Sleeping Frog Farms

Let the CSA begin!

May 13th, 2010

Hello!

We have not dropped off the face of the earth! On the contrary, we have been so busy that we haven’t had a moment to update our website! We began our first CSA session last Saturday, and it was wonderful getting to meet all of our CSA members! Here in Tucson, we find ourselves in the “in-between season.” Our winter greens, lettuces, and root crops are starting to go bitter and flower with the 95 degree days. Additionally, our summer crops are in the ground and looking beautiful, but are still busy leafing out, flowering, and starting to fruit.

So. We wait.

This season is tough for anyone growing vegetables in this area. To our farmer’s market and restaurant customers–though the season requires us to be down in production for the next few weeks, don’t worry! In about a month, we’ll have the fruits of summer…and more of them than you can imagine!

Stay tuned…and for now, read up on the farm news in our May 9th CSA newsletter (at the end of this post). For those of you who missed this CSA session or who will be out of town for part of the summer, keep checking in with us at the market or on our website. We will hopefully be starting a 3 month CSA session beginning in mid-July. Email us if you would like to know more about this possibility or sign up for our CSA waiting list via our website.

Thanks, and happy eating!!!

••••••••

Dear CSA members,

Here at the farm, life is always changing and shifting. We experience growth and the end of life nearly every day. Yesterday morning, the spinach finally gave in, only to be replaced by sweet Jimmy Nardello pepper plants. We are practically drooling while we wait for the fruits of summer to begin to set (it is a strange kind of fate, for example, that the smell of tomatoes comes way before the actual fruits). While we’re waiting and working, we conjure up mental images of fresh tomato salads, eggplant caponata, breaded okra, calabacitas, and Rose’s amazing basil popsicles.

It’s always bittersweet to let something go and to welcome something new, but we practice this cycle many, many times a year, so we have no choice but to get used to it. On the farm, everything has a function, whether it’s living or dying. We pull out the spinach bed, which has done us well the last four months, feed the plants to our chickens, who in turn produce terrific eggs and nitrogen-rich manure for our plants. And so the cycle goes.

With the transition from spring to summer, we find ourselves shifting too. In a very physical and permanent way. As of last week, we are the proud new owners of 75 beautiful acres in the San Pedro River Valley (located just 20 minutes north of Benson, in the Cascabel area). We are absolutely thrilled and extremely grateful to be able to spread out to a larger property. We have big plans, including quadrupling our vegetable production, scaling up our egg layers, and possibly even introducing pigs and fiber animals into the rotation. For those of you interested in the logistics of all of this, we will be simultaneously scaling up at the new place and scaling down at the old one. Our fingers are crossed that we will be completely transitioned out of our current property by the Fall.

The move to Cascabel not only provides us with a beautiful home and a place to raise our families, but it ensures that we will be able to continue providing food for our community, thereby contributing to the overall health and food security of Southern Arizona (which is, of course, why we do what we do).

One thing’s for sure: we would not be able to make this venture without you. Thank you CSA members (including our partner restaurants—Primo, Harvest, and Hacienda del Sol—who have also purchased shares) for supporting our farm, for making a commitment to local agriculture, and for all of the seasonal magic that you create inside your kitchens with our products.

Let the CSA begin!

Love,

Everyone at Sleeping Frog Farms

In your share this week…

Rainbow Chard

Spring Onions

Purple Top Turnips w/Greens

Easter Egg Radish

Crisp Mint Lettuce

Tennis Ball Butter Lettuce

Red Ribbed Dandelion

Mint (Spearmint or Chocolate Mint)

½ dozen eggs

The Recipe Corner…

Turnip Gratine

* 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
* 2 1/2 pounds medium turnips, trimmed and left unpeeled
* 1 tablespoon chopped thyme
* 1/2 tablespoon chopped savory
* 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
* Rounded 1/8 teaspoon cayenne
* 1 cup heavy cream
* 1 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano

Preheat oven to 450°F with rack in middle.

Melt butter in an ovenproof 12-inch heavy skillet, then cool.

Slice turnips paper-thin, then arrange one third of slices, overlapping tightly, in skillet, keeping remaining slices covered with dampened paper towels. Sprinkle with about a third of thyme, savory, kosher salt, and cayenne. Make 2 more layers.

Cook, covered, over medium heat until underside is browned, about 10 minutes. Add cream and cook, covered, until center is tender, 20 to 25 minutes.

Sprinkle evenly with cheese, then bake, uncovered, until golden and bubbling, 10 to 15 minutes. Let stand 5 minutes before serving.

(recipe borrowed from www.epicurious.com)

Spicy Dandelion Green Sautee

* Dandelion greens, tough stems removed and leaves cut crosswise into 4-inch pieces
* 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
* 2 large garlic cloves, smashed
* 1/2 teaspoon dried hot red pepper flakes
* 1/2 teaspoon salt

Cook greens in a 6- to 8-quart pot of boiling salted water until ribs are tender, 4 to 5 minutes, then drain in a colander. Rinse under cold water to stop cooking and drain well, gently pressing out excess water.

Heat oil in a 12-inch heavy skillet over moderate heat until hot but not smoking, then cook garlic, stirring, until pale golden, about 30 seconds. Increase heat to moderately high, then add greens, red pepper flakes, and salt and sauté, stirring, until liquid greens give off is evaporated, about 4 minutes.

(recipe borrowed from www.epicurious.com)