Rolling into CSA week 2

Welcome to the second week of our spring CSA!

Small Shares

• Crunchy King Radish
• Bok Choy
• Kiribati Head Lettuce
• Tokyo Bekana (Asian salad greens)
• Baby Arugula

Full Shares

• Crunchy King Radish
• Bok Choy
• Kiribati Head Lettuce
• Salanova Lettuce Mix
• Baby Arugula
• Collard Greens
• Green Wave Mustard

Sometimes is seems like an incredible amount of work just to keep the wheels of this farming machine turning.  Literally and figuratively, it turns out.  Yesterday, Randy managed to pop a rear tractor tire off the rim while working in the back yard.  He was out doing some earth moving instead of disk harrowing because one of the bearings froze and needed to be replaced.  Candice and I were able to move the lift out of the weeds so that I could bring it up to the house to get Randy off of the tractor, where he had already been stranded for an hour.  Then the lift had some technical difficulties, but we managed to get it working well enough to rescue Randy.  Randy got a tire guy out here today, and the tractor is back in action.  Patrick put in a couple hours and some elbow grease and replaced the bearing in the disk harrow.  The lift is still having “issues”.  Now we just have to get Rosie the antique Farmall Cub tractor ticking over so I can hill the potatoes…

Our plants are working hard, too, trying to stand up to the harsh weather of spring.  It’s been hot, it has been windy, the sun has been fierce, then suddenly cold and wet and near freezing.  It was all too much for some of the Corinto cucumbers.  It was my fault, I planted them out too soon.  I know better.  I would have told anyone not to plant cucumbers until a week after the last frost date.  But it had been unusually warm, and the transplants were more than ready to go out early because of that.  I was worried that keeping them in the greenhouse any longer would harm them.  The forecast looked good.  Ha!  Clearly, I will never learn.  We transplanted the cucumbers early (it was 85 degrees the day we put them out) but the stress of rapidly oscillating temperatures was obviously too much.  Even though we didn’t actually get any frost, about half of the cucumbers died, anyway.  Happily, we have extra plants to replace the ones lost.  And we are seeding more, too.

It’s not just the cucumbers experiencing growing pains this spring.  The tomato plants are sunburned.  So are the kale, kohlrabi, collards, and arugula.   It is a temporary situation.  I am hoping that everything will recover.  This year, spring has not come gently.

Need some ideas for your bok choy?  Last week I made some bok choy with black beans and red miso paste.  It was so yummy, not to mention simple and quick to prepare!  I have just recently started cooking with miso (which I found at Kroger).  Miso is a fermented soy bean paste that is cram jam full of umami, like parmesan cheese.  I had a BIG bok choy, so you may want to scale this recipe back a tad of yours is more modestly sized.

2 Tablespoons ginger, minced

2 Tablespoons garlic, minced

1 Tablespoon oil

1 large head Bok Choy, chopped

1 can black beans, drained

1/4 cup red miso paste

Thin Rice Noodles

Saute garlic and ginger in oil until aromatic.  Add your chopped bok choy, and cook until just soft.  I find bok choy is best if it is still a little crunchy.  When overcooked, it can get slimy.  Add black beans and miso and stir to distribute.  There should be enough liquid from the bok choy to make some sauce, if not, add a tablespoon or two of water.  You can thicken with corn starch, if desired.  Toss with rice noodles and serve.