Hello Farm-ily and Welcome to week 2 of our Whole season share!
We are harvesting lots of carrots. Consider making a fresh veggie tray for Mother's Day brunch with lots of carrots, roasted carrots with turnips and parsley, a homemade carrot cake or JUICE them! I juiced some boy choi, carrots and ginger today. So refreshing ;)
Or check out our recipe this week for Lentil soup. Probably one of the first food crops to be domesticated, dating back to the beginning of agriculture in the Fertile Crescent of the Middle East.
Lentil Soup
2 Tbls olive oil
1 onion coarsely chopped
2 celery stalks, chopped
2 carrots, sliced
4 garlic cloves, halved
2 cups dried green or brown lentils, rinsed
6 c vegetable broth
2 Tbls chopped fresh Thyme (or 2 tsp dried)
1 can (28oz) diced tomatoes with juice
4 cups mixed vegetables like carrots, turnips, greens, corn, green beans...
1/4 c chopped fresh parsley
Heat oil over medium-high heat in a large soup pot. Sautés onion, celery, carrots, and garlic in the oil until the onion is limp, about 3 minutes. Add lentils, broth, and thyme. Bring to a boil, then skim off any foam that rises to the top. Reduce the heat, cover, and simmer until the lentils are mushy, 45-60 minutes.
Let cool slightly, then puree in a blender. Return to the pot and thin with water if necessary or desired. Add the tomatoes and mixed vegetables.
Simmer for about 30 minutes, until veggies are tender. Season generously with salt and pepper. Stir in the parsley, serve hot.
If you haven't already PLEASE join the Oak Spring FARMily Facebook page - a members-only group which enables us to share recipes, storage tips and fun information about the farm life. We hope to have some meaningful and informative conversations going this year as we strive to help everyone get the most out of their shares. Check it out to find this week's awesome first recipes and lots of information pertaining to your farm share.
We have lots of great transplants and we will be at the Hereford Market tomorrow selling our Certified Organic transplants-tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, lettuces, broccoli, kale, and more! Come by and check out what we've got from 9am-12pm. Lisa will be there to answer all your transplant questions and Nic and Andi, our interns this year, will be there!
Please plan to come out to the farm on Sunday May 16th for our Spring Festival! Some of our vendors will be here like Daily Crisis Dairy, Floriculture micro farm, and Plants are Good with herbal tinctures. We'll have produce and Oak Spring Farm merchandise for sale, live music from 2 different performers, farm tour is at 2pm, laughter yoga at 2:30pm ($10 donation to Joyful Vibrations please RSVP for yoga!) growing great tomato tips from Lisa and crew at 3pm, food from Oak Spring and Laura K. like farm focaccia, fresh salads, hummus wraps and so much more. Bring a chair and your favorite beverage and come hang out for the afternoon 1-5pm
Veggie storage tip of the week:
fresh herbs can easily be stored in a small pint glass with a few inches of water ..either on the counter or in the fridge. This is a great way to store cilantro. Cilantro can also be given a rinse when you get home and stored in a plastic bag.
