Stranger’s Hill Organics

We are still accepting members for the 2012 season! Sign up now for a pro-rated share.

What to expect in this week’s share:

• Lettuce
• Kale
• Beets
• Radishes
• Assorted Herb Bundles

Recipes:

15 Kale Recipes from seriouseats.com

Healthy Bean Soup with Kale

Rosy Rice Risotto with Beets and Kale

Couscous with Chick Peas, Beets, and Kale

Radiant Beet and Kale Penne Pasta

Kale Chips (Bunch not required, use any amount of kale)

Roasted Beets and Sauteed Beet Greens

New York Times’ Recipes for Health: Best Beet Recipes

Romaine and Radish Salad with Buttermilk Lemon Dressing

Note: Remember, you can eat your beet and radish greens, and if you want to eat your kale raw, just massage it with salt and a little oil to soften it up. Delicious!

One of our members sent us this photo of a salad he made using the vegetables from last week's share.

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Welcome to the Stranger’s Hill Organics CSA!

Right now, the cold weather crops take the center stage. Here are the items to expect this week:

1. Lettuce

2. Radishes

3. Beets

4. Carrots

5. Assorted Herb Bundles

In a few weeks we’ll have kale, kohlrabi, broccoli, peas, beans, rainbow chard, and other cooler weather vegetables, and then as the season moves along, we will eventually shift into the summer crops like tomatoes, eggplants and peppers, potatoes, sweet potatoes, onions, garlic, watermelons, zucchini and various summer squashes, etc.

Recipes

Citrus-Ginger Roasted Beets and Carrots

Honey-Balsamic Glazed Roasted Beets and Carrots

Beet and Goat Cheese Arugula Salad

Carrot Radish Salad

Grated Beet and Carrot Salad with Radish-Miso Dressing

Three-Day Pickled Beets

Cold Carrot Soup

Maple Dill Carrots

Raw Beet Salad

Beet Rosti with Rosemary

And:

Radish Dressing
from Bon Appetit 1995

5 radishes, trimmed, coarsely chopped
½ C olive oil
2 tbsp. sherry wine vinegar
1 tbsp. honey mustard (or make your own with 1/2 tbsp. honey, ½ tbsp. mustard)
½ tsp. minced garlic

*Check back for new recipes throughout the week. We’ll periodically update as we find more.

Farm Photos

A view of the interior of one of our production houses. You can see rows of beets (right) and carrots (left).

These production houses allow us to plant earlier than we otherwise could because of their ability to trap sunlight and maintain soil temperature. This is where most of the food for the first shares is being grown.

Vibrant red and green leaf lettuces.

Between the production houses, beds of radishes receive a refreshing spray. Most of these photos were taken on 4/20 of this year, and the vegetables have grown considerably since then. And of course, you'll find these radishes in your first share!

While the red and green leaf, romaine, and butter head lettuces are growing out in the fields, a second batch of lettuce starts are in the greenhouse waiting to be planted. No shortage of lettuce here.

Farm manager and partner Dave Rollo lays drip tape, a plastic hose punched with tiny holes to allow the slow release of water directly onto the beds.

Large heads of romaine lettuce growing beneath long sheets of thin row cover, a cloth material called reemay. In this case, the reemay is being used mostly to protect the lettuce from deer, who of course love feasting on organic veggies.

Playing an important role in the biodiversity of any ecosystem are pollinators, like the bees that we house on our farm. As an added benefit, if all goes well they produce a batch honey that will then find it's way into at least one of your CSA boxes.

…and many more photos to come!

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We are very excited about the coming season and we hope to see you back in 2012! Stranger’s Hill Organics Partner Dave Rollo will be our Farm Manager this year, and partners and original founders Dale and Lee Jones will be very involved in crop production, sharing their 30+ years of experience as organic growers. Registration is officially open and we encourage you to enroll early, as shares are limited. Fill out the CSA-Membership-Agreement-2012 and send it in with your deposit or full membership fee to reserve your spot!

Questions?  Contact Farm Manager Dave Rollo until May, when CSA Coordinator Ben Smith begins.

Dave: 812-272-2207 or dave@strangershillorganics.com

Ben (starting May 1): 317-625-2901 or csa@strangershillorganics.com

Check out our 2012 crop list on the CSA webpage.

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Here’s a recipe for the winter months. This recipe requires a 5 quart or greater sized slow cooker.

• 1 lb meat or meat substitute (venison, beef, chicken, textured soy, etc., chopped or cubed
• 1 medium size butternut squash, peeled and cubed
• 1 bunch of kale, tear leaves from stems/ribs into approximately 2in x 2in pieces
• 1 apple, peeled, cored and cubed
• 1 turnip cubed
• 1 large potato cubed
• 1 large onion chopped
• 4 cloves diced or pressed through clove press
• 2 Jalapeño peppers sliced or Tabasco sauce to taste
• 1 cup rice
• 1 quart Tomato juice
• 2 cups water
• 1 12oz bottle Porter (dark beer)
• 1 cup of dry-medium mead or dry white wine
• 1 tsp crushed rosemary
• 1 Tbs salt to taste
• 1 tsp pepper to taste
• 2 Tbs olive oil

Instructions

• Put everything in slow cooker on high until thoroughly cooked and all liquid is absorbed (about 2 hours). Stir occasionally. Leave in slow cooker on lowest setting. See instructions for your slow cooker.
• Optional: If meat is ground, cook it separately and break it into small pieces first.
• Optional: marinate and/or cook meat separately before starting slow cook
• Optional: Replace beer and wine with equivalent amount of water or leave top off during boil to evaporate out the alcohol.
• Optional: brown/fry potato cubes in oil before starting slow cook
• Optional: Saute onions and/or garlic before starting slow cook
• Serve on its own with side dishes or on top of rice or pasta

This recipe was submitted by Rick Dietz

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Crust:

• 3 cups flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 cup water (filtered and room temp) + 2 T of honey + 1 package of yeast or 2 ¼ tsp of bread machine yeast

Mix the water and honey, and then add yeast. Let stand 5 minutes. Combine the flour and salt in large bowl. Add the wet ingredients and mix until it comes together as dough. Work the dough for 5 minutes or so and let it rise after.

The pizza crust can be made ahead of time or as soon as you are ready to use it. If you want a thin crust, you can make it right before use. For a chewier, more complex crust, make up to 12 hours ahead and let rise an hour on the counter and the remaining time in the refrigerator. Remove 30 minutes before use.

Topping:

• 10-12 small zucchini
• Salt
• 2 T butter
• ½ – 1 small onion, finely chopped
• 1 cup (4 oz) crumbled feta
• ½ cup ricotta
• 2 T chopped basil or 1 tsp dry
• Freshly ground black pepper
• Cornmeal or olive oil for pizza pan

1. Grate ¾ of the zucchini, add ½ -1 tsp salt, toss well, and let weep in colander for 20-30 minutes.
2. Put a pan of water on to boil.
3. Make the dough.
4. Slice the remaining zucchini ¼ in. thick. Working in batches, blanch in boiling water for 1 minute. Drain in a colander.
5. Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
6. Heat butter in large skillet over medium heat. Chop onions and add to butter. Cook until soft. Add the grated zucchini. Stir often. Cook until just beginning to brown. Transfer to a large bowl.
7. Sprinkle cornmeal on or lightly oil pizza pan. Toss crust or roll with a rolling pin. Place on pan and prebake for 3-4 minutes.
8. Add to the zucchini mixture half of the feta cheese, ricotta, basil, and pepper to taste.
9. Spread the zucchini mixture on the crust to about 1/2 in. from the edge. Top with the sliced zucchini. Sprinkle on the remaining feta.
10. Bake for about 15- 20 minutes or longer if desired.

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• 6 medium yellow squash
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1/4 c. butter, melted
• 1 large onion, minced
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 small green pepper, seeded and diced
• 1/2 t. oregano
• 1 1/2 c. cooked and drained hole kernel corn*
• 1/2 c. graded Cheddar cheese
• 5 eggs, well beaten
• 1/2 c. lite cream or half and half (or half milk, half cream)

Preheat oven to 325F. Slice squash into 1/2-inch slices. Steam for 5 minutes. Drain and sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Melt half the butter in a skillet. Saute onion, garlic, and green pepper until soft. Add more salt and pepper, and the oregano. Let cool.

Add squash, corn, and cheese to onion mixture. Add well-beaten eggs, cream, and remaining melted butter. Mix. Pour into greased casserole. Place casserole in a pan of hot water** and bake for 40 minutes or until custard is set.  Serves 6-8.

*Steaming corn on the cob and slicing off the kernels is nice; 2 1/2 cobs yields about 1 1/2 c. corn kernels.

**Skipping the pan of hot water seems to work OK, the bottom of the custard just gets a little brown.

From: A Midwest Gardener’s Cookbook by Marian K. Towne

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Contact: dave@strangershillorganics.com

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Select tender young pods less than 4 inches long. If leaving whole, remove stems without cutting into seed sections. If cutting into sections, cut into 1-inch lengths after blanching. Blanch in boiling water for 2 minutes. Plunge into ice water to cool, then drain. Pack in small plastic bags. Close securely and freeze. The pods, even when frozen, can be sliced crosswise easily for use in soups and stews.

From A Midwest Gardener’s Cookbook by Marian K. Towne

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• ½ c. uncooked lentils or split peas
• 5 c. chicken or turkey broth (or water and bouillon cubes)
• 3 c. cooked chicken or turkey, chopped
• 2 medium onions, chopped
• salt and pepper to taste
• 2 ears fresh corn, cut from cob, or 1 ½ c. whole kernel corn
• 1 c. chopped celery with leaves
• 8 fresh okra cut in rounds or 6-8 oz. frozen okra
• chopped parsley for garnish

Cook lentils slowly in broth until tender, about 1 hour. Add remaining ingredients except parsley and continue to simmer for another 10 minutes, adding more water if needed. Serve at once garnished with parsley. Serves 6-8.

*When meat is used, we believe in the use of humanely raised and harvested meats!

From: A Midwest Gardener’s Cookbook by Marian K. Towne

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• 4 c. sliced summer squash (patty pan, yellow, zucchini, etc.)
• 1-1½ T olive oil (or heart healthy margarine or butter)
• ½ large onion (or 1 small onion), sliced into fine rings
• ¼ t. each of dried basil and parsley (or herbs of preference; or use 1 T. of fresh
• chopped herbs of choice)
• Salt and pepper to taste

Heat oil in skillet on medium heat, add onions and caramelize until soft and brown. Add squash and herbs and stir while continuing to cook until squash is tender. May be served plain or over rice or noodles.

Optional: After squash is cooked, lay finely sliced tomatoes over squash, cover, and steam for 2 minutes.

This recipe was submitted by Terry Guertin

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