May 2024: Summer on my Mind ☀️
News 🥒 Summer Season at the Market 🌶 Recipe Share 🍉 Growing Together 💐Featured Friends
News from the Farm
Mid-May is here and I’m getting all the summer crops prepped and in the ground - your favorites like: cucumbers, melons, string beans, and tomatoes.
Each week I’m also direct seeding lettuce mix, radishes, and beets.
Peas are popping (and need to be trellised this week), onions, scallions, and kale (a second round since the 1st was badly damaged by the freeze at the end of April) have been transplanted, and I transplanted tomatoes into a 10’x20’ hoop house in mid-April.
It’s a time of long days, mostly spent outside, and obsessively checking the weather forecast for rain and frost/freeze temperatures.
I also want to share with our local readers: ticks are out in WNY. My husband pulled a tick off of him two weeks ago while in our mowed growing areas on the farm! Tick checks are still a habit we are forming with the emergence of the pests into our region, but now I am becoming hyper vigilant. Learn more about ticks here.
Farmers Market Summer Season
This summer we’ll be back at the Lewiston Artisan Farmers Market every Saturday, 9am-1pm, in Academy Park, beginning June 1!
The market is moving to the north side of the park - the side closest to Syros Restaurant and the car wash, due to anticipated construction in our typical location.
Our infamous lettuce and salad mixes will be back in full force, and this year we will also be bringing some new produce items, including Roma Beans and microgreen varieties.
During the month of June, we will have some herb and vegetable seedlings available at the market. If you haven’t started or thought about starting your garden or patio pots, you haven’t missed out yet!
We are in the process of applying for a commercial kitchen license, to bring you pickles, sauces, and dried herbs throughout the season at our market table. Stay tuned for more as we work through this application and creative process!
Growing Together
One of the benefits of buying vegetables at farmers markets is the way it introduces you to eating what’s in season. For example, cucumbers are not in-season during January in WNY.
Eating food grown locally and with the seasons results in more nutritious food on your plate, since it was picked just a few days before it reached you.
Unlike out-of-season produce or produce shipped across the country, locally grown crops are picked at their peak of ripeness are also better tasting and full of flavor.
If you’re ever unsure that what you’re buying at the farmers market is locally grown - ask the vendor!
In fact, ask us anything you want to know about how your food is grown, how to prepare a veggie, or how you should best store it!
I love and appreciate answering customers questions about these things!
One of the reasons we choose to vend at the Lewiston Artisan Farmers Market is their commitment to allowing only vendor-grown or locally-grown produce at the market - nothing bought at the produce auction.
Recipe Share
A digital index card with in-season, too-good-not-to-pass-along recipes.
Desired, especially in the spring for their crisp freshness, radishes are a favorite at the farmers market this time of year.
But did you know you could also eat their green tops?! 🤯
It’s true - from radish greens pesto to hummus to sautéed with pasta, radish greens don’t have to simply go into compost.
Radish Greens Pesto (5 minutes)
1/2 cup pine nuts or pepitas (use another nut if you prefer or omit)
1 small garlic clove
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 cup radish greens
1 cup basil (or add other fresh herbs)
1/4 to 1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil, more if desired
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, optional
Directions:
In a food processor, combine the pine nuts, garlic, salt, and pepper and pulse until well chopped. Add the lemon juice and pulse again.
Add the radish greens and basil and pulse until combined.
With the food processor running, drizzle in the olive oil and pulse until combined. Add the Parmesan cheese, if using, and pulse briefly to combine. For a smoother pesto, add more olive oil.
Radish-Top Pasta (45 minutes)
Leaves from 2 bunches of radishes, turnips, or beets (about 10 ounces (280 g))
8 ounces (225 g) dried short pasta, such as fusilli or orecchiette
Olive oil for cooking
3 medium (150 g) shallots or onions, finely diced
2 garlic cloves, minced
Freshly grated nutmeg
Fine sea salt
Extra-virgin olive oil
Freshly ground black pepper
Aged Parmesan or pecorino cheese, shaved with a vegetable peeler
12 walnut halves, toasted and roughly chopped (omit if not a fan of nuts)
Directions:
Pick through the radish leaves and discard any that are wilted or discolored. Wash in cold water to remove all traces of sand or grit. Dry and chop roughly.
Bring salted water to a boil in a medium saucepan. Add the pasta and cook according to package directions until al dente.
While the pasta is cooking, heat a good swirl of cooking olive oil in a medium skillet over medium heat. Add the shallots and garlic. Cook, stirring often to avoid coloring, until softened, about 2 minutes.
Add the radish leaves to the skillet, sprinkle with a touch of nutmeg and some salt, stir, and let the leaves wilt briefly in the heat; they should become darker by a shade, but no more. Remove from the heat.
When the pasta is al dente, drain (not too thoroughly; keeping a little of the starchy cooking water makes the pasta silkier) and add to the skillet. Add a gurgle of extra-virgin olive oil and toss to combine over low heat. Sprinkle with pepper and divide between 2 warm pasta bowls or soup plates. Top with the cheese and walnuts and serve immediately.
Featured Friends
WNY is home to many small businesses and non-profit organizations. Each month we introduce you to 2 that we think you should know.
Business Friend: Wandering Gypsy Brewing Company - Located in Ransomville, this brewery and restaurant is fast becoming one of our favorite places to go. Cozy, child and dog friendly, WGBC has perfected their small menu (including breakfast!), makes enjoyable beer, and offers guests a full-service coffee bar. WGBC also hosts classes, musical acts, and farm to table dinners throughout the year.
Non-Profit Friend: 5 Loaves Farm is a non-profit organization that seeks to provide healthy food, education, job-training, and spiritual resources to the community. In an effort to redeem vacant lots, the market garden farm expands over several lots on Buffalo’s upper west side. From CSA shares, Farmhouse Fridays, Pancake Breakfast to Art on the Farm, they offer many ways for new neighbors to connect with them and one another. During the growing season, they provide paid internships to youth for food and farm careers. They also offer volunteer opportunities on the farm every Saturday between 10am-1pm from April-October.
