Dear CSA-ers,

Apologies for the spotty communication as of late.  We've decided that our new dog Ruby is what is known in the training trade as a velcro dog.  The computer is in the basement, and Ruby can't negotiate the steep steps, so she has a fit.  Her answer is to get outside, which means jumping through an open window or pushing the screen door open.  So you might say the dog is eating my homework.

Today's share should include:

12 large chard leaves (you might chop the leaves from the stems and begin cooking the stems first and adding leaves later)

A medium bolting romaine lettuce and small butter or red oak leaf lettuces

3 cucumbers

a pound and a half of potatoes

Farm shares should also include:

a pound of french filet beans

a bulb of garlic

a sprig of bolting cilantro
(the above ingredients along with the potatoes can be used to make a mexican green bean and potato salad.  See recipe below)

Town shares should include:

a small cabbage

a romanesco broccoli, or three fourths pounds of broccoli and a cipolini onion.


SHARE INGREDIENT COMMENT:  As you can see today and on other occasions, everyone doesn't always get exactly the same thing in their shares.  This is a consequence of us being a small farm and not always planning perfectly so we will have enough of everything to divide equally thirty ways.  Also it is some times better to divide something fifteen ways and have everyone have enough to use in a meaningful way.  We make an effort to have things balance out over the weeks and the season, but we make no promises of perfect equity.

This week is an interesting example.  The farm shares got beans and all the ingredients for the mexican bean and potato salad because as you all got the same ingredients last week, but because you didn't get an e-mail, only the town shares who meet face to face with us got an explanation of what to do with them, so we are giving the farm shares another chance (see recipe below).

On the other hand, we value a pound of beans very highly so, we had to work to even the score with the town shares.  Some of you got a new special treat for the very first time: ROMANESCO BROCCOLI!!!!  Most of them should be a beautiful pale green spiral of florets, a few will look not so good with reddish florets and leaves between them.  We taste tested one of these today and it has our seal of approval.  Some seed catalogs put romanesco with broccoli and other put it with cauliflower.  Use it like either, either steaming the head whole or breaking off the spear like florets and steaming or boiling, or ...???  It's new to us too.  Jim heard about it at a party  at our rabbit rescuer friend's house, and decided to give it a try.  We think you'll like it.

Anyway, this variety of romanesco is open pollinated, which tends to mean it is not very uniform and also matures non-uniformily.  We may never have thirty of them all on the same day.  So maybe it will be luck of the draw for who gets them.

And finally to compensate the town share who didn't get a romanesco, we've include a specialty Italian onion called a cipolini.

Whew, equity IS  a dance.

MEXICAN GREEN BEAN AND POTATO SALAD

Boil some potatoes, throw in green beans for the last few minutes, cool the beans and potatoes and cut into bite size pieces.  Make a vinagarette dressing with garlic, oil, vinegar, mustard, salt and pepper (or a prepared Italian type dressing).  Marinate potatoes in beans in dressing.  Serve on a bed of lettuce.  Pull ferny leaves and flowers off of bolting cilantro (stems may be tough), and garnish with cilantro.

A PRETTY BED OF LETTUCE  Jim had an inspiration that we haven't quite tried ourselves yet.  Wash one of the small red oak leaf lettuces without pulling it apart, fan it out flat on the plate like a star.  Spoon potato and bean salad, or whatever on top.

Well, Ruby is having a panic attack.  Got to go.