CSA - Week 1
Ahhh, the thrill of the first week of share distributions. Hectic and nerve wracking as we scramble to make sure everything is ready, mixed with the excitement of finally getting to harvest and share the good stuff that we have been watching grow for the last month and a half.
As this may be the first CSA season for many folks, following are just a few random thoughts on what to expect and a couple of hopefully useful links.
- The first several weeks of the season are lighter shares, usually lettuces, radishes, peas,etc. The shares will get larger and heavier as we move into the season
- Most of the crops are harvested and directly put into the cooler to chill, Items such as beets, radishes, carrots which are in the ground will be washed and then cooled. Greens that have a lot of rain splashed dirt and sand will also usually be quickly dunked in water and then cooled. However we don't individually review each leaf of lettuce, beet green, etc as a result you may still find some dirt or a stray slug, snail, or bug tagging along, So its always a good idea to rinse and inspect you produce prior to consuming.
- Lettuce and greens like to stay cool with high humidity but not wet. A salad crisper is a valuable storage tool, but if you don't have one available, wrap the greens in a damp paper towel and place inside a plastic bag in your refrigerator. This should keep things nice and crisp for up to or more than a week. It will also crisp back up greens that are slightly wilted
- A couple of links to kitchen items that we use constantly throughout the season:
This weeks share includes:
- Leaf lettuce
- Kale
- Radishes
- Chicken
Following are a couple of recipe links. The first is to our Kale Chip recipe which can be found with others on our Recipes page. The second one is the roasted chicken recipe that I have used for the last 5 chickens I have roasted. It's from Pioneer Woman, (who I am a big fan of)
http://dfo-recipes.weebly.com/kale-chips.html
http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2010/04/herb-roasted-whole-chicken/