Week 6!!
Hello Followers!!
We are over a month in and things are starting to get on track!! Walking around the farm this week, we can see so many improvements in the health of the plants. More consistent weather, getting the irrigation dialed in, pruning and weeding have all helped with this. Welcome to week 6!
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Here is what you might find in your box:
Salad Mix
Head Lettuce
Kale or Swiss Chard
Radishes
Cipollini onions
Tomatoes (cherry or big)
Cucumbers
Sweet or hot peppers
Zucchini or Summer Squash
Basil/chives/thyme
FLATHEAD CHERRIES!!!
Upcoming:
Peas
Coffee of the Week (for Coffee Subscribers only)
Coffee from Flint Creek Outdoors!
🌿 Featured Item: Thyme
We're beyond excited that Lisa Stravakas from Renew Wellness has decided to contribute her wealth of knowledge on the health benefits of eating and utilizing fresh produce and herbs. Thank you Lisa!!
THYME
Thyme has pungent, heating, and light qualities, making it excellent for digestive, respiratory, and antimicrobial purposes. It can be harmoniously integrated into Ayurvedic formulations when tailored to the individual's doshic constitution and seasonal needs.
Therapeutic Uses in Ayurveda
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Respiratory Support
o Acts as an expectorant, useful in coughs, bronchitis, asthma, and congestion.
o Its heating quality helps to melt excess mucus in the lungs.
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Digestive Aid
o Stimulates Agni (digestive fire), aiding in indigestion, bloating, and flatulence.
o Helps clear Ama (toxins) from the digestive tract.
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Anti-microbial & Immune-Boosting
o Contains thymol, a natural antiseptic and antifungal compound.
o Supports the immune system and may be used in infections.
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Nervine and Mental Clarity
o Mildly stimulating to the mind and can enhance focus.
o Traditionally used for mental fatigue and depression.
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External Applications
o Thyme-infused oils may be used for rheumatic pains, muscle aches, and infections.
Thyme tea has been used to stop gastric fermentation. It may be mixed with honey for sore throats. It's diaphoretic properties make it useful to sweat out a fever.
🍽️ Recipe of the Week:
Baked Cauliflower Salad with Feta and Dates
This cauliflower salad is a combination of warm and roasty, as well as crisp and fresh. It's the perfect marriage of salty, sweet, herbaceous and just plain good. It uses a whole cauliflower head to start, then adds on fresh peas, radishes, dates, basil and mint, as well as some salty feta. The combination is truly out-of-this world and absolutely worth the effort. It just might be your new favorite salad
Ingredients:
For the Roasted Cauliflower Head:
1 head cauliflower (or Broccoli)
2-3 tbsp olive oil
1/3 cup tahini
1/3 cup fresh parsley
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
2 garlic cloves
2 tbsp lemon juice, about the juice of 1/2 of a lemon
1/4 cup water
Kosher salt
For the Salad:
1 cup sugar snap peas, thinly sliced
1 cup radishes, thinly sliced
1/4 cup fresh basil, chiffonade cut
1/4 cup fresh mint, chiffonade cut
2/3 cup pitted medjool dates, roughly chopped
2/3 cup Athenos feta cheese , crumbled
2 tbsp lemon juice, about 1/2 of a lemon
1/2 tsp sumac, optional, but really delicious
Extra-virgin
Instructions
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Preheat the oven to 375°F.
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Put the cauliflower top-down on a cutting board. Remove all the rough green bottom stems and cut out the rough bottom stem core. Flip it over and place on a baking sheet.
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Drizzle the cauliflower with a liberal amount of olive oil and rub to coat it. Sprinkle with salt. Cover the cauliflower with foil and roast for 30 minutes. Uncover and roast another 35-45 minutes, or until the cauliflower is a deep golden brown on top.
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While the cauliflower is roasting, prepare the tahini drizzle. Add the tahini, parsley, red pepper, garlic, lemon juice and water to a blender. Add a pinch of salt and blend until smooth, but still with a few flecks of green throughout. Add more water as needed to get to a "drizzly" texture. Season with salt as needed.
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To make the feta and date salad, grab a large bowl. Toss in the sliced peas, radishes, basil, mint, dates and feta. Toss to combine and add a squeeze of lemon juice, the sumac and a large pinch of salt. Drizzle with a bit of olive oil and taste. Add lemon juice and salt as you prefer. Set aside.
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When the cauliflower is out of the oven, pour the tahini drizzle right on top. Slice it into 4 large pieces and add each to their own bowl. Pile a large serving of the feta & date salad next to each. Enjoy as soon as you can!
Notes
📣 Farm News & Notes:
As stated earlier, week 6 brings healthy plants and lots of variety! Peas are close, the zucchini is ramping up, carrots are coming in and new herb varieties are almost ready!! Our salad mix is looking much cleaner as well and not taking as much washing, which saves an incredible amount of time. It's so great to see new crops that we haven't been able to grow here in the 'burg coming in!!
On a bittersweet note, the Drummond Farmer's Market has not been very successful. So, we've decided to just drop off veggie boxes for those with CSA shares for pick-up. It was a hard decision, as we've been doing a Drummond pop-up market since 2021, but the cost out ways the benefit for us currently. We hope next year we will be able to make the market more of a family event and get more people out to enjoy it. Drummond has always been our target audience, due to the lack of available produce, so it's not something we take lightly.
We are SO excited to welcome back FLATHEAD CHERRIES this week!! Thanks to Pinky and his organic orchard we were able to secure a large amount that we will be offering for our CSA Shares and for sale!! After enjoying many ourselves, we are SURE that you will, too!!
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COME VISIT US!!
Whether you're a CSA member or not, you can always come by our pop-up market stands!
Please Note: No more market stands in Drummond on Wednesdays.
