Credit: See-ming Lee
If you are overloaded with zucchini this time of year, here are some more recipes with unique and delicious ideas for zucchini.
Some of these like the soup and tart can be frozen so that you can enjoy this later in the year when fresh zucchini aren’t available. You can also blanch or lightly saute sliced zucchini and freeze it.
A CSA share from July with lettuce, chard, zucchini, cabbage, garlic, onions, granola, and fresh bread
You have probably heard about the farm’s CSA (community supported agriculture) shares. CSA is a “farm share” and a way for farmers and customers in the community to share the risks and benefits of growing local sustainable food. It provides a fresh, authentically-grown bag of food once a week for $25 (full share) or $15 (half share).
For the farm, it is a way to make sure we have customers to buy the food we grow.
The production on a small, sustainable farm is limited. And our CSA customers always get the first priority of whatever we harvest each week because they have “reserved” their order in advance.
We usually also have a variety of produce and baked good for our non-CSA customers at the farm stand every Sat. from 10am to noon (AZ time). However, if you visit the farm stand and don’t find the produce you want, you might consider CSA in the future. The farm’s next CSA round will start Saturday, August 7th.
Another option is pre-ordering. If there is produce you want, just drop us an email or call us and let us know. Pre-orders are next in priority after CSA.
Hope you’re all having a great summer and enjoying lots of great produce from your own garden as well!
This was the farm float in this year’s Rodeo July 4 parade. This was our first year in the parade, and we had a great time! The baby goats on our float were the hit of the parade. We even won a prize for best float! It was fun to see everyone in the community come out for this event.
Delicious radishes (We soaked sliced radishes in cold salt water in the fridge and then ate them with onion dip!)…
Onion-cheese omelets, and
Cold Asian salad (with delicious farm-grown green onions)!
The farm now has delicious local mesquite honey available for $6.50 per jar.
Those of you in CSA will be getting elephant garlic this week (and we’ll have more to sell soon). Here are some tips on what to do with it.
What do I do with an elephant garlic?
Elephant garlic are larger and milder than regular garlic. They are not truly a garlic, rather are related to the leek.
Roasting
The most common way to cook elephant garlic is to roast them. First cut off the papery top and the top 1/2 inch or so of the garlic. Then put the garlic head in the center of a big piece of foil. Partially wrap the garlic and then drench it in olive oil. Seal up the foil, put the whole bundle on a cookie sheet, and roast for about 30 minutes (until garlic inside the cloves is very soft) at 425 degrees.
Once the garlic is done, cool it. Then squeeze the softened garlic out of each clove.
Then what?
After you roast the garlic, there are many things you can do with it:
Bon apetit!
The farm is now harvesting root vegetables, including delicious carrots and turnips. You may have received these in your CSA bags this week.
If you’re not sure what to do with turnips, here are some tips.
First, storage. You can store turnips much like potatoes. If they are kept in a cool, dark, humid place unwashed, they will last several weeks.
Here are some ways you can eat turnips:
Here are some other recipes for turnips:
Bon apetit! And if you have a favorite way to eat turnips, share it by adding a response below.
The farm is now offering gift baskets, including a special Father’s Day Bakery Gift Basket. (Also available for other special occasions.)
This basket includes:
All this for just $12.
Baskets can also be customized to include other items. Just call us to let us know what you’d like:
We also have gift certificates!
La Buena Vida Farm now has bumper stickers! What a great way to spread the word and support your local farm.
Stop by the farm stand in Portal every Saturday morning from 10am to noon (AZ time) to get one and see what else we have available.
The farm has lots of yummy carrots right now, and we’ll be selling them at the farm stand in Portal tomorrow.
I learned a new trick today while I was at the farm. If you plan to store your carrots in the fridge for a few days, cut the tops off first. That will keep them firm and crunchy. (No wonder my carrots from last week got a little soft. They were still delicious in the korma I made though.)
I’ve been loving these carrots sauteed in butter with a little fresh sage!