CSA Newsletter, Week 20

This Weeks Veggies

Leeks – Leeks are a member of the onion family, but with a milder flavor. You may use them as a substitute in any dish that calls for onions. We usually slice ours into ½” rounds, pour cream over them, dot them with butter, sprinkle them with nutmeg and bake in a 375 oven. See Veggie of the Week” below for more ideas for using your leeks.

Chard – This chard is more mature than what you received earlier in the year. It still has the same great flavor though.

Beets – A mixture of Golden and Kestral Beets.

Pumpkins – These are sugar pumpkins. Though they are intended to be eaten, there is certainly no reason that they can’t be decorated first. You may carve them Halloween Evening just in time for Trick-or-Treaters. Before you go to bed, bring the pumpkin pumpkin recipe.

Purple Top Turnips – One easy way to cook turnips is to slice them thinly and sauté them in butter. You’ll be surprised how sweet they are.

Romaine Lettuce

Spinach

Farm Life

I hope you are enjoying these glorious fall days. Mornings are chilly but the afternoons are warm and wonderful. We have not had rain in several weeks now so I am still irrigating the crops that are being harvested. For once, I am grateful to be behind in my work. I have not yet drained the irrigation system and taken it apart in preparation for winter. If I had, I would have had to spend many hours putting it all back together again in order to irrigate.

There is still weeding to do as well. Some of the thistle is trying to get in one last round of flowering before it dies back for the winter. Other, late season weeds are just now starting to show up. Though not as difficult to deal with as the thistle, they do present their own challenges.

Several of you have asked how much longer the season lasts.  There are two weeks left after this one so enjoy your veggies while you can.

Featured Veggie of the Week

This recipe from Epicurious.com allows you to use both the leeks and the chard in one delicious dish. The use of frozen puff pastry makes it easy too.

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/LEEK-AND-SWISS-CHARD-TART-102382

CSA Newsletter, Week 19

This Weeks Veggies
Fennel
Spinach
Tomatoes
Turnips
Cipollini Onions
Lettuce
Bunching Onions
Decorative Squash
Farm Life
Are you noticing the gradual shift to fall vegetables in your share? The classic summer vegetables are being replaced by cooler season crops. In fact, this is the last of the tomatoes. You’ll not see them again until next summer.
Now that the rains have begun, you’ll notice that your leafy green vegetables need a more thorough washing before you use them. This is because the rain splashes mud on to the leaves. I do rinse the lettuce after harvest but others, like the spinach, rot more quickly if placed in a plastic bag while they are still wet.
I’ve included decorative squash in this week’s share. They are actually edible squashes and pumpkins that did not ripen before the first frost. I thought they were too cute to throw in the compost pile so have included them for your fall table centerpiece.
The past week has included a lot of “seat time” for me. This farming expression means time spent on the tractor. I have been ripping, disking, and tilling. The remains of the melon crop have been turned in and new beds prepared for planting garlic on the 25th. I’ve also done quit a bit of tractor work in the “Back Forty”. This area was not used this year because of the Canadian Thistle infestation. We will spend the next two years getting the thistle under control so that we can grow crops on it in the future.
Featured Veggie of the Week
Did you know that some European ethnic groups carved turnips instead of pumpkins for Fall Festivals? The turnips were scraped out to create a hollow shell. Designs were then carved into the turnip just like we do pumpkins today. People carried the turnips with a lit candle inside as though it were a lantern. If you scrape carefully, you can actually get the walls of the turnip thin enough for the light to shine through. The effect is quite lovely, it looks like you are carrying a small moon in your hands.
Of course, the real beauty in a turnip is in the eating of it. And, they are good for you too. Turnips are low in Saturated Fat, and very low in Cholesterol. They are also a good source of Riboflavin, Magnesium, Potassium and Copper, and a very good source of Dietary Fiber, Protein, Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Vitamin E (Alpha Tocopherol), Vitamin K, Folate, Calcium, Iron and Manganese.

Though they are most frequently prepared like mashed potatoes, they are also great roasted. Or, try this recipe for Chicken with Turnips and Dried Cherries from JustVegetablesRecipes.com.
http://www.justvegetablerecipes.com/veg-0011650.html
Don’t forget that the greens are edible as well. Here’s a link to a recipe for Turnip Greens from Epicurious.com. This recipe calls for bacon rather than the traditional salt pork or ham hocks.
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/LEON-ONEALS-TURNIP-GREENS-108862

CSA Newsletter, Week 18

This Weeks Veggies

Tomatoes – Red Slicers, Cherries, Brandywine Heirloom and some green tomatoes. See the links below for great green tomato recipes.

Cucumbers

Holier Than Thou Lettuce

Braising Greens

Scallions

Melons

Beets

Farm Life

The frost warning last Friday sent us scrambling to bring in crops and cover the most tender vegetables. Your lettuce is now all under cover. The good news is that you will continue to have lettuce until our first hard frost/freeze. The not so good news is that the cover creates an inviting environment for Flea Beetles and slugs. The result is hole-y lettuce…. hence the moniker “Holier Than Thou” Lettuce.

The harvest scramble meant that we stripped the vines of all of the cucumbers, tomatoes and melons still in the fields. In the process I found lots of nice surprises. There were ripe melons hiding under those big leaves… lots of them.

Your melons are quit ripe. If you don’t think you will get them eaten quickly, try freezing them. Just cube or ball them, lay them on a cookie sheet and put them in the freezer. Transfer them to a container when they are firm. The frozen melon balls will be great in the bottom of your champagne glass on New Years Eve.

Featured Veggie of the Week

Bringing all the tomatoes in from the field means we now have lots of nice green tomatoes. There are lots of things you can do with them in addition to the classic Fried Green Tomatoes. In fact, The Oregonion recently ran a special feature on them in the Fooday section. To see the recipes go to www.oregonlive.com and search for “Green Tomato”. Unfortunately, the recipes have already been moved to the archives.  In order to access them you will have to register as a user.  I have also included some links to Cook.com recipes if you would prefer not to register with The Oregonian.

This link is for Green Tomato Pie.

http://www.cooks.com/rec/view/0,1637,156190-252199,00.html

Cooks.com also has a recipe for classic Fried Green Tomatoes

http://www.cooks.com/rec/view/0,1650,132183-252192,00.html

There’s even a recipe for pickling small green tomatoes.  Since this recipe does not call for a boiling water bath or pressure canning, it would be safest to store them in the fridge.

http://www.cooks.com/rec/doc/0,1736,153184-243194,00.html

CSA Newsletter, Week 17

This Weeks Veggies

Red Table Grapes

Melons

Tomatoes

Cucumbers

Lettuce

Broccoli Rappini

Scallions

Pole Beans

Winter Squash

Farm Life

This week I am looking forward to the first school visit. We have a third grade class coming to spend the day. In the morning, they will get a tour of the farm and learn about agro-ecology. Then they will spend the afternoon building a compost pile. I am expecting to have grand fun! I love to have kids visit! If your child’s teacher is interested in a farm visit, please give them my name and number.

The weekend rains have really affected the tomatoes. Many of those that were close to ripe split and molded. Not to worry though, even if it stays cool and wet you’ll still receive more tomatoes. I was told growing up in the south that there is nothing like Fried Green Tomatoes so I do plan to include green tomatoes in your shares in the future. I’ve even saved the recent Food Day section of The Oregonian that featured green tomatoes so there will be other recipes to try as well.

A few of the melons have not only survived the dampness, they’ve also ripened. What a nice surprise. You’ll find them in your share this week. I am keeping my fingers crossed in hopes that some of the rest of the varieties ripen too. Two of them, Haogen and Eel River, are uncommon and are particularly fine flavored. Perhaps our luck will hold and you’ll get to sample them in addition to the cantaloupes in this weeks share.

Veggie of the Week

Some of you looked at us like we were weird when Broccoli Rapini first appeared in your shares. The link below will give you more info about its history and how to cook it. Note that the article seems to be contradicting some of the information I gave you in a previous newsletter. However, broccoli and turnips are both in the brassica family so they are indeed related.

http://whatscookingamerica.net/Vegetables/BroccoliRaab.htm

CSA Newsletter, Week 16

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This Weeks Veggies

Red Table Grapes

Beans

Beets

Chard

Cucumbers

Lettuce

Scallions

Summer or Winter Squash

Tomatoes

Farm Life

The change in seasons is becoming more apparent on the farm. Though the cucumbers and tomatoes are still going strong, the production of other summer vegetables is declining. When beans first appeared in your share, you received a little less than half a pound. Several weeks later, it was up to ¾ lbs per week. Now we are back down to the initial half pound. The plants will likely stop producing at all next week.

The same is true with the summer squash. The production has declined markedly. The plants are beginning to show the first of the Powdery Mildew, a sure sign that fall is under way. One squash plant even has signs of frost damage. But, as the summer squash declines, the winter squash is maturing. I will be harvesting and storing it for distribution during the remaining 6 weeks of the season.

You can also look forward to more spinach, rappini, and braising greens in the coming weeks. Add broccoli, cauliflower, and cabbage. There will be turnips, rutabaga, and sugar pumpkins too. Plus, leeks and onions. If the pests don’t get them first, there will also be peas and potatoes.

Featured Veggie of the Week

Tomatoes, tomatoes, and more tomatoes. Every one loves them. But are they good for you too? Yes, they are!

Tomatoes are low in Sodium, and very low in Saturated Fat and Cholesterol. They are also 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.

What shall you do with all those tomatoes.? Try a cucumber and tomato salad. Chop up both with some scallions. Add cubed fresh mozzarella and drizzle with oil and vinegar. Or, try the following recipe for Ripe Tomato Relish from cooks.com. This relish is just as good canned as it is fresh.

http://www.cooks.com/rec/view/0,1936,147175-247206,00.html

If you won’t be able to use all of your tomatoes this week, they are easy to freeze. Just toss them in a pot of boiling water. Remove as soon as you see the skin beginning to split. Dunk them in ice water or run them under cold water to stop the cooking process. When they are cool, they should peel easily. Drain them well before placing them in a zippered bag and storing them in the freezer. Think how nice it will be to add farm fresh tomatoes to your soups and stews during the cold winter months.