Although this is the newsletter for the vegetable CSA, still I must tell you the headline news story is our chicken harvest success on Monday. This is our third time at it and we are getting better. We processed 250 birds in just under seven hours. There were seven of us cooperating smoothly to make it happen. I was thinking that if only my hands were not so large I could have a promising future as a butcher. Then I was thinking about the way we use the word butcher in the common English language, as in “She really butchered that”, meaning ruined it, or did a very bad job of it. But, my beginner chicken butchering experience is teaching me that to butcher is a fine art, one that I plan to continue to practice lifelong. I aspire to being a great butcher. Our most heartfelt thanks to everyone who supported our efforts by purchasing chickens. The chicks for the September 21 harvest date will arrive on July 1. There is plenty of time to reserve for that date, but they go fast, so the sooner the better. Raising chickens has added a new layer of depth to our experience of farming life, and we are grateful for the opportunity.

Next up, Green Garlic, and Garlic Scapes. Chet’s Early Italian Roses is the full and proper name of this week’s garlic. We call it green garlic because it is not fully mature, still green, fresh, and juicy. When mature the garlic will turn yellow and brown on the leaves and the bulb wrappers will dry and tighten around the loves to protect them for storage in the fall and winter months. You can chop up the entire bulb and stem and use as you would garlic or leeks or onions. You can sautee them, alone or with other items, and you can make pesto with them and basil or cilantro or arugula. The scape is the flowering stem of the garlic plant. The garlic grows up and then curls around into a sweet spiral with the flower bud encased at the tip. We break them off and eat them at this time because they are so delicious, and because taking the flower off gives the plant more energy to focus on swelling up those bulbs. We like to eat the scapes sautéed in olive oil, or steamed like green beans. The texture is something like a green bean but the taste is like soft sweet warm garlic, not at all spicy.

After that killer day of processing chickens came Tuesday, normal day of harvesting vegetables for CSA shares and for the Tumwater Farmers Market (open from 11-2 Wednesdays). I was so tired and wishing for a day off, and I sort of got one in the form of multiple other tasks, not regular harvest work. First, I provided a harvest list and advice to our amazing regular crew of eight farm workers. Next I met Farmer Colin over at site three to check out the progress of our broccoli (awesome) and peas (coming along, but not yet). Then I ran across the street (literally) to site 2 to meet the group of gleaners from the Thurston County Food Bank who were there to gather up some lettuces that were a little too big for us to sell. So we are really excited to have regular gleaning crews coming out to gather up and donate what we would otherwise till in. It’s not so wasteful to till in, feeding the soil and all, but it sure feels great to know that someone who needs to can eat it. If you want to get involved with gleaning at our farm or other farms, contact the food bank at their website, http://www.thurstoncountyfoodbank.org.

After I got them going on the lettuce I ran back across the street to site 3 (again, literally) and hopped in the car to get back to site 1, the home farm, to meet Art, who was picking up some of our extra seed potatoes and tomato plants for the Kiwanis Gardens, and taking our market leftovers to the foodbank later. Art will come once a week to take things from our cooler that we already harvested, took to market and brought home. We like to maintain high quality standards and it helps us to know that we can donate anything that is not quite pretty enough, like the oldie but goodie pile. The Kiwanis Garden grows food especially for the food bank. If you want to help them or learn more, google Kiwanis gardens Olympia.
Then it was off to downtown Olympia (a quick 10 minute drive) to deliver lettuce and kale to Aqua Via. After lunch, Colin loaded up the chicken plucker and scalder for me to deliver to the next farm to use them, so I had a nice drive out to Matlock and back with a fun visit to another farm in between. Most of the folks I know who grow and process chickens use the same equipment provided by the Mason County Conservation District. These are great tools being used well by many in our community. The South Sound Farm Land Trust is almost finished with a project to raise funds to buy a set for Thurston County. If you want to learn more about that, go to http://community farmlandtrust.org/land.


Quick Beet Greens – A. Donescz, Vegetarian Gourmet, Spring 1993
1 pound beet greens, shredded 2 Tablespoons Olive oil
1 garlic clove, minced 2 Tablespoons toasted sunflower seeds
Toss beet greens, garlic, and oil in a large sauce pan or skillet. Cover and sautee until greens are just wilted. Add a splash of water if necessary to prevent greens from sticking to the pan. Toast sunflower seeds in dry skillet or hot oven several minutes, tossing often and stir into greens. Four servings.
You could substitute as much chopped up green garlic or garlic scapes as you like in this recipe and it will be great. Also, for future reference, this recipe will work for spinach, bok choy, or kale just as well.
BEETS!!
There is no need to peel beets, only scrub them clean; trace minerals lie just below the surface of the skin. Young beet greens can be enjoyed raw, tossed into a mixed green salad. Grate beets into most any salad, cooked or raw. The roots are rich in vitamins A and C, and the leaves offer us lots of iron, calcium,and more vitamin C.