Farm Visit

Each year Featherstone Farm, the farm that runs the Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program to which we subscribe, holds an open house, complete with guided farm tours at their main facility in Rushford, MN. I’ve subscribed to this CSA for three years, and am about to begin the fourth, but I have never taken the trip out to the farm to participate in the open house. I don’t have any good excuses, really. One year I had visitors on that weekend, but in other years, I just missed the boat (or the hayride, as it were.)

When I had the good fortune to speak briefly with Michael Pollan after a talk he gave in town, I told him that I was a subscriber to the Featherstone CSA. When he found out that I hadn’t been there yet, he, who had just toured the farm, told me I had to go. Since I’ve already changed large parts of my life based on things Pollan recommends, I supposed I should go to the open house (there was also a bit of reminding and nudging from Harry). I’m really glad I did.

Even after a pretty big breakfast, the fields and greenhouses full of vegetables to come conspired to make me hungry. Strawberry and raspberry patches, rows of delicate salad greens, and a whole field of garlic (a field of garlic, people!), and this was just the tip of the iceberg! Still, when you’ve seen the acreage devoted in this country to commodity corn, soybeans and other such products, it’s quite surprising how little land is actually required to organically grow so much real food. (Did you know that growing vegetables and fruits on land designated for commodity crops can result in large fines? Yes, growing healthy food is bad for America, apparently…sorry to be cranky about this. You can read an intelligent treatment of the issue by Jack Hedin, farmer/owner of Featherstone, published in the New York Times here. Please do.)

Even though I know that fabulous fruits and vegetables are grown at Featherstone, the people involved in all ways with the farm are even better. The subscribers are dedicated to this sane and sustainable method of producing and procuring food. The people who work on the farm and its administration are smart and friendly with that kind of enviable energy that makes one glad they are on the side of good. These are the kind of can-do people that we could use a lot more of in this crazy world of ours!

And then there was me, practically drooling over the lanes of lacy lettuce, the little tufts of leaves marking the spots where potatoes will be dug in a couple months (or less), and the field of young garlic (a field of garlic, people!). I always get impatient in these last couple weeks of May as I wait for our first box of produce from Featherstone. Now that I’ve seen the farm in action, I’m more excited than ever. Those friendly, energetic people at the farm must be mind-readers as well, because they sent us home with a bunch of spinach so beautiful, so tender, so super-mega-ultra fresh and so brilliantly green it would make something from the Emerald City blush pink with shame.

More on that lovely spinach in the next post….

One year ago: Corn and Green Onion Tart with Bacon

What’s in the Box?

My own personal Boxing Day (and probably that of many other CSA* shareholders) has arrived. And boy oh boy is this exciting. A foodie like me can hardly contain herself. The person who gives us information at the farm is usually somewhat apologetic that the first few boxes of produce are small, but, as you can see in the photo above, there is nothing to apologize for! I think it’s fair to say that this is the largest head of green leaf lettuce I have ever seen!

It’s always so much fun for me to dive into each box and speculate on meals for the following week (hmmm…I’m thinking salads.) I prepare (ie, clean, trim, wrap, etc.) some produce, like lettuce and spinach, right away, and leave others, such as those little purple spring onions and green garlic alone until I need them. Some things will stay fresh longer if you don’t bother them too much.

To wash salad greens, especially spinach, which can be sandy, I fill a sink with cold water and dump the greens in. I swish them around a little, then put them in a colander and gently rinse them. I then spin off as much of the remaining water as I can in a salad spinner, (I have the Oxo brand plunger-top model), wrap the leaves loosely in paper towel and put them in a zip-top plastic bag with as much air removed as possible. Most greens will keep in the refrigerator this way all week (some will last even longer).

Happily for me, the farm can usually let us know in advance what we are getting in the produce box, so I can prepare by making tentative menu plans (one of my favorite things to do) and making room in the refrigerator (something at which I am not so good). But what to eat first? It was quite tempting to attack the asparagus like a lion on a gazelle, but I know that will last a while in the refrigerator. (I stood the spears upright in a tall container with a little water in the bottom, like flowers in a vase, and draped a plastic bag over the top. I’ve heard that this is a good way to store asparagus, but this is the first time I’ve tried it.)

My previous experiences suggested I should eat the spinach first, since that is what seems to lose its luster most quickly. I like the Greek-style dish Spanakopita, a pie made of cooked spinach or other dark greens, flavored with herbs and onions, or whatever you like and topped with several layers of crispy phyllo dough. It seemed a dirty shame, however, to cook down this ultra-fresh and really tasty spinach, so I opted for a salad with the same flavors, a sort of deconstructed Spanakopita.

This seemed like a good time to try the Phyllo Croutons I saw Giada DeLaurentiis make on "Everyday Italian" on the Food Network and top my salad with them. They are basically strips of phyllo dough tossed with melted butter and parmesan cheese and baked until they become members of the illustrious brown and crunch food group. I had a ratty partial package of phyllo dough in the freezer that offered itself to the task. I didn’t slice the phyllo into pretty ribbons like Giada did, but just crumbled my dried out sheets into a bowl. As a result, my croutons don’t look like Giada’s (much the way I don’t look like Giada herself), but they are soooooo good. The leftovers keep well in a plastic bag, but I’ll warn you, you might just keep munching until there are no leftovers.



This salad recipe is a little loose in the details, but most of the time, you really don’t need to precisely measure salad ingredients. Add what you like and omit what you don’t. If you think the vinaigrette bears a striking resemblance to the one I used for the Chickpea and Olive Salad with Greek Flavors, you’re absolutely correct. It is quite tart, so, depending on your preferences, you might want to add a bit of sugar or honey. Just dip a leaf into the prepared vinaigrette, taste it, and adjust it as you wish.

Deconstructed Spanakopita Salad
This recipe can be easily multiplied to serve more than two.

prepared Phyllo Croutons from Everyday Italian on the Food Network
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 garlic clove, minced
a pinch of salt and a few grinds of freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
about 4 cups fresh spinach leaves, torn
a few thin slices of red onion, separated into slivers
¼ cup kalamata olives, pitted and halved
about 2 tablespoons crumbled feta cheese

1. In a small bowl, combine the vinegar, lemon juice, garlic, salt and pepper. Let stand while you prepare the other ingredients.

2. Place the spinach leaves in the bottom of a medium bowl. Arrange the onion, olives and feta on top of the spinach.

3. Add the olive oil to the vinegar mixture and whisk vigorously until well-combined. Pour the dressing evenly over the salad. Sprinkle each serving with some of the Phyllo Croutons. (Store leftover Phyllo Croutons in a plastic bag and add them to other salads, or float them on soups.)

Serves 2.

*Community Supported Agriculture

Soothing My Impatience

I have such a short time to wait. The day is almost upon us. I’m prepared, if a little nervous. I have lists of thing’s I’ll need. I have ideas for continuing this regular communication. Just a short time now. Just until Tuesday. The big day. My Christmas in June. The first offering from Featherstone Fruits and Vegetables, the Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farm to which I subscribe.

What will be in the box? I’ve got a pretty good idea: salad greens and spinach and, best of all, snappy, sweet, super-fresh asparagus, all grown organically and with a special kind of love.

But while Tuesday afternoon is coming soon, it’s not soon enough. What to do until then? It’s all summery and I want to grill and I want salads with my grilled food. Perky salads that cut through the smoky flavors of grilled meats and my stodgy lentil burgers. I can’t buy supermarket lettuce now! That would be akin to blasphemy!

But a salad it will be, one that I can make easily when my pantry and refrigerator are well-stocked (as they usually are). My patio herb garden is reasonably well-stocked as well, although it seems rather puny when I think of the good stuff brimming with potential in the June fields at Featherstone Fruits and Vegetables. Still, I’ll celebrate porch bounty, too.

I might as well get into good vinaigrette shape as well. I know from the experience of subscribing to the CSA for two years that I’ll be making a lot of them over the next month, and I couldn’t be happier. The chickpea and olive salad I present here has a simple vinaigrette of lemon juice, red wine vinegar, olive oil, and lots of garlic. I like to use kosher salt as an abrasive to turn the garlic into a paste. Said paste seems to dissolve in the dressing without any harsh bits of raw garlic awaiting an unsuspecting eater.

First, I mince the garlic using a chef’s knife, then I sprinkle it with the salt. I chop at the mixture a little more to work the salt into the garlic. (You could use a mortar and pestle to do this. To me, it’s just another thing to wash, and I’m getting pretty good at this knife method.)

I then mash the garlic and salt together with the flat of a chef’s knife, pressing and scraping until I have a paste.

I was going to have this salad with grilled food, but it began to rain just as I was about to start dinner. The George Foreman counter-top grill (or the Geo Fo, as I call it) saved our dinner, just as this Chickpea and Olive Salad with Greek Flavors soothed my impatience (I have mentioned that I’m impatient, haven’t I?) as I would wait until Tuesday for my box of veggies from the CSA.

Chickpea and Olive Salad with Greek Flavors
Adapted from a recipe in Cooking Light magazine

1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon lemon juice
½ teaspoon kosher salt
2 garlic cloves
¼ teaspoon freshly-ground black pepper
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 (16 ounce) can chickpeas (garbanzo beans), drained and rinsed
1/3 cup diced red onion
¼ cup kalamata olives, pitted and coarsely chopped
¼ cup chopped pickled pepperoncini peppers (the yellow slightly spicy kind)
¼ cup crumbled feta cheese
1 tablespoon chopped fresh oregano
1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves
½ teaspoon minced rosemary leaves

1. In a medium bowl, combine vinegar and lemon juice. Mince the garlic. Sprinkle the garlic with the salt. Chop the salt into the garlic, then rub the mixture with the flat of the knife repeatedly, pressing against the cutting board until a paste is formed (see photos above).

2. Add the garlic to the vinegar and lemon juice. Allow this mixture to stand while you prepare the other ingredients.

3. Add the black pepper and olive oil to the vinegar and garlic mixture. Whisk until well combined. Add the remaining ingredients and toss well to coat.

Makes 4 servings.