The featured item in this weeks CSA is the “King of the Early” dry beans. Dry beans are not a very popular item for a CSA to grow for members because they are a lot of work. First they are a long season crop, so they need to be kept weed free over an extended period of time. They are not grown on plastic like our tomatoes and all the weeding is done first by tractor, then by hand tools and finally simply by hand. After 90 some days in the ground, we harvested them by pulling the entire plant out of the ground and we then laid them out over our tables in the greenhouse to let the plants dry out further. After the beans are dried they need to be “hulled” or “husked”. This is where it can get to be quite overwhelming to do for over 60 members. Luckily, we were able to use a machine for this step. The video is up on our Instagram page if you are curious to see how it in action! The beans are great in soups, baked beans, chili recipes, or refried. One cup of dry beans will yield approximately 2 1/2 cups of cooked beans. You will want to rinse and pick through these beauties before cooking. They also need to soak before cooking. You can cover them with water and leave out overnight. Or, you can cover them with plenty of water, bring to a boil, remove from heat, cover and let sit 2-3 hours.
CSA list
Dry Beans
Purple Viking Potatoes
Sweet Potatoes
Arugula
Lettuce Mix
Onions
Peppers
Carrots
Choice Table with Celery, Celeriac, Okra, Eggplant, maybe Dragon’s Tongue Beans