Great River CSA
Great River CSA is made up of three family farms: Terripin Farm, Feiner Gardens and Grassy Hills Farm. This week I wanted to tell you a little bit about Terripin Farm.
Terripin Farm
Brad and Jessica started their farm 4 years ago, in 2006. Jessica’s grandparents had a truck farm 40 years ago on the same 20 acres. They grew and sold sweet corn in the Quincy area. Brad came from a conventional farming background. His father was a farmer around Monroe City, MO.
Jessica describes the farm’s start as rough. They had no equipment, a heavy seedbed and little farming experience. The first year was a total loss. They paid someone to plow the overgrowth. Then, they attempted to cultivate it by hand.
The second year they decided that if they wanted to get serious about veggie production, they would have to get some equipment and enlist some help. With a lot of help from family, they bought a small tractor, a John Deere 770 with front loader, a plow, a disk, a roto-tiller, and a small two-row planter for the tractor. They also asked Brad’s father, Dick to help out at the farm.
His experience with crop production and Mother Nature made a huge difference in production. This time they had too many veggies!! In their third year, Brad and Jessica went to the Farm Beginnings Program in Decatur, IL. Farm Beginnings is also where they began to focus on sustainable farming and organic options. (Also, a viewing of Food, Inc reinforced their belief in heirloom vegetables.)
We have some interesting items in the basket this week.
Kohlrabi is a close relative to broccoli, but “kohl” meaning cabbage and “rabi” meaning turnip better describes this vegetable. I featured a kohlrabi recipe because it is not a common vegetable. It’s a little alien looking!!
Other ideas
Greens. You will get a lot of greens in the basket again this week. Just a reminder: most greens are interchangeable in recipes. They do have different flavors. The milder greens are spinach, Swiss chard, collards, beet greens and kale. Spicer greens are turnip, mustard, arugula and radish greens.
Garlic Scapes are the flower stalk on hardneck varieties of garlic. Once the stalk begins to curl, it is ready to cut. We cut to stalk to stop the bulb from feeding the flower. It signals to the plant that this flower thing isn’t working out, so the plant needs to store up energy for a try next year. So, the bulb becomes bigger.
They are delicious. We have some hardneck garlic growing: red chesnok and extra hearty german. I read a lot about garlic scapes and thought you might like to try them. There aren’t a lot, but just enough to try in one recipe. I won’t have more until next year.
The flavor of garlic scapes is unique. It is often described as a cross between an onion and garlic. It is mild and good for use in sautés or stir-fry. Tonight I will put some information on the website about it
Storage Tips
Kohlrabi storage tips: store kohlrabi globe and leaves separately. The glove will lost for one month refrigerated in a plastic bag. Wrap leaves in a damp towel or place in a plastic bag and keep in hydrator drawer of refrigerator, just like greens. Use kohlrabi leaves as soon as possible.
Garlic Scape: Fresh scapes store quite well, lasting several weeks when kept in a plastic bag in the refrigerator.
Greens: First be sure to rinse out the greens really well. They do tend to get a lot of soil on them for rain splash. The best way to store greens is in a salad spinner in your refrigerator. Rinse them and spin to remove excess water. Dump most of the water leaving a little in the bottom, but don’t let the greens sit in water. Or, use a plastic gallon storage bag with a damp paper towel. For long-term storage, greens freeze well. Blanch washed greens for 2-3 minutes. Rinse in cold water to stop the cooking process, drain and pack into airtight containers such as zip freezer bags. If you are lucky enough to have a Food Saver, you can remove the air and seal at the same time!
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