Tantre Farm CSA Newsletter
WEEK #1
May 24-30, 2020
If needed, please contact Richard Andres & Deb Lentz at 2510 Hayes Rd. Chelsea, MI 48118 e-mail: tantrefarm@hotmail.com phone: 734-475-4323 website: www.tantrefarm.com.
In our newsletter, we try to give you an accurate listing of the produce in your box; however, since the newsletter is published before the harvest, we may sometimes substitute some vegetables for others. The information provided here is also published each week on our website. **Also, if you’re having trouble identifying any unfamiliar produce, please look for “Veggie ID” with additional information on our website under CSA INFO or under RECIPES.
If you are new to our CSA, you can find all past newsletters on our website under the NEWSLETTERS tab.
THIS WEEK’S SHARE
ARUGULA (Sylvetta): also known as “wild rocket” with more deeply lobed leaves and a more pungent flavor; an aromatic, bright salad green with a peppery mustard flavor
-How to use: great in salads, soups, and sautéed vegetable dishes
-How to store: very perishable, so use up quickly; store in plastic bag with a paper towel in refrigerator for up to 5 days.
ASPARAGUS: You will receive green or purple spears; each contains vitamins A, B, and C, as well as iron.
– How to use: serve raw, chopped in salads, or with dips. You can also steam, roast, grill.
– How to store: wrap in damp cloth and plastic bag, then refrigerate. Alternatively, bundle spears with rubber band and place upright in container with an inch of water.
GREEN CABBAGE: This certified organic, late-season cabbage comes from Wayward Seed Farm (http://waywardseed.com). It is excellent for a wide variety of dishes and stores well into late winter.
-How to use: steamed, stir-fried, chopped into salads or coleslaw.
-How to store: It is best to store cabbage with its protective outer leaves until ready to use, so that it will last in the refrigerator for up to 1 month. When ready to eat, just peel off a few layers until you get to the crispy, clean leaves that will make it ready for eating.
BABY LEEKS: These are young plants with green leaves and white to pale green stems. The leaves and stems are full of mild-tasting onion flavor, so tender and flavorful from salads to cooking.
Cooking tip: slit from top to bottom and wash thoroughly with root facing up to remove all of the dirt trapped between the leaf layers.
-How to use: white and lower part of greens can be cooked whole, chopped in slices and substituted for onions; delicious raw in salads or cooked in soups, quiches, casseroles, stews, stocks, or stir-fries.
-How to store: refrigerate unwashed for 2 weeks in plastic bag.
PEA SHOOTS: Researchers have found that most microgreens can contain up to 40 times higher levels of vital nutrients than their mature counterparts. They help to alkalize your body, support your immune system and ensure proper cell regeneration. You will receive ¼ pound of pea shoots (which are extremely high in vitamins A & C and calcium) from Garden Works Organic Farm. They are a certified organic 4.5 acre truck garden and greenhouse farm in Ann Arbor operating year-round with several types of heirloom vegetables, and wheatgrass, sunflower shoots and other microgreens available throughout the year. Visit Rob MacKercher at the Ann Arbor Farmers Market year round or contact gardenworksorganic@gmail.com for more information.
-How to use: use as a salad, blended with chopped radishes, turnips, and cabbage, excellent garnish as a soup, so yummy and tender!
-How to store: store in the refrigerator for up to a week.
POTATOES: You will receive Yukon Gold (yellowish brown skin with yellow dry flesh and pink eyes; long storage and good tasting; perfect baked, boiled, mashed or fried). You will receive these “old buddies” potatoes that have been over-wintered in our timber frame root cellar; possibly slightly less firm than a new potato, but good for cooking in any way suggested below.
-How to use: good baked, boiled, roasted or in potato salads
-How to store: keep unwashed in cool, dark place in paper bag; ideal temperature is 38-40 degrees with 80-90 percent humidity; a basement or very cool closet will work.
SPINACH: crisp, dark green leaf; best eaten raw or with minimal cooking to obtain the beneficial chlorophyll, rich in of vitamin K, vitamin A, manganese, folate, magnesium, iron and a plethora of other nutrients and antioxidants. The appearance of spinach also marks the beginning of spring for many of us farmers/gardeners!
-How to use: delicious flavor when juiced, toss in fresh salad, add to sandwiches, saute, steam, braise, or add to crepes, quiche, lasagna, and soups.
-How to store: refrigerate with a damp towel/bag for up to 1 week.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
1. MASKS & GLOVES- We recommend that all come to each distribution site with a mask and gloves to pick up your shares. We will have hand sanitizer at some sites as well. Please let our volunteers know if you need help.
2. ANY CHANGES in your address, phone, e-mail, or of misspelled names on any mailings or Pick Up Lists at Distribution Sites? Are we missing your share partner’s name? Please let us know as soon as possible.
3. PAYMENTS DUE: If you still owe money, you will see it in the Balance Due column on the Pick up Sheet. Please let us know if you think there is a mistake. Please finalize payments as soon as possible during the month of June.
4. IMMUNE BOOSTER CSA: As some of you know we started a collaborative CSA with several local farms and food businesses about 11 weeks ago that you can opt in or out of each week called the Immune Booster. If you are interested in supplementing your share with more veggies and other locally produced and sourced value-added products, please go to our website to sign up every Sunday night – Wednesday night. Pick up is from 9 AM to 12 PM every Saturday at the Washtenaw Food Hub: http://www.tantrefarm.com/how-does-our-immune-booster-csa-work/. Still time to sign up this week!
5. FARMERS MARKETS: We will have market tables set up at the Ann Arbor Market for onsite sales on Wednesdays and Saturdays, so please feel free to purchase other items to supplement your share. The Chelsea Farmers Market is only curbside pick up at this time, so no onsite market sales for several weeks. Notice the shortened window for Chelsea Market members to pick up their CSA boxes below.
6. PICK UP TIMES & LOCATIONS REMINDER: If you need to switch to different pick up sites throughout the season, try using the Membership Actions section on the registration page to schedule Vacations or Pick up Location Changes. Some sites have less space to drop share boxes at, so are considered “limited” (see below). Please always email ahead to see if the limited sites are at capacity before making any switches on your own to those spaces.
**Volunteers will be at each site during designated times below, so if you need to come at a different time, please feel free to bring gloves and your own pen to check off your name.
*Ann Arbor Farmers’ Market (Wed.)—7 AM to 12 PM (TANTRE STAFF there from 7-9 AM)
*MOVE Fitness & Wellness Studio (Wed)—8 AM to 12 PM (SARA there the whole time)
*Farm (Wed.)—10 AM to 7 PM (TANTRE STAFF checking off names from 10 AM-12 PM and from 2-4 PM)
*Washtenaw Food Hub (Wed.) –6 PM to 8 PM (LIZZIE there the whole time)
*Pure Pastures (Wed.) (limited site) —10 AM to 5 PM (JESSICA there from 11 AM – 1 PM)
*Farm (Fri.)—2 PM to 7 PM (TANTRE STAFF there from 2 to 4 PM)
*Community High School (Sat.) —7 AM to 12 PM (SHANNON there from 7 -10 AM)
*Washtenaw Food Hub (Sat.)—9 AM to 12 PM (PETER & RYAN there the whole time)
*Chelsea Farmers’ Market (Sat.)—10:30 AM to 12:30 PM (DEB there the whole time)
*Argus-Packard (Sat) (limited site)—12 PM to 3 PM (ARGUS STAFF there the whole time)
*RoosRoast-Rosewood (Sat)–9 AM to 11 AM (JONATHON there the whole time)
REFLECTIONS ON THE FARM
by Richard and Deb
The climate really influences what comes out of the ground. We had record cold the beginning of May with eight hours of severe freezing temperatures on the tender fruit blossoms and baby kale and broccoli during a critical growing time for our early spring plants. The hardy perennial herb garden got hit as well, and though the oregano, fennel, and lemon balm pulled through, many burnt brush marks covered their first spring leaves. The peas survived and sprouted and now their lacy rows spread across the little hills and valleys alongside the asparagus that is sprouting quickly in the now near 90 degree heat these days. Then several large storms of fresh water washed through, super-saturating the earth bringing forth the abundant buds and flowers on the trees, vines, and bramble canes into full bloom. The strawberries, which many hands have weeded for many days and weeks, are being made ready for our early June celebration of vegetative diversity. The fungi and mushrooms of the woods emerge out of the dormant and reposing tree trunks that are stacked in layers on the forest floor.
From this we are feeling hopeful for life to begin again, both in the realm of the farm and the realm of the wild things that continue their wild ways of the earth, the air, and the water. Unfolding from the cold fly the many pollinators, the bees, the birds, the sandhill cranes, followed by foraging deer and nibbling bunnies of the buds and grasses in the early morning dew bringing back a belly full of greens to their burrows to feed their new babies. In other words we have had a very dynamic spring.
The dead and dying give rebirth to the new annual cycle. The dead and diseased canes of the raspberries are snipped away every year to make room for the new sprouts that come from the roots that produce the fruits for this year’s sweet and eternal delight. We can look to our roots to find our own renewal. We can look to the passing away and decomposition of the previous season’s growth to the enrichment and renewal of this season. As farmers we try to promote and allow that process to continue unhindered.
And so, we are really looking forward to coming unhindered to this season’s markets to share the abundant harvest with you. Thank you for joining the CSA and for the overwhelming support and the amazing response to the CSA share this season. We also appreciate our farm crew for weathering every storm and temperature fluctuation from 20 degree mornings to 80 degree days during these past few months. They have been steadily plucking weeds, harvesting vegetables, and packing your shares. It is this time like no other that we may realize the strength and sustainability of supporting our local farmers and our local community.
RECIPES
**Keep in mind a very easy way to find recipe ideas for almost any combination of share box ingredients is to type the items into your preferred “search bar” with the word “recipe” after it, and many recipe ideas will pop up. Have fun searching! Lots and lots of ideas!
POTATO, LEEK, AND CABBAGE SOUP (https://www.food.com/recipe/potato-leek-cabbage-soup-507019) Serves 6.
4 cups chicken broth
3 potatoes, peeled & diced
1 1/2 cups chopped cabbage
1 leek, diced, can include the green part for color
1 onion, chopped
2 carrots, peeled & chopped
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon caraway seed
1 bay leaf
1/2 cup sour cream
1 lb bacon, cooked & crumbled or 1 lb Polish sausage, diced
Combine chicken broth, potatoes, cabbage, leek, onion & carrots in a 4 qt slow cooker. If you are using polish sausage, also add at this time. Stir in salt, pepper, caraway seeds & bay leaf. Cover & cook on low 8-10 hours or 4-5 hours on high. Remove & discard bay leaf. Combine some liquid from slow cooker with sour cream in a small bowl. Add mixture to slow cooker; stir. If using bacon instead of polish sausage, stir in bacon.
BASIC ASPARAGUS RECIPE:
Simple preparation: place in a tall, covered pot with an inch of water. Stand asparagus upright and steam for 5 minutes. This cooks the tougher stalks, while lightly steaming the thinner tops. Feel free to add the following toppings: brushed with lemon juice, brushed with olive oil or butter and tossed with sesame seeds.