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