The Farm Bus from Farm to Family

Hi members, Hope you are all staying cool!

We have a bang up share for you this week. Post pictures of what you are making on our facebook group page! Others love ideas and recipes. I also post other ideas and info. Thank you!

We will be having the option of oysters and clams again next week, so if you are getting a share with meat in it, and need to OPT OUT and get the ALTERNATE MEAT (I do not know what it will be), send me your OPT OUT email with no oysters clams in your subject. If you want them, do NOTHING – you will get 2 dozen each oysters and clams, or the quart of shucks (email if you want the shucks). If you want more, or a la carte oysters, clams by the dozen, or pints or quarts of shucks, please order via your dashboard under MEATS – Oysters Clams a la carte.  NEED ORDERS BY WED next week. thank you.

Happy eating. Suzi

Veg share so far, subject to changes:

• Swiss chard – Swiss chard is delicious, versatile, and don’t forget to pickle the stems. It is hearty enough to stand in for pasta, say in a lasagna. The stems take longer to cook than leaves, so I usually put stems in first, then leaves. Here are some ideas.
• Baby spinach – put on pizza with the ramps. or make a salad.
• Green onions – these guys may get overshadowed by the ramps this week, but put them in your salad with bibb lettuce, baby spinach and strawberries and they will shine.
• Ramps – boy we love these, and we have a family tradition of getting them every year. Ive posted some ramp info on our FB group. Don’t be intimidated by them. Treat them like you would garlic or onions, only better, and you’ll be ok. Here’s a great video on how to find, clean and pickle them. They are forest foraged, so still have soil on them. Clean them well, dirt can  hide in them, like leeks. Use the leaves to make pesto, or chimmichurri. If you aren’t going to get to them for a bit, cut off your leaves, and keep them in a bag in your fridge. I have actually had them stay in the fridge for a month or so.  They are great in biscuits, which we included below. Put on pizza.
• Bibb – make lettuce wraps, use it as a bun for your burger.
• Radishes – young radishes have a sweetness to them. Try roasted radishes with brown butter, radish tops, and lemon. You can also sautee the tops like any green.  Slice and add to salad. Pickle. Here are some recipes. There is a radish corn salad in here, that would be good with your corn if you haven’t used it yet.
• Strawberries – I posted info on how to freeze them to use later in the season in smoothies. You can also make fruit leather, dehydrate for snacks, or jam. Here is the boss small batch strawberry balsamic jam recipe I posted in the group that I made for Mother’s Day gifts last year. I cooked it in the slow cooker. this makes only 4 half pints, so refridgerate, eat on the biscuits, or give away. No need to process. But if you want to process, I used a saucepan, and a veggie steamer and it worked great. I used this on baked brie at mom’s for Easter.
• Asparagus – we are grilling bacon wrapped asparagus for dinner tonight. or put in salad.
• Arugula – good on pizza with the ramps.
• Cilantro (good with clams) – Clams with bacon, cilantro, ginger and galic (sub ramps!!)
• Mushrooms – good on pizza with the ramps.
• Golden biscuit mix from Wade’s Mill for strawberry shortcake and ramp biscuits. to make ramp biscuits: thinly slice the bulb and add it right in. Or you can use only the leaves. You can caramelize the bulbs in a little butter first. Cook as usual. Wade’s Mill is a circa 1750 water grist mill and we love their products. You will see them on the menu at fine restaurants.

Meat
Oysters and clams – how to shuck an oyster with Chef Pete at Merroir. How to prepare them raw 0 use your ramps, or green onions! Grill them. Here’s a few other methods of cooking like roasting, and steaming. Here’s how to steam clams. Here’s the Ultlimate Pasta with Clams – perfect if you still have your pasta from the other week! Make oyster shooters. You can use sake, tequila, vodka etc. Look them up. You’ll be in heaven.
If you opted out, looks like a picnic grill special:
Polyface hot dogs
ground beef
bison summer sausage – make a plate with the cheese from  your share. You can add in sliced radishes, and make a delicious sauce with a spoon of our lovely jam with some stone ground mustard.  You can slice it and add it to your salad. Or put it on the pizza!!!!