There's ample crops this week with the tomatoes in the star position. Pictured above are the tomatoes interplanted with ginger. Seasoning peppers are also popping. Bock choy heads are making an early appearance this week as are some delicate baby turnip greens, while the carrots continue to impress.
In addition to the wide variety of greens & vegetables this week, Jenny has some extra value-added options you can add to your share, including carrot-ginger dressing and Chaya Saag. She explains below:
"One thing I’ve been learning time and time again as I grow as a farmer is how gracious this earth of ours is. From the amaranth that we consider a “weed”, (a funny little word for a plant that is growing out of place), to the chaya trees, all the way down to the broken carrots that don’t make it to your boxes, we hope to lead by example in using what we’ve got and sharing that abundance with our community.
This week we are offering chaya saag as well as carrot-ginger dressing as extras to add to your farm share boxes. For those of you who may be unfamiliar with Chaya, or “Mexican Tree Spinach”, it is a wonder tree that is beloved by bees and hummingbirds alike for its flowers and loved by humans for its many health benefits including high protein content, calcium, iron to name a few. Originally from the Yucatan Peninsula, this tree propagates easily and thrives here in St. Croix. Though raw, it does contain toxic cyanide compounds, well cooked (actually only takes 3-5 minutes to cook out these compounds) it is deeply nutritious and wildly available! Use in place of spinach in recipes like saag or spinach dip, or make up something creative and nurturing for you and your family.
Food waste is an oh, no no around here, so with that in mind we present to you: Carrot-ginger dressing! The truth is, some carrots get damaged during harvest, but that does not mean that they are wasted. This dressing features our most exclusive broken carrots as well as some amazing seed ginger from Roots Farm in Winterville GA which we've used to plant our fields for later this year!
We love sharing our farm experience with all of you each week and it is such an honor to offer you farm goodies from our kitchen as well. We hope this food feeds you well and inspires you to use what you’ve got, tops and all!"
Blessings and abundance,
Ridge to Reef Farm
