Summer Share #9
My Fine Homestead Newsletter
7/27/2016
In This Issue:
  1. Announcements 
  2. In Your Box 
  3. Vegetable Spotlight - Radicchio
  4. Recipes - Broccoli & Carrot Stir-fry with Thai option
  5. On The Farm . . .
Marlee, Pixie, and Aidan at taking a break at market.
Announcements
 
1 .  It's an "odd week " as in Box #9. If you have an  EOW Share AND you pickup at any of these places:

The Office Market, APT, First Business

This is your week! 

2. We've received word that Fit Moms Transformations unexpectedly needs to move. We need to find a new dropsite as we won't be able to use 202 S. Gammon starting August 1st.

We would like to stay with Transformations at their new location, if possible, as many using it are also members of Transformations. However we may need a new in that area. If you have any ideas - please let me know. We appreciate your patience with this unforeseen challenge and promise to let you know as soon as we figure this all out. 

3. Annual Farm Party is July 31. We'll have brats and burgers, beer and punch. Bring a dish to pass or not. Fun starts at 1pm. RSVP stacey@myfinehomestead.com 

4. Previous newsletters are on our Facebook page .  

7.  ??? Questions ??? stacey@myfinehomestead.com  

In Your Box
Full Share

Mesclun Mix
Radicchio - 1 head
English Cucumber - 1 from Roots Down Farm or Summer Squash - 1 Summer Squash is one of the few vegetables that taste just as good if not better when tiny.
Basil - 1 bunch
Stir-Fry Pak - Broccoli, Carrots, Kale, Onion, Garlic 
Baby Red Potatoes - 1 plus lb
Sage - 1 bunch
Raw Wildflower Honey - 4oz of the first honey of the season for us to round out your box
  
 Half Share

Radicchio - 1 head chioggia variety
Basil - 1 bunch
Stir-Fry Pak - Broccoli, Carrots, Kale, Onion, Garlic
Sage - 1 bunch
Raw Wildflower Honey - 4oz of the first honey of the season for us to round out your box


Vegetable Spotlight - Radicchio
Most commonly an addition to salad mixes, radicchio is the Italian name for all chicories. The variety most familiar in the United States is Chioggia, the type that grows in round, red and white heads.

According to Hungry Monster radicchio has an interesting history. Predecessors to radicchio were once found all over areas of Eurasia and, geographically speaking, may even have existed in the Garden of Eden. But, since Adam and Eve's possible discovery of early chicory, the vegetable has grown mainly in regions of Northern Italy, especially in the Veneto region, where it currently thrives. Pliny the Elder (23 A.D.-79 A.D.) was the first to write about radicchio, when he referred to the Venetian lettuce in his Naturalis Historia, in praise of its more purifying qualities. Though environment, cultivation, and hybridization have modified the vegetable since ancient times, many of radicchio's original medicinal properties still apply today.

True cultivation of the plant began in Veneto during the 15th Century, when crop specialization and the plant's popularity among local farmers increased. At this time a special type of radicchio, the Rosa di Chioggia, was born on the Chioggia Island in Veneto, helping to produce fertile soil more conducive to cultivating other vegetables. In the 1970s, Italy began to export this and other varieties of the celebrated radicchio plant throughout the world.

Raw, radicchio adds a pleasant bite to mixed-green salads. Cooked, it turns from red to rich brown and develops a mellow, earthy flavor. Cut the heads into quarters, brush with olive oil, and grill, or add chopped radicchio to soups, stews and braises to intensify the color and depth of flavor.

As for nutritional value according to Hungry Monster the vegetable has properties aiding in digestion, and acts as a purifying diuretic, tonic and laxative, while protecting the liver. Its organic juices are used in cosmetics to naturally soothe and relieve irritated skin. Like other colorful vegetables, Radicchio is high in fiber, and has an ample vitamin content rich in A and C, as well as Iron (in the green leaf varieties).

Store in a plastic bag in your refrigerator up to two weeks.       

More info on Radicchio

Broccoli And Carrot Stir-fry

Preparation Time: 10 minutes
Cooking Time: 6 minutes

Serves: 6

Ingredients

1 Tbsp. olive oil 
2 thin slices fresh ginger 
2 clove Garlic, minced 
3 cups Broccoli, chopped 
2 cups Carrots, thinly sliced 
4 Green Onions, chopped 
3/4 cup vegetable or chicken broth 
1 Tbsp. cornstarch 
2 Tbsp. soy sauce or tamari

Instructions

Heat oil in wok. Add ginger and garlic; stir 1 minute. Add broccoli, carrots, and onion. Stir-fry for 1 minute. Add broth, cover, and simmer 3 minutes. 

Mix cornstarch in 1 tablespoon cold water and stir into mixture. Stir until thickened, then add soy sauce. Cook 1 more minute and serve over rice.

Thai version:  Skip adding the cornstarch and soy sauce to water. Instead, in a bowl, mix 3/4 cup coconut milk, 3 tablespoons soy sauce, 3 tablespoons rice wine vinegar, 1-1/2 tablespoons fish sauce, and 3/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes. Add to stir-fry and cook for 3 minutes, until sauce has reduced by about a third. Stir in up to 1 1/2 cup chopped basil until heated through. Remove from heat and serve.

Optional: Add 2 lbs boneless chicken breast cut into 1/2 inch strips. Add to stir-fry before sauce and cook for 3 minutes.

On the Farm . . .

We are getting ready for our annual Farm Party this Sunday.  During the winter when we envision the party, we see our farm all neat and cleaned up. The accumulated odds and ends in the sheds have been sorted and dealt with. The lawn is mowed, the always encroaching cockle burr and thistle are not present. The sagging-so-much-it-appears-drunk entrance to the barn has been torn down and replaced. Oh, and of course, the house is clean and tidy. Everything is orderly and welcoming. That’s the way we see our farm in our mind’s eye.

Then Spring happens. We get busy starting plants, cultivating fields, feeding baby chicks, goat kids, and calves, opening up beehives, cleaning winter’s manure out of the barn, checking fences, tapping maple trees, and making soaps and lotions for the farmer market season.  Sometimes tidiness goes out the window – well, not completely, but to a certain degree. We can be heard saying,” I’ll deal with that a different day.” Well, it feels like “a different day” is here. We want our farm to look the way we saw it in our mind’s eye last winter. But with the party less than a week out, we are coming face to face with the reality that it won’t.  Heck, I’m not sure our farm will ever be neat and orderly.

I guess it mirrors the life Bill and I have created together. Sometimes disorganized, frustrating, and challenging yet more than not, creative, productive, passionate, filled with personal growth and fulfillment, and satisfying. Years ago, we made a conscious decision to not just live on a farm but to raise our children on a working farm “until death do us part.” Farming is part of our marriage, part of our commitment to each other, and part of who we are. We want that for our kids. It feels important for them to work together with us learning to farm – when it is fun and convenient and when it’s not. It feels important for them to learn the responsibility of caring for animals in life and in death, to feel the weight of that respnsibility as they are able. It feels important for all five of us to be connected to the land entrusted to our care as well as being literally connected to our farming heritage. It not only provides a way to continue important traditions, but also a real way to stay close to those who no longer share this life with us.

 Don’t get me wrong, neat and orderly have their place, and we continue to strive for neat and orderly in an effort to be efficient and successful, but it isn’t the most important thing. I think if we can keep the big picture in mind when we get a little frantic during this week leading up to the party – we will be able to welcome all who can come with an accepting attitude of where we are and where we are going. 

Have a great week,

Stacey 

  full frame of honey just before extracting
dewy spider web in the front yard
  pretty basil
Marlee biking through the pasture.
jars of honey for this week's shares
little green beans
  hen in the nestbox
  Pixie spending the hot days in the pool.