"Any time we eat it’s holy. We should have a ritual and cere-mony, not just gobbling down some food to keep alive."
- John Robbins, from "Diet for a New World"

What’s in the standard share:

Fruit:
Strawberries

Veggies and herbs:
Arugula
Red and chiogga beets
Carrots
Cauliflower*
Garlic
Lettuce
Mustard greens
Parsley
Radishes
Summer squash
Mystery item

*from Lakeside Organic Farm

... and if you have an extra-fruit option:
more strawberries.

(Raspberries coming soon though!)

CALENDAR


Sat. Jun 14 - CAFF 3rd annual Farm Fiesta
Noon - 5pm

Sat. Jun 21 - Summer Solstice Celebration
4pm - 10pm
with Kuzanga Marimba!

Aug 8, 9, 10 - Children’s Mini Camp
Friday evening to noon Sunday

Sat. Sep 20 - Fall Equinox Celebration
3pm - 9pm
with the Banana Slug String Band!

Sat. Oct 26 Halloween Pumpkin Palooza
all day.
the Banana Slug String Band will play here too!

Welcome to all new members who are joining us in June! Two great opportunities for members and friends to visit the farm occur this month. Our annual Summer Solstice Celebration is on June 21st, starting at 4pm. At this year’s celebration we will once again welcome Kuzanga, an 8-member marimba band that plays wonderful African rhythms. There will also be farm tours, games for the children, strawberry picking, tractor and pony rides, a potluck, a bonfire at dark, as well as a host of other activities which have made this one of our main community events on the farm. The other event, for those of you not able to make it to our Solstice Celebration on the 21st, is the CAFF (Community Alliance for Family Farmers) third annual Farm Fiesta, which this year is being hosted at our farm. CAFF is a non-profit organization geared primarily to supporting local agriculture, and this year's Farm Fiesta is specifically geared to promoting Community Supported Agriculture (CSA), and so will include other local CSA farmers (as well as rash of swell activities and food!). The event will take place a week before our Summer Solstice celebration, June 14th from noon to 5pm. Because of the anticipated large number of visitors for this event, parking will be at Pioneer Ranch (on Pioneer Rd., just before Green Valley), and there will be a shuttle taking visitors to the farm from there. As I always say, the farm is a place where we welcome everyone to have the opportunity to have a more direct connection among the land, the food and the community belonging to it. All too often food is viewed as an end product, independent of the land which produced it, the hands which grew it, and those who prepared it. We welcome everyone to join us. – Tom

What's Up on the Farm
Tom's 'Live Earth Farm Oracle' harvest predictions: Although some of you might be frowning over how to manage any more greens in your box, we are definitely seeing the first signs of summer. Last week's heat wave is speeding the development of our favorite summer fruit and vegetables. Summer squash (both the green zucchini, and the lighter green Middle Eastern squash) is making its entry as we speak. In two weeks or so, we will dig our first fresh spring potatoes. Green beans will follow the week after, and of course everyone wants to know when the first tomatoes will show up in the shares, so looking into my murky crystal ball I see, hmmm... incredible... last week of June, cherry tomatoes, and red tomatoes two weeks later! Now that would set a record for early tomatoes, as normally we don't see them until August! Extra Fruit options should see yellow raspberries in a couple of weeks, and everyone will have cucumbers by the end of the month. Please don’t hold my fingers to the fire on these predictions, but I don’t think I am too far off!! In the mean time, enjoy the strawberry bounty and look up Debbie’s inspiring recipes for quick and easy ways to prepare greens.

Crop of the Week
Radishes. Alice Waters says that at her restaurant Chez Panisse in Berkeley, "No meal is quite complete without radishes. Our cool coastal climate allows us to grow perfectly crisp mildly peppery radishes almost all year." In this week's box you will find the popular red round ones, as well as our favorite variety called French Breakfast. These elongated radishes' color changes from magenta at the top to white at the tip. Their flavor is very mild when picked thin and slender, and develops a much stronger peppery taste when mature (usually you will find a range of sizes in your bunch). Most radishes originate from Europe and Asia and belong to the mustard family known as "Raphanus sativas." They come in many different sizes, shapes and colors. My wife Constance, who loves radishes, likes to eat them at the beginning of the meal. Make a radish sandwich by layering thinly-sliced fresh radishes on a buttered sourdough or German black bread sprinkled with coarse salt. Also, cut radishes into your salad to add color, spice, and crispness. If you ever wonder what plant will get your child excited about gardening, try radishes. They show quick results for young impatient gardeners!

Education on the Farm
(This is a contribution from Linnea Beckett, our second-year farm intern. She is focusing on education programs this year, and will be contributing occasionally to the newsletter.) Many who visit the farm find it a place of enjoyment, wherein they can experience the bounty of the Earth. But in addition to our existing events like the Solstice and Equinox festivals and Children's Mini-Camp, we are developing a long-lasting On Farm Educational Program specifically for outreach to kids. With the support and experience of CAFF (California Alliance of Family Farmers) we plan to bring children from local public schools to the farm for the day. Once here, they will have the liberty to explore and experience the way our farm works. Be it through sewing seeds, harvesting kale, or exploring the wildlife around our pond, the kids can dig, play, laugh and most importantly feel the land, see where food comes from, and experience the vital connection it has to each and every one of us. We are very excited to see where our efforts will take us in this endeavor, and will keep you posted. I know that we have a lot of members who are parents and teachers, and you are the most valuable resources of all! If you have any ideas on how you envision education on the farm, or if you have inspiring stories, please share them with us.

Membership
Just a friendly reminder that we still have plenty of space for new members in our CSA this year. Please continue to spread the word. Feel free to call or email Debbie at the farm and request flyers to post or extra brochures to distribute. Your help is most appreciated, and word of mouth is still the best way to introduce new people to CSA. Don't forget to mention that we have a '4-week trial' option this year, so if they are hesitant to commit for the season, they can 'try us' for a month first. Thanks!

Notes from Debbie’s Kitchen . . . . . . . . Have a recipe you’d like to share? Contact Debbie.

If you want to read a wonderful true-life story about radish sandwiches, go to our online recipe database, under 'radishes.' Meanwhile below is a recipe born of invention (it's Friday and I have 3 bunches of greens left and tomorrow, a new box!). A friend who I told about this called to say how much he loved it, so I thought you all might be interested too. It is about as easy as you can get, and makes any greens tasty. - Debbie

Red, white and greens!
by yours truly.

The beauty of this recipe is in its simplicity and universality. Think spaghetti. What do you do? You usually make a red sauce, boil up your spaghetti (or linguini or fettuccine or whatever) and serve the sauce on top of the pasta. Now go to your fridge and pull out all the greens you want to use up. Chard? Kale? Beet greens? Kohlrabi greens? Mustard greens? Spinach? Collards? What do you have? You can use 'em (okay, maybe not lettuce, but then I haven't tried it!) Wash, de-stem as appropriate and then thinly slice the leaves. The easiest way to do this, especially with big leafy greens like chard and collards, is to stack the leaves and then roll them up (or fold in half), and then slice through the entire stack. You will have a big pile of ribbons, but don't worry – greens cook way down in volume. Make sure the pot of water you are heating to boil the pasta is nice and big, in order to have plenty of room for the greens also. Boil your pasta as usual, and then add the ribboned greens to the pasta pot about 3 minutes or so before the end of the pasta-cooking time. Stir occasionally if you like, to kind of poke the greens down in with the pasta, mix 'em together. When it's done, simply drain the whole schlameel well and serve with your favorite red sauce on top! The presentation is lovely – ribbons of white and green with red on top. Yowza. Don't forget to pass the parmesan!

Radish Salad with Dry Jack or Parmigiano-Reggiano
serves 2-3
from "Local Flavors" by Deborah Madison (modified slightly for box quantities)

Deborah says, "this is a very pretty, bright, and lively little salad. You can stray successfully from its utter simplicity by adding some freshly blanched and peeled fava beans, radish sprouts, or very small arugula leaves." Now if only we had chives this week... Tom? Mystery item?

1 bunch French Breakfast radishes
1 tbsp. thinly sliced chives
olive oil
1 to 2 oz. Dry Jack cheese or Parmigiano-Reggiano
sea salt and freshly ground pepper
radish sprouts, leaves, or arugula greens, optional

Set aside a handful of the most tender radish greens. Trim the radish roots, leaving just a bit of the stem, and wash them well. Wick up the excess moisture with a towel, then slice thinly, either lengthwise or crosswise. Put them in a bowl and toss with the chives, radish greens and enough oil to coat lightly. Put the radishes on a platter, shave the cheese over them, and add salt and pepper and the greens, if using.

*Click Here* for a link to a comprehensive listing of recipes from Live Earth Farm's newsletters going back as far as our 1998 season! You can search for recipes by key ingredient. Recipe site is updated weekly during the season.