This Week's Share: Strawberries Go on U-Pick!

Happy 3rd Week of this year's share! (Thanks to Instagram user chefmbhamel for this pastoral shot from the herb garden.)
 

ANNOUNCEMENTS & REMINDERS 

Pizzas for Sale at the Farm Today and Saturday: We are cooking pizzas in our clay oven this week! Today we start at 3:30pm, and we'll stop after we've sold 50. Same story on Saturday, beginning at 1:30. $10 donation per pizza is welcome (cash or check).

Grass-Fed Beef for Sale. We made an announcement earlier this week that grass-fed beef is for sale. Get the details here. 

Send us your photos! Each week, we aim to feature a CSA member's photo in our updates. You'll see a few in this week's update. It can be a photo you snap of the vegetables you receive, a photo of a dish you make with the share (like the one below), or photos from a visit to the farm. There are two ways to get them to us: email us your own photos or post them to Instagram with hashtag #ClagettFarm. We'll feature them here!

 

THIS WEEK'S SHARE

1/2 pound greens (choice of spicy mix, arugula, bok choy, as well as some kale and collards)

3/4 pound total combination:

• turnips
• radishes
• garlic scallions (last week! next week we'll have garlic scapes)

1 pint strawberries

 

WHAT'S ON U-PICK:

• Strawberries! You can u-pick today (Wednesday) or tomorrow (anytime), Saturday afternoon, or anytime Sunday and Monday. There are a bunch of strawberries and more will be coming. Come and get them!
• Herbs (oregano, thyme, mint, sage, sorrel, parsley)

 WHAT TO EXPECT NEXT WEEK:

• Next week's share should be similar to this week
• We'll likely add bok choy or Chinese cabbage
• We'll have garlic scapes instead of garlic scallions

 

RECIPE SUGGESTION

Alexis from Farm to Feast Catering shared this recipe for Asian Garlic Scallion Paste, a great way to use some of the excellent spring garlic scallions in your share. Some of you may have sampled it at last week's pick-up. Have a recipe to recommend? Let us know!

Asian Garlic Scallion Paste

Prep Time: 10 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour
Serves: 6 to 8 people

Ingredients:
● 2 teaspoons crushed red pepper
● 1 pinch kosher salt
● 1 teaspoon sugar
● 4 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
● 2 tablespoon Tamari/soy sauce (use Tamari to maintain gluten free)
● 2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil
● 6 cups small scallions, ends trimmed and cut into 2 inch pieces

Instructions:

1. Clean and rough chop garlic scallions, up to where the dark green leaves start to branch out.

2. Place all ingredients into food processor or blender and process/blend until smooth.

3. Place in refrigerator for 30 minutes to an hour to meld the flavors. 

Uses: As marinade on grilled meats or vegetables. Mix with equal parts sour cream/yogurt (to taste) to make into a dip for vegetables or chips. To heighten dip add a squeeze of Sriracha.

Paste freezes well in ice cube trays for future flavor addition to stir frys, soups, or sauces.

 

That's week 3! Let us know if you have any questions!

~ The Clagett Farm Team

Now For Sale: Chesapeake Grass-fed Beef

 

 

Your purchasing choices can help ‘Save the Bay’!

Experience some of the Chesapeake region’s finest beef!

 

Good pastures lead to great cows and healthy, nutritious meat; and are good for protecting the water quality of the Bay.  Our Red Angus and Red Devon cows are raised 100% on pastures and hay without any hormones or antibiotics. 

High Quality Beef Processing

• Meat is frozen in individual cuts and vacuum sealed in clear packages (which helps retain cold, prevents freezer burn, and greatly prolongs storage life).
• Our butcher is Mount Airy Meat Shop, a family run, well respected, and USDA certified shop. 
• The meat is dry-aged, which means that it is hung at the meat shop for a little over two weeks to provide maximum tenderness.
• A ‘lateral quarter’ is sold @ $8.00/lb. The weights will vary based upon the individual cows’ but will range from 75-90lbs/quarter.  You can request to have a smaller quarter or a larger quarter, depending on your needs.

Pick up: Meat must be picked up at Clagett Farm on Saturday, June 11th, between 10 a.m. – 1p.m.  An email reminder will be sent out to all who order.

You can order (and find more information on meat cuts) at the Chesapeake Bay Foundation website.  If you have questions feel free to email Michael at mheller@cbf.org. 

This Week's Share: Strawberries, Greens and More

Happy 2nd Week of this year's share! (Thanks to Instagram user chrissychrislove for this beautiful group of photos from the farm!)
 

ANNOUNCEMENTS & REMINDERS 

Don't Forget Your Bags: Just a reminder to be sure to bring bags with you to the pick-up. We have some but a low supply!

Allergy Alert: One of our members has notified us that they have a severe allergic reaction to arugula, so we'd ask you to please make an extra effort to keep the arugula and spicy mix separate from the other greens as you're picking up your share.

Send us your photos! Each week, we aim to feature a CSA member's photo in our updates. You'll see a few in this week's update. It can be a photo you snap of the vegetables you receive, a photo of a dish you make with the share (like the one below), or photos from a visit to the farm. There are two ways to get them to us: email us your own photos or post them to Instagram with hashtag #ClagettFarm. We'll feature them here!

Skip-and-Double option: As a reminder, you're always welcome to skip a pick-up one week and double up the following week (or vice versa), as long as you do it within a month. No need to email -- just let them know when you sign-in at your pick-up site.

DCist Interviews Farmer Carrie: In a piece about how the cooler spring weather is affecting crops in the DC area, the blog DCist features quotes from our very own Farmer Carrie. Check it out!

THIS WEEK'S SHARE

1/2 pound total combination of:

• Greens (spinach, kale, stinging nettles, etc)
• Strawberries (Just barely starting: Look for more next week!)
• Asparagus 

3/4 pound garlic scallions

1/2 pound total combination of:

• radishes
• hakurei turnips

2 seedling plants. Options (while supplies last) include:

• Swiss chard
• tomatoes
• basil
• parlsey
• oregano
• chiles
• kale
• collards

WHAT'S ON U-PICK:

• Herbs (oregano, thyme, mint, sage, sorrel, parsley)

RECIPE SUGGESTION

CSA members Robert and Lainie braved the stinging nettles this past week, and used them as a substitution for spinach in this Rice and Quinoa dish from The Washington Post. They highly recommend it (and wearing gloves to handle the nettles!). 

 

That's week 2! Let us know if you have any questions!

~ The Clagett Farm Team

This Week's Share: The First Share of the 2016 Season!

Happy first day of the 2016 CSA Season. It's raining, but we're harvesting, and are excited to see you this week! 

ANNOUNCEMENTS & REMINDERS 

When's the pick-up? What should I know?  If you have any questions at all about the timing of the pick-ups, where to go, what to bring, etc. there are two good places online that you can refer to:

• Details for the CSA Season, including pick-up dates, times and locations
• Frequently asked questions about the farm and CSA

Top Tip For Week 1: Don't forget to bring bags to the pick-up! 

We love your photos! Each week, we aim to feature a CSA member's photo in our updates. This week's is from Farmer Carrie (you can follow her on Instagram). It can be a photo you snap of the vegetables you receive, a photo of a dish you make with the share, or photos from a visit to the farm. There are two ways to get them to us: email us your own photos or post them to Instagram with hashtag #ClagettFarm. We'll feature them here!

THIS WEEK'S SHARE

1/2 pound total combination of:

• Greens (spinach, kale, stinging nettles, etc)
• Herbs (oregano, thyme, mint, sage, sorrel, parsley)
• Asparagus (we have only small quantities this week - we expect to be able to offer it the next 2 weeks. Our aim is to be able to offer asparagus to every member at least once.)

1/2 pound garlic scallions

1/2 pound total combination of:

• rhubarb
• hakurei turnips

2 seedling plants. Options (while supplies last) include:

• Swiss chard
• tomatoes
• basil
• parlsey
• oregano
• chiles
• kale
• collards

WHAT'S ON U-PICK:

• Herbs (oregano, thyme, mint, sage, sorrel, parsley)

 

SPECIAL NOTE: HOW TO USE STINGING NETTLES

We encourage you to be brave and try the stinging nettles that we've harvested this week. They have a scary name, and it's true that they do sting, but they're very healthy and delicious when cooked (plus, they don't sting once you cook them). Here's a resource with 8 recipes for stinging nettles. A simple one to start with is a nettle pesto. 

 

That's week 1. Let us know if you have any questions!

~ The Clagett Farm Team

The 2016 CSA Season Kicks Off Tomorrow (5/11)

 

Helloooooo CSA members!

This is just a heads up note to remind you that the CSA season kicks off tomorrow with our first share. Tomorrow (and every Wednesday of the season) you will receive a note detailing the contents of the share. For this first week, we're giving you a preview so that you know what to expect. 

First, two handy links for you: 

• Details for the CSA Season, including pick-up dates, times and locations
• Frequently asked questions about the farm and CSA

Second, a preview of what to expect in Week 1. This is, of course, subject to change based on tomorrow's harvest:

• spinach
• kale
• rhubarb
• hakurei turnips
• seedlings
• garlic scallions

Third, a note on the weather, from Farmer Carrie, for those of you who are curious:

All I ever ask for is MODERATE weather. Is that really too much? April felt as dry and warm as June, and now May feels cold and wet like February. So everything is growing pretty slowly at the moment. No sun = no photosynthesis. Had the sun come out for a few days, you might have gotten spicy mix and spinach. Instead, the spicy mix and arugula will be next week. Just spinach for your salad this week.

A few of the summer crops that we planted early have taken a hard hit--half the cucumbers died from dreariness and the basil all turned yellow. And a few crops we haven't dared to plant yet, like beans and peppers.

But there's plenty out there that are tough enough to wait another week for some sun--tomatoes, potatoes, lettuce, strawberries, zucchini, peas, chard and kohlrabi, to name a few. Spring is always a little crazy in Maryland, but we'll carry on just fine.

We're excited to see you this week! Look for an another update tomorrow in the early afternoon.

 

~~ The Clagett Farm Team