CSA Newsletter, Week 15

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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.