Week 1: June 1st
Welcome to the first week of the CSA! We are thrilled to meet everyone and have you share the bounty of June. These weekly updates will contain: a description of what is in your share for the week, information about unique crops, a recipe or two, and some fun farm ramblings.
Share information:
Here are the lists of what are in the full and half shares:
Week 1 Full Shares:
- Spicy Salad Mix (8oz bag)
- Lettuce Mix (8oz bag)
- 1 Cherry Bell Radish Bunch
- 1 Hakurei Turnip Bunch
- 1 Parsley Bunch
- 1 Spring Onion Bunch
- 1 Small Kale Bunch
Week 1 Half Shares:
- Spicy Salad Mix
- 1 Cherry Bell Radish Bunch
- 1 Hakurei Turnip Bunch
- 1 Small Kale Bunch
Spicy Mix and Spring Onions? What are they exactly?
The Spicy Salad Mix (aka Spicy Mix) has been the bread and butter of our farm since the beginning. It is a salad that hardly needs a dressing because the greens themselves are so flavorful. Currently it is a mixture of arugula, baby mustard greens, two types of mizuna, two types of baby bok choi, and baby kale. The mixture of greens varies throughout the season because some salad crops are suited for different weather. You'll notice it living up to the the name "spicy mix" as the summer heats up! The best part though: we wash and dry the greens so you don't have to. We use bio-degradable bags for our salad greens which are great for the environment, but they do not keep greens very fresh. We advise that you put your greens into some other sort of plastic bag. I use a large zip lock bag which seems to hold the half pound of greens perfectly. You'll be shocked how long the greens last, or maybe you'll eat them so fast you'll never know what a spoiled bag of greens looks like!
Another crop that members may be curious about are the spring onions. Spring onions are planted in the fall then grow over the winter. You will see that they do not have a fully formed bulb, but white and purple parts can be used like the bulb. The green tops are also more tender and can be used like scallions, though they have a bit more punch to them. Cook up all parts like a normal onion or sear the greens on the grill. All hail alliums!
Recipe time!
This week's recipe is from Jess of Ochre Bakery! Ochre is just two blocks from the farm and has been incredibly supportive of us. In addition to making delicious breads and the best croissant ever, they also work magic with veggies. Visit Ochre's website to order their products and updates on their hours. Here are Jess' words on the Hakurei Turnip:
Hakurei turnips have become for me the taste of spring! They exemplify the excitement of hope that we are going to be able to have fresh, leafy, local produce again soon!
They are sweet and delicate flavored. If it were possible for a vegetable to feel like it was milky sweet and still crisp and light and refreshing at the same time, this is as close as it gets. A milder cousin to the radish, that is equally good cooked as eaten raw, either finely sliced or dipped in salt and eaten right off the leaves. The leaves are wonderful too- not too prickly. I love to make a mustardy vinaigrette and dip the turnip and then the leaves in, eating the whole thing as one hand-held salad.
When veg is this fresh, I prefer to keep the preparation as simple as possible to really appreciate its natural flavors. If cooking, I remove the leaves from the turnip, wash and set aside. Then heat a pan (a nice cast iron skillet is perfect) to medium high, add a good lug of olive oil, followed by the turnips. At this point I add a nice big pinch of flakey salt and let them sit for a few minutes until they are starting to color. I quite like a little char, without letting it overcook. After a quick toss of the pan, add the leaves right at the end and then remove from the pan. Check the seasoning, add more salt if you think it needs it. At this point you could squeeze over lemon juice or a drizzle of chilli oil. I also love to throw in a nice hunk of lightly crumbled feta right before removing from the pan and a big squeeze of lemon juice.
These are really great as a side to almost anything. Add a piece of garlicky grilled toast and you have a proper feast!
Field Notes
For our first bit of news from the fields, we thought it would be a good idea to briefly introduce you to our farm and ourselves.
Fisheye Farms is currently around 2 acres total of land. We started on one vacant lot in the neighborhood of West Village in 2014. We were able to grow intensively on this space and establish a brand that would allow us to start selling to Detroit's restaurant scene and some farmers' markets. In 2017 we bought our permanent space in Core City and built the infrastructure and larger fields we had previously been missing. In 2018 we acquired another acre of land 3 blocks west of the 16th and Buchanan space from a disbanded farm. We have been successfully growing and selling Certified Naturally Grown vegetables exclusively to restaurants for the past two seasons from these spaces. This year we decided to start the CSA as a way to shift our focus from the restaurant industry and get back to our original ideals- feeding a community.
Our team is composed of three people: Andy Chae, Amy Eckert, and Hannah Clark. Andy is the founder and heart of Fisheye Farms. He has put his entire self into the farm since its conception and continues to do so every day of the year. Andy has the big ideas, works the long hours, and is the face of the farm. Faces need necks to turn them, so luckily Andy has Amy. Amy started working on the farm full time in 2015 and now in addition to field work manages the logistical side of farming: administrative tasks, bookkeeping, managing the website, and our nursery greenhouse. Our final team member is Hannah, who started working with us part time last season after some changes to her farm, ACRE, allowed us to absorb their land. Hannah has years of farming experience to bring to the farm, is the fastest worker around, and brings us treats on the regular. You will probably meet all three of us at pick ups at some point, but we are usually out dividing and conquering the never ending task list!
Enjoy your first week of veggies! We look forward to sharing the season with you.