SWISS CHARD

Chard is high in vitamins A, E, and C, and minerals like iron & calcium. Minerals are more readily absorbed from chard than they are from spinach, chard also contains no oxalic acid, and element present in spinach that ends to bind minerals and render them unavailable during digestion.

Cooking Tips: If leaves are large and mature, remove stems to cook separately. Young tender leaves can be cooked whole. Chop leaves and stems diagonally across the leaf Cut stems into 1" chunks and leaves into ribbon like strips. Steam stem pieces 8-10 minutes and leaves 4-6 minutes. Raw baby chard leaves are wonderful in green salads. Saute the leaves in garlic butter or with onion. Toss steamed chard leaves with olive oil, lemon juice, and salt and pepper. For an Asian flavor, toss with toasted sesame oil, rice vinegar, and soy sauce. Include chard in stir-fries with different colored and textured veggies. Serve over rice or noodles. For soups, add chard stem chunks 10 minutes and leaves 4-5 minutes before soup is done. Use Swiss chard in any recipe calling for fresh spinach, like quiches, lasagna, omelets, etc. Blend cooked chard (include cooking water) with a tart plain yogurt, herbs (like basil and thyme), and a dash of salt and pepper. This makes a healthy gourmet creamed soup that is easy, quick an delicious.

Chard freezes well. Blanch chopped leaves for 3 minutes, rinse under cold water to stop cooking process, drain, squeeze lightly and place in an airtight container such as a zip-lock freezer bag.

SWISS CHARD PIE

1 onion chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
2 Tbsp. oil
1 bunch Swiss chard
6 eggs
1 cup shredded cheese
1 tsp. salt
2 pie crusts

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Brown onion and garlic in oil Trim and chop chard, add to pan, and cook down until center comes out clean, 30-40 minutes. Makes 2 pies.

ASIAN-STYLE CHARD

1 Bunch Swiss chard, cleaned
1 Tbsp. peanut oil
1 Tbsp. minced garlic
1 Tbsp. soy sauce
2 Tbsp. hoisin sauce
freshly ground black pepper

Cut off and discard thick stem ends of chard. Cut out ribs; chop ribs into 2" pieces; set aside in a pile. Stack the leaves in small piles; coarsely chop them. Heat oil in large skillet over medium-high flame. Add ribs; toss and cook 1-2 minutes. Add leaves and garlic; continue to cook, tossing often, until chard begins to wilt, 2-3 minutes. Stir in soy sauce and hoisin sauce; cook until chard is tender, 1-3 minuets longer. Add pepper to taste. Serve immediately. Makes 2-4 servings.

Again all of the above came from "From Asparagus to Zucchini" a guide to cooking farm-fresh seasonal produce.

Hot, hot, hot!!!! And the singing cicadas! This could be a summer to remember and we haven't even got started yet! We've been busy watering, pulling weeds, mowing and planting. We've got green beans, edemame, and several varieties of dried beans planted. Worked last night getting the winter squash and pumpkin patch disced up and ready to plant. The strawberries are done, so this weeks CSA boxes will be more greens and you will have a baked bread probably applesauce. We've got the tomatoes in the hoop house staked and tied and even got 3 tomatoes out of there last week. Need to go out and check on the blueberries as that will be the next berry to be ready.

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.