I thought I'd pass along a web site that one of our CSA customers found with tot soi recipes. Just click on the high lighted word tot soi and it will automatically take you there. Thanks for sharing, Brian, enjoy!

FULTON CSA DELIVERY TODAY!

Today is our second week of CSA! Today you will be receiving lettuce, kale, eggs, tot soy, onions, radishes and strawberries! Tot soy is a Japanese spinach, use it just like you would spinach.

Yesterday we worked on getting sweet potatoes planted. We planted around 32 dozen, mostly Beauregard, but we are trying some different heirloom varieties this year; Centennial, Covington, Nancy Hall and Vardamon. We still have a couple yet to come.

Our potato digger that Greg bought off e-bay arrived Sunday! That's a picture of it. Sure hope it makes digging the potatoes much easier! We are hoping to be able to use it on the sweet potatoes also, we'll just have to see.

So see you this afternoon and don't forget your boxes and egg cartons if you are done with them.

The rain has stopped for a while and it is finally drying out a bit. So we have been tilling and making beds, laying drip tape and plastic to get ready to plant out in the fields! We planted cabbage, broccoli, kohlrabi, radicchio and cauliflower out a couple of days ago. We've got tomatoes, peppers, okra, fennel, celeriac, cardoon, basil, parsley and eggplant ready to go in the ground. Greg is out planting more greens and radishes while I'm typing this. We picked a quart of strawberries on Friday, so they will be ready for your boxes next week! So we are making a little bit of headway. Greg bought a potato digger off e-bay last Friday, so now he's working on how to get it here from New York! Could be interesting..., but will be a very nice addition to the farm!

CSA DELIVERY!!!!!!

Don't forget those of you who are doing the Fulton CSA, today is your first pick up day! Pick up is in the back parking lot on Nichols Street of the Court Street United Methodist Church,(across from Curves). Today you will be getting lettuce mix, sweet bread, kale, eggs, radishes, onions. The full shares will also be getting dried apples and tot soy (like spinach). So I can here everyone now asking what do I do with Kale?! Here is some information about Kale.

KALE is a relative to cabbage. It provides calcium, iron, potassium, cancer-fighting antioxidants & vitamins A, B and C. And it is the highest in protein content of all the cultivated vegetables. Kale is interchangeable with broccoli and other hearty greens in recipes.

Cooking Tips: Remove stems from mature kale leaves by folding the leaf in half lengthwise and stripping or slicing away thick stems. Baby or very tender young leaves may be cooked stem and all. Steam mature kale leaves approximately 4-5 minutes, depending on age, size and amount in steamer. It is ready when limp but still retaining some texture. Toss steamed kale with olive oil, lemon juice, and a dash of salt & pepper. Try adding diced raw garlic. Add sauteed kale (chopped) to omelets, quiches, scrambled eggs, casseroles, or mashed potatoes. Add chopped or sliced raw kale to hearty soups and stews toward the end of cooking time.

EASY KALE & TOMATOES
1 Large bunch kale, stems removed & leaves coarsely chopped
1 large tomato, chopped
1 large onion, chopped
water or tomato juice
olive oil
salt & pepper
Place kale, tomatoes, & onions in pot with just enough water or tomato juice to keep them from burning while it cooks. Cook over medium heat until kale is tender, about 20 minutes. Add a little olive oil, plus salt & pepper to taste, before serving. This is also great with chopped dried tomatoes or home-made tomatoes instead of fresh. Makes 2 servings.

PENNE WITH KALE AND ONION
1 medium onion, sliced
2 Tbsp. olive oil, divided
8 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
3 cups uncooked penne pasta
6 cups chopped fresh kale
1/2 tsp. salt
In a large skillet, cook onion in 1 Tbsp. oil over medium heat for 15-20 minutes or until onion is golden brown, stirring frequently and adding the garlic during the last 2 minutes of cooking time. Meanwhile, in a large saucepan, cook penne according to package directions. In Dutch oven, bring 1" of water to a boil. Add kale; cover and cook for 10-15 minutes or until tender; drain. Drain penne; drizzle with remaining oil. Stir the salt, penne and kale into the onion mixture; heat through. Makes 6 servings.

The above informations is from "From Asparagus to Zucchini A guide to Cooking Farm-Fresh Seasonal Produce" and Birds & Blooms Grow it Cook it A-Z veggie guide"

Well for those of you who signed up for our CSA program, we are getting ready to start deliveries. The Columbia Thursday group will pick up their boxes this Thursday, May 5th, the Columbia Saturday group will pick up next Saturday the 7th, and the Fulton Tuesday group will pick up next Tuesday the 10th of May. There will be eggs, lettuce, kale, radishes, green onions, and sweet bread of some kind.

Wow! The rain really needs to stop for awhile! We have missed the damaging storms so far, got a little bit of pea sized hail, but no damage. I think we need to build a boat and become fishermen or plant a rice paddy or both! We did manage to get about 60 blueberry bushes planted on Saturday, but the holes would fill with water before we could get the bush stuck in! Hopefully they will make it. We have not been able to get any more ground worked up to plant outside. We did get all the tomatoes planted in our big hoop house which holds about 250 plants. Our second hoop house is getting very close to being able to pick greens and radishes out of. I have yet to get our bees, they were postponed a couple of weeks, so should come this weekend. Hopefully it will quit raining so I can get the hives set up!

This is asparagus season. It's starting to show up at the market. Ours hasn't quite started it always seems to be a little later. I picked one stalk on Sunday, so shouldn't be to much longer. We do not sell asparagus as we don't have enough, just have a small patch, but for those of you who can get a hold of it here is some information and a couple of recipes.

Asparagus is related to onions, garlic, and other members of the lily family. Asparagus has been used since ancient times in many parts of the world. Its name is most likely derived from the Persian word asparagus, meaning "sprout." However, the Greek word aspharagos means "long as one's throat," and in England during the 18th century this vegetable was known as "sparrow grass."

Generally, raw asparagus ranks high in vitamins A, B-complex, and C, and is also rich in minerals from the soil, particularly potassium and zinc. Like other vegetables it will lose some, though not all, of its B-complex and vitamin C during the cooking process. Asparagus contains no fat and only 35 calories per one-cup serving.

Try tender asparagus spears raw. Chop into a salad or enjoy with a dip. Steam asparagus upright in a tall covered pot over one inch of water until tender, about 10 minutes. This method cooks the tougher bottoms more thou roughly while gently steaming the tender tops. Serve warm topped with butter, lemon, and a sprinkle of Parmesan cheese.

Storage tips: Wrap asparagus in a damp cloth and store in the hydrator drawer of the refrigerator. An alternate storage technique to retain vitality is to bundle spears with a rubber band and place upright in a container with an inch of water. Refrigerate immediately and use as soon as possible. Asparagus' sugars will turn rapidly to starches, reducing flavor quickly.

The above information came from "From Asparagus to Zucchini" a guide to cooking farm-fresh seasonal produce.

ASPARAGUS & PEAR SALAD

1 lb. fresh asparagus, trimmed
1 large pear, sliced
2 tsp. lemon juice
2 green onions, thinly sliced
1/4 cup chopped walnuts, toasted
2 Tbsp. prepared honey Dijon salad dressing
8 romaine lettuce leaves.
In a large skillet, bring 1/2" of water to a boil. Add asparagus; cover & boil for 3-5 minutes or until crisp-tender. Drain & immediately place asparagus in ice water. Drain & pat dry; cut into 1/2" pieces & set aside.

In a large bowl, combine pear & lemon juice. Add the onions, walnuts and reserved asparagus; drizzle with dressing & toss to coat. Arrange lettuce on four salad plates; top with asparagus mixture. Serve immediately.
Yield 4 servings.

This recipe came form "Birds & Blooms" Grow it cook it A-Z veggie guide.

We've been busy trying to beat the rain. Luckily the last rain they called for we didn't get. It is supposed to rain again tonight and the temperatures to drop down in the mid 30's. So will have to work at pulling on the strawberry row cover this afternoon before the rain starts, as it's next to impossible to pull when wet! The strawberries are blooming big time right now, so we want to protect them from frost!

We got 350 lbs. of seed potatoes planted, 2 plus bushels of onion bulbs planted and 4 varieties of peas planted. Hopefully we won't get too much rain, as the ground is finally drying out enough to start to work up really good!

I need to get out and go through the bee hives and check on them and get foundation put in some new frames. Have 2 packages of bees coming next weekend and need to get their new home fixed up!