Spring CSA #3 2013

Spring CSA #3

Hi everybody!

Week number 3 and we’re still running green! I love green and can't get enough. Funny cause 4 years ago when we first started a customer asked me if we grew Kale...I didn't know what it was! Spinach was my "green" and now kale is old news cause this year I'm onto mustards...I cook out the spicy taste for my family but every once in a while the taste comes through and i think yum...I'm ready for more of a kick!  Today, i was drawn into the Arugula harvest for the salad mix...it smelled so good! I don't know where you  are on your green likes and dislikes but for me it's been a process of loving the mild like spinach to craving the peppery Arugula. I just hope you don't give up and keep trying, they say sometimes you need to try something 12 times before you develop a taste for it.
 It’s an overly busy week and we are being pulled in all directions of our life- not my thing really... But we all go through it you know when there is just too much -it makes my head spin.  Usually I am done all harvesting and packing by now and CSA morning merely consist of packing individual bins, but tomorrow morning I will be harvesting one more thing and then packing up the bins.

Greens in the greenhouse are still doing well but once the heat sets in for good they will all be replaced with heat loving plants.  We have lots seeded in the field and are focused on sticking to our schedule which was put together in winter- don’t know what I would do without that schedule now! The cold weather was beneficial to the greens and the rain kept seeded beds moist for germination.  Unfortunately, all the rain made the weeds grow and now we’ll need to get to those as soon as possible. We have some trellising to do and some crops to cover with row covers and soon lots and lots of planting!

Last week, I was not happy with the microgreens…those little buggers always end up with some little pieces of yellow or soft leaves that just make everything not so nice. That is why this week I have added a little extra.

In your basket you will find:

1 bunch of Kale

1 bunch of green garlic- use like a leek, white parts and all tender green parts

1 Stir Fry mix

1 bag of Lettuce mix

1 bag of Chez Nous salad mix

1 bag of Mustard Mix with lots of tender flower stalks...we always eat the stems also ( I see so many recipes say to remove them...they're the best part!)

1 small bunch of radishes

New this week:

Pea shoots which are grown in trays- found in Chez Nous salad mix and the stir-fry mix

Spinach

Harvesting Kale to then have easier access at my lettuces- these two have been a stunning mix growing together.

I have always struggled with how to market head lettuce as opposed to baby leaf for salad mix. Selling lettuce heads in the store was hit and miss. Pricing was tricky since they are all different sizes. Keeping them frsh was only possible if they were bagged and once bagged it was hard to tell how gorgeous they were. Finally, I stopped growing them. This year I tried again and decided that i would strictly bag the large leaves and sell them as a mix.  Now i can enjoy the beauty and wonderful vast world of heirloom lettuces, some of these leaves are bigger than my hand!

 Yukina Savoy before flowering above and Tatsoi flowering below. These broccoli like flowers are delicious!

 Tokyo Bekana and it's flower.

 Some items harvested for the Stir-Fry Mix. The Kale for the mix was harvested from the outside field it has a much firmer texture than the greenhouse grown Kale. Also chive buds, spinach, Red Komatsuna, Swiss Chard and all kinds of Asian Greens.

 Green Garlic Harvest, now for the cleaning...peeling off all the old clove, trimming the roots and tops.

All clean but that water sure was cold....


This weeks Chez Nous salad mix was jam pack with so many items: lettuces, kale, Swiss Chard, Parsley, Basil, Asian Greens, Arugula, Spinach, Pea shoots, Mache...

Sorry can't seem to turn this picture!  Do you know which green these are that re found in your Chez Nous Mix?
Top-Tatsoi, Yukina Savoy, Bietina Swiss Chard, Python Spinach and Tyee Spinach

I also thought i would add a link to freezing greens- this you tube video show how to blanch before freezing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AC8Ir3hp3Uk

And last, we will have some plants for sale this weekend if you are interested!



Thanks and have a great week!
Shirley and Rick

Spring CSA #2 2013

Spring CSA #2

Hi everybody!
Thanks for your timely pick-up and figuring out the pick up system. Sorry, i guess i should have told all new members how that part worked but you all figured it out! Bring some bags and empty your bin.
Hope you enjoyed your last basket, this week is some of the same and some new.
Someone asked if they needed to wash their stuff, i say all our stuff is farm washed so it's a good idea to give it one more rinse.  We wash everything with a double or even a triple rinse in our big stainless sink and it's still possible to miss something but it's pretty clean- one last wash from you and it should be perfect!

In your basket today you will find:
1 bag Spring mix Lettuce
1 bag of mixed Mustard Greens mild and spicy
1 bag of microgreens
1 bunch of Hakurei Turnips
1 bag of Stir Fry mix
1 Endive
1 bunch of Chives

This weeks harvest was such a pleasure, the greens are all so beautiful and perfect! The pest haven't really started yet even though i have seem them around.  I was just so grateful to see how nice everything looked.

Some of the lettuce in your Spring lettuce mix
Other items you will find in there are Asian greens, Mache, Baby Spinach, Arugula, Parsley, Kale , Swiss Chard and very baby Hakurei Turnips!

Salad Mix being washed, notice the tiny turnip.

Our mixes evolve over the season as different things become available and some can no longer grow because of the heat or too many pest.  In our Stir Fry Mix this week you will find. Kale, Swiss Chard, Hakurei Turnips, Asian Greens, Mild Mustard, Sorrel and some Chive Buds. Every part in that mix is edible. 

Chive Buds are delicious! So are the open flowers! 

Sorrel has a sharp lemon flavor 

Hakurei Turnips yummy cooked, raw and every part is edible!

All I could think when i harvested Swiss Chard this week was yummy! I could feel how tender the leaves were, cream of the crop!

Kale in Stir fry mix

Weighing out some Stir Fry Mix

Curly Endive. It's the first time we grow this, I think I may have picked them too small but they are delicious. Notice that the heart is pale compared to the outer leaves. This is accomplished by blanching them - they grow with an elastic around them so the light doesn't get to the center.  This can be eaten raw in a salad , lightly cooked or in a soup like we did this week for the following Italian Meatball soup.   I was so happy to get some greens in my son who isn't usually a huge fan.
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/giada-de-laurentiis/italian-wedding-soup-recipe/index.html

Micro Greens on their third rinse. Microgreens are baby greens like Kales and Asian greens. Use them to top a salad, meal or sandwich.

I can't believe how much production is coming out of this small area of garden basically grown for spring CSA!

You will find Mustard Greens in your basket again this week. The mild are mixed with the spicy.  Just a reminder for those who might not be used to the stronger taste these greens may have, if you boil them first- starting with the thicker stems and then adding in the greens it will remove most if not all the strong taste.  So in a pan or a pot boil until tender, then lightly saute.  My daughter is not a huge fan of strong tasting greens but if i do this she eats it just like it's Spinach.

Here's a quick supper we had, leftover potatoes with previously boiled mustard greens and an egg on top!

Today i look forward to starting my squash, zucchini seeds and finally finishing potting up my tomato seedlings! Till next time!

Shirley and Rick

Chez Nous Farms

Spring CSA #1 2013

Hello CSA members!

Well we are off again! We didn’t think we would pull it off for this week but we have! We are glad to be back on a two week schedule as it gives us 1 week off in between to focus on the season’s farm set-up.

We hope you are ready to reconnect with some old favorites and or embark on an adventure of new foods! Our  goal is to provide you with an experience similar to having your own garden.  We look forward to offering you all sorts of unique and fresh food items – many you would never see in a grocery store.  You’ll get to experience crops in all their forms from thinnings, to baby, to mature and even flowering.  If it’s in your basket-it’s edible!

This season, not all CSA newsletters will be posted on the blog, we have opted to keep our full and personalized newsletters to print outs and emails. The blog will try to focus on farm happenings and developments

Pick up times are as follows until further notice:

Wed on Farm pick-up can be picked up any time after 12

Niagara Falls pick-up between 2- 6

Saturday on farm after 9 (however this week will be ready Friday after 4 since Saturday is our son’s birthday)

In your basket today you will find:

1 bag of lettuce mix (L on bag)

1 bag of mild greens (M on bag)

1 bag of spicy mix (S on bag)

1 bag with some Tokyo and some Kale

1 bag of Sunflower Greens

1 small bunch of green garlic

Here’s some extra info on some of your items:

Sunflower Sprouts -new this season and might I say yummy! These are so easy to sneak in everywhere! Salads- as a topping to dishes- juicing- or ever so lightly wilted in a pan with a touch of butter and salt!

    

Green Garlic- is tender young immature garlic it can be used in any recipe in place of regular garlic, leeks or scallions and can be used raw or cooked.

Greens Spring means lots of greens! All of the greens you are receiving are great in salads. In fact, most of them you will see in our ever changing, with the season’s, salad mix. You will notice that many greens have little broccoli like spears in them. These are the flowers signaling that the plant will soon be going to seed. They are delicious!

Mustard Greens:

Great raw or lightly cooked.  Add mustard flavor to your sandwich!  Great with eggs in salads. The spicy ones have a rapini like flavor. They lose some of their pungency when lightly sautéed.   We cook many of our greens in a pan with a little water until tender, putting a lid on also steams.  Add just enough water , it’s easier to keep adding a little water than draining the leftovers. As soon as it’s cooked you can add seasonings like butter, olive oil, soy sauce etc..

Red Giant ( on left found in Spicy Bag), Ho-Mi-Zi  a.k.a as Dragon’s Tongue (found in Mild Greens bag)

Green Wave Mustard (left found in Spicy Mix) Kate’s Mustard (found in Mild Mix)

Tatsoi and Yukina Savoy ( the wrinkly one) both these are so versatile delicious  raw or cooked we often include this in our salad mix

Mache:

Delicious little rosettes! Use in salads like spinach and not usually cooked. This amazing little green is so hardy. Planted in the fall starts growing and finishes growing in the spring!

Mache ready to be washed

Mizuna (green) and Ruby Streaks Red ( can be cooked or eaten raw you will find this in your salad mix this week.)

Red Komatsuna ( can be cooked or eaten raw you will find this in your salad mix this week.)

Tokyo Bekana good with everything! People often think it is lettuce and we usually use it as lettuce in our mixes. Isn’t spicy at all even at full size like you are getting today. 

In with the Tokyo Bekana you will find some Kale.

Enjoy!

Rich and Shirley

Chez Nous Farms

Chantecler Roaster

Chanteclers

When we first started farming we started pasturing poultry. We took a workshop and followed the new trend of raising meat birds in Chicken Tractors on pasture.  Traditional meat birds (Cornish Rock) are moved a few times a day in moveable pens (tractors) and live outdoors eating grass and bugs etc...

We quickly figured out that this hybrid chicken variety is an eating machine...we spent a lot of time training them to eat grass and encouraging them to be more active in hopes to develop the fuller flavor and witness natural chicken behavior. There was, however, not much natural about this bird you see hybrid birds which are 100% of the chicken you buy, have been programmed to eat, eat, eat. ("What is a hybrid") They are not very hardy and can easily succumb to injuries due to their size.  We understood why they were content to live in a small moveable pen, they don't really move much having been bred for factory farming. They were also very pricey on feed in their mere 10-12 weeks of life and it seemed that most of the feed really just came out the other end.  When you are feeding  Certified Organic Grains things get expensive real fast.  The tipping point for us was how it made us feel- we did not enjoy these not so pretty and unperson-able birds.

We decided to go with a traditional Heritage Bird the Chantecler, the only Heritage chicken ever developed in Canada's.   What a difference! Not only in raising but in taste! These birds are active and have great personalities! They love, love , love to forage and naturally do it all day long. I have yet to see a chicken sitting ( which is what the others did the better part of their day). We can bred them ourselves and no longer need to depend on Hatcheries.  Yes they take 6-7 months to grow but those months are enjoyable... they eat way-y-y-y  less, don't stink, are beautiful and strong.  They can not be raised in "chicken Tractors" and need room to roam but hey that's less work for us too!  Our farm is our small piece of paradise and these guys fit in and act like real chickens!

The traditional roaster on left and the Heritage Chantecler on right.  They have definitely changed the shape of chickens over the years!

And how are they to eat? Wonderful.  Smaller but juicier and tastier.  They have a smaller breast and bigger legs.  They seem to self baste being slightly oily- so no need for oil or butter. They are slightly firmer and by far the best chicken we have ever tasted!  Definitely a must try!

In 2013, our first year of raising Chanteclers,

 we became obsessed with roasting the perfect bird. Our preferred method is as simple as is gets.

You will need only 4 ingredients...no oil or butter and no water we've tried and it's better without:

Roasted Chantecler Chicken

Ingredients:

-Chantecler

-Granitewear Chicken Roaster (This type of roaster was designed to retain moisture and brown the bird without taking the cover off and I believe is an important element in roasting Heritage chickens) 

-Salt and Pepper

- 1/4 to 1/2 Flour (depending how thick you like your gravy we do 1/4)

Heat oven to 325

Take note of the weight of your bird it's important! : (30 min per pound + additional 30 min to roast top)

Sprinkle bird with Salt and Pepper

Put in roasting pan breast side down ( sometimes we do ans sometimes we don't)

Now set your timer to cook bird for 30 minutes per pound.

When that is done, flip bird so that the breast is up put lid back on and roast another 30 min. ( If you haven't flipped just roast the additional 30 min)

Remove bird to a plate and make gravy

Tip: Since oven do vary some....our bird at this point often has collapsed. When ready legs just pull off easily. If for some reason your birds leg doesn't pull off but springs back another 15 minutes may be necessary


Prepare a container with about 2-3 cups of water and have near you at stove.
Put pan over stove-top burners and sprinkle about 1/4 of water to the pan  whisk it as best you can scrapping up any bits you can then add 1/4 flour and continue scrapping while mixing the flour into a nice paste it is good to try to brown the flour without burning.
When all flour is a paste and browned as much as you can without burning start adding your water and whisking.
Salt and pepper to taste.
You will eventually end up with the most succulent brown gravy!

A wonderful roasted base to work with.

Start adding water to your browned paste and keep whisking.


Here is a great link to cooking Heritage Chicken it explains how to cook the different ages - you would read parts pertaining to roasters as our Chanteclers are processed between 6-9 months: http://www.albc-usa.org/documents/cookingwheritagechicken.pdf

Asian Greens

Asian Greens can encompass quite a few different leafy vegetables such as Napa Cabbage and Bok Choy as well as those that will be presented here. They are available in Spring and Fall Shares when they grow best.  They are interchangeable within recipes but do have different textures and shapes and flavors.  All plants are excellent sources of calcium and vitamins A, C. 

Some of the Asian Greens we grow:

Yukina Savoy and Tatsoi which are very similar.  Flowering Asian greens are a delicacy!

Here's a nice and quick pasta recipe I like to add much more veggies to this dish though...mushrooms, peppers, tomatoes etc... 

Browned Butter Pasta with Tatsoi

Tokyo Bekana good with everything! People often think it is lettuce and we usually use it as lettuce in our mixes. Isn’t spicy at all even at full size. 

6 Tokyo Bekana or other Asian Greens Recipes

Red Komatsuna

Komatsuna Greens in Ginger Almond Miso Sauce


Tokyo Bekana (left) Red Mizuna (right)

okonomiyaki (Japanese Vegetable Pancake topped with Mizuna)


Eggs with Asian Greens and fresh herbs