Hi BUGgy Friends!

So, I am sorry for the late notice, but hopefully this will be good news to all of you! After monitoring the explosive growth in many of our greens and radish crops over the past couple of weeks, we have decided that to insure harvesting at their tastiest and prime moment, we need to harvest some of our crops earlier than our projected May 17th Start Date. This isn't equivalent of a full share, but we thought it was enough to warrant an early tasty treat delivery : ) We are planning on doing an extra-early BONUS CSA DELIVERY THIS THURSDAY, MAY 10th! All members wether full or half shares will recieve a delivery this week. Since this is a bonus week, there will be no Add-on Shares available with this delivery. Lets move on to the details on how to get your CSA shares, etc. I'll start with what will we will be harvesting for you this Thursday:

Early Bonus Share Pick List:

• 1 bunch French Breakfast Radishes
• 1 bag Baby Brassica Mix (mustards, mizuna, tatsoi, pac choi, arugula, kale, etc)
• 1 bag Arugula

French Breakfast Radishes

Arugula

Baby Brassica Mix

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Home Delivery Members Read This

For those of you with Home Delivery, you will need to have a cooler with some sort of ice or cooler pack in it so your veggies stay nice and fresh. Please place your cooler outside your front door or in a convenient place for us to deliver to. If you have any questions or issues with this system, please email or call me at 801-718-7478. If you forget to put out your cooler on Thursday morning, we will leave the veggies in the coolest shadiest spot we can find and give you a call. We will begin our deliveries around 8am, and will eventually have a routine, but we can't guarantee we will be there  by any certain time, but hopefully you will get your veggies before mid-afternoon.

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Pickup Members Read This

For pickup members, I will be sending out a separate email with specific addresses and instructions pertaining to your pickup spot. For all of you, at your pickup site, there will be coolers with your veggies, a sign in sheet with your names and phone #'s on it, and a pick list with what you should take from the coolers. This week to start, we will not pre-portion out your shares, you will need to PICK ONE of each item wther in a bag or bunch. Please don't trade out things, since we only pick one portion of each item for each of you. I will try my best to label things so you wont get confused : ) We will begin delivering at 8am on Thursday, so you can expect the shares to arrive at the pickup location between 8am and no later than 2pm. After a couple of weeks of running the deliveries, we can give you more of a specific time we will arrive at your pickup spot. Since pickup spots are self serve, you can come by at your convenience anytime on Thursday until Dark unless otherwise noted in your separate pickup email. When you pick up your veggies, please check your name off the sign in sheet so the pick up host knows who still needs to come. If you are running late or cannot pick up until Friday, please give me a call. Also come prepared with some bag/cooler to take your veggies home with you. Again, if you have any questions or concerns, feel free to email or call me (Sharon) at 801-718-7478.

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Non-Members Who Want Veggies Read This

For those of you who haven't signed up for a CSA share, but would like some of these veggies, we have extras of the following available at our pickup sites for these prices:

Baby Brassica Mix-$7/lb

French Breakfast Radishes-$3/big bunch or 2 for $5

If you are interested in purchasing any of these items, please Email me (Sharon) at bugfarms@gmail.com and I will have your order labeled and bagged separately. Please place your cash or check(made out to Sharon Leopardi) in an envelope taped to the inside of the cooler.

Here are the pickup spots available:

Wasatch Cohousing Mail Room: 1411 S Utah St. #22

Mountain Valley Seed Co.: 455 W 1700 S

Shiva Centre: 2065 E 2100 S

We are also still accepting new CSA members, so please considering joining if you can!

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Fun Stuff!

Whew! I think that covers the most important parts of logistics, now lets get into the fun stuff- veggie profiles and recipe ideas!

Baby Brassica Mix: There are over 15 different types of greens in this mix, I call it a Brassica Mix because most all of the greens come from the Brassica Plant family. Some of the greens include: Red Mustard, Giant Curled Southern Mustard, Red Streaks Mustard, Pac Choi, Tatsoi, Mizuna, Arugula, Lacinato Kale, and a bunch of other asian greens that I can't remember the name of : ) This mix has some spiciness, but is tender enough to eat raw in a salad, or lightly steam or saute, or add it to a frittata or quiche, or try adding it to a green smoothie.

Arugula: So tasty! This first harvest is super sweet and mild, and I feel would be best enjoyed mixed with the Brassica Mix and Radishes in a salad with a little bit of apple cider vinegar and a good olive oil, maybe with some sesame seeds/flax seeds/sunflower seeds/chia seeds, and maybe some dried fruit and goat cheese if you like that. Yummy and quick. Or you can try your hand at a quick arugula pesto and toss it with some pasta.

Here is a recipe adapted from the book "Farmer John’s Cookbook: The Real Dirt on Vegetables" by Farmer John Peterson and Angelic Organics. This makes good use of everything you will get in your Extra Early Bonus CSA Share!

Serves 4

2 tbsp butter (or olive oil)
1/2 lb radishes, quartered
2 cups radish greens or arugula or Baby Brassica Mix
1 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Melt the butter or olive oil in a large skillet over med. heat. Add the radishes; cook, stirring constantly, until tender but still crisp, about 5 min. depending on size. Transfer to a bowl to cool. Return the skillet to stove.

Put the greens or arugula in skillet with the wash water still clinging to the leaves. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, just until wilting, 2-3 min. Turn off the heat. Add the lemon juice and radishes to the skillet; stir until well combined. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve immediately.

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Well, I am excited and grateful for such a warm and bountiful spring so far, and I hope you all get to taste that gratefulness and love in your Bonus Share this week. Thanks so much for being a part of our small experiment in conscious, community-oriented, loving food production!

Best,

Sharon Leopardi