https://www.cbsnews.com/video/the-long-and-short-of-microgreens/

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The week of November 10 we built an elevated set with the help of David Clark of Richmond Rebuilders to act as a stage for the crew to film Chef Craig Hartman and Michael and the microgreens overlooking the farm with a view toward the mountains of Swift Run Gap

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• Calamondin Oranges
• Turmeric
• Ginger
• Nasturtium Flowers
• Rose Geranium
• Lemon Verbena
• Cucumber
• Tomatoes
• Baby Salad Mix
• Baby Tatsoi
• Micro Red Cabbage
• Micro Cilantro
• Micro Broccoli

lamondin oranges, turmeric, ginger, tomato, cucumber, micro cilantro and baby tatsoi could all be a yummy addition to an Asian/Middle Eastern themed meal, especially a curry. Or consider using the micro cilantro for a taco night. Rose geranium and lemon verbena are great together in tea, as a syrup or in deserts, including baked goods. With the beautiful and tasty local strawberries at our Farmer’s Market right now, consider making a brew of the geranium, verbena, strawberries and a squeeze of calamondin for an exciting and delicious combo! For the best flavor infusion, do not boil the rose geranium and lemon verbena, rather heat until steamy and remove the leaves as they turn army green. Rose geranium does well soaked in yogurt for about an hour, making a nice dressing for an apple salad or fruit dip.

To your health and your pleasure, always! Enjoy

• Baby Salad Mix
• Tomatoes
• Cucumber
• Chef’s Chervil
• Red Ribbed Sorrel
• 10×10 Red Mustard
• Micro Amaranth
• Micro Cilantro
• Micro Tatsoi
• Micro Red Cabbage
• Poultry Herb Mix
• Mint
• Chives
• Marjoram

Some classic salad ingredients are included this week with a box of baby greens, tomatoes and cucumber. We like to chop the tomato and cucumber into a bowl and drizzle them with balsamic vinegar and use that combo as the “dressing” to the greens. The red mustard can make a nice side veggie for a dinner by just pan frying until wilted. They are also delicious raw, if you prefer. Consider the possibility of spring rolls this week using a selection of your microgreens, a bit of slivered mint, baby salad mix, and a chive laid in the middle. Serve with a plum sauce for dipping. (Some like these with fish sauce. A meat can be added to your liking such as cooked shrimp, chicken or beef strips.)To your health and your pleasure, always! Enjoy

• Calamondin Oranges
• Ponderosa Lemon
• Gourmet European Cucumber
• Baby Arugula
• Red Ribbed Sorrel
• 10×10 Lettuce Mix
• 10×10 Kale
• Chives
• Sage
• Mint
• Micro Red Cabbage
• Micro Collards
• Fresh Turmeric

With these hot dry days, consider an iced citrus mint, or cucumber mint beverage for refreshment. Torn leaves of mint and slices of citrus or cucumber can be cold brewed overnight in a container in your fridge for a light infusion. Or the mint can be brewed as a tea, allowed to cool, and then your citrus can be sliced and squeezed in. When using the Calamondin oranges, try using a pair of scissors to cut directly over your drink (salad, dish, etc).  If you want to exclude any seeds, cut over a bowl to catch the juice and skin then remove the seeds. I like to put one of the little oranges and some mint sprigs into my water bottle for the day, making for a gentle infusion.  

To your health and your pleasure, always! Enjoy

• Beet Greens 10×10
• Ginger
• Turmeric
• Watercress Box
• Collard Greens 10×10
• Salad Mix 10×10
• Mint
• Papaya
• Dozen Eggs
• microgreens

I don’t get out to restaurants much these days, but I have had a beet greens salad that I thought was delicious and simple enough to replicate at home. The beet greens are served fresh, raw, chopped into large pieces, and then topped with goat cheese, toasted pecans and a sweet balsamic reduction. Sometimes I will add a squeeze of orange on top. For the reduction, I put about ½ a cup of balsamic into a sauce pan and simmered it really low (beware of being directly over the pan as the fumes can bite the nose), and as it thickened up, added a tablespoon of honey. Just reducing the balsamic vinegar will be sweet, so this addition can be skipped. Sometimes I will sweeten the toasted the pecans instead and drizzle a bit of balsamic without reduction to save time. But the salad can be made entirely without any sweetening agents at all and still be very tasty.
This weekend marks the first day of our Spring CSA share and the first day of our Charlottesville Market, downtown right next to the Water Street parking garage. Our farmer’s market season runs from April to December at the downtown Charlottesville location, and south of town at Forrest Lakes (through October). All CSA members receive a 10% discount on purchases made at either of our market stands.
We really hope to see you at our Saturday market! Hope you have a marvelous week…to your health and your pleasure, always!

•Poultry Herbs
•Sorrel
•Anaheim Peppers
•Bell Peppers
•Eggplant
•Butternut Squash
•Dill
•Delicata Squash
•Watercress
•Yellow Squash
•Turmeric*
•Tomatoes*

Killing Frost this weekend -it’s already less than 30F as we pack up this evening – lots of winter squash along with the peppers and eggplant.
Turmeric and Tomatoes are added to the box just before pickup or selected from the display at the market.
Poultry Herbs and dill this week along with the last harvest of peppers and yellow summer squash.
Watercress is one of the world’s healthiest foods…from the way we grow the watercress to the way we cut and chill it, great care is given to create the most potentiality for taste and nutrition. Known for being a peppery, dark, leafy green that grows with a wet foot along creeks and ditches, we bring it up off the ground and grow it on benches…it cascades over the sides, looking for more footing.
Harvesting Turmeric as the season turns cold – a great healing rhizome with anti-inflammatory properties.

Sorrel is a leaf vegetable that is tart and tangy. This green can be eaten raw or cooked. Worldwide it can be found as the main ingredient in sorrel soups, served warm or chilled. There are curry recipes that include sorrel. It is very popular to combine with cream as a sauce. A simple sauce can be made to top off fish, chicken, potatoes, and other veggies. Here is a simple recipe to make use of all of your sorrel and ½ a cup of cream. Heat a skillet and melt butter. Chop your sorrel as large or as fine as you like and add to heat, just wilting the leaves. Pour in your cream and when it approaches a boil, reduce until the cream sauce coats the back of a spoon. Slather this on your cooked meat or veggies. Sorrel makes a yummy pesto which is also great for fish and potatoes. The onions included in your share this week go well as a pan roasted start for soup and you can utilize your garlic by making pesto. Try combining sorrel sauce with a garnish of sliced tomatoes for a nice twist. More rare are recipes combining fruits such as strawberries or peaches with sorrel. It adds a punch to smoothies and is a welcome addition to salads. I like to cut it into a salad of apples with nuts. When the peaches come, I want to try a recipe suggestion from whiteonricecouple.com: peach and sorrel salad, which is torn sorrel leaves topped with peaches and dressed with a vinaigrette salad dressing of honey, grapeseed oil, balsamic vinegar and vanilla. Yum!
Our sorrel won in an international cooking competition when the Inn at Little Washington took it to France with them. We hope you will enjoy a little extra zing this week in your meal preparations! Bon appétit!

• Ripe Papaya
• Field Arugula 10×10
• Rosemary
• Thyme
• Sage
• Yellow Squash
• Gold Zucchini
• Tomatoes *from set
• Cucumber
• Green Bell Peppers
• Anaheim Peppers
• Red Ribbed Sorrel

Papaya pie! Yeah, a little different, but i wanted to share my results: skinned, deseeded and chopped papaya was tossed with juice from 2 limes, !approximately ¾ cup of brown sugar, 2 tbs of honey, 1 ½  tbs of corn starch, plus healthy dashes of cinnamon and vanilla. This was poured into a prepared pie shell and baked on a jelly roll pan at 350F for 30 minutes. I thought it looked a little runny at end time so i dusted the top with some more corn starch, used a spoon to  gently fold that into the papaya filling and baked it for at least another 20 minutes. See the results in the photos and please overlook the tell-tale dusting trail…we thought it turned out very yummy! Maybe you will try it?

Papaya also makes a wonderful chutney for table condiments especially when enjoying a curry or rice pilaf.

Tomatoes are not encased in the box this week, they are “pick from set” and we will be encouraging you to consider canning a few pounds Rosemary, thyme and sage included to enhance sauce making.

To your health and pleasure, always, leslie

• Baby Carrots
• Ginger & Turmeric
• Calamondin Oranges
• Thai Basil Cuttings
• Potatoes
• Yellow Summer Squash
• Bell Pepper
• Baby Salad Mix
• Watercress
• Tomatoes
• Cucumber

Just a peak at a few of the creatures that visit the farm… the second photo at right was being shared around: accessible food brings new friends The deer and the groundhogs have been the worst for us, taking out broccoli, kale and a few others. We have replanted but hard to wait.. our sweet potatoes have been getting hit and we have been vigilant, transplanting from greenhouse kept cuttings. But squash is finally going fast, hence the plethora in your share. The thai basil cuttings include a few flowers and quite possibly some seed, if you would like to sprinkle it in a pot nearby your kitchen. Thanks for helping me out with the carrots: a section of plantings of carrots, spinach, etc, got overrun by weeds and grasses. Since this section needs to be dealt with, i wanted you to at least enjoy the delicacy of baby carrots and fresh tops before it all gets turned over. The greens are edible, can be run thru the juicer, be made into pesto, soup or dressing.

The photo of the juvenile constrictor, the black snake as we know them, against the blue background is to introduce you to a local friend that is sometimes mistaken for a venomous snake because of its markings. These snakes are a sigh of relief…less fear of stumbling across a copperhead. Only once have i seen a copperhead here, and nowhere near the busy cultivated areas of the farm. Now the black snake on the other hand…see ‘em all the time.