Turtle Times

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Vol. 13, No. 2, May 20, ‘08     7260 NW 58th  St., Johnston 50131  278-4522 (577-9208)

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Rain: none in the last week

In the Box . . .

Lettuce ‘Simpson Elite’, ‘Reuben’s Red’

Arugula (maybe)

Radish ‘French Breakfast’

Green garlic

Asparagus

Farm Update

You knew it would happen--the rains stopped—hopefully not for long.  The farm looks really nice.  The multicolored lettuce patch makes such a pretty pattern that we wonder what airplanes flying over head must think when they see them from above.  The pea trellises are up, and the strawberries are finally blooming, although quite late this year.  The farm has been blessed with good help in April and May to keep us on schedule.  I’ll introduce you to the farm crew in the next newsletter.

This week is the time to work out kinks in the system.  Is your drop site location as close as you had hoped?  Do you have more questions?  Please ask.  We can still make changes.

Save the dates: Garlic harvest July 12 and PFI Field Day at the Farm Sept. 13

Recipes

Thirteen years ago when this CSA’s deliveries started, one of the first recipes I shared was my mother-in-law, Elsie Tedesco’s salad dressing.  I had grown up on bottled dressing and was not familiar with oil and vinegar dressings.  She tossed the salad first by hand with the oil, then added the vinegar and seasonings next and tossed again.  Of course that lends itself so nicely to changing the vinegars and the oils to make a multitude of different dressings, although she mainly used cider vinegar and corn oil.  I have progressed a little further on the homemade dressing scale and find now how much I enjoy a French vinaigrette.  So I thought I would start this season out with that as we are about to embark on a multitude of lettuces and greens.  These homemade dressings are so good and take little time to prepare, and don’t have all the additives of many bottled dressings.

Basic French Vinaigrette

1 garlic clove, minced

¼ tsp salt

¼ tsp Dijon mustard

2 T. red wine vinegar

2 T. olive oil

Salt and pepper to taste

Put the garlic and salt in a small bowl.  Using the back of a spoon, crush the garlic against the salt.  Add the mustard and vinegar and whisk till well mixed.  Add the olive oil to your salad greens and toss (by hand or with spoons if you don’t want to get “dirty”).  Add the vinegar mixture and toss again.  Check for seasoning.  These amounts can be varied according to your tastes.

Remember to check the turtle-farm website for recipes.  One of my favorites this time of year is Mark’s asparagus (www.turtle-farm.com), which customer Mark McAndrews sent it.  This is an invitation for you to send in any recipes that are your favorites.  I will print them as I have room when the veggies in them are relevant to what is in season.

Also if you misplace or delete your newsletter, copies can be found on the website as well.