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.

Weekly Abundance, Vol 11-09

Weekly Harvest

Chard – Silverado

Lettuce – Buttercrunch and Simpson Black Seeded

Melons – Honey Pearl Honey Dew, Maveric” Muskmelon, Haoggen Dessert Melon and Eel River

Tomatoes – Green Zebra, Taxi, Brandywine, Oregon Spring, Moskvich, Bellstar, and Early Girl

Summer Squash – Yellow Crookneck, Sunburst, Golden Zucchini, and Cozelle Zucchini

Onions – Siskiyou Sweet

Basil – Genovese

Parsley – Italian Flat Leaf

Watermelon – Moon Beam

Farm Life

This week, we said goodbye to our intern, Ian Hensel.  I greatly enjoyed having him around the farm and wish him much luck as he returns to school at UC Berkeley.

Those of you that have visited the farm have seen our laying hens out under the old orchard.  After a very long wait, they are now laying reliably.  Baring any unforeseen incidents, we should have eggs through the winter.

We have learned that the hens lay the vast majority of their eggs mid-day. We have changed our routine to collect eggs in the early afternoon to ensure that they are as fresh as possible.  Here I am after collecting eggs with our Jr. Interns, Bennett and Julie.

Yellow Watermelon

Veggie of the Week

Our featured item this week isn’t a veggie… it’s your watermelon.  Watermelons produce the largest, sweetest fruits in areas with long, hot summers.  Consequently, I searched hard for a variety that would grow well  in our climate.  Fortunately, I found it in “Moon Beam” This early and productive variety grows well in northern climates.  The lemon-yellow fleshed fruits are thin-skinned, sweet and of the finest quality.  At five to eight pounds, you can think of it as a “personal size” watermelon.

Weekly Abundance, Vol 10-09

Weekly Harvest

Beets

Baby Chard

Tomatoes – Dry Farmed Early Girls, Taxis, and Silvery Fir Tree

Summer Squash and Zucchini

Lettuce Leaf Basil

Yellow Finn New Potatoes

Cipollini Onions

Lisbon White Bunching Onions

We also have Peaches, Apricots, and Nectarines available from our friends at Heirloom Orchards.  These are tree ripened fruit, ready for the eatin’!

Farm Life

We had a great time at the Picnic and Berry picking this weekend.  Folks went home with lots of berries, both in their tummies and in containers.  I particularly enjoyed giving a tour of the back of our property along Gordon Creek.   This area of the farm is very special to me.  It is wonderful to stand beside the irrigation pond and listen to the gurgle of water as it flows over the spill way.  It often spot wildlife as I stand there… Blue Herons, ducks, deer and the occasional Nutria.

This week you get to enjoy lots of tomatoes.  In addition to the dry farmed Early Girls you received last week, we are offering beautiful yellow Taxis and heirloom Silvery Fir Trees.  We also harvested the first of our Brandywines.  My taste testers tell me that the dry farmed Early Girls are the best, hands down.  What do you think?

This week we are also featuring the first of our potatoes.  These Yellow Finns have an unusual pear shape (large flattened oval), deep yellow-tan skin and waxy yellow flesh. The taste is naturally butter-like, and is good boiled, baked, fried or included in soups. This excellent keeper needs the lush, long season of the maritime Northwest to really perform. With even moisture, it will continue to yield until frost kills.  Normally considered a late season potato, we have harvested them early for you to enjoy as new potatoes.  We will offer them again later in the season at their full growth.

Weekly Abundance, Vol. 9-09

This Week’s Harvest

Sweet Basil

Chard

Yellow Crook Neck Squash

Golden Zucchini

Green Zucchini

Patty Pan Squash

Kestral Beets

Chioggia Beets

Golden Beets

Dry Farmed Early Girl Tomatoes

Cippollini Onions

Italian Flat Leaf Parsley

Cabbage

Also available from our friends at Heirloom Orchards, blue berries and first of the season Apricots.  If you’ve eaten store bought apricots before and found them wanting, be prepared for a taste sensation.  These are tree ripened fruits.  Not those blobs picked green and ripened in a gas chamber.

Upcoming Events

This Sunday, August 9, is our Annual Berry Picking event.  We will begin with a potluck picnic under the trees at noon.  After we have eaten we will spread out around the farm to pick blackberries.

Last year, we had copious amounts of blackberries.  This year’s harvest will not be as bountiful.  The hot weather withered many of the berries before they had a chance to ripen.  There are certainly enough berries for every one to take home a couple of baskets.   But, if you are looking for sufficient quantities to make a big batch of jam you will need to pick elsewhere too.

Please bring a blanket to sit on, a potluck dish to share, and your plates, cups, and utensils for the picnic and containers for your berries.  Artisan Organics will provide Iced Tea, Lemonade, and hard boiled eggs from our very own hens.   Please RSVP so I know how many eggs to boil.

We will harvest blackberries from several areas of the farm.  Some are quite easy to access and are appropriate for the youngest pickers.  Others require long pants and an adventurous spirit.  You won’t find as many berries along this route but you will get to see the forested area of the land and our lovely little creek and irrigation pond.

Farm Life

The first harvest of the Dry Farmed, Early Girl Tomatoes is in.  They are wonderful!  As mentioned in a previous blog entry, we are trialing dry farming tomatoes in order to reduce our impact on the Tualatin River Watershed.  The early results are very promising.  Despite the recent hot weather, the yield is acceptable and the flavor is outstanding.

We’ve also had other “firsts” this week.  Our first eggs!  The hens have finally begun laying.  The eggs are infrequent and tiny.  We will hard boil them for the picnic so that you can sample them.    As soon as the eggs reach a reasonable size, we will begin offering them to you for purchase.

Our harvest this week reflects what is meant when we talk about sharing the risk of farming with the farmer.  Both the Chard and Cabbage are cosmetically affected by insect damage, the result of bugs that like hot, dusty weather.

If we were growing for the wholesale market, even the Organic wholesale market, these crops would be considered unsalable, despite the fact that they are still quit edible.  The farmer would have to till them in and absorb the loss.    In our case though, you help cushion the loss by using them in recipes that don’t require an attractive presentation.

Believe it our not, we have completed one third of our season already.  It seems to me that we just began yesterday.  The time is flying by.  It is August already and I am immersed in planning for the winter shares.  This week, we plant the cabbage that you will find in your share in December.  I hope you are happy with your veggies so far.

Veggie of the Week

Some of you have asked why you are getting so much Parsley.  The answer is, “Because this is the time of year  parsley grows”.   Come winter, when you are using the dried parsley to flavor your soups and stews, you will wonder how you ever tired of it.

But… if you are finding that you are receiving the parsley faster than you can dry it, don’t forget that it can be used fresh too.  I particularly like to chop up the  leaves and sauté them with my chard and beet greens.  It really brightens up the flavor of the greens.

And, parsley makes great pesto.  If you don’t believe me try this simple recipe for Linguini with Parsley Pesto from Cooks.com

http://www.cooks.com/rec/view/0,178,155167-239201,00.html

Weekly Abundance, Vol. 8-09

July 29 2009 Harvest

Weekly Harvest

Basil

Parsley

Summer Squash

Broccoli

Scallions

Garlic

Beats

Chard

Farm Life

It is hot!  We are expecting it to be over 100 at the farm every day this week.  We are compensating by beginning our work day earlier in the morning, drinking lots of fluids, and wearing wide brimmed hats.  Still, it is HOT!

This week, we said goodbye to my grand daughter, Amber.    She has gone back to Idaho to have some time to hang out with friends before school starts.  It has been wonderful to have her with me the past six weeks.  I miss her already.

The farm is clearly making the transition from cool season crops to warm ones.  This week, we harvested the last of the broccoli.  There will be no more until the fall.  On the same day, we harvested the first of our Dry Farmed tomatoes.  There were not enough of them to market so you will not see them at the stand or in your CSA shares.  However, it is a harbinger of things to come.

What are Dry Farmed tomatoes?  These are tomatoes that have been grown with out any irrigation beyond what they received the day they were transplanted.  Only a few varieties of tomatoes can be grown using this method, and then only under certain growing conditions.

There are two main benefits of dry farming.  The first is that it produces a much more flavorful tomato.  The second is that one uses much less water to do it.  The principle draw backs to dry farming are that it takes more space because the plants have to be further apart, and it significantly reduces yield.

Artisan Organics decided to trial dry farming tomatoes this year because of our concern about the amount of water we draw from Gordon Creek.   If this year’s trial goes well, we will expand our experiment next year to include additional tomato varieties and a variety or two of potatoes.

Red Chesnok Garlic

Veggie of the Week

Over the last few weeks, we have harvested all of our garlic.  Garlic is planted in the fall, traditionally on Halloween, and harvested the next summer.  (See the Calendar of Events for details about our Garlic Planting Event on Nov. 1)

There are three main types of garlic: elephant, hard neck, and soft neck.  Artisan Organics grew the latter two.  We used the soft neck garlic, California Early, to make our garlic braids earlier this month.  (See the blog entry for July 19 for photos.)

Hard neck and soft neck garlic’s differ in the amount of time they can be stored.  Hard necks are considered short keepers, soft necks are long ones.  Consequently, Artisan Organics will have our hard neck garlic available first.  When it is gone, wewill switch to our soft necks.

This week we are featuring Red Chesnok Garlic.  A fairly well adapted variety from the former USSR, this flavorful garlic is nice and full, but with a mellow aftertaste. While it does not store as well as some others (maximum holding time is about 6 months), the intense flavor that remains even when cooked more than makes up for it.

Weekly Abundance, Vol 6-09

Weekly Harvest

Beets – Chioggia, Golden or Kestral

Broccoli

Cabbage

Fennel

Summer Squash – Yellow Crook Neck, Green and Golden Zucchini

Red Torpedo Bottle Onions

Scallions

Lettuce – Butterking and Red Buttterhead

Parsley

New Potatoes – mixed varieties

Farm Life

You will find that your parsley keeps best if you treat it like cut flowers and put it in a vase of water out of direct sunlight.  If you are unable to use all your parsley, you may dry it for later use.

We are trialing several types of onions this year.  As mentioned in last weeks post, onions get much of their flavor from the soil where they are grown.  Consequently we are growing multiplevarieties so that we can identify those that produce the best flavor in our soil.  Last week, you sampled a sweet onion… the same variety used to grow the famous Walla Walla Sweets.  You will get a chance to sample this onion again in the coming weeks.

We are tasting Red Torpedo Bottle onions this week.  Red Torpedoes are considered a Pungent Sweet onion.  They do not dry well so are not used as a long term storage onion.   An easy way to cook them is to baste them in olive oil then cook them on the grill.  The green leaves make a convenient “handle” for turning them.  Unfortunately, we had significant germination problems with this onion so you will not get a second chance to try them.  Be sure to let me know what you think.  Should we grow this onion again next year?

Several people have asked about eggs.  We are asking the chickens the same question, “Where are the eggs?”  So far, the chickens haven’t answered.  So…. we wait and watch.  We will certainly let you know when there are eggs available.

However, there is still chicken available for sale for only $3.75/lb. This price is a bargain.  The last time I visited the Beaverton Farmer’s Market, chickens raised using methods similar to ours were selling for $5.00/lb.  Our pre-cut birds are particularly convenient for grilling and broiling.

Fennel

Featured Veggie of the Week

Fennel is crunchy and slightly sweet, adding a refreshing contribution to the ever popular Mediterranean cuisine. Fennel is composed of a white or pale green bulb from which closely superimposed stalks are arranged. The stalks are topped with feathery green leaves near which flowers grow and produce fennel seeds. The bulb, stalk, leaves and seeds are all edible. Fennel belongs to the Umbellifereae family and is therefore closely related to parsley, carrots, dill and coriander.

Fennel is very low in Cholesterol. It is also a good source of Niacin, Calcium, Iron, Magnesium, Phosphorus and Copper, and a very good source of Dietary Fiber, Vitamin C, Folate, Potassium and Manganese.  If you would like to increase the Vitamin C content even more, try this salad which uses both your fennel bulbs and your Red Torpedo Onions.

http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/fennel-and-red-onion-salad-with-parmesan

Or, follow this link for a  simple recipe for baked fennel.

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Baked-Fennel-with-Parmesan/Detail.aspx

Weekly Abundance, Vol. 5 -09

Share Contents

Weekly Harvest

Baby Summer Squash

Chard

Lettuce

Radishes

Beets

Walla Walla Sweet type spring onions

Parsley

Farm Life

The first of the garlic harvest is in.  The California Early soft neck garlic bulbs are cleaned and laid out in the Propagation House to dry.   This is the garlic we will braid at our upcoming party on the 19^th.  Next we will harvest the hard neck garlic, followed shortly by onions.  The last of the alium family to be harvested will be the winter storage onions.  These will be dried and put away so that you can receive them in your shares in November and December.

Speaking of garlic,  don’t forget the party coming up on July 19th.  We will begin with a Pot Luck picnic at noon then learn to braid garlic beginning at 2:00. For more details, please see the Schedule of Events page.  Please RSVP so that I know how much Ice Tea and Lemonde to make.  And don’t forget that you are coming to the farm where there is no kitchen.  This means there will be no microwave, stove or even plates and cups, so bring everything you need to sit down to eat, including  chairs. (The first garlic braid is free for CSA shareholders.  All others will be $1.50/head of garlic used in the braid).

And, speaking of aliums.  The onions we harvested this week are the same variety used to grow the famous Walla Walla onions.  But… they won’t taste just like a Walla Walla.  This is because the flavor of onions is dependent on the characteristics of the soil they are grown in.  So… our onions will taste like “Hillsboro Hillsboro”, or to be more specific “Aloha Silt Loam, Aloha Silt Loam” as that is our soil type.

Artisan Organics has a new intern, Ian Hensel.  Ian will spend the next month with us learning about farming in general and CSA’s in particular.  As part of his learning experience, Ian will visit each of the pick up sites and the Farm Stand so you will get a chance to welcome him to our community.

Golden Beets

Featured Veggie of the Week

Beets originated in the Mediterranean region, where the Romans ate their greens. By the end of the Middle Ages, strains of Beta vulgaris bred for swollen, edible taproots had spread through Europe and entered the cuisine. Over the next few centuries, farmers developed a type with huge roots of 20 pounds or more — known in German as mangel-wurzel, or “scarcity root” — which was fed to livestock, as well as the sugar beet that is now a major crop in many countries.  Another variation went the other way: Swiss chard is a kind of Beta vulgaris grown for its colorfully veined, tasty leaves.

Beets come in many colors; white, red, yellow, and even stripped.  At Artisan Organics, we don’t grow white beets but we do all of the others.

If you only know beets as canned additions to a salad bar, fresh ones roasted in the oven can be a revelation.  And don’t forget that the greens are edible too.  The link below will lead you to a tasty recipe that uses both the roots and the greens to create two side dishes.

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Roasted-Beets-and-Sauteed-Beet-Greens/Detail.aspx

Weekly Abundance – Vol. 4-09

This Week’s Harvest

Cabbage

Broccoli

Beets

Radishes

Scallions

Rainbow Chard

Romaine, Buttercrunch and Simpson Black Seeded Lettuces

Farm Life

Nathan with Lucy Marie

The most exciting thing on the farm this week was the birth of my co-worker Nathan’s baby girl.  She was born in their home at the farm on Tuesday, June 23 after only 4.5 hours of labor.  Mom and baby Lucy Marie Miller are happy, healthy and doing well.

While Nathan has been off for the week enjoying his new daughter, we have been hard at work getting the summer crops planted.  We are rushing to complete this for two reasons.

First, the plants are ready to go in to the ground…. and in a few cases, past ready.

Second, we must have the Propagation House emptied  by Monday when we begin harvesting the soft neck garlic.

Immediately after harvest, the garlic is laid out in a cool dry environment to dry.  We will pull the shade cloth over the Propagation House in order to cool it off, then lay the garlic out in nice neat rows.   There is even a specific pattern we will use to lay it out to dry so that we  maximize the space and the air flow and minimize the light exposure.

Once the garlic is dry, it will either be braided on July 19th (please see the Schedule of Events page in the right column for invitation information) or gathered in bunches to be stored for the winter.

The above deadlines are an example of the complex systems on the farm.  Often we find that one thing must be completed by a certain time in order for the next thing to occur.  Sometimes the “time” is dictated by the calendar.  Sometimes it is dictated by the weather, and other times by the particular growth pattern of a particular crop.

Featured Veggie of the Week

This week we will actually feature two veggies… cabbage and beets… since both are appearing in your share for the first time.

Farao F-1 Cabbage

The cabbage in your share this week is called Farao F-1.  (The F-1 indicates it is an hybrid).  It was developed to produce small compact heads in about two months.

Have you ever looked at the cabbage in the grocery store and wondered what to do with it?  Now is the time to learn.  They are a wonderfully flexible member of the brassica family.  You can eat them raw  in Cole Slaw or cook them in multiple ways with minimal preparation. Cabbage  is very low in Saturated Fat and Cholesterol. It is also a good source of Vitamin A, Thiamin, Vitamin B6, Calcium, Iron and Magnesium, and a very good source of Dietary Fiber, Vitamin C, Folate, Potassium and Manganese.  The following link is a recipe for Colcannon, and Irish potato and cabbage dish.

http://www.eatingwell.com/recipes/colcannon.html

Beet roots are one of the few items you will find in your share that are truly not edible raw.  While they are not poisonous, the root will leave your throat feeling as though you’ve just swallowed sand paper.  The tops do not have that effect, but are much tastier if they are cooked.

Beet and Goat Cheese Salad

I particularly enjoy Beet Salad.  The recipe below is particularly nice.  Just substitute the leaf lettuce included in your share for the baby lettuce called for in the recipe.

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Beet-Salad-with-Goat-Cheese/Detail.aspx