splash of vinegar or squeeze of fresh lemon juice.

From www.care2.com/greenliving/how-to-use-kohlrabi

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Fresh This Week Tips-August 5, 2011

BLACK FRIAR PLUMS

STORE: Refrigerating plums before they’re ripe results in a mealy texture, so allow firm fruit to ripen at room temperature up to 2 days, until the flesh is soft and the skins develop a silvery, powdery coating. After that, store them in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.

PREP: Remove the pit by slicing all the way around the fruit, starting at the stem end. Rotate each half and the pit should come free.

USE: Plums pair well with both sweet and savory foods and make an excellent accompaniment for cheese, chocolate, and dessert wines.

PERFECTION APRICOTS

STORE: To ripen, keep apricots at room temperature in a paper bag until soft and fragrant. If you’re not eating them immediately, they’ll keep refrigerated in a paper bag for up to 5 days. Dried apricots can be kept in an airtight container for up to 6 months.

PREP: To pit an apricot, cut around the seam, then twist the 2 halves. The pit should pop out easily.

USE: Apricots are delicious in sweet tarts and other desserts, add a fruity touch to savory stuffings, and complement lamb, poultry, and pork especially well.

RASPBERRIES

STORE: Refrigerate unwashed in a single layer on a plate, covered loosely, up to 3 days.

PREP: Raspberries are very fragile. Right before using, rinse off with your sink sprayer or give them a quick dip in a bowl of water; don’t soak too long or they’ll get waterlogged and turn to mush.

USE: Raspberries are best eaten raw but also make delicious jams, muffins, and desserts.

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Planning For Gray

Imagine yourself sitting inside this winter, watching the rain drops race one another down the windowpane. The constant drizzle and gray days have come and you now wonder if you’ll remember what the sun looks like or if you’ll ever see it again. The thought of roasting another root vegetable is too much to bare. You dream of drinking cold lemonade on bright green grass, where a sudden shock of cold spray from the sprinkler refreshes and quenches under the heat of the sun. For some reason, the drizzly rain of our winter is nothing like the welcome sprinkler in the summer.

I want you to really think about your future self, sluggishly meandering through those long gray months, when you long for a taste of summer – one of the tastes that we presently have in abundance.

The saying is true: “Live in the moment.” Eat raspberries right off the vine. Bite into a peach so juicy you are forced to eat it over the sink. Pluck peas off the vine. Eat a tomato that has fully ripened on the plant with just a whisper of salt. These are the summer moments you will cling to when the sun fades. Preserve these moments. Soak up as much of our northwest sun as you possibly can. Eat a sweet, juicy apricot now and freeze the rest in order to attain a taste of summer in the winter. Stock up on this bounty, then can it, jam it, pickle it, or freeze it. Your future self will thank you.

Recently, I spotted a 20-pound box of apricots. I had to have it. My husband, ever the realist, pointed out that this is a very busy week and we are leaving on vacation next week. Would I have the time to deal with 20 pounds of fruit? Valid question. But these are apricots – fresh, sweet, local apricots. They might not be around by the time we return from our week-long trip. In my mind there was no option.

I immediately set out to work and a mere two days, pounds of jam, bags of frozen fruit, and three tarts later, I paraded an empty box in front of him.

With a freezer full of rhubarb, strawberries, apricots, and jam I anticipate the cold, gray mornings! I’ll be there, hot coffee in hand, with a slice of butter wheat toast slathered with apricot jam.

by Ashley Rodriguez

Chef, food blogger, and full-time mom. Read more of her writings at www.notwithoutsalt.com

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Mango & Avocado Salad

Ingredients

1 ripe mango, peeled, pitted and cut into 3/4″ spears

1 ripe avocado, peeled, pitted, and also cut into 3/4″ spears

3 or 4 big handfuls of leaf lettuce

1 shallot, minced

1 tablespoon lime zest

2 tablespoons lime juice

4 tablespoon olive oil

2 tablespoons yogurt

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2  teaspoon ground cayenne

1 or 2 turns of pepper

Directions

Place the greens in a serving bowl.

Whisk together the shallot, lime juice and zest, and olive oil.

Once the dressing is emulsified, whisk in the yogurt, cayenne, and salt.

Pour half the dressing over the greens and mix with your hands.

Arrange the mango and avocado in an alternating circle on top, and drizzle with the remaining dressing.

Finish with a turn or two of pepper and serve.

Serve up, and enjoy!

*Recipe taken from Gojee.com

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Lazy Summer Lasagna

Ingredients

  • Fresh pasta sheets, cut into eight 5” squares (note: you can use store-bought lasagna, cooked, cooled slightly, and cut into 5” lengths)
  • 2 T olive oil
  • 2 garlic cloves, minced
  • 1/2 medium onion, chopped
  • 1 small zucchini, sliced thin
  • 1 small yellow squash (or more zucchini), sliced thin
  • 2 cup fresh whole-milk ricotta
  • 3 tablespoons chopped, summer savory (or oregano)
  • 2 tablespoons chopped, basil
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
  • 1 tomato, sliced thin

Directions

  • Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Cook pasta sheets, two at the time (to prevent sticking), 3-5 minutes until al dente. Transfer, with tongs, to a plate.
  • In a sauté pan, add oil over medium-high heat. Stir in garlic and onions, and cook 5-7 minutes until golden brown, stirring frequently to prevent them from burning. Transfer garlic and onion to a medium bowl, and set aside. In the same sauté pan, add zucchini and summer squash, and cook 6-8 minutes, stirring, until translucent.
  • Add ricotta, summer savory, basil, salt and pepper to the bowl with garlic and onion. Stir well and season to taste.
  • To assemble, place one pasta sheet on a plate. Spread with ricotta-herb mixture. Top with zucchini, summer squash and tomato slices. Finish with an additional pasta sheet, if desired. Season to taste with additional herbs, salt and pepper. Repeat to make a total of four lasagnas.


From www.fresh365online.com

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Fresh This Week Tips – July 26, 2011

KIWIS

STORE: Place unripe kiwis in a paper bag with an apple, pear or banana at room temperature for a few days. These fruits give off ethylene gas, which helps accelerate ripening.

USE: Packed with more vitamin C than an equivalent amount of orange, the bright green flesh of the kiwifruit speckled with tiny black seeds adds a tropical flair to any fruit salad. Of course, kiwis are also delicious eaten straight out of their skin.

PREP: Wash the kiwi and dry lightly with a paper towel. Cut the kiwi in half so that you have two oval kiwi halves. Hold one kiwi half in your hand and slip the tip of a metal serving spoon just under the kiwi skin. Slide the spoon along the curve of the kiwi to separate the kiwi fruit from the skin. Slice the kiwi half into 1/4-inch slices.

PEACHES

STORE: Even firm, unripe peaches are delicate, so handle them carefully to avoid bruising. Ripen hard fruits at room temperature, stem-side down, until the flesh feels soft when pressed and they begin to emit a subtle fragrance. Refrigerate peaches only after they’ve ripened, which can prolong freshness for up to 5 days.

USE: Try grilling or roasting peaches for an excellent accompaniment to pork, fish, and chicken.

PREP: If baking, look for freestone peaches, whose pits are easier to remove. To slice, cut through to the pit all the way around the seam, twisting each half to dislodge the stone. A squeeze of fresh lemon juice can prevent sliced fruit from browning. To remove the fuzzy skins before baking, submerge whole fruits in boiling water for 10 seconds, then slip off the skins.

ZUCCHINI:

STORE: Refrigerate, unwashed, in a plastic bag for up to 5 days.

USE: A component of ratatouille, zucchini is also good grilled, roasted, steamed, pan-fried, or raw. It also adds a boost to sweet breads and muffins.

PREP: Wash zucchini by gently rubbing them under cool water. Slice off both ends of the zucchini. Cut them into rounds, spears or half moons.

Start your morning off right with this interesting recipe, courtesy of Gojee.com, for Zucchini Pancakes.

RECIPE: ZUCCHINI PANCAKES

INGREDIENTS:

  • 2 medium zucchini
  • 1/2 medium yellow onion
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 clove garlic, finely minced
  • 1/4 cup parmesan cheese
  • 1/4 teaspoon minced fresh thyme or oregano
  • 1/4 teaspoon grated lemon zest
  • 1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
  • 6 tablespoons flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil, plus more if needed

PROCEDURE:

  • Shred the zucchini and onion on the large holes of a box grater or in a food processor with the shredding disk. Place the shredded vegetables in a colander in the sink and sprinkle with the salt. Toss to combine. Let drain for 30 minutes, then pick up by the handful and squeeze out as much moisture as possible. Place on a kitchen towel or double layer of paper towels.
  • In a medium bowl, combine the eggs, garlic, cheese, herbs, lemon zest, and pepper. Beat well with a fork. Add the drained zucchini mixture and mix together. Sprinkle the flour and baking powder on top and mix with a fork just until well combined.
  • Heat one tablespoon of the olive oil over medium-high heat in a wide, heavy pan. When the oil is hot, drop the batter into the pan by heaping tablespoonful. Cook for about three minutes on the first side, until nicely browned. Flip and cook for about two minutes more. Place the cooked pancakes on a paper towel-lined plate and repeat with the remaining oil and batter. Serve with a dollop of Greek yogurt, sour cream, tzatziki or applesauce.

Enjoy!

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Bitter, Short, and Ugly

No, the title has nothing to do with my personal description—ummm, I’m not bitter :). It has to do with some of the challenges we faced last week in our effort to bring you the freshest quality organic produce available.

Our goal at Klesick Family Farm is to deliver a box of produce that will “Wow!” our customers and leave them with the feeling that we have served them the way we ourselves would want to be served. Tristan working the crops in his field, Marty coordinating with our suppliers and planning the produce for the week, Mike and Brenda processing hundreds of customer orders, our warehouse crew quickly hand packing a multitude of boxes, and our delivery guys scurrying throughout our region to place a box of good at your doorstep, all have one goal—to serve our customers with perfection.

Now, of course, this perfection of service sometimes gets a bit of interference from Mother Nature and human fingers. Last week, for example, the baby leaf lettuce we planned on using from our farm was bitter so we had to change to regular lettuce. We ended up short on the russet potatoes because we were accidentally sent a few cases of a different type of potato. We also had to cancel many orders for fresh raspberries because, although scrumptious, they arrived partially juiced.

These last minute hiccups usually require us to adjust your order or change what we had planned for your box of produce. We feel badly when these things happen because we know at times they may inconvenience you. But because we will never intentionally send you a wrong or bad product, sometimes we do end up having to make changes in order to serve you well. If we end up having to change an item(s) in your box from what we had originally planned, please know that you are always receiving the same value.

You are why we are in business and to serve you well is our goal. We appreciate your understanding when changes happen as we work to bring you the freshest quality organic produce available.

Wishing you all the best,

Jim Coleman

Office Manager

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Fresh This Week Tips – July 19, 2011

FENNEL:

STORE: Store fresh fennel in the refrigerator crisper, where it should keep fresh for about four days. However, it is best to consume fennel soon after purchase since as it ages, it tends to gradually lose its flavor.

USE: The stalks of the fennel can be used for soups, stocks and stews, while the leaves can be used as an herb seasoning. Try using Fennel to make an antipasto salad, with fish, onion soup or add it to a vegetable side like green beans for some extra flavor.

PREP: The three different parts of fennel—the base, stalks and leaves—can all be used in cooking. Cut the stalks away from the bulb at the place where they meet. If you are not going to be using the intact bulb in a recipe, then first cut it in half, remove the base, and then rinse it with water before proceeding to cut it further. The best way to slice it is to do so vertically through the bulb.

RAINBOW CHARD:

STORE: Do not wash rainbow chard before storing it because exposure to water can encourage spoilage. Place chard in a plastic storage bag and wrap the bag tightly around it, squeezing out as much of the air from the bag as possible. Place in refrigerator where it will keep fresh for up to 5 days. If you have large batches of chard, you can also blanch the leaves and then freeze them.

USE: Great in salads, chard can also be cooked. If you’re looking to cook your chard, one of the best ways to bring out the sweetest flavors is by boiling it for at least 3 minutes, but be sure to discard the water once it is fully cooked. This ingredient makes a great addition to many Italian dishes or breakfast frittatas.

PREP: Rinse chard under cold running water. Remove any area of the leaves that may be brown, slimy, or have holes. Stack the leaves and slice into 1-inch slices until you reach the stems. Cut stems into 1/2-inch slices discarding the bottom 1 inch portion.

CELERY:

STORE: To store celery, place it in a sealed container or wrap it in a plastic bag or damp cloth and store it in the refrigerator. If you are storing cut or peeled celery, ensure that it is dry and free from water residue, as this can drain some of its nutrients.

USE: There are many great ways to use celery both as a delicious snack and in a meal. Consider adding chopped celery to your favorite tuna fish or chicken salad recipe or include celery leaves in a salad. Try braising chopped celery, radicchio and onions and serve topped with walnuts and your favorite soft cheese.

PREP: To clean celery cut off the base and leaves, then wash the leaves and stalks under running water. Cut the stalks into pieces of desired length. If the outside of the celery stalk has fibrous strings, remove them by making a thin cut into one end of the stalk and peeling away the fibers.