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This Week’s Harvest:

• Basil (’Napoletano’ & ‘Genovese’)
• Cabbage
• Collard Greens
• ‘Red Russian’ Kale
• Mixed Head Lettuce (’Red Sails,’ ‘Red Salad Bowl,’ ‘Green Salad Bowl,’ ‘Oakleaf,’ & ‘Buttercrunch’)
• ‘Giant Italian’ Parsley
• Root Crop Medley (’Napoli’ & ‘Cosmic Purple’ Carrots, ‘D’Avignon’ & ‘Easter Egg’ Radishes)
• ‘Evergreen Hardy’ Scallions

Crop of the Week – ‘Evergreen Hardy’ Scallions:

A scallion, also commonly known as spring onion, green onion, or salad onion, is associated with various members of the genus Allium that lack a fully-developed bulb. Harvested for their taste, they tend to be milder than other onions and may be steamed or set in salads in western cookery and cooked in many Asian recipes. Diced scallions are often used in soup, noodle and seafood dishes, and in sauces in eastern dishes, after removing the bottom quarter-inch or so of the root end.

The species most commonly associated with the name is the Welsh onion, Allium fistulosum. “Scallion” is sometimes used for Allium ascalonicum, better known as the shallot. The words scallion and shallot are related and can be traced back to the Greek askolonion as described by the Greek writer Theophrastus; this name, in turn, seems to originate from the Philistine town of Ascalon (modern-day Ashkelon in Israel). The shallots themselves apparently came from farther east.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scallion

Spicy Collards Recipe

Radish & Scallion Stir Fry Recipe

Announcements:

-Please remember to bring re-usable bags or boxes for share pick-ups. Some interesting ideas have been presented from various shareholders. Check out reusablebags.com for a wide selection of environmentally-friendly satchels. Or, consider a rolling cooler to store and keep your veggies fresh. Also, stay tuned for more information about The BagShare Project. The idea is for volunteers to work together to produce reusable cloth bags. Community Bag Sews (sewing circles) are organized by volunteers, materials and machines are donated by individuals and local businesses. Baskets of these bags are kept at participating shops and patrons borrow a bag if they need one. The bag is then returned to that location or another BagShare location for another to use.

-Griggstown Farm Market has introduced a new line of smoked poultry products. We now offer Smoked Duck Breast and Smoked Chicken Breast.

-Please remember to sign in on a weekly basis.

-Please take only the number allotted for your share size; if you take more than stipulated, you’re taking away from other folks.

-Please do not bring any pets to the farm.

-Please stay in the market & garden area only. Please do not go beyond the back fence into the poultry operations for safety & health reasons.

-Please park to the side and do not block the driveway. Be mindful of delivery trucks & vans pulling in & out of the farm.

-Keep an eye on children. Their safety is important to us.

New CSA Opened by Griggstown

As Central Jersey residents join community-supported agriculture, or CSA, programs in increasing numbers, they can look forward to enjoying just-picked vegetables from local farms that are gearing up for the spring growing season.

But how many CSA shareholders also can expect to get a fresh pie, bread or wedge of artisanal cheese along with their veggies?

In Griggstown Quail Farm & Market’s new CSA program, members who choose a comprehensive share will receive a week’s worth of fresh vegetables and herbs, a locally sourced dairy product and a gourmet baked item at each pick-up throughout the season.

Customers who participate in the program also will receive discounts on the all-natural, free-range poultry and other items sold at the farm market store, in the Griggstown section of Franklin.  Soups, sausages and other prepared foods and gourmet products are among the store choices.

Griggstown’s chef, Matthew Sytsema, also expects to attract customers to the market — set among picturesque 19th-century villages and lanes along the Delaware-Raritan Canal — by offering cooking classes both to shareholders and the general public.

Other local chefs and restaurateurs will join Sytsema in conducting sessions on pickling, knife skills, canning and preserving, along with sharing recipes that will best use the bounty available from Griggstown’s garden.

“We’ve always had a small garden here,” says Sytsema, who brought in farmer Johann Rinkens this year to turn three of Griggstown’s 65 acres over to 150 varieties of vegetables, flowers and herbs — all grown without the use of synthetic pesticides or fertilizers.

From June through October, each week a seasonal crop will be harvested, and for $30 a week, participating vegetable shareholders will stop in between noon and 6 p.m. Thursdays or Fridays to pick up the currently available produce.

The earliest crops in June will include cold hardy greens and root vegetables, while an explosion of tomatoes, peppers, squash and much more will swell visitors’ packages through the summer.