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Rely on Nature's Cues

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Rely on Nature's Cues
Farm Stand:
  • What's New This Week:
    • Asparagus & Greens Sale! As the weather warms, the farm stand will soon transition to featuring warm weather crops. Enjoy the delicate greens of spring while they are here!
    • Featured Farm Stand Farmer: Gretta's Goats Goat Milk Soap is a favorite of many, as it is particularly gentle and free of artificial colors or synthetic scents. We're receiving a restock of soap and handmade goat milk caramels this Thursday. Check out Gretta and Eric's website to better understanding their humane animal care practices and see pictures of their goats, too!
  • Mask Request: In solidarity with those not yet vaccinated, including children under 12, we kindly ask that you wear a mask while inside the farm stand.
  • Summer Hours (Memorial Day - Labor Day): Open daily, 7am-8pm
This Week's Vegetable Farm Share Harvest:
  • Fresh Dill
  • Fennel 
  • Green Romaine Lettuce
  • Salad Mix
  • Spring Spinach
  • Green Garlic 
  • Russet Potatoes - Igl Farms, Antigo, WI
  • Rhubarb - from Mick Klug Farms, St Joseph, MI
  • Asparagus 
  • Mini Cucumber*
*Oak Park and Grayslake Farm members will receive this week.
Farm Journal
Hello to you from the farm!
Here on the farm, the plant and animal worlds enjoy a regular cadence and patterns despite the fact that our human lives are quite different. No matter the year, we watch the beautiful sunrise colors in the sky. We listen to the songs of the birds each day. We see similar growth and changes in the plants around us.
We embrace the additional hours of daylight. We feel the temperatures warm throughout the morning reminding us to shift from wearing jackets to short sleeves. We take advantage of moments to dip our toes into warming water. These natural cues and patterns made the past year and a half feel calm and familiar to us...even when the human world didn't really feel that way.

Last year, we made a commitment embrace new patterns like sharing openly and often with our crew to ensure that everyone understood not only what we were doing but why. We aimed to become even more flexible, compassionate and understanding with our crew's health needs, family needs and personal needs, while supporting each other to get necessary work done.

We saw that the changes we embraced throughout the pandemic became our new normal and they brought our farm crew together. We were reminded of something we inherently knew: when the people that grow your food truly care about each other and their natural environment, they truly care about you and your food by extension.

Through our team's work -- seeding, planting, watering, tending, harvesting, washing, packing and delivering your food -- we hope you, too, feel how much we care. May the regular cadence of picking up and connecting with where your food is grown be a reassuring calm in your world.

Enjoy this week's spring harvest!
~ Jen, Jeff, Tyler, Abbey, Arlet, Ben, Peggy, Alex P, Alex J, Laura
Notes from the Farm Kitchen
This week members will receive fresh rhubarb from Mick Klug Farm. The Klug's farm also enjoyed the recent May heat wave, and thusly saw a great crop of rhubarb (with strawberries following closely behind in time for fruit shares!). We enjoy rhubarb for its versatility in both savory and sweet dishes. Our colleagues at The Land Connection produced these fun spring recipe nutrition cards profiling a variety of locally grown fruits and vegetables, as a way to encourage the people to try unfamiliar produce and learn more about their nutritional value. Check out their website for additional cooking resources. The cards include great ideas for cooking and storage, too.
We often harvest spring fennel at a baby size, however this week's fennel loved the warm May temperatures and quickly grew to full size! Raw fennel has a distinct anise flavor and smell. Our spring fennel is grown in hoophouse soils, making it delicate and tender. Sautéed or roasted fennel is excellent paired with broiled fish and a touch of butter and lemon. My favorite way to use fennel is to slowly (on medium-low heat) sauté sliced fennel with onion, enough to caramelize slightly, and then add Italian sausage. Add the mixture to hot pasta with wilted spinach, add extra olive oil on top and sprinkle with freshly grated parmesan cheese, diced fronds and salt to taste.  
We've had a great green garlic harvest this season! We're sharing the final harvests with members this week and next to keep your kitchen stocked until garlic scapes arrive. If you're looking for ways to preserve this young, fresh garlic flavor, here's a great resource from UC Davis on garlic preservation methods.
Seasonal Recipes in the Farm Kitchen

Asparagus and Green Garlic Soup with Parmesan Croutons
Rhubarb Simple Syrup
Grilled Romaine
Tzatziki Sauce
Orange and Fennel Salad

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