Third Week in June

Hello from all of us outstanding in our field! (favorite farm quip)

Hope you enjoyed the very fresh food from the farm this week. It sure is nice to be eating crisp, flavorful, colorful local food once again. As we get into mid-June, the strawberries have faded away, spinach has flowered and is finished, and the warmer crops are imminent, like summer squash and cucumbers. We spotted the first tomato blossoms yesterday and there are even some nickel sized baby watermelons in the field. We take great care to grow healthful food for you and its evident in the flavor and how long your vegetables will keep if you don't eat them right away. Each year we test the soil to make sure that we have well mineralized soils, and our soil tests this year are excellent.

Parking at the Farm: you'll notice some lines on the gravel and grass this week--it should make access easier to have two of lines of cars up in the main parking area. Your feedback is appreciated.

Serving Suggestions for the Harvest:

• Chard or Swiss Chard: sautee, oil, garlic, parmesan etc... see recipe below


• Lettuce mix: superb salad maker


• Lettuce Heads: Beautiful Cherokee or Solix red lettuce


• Kale: this nutritional powerhouse is great stir-fried with olive oil and garlic (scapes)


• Garlic Scapes: the soft neck of the garlic--wonderful garlic flavor, cooked or raw. Discard any firm portion unless you enjoy the crunchiness.


• Collards: similar to kale--highly nutritious--butter or bacon fat flavor greens superbly


• Scallions: mild green onion, use fresh or cooked


• Bok Choi: this Asian cabbage is excellent stir-fried, w/peanut butter, peanut sauce, soy sauce, garlic onion, etc...Otherwise use as a substitute for regular cabbage in cooking.

Rainbow Chard Sauteed with Mushrooms

Chard can be used in lieu of spinach, or any other green for that matter!

Strip the leaves from the stems and mince the stems separately. Rough chopped the leaves and set them aside.

Heat up some olive oil mixed with some macadamia nut oil (why not? If you have it, it adds a little bit of a nutty flavor) in a deep skillet and sautee the stems with 3 cloves of minced garlic. After a few minutes, add some thickly sliced baby portobello mushrooms. Then, toward the end, I toss in the chopped chard leaves and grate some fresh nutmeg and Parmesan cheese into it all.

--from the Intutive Cook blog: http://www.effortlesseating.com/2008/06/rainbow-chard-sauteed-with-mushrooms/

Harley Raffle: Homefields, the nonprofit founder and owner of the farm, is having a Harley Raffle fundraiser and will have a table here this weekend. Your ticket purchase supports Homefields Inc. http://www.homefields.org/. Homefields graciously invites Goodwill to operate the farm program CSA on their property and has done so for 10 years now. Tickets are 5.00.

Check out our Blog: http://www.goodwillathomefieldsfarm.blogspot.com/

Eating Seasonally--Great Cookbooks: We have some excellent cookbooks for sale at the farm.

• Our long awaited Goodwill at Homefields Farm Cookbook is a compilation of shareholder recipes and information from us. It was compiled by shareholder Virginia Brown, and Farm staff Elizabeth Swope. Available for a donation.


• The Simply in Season cookbook does an excellent job of taking you through each season--summer vegetables and how to use, winter veggies, spring recipes and fall recommendations. A staff favorite.


• Simply in Season Children's Cookbook: fun child-orient recipes and pictures.


• Farmer John Cookbook: Eccentric, eclectic, Farmer John of "The Real Dirt on Farmer John" movie, his Angelic Organics CSA is one of the best known in the country.

See you soon,

Scott