It has rained!

Hi Everyone,

It has rained often enough this spring that we have been slow to lay out irrigation pipe and drip line. Once in a while I figure if I water it will rain and if I don't it won't rain. I like to get an average of 1 inch of water on the vegetables each week. We like drip tape because it takes water right to the plant and doesn't water the pathways. In April we watered one garden with overhead sprinkler because it was quick to set up and we got good coverage to make the ground workable but we sure noticed the difference between drip and overhead on the water bill.

What beautiful weather this morning for the Sioux Center Farmers Market or Sioux City Farmers Market. Just enough breeze to keep from sweating and not enough to blow things away! Thank you for coming to picking up your subscription from the Market stand. It is good to see you all each week. Thank you for your kind words about the vegetables and words of encouragement.

In your share this week...

Baby Carrots - the real deal - snap off the root end and enjoy

Lettuce -

Garlic Scapes - the top shoot of hard neck garlic. Use it like a green onion - chop it up or snap it in pieces. Pungent when raw and milder when cooked.

Radish

Spinach

Yukon Gold Potatoes

Full shares will also include Kale and Shelling Peas (string those pods and pop out the tender peas). These are great raw, added to salads, steamed lightly with a little butter, creamed with your potatoes.........

Garlic Scape information - check out this site for some fun information and recipes for scapes.

http://www.moscowfood.coop/archive/scape.html

This is another site with great pictures and even more ideas for what to do with your scapes.

http://notwithoutsalt.com/2009/06/18/garlic-scapes/

And finally, a great garlic article from the New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/18/dining/18appe.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1

Kale Chips - there are a lot of recipes out there for kale chips. They usually call for larger leaf kale, but it should work just fine with the baby leaf kale also - just adjust your roasting time. Also, with baby kale you shouldn't need to remove any stems in the prep step. Here is a recipe to try.

Pic: ChowMama

"Sure, you know Dana posted a Kale Chip recipe in November." But this is a man who likes to do things by the book and said he wanted to make the exact chips he'd just had. "Trust me," he said.

After about five minutes of prep and fifteen in the oven, we had a bowl full of crispy kale chips. The three of us (the two and a half year old included) sat down and had the bowl licked clean of kale chips in less time than it took to prepare them.

The difference between this recipe and the previous is the vinegar. I like the extra bite the vinegar lends to the chips and would encourage you to try it both ways. I might even try it with a heavier vinegar like balsamic, or even rice vinegar and add a sprinkling of sesame seeds along with the salt. There are a lot of possibilities.

We have Stacie Billis to thank for the inspiration. Stacie is an owner of Chow Baby, an organic baby food company based in NYC and the recipes on her blog are all catered toward cooking for children.

Kale Chips
adapted from Stacie Billis at ChowMama.com

1 bunch organic kale, torn into 1/2″ pieces
3 tablespoons organic olive oil
1 tablespoon organic apple cider vinegar
2 teaspoons sea salt

Preheat oven to 400° F. Whisk oil and vinegar and toss kale in the dressing until thoroughly coated.

Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper. Place kale on sheet in a single layer and sprinkle with salt.

Bake for 15 minutes or so, until crispy. With baby leaf kale, be sure to watch closely so you don't burn your chips.