CSA 2015- Week 2 Kansas City, MO

Week 2 of the CSA includes (beginning in the top left of the photo): Lettuce and baby cut salad greens, Baby bok choy, CHOICE of Swiss Chard, Zucchini OR Kale (small shares choose 1 bag, large shares 2 bags), Candy Onions, Radishes with greens and Turnips with greens.

Lettuce and baby cut salad greens: Store in plastic bag in refrigerator. Baby cut salad greens should be used first. Salads, Salads, Salads!! Need some new ideas for salad toppings? Look at this: Chart of Salad Toppings Combinations for inspiration. Use as “wraps” for Asian chicken lettuce wraps. If you have never tried lettuce, barely cooked, try these: Wilted lettuce salad or Grilled Romaine Salad.

Baby Bok Choy: Store in plastic bag in the refrigerator. Here is a basic bok choy recipe with great instructions: Stir-fried Bok Choy. If you would rather eat bok choy raw; it can be chopped and dressed with an asian- style dressing: Bok Choy Salad

Onions: These are fresh, uncured onions, which may be stored in the refrigerator or in a cool place. They should be used within 2 weeks.

Radishes: Store in plastic bag in refrigerator. Crisp radishes in ice water. Sliced radishes add great flavor to salads. You can also just eat them straight with butter and a sprinkle of salt. There are many variations of radish salads, here are a couple: Radish and Mint Salad , Smitten Kitchen’s chopped salad,  and Radish, Cucumber and Orange Salad.

Turnips: Store in plastic bag in the refrigerator. Small turnips (size of golf balls or smaller) do not need to be peeled. Larger turnips can be easily peeled: slice off the top and bottom and use a paring knife to peel off the tough outer skin from top to bottom. Turnips can be sliced and eaten raw (they are spicy) or are cooked to mellow their bite. Here are some turnip recipe ideas: Kashmiri style kidney beans with turnips  and Braised turnips with onions and carrots.

CHOICES (bag of Zucchini or Swiss Chard or Kale):

Zucchini/ summer squash: store in plastic bag in refrigerator. Zucchini is great sauteed, grilled, eaten raw, or baked into zucchini bread (my kids favorite way to eat zucchini!). Zucchini (sliced and broiled or pan fried) can take the place of pasta in lasagna. If you want more ideas, you can try Baked Zucchini FriesSquash baked eggs or Zucchini Fritters (these were very good) or Chocolate Zucchini Bread or this main dish Cheesy Zucchini Casserole (which we make with shredded sharp cheddar, instead of Velvetta). Here’s a couple other zucchini recipes, recommended by CSA members: Curried Zucchini SoupSauteed Zucchini with Cherry Tomatoes (don’t overcook the zucchini!), and Zucchini Chocolate Rum Cake.

Swiss Chard: Store in plastic bag in the refrigerator. The swiss chard leaves have a very mild flavor similar to spinach. Both the stem and the leaves can be eaten and I usually use both together; chop the stems like you would celery and begin cooking the stems before adding the greens. Our family really likes this Swiss Chard, Sausage, White bean casserole ( I use the stems and leaves of the chard). This Swiss Chard and Ricotta Crostata  is a wonderful recipe, and one of my all-time favorites. Swiss chard leaves can be used just like spinach in my Crustless Spinach Quiche recipe. Swiss chard can also be added to curry, as in this: Curried Lentils and Sweet Potatoes (Excellent!).

Kale: store in plastic bag in refrigerator. Baby Kale is great in Kale salad or in any kale dish, but it doesn’t need as much time to cook. Try this Zuppa Tuscana soup (I usually add a can of tomatoes to this soup and sometimes kidney beans). Or, try this method of fixing kale:

Kale, Sausage and Beans

8 to 16 oz. smoked sausage (or omit and increase beans, for a vegetarian version), sliced

1 Onion, chopped

3 (or more) cloves garlic, finally chopped

1 can (or about 2 cups, peeled) tomatoes, with liquid

Kale, 7- 10 leaves, removed from stem and chopped (with Baby kale, add a couple handfuls of kale leaves, chopped)

1 can drained (or about 2 Cups, cooked) white beans, like great northern or cannellini beans

Brown the sausage in a skillet and then remove sausage to a paper towel lined plate and drain off excess oil. Saute the onions in olive oil over medium heat, till soft and golden, 5- 10 minutes. Add chopped garlic and kale, stir to begin to wilt. Then add tomatoes and cover: lower heat and cook until kale is tender, about 5 to 7 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in beans and sausage and season to taste (red pepper flakes are a good addition). Can be topped with shredded parmesan cheese.

CSA 2015- Week 1 Redfearn Farm Kansas City, MO

Week 1 of the 2015 CSA season is finally here!! Enjoy the fresh salad greens and crisp sugar snap peas and radishes that come with the early summer! The vegetables that will be included in each CSA share, are (clockwise beginning in the upper left corner of the photo): Baby cut Salad Greens, Bok Choy, Head Lettuces, Sugar Snap Peas, Garlic Scapes, Fresh Candy Onions, Broccoli, Radishes and Turnips with greens.

Here are some storage and using/ cooking instructions for each item.  All of the items in the CSA week 1 box should be stored in the refrigerator. The lettuce, baby salad mix, and bok choy can be pre-washed, spun dry in a salad spinner and put in a plastic bag layered with some paper towels to absorb extra moisture. It is important that the greens are not stored wet.

Lettuce and baby cut salad greens: Store in plastic bag in refrigerator. Baby cut salad greens should be used first. Salads, Salads, Salads!! Need some new ideas for salad toppings? Look at this: Chart of Salad Toppings Combinations for inspiration. Use as “wraps” for Asian chicken lettuce wraps. If you have never tried lettuce, barely cooked, try these: Wilted lettuce salad or Grilled Romaine Salad.

Baby Bok Choy: Store in plastic bag in the refrigerator. Here is a basic bok choy recipe with great instructions: Stir-fried Bok Choy. If you would rather eat bok choy raw; it can be chopped and dressed with an asian- style dressing: Bok Choy Salad

Sugar Snap Peas: Store in plastic bag in the refrigerator. Peel off the strings on the sugar snap peas. Sugar snap peas are good raw or barely cooked. Try Stir-fried Sugar Snap Peas or Sugar Snap Peas with orange-ginger dressing.

Onions: These are fresh, uncured onions, which may be stored in the refrigerator. They should be used within 2 weeks.

Radishes: Store in plastic bag in refrigerator. Crisp radishes in ice water. Sliced radishes add great flavor to salads. You can also just eat them straight with butter and a sprinkle of salt. There are many variations of radish salads, here are a couple: Radish and Mint Salad , Smitten Kitchen’s chopped salad,  and Radish, Cucumber and Orange Salad.

Garlic Scapes: can be used just like garlic in recipes. They are very versatile. On thicker scapes, snap off the woody end (in the same way you would snap asparagus). Try them in a sauté, roasted, pickled, added to soups, and more. The most tender tops of the stem and the buds are delicious chopped up raw.

A site highlighting many ways to serve garlic scapes; including a garlic scape pesto recipe: What to do with Garlic Scapes (Note: my family made the Garlic Scape Pesto from this link, using sunflower seeds instead of pine nuts, and it was wonderful!).

Garlic Scape and White Bean Hummus

1/3 cup sliced scapes
1 T lemon juice
1/2 tsp sea salt
ground black pepper
1 can (15 oz.) cannelloni beans, rinsed and drained
1/4 cup olive oil

In a food processor, process scapes with lemon juice, salt and pepper until finely chopped. Add beans and process to a rough puree. With motor running, slowly drizzle olive oil through feed tube and process until fairly smooth. Pulse in 2 or 3 T water, or more, until mixture is the consistency of a dip.

Broccoli: Store in a loose plastic bag in the refrigerator. Peeling the stems with a pairing knife is a great way to make the stems more tender. Here’s a couple of recipe ideas: Broccoli Salad and Roasted Broccoli

Turnips: Store in plastic bag in the refrigerator. Small turnips (size of golf balls or smaller) do not need to be peeled. Larger turnips can be easily peeled: slice off the top and bottom and use a paring knife to peel off the tough outer skin from top to bottom. Turnips can be sliced and eaten raw (they are spicy) or are cooked to mellow their bite. Here are some turnip recipe ideas: Kashmiri style kidney beans with turnips  and Braised turnips with onions and carrots.

 

CSA’s are Proven to Help You Eat Healthy!

Kansas City, want to change your eating habits to include more healthy vegetables? Research says that one easy way to eat healthier is to join a CSA. A scientific study proves that CSA membership has beneficial effects on participant’s eating habits.

The study was conducted by the Center for Agroecology & Sustainable Food Systems researching Community Supported Agriculture members’ experiences from 14 California CSAs.

81% of Community Supported Agriculture members say they’ve had some type of change in eating habits as a result of joining a CSA.

Respondents noted that after joining a CSA they were:

eating more vegetables, eating a greater variety of vegetables, eating healthier, eating at home more and eating out less, and eating better quality food.

Where the Redfearn Grows Natural Farms CSA members are no different. You can read some of their CSA reviews here.  Kelly from Independence, MO wrote:

We’ve been working on living a healthy lifestyle, and Where the Redfearn Grows has really helped us do just that! The variety of food we received got me excited about cooking and trying new recipes and now even my husband enjoys out-of-the-ordinary veggies!

How can joining a CSA help you live a healthier lifestyle? Where the Redfearn Grows Natural Farms CSA members enjoy a weekly box of fresh-picked vegetables for 21 weeks.  Our members report that the quantity and variety of vegetables in their shares is more than they would ordinarily buy at the store. The weekly reception of a cornucopia of high-quality, fresh, locally grown produce is a tremendous encouragement to dive in and get cooking. Our recipes and preservation tips for each week’s box will help you to take advantage of this opportunity to build a healthier lifestyle.

At Where the Redfearn Grows Natural Farms our motto is: “Together, we’ll change the way you eat!”

Join our CSA today to change your eating habits for years to come.

CSA Week 21 Kansas City
Actual share from the 2014 Season.

Lee’s Summit CSA Delivery of Local Farm Produce

Where the Redfearn Grows Natural Farms would like to offer our Lee’s Summit neighbors  a fantastic Lee’s Summit CSA opportunity!  Our Independence, MO farm is offering those of you in Lee’s Summit and South Kansas City a convenient pickup option for freshly-picked, naturally-grown garden produce.

The CSA is the centerpiece of our farm.  CSA members receive a share of the harvest every week for the duration of the 21 week season.  Your weekly community supported agriculture boxes of a wide array of ultra-fresh-picked gourmet garden vegetables grown just down the street in Independence Missouri could be the raw ingredients for healthy and delicious meals for your family. With each CSA week, we provide recipes that will guide you into new realms of culinary delights where you can taste real, unprocessed food the way is was meant to be. Studies are revealing the benefits of eating a vegetable-rich, non-processed diet.

Let us help you feed your family the best. Our Community Supported Agriculture vegetables are chemical-free, our eggs are free-range, our milk is unprocessed and our local honey is unmedicated and raw. You’ll taste the difference, Lee’s Summit!  Read more about our CSA HERE! 

Summer Farm Lee's SummitPlanting is fully underway with multiple varieties of nearly every vegetable you could imagine: Tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, summer squashes, winter squashes, new potatoes, sugar snap peas,  leeks, kale, cabbage, lettuces, mixed baby salad greens, bok choy, carrots, radishes, kohlrabi, broccoli, onions, garlic, basil, eggplants, fennel and much more!

Want to know more about 130 total varieties in store for the season?  Read about it HERE!

Won’t you consider letting us be your farmers, Lee’s Summit?

In addition to the CSA, we also offer fresh raw milk for sale from our Jersey/Normandy Cow and farm fresh free range eggs.  These items are available for sale today at the farm!  Contact us to purchase today!

Join our Lee’s Summit CSA while we still have shares available! Sign up HERE for the CSA today! Your weekly box of gourmet produce is only weeks away!

CSA Week 21 Kansas City
Actual share from the 2014 Season.

 

Independence MO’s Farm for Vegetables, Milk, and Eggs

Independence and Blue Springs, MO, did you know that right in your back yard there is a farm producing delicious fresh milk, free range eggs, naturally produced vegetables and honey?  Where the Redfearn Grows Natural Farms, located in Independence, MO, just north of Blue Springs, is your source for farm-fresh produce.  If you are looking for a closer connection to your food supply and food that tastes the way God intended it, then Redfearn Farm is the place to be.

Fresh raw milk from our Jersey/Normandy cow and free range eggs from our mixed flock are available for sale today!  Shares of our all-natural vegetable CSA are available for sale now with the weekly vegetable distributions beginning June 8 (don’t delay, shares are limited!).  Raw honey from our on-farm hives will be available in September and sells out fast!

milk Blue Springs, MO

The CSA is the centerpiece of our farm.  CSA members receive a share of the harvest every week for the duration of the 21 week season.  Your weekly community supported agriculture boxes of a wide array of ultra-fresh-picked gourmet garden vegetables grown just down the street in Independence Missouri could be the raw ingredients for healthy and delicious meals for your family. With each CSA week, we provide recipes that will guide you into new realms of culinary delights where you can taste real, unprocessed food the way is was meant to be. Studies are revealing the benefits of eating a vegetable-rich, non-processed diet. Let us help you feed your family the best. Our Community Supported Agriculture vegetables are chemical-free, our eggs are free-range, our milk is unprocessed and our local honey is unmedicated and raw. You’ll taste the difference, Kansas City!

Where the Redfearn Grows Natural Farms was founded with the belief that natural ecosystems hold within them the keys to growing healthy food. We believe in cooperation with nature rather than the subjugation of it.  The result is healthier food and a healthier environment. That is why preserving natural practices in growing the produce we provide to our Kansas City area CSA members is part of who we are.  The health of our family, our customers and our environment is of critical importance to us.

The choice to buy local Kansas City food is a step in building local economies through responsible small family farms committed to the health and vitality of the community rather than centralized factory farms run by multinational corporations detached from concern for the land and the locality.

brown eggs Independence, MO

The Redfearn family aims to build a family-friendly agricultural model right here in the city of Independence Missouri through our community supported agriculture program.  CSA members and other customers often linger at the farm to allow time for their children to play and experience the sights, smells and sounds of the farm.  Volunteers are welcome to help and learn alongside us and our CSA members who invest part of their valuable time into the vitality of the farm.  We are a family working hand-in-hand with families to feed families within the greater Kansas City community and helping to connect people with the roots of the food they eat.

Won’t you consider joining our CSA today or contacting us about purchasing other healthy farm products?

 

 

 

Liberty CSA: Your Source for Farm Fresh Produce

Northern Kansas City, did you know that right in your back yard there is a farm producing delicious fresh milk, free range eggs, naturally produced vegetables and honey?  Where the Redfearn Grows Natural Farms is an all-natural farm located in Independence, MO.  This year, we are excited to offer a convenient pickup location for shares of our CSA coop in Liberty, MO.   Click here to view an interactive map showing both the farm and the Liberty CSA pickup location.If you are looking for a closer connection to your food supply and food that tastes the way God intended it, then Redfearn Farm is the place to be.

Shares of our all-natural vegetable CSA are available for sale now with the weekly vegetable distributions beginning June 8 (don’t delay, shares are limited!).  The CSA is the centerpiece of our farm.  CSA members receive a share of the harvest every week for the duration of the 21 week season.  Your weekly community supported agriculture boxes of a wide array of ultra-fresh-picked gourmet garden vegetables grown just down the street in Independence Missouri could be the raw ingredients for healthy and delicious meals for your family. With each CSA week, we provide recipes that will guide you into new realms of culinary delights where you can taste real, unprocessed food the way is was meant to be. Studies are revealing the benefits of eating a vegetable-rich, non-processed diet. Let us help you feed your family the best. Our Community Supported Agriculture vegetables are chemical-free, our eggs are free-range, our milk is unprocessed and our local honey is unmedicated and raw. You’ll taste the difference, Kansas City!

CSA Week 24 Blue Springs
An actual share from the 2014 season

Where the Redfearn Grows Natural Farms was founded with the belief that natural ecosystems hold within them the keys to growing healthy food. We believe in cooperation with nature rather than the subjugation of it.  The result is healthier food and a healthier environment. That is why preserving natural practices in growing the produce we provide to our Kansas City area CSA members is part of who we are.  The health of our family, our customers and our environment is of critical importance to us.

The choice to buy local Kansas City food is a step in building local economies through responsible small family farms committed to the health and vitality of the community rather than centralized factory farms run by multinational corporations detached from concern for the land and the locality.

brown eggs Independence, MO

The Redfearn family aims to build a family-friendly agricultural model right here in the city of Independence Missouri through our community supported agriculture program.  CSA members and other customers often linger at the farm to allow time for their children to play and experience the sights, smells and sounds of the farm.  Volunteers are welcome to help and learn alongside us and our CSA members who invest part of their valuable time into the vitality of the farm.  We are a family working hand-in-hand with families to feed families within the greater Kansas City community and helping to connect people with the roots of the food they eat.

Won’t you consider joining our CSA today or contacting us about purchasing other healthy farm products?

 

 

An actual share from the 2014 season (share size: large).

Kansas City: Eat Healthy, Local Food in 2015!

Kansas City, want to change your eating habits to include more healthy vegetables? Research says that one easy way to eat healthier is to join a CSA. A scientific study proves that CSA membership has beneficial effects on participant’s eating habits.

eating healthy food

The study was conducted by the Center for Agroecology & Sustainable Food Systems researching Community Supported Agriculture members’ experiences from 14 California CSAs.

81% of Community Supported Agriculture members say they’ve had some type of change in eating habits as a result of joining a CSA.

Respondents noted that after joining a CSA they were:

eating more vegetables, eating a greater variety of vegetables, eating healthier, eating at home more and eating out less, and eating better quality food.

Where the Redfearn Grows Natural Farms CSA members are no different. You can read some of their CSA reviews here.  Kelly from Independence, MO wrote:

We’ve been working on living a healthy lifestyle, and Where the Redfearn Grows has really helped us do just that! The variety of food we received got me excited about cooking and trying new recipes and now even my husband enjoys out-of-the-ordinary veggies!

Where the Redfearn Grows Natural Farms located in Independence, MO offers convenient pickup in Independence, Lee’s Summit and Liberty, MO for our farm fresh, pesticide free produce.  How can joining a CSA help you live a healthier lifestyle? Where the Redfearn Grows Natural Farms CSA members enjoy a weekly box of fresh picked vegetables for up 21 weeks.  Our members report that the quantity and variety of vegetables in their shares is more than they would ordinarily buy at the store. The weekly reception of a cornucopia of high-quality, fresh, locally grown produce is a tremendous encouragement to dive in and get cooking. Our recipes and preservation tips for each week’s box will help you to take advantage of this opportunity to build a healthier lifestyle.

At Where the Redfearn Grows Natural Farms our motto is: “Together, we’ll change the way you eat!”

Join our CSA today to change your eating habits for years to come.

CSA week 17 Blue Springs

Planting Garlic for the 2015 CSA Season

If you are like us, garlic is a staple of the kitchen.  If you want to enjoy fresh garlic grown right here in Kansas City, we’ve got a couple great options for you!  Grow it yourself, or join our CSA and find it in your weekly box of locally grown produce!

We took advantage of the ground thawing to get the garlic crop planted for the 2015 CSA season.  We planted 3,000 cloves of garlic.  Given good weather and great soil, each of these cloves will form a garlic bulb ready in early July 2015.  That’s right, we’re preparing for the 2015 CSA season, are you?  For the third year at our Independence location, we’re offering a limited number of weekly boxes of chemical-free, super-fresh, local vegetables through our CSA program.  We’re offering a Lee’s Summit pickup option again this year and a Liberty pickup location for the first time this season.  You can sign up now at CSA Signup.

Organic Garlic Kansas CityGarlic is a great crop to grow in your home garden.  On a small scale, it’s not that hard to grow.  Take a couple bulbs from the grocery store, break into cloves and plant the biggest cloves about 2″ deep and 6″ apart.   This is a great job that the kids will enjoy helping with.  Makes a bit of a mess in the living room if you start with 40 lbs of garlic like we did.  We plant ours in raised beds for better drainage and root development.  This year we planted in 4 rows on 30″ wide beds with walkways in between.  Garlic like all related onion plants loves excellent soil high in organic matter.

The trick to success with growing garlic (we know because we’ve had our successes and failures) is to beat the weeds and the cold.  Last winter was rough on the garlic.  We didn’t get a chance to mulch it well enough to protect against the wintery blasts, so we lost 3/4 of what we planted.  Then, since we didn’t have enough mulch, the weeds basically choked out the remainder.  This time covered the beds with organic compost and a thick layer of straw.

Once the spring rains stop we’ll begin regular waterings with drip irrigation in the beds.  This helps form the big garlic bulbs you are looking for.

So if you hurry up and plant before winter sets in and give garlic good soil, good mulch and regular waterings, you can enjoy your very own garlic next year.  If dried properly it will last up to eight months.

Of course, If you want some organically grown garlic you could always sign up for our Kansas City CSA and enjoy garlic and many, many other types of vegetables every week throughout the growing season next year.  Either way, we hope you can enjoy some fresh organically grown garlic next year!

Organic Compost Mulch

 

 

2014 Kansas City CSA Season in Review

After well over half a year of preparations, plantings and harvesting, the 2014 CSA season at Where the Redfearn Grows Natural Farms is finally over.  We feel like we’ve gone a mile-a-minute this season with little time to reflect upon what’s been going on.  Now that we have a chance to breathe, we’d like to take time to recognize the fuel for the success of this CSA season: our members!

We couldn’t have done it without our more than 50 awesome CSA members!  You all were fabulous!  It was a pleasure to serve you by providing you our best quality Kansas City grown produce.  We enjoyed getting to know many of you better at CSA pickups, workdays or at our CSA member picnic!  You’ve been supportive of us in many ways offering encouragement and a shoulder to lean on when times got tough.  Thanks for bearing with us when we were blindsided by the harlequin bugs that ruined the fall broccoli and kale and for patiently awaiting the tomatoes as the cool spring delayed their arrival.

Special thanks to the Ward family who so graciously hosted the Lee’s Summit CSA pickup and who’ve agreed to do it again for the 2015 season!  They’ve been a real blessing to your farmers and we’re sure our Lee’s Summit members will agree that they go above and beyond in their hospitality when hosting this pickup!  Thanks also to the Mahurin’s for substituting several weeks when the Ward’s were out of town!

Thanks, Mom, for all the days you spent watching the little ones so we could work in the fields!

We’d also like to say some special thanks to Rachel and Jodi who put in lot’s of extra work when we needed it both planting and harvesting!  Thanks Eric for helping so much with both greenhouses and cutting trees.  Thanks to many of you who stayed late on harvest days to bring in the extra bounty when we were falling behind!  Thanks Ben and Ben for all your help with both greenhouses and the walk in cooler even though you aren’t CSA members.  Thanks to the Waite men who even though not CSA members have come on countless workdays to help out with whatever needed to be done.

A Community Supported Agriculture program like ours depends upon committed members and a supportive community.  We will not survive without your enthusiastic support.  We appreciate you!  Here’s to Where the Redfearn Grows Natural Farms CSA members and friends!

We hope you’ve enjoyed the 2014 Kansas City CSA season.  We hope you learned a few new delicious recipes this year and learned to like a new vegetable or two through your weekly boxes of goodies.  We hope you’ve been pleased with the quality, quantity and selection of vegetables you’ve received.  Most of all, we hope you’ve felt part of something far beyond a simple economic transaction but part of a community.  We hope you’ve developed an appreciation for what it takes to grow organic produce and a love of things fresh and clean.

Finally, we hope you’ll join us again next year for the 2015 season and that you’ll convince some of your friends to join in too!  2015 shares will go on sale in just a few weeks with a special discount to existing members.

Thanks again!

Dave and Sheri

Ladder Straddle High Tunnel Independence