Pre-Season Veggies! Arugula, Green Garlic, and more!

Hello Friends!

This fabulous spring weather means that Bill has quite a few veggies ready for you to purchase for pickup on Monday, May 12! (If our CSA members are interested in getting a jump start on the season, they could use this as an opportunity to visit the farm while purchasing some pre-official-season produce! The pickup would then be at the farm Monday night any time after 5 p.m. I’ll put directions at the bottom of this blog posting.)

Here’s what we have:
Sorrel -- $1.75/bu
Arugula -- $2.50/bag
Radish -- $1.75/bu
Green Onion -- $1.75/bu
Green Garlic -- $2.00/bu
Red Russion Kale (very young and tender) -- $1.75/bu

What are these vegetables and how do you use them?
1. Sorrel – It’s a leafy green with a great, lemony flavor. You can either cut it into a salad for a little zing of lemon flavor or cook it down into a sauce and use it on chicken or fish. You can also make sorrel soup, which is mighty tasty. Check out www.epicurious.com for great recipe ideas.
2. Arugula – This is one of the best greens out there, in my humble opinion. I prefer to eat it raw in a salad. You can also wilt it down into any recipe calling for wilted greens. Arugula has a very distinctive flavor – earthy, nutty, spicy in a peppery-kinda-way (although this time of year it’s on the milder end of spicy). It really adds so much to a meal. In my next blog I’m going to talk about the need to add sparkle to the American diet with veggies that some people would consider to be – perish the thought – bitter. Usually, they just mean it’s not mild and sweet and easy to swallow. But ya know, there’s more to life than easy-to-eat food. Food can be like wine or beer … you learn to appreciate new flavors and textures based on what you’ve learned about the food/drink. You can also become a more principled eater. And I don’t mean eating things you abhor just on principle. I mean that you could adopt the principle shared by many cultures throughout the world that different parts of the meal should taste … DIFFERENT!
3. Radishes – no need for explanation, right? Red round radishes are just what you think: red and round. French Breakfast are, like the French, a bit fancier. (We’ve been reading “Fancy Nancy” books to the boys, and she LOVES the French.) Because it’s so early in the season, they are at their mildest. (They get hotter with the weather.) Our boys just pop them into their mouths right in the field. NOTE: You should (not “can”) eat the radish greens!!! You cook them like any other green, and radish greens are tasty. Again, visit www.epicurious.com for details. (I’m going to stop pretending that I cook and just refer you to the experts! After all, I really don’t cook anymore. Bill is the King of the Land of Food, and I am the Queen of cleaning up after him. It works very well.)
4. Green Onions – uh, yea.
5. Green Garlic – This is one of those real seasonal treats. Green garlic is simply young garlic that has not yet formed the bulb and that has not yet developed a tough stalk. So you can eat the ENTIRE plant for the next few weeks, leaves and all. Do not miss this. It’s very “foodie” food. (Foodies are food connoisseurs.)
6. Red Russian Kale – Politically incorrect name? I’ll leave you to decide. Nonetheless, this is a wonderful spring green. At this stage, it can be eaten raw in a salad. (Later, kale is really only cooked because the leaves develop more texture later.) Kale is unbelievably healthy, and it has a distinctive flavor. You’ve probably been eating it in those bags of mixed spring greens in the store and didn’t even know it. Kale is a fluffy green – it holds its frilly shape in a salad – so it helps to keep a salad fluffed up. (A structural green, I suppose!) Bill also likes to make wilted greens with sautéed green garlic, green onions, arugula, and kale. Add salt and pepper, and it’s a great side dish in about 10 minutes. We’re all about simple preparation given how busy we are when the veggies are coming on strong.

Part of the key to eating fresh foods is to have a diverse array of it sitting around. Then you can simply toss a couple of radishes onto the side of the dinner plate as a mini-side dish, sauté some green garlic in with a cooked dish, or perk up a salad with arugula or young kale. Last night, Bill made this pasta with a little bit of everything … wilted greens, bell peppers from the freezer, green garlic, green onions, radish greens, you name it.

NOTE: If you have any comments on these veggies or recipes to share, please post them to this blog. We’re doing a blog for this very reason. (I used to get lots of emails with other people’s great recipe ideas but then I couldn’t really share them easily with the rest of the email list.)

You must order by Saturday night or fairly early Sunday morning so that Bill can pick everything on Sunday. I’ll bring things in on Monday morning to the Coffeehound in uptown Normal (next to the Normal Theater). I’ll be there between 7:30 and 8:15 a.m. Please send your orders to our email at blueschoolhouse@yahoo.com. (You can't order on the blog!)

I’ll be sending out a more detailed market email in the next few days, so stay tuned for updates on the farm, the kids, the cats, and more!

And remember that the Bloomington Farmers Market starts Saturday, May 17 around the historic courthouse square. The market now starts at 7:30 a.m. rather than 6:45 a.m. AND it lasts until noon. Yay! We get to sleep in for 45 more minutes!

Looking forward to a great 2008!
Mercy Davison
Blue Schoolhouse Farm
309-467-9228


Directions to the Farm:

From Eureka: Head south on Hwy 117. About a mile south of Eureka, go left (east) on Guth Road (700N). Go about a mile and then go right (south) on 1500 E immediately after the little bridge. This road curves around a bit but ultimately keeps heading south. Take a left onto 550 N. Go down about a mile, and the road comes to a T intersection. Our driveway is right at the end of that road.

From El Paso: Take 24 W toward Eureka. Turn left (south) on 2000E. Go a couple of miles and turn right (west) on 700N. Turn left (south) on 1800E and then right (west) on 600N. Turn left (south) on 1625E, and we’re down about half a mile on the left. We live in a blue schoolhouse, as the farm name suggests!