Weekly Abundance, Vol 09-25

This Week’s Share

Acorn Squash

Chard

Acorn Squash

Sweet Dumpling Squash

Leeks

Lettuce

Parlsey

Radishes, Mizuna or Baby Kale

Farm Life

I harvested leeks this week for the first time.  Last year, it took me a full day to harvest enough leeks for 23 shareholders.  Obviously, that wasn’t very efficient.

This year, I prepared the beds differently and spaced the seedlings further apart.  Today, it took about four hours to harvest for 44 shares, a significant improvement.  However, I would like to see a longer white shank.  So, next year, I will make further refinements.  (See below for a recipe suggestion for your leeks.)

Recipes

I included pumpkins in your share last  week so that you could make your Pumpkin Pies in advance.   For those of you that have never made pumpkin pie from scratch before, here is a link to a well documented recipe, complete with step-by-step photos.  (Note: My family started this recipe over the weekend and found that, contrary to the recipe, one six inch diameter pumpkin was not enough for one pie.  However, most “Pumpkin” pie filling is actually made from butternut squash.  Your pie will taste just fine if you mix butternut squash and pumpkin.)

htttp://www.pickyourown.org/pumpkinpie.php

Last week, I also included fennel in your share so that you could substitute your fennel bulbs for celery in your stuffing recipe.  Emily, from the farm pick up site, sends this recipe for Fennel Cakes to use up the stalks and fronds.  It sounds wonderful.  I can’t wait to try it.  It will be great with omelets for brunch the day after Thanksgiving.

http://www.epicureantable.com/tutwildfennelcakes.htm

Does your family eat Mashed Potatoes with your Thanksgiving dinner?  Here’s an idea that will make them so good you won’t want gravy.  Begin with your German Butterball potatoes.  Most of the nutrients in a potato are in the skin so don’t peel them.  Slice the potatoes in to cubes and steam them.  While the potatoes are steaming, sauté leeks and garlic in butter.  When the potatoes are done, transfer them to an oven proof dish.  Add the garlic/leek mixture and mash.  Add low fat ricotta or cream cheese and blend until the mixture reaches the desired consistency.  Blend in chopped parsley leaves.  Place in a warm oven until serving.

I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving.

Weekly Abundance Vol. 09-24

This Week’s Vegetables

Bulb Fennel

Fennel

Pea Shoots

Sugar Pie Pumpkins – For your Thanksgiving Pumpkin Pie

Delicata Squash

Radishes, Mizuna,  Kale, or Cabbage

Farm Life

This we week have a fairly small share.  As you know, one of the features of a CSA is that the members  share the risk of farming with the farmer.  As your farmer, I do as much as I can to reduce that risk.  But there are a number of factors I can not control, the weather among them.

During the fall and winter, harvesting your share requires about 16 hours of labor.  I generally spend all day Monday and Tuesday harvesting, washing, and packing.  This week though, I arrived at the farm Monday morning  to howling winds.  The farm stand and the structure covering the cooler were rocking back and forth with each gust, and the tarps covering the hen houses were threatening to blow away.  Clearly something had to be done or we would lose them in the storm.

I spent hours battening down the hatches… tightening guy wires on structures, securing the ropes on the tarps, etc.  I didn’t finish until well after lunch time.  Then, just as I set out to harvest, I looked up to see the plastic covering the Shade House blowing away, exposing all your winter squash to the wind and rain.  If you have ever tried to fasten down a big piece of plastic in a fiercely blowing wind by yourself, you know it is no easy task.  Every time you get one section tied down a big gust of wind comes and blows it off again.  By the time I finished it was nearly 4:00pm and there were still eggs to collect and harvesting to be done, and only one hour of daylight left.

This morning, Tuesday, I arrived at the farm early in hopes of catching up.  I arrived to find the Shade House splayed out flat and one of the hen houses blown into a tree.  The perches and nest boxes were still sitting in their usual places, untouched.  They just had no hen house covering them.    The wind had lifted the house up and over and in to the tree 10 feet away.   The poor birds were all huddled up on their perches in the rain.

I’m sure it was quite a comical sight seeing me try to move the hen house back to its original position.  It is awkward and heavy to move with two people, much less one.  At one point, I even got one of the legs caught in a tear in my rain pants and couldn’t pick it up higher, nor set it down.

I didn’t even try to put the Shade House back to rights.  I just propped it up enough to be able to get to your squash.  At the end of the week, I will move all of the squash elsewhere and take the Shade House apart.  It isn’t designed to withstand the weight of snow so was going to have to come down for the winter any way.

Unfortunately, all of these events left little time for harvesting.  The items in the list you see above are all that I can realistically get accomplished before share pick up begins tomorrow afternoon.

Despite all that effort to reposition the hen house, the hens are leaving us.  The entire flock has been purchased by a young farmer from Dayton eager to start his own livestock operation.  He will begin picking up the birds Wednesday.  That means that this will be your last opportunity to purchase farm fresh eggs.  I am reducing the price to $4.00/dzn to make it more affordable for you to stock up.  If your pick up site is in Portland, please be sure you let me know how many dozen you want so that I have enough available at your site.  If you have been saving egg cartons, please do bring them to me.  The Sunshine Food Pantry is in need of them so I will pass them on.

Veggie of the Week

This is the last time you will receive fennel this season.  Try this simple Orange and Fennel Salad with Dried Cranberries.  Though oranges are not locally grown, they are in season.  The addition of the cranberries makes this dish fit right in with the Thanksgiving holiday.  This salad would be great served on a bed of Pea Shoots.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/robin-miller/orange-and-fennel-salad-recipe/index.html.

Weekly Abundance, Vol. 09-23

This Weeks Harvest

Chard

Red Cabbage or Kale

Dumpling Squash

Butternut Squash

Lettuce

Pea Shoots

 

Farm Life

You have something new in your share this week.  Pea shoots, also known as Pea Tendrils, are the immature growing tip of pea plants.  They are more commonly seen in the early spring, before the CSA season begins.  Rather than deprive you of them for the whole year, I planted them as the cool fall weather approached and prayed that the deer wouldn’t eat them.   My prayers were answered.  We have a lovely crop of them.

Washington State University has an informational brochure on pea shoots if you’d like to learn more about them, including how to prepare them.  The brochure is available at http://agsyst.wsu.edu/peashootbroc.pdf

Those of you that have been members of CSA’s before know that your staple vegetables; onions, garlic and potatoes; are generally doled out each week along with your other vegetables.  This is done so that shareholders receive roughly the same number of items from week to week, even when the growing season is coming to a close.

I chose to do things a bit differently this year by giving you your staple items at the beginning of each month.  The primary reason is to save wear and tear on my back.  Potatoes are heavy, as are winter squashes.  Since I have been having trouble with my back since August, I decided to limit myself to one heavy item per share delivery.   So, while your share may seem small this week in comparison to other CSA’s, it is because you’ve already received the potatoes and onions that would otherwise have been included.

Speaking of winter squash… you are now receiving two kinds of winter squash in your shares each week.  Generally speaking, one type has an edible skin and the other does not.  This week, the Dumpling has the edible skin and does not need to be peeled.

To prepare cut off the top, scoop out the seeds and stringy pulp.  Place the squash in a baking pan hollow side up.  Put about 1” of water in the baking pan. Place a dollop of butter, 1/8 teaspoon of nutmeg and ½ teaspoon of cinnamon in the center of the squash. Drizzle with real maple syrup.  Bake on the middle rack, uncovered, for 35 or 40 minutes until the squash is soft.

The skin of the Butternut squash is a bit thick.  You will likely want to remove it before eating.  This can be done either before you cook it, or after, depending on how you plan to use it.

Butternut squash is my favorite of the winter squash, partly because there are so many ways to prepare it.  Tonight, I made Butternut and Sage Risotto.  There are many recipes available online for this dish.  You can also substitute Butternut squash in any recipe that calls for pumpkin.

Speaking of pumpkins makes me think of Thanksgiving.  The week before Thanksgiving, you will receive more Sugar Pie Pumpkins so that you can make your pie the weekend before the holiday.

Are you going to be away for Thanksgiving?  If so, please let me know well in advance.  Thanksgiving is the second busiest week of the year for food pantries.  They would much appreciate it if I were to donate your share as early in the week as possible so that they have time to get it distributed.     Remember, if you do not let me know in advance that you are not coming, I am not able to donate your share as the Food Bank is closed by the time pick-up ends.

One final note about Thanksgiving… those of you that usually receive your share on Thursday will receive it on Tuesday, Nov. 24^th instead of the 26th.  Don’t forget to mark your calendar.

Weekly Abundance, Vol 21-09

This Week’s Produce

Sugar Pie Pumpkins – Just in time for Halloween.  These little pumpkins are breed for flavor not for size.  If you’d like, you may decorate it for Halloween.  The best option is to draw a scary face on your pumpkin with a felt tip pen.  If you’d prefer to carve it, you may.  Just carve it immediately before setting it out for Trick-Or-Treaters.  Bring it in and put it in the refrigerator as soon as the festivities are over.  Cook it the next morning.  Better yet, cook it and serve warm Pumpkin soup just before the little Trick-Or-Treater’s head out in to the cold.

Lucinato Kale – Lacinato, black, or Dino kale is very dark green, with remarkably firm, deeply ridged leaves. This kale takes a bit longer to cook than other greens; the upside of which is that the leaves hold their shape even under long cooking times, making it a great addition to soups and stews.  This kale is being harvested fairly young, and the cool weather makes it much sweeter than summer harvested Kale would be.  It combines well with chard and beet greens.  Because the kale takes a little longer to cook, put it in the sauté pan first.

Silverado Chard – I just found this great recipe for Chard with Gnocchi.  I love gnocchi so I can’t wait to try it. http://localfoods.about.com/od/fall/r/ChardGnocchi.htm

Rose Finn Apple Fingerling potatoes – Rose-blushed beige skin and deep yellow flesh, occasional airplanes or second growth distinguish this very fine fingerling.  This potato’s exquisite flavor and cooking qualities set it apart.  Try them roasted.  They are delicious to eat and lovely to look at.

German Butterball Potatoes – These potatoes are similar to the famous Yukon Golds.  They make terrific French Fries.  If you’d rather forgo all that fat, try home made baked Potato chips.  Thinly slice the potatoes  into a bowl.  Drizzle with good quality olive oil.  Add a pinch of sea salt and paprika to taste.  Mix to coat.  Lay the potatoes in a single layer on a cookie sheet.  Bake them in a hot oven, about 400⁰, checking them frequently to be sure they do not burn.

Jimmy Nordello Sweet Peppers – This is my first season growing these peppers and they quickly became my favorite.  It is difficult to get Bell type peppers to ripen in the Pacific Northwest unless you grow them in a green house type structure.  Not true these peppers.  They ripen up nicely to a beautiful red and are sweet and delicious.  My family particularly enjoys them sautéed with onions and Italian Sausage and served over baked polenta.  To learn about the history of Jimmy Nordello’s, visit http://www.iowasource.com/food/cooks_0807.html

Brandywine Tomatoes - These tomatoes were harvested when they were just beginning to turn colors with the intent that they be used as green tomatoes.  Think Fried Green Tomatoes or Green Tomato Pie.  (See recipe below).  They have continued to ripen since being picked.  Though you may use them like a red tomato, they will not have as much flavor as those harvested at the peak of the season.

Hot Peppers – Alma Paprika, Hungarian Wax, and Aci Sivri Turkish. For those of you that like a bit of heat in you cooking, these peppers are just for you.  The Hungarian Peppers are easy to stuff and to peel after roasting.  Aci Sivri is suitable for Middle Eastern dishes.  Or dry and grind them to make your own Paprika seasoning.  Try them in Hungarian Paprikash with Dumplings.  This recipe also uses our terrific free range, pastured poultry.  http://www.cooks.com/rec/view/0,1839,157162-232204,00.html

Bell Type Sweet Peppers – These thick fleshed yellow peppers are great raw in salads or cooked.  Perhaps a Sweet Pepper Tart with goat cheese.  Follow the package directions to prepare a Puff Pastry Crust.  Sautee onions, garlic, Jimmy Nordello Sweet Peppers and the Bell Peppers until soft.  Spoon over the pre-baked Puff Pastry.  Top with crumbled goat cheese.  Bake in a 375⁰until the cheese begins to turn golden.

California Early White Garlic – This garlic has a semi-rich flavor without the bite of hot garlics.  It combines well with most foods.

Frontier Onions ­– Use these storage onions in any recipe that calls for yellow onions.

Farm Life

Fall is definitely here.  It has rained several times now.  The cover crop is beginning to grow as are the winter weeds.  It is time to plant overwintering onions and garlic.

Speaking of which, the Garlic Planting Party scheduled for November 1 has been canceled.  When I developed the schedule in the fall of 2008, my grandson had yet  to be born.  He arrived on October 31, Halloween   So, I will be in Bellingham, WA celebrating his first birthday this weekend.  The garlic and onions will be planted when I return.

I am now routinely working in cold, wet weather.  Every day, I am grateful for the Muck brand mud boots I received for Christmas two years ago.  They are large enough to accommodate a thick pair of wool socks comfortable and are very durable.  Someday, I’ll have to post a picture here of me in my boots and my bright blue rain gear.

Featured Veggie of the Week

Our featured veggie this week is green tomatoes.  The term green tomato is a bit of a misnomer.  It’s not just any green tomato.  This is an un-ripe tomato, not a variety that has been bread to be green when mature.  But, it can’t just be any un-ripe tomato.  If it is too small or too “un-ripe” it will be too caustic to eat.   In the fall of 2008, The Oregonian ran a great article on choosing and using Green tomatoes.  You can find it at http://www.oregonlive.com/foodday/index.ssf/2008/09/we_love_green_tomatoes.html

Those of you that attended our first picnic event at the farm got to sample our neighbor Laura’s Green Tomato Pie recipe.  It was so popular she has given it to us.

Green Tomato Pie

1 Tbls Mild Vinegar

1 tsp Salt

2 Tbls Butter

¼ tsp Cinnamon

2 Tbls Flour

1 ¼ cups Sugar

¼ tsp Ginger OR 1 tsp Pumpkin Pie Spice

3 cups Green Tomato’s, diced

1 Unbaked, packaged pie crust

Pre-heat oven to 350⁰.   Mix flour and sugar.  Sprinkle one quarter of mixture on pie crust.  Cover with Green Tomatoes and sprinkle with salt.  Cover with sugar and add either Ginger or Pumpkin Pie spice.  Dot with butter.  Sprinkle vinegar over the pie filling.  Put remaining flour/sugar mixture over the top of the filling. Cover with top crust.  Bake for approximately 50 minutes.  Test with a toothpick inserted in the middle.

Weekly Abundance, Vol 19-09

This Week’s Harvest

Dumpling Winter Squash

Tomatoes – Yellow Taxis, heirloom Brandywines and Silvery Fir Tree

Peppers – Classic Green Bell Peppers and ripe, red Jimmy Nordello’s

Cucumbers – Marketmore green slicing, light green Armenians, and yellow Lemon Cucumbers

Broccoli

Beets

Silverado Chard

Parsley

Lettuce – Cosmo Savoy romaine lettuce.

Upcoming Events

Those of you that have perused the Calendar of Events know that I had planned a Garlic Planting Party on November 1.  I am cancelling this event in order to attend my grandson’s first birthday party in Bellingham, WA.  Not to worry, I will still plant the garlic.  It will just happen on a different day.

Farm Life

As you might imagine, I monitor the weather closely this time of year.  I am particularly watching for a forecast of a hard frost.  Many of our greens are fine in a light frost but must be covered with floating row cover before a freeze.

The plants aren’t the only thing that benefit from the row cover.  It also provides a toasty warm area for snails and slugs.  So, I try to wait as long as I can before covering the greens.  Otherwise, we will lose the plants to the snails instead of the frost.

If you would like to know the current weather at your farm, visit the Weather Underground web site at http://www.wunderground.com/US/OR/Laurel.html.  This “Laurel, OR” weather station is within a mile of the farm so reports pretty accurate conditions.

The forecast this week calls for rain and relatively warm temperatures.  This could mean that the tomatoes continue producing, or, it could mean that they all split and rot.  Before weeks end, I will pick all of the immature Brandywines to be sure we don’t lose them.

Under the proper conditions, the Brandywines will keep for several weeks, allowing me to continue to offer them to you as green tomatoes.  If you have any large shallow boxes to store them in, I could certainly use them.  There are hundreds of pounds of tomatoes in the field.  Boxes about the size of an Under Bed Storage Container would work well.   They do not need lids.  Think Fried Green Tomatoes…  Green Tomato Pie…  Green Tomato Chutney….  Yummm.

Plymouth Barred Rock Laying Hen

As mentioned last week, Artisan Organics has laying hens for sale for only $15 each.  These girls should continue to lay large, brown eggs through the winter.  If you are interested, please let me know via e-mail farmer@ArtisanOrganics.net.

It is time to sign up for the 2010 CSA Season.  Forms are available at the Farm Stand and at CSA pick up sites.  Current CSA shareholders will receive first priority until December 1, 2009.  After that, Registration will be accepted on a first come, first serve basis.

Veggie of the Week

Sweet Dumpling Squash

This week we have first of the season Sweet Dumpling Winter Squash.  This small, mildly sweet-tasting squash resembles a miniature pumpkin with its top pushed in. Weighing only about 7 ounces, it has sweet and tender orange flesh and is a great size for stuffing and baking as individual servings.  Sweet dumplings are tiny but great for roasting and presenting whole.  This recipe for Savory Stuffed Sweet Dumplings uses both the squash and our tomatoes.

http://www.foodreference.com/html/savorystuffedsweetd.html

I might find that an ice cream scoop makes it easier to remove the pulp and seeds.

Weekly Abundance, Vol 18-09

This Week’s Harvest

October 7 harvest

Romaine Lettuce

Fennel

Rainbow Chard

Tomatoes – Yellow Taxis and heirloom Silvery Fir Tree.  The Taxis were picked for us by Travis and friend, a CSA shareholder at the North Portland pick up site.  He and a friend came to pick cucumbers and tomatoes for canning and picked the Taxis for us while they were at it.  Thanks Travis!

Lemon Cucumbers

Broccoli

Beets

Delicata Squash

Upcoming Events

For the last several weeks, I have been allowing much of the Basil to go to flower so that the bees will have an ample supply of pollen to build their honey stores for the winter.  The remaining basil is beginning to show the effects of the chilly nights.  But, there is still plenty left.  If you would like to make and freeze a big batch of pesto before the deep winter chill sets in, you are welcome to come out to the farm Sunday afternoon and harvest yourself an armful.

The basil is free for CSA shareholders.  All others will pay a nominal fee.  Please let me know when you might be coming so that I don’t leave the farm for the hardware store just before you arrive.

Saturday from 10:00 until 3:30 is the Open Barn at North Valley Farm in Yamhill.  This is a great opportunity to learn about grass fed lamb and beef.  And… there will be other fun stuff.  I will be there talking about CSA’s and the 2010 waiting list.  There will be an Olive Oil tasting and some great fiber crafts too.  And, if you’d like to make a day of it, the Yamhill County Art Harvest Tour will be happening the same day.

North Valley Farm is located just three miles west of the town of Yamhill at 12775 NW Oak Ridge Rd.  You do not need to make reservations to attend.  If you’d like more information about the Art Tour, please visit www.artharveststudiotour.org.

Farm Life

We have had several light frosts this week.  As mentioned above, it is showing in the basil, and also in the cucumbers.  The leaves of the cucumber plants are dying back.  There are still some flowers and small fruit though so it is possible we may have cucumbers for another week or two, depending on the weather.

As the summer crops wind down, we are going to experience a lull before the cool season crops come in.  This means there will be fewer items to harvest.  It doesn’t help that the chickens love to eat anything in the brassica family, the plant family that performs  best in cool weather.

Plymoth Barred Rock Laying Hen

The chickens have eaten a whole row of kale down to the ground and made major inroads into the cabbage.  Since we are not selling as many eggs as I had hoped, we don’t need so many chickens any way.  So…. if you’ve ever thought about having back yard chickens, now is a good time.  The chickens are on sale for only $15 each.  These girls are proven layers and have had a healthy diet free of genetically modified organisms since their very first meal.  Backyard chickens are legal in many parts of the Portland Metro Area and these hens are young enough that they should continue laying through out the winter.  If you are interested, please let me know and I will reserve you a couple.  (Sorry, for food safety reasons, I can not bring live birds to the Portland CSA pick up sites.  We don’t want chicken poop on our fresh veggies!)

Several times each year, our harvest provides living proof that we use no synthetic pesticides on our farm.  Earlier this year, you saw that in the “Holey Pac Choi”.  This week we see it in aphids in the broccoli.

If you look at the broccoli closely, you will see three different things.  The first and most abundant are the brown to gray tiny aphids.  Next are the slightly bigger green thrips that eat the aphids.  Lastly, you might see some mummified bodies of aphids left after the thrips enjoyed their meal.

The presence of the thrips on the  broccoli is a good sign.  So is the lack of ants.  (Ants and aphids have a symbiotic relationship.  The ants nurse the aphids in exchange for their sweet excrement.)  It indicates that the natural balance is tipping in our favor.  Hopefully, we will have a good hard rain to wash all the aphids off the plants.  Meanwhile we will hasten things along by pulling all of the broccoli plants that have already gone to seed or are not healthy.  The aphids  attack the weakest plants first.  If we pull those and discard them, we eliminate much of the aphid breeding grounds.

Finally, please note that sign up’s for our 2010 CSA begin soon.  Our existing shareholders will be given  first priority.  Any openings still remaining after December 1 will be made available to those on our waiting list.  If you are not a current shareholder and are not on the waiting list, please send an e-mail to farmer@artisanOrganics.net and I will gladly add you.

Weekly Abundance, Vol 17-09

This Weeks Produce

Sept. 30, 2009

Yellow Finn Potatoes – A flavor similar to a Golden Yukon and a beautiful yellow color that holds up in cooking.

Burbank Russet Potato – A classic American potato for baking, mashing, or frying.

Sweet Yellow Onions

Rosa d’ Milano Red Onion

Delicata Winter Squash

Beets – Chioggia red and white stripped beets or deep red Kestrals

Brandywine Tomatoes – A beefy heirloom tomato

Taxi Tomatoes – A beautiful golden tomato to add wonderful color to your salad.

Silvery Fir Tree and Oregon Spring red slicing tomatoes.

Marketmore Cucumbers – The classic green cucumber.  It makes a great salad.

Sweet Peppers – Ripe red Jimmy Nordello’s and green bell peppers.

Hot Peppers – Hungarian Wax and Turkish Aci Sivri

Silverado Chard – Deep green leaves with white ribbing.

Butterhead Lettuce

Basil

Upcoming Events

You are invited to an Open Barn at North Valley Farms on October 10 from 10:00 until 3:30. North Valley Farms is operated by my friend, Christianne, who raises wonderful grass fed lamb.  She is hosting the Open Barn so that customers can come out to see the farm and learn more about the health and environmental benefits of grass fed lamb and beef.  In addition to educational material, Juneko Martinson, a local fiber and glass artist, will have a needle felting demonstration booth.  I’ll be there too with information about my farm and Community Supported Agriculture.

North Valley Farm is located just outside of Yamhill at 12775 NW Oak Ridge Rd.  Why not make a day of it and go to the Yamhill County Art Harvest Tour as well?  To learn more about the Art Tour, visit www.artharveststudiotour.org.  If you have questions about the Open Barn, please call Christianne at 503-662-4249

Farm Life

Today was our first rainy harvest of this season.  Fall is clearly here.  In fact, our average first day of frost is only two weeks away.  Of course, I can’t predict when that first frost will actually happen, but when it does, there will be a definite change in what is available for harvest.   One item we will lose right away is Basil.  So be sure you are freezing plenty of Pesto because some day soon, there will be no more..

If you have been a regular reader of this blog, you know that I have been holding off on harvesting any of the Bell Peppers in hopes that they might fully ripen.  Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like that is going to be the case.  I am going to have to harvest them green or risk losing them all to the first frost.  They will be included in next week’s harvest.

This week, we have two kinds of potatoes available.  When you see them, you might ask why they are so dirty.  Potatoes must be absolutely dry when they go in to storage or they will rot.  We do not wash the potatoes after we harvest them for fear that any moisture left on them will cause the whole bag to spoil.

When you get your potatoes home, store them in a dark environment that is cold and humid.  Wash them just before you use them.

Don’t forget that we still have free range chicken available for only $3.75/lb.  For a healthy dinner try the following menu.

Roast Chicken with Garlic

Roasted Yellow Finn Potatoes with Rosemary and Garlic

Baked Delicata Squash with butter and a sprinkle of brown sugar

Sauteed Silverado Chard

Weekly Abundance Vol 15-09

Romaine Lettuce

Silverado Chard

Tomatoes – Beautiful yellow Taxis.  Plump, pink Brandywine Heirlooms.  Russian red Silvery Fir Tree.  Plus more.

Cherry Tomatoes – Golden Nugget and Washington Red

Sweet Peppers – Jimmy Nordello and classic Bell Peppers

Hot Peppers – Hungarian Wax and Aci Sivri from turkey

Melons – Honey Dew and Haoggen

Watermelon – Moon Beam yellow watermelon.

Basil – Lettuce Leaf sweet basil.

Fennel

Beets

Summer Squash

Rosa d’ Milano red onion

Upcoming Events

Don’t forget.  This weekend is our Potato Harvest, followed by our annual Harvest Party.  The potato harvest begins at 3:00.  We will have dug the potatoes using the tractor.  You will be picking them up off the ground and sorting them in to bags.  This activity is especially good for the younger set, it’s almost like an Easter Egg hunt!

The harvest party will begin around 5:00 when we rap up the potato harvest.   Plan to join us as we celebrate the upcoming Fall season.  Please bring a potluck dish to share, your plates, cups and utensils and a bottle of wine if you would like.  If you have musical instruments, bring those as well.  Artisan Organics will provide non-alcoholic beverages.

We will have special guests so please plan to come to the party even if you aren’t able to make it for the potato harvest.    The Harvest Party will happen regardless of the weather.    As of this writing, the forecast is for a lovely evening.  But if that should change,  we will move into the propagation and field houses.

Please do RSVP so that I know how many to plan beverages for.

Farm Life

This week we harvested Lettuce Leaf Basil.  The large leaves make it particularly suited to making pesto.  If you haven’t already done so, now is the time to stock pile pesto in the freezer.  Basil is very, very frost sensitive, even a light frost will kill it.  Our first frost of the season will be here before we know it so plan ahead!  Pesto linguini will be just the thing to conjure up warm thoughts of summer on a cold and dreary winter day.

Our tomatoes are ripening so fast we can’t keep them harvested.  We have tomatoes of every size and color.  But, these too will soon disappear.  In less than a month we will need to till them in in order to plant our winter cover crop.  Meanwhile, see below for a great tomato soup recipe.

In a previous blog entry, I mentioned that we had harvested the last of our melons.  I was wrong.  This week, as we did one last walk through the melon patch before tilling it in, we discovered lots of melons hidden under the big leaves.  So, we did one final harvest before climbing on the tractor.  Some of these melons may be a bit over ripe, others not quite mature.  Still, I couldn’t bring myself to waste them by tilling them in to the soil.

Veggie of the Week

This weeks bounty of tomatoes calls for some new recipes.  Tomatoes are low in Sodium, and very low in Saturated Fat and Cholesterol. They are  a good source of Vitamin E (Alpha Tocopherol), Thiamin, Niacin, Vitamin B6, Folate, Magnesium, Phosphorus and Copper, and a very good source of Dietary Fiber, Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Vitamin K, Potassium and Manganese.  And, they taste good too.

Aside from eating them fresh, tomatoes make great soup.  Try this recipe for Roasted Tomato Soup from the food network.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/tyler-florence/roasted-tomato-soup-recipe/index.html

If you want to make this soup and freeze, do not add the cream until it is defrosted and re-heated.  Remember all that snow we had last year.  Wouldn’t it have been wonderful to reach in the freezer for a taste of summer, straight from your farm?  Imagine a meal of Roasted Tomato Soup, Pesto Pasta, and a loaf of crusty bread.  Ummmm.  Heck, why wait for cold weather.  Have some now.

Weekly Abundance, Vol 14-09

Rainbow Chard – Huge, beautiful bunches of brightly colored chard.

Beets – Chioggia, Golden or Kestral

Lettuce – Fireball, a beautiful red butter head type lettuce

Summer Squash and Zucchini

Sweet Basil

Flat Leaf Italian Parsley

Tomatoes – Gold Nugget and Washington Red Cherry tomatoes.  Dry farmed Early Girls, yellow Taxis.  Heirloom Silvery Fir Tree, plus Oregon Spring and Bellstar red slicing tomatoes.

Peppers – Jimmy Nordello sweet peppers.   Hungarian Wax and Aci Sivri hot peppers.

Broccoli – both heads and sprouts

Farm Life

The fall equinox is fast approaching, which seems like a good time to take stock of the summer season before looking forward to Autumn.

Dry farmed Early Girl tomatoes on the vine

Overall, it has been a good year.  In July, we had a spell of uncharacteristically hot weather.  As a result we lost a few of the cool season crops, like cauliflower and lettuce.  But, we more than made up for it in the jump start the warm season crops received.  We have had wonderful tomatoes as a result.  And, our experiment with dry farming Early Girl tomatoes has been a huge success.

The year has not been without its “opportunities for problem solving”.  Those of you that have been reading this blog for some time will recall our recurring problem with the tractor’s cooling system.  I have struggled with this issue ever since I purchased the tractor 18 months ago.  It would run for awhile then begin overheating again.

Fortunately, I bought it from a reputable company that has worked hard to correct the problem.   But, it has meant that the tractor has not been running properly during the times I needed it the most.  Consequently, bed preparation was either done poorly, resulting in lots of weeds, or completed well but several weeks behind schedule.

The pole beans fell in to the latter category.  They were not planted until several weeks after the ideal planting time.  Because the weather was so good, they grew quickly and looked like they might even catch up.  But, much to my dismay, the deer breeched the fence and ate the plants down to just a few inches tall.

Since the growing tip of a bean plant is at the very top, this brought their development to a screeching halt.   Now, more than a month after having been grazed, they are still less than a foot tall.  It is clear that they are not going to produce this year.  Last week, we took the trellis down so that we could use it for the fall peas.

Golden Sunburst and Cozelle Zucchini

Last year, my underperforming vegetables were both in the cucurbit family, summer squash and zucchini. There were several weeks when I didn’t harvest any at all.  You certainly couldn’t tell that by looking at this year’s harvest!  It is not unusual for use to harvest 50 pounds one day, and come back the next and find almost that much again.

But the end of the summer squash and zucchini is in sight.  It now has Powdery Mildew.  This fungus is typical of fall when the cooler night time temperatures bring moisture in the form of dew.  The rain this past weekend will spread the mildew even further.  Unless we have a hot spell with both warm day and night time temperatures, the summer squash and zucchini plants will soon succumb.  When they do, the winter squash will be ready to replace them.  Already, they are hardening off in the fields.  You may look forward to Delicata, Butternut, Dumpling, and Acorn squash, plus pie pumpkins.

Other members of the cucurbit family are also disappearing from our harvest.  The weekend rains caused the remaining watermelons, cantaloupes, honey dew, etc. to burst.  I had disconnected the irrigation on the melons/watermelons several weeks ago in order to improve the brix score, making them sweeter.  The sudden influx of water from the rain was more than they could absorb.   We will soon turn them under and use the space to plant crops for the winter season.

Broccoli Floret

While the cooler temperatures and rain is not good for the cucurbit family, it is great for the brassicas.  The broccoli that we harvested in the early summer has begun to re-sprout.  Some of the cabbage that we gave up on months ago is now starting to fill out.

There is much to look forward to as the season shifts to fall.  There are two successions of leeks in the ground.  We have broccoli and cauliflower that are ready to transplant as soon as the melons are turned under.   We sowed sugar snap peas last week.  The kale is starting to sprout, as is the fall succession of beets.  In the next few weeks we will be planting kohlrabi, broccoli raab, and celeriac.  Soon, we will begin preparing special beds for winter carrots and salad turnips.

Just as summer has been a good season, we can look forward to the bounty of fall.

Weekly Abundance, Vol 12-09

Weekly Harvest

Beets – Golden, Pacemaker and Chioggia

Lettuce Leaf Basil

Tomatoes – Dry farmed Early Girls, and several Heirloom Varieties

Melons and Watermelon – Honey Pearl Honey Dews, Maverick Muskmelon, Haoggen dessert melon, Moon Beam watermelon.

Sweet Peppers – Jimmy Nordello, and a classic bell pepper

Hot Peppers – Hungarian Wax and Aci Sivri

Summer Squash and Zucchini

Onions – Siskiyou Sweet

Lettuce – Simpson Black Seeded, Butterking, and Fireball

Farm Life

The weather has cooled considerably in the last two weeks.  Some days it feels like fall.  You can see this weather change in the production of the tomatoes.  They are now ripening much more slowly.  Not to worry, there are still many, many tomatoes on the vine.   When the weather warms up again, the tomatoes will ripen quickly.

After the next heat spell, we will have quantities of paste tomatoes available.   This year, we are growing Stripped Romans.  In my opinion they are, by far, the best tomato for making sauces and ketchup.

The new item this week is peppers.  We have ripe, red Jimmy Nordello’s. This pepper is thin skinned, and curly and is best used for cooking.  It looks like it should be a hot pepper but is actually quite sweet.  We also have the first harvest of our Sunset Orange peppers.  As the season progresses these peppers will turn a beautiful glowing orange

Our hot peppers include  Aci Sivri and Hungarian Wax.  Both are Eastern European peppers that are more suited to our relatively cool growing environment than are the classic chilis and other peppers originating in Central and South America.  The Aci Sivri is a deep red and the Hungarian Wax are yellow to red.  Both can range widely in their heat qualities.  Some years they will be much hotter than others.

The next event on the calendar is our Potato Gathering and Harvest Party on Sunday, Sept. 20.  The event begins in the afternoon, followed by at Potluck Party.  Our friends at North Valley Farm will join us.  Christianne will have her wonderful sausage available and will also be taking orders for lamb.

Veggie of the Week

Are you still struggling to include the USDA recommended five to seven fruits and vegetables in your daily diet?   Fortunately for you, squash is a mild flavored vegetable that combines well with almost anything.  Try it for breakfast in a frittata using our wonderful eggs.  The best thing about this dish is that you can make it in the evening then re-heat it the next morning.  Serve it with a piece of whole wheat toast and a small slice of melon and you have a healthy breakfast that includes one serving of a whole grain and two servings of vegetables/fruit.

Recently, my spouse and I had a fabulous dinner, and everything but the cheese came from the farm.  The menu included Oven Fried Chicken; mashed  Yellow Finn potatoes;  baked tomatoes, peppers and squash ; and a green salad.

To bake the vegetables, I used onion, garlic, sliced Jimmy Nordello peppers, Golden Zucchini sliced thinly lengthwise,  Taxi tomatoes, basil and parsley.  I sautéed the  onions and garlic until translucent then added the peppers, tomatoes, basil and parsley and left this to simmer until the tomatoes began to release their juices.  I then removed them from the pan and set them aside.  Next, I sautéed the squash until it was soft but not falling apart.  I layered the squash in a baking dish, poured the onion/pepper/tomato/herb mixture on top then sprinkled with grated Parmesan Cheese.  I baked it in a 325 oven until the cheese browned.  It tasted great and the combination of the red pepper, yellow squash and tomatoes, and green herbs made a great presentation.

Another great idea for squash is to slice it thinly and substitute it for the noodles in your favorite lasagna recipe.  If you have family members that think they don’t care for squash, this is a great way to disguise it.

The Oregonian recently included a recipe for Linguine with Zucchini, Garlic and Capers that looks quite tasty.  At this writing, the recipe is still available in the FOODday section of their web site at OregonLive.com.

Tender, baby Crookneck Squash

Note: The Oregonion recipe and many others assume that you have large, overly mature zucchini that you are trying to find a use for.  At Artisan Organics, we harvest our squash seven days a week in order to provide you with tender, gourmet quality vegetables.  We prefer to incur the expense of harvesting it, even if we donate it to the food pantry, than let it stay on the vine and become overly mature.  Please keep this in mind when you review squash recipes.