Greetings all, and thanks for being part of the 2010 Frog Holler CSA. Here’s what’s in the box this week:
2. Red Russian Kale
3. Spinach
4. Scallions
5. French Breakfast Radishes
6. Broccoli
7. Garlic Scapes
8. Rhubarb
9. Strawberries!
Notes on the box:
1. Red Romaine – a new variety with a twisty style but the same good romaine crunch and flavor. Red Salad Bowl – an old-fashioned colorful leaf lettuce.
2. Red Russian Kale – heirloom variety, introduced to Canada in the 19th century by Russian traders. Also called “summer kale”. Excellent kale flavor and nutrition.
5. French Breakfast Radishes – slice them onto a sandwich of dense (Mill Pond!) bread slathered with good quality butter. Voila!
6. Garlic Scapes – the curly flower stem that garlic produces before the bulbs mature. Simply chop and add to a
ny dish enhanced by a light fresh garlic flavor.
Here is a good garlic scape recipe from Dick and Diana Dyer, the new garlic farmers in town! More delicious recipes and food wisdom at Diana’s blog:
www.dianadyer.com
Garlic Scape Pesto
Ingredients:
1 cup garlic scapes (about 8 or 9 scapes) cut into ¼-inch slices
1/3 cup walnuts or pine nuts (toasting these adds a nice twist)
3/4 cup olive oil
1/4 - 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
1/2 teaspoon salt
black pepper to taste
Place scapes and walnuts in the bowl of a food processor and grind until well combined and somewhat smooth. Slowly drizzle in oil and process until integrated. Transfer mix to a mixing bowl. Add parmesan, salt and pepper to taste. Makes about 6 ounces of pesto. Keeps for up to one week in an airtight container in the refrigerator. Or transfer to an ice-cube tray and freeze to be defrosted and used one cube at a time at your leisure. The latter approach makes scape pesto available even in mid-winter, when its use can make a scrumptious dish.
Not to miss
Sunday, July 4 - Welcoming Summer Party
2:00 PM - CSA work party
4:00 PM - Games and farm tours
6:00 PM - Potluck
8:00 PM - Music
Angust 20-22
Holler Fest
Ah Strawberries...
So sweet and so short-lived! These little red gems delight our senses for a few weeks in June, worthy heralds of the summer fruit season in Michigan.
If you are a seven to nine-year-old reading this, then 53 per cent of you have chosen strawberries as your favorite fruit! If you are Madame Tallien from the court of Napoleon reading this, then you are about to take your bath made from the juice
of fresh strawberries (22 pounds worth!). If you are a Frog Holler CSA member reading this, then you might be snacking on a few berries from your share as you read. And who could blame you?
Now the dark side of strawberries is that they are one of the most heavily sprayed fruits. Up from No. 6 in 2009, strawberries rank No. 3 on the 2010 Dirty Dozen list (12 Foods to Eat Organic). Why? 59 pesticides have been detected in residue on strawberries. (Read more: www.thedailygreen.com/healthy-eating/eat-safe/Dirty-Dozen-Foods)
Strawberries’ vulnerability to weather extremes contributes to their short lifespan and also to their susceptibility to damage. Rainy spells (such as we have had this month) can cause the berries to soften and rot in the fields. To counteract this, commercial strawberry growers apply heavy doses of fungicides, which are absorbed readily by the juicy berries. Yuck!
The good news is that Frog Holler strawberries are never sprayed! You may find an occasional soft spot on them, and we may lose a few to the rainy weather, but we rest better knowing that you can reach right into that basket and have another one, with no threat to your health. So keep snacking! And if there are any left, try this recipe:
Strawberry-Rhubarb Compote
Take your share bunch of rhubarb, chop into one-inch chunks and simmer with the strawberries you haven’t already eaten (maybe you have a half-pint left?), along with ½ c. sugar and ¼ c. orange juice. It will cook fairly quickly,
but will thicken a bit if you simmer it carefully for 15 minutes. Serve warm over french toast, pancakes or ice cream sundaes! Serve cool over pound cake or granola. Enjoy!
Meet Your Farm – some history
Drive 45 minutes west and slightly south of Ann Arbor and you will find yourself among many lakes and gently rolling hills – an area of southeast Michigan dubbed the “Irish Hills”. There you will also find Frog Holler Farm, with 120 acres of those rolling hills, along with many wooded sections and a large pond at the center. It’s a pretty piece of land.
From the 1940’s to 1972, the land was owned by Dr. Robert and Cora Lees Gesell. Dr. Gesell was a professor of physiology and Chairman of the Physiology Dept. at U-M Medical School in the 40’s and 50’s. Mrs.Gesell was an ardent conservationist and when she decided to sell Frog holler after the death of Dr. Gesell, asked that the new owners continue to care for the land and animals and to “forever call the land Frog Holler”. This was the Gesells’ pet name for the land, no doubt inspired by the frog chorus that emanates from the “hollers” between the hills (or perhaps by the frogs that holler!).
Dr. Gesell shocked his colleagues in 1952 when he delivered a paper calling for the humane treatment of animals in laboratories and the cessation of vivisection in the name of scientific research. He also enlisted his daughter, Christine Stevens, to “do something for the plight of animals in laboratories”. Christine did more than “something”; she was known as the “Mother of the Animal Protection Movement” and was instrumental in passage of the A
nimal Welfare Act, The Endangered Species Act, the Marine Mammal Protection Act, the Humane Slaughter Act, the Laboratory Animal Welfare Act and the Wild Bird Conservation Act. Christine, who passed away in 2002, was also founder of the Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) and the Society for Animal Protective Legislation (SAPL).
Although we never met any of these extraordinary individuals, we continue to draw inspiration from their dedication to fairness and justice for the land and all its inhabitants.
By gardening organically, we do our best to respect the land and the complex interweaving of plants, insects, birds, and animals that creates a healthy ecosystem. And of course we call the land Frog Holler!
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