This Week's Vegetable Harvest: Red Oak Leaf Lettuce Green Oak Leaf Lettuce Mushroom Medley: Brown Crimini and White Button Mushrooms - from River Valley Ranch & Kitchens, Burlington, Wisconsin Japanese Salad Turnips Baby Bok Choy Green Garlic Asparagus Red and Black Spanish Radishes Mini Cucumbers*   *Oak Park and Farm members will receive this week. Wilmette, Evanston, Glenview, Deerfield, Northbrook, Lake Forest, Vernon Hills, Libertyville and Ikonix members will receive next week.

Farm Journal

Good evening from the farm!

Thank you to everyone who joined us for the Spring Farm Sale and Open House last Saturday. The day was a sunny, warm one filled with multiple farm tours, picnics on the lawn and the sound of laughter as kids and adults alike helped us to name our chickens.

While we didn't plan to have a large flock of chickens on the farm this year, we did adopt and welcome a small group of young birds from the Prairie Crossing Charter School's kindergarten class. They came to us at four weeks old and we've kept them protected in a small brooder from chilly nights, predators and any early cases of the avian flu.

What we didn't know was that one of the "chickens" was not actually a chicken...but a turkey! We're still learning more about these silly birds each day -- for instance, we think we have two roosters, two hens and we're unsure of the turkey's sex at this point -- so it's keeping us on our toes.

At the farm open house, we carefully brought the birds outside for viewing at our open house and asked for name suggestions. Wow, we loved the creativity! After much consideration, our farm kids selected five names that they felt fit the personalities of these young birds. As we continue to plan more events for this season, please feel free to say hello to Feta, Bach, Gilbert Gobbler, American Mario and Henrietta Puddleduck when you come to the farm. Enjoy this week's share of the spring harvest! Warmly, ~ Jen, Jeff, Tyler, Arlet, Manuel, David, Cleto, Tracy and Riley

Notes from the Farm Kitchen

This month's shares include brown crimini and white button mushrooms from our friends at River Valley Ranch in Burlington, Wisconsin. Mushrooms are an excellent source of B and D vitamins, riboflavin, niacin, and fiber. To prepare them, wipe the caps clean with a damp paper towel and trim off the very end of the stem. Due to their moisture level, it is best to use mushrooms within a week of receiving them. Or you can preserve them by briefly sautéing and freezing them in a ziplock bag for later use in kinds of pasta or soups.

Our white salad turnip is a Japanese variety called hakurei. It is very mild and sweet and is easily mistaken for a white radish. Japanese turnips are delicious eaten raw or sautéed in a little butter and sprinkled with salt. Turnips are a good source of Vitamin C, and rich in the minerals potassium and calcium. As with all roots (e.g., radishes), make sure you remove the green tops from your turnips so the turnips remain crispy and fresh. Use the green tops as you would other cooking greens.

Green garlic is the immature stage of the garlic plant. We planted our garlic in late October and harvest the bulbs in July. Most of the garlic we plant to grow to maturity, but we harvest a small portion in the spring when they look like very large green onions. You can use everything but the tough, dark green tops.  We substitute green garlic for garlic cloves in many different recipes since the flavor is similar and it's wonderful to have fresh garlic in the farm kitchen again!

Seasonal Recipes in the Farm Kitchen Sautéed Bok Choy and Hakurei Turnips - coarsely chop and add the turnip greens for extra nutrition! Black Spanish Radishes -- How to Eat Them Raw or Roasted Green Garlic Vinaigrette 4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil 1 tablespoon champagne vinegar 3 cloves finely chopped green garlic 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed meyer lemon juice 1 tablespoon toasted pine nuts a pinch of sugar salt + pepper to taste   In a blender or food processor, put all the ingredients together and blend or pulse until the dressing is emulsified and pine nuts are pulverized. Pour onto tender greens salad.

We're Listening to You! A Recipe Search.

In our 2021 survey, members requested a resource for finding our recipes. So we wanted to share one such resource with you. Scroll to the bottom of the Newsletter section of our website where you can find a list of the fruit and vegetables in our shares.

Here you can click on these ingredients and you'll find the newsletters that include those ingredients in the recipes.

We look forward to sharing additional recipe resources in upcoming newsletters!

• Tags: Bok Choy, Green Garlic, Radishes, Salad Turnips

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