{ Community Supported Agriculture Newsletter {

James Graves comes to us from the heartland, as you will be reading in his newsletter column. We are particularly blessed this year to be working with inspired, enthusiastic, literate and incredibly hard working young people. As members, we would like you to get to know and appreciate these folks. We are eating our delicious vegetables as a result of the never ending hours of time and care they put into growing our food!

Rachel Schneider,

CSA Coordinator

Looking Forward to

Next Week

Anticipated for July 15^th

· Beets

· Broccoli, for some

· Cucumbers

· Lettuce

· Scallions

· Summer Squash and/or Zucchini

Where’s the Fruit?

If you purchased a fruit share and are wondering why there was suddenly NO FRUIT, here is another reminder that fruit is delivered whenever it ripens, which is not necessarily each and every week.

Dear CSA members:

I suspect many of you have encountered the literary work of Barbara Kingsolver and Wendell Berry, writers inspired by the farm experience in Kentucky where I too am from. If so, perhaps you’re already familiar through their fiction and essays with the hilly landscape still dotted with small family farms. But the story they and I will tell you is that rural life there is pretty rough these days.

The primary crops grown in Kentucky—tobacco, beef cattle, corn, wheat and soybeans—are almost exclusively sold to large companies that take the products and the profits out of state. In this arrangement, farmers don’t set the prices; instead they’re at the mercy of the merciless corporations they do business with. A lot of farmers can’t make ends meet solely on their farm income, so they take off-farm jobs in order to get by. The bedraggled condition of the farms one sees when driving through the countryside is visual proof that the current farm economy is failing. And another sad reality of the current farm system in Kentucky is that virtually 100% of food purchased is from out of state!

Through reading Kingsolver and Berry, I came to believe that farming can be carried out in an altogether superior way—from the perspective of the farmers, the consumers, and the land. It is this dream that made me want to be a farmer myself. But an unfortunate consequence of the sorry plight of farmers back home is that the agricultural profession and lifestyle is looked down upon and seen as undesirable by most people. Particularly for someone with a college education, voicing aspirations to be a farmer guarantees a skeptical, less than enthusiastic response from friends and family. I was not deterred.

When searching for a farm apprenticeship I was attracted to the Northeast by the number of farms charting an exciting new course for agriculture. Using alternative models for marketing farm products, such as CSA, Hawthorne Valley and several other farms in the region are once again making a living off the land. In stark contrast to the typical farm situation in my native state, HVF has been able to thrive economically thanks in part to doing our own value adding and marketing a lot of our products directly.

And because of this success, HVF is able to support dozens of employees who together make up a vibrant rural community—something rare to extinct across much of America.

It is my hope that what has happened here will happen all across this country in my lifetime, perhaps even back home in Kentucky. Thank you for supporting HVF and the small farm movement we’re a part of!

James

Announcing…Summer!

For some people, summer officially starts when the beaches open, school ends, or 4th of July extends into a long weekend.

But not so with us seasoned CSAers. We celebrate the start of summer when the new “green” in our shares is the color of zucchini, cucumber, and basil!

Grilled Zucchini-and-Summer Squash Salad with Citrus Splash Dressing

2 tablespoons grated orange rind
3/4 cup fresh orange juice (about 3 oranges)
1/2 cup fresh lime juice (about 3 limes)
3 tablespoons honey
2 teaspoons olive oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper
2 red onions or 4 mini-onions
4 zucchini, each halved lengthwise (about 1 1/4 pounds)
4 yellow squash, each halved lengthwise (about 1 pound)
Cooking spray
3 tablespoons thinly sliced fresh basil

Combine first 7 ingredients in a large zip-top plastic bag. Peel onions, leaving root intact; cut each onion into 4 wedges or mini-onions into halves. Add onion, zucchini, and yellow squash to bag. Seal and marinate in refrigerator 1 hour, turning bag occasionally. Prepare grill.

Drain vegetables in a colander over a bowl, reserving marinade. Place vegetables on a grill rack coated with cooking spray, and grill for 8 minutes or until tender; turn and baste occasionally with 3/4 cup of the marinade. Place the vegetables on a serving platter; sprinkle with the basil. Serve the vegetables with the remaining marinade. from Cooking Light, June 2000

Japanese Coleslaw with Sesame Seeds

1 Tablespoon sesame seeds

1 Tablespoon fresh lemon juice

1 Tablespoon soy sauce

1 Tablespoon vegetable oil

1 teaspoon Asian sesame oil

2 cups finely shredded Napa cabbage

1 cup finely julienned carrots

1 cup peeled & finely julienned daikon radish

Salt & freshly ground pepper

In a small skillet, toast the sesame seeds, stirring occasionally, until lightly browned, about 2 minutes. In a small bowl, whisk the lemon juice with the soy sauce, vegetable oil, and sesame oil. In a large bowl, toss the cabbage, carrots, and daikon. Add the dressing, season with salt & pepper and toss to coat. Sprinkle with the sesame seeds and serve. adapted from Food & Wine, June 2001

Marinated Asian Salad

This cool combo of pickled carrots and daikon offers a pleasing contrast to spicy dishes.

1 tablespoon light soy sauce

2 teaspoons garlic, minced

1 tablespoon shallots, minced

¼ cup rice wine vinegar
1 Tbsp. whole-grain mustard
1/2 cup safflower oil
1/2 cup sparkling mineral water
1 teaspoon chives, minced
1 lb. carrots, cut into curls
1 lb. daikon radish, cut into curls
2 tablespoons pickled ginger, minced
1 Nori seaweed sheet, cut into strips
1 tsp. black sesame seeds
1 tsp. sesame seeds, toasted

Combine soy sauce, garlic, shallots, mustard, vinegar, oil, water, and chives; whisk until emulsified. Toss carrots, daikon, and ginger, with 2/3 cup of the soy mixture.

Portion the salad on cold plates and drizzle with remaining soy mixture. Garnish each serving with a few strips of nori and a sprinkling of sesame seeds. From The Culinary Institute of America.

If you have recipes or food tips you would like to share, please e-mail them to Jodie Colón at RiverdaleCSA@aol.com.