...just wait a minute.  Last week's post was titled 'hot, hot, hot'.  It was freezing today at the farm and I'm glad I was in the greenhouse for most of it.  However, today was also the first day we harvested out of the garden (other than the scallions).  The lettuce mix in your bag is a mix of Waldmann's Dark Green, Tango and Red Salad Bowl.  The latter of the two coming from our low tunnels out in the experimental row.  It is always nice when we begin to transition out from the greenhouse into the garden proper.  Since the lettuce cam from outside and it was raining like crazy during the harvest, it's quite wet.  Last year's members will remember my suggestion to avoid rotten lettuce (which will happen if you store it wet like it is.  Below is the solution.  Place a paper towel on top of the bag and leave it open in the refrigerator for a day or two.  Then take the towel out and discard. 

Other than that you will also find a mesclun mix including kale, endive and ruby streaks mustard.  Beet greens, baby spinach and the baby chard mix also made an appearance today.  Finally, Family Fun at the Farm members received a bouquet of freshly cut lilacs.  We have a hedgerow of them at my home and there are two amazing patches at the farm.  The scent of lilacs is something to which I look forward every spring.  Enjoy.  
           
                 

Hello everyone.  This weather has been amazing.  It feels like late July doesn't it?  First, I want to apologize to anyone in Bangor who got to the Dandro's right at 2:30.  I was about 15 minutes late due to the construction on 95 and hitting every single light between the Hammond Street Exit and Broadway (I don't think that I've every hit every light red before...it was frustrating).
At any rate, the produce was there for pick-up at about 2:45 and it's available now if you haven't picked up yet.
This week's share is much the same as last week.  No mesclun because the heat in the greenhouse caused the Mizuna to bolt (go to seed).  I had to yank it and will possibly replant out in the gardens.  Instead you will find a bag that contains both Endive and Ruby Streaks Mustard.  The mustard is a bit large so you may prefer to cut it before using in salads.  Stir-fry it and that won't be necessary.  To cut it just use the small parts that run up the sides as if those were baby leaves.  Discard the stem unless you're cooking.


Also this week is the first of the year's lettuce.  Waldmann's Dark Green Lettuce is a large, broad leaf lettuce that makes excellent salads.  But I also use it as additions to sandwiches, veggie burgers and other things.  It also makes a nice bed for any cold meal like potato salad or the like.  There will be more lettuce in the coming weeks as I get a chance to plant some in the gardens.  The stuff in the share is volunteer, overwintered stuff that I moved when it came up. 

The only other change I can remember is that the beet-greens have developed beets so now you can enjoy both parts of that wonderful plant.  There are lots of ways to cook beets.  My favorite is to slice them thin and saute them lightly with some garlic and salt/pepper in olive oil.  Then I eat them like that or let them cool and spread them over a salad for a great addition.
Other than that I wanted to remind everyone to fluff.  That's right, fluff!  The transportation of your share crammed into a cooler with ice packs and every other share bag is hard on the produce.  When you get your share home be sure to take everything out of the bag and fluff up the greens, lettuces, etc.  This can be done just by moving the bag around a bit or by opening each bag and using your fingers (that's the best way and how we do it at home).  This will prolong the fridge life of your produce.  Enjoy!

Hi all, I hope everyone is well and enjoying this sunshine and warmth.  It's a great time to be outside at the farm these days.  I've just hired a friend to come to the farm and help us out a bit and I can already see it will make things a lot better for us this season.  It's amazing what a difference another person can make in accomplishing our tasks.

This week's harvest is much the same as last week.  One thing I forgot to mention on last week's blog is the beet greens.  When I was in the milk house processing and bagging I realized I hadn't harvested enough beet greens.  This made the bags a bit small.  That will not be the case this week.  The CSA has grown by leaps and bounds this season, especially in the last three weeks!  This is extremely gratifying because it proves that more and more people are interested in local food produced by local farmers.  However, it also takes some adjustments when growth comes so quickly.  We wanted everyone to be signed up by the first delivery this year.  But we also don't want to turn anyone away this season like we did last year.  No one should be kept away from local, sustainably grown, real food!  At any rate, the kinks will take a bit to work through and we appreciate everyone's patience.  This week's beet greens will reflect the adjustment.  There are plenty in the greenhouse and now I know how much to harvest.  This week I had to do the harvest on Thursday as I was out of town today.  I am with Lizzie on Thursdays and she helped me in the milk house.  Here she is helping daddy bag up some beet greens.
Other than that you'll find the mesclun mix that's been making a frequent appearance.  I also included the first round of baby spinach for all shares and some chard in everyone's bag this week.  The spinach and chard are pictured below.
       
I've also included an half and full bunch of scallions in the half and full share bags (respectively).  I found a great website by the National Gardening Association and there is a link in the Recipe and Storage Ideaspage of this blog.  I encourage everyone to check it out as it provides some great tips about drying scallions.  I can almost guarantee that you're getting more scallions than you'll use in a week.  Try drying them and then you'll have them this fall and winter for soups and other meals when there are none coming from the January garden.
You will also find Tatsoi.  This is an Asian green that I've been trying to grow for years without success.  Finally, I've figured out the problem, they need space.  This green is wonderful in salads but also serves as a stir-fry ingredient.  I encourage people to look around on the Internet for interesting ideas about Tatsoi.  There are some great ones out there.  Please let me know of any that are particularly good.

Finally, I was pleased to find Parker Produce in the Bangor Daily News today.  One of our members was featured in the local section and she mentioned us.  http://www.bangordailynews.com/detail/105863.html  It is a great start to a conversation about vegan-ism and vegetarianism and I encourage everyone to check it out.  I've also put up a new link to Mary's blog.  She puts up some fantastic recipe ideas using the veggies she gets in the share.  Take a look and enjoy!

Hi everyone.  I hope you all enjoyed the first week's share.  This week proved to be quite prolific in the garden vegetable department.  In fact, I was a couple of minutes late getting to Bangor because I underestimated the amount of things that would be ready.  I would love to start hearing feedback from everyone about the shares.  Did you like the things you received?  Was there too much of something and not enough of other things.  The only way we know is if you tell us and we really use and value that input from our CSA members.  That being said, let's jump right into the offerings this week.
First is a mesclun mix made up of Early Mizuna, Ruby Streaks Mustard, Frisee Endive and Red Russian Kale.  I've included pictures of these greens in that order but forgot to snap a photo of the mix itself.

Everyone will also find another round of radishes though this will probably be the last of them until my next planting comes in.  Radishes are one of those veggies that doesn't regenerate like the greens which we call 'cut-and-come-again'.  Also this week the full shares received a bunch of mixed baby chard (pictured below) and a bunch of scallions that wintered over in the garden.  For anyone who is unfamiliar with Chard, it's a wonderful green and very, very good for you.  When it is young like that found in your share this week, it is tender and delicious as a raw salad mix.  You can also steam it very lightly.  The mistake most people make when steaming veggies (of any sort) is to over cook them.  Steaming should be done very quickly.  The purpose is not to actually 'cook' the vegetable.  Rather, you simply want to heat it enough to allow the sugars to form.  Only a minute or two is necessary.  In fact, any longer that that and the beneficial enzymes are destroyed.  This is true of any vegetable you steam.  It should retain a crispness or slight crunch.  Below is a photo of some baby chard in the greenhouse.

Hi everyone:
I hope you all had a chance to get your produce and take a look at it this afternoon.  This week's share includes a mesclun mix consisting of mizuna (which is the larger, oakleaf shaped leaf), purple mustard and baby beet greens.  This will make a wonderful, healthy salad.  You'll also find a bag including spring onions.  These are the tops of onions that have wintered-over in the greenhouse.  They make an excellent addition to salads when sliced thinly.  You can also add them to any dish by sauteing them lightly in oil and spreading them over the meal.  Finally, the first radishes of the season are looking quite nice this year.  A lot of people say they don't like radishes.  I have a farmer friend who shares my philosophy that anyone who doesn't like a vegetable simply hasn't found the right way to prepare it.  That's not really applicable to radishes because there really isn't much to prepare.  However, I will say that I hope everyone will try them.  The reason most people don't like radishes is because they are not fresh and they are too large when harvested.  This is the reason that radishes get too 'hot'.  They develop that bite when they have been exposed to too much sun and get too fibrous. 
Other than that I hope everyone enjoys and let me know if there are any questions.  Take care and enjoy.