ZJ Farms

ZJ Farms
Susan Jutz
5025 120th NE
Solon, IA 52333
(319) 624-3052
susan@zjfarms.com

Week of July 13 2008                                                                         week 7

The Weekly Harvest

Beets    Kohlrabi    Broccoli    Kale    Cabbage   Shell Peas   Collards       Basil

Thanks to Laura Krouse, Abbe Hills Farm, MV, we have shelling peas for you.  Check under recipes for kale pesto recipe and a good Asian Coleslaw recipe from one of our CSA members.

NEWS FROM THE FARM

On Sunday I had plans to tend to my herb beds. Thanks to Karla the two trays of annual flowers that have been sitting around for weeks were planted and the once lost parsley was found so my goal was to get the remaining perennial herbs in our new herb bed. I made a good start in weeding and prepping the ground but being in close proximity to our new “used” walk-in cooler I couldn’t help noticing it was running too frequently. I took a look at the coils and discovered a thick layer of ice which necessitated a change in plans.  After a talk with my refrigeration expert I proceeded to de-ice the coils, which means I spent about an hour holding a hose above my head spraying cold water on ice covered coils to melt the layers of ice. Then, per his recommendation I laid down foam insulation, plywood and linoleum to insulate the concrete floor.  Thus far, no more ice on the coils so the temporary floor seems to have done the trick. Sunday was a long day that became even longer when my son, David, came home from FB practice with a possible head injury.  After a trip to St Luke’s ER and hours of waiting my day sort of ended at 1AM…I had to rouse David at 4AM to check on him and by that time it was almost the start of a new day! Thanks to Carly, Katherine, Jean and Karla, we (Rachel, David and I) made it through the Monday harvest.

VEGGIE INFO AND COOKING TIPS

BEETS – BEETS – BEETS! Kate says, "I didn’t grow up eating beets. Maybe that helped me have an open mind about them! But for the past 10 years or so I have been so happy when they come around! I love the young tender greens. What a beautiful plant! And the roots are so good just steamed (you can add butter but I don’t usually). They are sweet and earthy.”

The roots are high in A and C, and carotenes. The leaves are high in C, calcium and iron.

Preparation and Cooking:

No need to skin them – lots of nutrients there. But you do need to cut the leaves off from the roots for storage – leave 1-2 inches of stem on the beets (that keeps the juice from running everywhere when cooked). Store roots in a plastic bag in the hydrator drawer. These beets should last a couple of weeks. Use the leaves as soon as possible.

Fall harvested beets can last months properly stored. 

 

Quick Serving Tips:

  • Baking the roots brings out their natural sweetness (350 degrees, 1-2 hours till fork can pierce them).
  • Try this ‘grate’ salad: grate beets, carrots, kohlrabi, zucchini, cucumber, etc. – 3 colors is nice -- and arrange them side by side for a colorful presentation. Sprinkle with dressing of your choice.
  • Try the leaves lightly steamed or sautéed (toss in after cooking the zucchini a minute or two) with olive oil, lemon juice and salt and pepper. Or sauté the leaves in garlic butter with onion. Or blanch and freeze to throw into soups all winter long.
  • Steam while you're making something else, then eat plain, or let cool to room temp and dress with a simple vinaigrette and make it extra fancy with blue or feta cheese.
  • Try them grated raw in a pink salad (raw they will turn everything pink in their wake!)
  • Roast them then dress with olive oil, feta cheese and chopped onion with some parsley for color, a great make ahead salad!
  • For traditional pickled beets, boil a vinegar/sugar mixture (use a cup of vinegar and 1/2 cup of sugar for each pound of beets). Add a pinch of cloves and allspice or chopped fresh dill, if desired. Add sliced, cooked beets to water and bring to a boil again. Serve warm, or pour the mixture into sterile canning jars and seal.
  • Peel raw beets and grate them over the top of a salad for a nice color/texture addition
  • Puree 2 cups cooked beets with 2 tablespoons orange juice and a few pinches of spice (cinnamon, ginger and cloves work well) for a colorful and low-cal alternative to mashed potatoes.
  • Roast a multi-colored assortment of beets, then peel, slice and toss with a vinegar/oil dressing for a colorful stand-alone salad. If desired, steam the greens with a touch of lemon juice or vinegar and serve the salad on top of them.
  • For dense, moist, flavorful sweet bread, use beets instead of zucchini. Combine 2 cups peeled, grated raw beets with 2 tablespoons canola oil, 6 egg whites, 3/4 cup buttermilk and 1/2 cup maple syrup. In a separate bowl, combine 3 cups flour, 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder, 1/2 teaspoon baking soda, 1/2 cup granulated sugar and 1/2 teaspoon each cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger. Make a well in the dry ingredients and stir in beet mixture until just blended. Coat a 9-inch loaf pan with nonstick spray and bake at 350°F for 50 minutes to an hour, or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
  • To make easy borscht, peel 6 medium-sized beets and cook with 4 cups vegetable stock until tender. Remove beets from cooking liquid and slice into julienne strips or grate coarsely. Dissolve 2 tablespoons of sugar in 4 tablespoons of lemon juice. Add sugar mixture and prepared beets to stock; chill. Top each serving with nonfat yogurt or sour cream, if desired.

INTERN STORY
Gill has moved on to a wilderness experience in Minnesota. Shawn is camping in the Colorado Rockies this week. Renee will be back Monday night following a 4 day camping trip and Rachel worked hard on Monday to make up for all the missing workers.  (Oh yes, George and Jon are gone for a week of fishing and canoeing in the Boundary Waters. Bad timing I would say to all leave at once!!)

KATE’S KORNER
Eggs! We have been waiting for eggs from our new chickens, and finally they have arrived. My daughter, Isabel, was taking pictures with our camera and decided to go take some of the rooster before we sent him to ZJ Farm. She was showing the pictures to me and I thought, why is there a picture of eggs?! She caught the first few on (digital) film. Isabel now eagerly asks every morning, Can I go get the eggs? And she was as delighted as I to find the first blue green ones.

Young girl chickens are called pullets. As pullets mature, one of the last things to change is the color of their comb and wattle. A full, red comb is a sign of good egg laying to come. Our hens arrived in late February, when it was very cold. We expected them to begin laying mid to late June. Probably due to the odd spring weather, we had to wait a few more weeks. These first, small eggs are called 'pullet eggs,' because they aren't full or mature size.

I often get asked whether hens require a rooster to lay eggs. No, not to lay eggs, just to make chicks. With no rooster at Red Cedar Farm (we just sent our one rooster to ZJ Farm), all our eggs are unfertilized. Even fertilized eggs require a hen deciding to sit on them, within one to three days, to develop into a chick. When a hen decides to sit on a clutch of eggs, we call it 'broody'. Hens will go broody without a rooster, too. Some breeds tend to be more broody than others. We try to avoid broody hens, because they stop laying for weeks after they've laid their clutch. All the broody hens I've had like to sit on the other hen's eggs once theirs have been collected.

Special thanks to Janet Williams who is picking up eggs while I'm visiting family in California.  And to Mike Mach who is fixing the coop roof so the rain stays out!

 

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