This little fellow jumped right off of our Circle M t-shirts and onto the wall at the Overture Center Rotunda Gallery. Come see him and more veggies, animals and people from Circle M and other farms at the Artists' Talk and Food Celebration September 4. Try samples from Chocolaterian Cafe, Landmark Creamery, Underground Meats, Barham Gardens Aronia, Pickle Jar BBQ, Four Elements Herbals, Circle M, Galpaca Farm and more!
Farm to Fork Gallery Talk and Local Food Celebration
Thursday, Sept 4
Overture Center, Madison – Rotunda Gallery
5 to 8pm
Ah – the height of summer brings so very much color! And that make us very, very happy here at Circle M. We love to pack those boxes as though they were presents from a foodie Santa that delivers at half-Christmas. So you’ll have summer squash and zucchini in all the colors we grow, heirloom tomatoes of all hues, basil in all of our many varieties and lovely kale bouquets. Our motto is: “Play with your food!” We do, and we hope you will, too. Don’t forget to check out the Farmer Kriss Pinterest Page and the Recipe Blog – we’ve got lots of great ideas for you on there. In other, out-of-the-field news, we are delighted to invite you to an end-of-show celebration for the art exhibit we are featured (among other farms and farmers) at the Overture Center. The Farm to Fork Gallery Talk and Local Food Celebration is a joint event by painters Sue Medaris and Alicia Rheal, as well as myself and a bunch of other great local food businesses. Sue, Alicia and I will all give short talks about farms, food, art and community and we’ll be offering samples from Chocolaterian Café, Landmark Creamery Cheese, Underground Meats, Pickle Jar BBQ, 4 Elements Herb Farm, Galpaca Farms and Barham Gardens Aronia. Circle M will serve samples as well, and we’ll also have more “Play with Your Food” t-shirts available in new colors and sizes, including kids! Sue’s Market Weight Press will also have artwork for sale – and she’s the one who designed our shirts. You will even recognize some of those happy veggies on display at the Overture Center. Our young crews members will dress up and serve samples, so you can come say “hi” to them, too! Oh, and this event is FREE!
Here's what's in the box:
Sweet Corn – These little ears are as sweet as can be, and are a tiny variety we like called “Sweet Treat.” We have no problem fitting these little guys in the Shortie sharesJ Eat as soon as possible for maximum flavor, and boil for just a few minutes.
Basil – Sorry so sandy! We had some ferocious rains this week – for which we are very very thankful, but they did splash a lot of sand on the produce. Most of it we are able wash off for you, but the basil should not be washed until you are ready to use it. Fill a sink with cold water, push leaves below the surface gently, let sit for 5 minutes to loosen the soil, and then swish around. Let the dirt sink for a minute, then remove. Enjoy – we’ve given you a mix of Italian sweet, purple ruffles, Anise, Thai and lemon. They can all be combined for a pesto, or you can use individual leaves on different dishes to take advantage of the flavor. We REALLY love the anise (red stems) with cilantro in spring rolls.
Herb Bags FEAT. Cilantro! – We love cilantro, especially with tomatoes, but it’s really such a miracle to have it in our sandy gardens at tomato time. It bolts in the heat and prefers cooler temperatures, but this week conspired to bring us both rafts of tomatoes and waves of cilantro all at once. SALSA! This is a rather fragile crop, and also got very sandy so we washed it a lot. It won’t last long in the fridge, so use it up within the week. We’ve also packed sorrel, lovage and sage in these bags. We assume you’ll recognize them by now, but we’d still like to make some suggestions. Fry sage leaves in olive oil til crispy, remove, and then sauté your summer squash in that oil. YUM! Eat the crispy leaves like chips! Sorrel is terrific in salad dressings this time of year, as is a sparing amount of lovage. Lovage is wonderful in tomato gazpacho.
Tomatoes – Lots of gorgeous cherries and heirlooms this week. You should have a lot of variety in your box and bag – enjoy! Our favorite this year is a new variety called Indigo. It’s the small-ist slicer with a purple top and an orange bottom. Sweet not acidic, it’s a treat right off the vine. We like them so much, you are lucky you got some;)
Head Lettuce – These lovely head lettuces – Green Romaine for the Full Shares and Mayan Jaguar for the Shorties took a beating in the rainstorms, but they look really nice! Still, it’s not a bad idea to think about eating them sooner rather than later. Crisp and delicious. Another summer miracle, since head lettuces typically bolt in such heat.
Bok Choy – Ah, the veggie that is both cabbage and celery at once! So crisp and sweet. Enjoy with Asian stir-fry and salads. Consider pairing with sesame oil and rice wine vinegar.
Summer Squash – This week you should have one of everything we are growing: green zucchini, yellow squash, yellow/green, and the long serpentine celadon colored ones. All delicious, all youg and tender and all can be used interchangeably in recipes. We have squash at every meal right now – and we don’t mind! See our great recipe for Zucchini Chocolate Bread on the Recipe Blog. Yum!
Arugula – We just love this for breakfast, lightly wilted under poached eggs. But it’s great sautéed with olive oil and mixed with pasta, great added to a squash bake, wonderful as a bed under grilled meats. Enjoy!
Eggplant (Full Size Only) – These plants are just getting rolling. Like the peppers, they enjoy heat and grow very slowly here in our valley until about the end of July. Now they are loaded with flowers and next week they’ll be loaded with fruit. So this is just the start. Enjoy sliced and sautéed in an omelette, or add to ratatouille. We like eggplant in everything this time of year, and we especially love babaganoush spread. See our Pinterest page for some good recipes.
Scallions – These giant scallions are a Japanese variety that is new to us and WOW! We love them and will certainly be growing them again next year. What a bang for your prepping buck. So easy to slice and you get so much useable flavor. Cut up the whole thing in little slices.
Kale - These mixed bunches are wonderful, lush and still very tender in spite of the fact that the plants are looking like little palm trees as we harvest from the bottom up. Enjoy cooked with smoked meats – that’s our dish of choice right now. We’ll be having Balsamic Kale with White Bean and Ham as a side for Saturday’s Thankfulness Dinner. Cook down until you’ve got a thick broth surrounding your leaves. Yummy with cornbread.
Onions – This is our first harvest of the storage onions, but we didn’t cure the skins on these yet, so you won’t want to store them out of the fridge. Use up in a few weeks. Fabulous for salsa!
Garlic - Garlic in everything this time of year: Pesto! Salsa! Babaganoush!
Here's what's in the box:
Sweet Corn – These little ears are as sweet as can be, and are a tiny variety we like called “Sweet Treat.” We have no problem fitting these little guys in the Shortie sharesJ Eat as soon as possible for maximum flavor, and boil for just a few minutes.
Basil – Sorry so sandy! We had some ferocious rains this week – for which we are very very thankful, but they did splash a lot of sand on the produce. Most of it we are able wash off for you, but the basil should not be washed until you are ready to use it. Fill a sink with cold water, push leaves below the surface gently, let sit for 5 minutes to loosen the soil, and then swish around. Let the dirt sink for a minute, then remove. Enjoy – we’ve given you a mix of Italian sweet, purple ruffles, Anise, Thai and lemon. They can all be combined for a pesto, or you can use individual leaves on different dishes to take advantage of the flavor. We REALLY love the anise (red stems) with cilantro in spring rolls.
Herb Bags FEAT. Cilantro! – We love cilantro, especially with tomatoes, but it’s really such a miracle to have it in our sandy gardens at tomato time. It bolts in the heat and prefers cooler temperatures, but this week conspired to bring us both rafts of tomatoes and waves of cilantro all at once. SALSA! This is a rather fragile crop, and also got very sandy so we washed it a lot. It won’t last long in the fridge, so use it up within the week. We’ve also packed sorrel, lovage and sage in these bags. We assume you’ll recognize them by now, but we’d still like to make some suggestions. Fry sage leaves in olive oil til crispy, remove, and then sauté your summer squash in that oil. YUM! Eat the crispy leaves like chips! Sorrel is terrific in salad dressings this time of year, as is a sparing amount of lovage. Lovage is wonderful in tomato gazpacho.
Tomatoes – Lots of gorgeous cherries and heirlooms this week. You should have a lot of variety in your box and bag – enjoy! Our favorite this year is a new variety called Indigo. It’s the small-ist slicer with a purple top and an orange bottom. Sweet not acidic, it’s a treat right off the vine. We like them so much, you are lucky you got some;)
Head Lettuce – These lovely head lettuces – Green Romaine for the Full Shares and Mayan Jaguar for the Shorties took a beating in the rainstorms, but they look really nice! Still, it’s not a bad idea to think about eating them sooner rather than later. Crisp and delicious. Another summer miracle, since head lettuces typically bolt in such heat.
Bok Choy – Ah, the veggie that is both cabbage and celery at once! So crisp and sweet. Enjoy with Asian stir-fry and salads. Consider pairing with sesame oil and rice wine vinegar.
Summer Squash – This week you should have one of everything we are growing: green zucchini, yellow squash, yellow/green, and the long serpentine celadon colored ones. All delicious, all youg and tender and all can be used interchangeably in recipes. We have squash at every meal right now – and we don’t mind! See our great recipe for Zucchini Chocolate Bread on the Recipe Blog. Yum!
Arugula – We just love this for breakfast, lightly wilted under poached eggs. But it’s great sautéed with olive oil and mixed with pasta, great added to a squash bake, wonderful as a bed under grilled meats. Enjoy!
Eggplant (Full Size Only) – These plants are just getting rolling. Like the peppers, they enjoy heat and grow very slowly here in our valley until about the end of July. Now they are loaded with flowers and next week they’ll be loaded with fruit. So this is just the start. Enjoy sliced and sautéed in an omelette, or add to ratatouille. We like eggplant in everything this time of year, and we especially love babaganoush spread. See our Pinterest page for some good recipes.
Scallions – These giant scallions are a Japanese variety that is new to us and WOW! We love them and will certainly be growing them again next year. What a bang for your prepping buck. So easy to slice and you get so much useable flavor. Cut up the whole thing in little slices.
Kale - These mixed bunches are wonderful, lush and still very tender in spite of the fact that the plants are looking like little palm trees as we harvest from the bottom up. Enjoy cooked with smoked meats – that’s our dish of choice right now. We’ll be having Balsamic Kale with White Bean and Ham as a side for Saturday’s Thankfulness Dinner. Cook down until you’ve got a thick broth surrounding your leaves. Yummy with cornbread.
Onions – This is our first harvest of the storage onions, but we didn’t cure the skins on these yet, so you won’t want to store them out of the fridge. Use up in a few weeks. Fabulous for salsa!
Garlic - Garlic in everything this time of year: Pesto! Salsa! Babaganoush!
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