Blue Gate Farm News – Volume IV,  Number 6  –  June 5, 2007

 

In this week’s box:

Beets: Chioggia (red & white rings), Golden (yellow), Blankoma (white)

Garlic Scapes (the curly green things that smell like garlic in the plastic bag)

Lettuce (young heads, various)

Radishes: Cherryette and Easter Egg Mix

Tapestry Salad Mix

 

For those with the Herb option: The very first Blue Gate Farm Herb Book

 

Featured Recipes (on back): Garlic Scape Pesto, Sesame Beet Greens

 

Rain this week: 2.5”

 

What’s up on the farm?

 

Well the first week’s pickups all went without a hitch.  It was great to get a chance to visit with all the new members a bit and to catch up with past members.  It’s been a busy week since then, with lots of weeding, seeding, more weeding, harvesting in the rain and yet more weeding.  So far we haven’t seen any losses to the rain, though we have had to re-seed a couple of areas.  The salad crops, while not a loss are showing some stress from the heavy rains.  We had some fabulous help in our war against the weeds last week when one of our new member families came out to spend an afternoon on the farm.  A short tour, a little bird watching, and a lot of weeding made for a busy afternoon and beautiful weed-free carrot rows.  Big thanks to the Kavanaugh family for all their hard work.

 

The newly sown beans are breaking through the soil and the sugar snap and snow peas are starting to flower, as are the potatoes.  There are also a few overachievers in the tomato patch that are blooming early.  There are even a few tiny zucchini plants bearing giant yellow blooms.  When we catch these early blooms we try to pinch them out until the plants are a bit more mature, but inevitably we miss a few. We even found one tiny cucumber starting to grow as we tied up all the cuke plants onto their new trellis this week.

 

The feature of the week is one of our favorites…garlic scapes.  Scapes are the immature seed stalks of hardneck garlic.  If left in place, they will use much of the garlic’s energy which results in smaller garlic bulbs, so most growers trim the scapes out and discard them.  However, harvested when scapes are still in full curl, (they straighten as they mature) they are a real delicacy.  They provide a subtle garlic flavor and crunchiness if added to salads and soups, they are marvelous in stir fries, and can be processed in vinegars, as pickles, or into a green "pesto" sauce (see recipe). Scapes are a very short season product and this will likely be our big chance to enjoy them this spring.

 

 

Best from the farm,

Jill & Sean

 

 

 

 

Garlic Scape Pesto

1 cup tender scapes, cut into 1" pieces, then processed in a food
processor until finely chopped
Add the following and process until well blended:
2/3 cup olive oil
1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/3 cup chopped pine nuts

This can be served now or frozen for future use.

Source: Karen Delahaut, the vegetable specialist at the University of Wisconsin, Luna Circle Farm

 

 

 

Sesame Beet Greens

1 bunch beet greens
1 small onion
2 to 3 garlic cloves or garlic scapes
2 tablespoons sesame oil
1 teaspoon sesame seeds

Remove beets from greens and wash greens.  Coarsely chop greens. Chop
onions and garlic. Heat a small skillet.  Add sesame oil, onion and
garlic.  Cook until onions become translucent. Add sesame seeds and
beet greens. Stir, then cover the skillet and cook for 1 or 2
minutes.

 

Source: Luna Circle Farm