We just finished planting the 25-acre field!

Wow, what a week–wind, not quite freezing temps at night, gradually warming days, rain, sun. All the things that make Central Oregon in the spring so … special.

We have been planting and nurturing crops in the hoops and the 2-acre garden since March for the summer CSA. (In fact, all the vegetables in this week’s CSA are from the 2-acre and the hoops.) These plants and their successions include crops that are ready to harvest now and for the next 2 months as well as plants that will start fruiting and become harvestable in July and later (sweet potatoes, peppers, tomatoes, etc.).

But this week was important because we finished planting our big field. This is a moment of serious delayed gratification! In the big field we have all of our winter CSA storage crops growing (alliums, potatoes, beets, carrots, parsnips, daikon) along with our 3 sisters (corn, dried beans, and squash) and market crop rows (greens, kale, cabbage, etc.). The big field is critical to our year round CSA success and we are so pleased that it is all tucked in before Memorial Day, an unofficial make or break planting date in the farming world.

We can’t wait to watch the starts flourish and seeds germinate and grow in the 25-acre!

If you signed up for a:
SMALL share: you will need to take 1 bunch of herbs and will get to select 4 other items
LARGE share: you will need to take 2 bunches of herbs and will get to select 7 other items

Meat CSA
For our first meat CSA we are showcasing our beef soup bones! See the beef broth recipe below for suggestions on how to turn your beef soup bones into broth and then other delicious options!

Small Meat CSA: 1 pack soup bones, 1-3 packs ground beef
Large Meat CSA: 1 pack soup bones, 3-5 packs ground beef, a surprise beef or pork cut to round out the 10 lbs

Recipes
For this week’s CSA, you all are required to take 1 or 2 bunches of fresh herbs. So I thought I would focus the recipe section on what to do with those. Herb options include: dill, blossoming chives, cilantro, parsley, thyme, and oregano. Each of these herbs has a unique flavor and each can be turned into many different things. Just last night I chopped up some oregano and added it to my ground beef (along with fennel seeds, onions, garlic, salt, and pepper) for a delicious Italian sausage style addition to tomato sauce. Tonight I am looking forward to putting the chive blossoms in a salad.

Chimichurri sauce is one easy, flavorful recipe that uses most of these herbs. Here is one recipe. It is a great topper for anything beef or chicken, roasted potatoes, or other things that need a little more flavor bang. You can definitely sub in other herbs if you don’t have these ones on hand. The chimichurri just becomes less traditional but more honest to the season you are cooking in. (For example, in the recipe below you can substitute jalapeños from your freezer for the red pepper flakes, or chives/shallots/yellow or red onions for the green onions or reduce the cilantro or parsley amounts.)

Cilantro Chimichurri Sauce
from Simplescratch.com

INGREDIENTS
3/4 cup cilantro leaves
1/4 cup parsley leaves
2 tablespoons fresh oregano leaves
4 green onions (light and dark green parts), sliced
2 to 4 cloves peeled fresh garlic
kosher salt to taste
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Either mince together or add to a food processor all the garlic and herbs. When the garlic and herbs are minced, add in the sliced onions and chop or pulse in the food processor until mixed.
2. Add the mixture to a bowl and add in the salt, pepper, red pepper flakes, olive oil and vinegar. Stir to combine.
3. Taste and adjust salt, if needed.
4. Store in a glass jar with a tight fitting lid in the refrigerator until ready to use. This is one of those sauces that benefits from sitting and blending flavors before use. Make sure to serve at room temperature.

Here are some other herb based recipe suggestions:

• Tips & Tricks for drying herbs if you just can’t use them fresh: How to Dry Herbs: Four Techniques You Should Know from The Spruce Eats.
• A base recipe for an herb sauce to spread on sandwiches, toss with roasted vegetables, top grain/buddha bowls with: How to Make Green Sauce from From Scratch Fast.
• Here is a recipe for Moroccan Chermoula, an herb based relish or sorts that you can top fish or chicken. You can make it more or less spicy by changing the pepper and keeping or removing the peppers seeds. Chermoula – Moroccan Herb Sauce recipe from The Domestic Dietician.
• I like to mince or sliver up herbs and add them to salads for a little flavor surprise or chopping fresh herbs and tossing them with rice pilaf.
• For a quick pasta side dish, you can also chop up about fresh herbs and add 1 1/2 cups or so to freshly cooked pasta and sprinkle with lemon zest and parmesan.

Beef Bone Broth Recipe
adapted from Leite’s Culinaria
This recipe has instructions for pressure cooker, slow cooker, or stove top stock pot.

INGREDIENTS
For every 1 lb beef bones, use:
1 quart (4 cups) water
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 tablespoon vinegar

Optional additions to the broth:
Bay leaves
Vegetables and aromatics you have around: carrots, celery, garlic, parsnips, mushrooms, parsley, etc.

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 400F. Pat the bones dry and toss in a roasting pan. Cook for about 30 minutes or until the bones are aromatic and browned.
2. If using a stock pot: put the bones in the stock pot. Add water, vinegar, salt, and bay leaves or vegetables if you are using. Cover and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, partially covered for 12 to 24 hours, skimming any foam that surfaces. Add water as needed to keep the bones submerged.
3. If using a slow cooker: put the bones in the slow cooker and add water, vinegar, salt, and bay leaves or vegetables if you are using. Cover and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to low, cover and cook for 24 to 48 hours, skimming any foam that surfaces. Add water as needed to keep the bones submerged.
4. If using a pressure cooker: put the bones in the slow cooker and add water, vinegar, salt, and bay leaves or vegetables if you are using. Cover and cook for 1 to 3 hours.
5. Strain the bone broth and discard the solids. Taste and season with salt if needed.
6. Cover and refrigerate for 3 days or freeze for 3 months. (I like to freeze broth in muffin tins, 1-cup increments, so I can add them as needed to dishes I am cooking.)Here are 15 Recipe Ideas for using beef broth. I am particularly intrigued with the Ramen and polenta ones because I think with a few substitutions I can make them with mostly if not all Rainshadow ingredients.

Veggie IDs

Add-Ons
Email us if you would like us to pack you anything extra from the store for pickup with your CSA. You can pay when you pick up at the Farm Store or our Farm Stand at the Bend Farmers Market.

Flours and Wheat Berries:

• 2 lb bags hard red, hard white, soft white flour: $5/bag
• 2 lb bag buckwheat flour: $7/bag
• 2 lb bag corn flour: $12/bag
• 2 lb bag rolled Tibetan black barley: $5/bag
• 3 lb bag hard white or hard red wheat berries $5/bag

Meat:
$8/lb: ground beef
$10/lb: chuck roast
$12/lb: top sirloin
$14/lb: rib steak
$15/lb: New York Strip

We hope this first week of your Summer CSA is fabulous and we can’t wait to see you on Wednesday! Please email us let us know if you can’t make Wednesday or if someone else is picking up for you.

Don’t forget about the members only Facebook group! I would love to see what you are cooking with your share!