Our little girl is pretty girly, give her anything pink or purple and she's happy.   She gets extra excited for her veggies when I hand her a purple bean or we have purple grilled potatoes with dinner.  Dark colored vegetables are especially healthy too.  They contain more antioxidants than their lighter counterparts.  Purple fruits and veggies can also help to decrease blood pressure and inflammation related to diabetes & arthritis.  Even more reason to enjoy these beauties from the field this week!

We love eating green beans right off the plant, when I do cook them I try to keep them nice and crunchy.  Last night I made something similar to this dish I found on realsimple.com-
Garlicky Green Beans with Pine Nuts

Here is our simple and delicious dip for any kind of radish- 
I always adjust the size of the batch as needed, so the measurements are easy to work with.

Creamy Feta Dip 

• 1 Part Feta Cheese- We love Maplebrook Farm's feta 
• 2 Parts Sour Cream
• As many chives, scallions or onion greens as you would like
• Salt & pepper

Farming is a pretty easy job to romanticize.  We work outside in the fresh air all day, we harvest baskets full of beautiful vegetables and we are rewarded at the end of the day with a sense of accomplishment in seeing that tidy row of carrots we just weeded.  It is a pretty awesome job and there is nothing we would rather do!  But I'm sure you know it's not all sunshine and rainbows running a farm.  We work outside in every kind of weather Vermont throws at us, we haul around really heavy bins of vegetables and throw a lot of it in the compost, we spend hours on our hands and knees weeding tiny carrots knowing we will be back weeding those same carrots again in a few weeks.  And we absolutely love it, it is the most rewarding and humbling job we have ever had.  We are surrounded by so much beauty here, from lovely little cherry tomatoes to the compost bucket filled with swiss chard stems!

Since we are swimming in summer squash & zucchini right now I gave these a try.  Next time I'll add some herbs and spices to the bread crumb mixture, but they were pretty good just like this-


Parmesan Squash Chips

• 2 medium zucchini or summer squash- slice into ~1/4" thick rounds
  
• 2 T olive oil
• 1/4c. fresh grated parmesan cheese
• 1/2c. bread crumbs
  
• 1 clove garlic crushed
• salt & pepper
  

Pre-heat oven to 425.  Combine Parmesan, bread crumbs, garlic, salt & pepper in a bowl.  Toss squash in olive oil then press each slice into the bread crumb mixture.  Put in a single layer on a cookie sheet and bake for around 30 minutes until golden brown, flip them over halfway through.  

Cabbage, Kale & Carrot Salad-

• 1 T olive oil
• 1 T grain mustard
• 3T apple cider vinegar 
• 2t honey
• salt & pepper
• 1/2 bunch kale-  destemmed and chopped
• 1/2 medium cabbage- chopped 
• 2 carrots- grated
• 1/4 c. parsley- chopped
• 2 T chopped fresh onion
• 2-4 T sunflower seeds

In a large bowl whisk together first 5 ingredients.  Add in everything else and toss.  It is best if let to sit for an hour or so before serving.  Enjoy!

Over the next week or so you will see the barn fill up with our lovely garlic crop.  The weeds put up an especially good fight this year, but they were no match for Shane and his creative use of the weedwhacker!  Things are moving along nicely right now, we are starting to seed fall crops like carrots and beets.  The summer squash and zucchini are growing like crazy and very soon those tomatoes are going to be doing the same!

This recipe for Royal potato salad is adapted from Plenty an excellent vegetarian cookbook-

2 hard or soft boiled eggs
1 cup freshly shelled peas, blanched
1 1/2 lbs. new potatoes
1 c. basil leaves
1/2 c. parsley
1/3 c. walnuts
1/2 c. grated parmesan
2 cloves garlic
1 c. olive oil
1/2 t. apple cider vinegar
a few springs of mint leaves, finely shredded
salt & pepper

In boiling water cook potatoes for 15 to 20 minutes until they are soft but not mushy.
While the potatoes are cooking place the basil, parsley, walnuts, parmesan & garlic in a food processor and blend to a paste, add the oil and blend until you get a runny pesto.  Pour this into a large bowl.
Drain potatoes, as soon as you can handle them cut in two.  Add to the bowl with the pesto, toss with vinegar, peas and mint.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  
Cut eggs into large pieces and gently fold into salad.

We harvest our fennel much earlier than most farmers, our chefs love it at this size and once you try it you will see why, the flavor is amazing!  Fennel is great grilled, roasted, shaved into salads and in this simple slaw I found online the other day.  It only takes a few minutes to put together, but let it sit in the fridge for at least an hour for the flavors to settle in.
- Click here for the Fennel Slaw with Mint Vinaigrette recipe -

As the farming season gets more hectic our dinners tend to get a little later and a little simpler ( aka- lazier).  When it hits 90 degrees here and our favorite pizza place is closed we grill.  The other day we had a early season version of our favorite summer dinner.  I grilled garlic scapes, beets and the very first zucchini from the field.  I also grilled the beet greens, I stirred them around in a bowl with olive oil, apple cider vinegar, salt & pepper and threw them on at the last minute until they were just wilted.  We love this dish with rice, olives, plain yogurt, chèvre or feta and hot sauce.  

Our little one has been eating salad every day lately, which I obviously want to encourage.  I knew she would  love this dressing with strawberries and maple syrup in it!  I used some leftover grilled beets along with feta cheese and sunflower seeds in this salad.

Strawberry Maple Balsamic Vinagrette

• 1 Garlic Scape
• 4 Strawberries
• 1/4 c. Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 1/4 c. Balsamic Vinegar
• 2T Maple Syrup
• 2t Whole Grain Mustard
• Salt & Pepper

Put garlic scape in a blender or food processor and chop finely, add everything else and blend it up!

It is certainly starting to feel like summer on the farm, especially when we spend  afternoons by the river and snack on peas, greens and strawberries out in the field!  It only gets better from here friends!  Garlic scapes are one of my favorite seasonal treats.  Scapes are delicious in any egg dish, but we use them  everywhere in place of garlic, they are great on the grill too.  Dandelion greens are a super healthy slightly bitter green, they are good in salads, juiced and also cooked.
Try them in this quiche I made the other day!
  This week in your share-
Peas!  Strawberries!!  Beets, Lettuce, Garlic Scapes, Scallions
Your choice of- Kale, Chard or Dandelion Greens
'Hakurei' Turnips & Herbs 

• Pie Crust
• 5 Garlic scapes finely chopped
• Bunch of dandelion greens chopped
• 1/2 c. Feta cheese - crumbled
• 1/4 c. Grated Parmesan cheese
• 1/2 c. cooked rice- really good with a wild rice blend
• 6 Eggs
• 1/4 c. Milk
• Salt & pepper to taste

Pre heat oven to 375.
Sautee the garlic scapes in butter or olive oil for about 2 minutes, then add in dandelion greens and turn off heat, this should be enough to wilt the greens.  
Spread the rice evenly around the bottom of your pie crust, then layer the scapes and greens over that.  Top with both cheeses.  
Whisk together the eggs and milk adding in salt and pepper as you like it.  Pour this into the pie crust.
Bake for around 40 min until puffy and golden brown.
Enjoy!

Spring got off to a slow start this year, but the past couple of weeks have been near perfect growing conditions.  Warm sun, not too cool at night, and just the right amount of rain.  The plants just love it and so do we!  
- For your first CSA share-
Kale or Rainbow Chard, Spring Garlic, Radish or Hakurei Turnips, Lettuce, Baby Bok Choy, Shoots and your choice of Herb.  

This was our dinner the other night, so simple and delicious- 
Sesame Noodles with Bok Choy & Hakurei Turnips

• Package of Soba or Udon noodles
• Baby Bok Choy washed and roughly chopped
• 4 stems of spring garlic chopped
• 4 Hakurei turnips sliced
• 1/4 c. sesame seeds
• 4T Tamari or Soy sauce
• 2t honey 
• 2t rice vinegar
• 4t sesame oil
• 3T fresh herbs- I used cilantro & thai basil.

Cook noodles according to package.
In a large frying pan sautee the garlic in oil for a minute then add in the turnips, once they are tender add the bok choy and sesame seeds.  I like to add in a little bit of the tamari at this point too.  Let cook until the bok choy is just tender.
In a bowl combine tamari, honey vinegar and sesame oil.  Whisk together
Toss everything together in a large bowl, adding fresh herbs, enjoy!

I love making salad dressing, but for some reason I had never tried a Buttermilk dressing until last night.  It might be my new thing this summer...
Herbed Buttermilk Vinaigrette

• 1/4 c. Buttermilk
• 2T Apple Cider Vinegar
• 2T Olive Oil
• salt & pepper
• 4T herbs- I used mostly chives with some parsley and thyme too 
  

Put everything in a canning jar and shake it up!
So good with sweet spring lettuce and fresh radishes

This weeks brings the end to our first CSA season.  Before it began we didn't know just how wonderful CSA pickup day would be, we just thought we'd harvest the veggies, you would come get them and that's it.  But it is SO much better than that!  This summer was a little intense bringing former hay fields into production, breaking ground for future fields, establishing wholesale accounts, wrangling a toddler  and dealing with all the other usual battles farming entails- like months of rain and insects that are set on destroying everything.  That all adds up to us not getting out much (don't worry we make up for it in the winter!)  Right now we are bringing in the last of our field crops, cover cropping open fields  and preparing our greenhouse which was full of tomatoes all summer for winter greens production. We want to thank you so much for supporting us in our first year we could not have done it without all of you!

Butternut Squash is one of my favorite to cook with,  I add it to soups, stews, vegetable roasts, lasagna, ravioli, pizza and even burritos!  I made this lasagna the other night I'm still going strong with the kale caesar salad, which I will again highly recommend!  For butternut squash lasagna I simply use a plain vegetable lasagna recipe as a base.  I cut the butternut squash in half, scoop the seeds out and roast it with a little olive oil on the outside and several garlic cloves tucked into each seed cavity.  Once it is well roasted I puree it in the food processor with a little parmesan cheese,  I like to add spinach kale or chard to the ricotta cheese as well as plenty of herbs like parsley thyme and sage.  When I assemble the lasagna I start with tomato sauce in the pan, then as I make the layers I use the butternut squash in place of tomato sauce.  On the very last layer I finish with tomato sauce and cheese on top.  Enjoy!

This week in your share-
Butternut Squash, Brussel Sprouts, Carrots, Herbs, Spinach
Lettuce, Garlic, Kale or Chard, Broccoli Crown
Pick your own roots & tubers mix-
Beets, Parsnips, Potatoes & 'Purple Top' Turnips 
and a Pumpkin!

I know, it looks weird and no one knows quite what to do with it.  But just a little google search brings up plenty of delicious recipes.  In the summer we love kohlrabi slaw and slicing it up thinly for our salads.  It is also nice in baked dishes like potato gratin.  Last night it was so chilly we needed something warm, these spicy fries were delicious and super easy to put together.  I used the same recipe with some thinly sliced delicata squash, switching the chili powder out for jerk seasoning.  Try it, I'm almost positive you will fall in love with kohlrabi!

Baked Kohlrabi Fries-

• 1 Bunch Kohlrabi
• 1 Tsp. Lemon Juice
• 1 Tbl. Tamari
• 2 Tbl. Olive Oil
• 5 Tbl. Flour
• 1/2 tsp powdered ginger
• 1 tsp chili powder
• pinch of salt
  

Preheat oven to 425.  Peel kohlrabi and cut into sticks not to0 big or they won't bake well.  Combine lemon juice, olive oil and tamari in a large bowl, toss with the kohlrabi.  Then add in the dry ingredients and stir to coat.  Spread out in a single layer on a baking sheet.  Bake for 30 minutes or until crispy, turning halfway through.  Enjoy!

Tonight is the Harvest Moon- which is the full moon closest to the Fall equinox.  It is called the Harvest moon because it allows farmers to continue working into the night.  Now that we have things like headlamps, blinding 'light of 10 million candle' spotlights and headlights on the tractor, we can work at night anytime...YAY!  The past few nights with frost moving in we has been out with our headlamps and headlights and 'light of a million candles' covering up the peppers and basil, the beans and lettuce hoping to protect them from the cold and get a few more harvests to get us through the fall.  The tomatoes in our greenhouse have been slowing down quickly over the past week so enjoy these last few rounds of them!

 I found this easy delicious recipe for stuffed acorn squash, I love it because roasting the squash brings out all the flavor, but the stuffing is added at the very end, so it doesn't get over cooked.  

After an amazing meal at The Crop Bistro & Brewery I have been making this Kale Caesar salad almost every day.  It's not quite as good as Chef Tom Biven's version but it will have to do until we get over to Stowe  again.  If you are a bit skeptical of raw kale in a salad I promise this is amazing- the important thing is to chop the kale super fine.  This makes a big bowl!

This week in your share-
Kale or Chard, Acorn Squash, Red Potatoes, Carrots, Onions
Cabbage, Herbs, Pepper, Tomato, Lettuce, Garlic & Radish

Since we are swimming in peppers right now, I decided to make stuffed peppers tonight. 
- Most recipes tell you to steam the peppers before you stuff them, but we don't really enjoy soggy veggies so I just remove the tops from the peppers and place them in a 13 x 9 or 8 x8 pan and add a little water to the bottom before I stuff them.
For the stuffing I use whatever veggies and grains I have on hand.  Tonight I used a mix of brown rice & quinoa.  I sautéed -onions, garlic, carrots, broccoli, swiss chard, parsley and tomato just until they were tender and the tomatoes nice and juicy.  I added grated parmesan cheese to the vegetables and rice and stuffed the peppers and topped them with mozzarella cheese.  Enjoy!

This week in your share-
Edamame! Lettuce, Hakurei Turnips, 
Garlic, Herbs, Cucumber, Tomatoes, Red Onions
 Broccoli, Red Watermelon & Sweet Bell Pepper