2017 Week 2 Newsletter
It's official! We are ORGANIC!
We are so excited to announce that Skokomish Valley Farms received our WSDA Organic Certification in the mail this week! What does this mean for you as a CSA member? Well - really not much. We will continue to farm the same way we have been - it is just a way of letting people know that we are farming in a sustainable way. Our goal has always been to grow healthy food for our members in a way that maintains the fertility of the land for future generations.
CSA Harvest Baskets
It was a flurry of harvesting last week to get our first CSA baskets out on Saturday with an early wake-up at 4:30 to get them ready before the Shelton Farmer's Market. We were so excited to get them ready and packed - then we realized that we will be doing this 19 more times! Truly - we are loving growing all this healthy, nutritious food for our CSA members. Just a note - the picture that we post here will be for full-share members and half-share members will receive some of what they see in the picture. We will do our best to make sure that our half-share members get a similar variety of items over the course the season. Paul loves his Excel spreadsheets and is tracking each basket by share type and delivery date so that every member gets a balance of items.
CSA Basket - Week 2
The daisies are in full boom here in the pasture - we included a bunch in each basket and hope that it will bring some sunshine to your days this week. A full-share also includes the following:
Black Star Zucchini* - these are grown in the hoop house - field ones won't be ready until July
French Breakfast Radish* - see the picture below for appetizer
Hakuri Turnips* - delicious sliced and eaten raw
Baby Mustard Greens* - spicy and delicious - saute and serve as a bed for poached eggs or grilled fish
Young Chard Leaves - try braising the chard and then adding it to a frittata or on a grilled cheese sandwich
Mixed Kale Bunch* - a variety of kale types - if you find kale too chewy you can blanch it first and then saute - make a salad with the sauteed kale by adding chopped walnuts and yellow raisins with a little vinaigrette
Chioggia Beets - gorgeous when sliced crosswise to reveal the red and white concentric circles - try slicing and then roasting with olive oil salt and pepper
Purple Sprouting Broccoli - the earliest spring broccoli - tasty fresh or roasted
Snow Peas - great for snacking or adding to stir fry
Veggie of the Week: Radish
This delicious appetizer was made by one of our members, Darlene, using a crusty French baguette spread with butter and topped with radish and spicy mustard micro greens from last week's basket. We love to see what members are doing with their veggies!
The radish is an annual plant that is grown for its peppery edible root. They have been used for centuries in Europe and West Asia for food and for their medicinal properties. Radishes are entirely edible - to include the leaves and the young seed pods - although most people prefer to eat just the root. It is an excellent spring crop as it grows well in our cool, wet weather and most varieties are ready in about 30 days. The varieties we like here at the farm are an heirloom called French Breakfast and the colorful Easter Egg which has purple, white, pink and red radishes all in the same bunch.
This week on the farm
The plants in the field loved the rain this week. We water the fields with drip-tape style irrigation that saves on water and helps suppress weeds, but plants still love water from the sky from time to time.
We continue to play catch-up from the late and wet spring but are feeling like we are closing the gap. This week included planting more tomato, eggplant, and pepper starts in both the high tunnel and the field. We seeded more turnips, radish, beets, and rutabaga. We will start to have more variety for our baskets in early July. Come visit us at the markets - we love talking with our CSA members!
Your SVF Farm Team