Kitchen Tools Suggested

Do you have at least two (2) refrigerator/freezer thermometers in your home? If not, we recommend you purchase one for each of your refrigerators and freezers! A thermometer is your number one food safety tool. This tool can be purchased for $5 – $6. The food safety zone should be clearly marked in red. Place it in a prominent location and KEEP AN EYE ON IT.  This handy gadget will help you to keep your veggies fresh and it will ensure your dairy products and meats are “in the zone” as well. The proper temperature range will be printed on the side of your CSA Box.

We suggest you buy a box of Hefty Jumbo (2.5 gallon) zipper bags. This brand is the largest we have seen. They are easy to open and are big enough to handle anything we will send your way. There are also various “green bags” on the market. The point is you will need some extra-large refrigerator storage bags for the time between receiving and preparing/consuming your veggies.

It can be difficult to distinguish the various greens from one another. If you taste the stem end, you may be able to distinguish the turnip from the mustard from the collards. Don’t stress over the names; but if you want to know them, check out the web site Photo Album entitled “Vegetable Identification” to see photos of some of these first spring vegetables. The veggies are shown in the approximate order of their appearance in your CSA Box—although, of course, this will vary slightly from season to season. I will post on the Blog what is coming any given week so you know what to expect. We do reserve the right to make changes in the harvest as necessary.

All of these first greens can all be used in a raw salad or a quick stir fry mix. I like to wash all of my greens at one time and have them ready to chop for salads or sauté at mealtime. I also keep a big bowl of all these greens chopped and mixed together in the refrigerator. Then I can make a tasty salad in no time. Beyond what I will use in three days, I leave washed and unchopped in a bag. (Strawberries would be lovely here!)

You might look through the recipes on the web site for these first vegetables and stock your pantry with some of the staples you see repeated in the ingredients. See “T” for Tatsoi, “C” for Choi and “L” for Lettuce.  In particular, I would recommend the Joi Choi Salad crunchy topping and dressing! These can be made in advance.

We do have CSA Shares available. Keep your eyes open for your personal Start-Up Email. We are getting close . . . !

Meanwhile, I am trying to keep the rabbits and chipmunks away from my personal, six strawberry plants! The guard dog did not work, the pie plates with streamers did not work, I have moved on to netting. Fingers crossed–I have yet to get a single berry!