Artisan Organics Weblog

Entries from September 2008

CSA Newsletter, Week 15

September 24, 2008 · Leave a Comment

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This Weeks Veggies

Beans

Braising Greens

Broccoli Rapinni

Cucumbers – Classic green slicing cucumbers.

Lettuce – Choose two heads from an assortment.

Squash – Choose between summer squash or the first of the winter squash.

Tomatoes – A basket of sweet cherry tomatoes and red slicing tomatoes.

Farm Life

Work continues on the compost pile. With thanks to the neighbors for both the hay and the manure, the pile is now about waist high and more than 30’ long. We finished building the pile on Saturday. By Monday, the composting process was already well under way. The temperature in the center of the pile was already 160 degrees! In the early mornings, I am grateful for its warmth. I can pause for a moment and bury my hands in the compost pile to warm them up. Sometimes, I’m even tempted to sit on it to warm up my bottom!

The forecast for the week is for Fall weather. High’s in the 70’s and lows in the low 40’s. This is good because the cool weather brings two new items to your share. See the Featured Veggies of the week below to learn all about them.

The not so good news part of the cooler weather is that our melons will probably never ripen. They have been hanging on the edge of maturity for several weeks now just waiting for a good hot spell to push them over to sweet succulence. If that heat wave doesn’t arrive soon, they are going to split and/or rot before they ripen. Of course, I knew this might happen when I planted them. Still, I decided to take the risk because the rewards could be so sweet. Perhaps we will have better luck next year.

Featured Veggies

The cooler weather introduces two new items to your share, Braising Greens and Broccoli Rapinni. Both are good sautéed quickly in a little olive oil with onions and garlic.

Is Rapinni new to you? As the end of the season approaches, you will find it in your share more often. Rapinni is named for the plant family Brassica Rapa which includes many common vegetables like broccoli, turnips, etc. Rapinni literally means “little Rapa”. It was so named because you eat the smaller leaves and shoots rather than the larger heads or roots.

Are you enjoying your lettuces? The big beautiful heads of Romaine make me crave an original Caesar Salad, made from scratch. To make my favorite recipe wash the Romaine leaves then cut them in to bite size pieces before spinning them dry. Place them in a bowl and toss them with a good quality olive oil, a lightly beaten egg, very finely minced garlic, grated Parmesan cheese, and finely minced anchovies to taste. To make it even more flavorful, add a little of the juice from the anchovie container can.  If you are like me, it is hard to believe that something with anchovies in it can taste so good.  But truly, this is many  times better than Caesar dressing from a bottle.

Categories: Newsletters · Tuesday Pick Up - Emanuel Hospital

CSA Newsletter, Week 14

September 16, 2008 · Leave a Comment

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This Weeks Veggies

Beans

Beets or Carrots

Chard or Spinach

Cucumbers – Classic green slicing cucumbers.

Lettuce – Please choose two from an assortment of Bronze Mignonette, Butter Crunch, and  Savoy Cos.

Summer Squash – PLease choose three largish ones or four of the smaller.

Tomatoes – Gold Nugget,  Washington Red Cherries or Silvery Fir Tree Slicers

Italian Plums – Please take two or three.  They are great sliced up in salads.

Farm Life

We got a good start on building the compost pile this weekend. So far, it is about 2.5 feet tall and 30’ long. We used half of our “ingredients” of hay, horse manure, spoiled apples and your kitchen scraps. After the remaining half of the ingredients are layered on top we will begin monitoring the temperature of the pile to ensure that it meets organic certification requirements. We will also turn the pile at least three times to ensure that all of it is well composted. The end result will be enough compost to get us thru the first half of next year’s season.

Veggie of the Week

Did you know that beets can be microwaved? Try the recipe below for a simple beet and lettuce salad.

http://www.recipetips.com/recipe-cards/t–2606/microwave-roasted-beet-salad.asp.

And don’t forget to use the greens. The greens are actually the most nutritious part of the plant. They are very low in Saturated Fat and Cholesterol but are a good source of Protein, Folate, Pantothenic Acid, Phosphorus and Zinc, and a very good source of Dietary Fiber, Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Vitamin E (Alpha Tocopherol), Vitamin K, Thiamin, Riboflavin, Vitamin B6, Calcium, Iron, Magnesium, Potassium, Copper and Manganese. Phew! All that nutrition packed in to one little beet top!

The following recipe for Halibut with Beets and Beet Greens looks fantastic. I love Halibut so I can’t wait to try it. How about you trying it too so that we can compare notes?

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/HALIBUT-WITH-ROASTED-BEETS-BEET-GREENS-AND-DILL-ORANGE-GREMOLATA-241608

Categories: Friday Pick Up - Good Samaritan Hospital · Newsletters · Tuesday Pick Up - Emanuel Hospital · Uncategorized

CSA Newsletter, Week 13

September 9, 2008 · Leave a Comment

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This Weeks Veggies

Apples – Gravenstein

Beans – Enough to freeze!

Beets – Greens and Roots

Cabbage – This is the last of the cabbage until the end of the season.

Chard

Cucumber

Lettuce – Mostly Simpson Black Seeded

Summer Squash – Green and Yellow Zucchini or Round Zucchini or Yellow Crockneck or Patty Pan

Tomatoes – Washington Red Cherries or Golden Nugget Cherries or Matt’s Wild Current

Farm Life

Now that your shares are so large, we spend the bulk of our time harvesting. The beans alone take about four hours per harvest and there are two harvests a week. Plus there is weeding, mowing, planting etc to be done.

Meanwhile, we are ruminating about plans for the future. We plan to install one 30’x90’ high tunnel for seed starting and growing tomatoes, peppers and eggplants. This will be a semi-permanent structure so we need to site it in the right place the first time. Which space will have the least impact on our other activities, like turning around the tractor at the end of each planting bed? How will we get water to it during the winter months? Can we use the tunnel to help us manage our Canadian Thistle problem?

We are also considering adding an egg option to next year’s shares. On Wednesday we will visit some other farms that have incorporated chickens into their farms ecosystem. We will be exploring everything from mobile chicken coops to egg washing, to the cost and availability of feed, and the use of the manure in the fields.

We would also like your feedback about adding the egg option. Would you be interested in adding farm fresh eggs to your share? If so, would you prefer to buy the eggs by the dozen or by the each as is done in Europe?

Here’s a book recommendation for those of you with children. Try the Redwall series by Brian Jacques. These books contain elements of good vs. evil and high adventure. They are great for reading out loud to younger children while still keeping your pre-teen set interested and engaged. But the best part is the Feasts. Beet Root and Tater Pie. Shrimp and Hot Root Soup. When my son was young, I introduced him to new vegetables by having a Redwall Feast Night. It didn’t always work, but we had great fun doing it.

Featured Veggie of the Week

Are you running out of ideas for your chard?  Here are two ideas.

How about this recipe for Swiss Chard Gnocchi?  I haven’t tried it yet but it sounds great.

http://www.cooks.com/rec/doc/0,1750,152163-253195,00.html

I have used a recipe similar to this Chard, Feta and Fila Pie.  The flavors of chard and feta go well together.  The last time I made it, I mixed the beet greens and the chard and it worked just as well. I have also made a version using a prepared puff pastry instead of fila.

http://www.cooks.com/rec/view/0,1950,150181-227199,00.html

Categories: Friday Pick Up - Good Samaritan Hospital · Newsletters · Tuesday Pick Up - Emanuel Hospital

CSA Newsletter, Week 12

September 2, 2008 · Leave a Comment

This Weeks Veggies

Chard

Cippolini Onions

Beans

Beet Greens

Lettuce

Cucumbers

Gravenstein Apples

Bartlett Pears

Farm Life

Are you enjoying the crisp fall feel when you leave for work in the morning? It is times like this I feel extremely lucky to be a farmer. It is wonderful to be outside.

Your greens love the beautiful weather too. This week you will find Beet Greens in your share. These are the most succulent, wonderful beet greens I’ve ever seen. Most afternoons find me snacking on beans and fruit. Lately though, it’s been beet greens. I’m sure the neighbors must think I’m crazy, standing in the field with a mouth full of beet greens. But they are just that good!  And, the roots are great too.

Do you like to preserve for the winter?  If so, I have lots of apples and pears that are great for processing into sauces, juices, fruit leather or even cider.  If you want some, let me know and I will bring them to your pick up site.

Also, remember that your beans are easy to freeze.  Just blanch them for three minutes in boiling water or steam.  Then dump them in to cold water to stop the cooking process.  Drain them well, then spread them out in a single layer on a cookie sheet.  Put the cookie sheet in your freezer over night.  They should be ready to transfer into a freezer container in the morning.

Categories: Uncategorized