week 18

one bag: Lettuce Basil Arugula

Lacinato Kale one last Tomato

in another bag: Onions Garlic Potatoes

Variety Peppers Summer Squash Eggplants

Okra Sage and a Fairy Winter Squash

Just to quickly reiterate the plan here – there will be no veggie deliveries for the next two Tuesdays. We will miss our gardens, and we hope you miss our produce, but we'll be back to share whatever this Autumn has to offer. I'll drop a line out to you as a reminder when we return.

I love that somehow, as all the summer greens begin to turn earthward, we can coax a dark succulent green from the garden one more time. The kale this week is one of my favorites. I hope you enjoy it. After the break, we will (God willing) have turnips and radishes and more good greens, along with the sweet potatoes and more squash. If it frosts while we're away, the peppers, eggplant, and basil will be gone, but the arugula will carry on through the first couple cold snaps.

It's time to start praying for rain again. Sometimes I think the NOAA weather predictions keep rain in the forecast just so we don't fall into despair. It was amazing that the last round missed us. But it did. So, it's dusty now, and slow, but good for drying out the field corn and beans. There's always a up-side, somewhere.

If you are struggling with your arugula, allow me to suggest you try it on pizza. As I was packing bags this morning, I was imagining a pizza, with grilled vegetables – like eggplant and patty pan squash, sliced thin and grilled before the pizza baked. The last thing to go on the very top would be a handful of sliced arugula. Cooking mellows the taste.

You can even grill pizza. A friend introduced me to this concept and it's wonderful. Start with your dough (if you've got time – make your own – it's not hard) rolled out and a hot grill. Put the dough on the grill, covered, for just a few minutes. Take it to the kitchen and dress the grilled side (NOT the raw side) with all your pizza fixings – don't load it up too much – and then put it back on the grill for about 5 minutes more. This time, obviously, the 'raw' side is going to go onto the grill. OH, so good.

Even though I hope you will come along with us into the Fall for as long as you like, I just want to take a second and thank you for sharing this season with us. You have been wonderful eaters. Thank you for not complaining about too many tomatoes, for enjoying eggplant, week after week. It is a joy to share our abundance with you. I hope your freezers are all stocked with some goodies for winter, and your memories stocked with good memories of the flavors of summer.

See you soon! Paul, Coree, Lulah and Levon

Red Springs Family Farm

week 8

Red Springs Family Farm 7/22/14

In one bag: Eggplant New Potatoes Cucumbers

Green Beans Yellow Crookneck Squash

In the other bag: Lettuce Celery Basil

Carrots Garlic

And then another bag of tomatoes.

Sometimes the garden season feels like a flood, a wave, a marathon full of flavor, heat, fun, and lots of heavy lifting. We pulled the potatoes out of the ground and down the hill last week and have made a serious dent in the onions, too. Tomatoes are an on-going harvest. The plants are already spilling over the top of the cages and reaching for each other across the five or six feet rows.

Just want to let you know: your feedback is crucial. How many potatoes can you eat in a week? How many eggplant, tomatoes, green beans? Is this basket sufficient, a challenge, or not enough? Part of the joy of staying small is being able to really absorb meaningful feedback from YOU. Be kind, and share your experiences. Thanks.

Oh carrots - there will be plenty more of these. Even thought we had a nice carrot soup last week, I definitely recommend eating them raw. They are sweet and crisp and don't much resemble those long skinny things grown in the California sand and sold in plastic bunny bags. We don't grow long carrots because we have dense and rocky soil, but we enjoy growing short, stocky carrots that taste the way a carrot should.

Two words for next week's harvest: corn, and watermelons. Need I say more?

I dreamed a recipe, literally. After a busy night's sleep, I remembered grinding garlic and ginger with tamari and how beautiful and tasty it was. All Purpose Homemade Teriyaki Sauce: Take about equal portions of FRESH ginger root and FRESH garlic cloves and grind them to a mushy paste in a food processor. Add an abundant amount of tamari or soy sauce and blend some more. Add some lemon or lime juice and either coconut oil or olive oil (or both) and blend until emulsified.

We used this sauce to marinade thick slices of eggplant and yellow squash before they went on the grill. We slathered it on them while they were grilling as well. That worked wonderfully. We made more and poured it on steamed green beans, and then took what was left and dressed a cucumber salad with it. It was simple, versatile, forgiving, and even the kids loved it. Have fun!

For other taste sensations, here's a simple blended gazpacho, adapted from Martha Stewart:

1 cup small pieces white bread (torn from day-old rustic bread, crust removed)

1 small clove garlic, minced 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar

1/2 English cucumber, peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces, plus 8 very thin rounds for garnish

1 1/2 cups coarsely chopped (about 1 1/2 peppers) jarred roasted red bell peppers

2 pounds tomatoes, cut into quarters 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

1 1/2 teaspoons coarse salt and freshly ground pepper

Stir together bread, garlic, vinegar, and 3/4 cup cold water in a medium bowl. Set aside.

Process cucumber, roasted peppers, and bread mixture in a blender until smooth. Transfer to a large bowl. Puree half of the tomatoes in the blender, and transfer to the bowl with cucumber mixture. Puree remaining tomatoes, slowly adding oil while blender is running. Transfer to the bowl; whisk to combine. Stir in salt; season with pepper. Refrigerate, covered, until chilled, about 30 minutes. Divide gazpacho among 4 bowls. Garnish each with 2 cucumber rounds.                                                                                   

Enjoy your week and your veggies!

week 7

Red Springs Family Farm 7/15/14

In one bag: Eggplant New Potatoes

Green Beans Yellow Crookneck Squash

In the other bag: Lettuce Tomatoes Cucumbers

Parsley Basil Garlic

Summer is picking up speed! The nice rain last night will help everything out. Lettuce has been taking a whipping in the heat lately, but everything else is doing great, especially since the weeds are (almost) under control.

Sweet corn is tassling – ears aren't filled out yet, but it all looks good. Paul is putting up the electric fence now since something came in and sampled an ear of field corn already. We'll save as much as possible for you!

The cucumber variety you're getting right now is called Shintokiwa. It's a nice smooth one. We'll have different varieties as the season progresses. Oh, and those stories about cucumbers making your skin nice and taking away wrinkles around your eyes – they're all true. If you don't just eat your cucumber this week – put them on your face.

And a word about our tomatoes.... there are more every week. Some varieties haven't even started ripening yet. You might notice that the tomatoes we send don't look like store bought tomatoes. There are funny shapes and interesting shades of pink, orange, purple and maybe red. Some never lose all their green. If you take the time to notice – their flavors and textures are diverse too. Most vegetables are like that. What makes it to the store is selected in part for its capacity to survive a long trip and rough handling. Since the food we grow rarely travels over 40 miles, every size, shape, color, and flavor is welcome in our garden, and we hope you will enjoy giving them a try in your kitchen, too. The dark orange/purples and pink tomatoes are some of our personal favorites.

Levon and I had fun digging up these new potatoes. When the soil dries up, we'll dig them all and then they will be a regular, or semi-regular, part of a basket. There are some beauties out there, and there's just nothing quite like a fresh potato.

The eggplant are still under attack. Any fruit that touches the ground (which is a lot of them) gets chewed on. There would have been at least twice as many in the harvest this week if there weren't so many chewed up. I don't know how many of you would have appreciated twice as many eggplant, but we're scrambling for some kind of deterrent or trap for the hungry beasties.

As it is, I've been trimming the chew marks off and roasting the eggplant on the grill for Baba Ghanoush. If you don't know what Baba Ghanoush is, I'm sorry. It's wonderful. Here's a hint: if you like Hummous (Middle Eastern chick-pea dip or spread), you will like Baba Ghanoush.

Here's how:

1 large eggplant 1/4 cup tahini, plus more as needed
3 garlic cloves, minced 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice, plus more as needed
1 pinch ground cumin salt, to taste

Roast eggplant in the oven or on the grill until it is soft. Peel and then, using a fork or a food processor, mash the flesh with the remaining ingredients. Adjust seasonings to taste, and garnish with feta cheese, chopped parsley, and kalamata olives.

Enjoy your week and your veggies!

week 8

July 23, 2013 week 8

In one bag: Tomatoes Green and Red Peppers

Eggplant Garlic

In the other bag: Lettuce Green Beans Cucumber Summer Squash Chard Green Onions

Parsley Basil Celery

The tomatoes are really starting to roll around here! So many colors, shapes and flavors to enjoy. We grow some real oddballs – we hope you like them as much as we do. The purplish orangey ones are among our favorites, and they often maintain the green color on their shoulders (around the stem). Cut into them and they’re perfectly ripe underneath. Eat up!

When we fixed a mess of beans last week we found the final picking of the Yellow Wax to be a little tough. If that was your experience, we apologize. These green beans are certainly tender.

This week you have white eggplant. They’re called Casper and they’re wonderful. They need to be peeled, and they have excellent texture and flavor – very firm and meaty.

The other white item in your bags this time is another UFO-looking fruit – a patty pan squash. This particular variety is called Benning’s Green Tint and we think the flavor is better than just about any other summer squash. Patty Pans can be used just like you would use any other summer squash – we’ve used them interchangeably with yellow crookneck and zucchini (even in bread and muffins) with wonderful results.

It’s great to be sending some colorful peppers again. A green bell pepper is really just an unripe bell pepper – all peppers mature into some sort of exciting color. Once they mature they don’t keep or ship as well, which may be why they’re so expensive in the grocery. The flavor is beyond the pale and well worth the wait. There are many more to come!

Oh, and basil – the purple basil was getting a little leggy, so I picked just the top sprig off to send. This Purple Ruffles variety is fun to look at, great to smell, and even better to throw into a batch of pesto.

I’m out of time and space to post it right now, but I’ll put up an excellent Indian style greens recipe for that chard – check the blog.

Next week: The beans may slow down a bit – eggplant, too. But the tomatoes will likely increase. We hope to have new potatoes. Our corn is awful late, but it will come along eventually. This is a great season – with a little patience.

Thank you all for eating up our garden – feel free to contact us with questions if needed.

Be well. Paul, Coree, Lulah, and Levon

weeks 6 & 7

OK - finally...

July 16, 2013 week 7

Tomatoes Peppers Yellow Wax Beans Lettuce

Garlic Cucumbers Eggplant Summer Squash

Fennel Green Onions Parsley Basil Sorrel

We're still shaking down the results of the nine inches of rain. The cutting herbs have recuperated fairly well. Some of the next patch of green beans took a hit, but we seem to be over-planting sufficiently to off set the loss. Your beans will be green next week!

The sun and heat is ripening the tomatoes. We'll be bringing increasingly more over the next few weeks. I try to vary the type, size, color, and ripeness in each bag so that you have some to eat now, some to last a little while, and a nice sampling of different varieties. We enjoy growing some really unusual looking but delicious tasting fruits. Please don't refrigerate your tomatoes. They are tropical fruits and lose flavor and texture in the cold. Hope you enjoy.

Eggplant came in thick this week. I only put what I thought you could eat in the bag. There will be more. Experiment with these beautiful fruits. They have the potential to be just as tasty as they are beautiful. Eggplant are also tropical by nature. You can leave them in a shady place on your kitchen counter and they should be fine. Sun will degrade almost anything. Recommended recipes to look up: ratatouille and baba ghanoush. I'm pretty sure there are a few renditions on our blog if you go poking through the archives.

We found our favorite treatment of fennel bulbs last week. Here it is. Maybe some of you still have a head of cabbage kicking around?

Simple Fennel and Cabbage Skillet. Thinly slice an onion (or leek if you've got one), a small head of cabbage, and a couple of fennel bulbs. Wash the fennel and cabbage, but don't dry it. Warm 1 Tbsp butter in a large skillet. Throw in the onion, cabbage and fennel. Stir and cover. Check it in a few minutes to make sure it's steaming, not burning. Let it cook 10-15 minutes total. In the meantime, mince a couple tablespoons of parsley and melt 2-3 more Tbsp butter. Mix parsley and butter with a few Tbsp lemon juice (fresh is best). Drain any excess water from cabbage mixture and add the butter. Toss, taste for seasoning and enjoy.

And, a versatile recipe for putting SO much food to good use: Roasted Summer Vegetables

8 to 10 cups fresh vegetables. Cut into bite sized pieces for even cooking time. Toss with one of the seasoning options below. Then spread seasoned veggies in a thin layer on a baking sheet and bake at 425 for 20 minutes. Stir occasionally. Serve over cooked pasta or rice with parmesan grated on top. For a salad, cool the veggies and add some ripe tomatoes, feta cheese, and vinaigrette dressing.

Seasoning options: 1) Several Tbsp chopped fresh herbs, 1 Tbsp olive oil, salt and pepper, 1-4 cloves fresh garlic. 2)1 Tbsp olive oil, 1 tsp chili powder, salt, pepper, and dried thyme. 3) ¾ cup italian dressing. 4) 4 cloves minced garlic, 1/3 cup olive oil, 2 Tbsp fresh herbs, 2 Tbsp balsamic vinegar, 1 Tbsp dijon mustard, salt and pepper. Have fun with vegetables!

July 9, 2013 week 6

Tomatoes Peppers Yellow Wax Beans

Lettuce Garlic Cucumbers

Sugar Snap Peas Cabbage Summer Squash

Fennel Green Onions

We're getting into some serious veggies now, folks. Eat up.

Featured veggies this week: FENNEL. Those feathery wands of leaves poking from your bag? That’s fennel. At the bottom is a bulb. It has a strong anise smell and flavor. This is an old world vegetable. Let us know what you think. This is the only time of year we grow it, so if you don’t love it, just rest assured that it won’t last long. Some culinary suggestions for your fennel:

Cut the fine leaves into salads. Use the stems like celery. Chop stems and leaves fine and use them in cream cheese dips and flavored mayo. Store the bulb separately. Trim off the top and root ends and cut it in half or quarters lengthwise. Parboil it for a few minutes (7 to 10), drain it well, and thread it onto kebabs with the summer squash on the grill. Or you can roast it in the oven with potatoes and cabbage. It works as a gratin, too, and pairs well with potatoes.

This is the season of – how many cucumbers can you eat? They just keep coming. Our two year old Levon can polish off one a day. I hope you can keep up.

If the beans are too much for you – blanch them for four minutes in boiling water. Dip them immediately into cold water. Then drain them. Pack into a freezer bag and freeze for enjoyment when there are no fresh Yellow Wax Beans to be had. You can also blanch and cool them and use them in a salad – just like that.

One of my favorite fun things to do with a green pepper is slice it in thick rings, butter a frying pan, lay the rings out and crack eggs into them. It's egg-in-a-nest sans toast. Very fun food.

Wrap your cabbage up tight in a grocery bag. It will keep for a long time in the crisper drawer. You can also make a small batch of sauerkraut. Just shred the cabbage and salt it. Crunch it with your hands until it releases moisture and looks wilted. Pack it in a wide mouth jar. If it doesn't create enough liquid to cover the cabbage, add some salted water. Keep it on a room temp. counter for three days then store it in the fridge and enjoy your kraut. When the summer kraut happens, I start singing “Reuben Reuben, I been thinking....”. For more on kraut, look at our blog or look up wildfermentation.com.

We finally ripped the broccoli out to make room for the late season tomatoes. The chickens are picking over those dark green leaves. I would have sent you more chard, but there's simply no more room in the bags. It will be back.

In the upper garden, the Sugar Snap Peas are just about finished. This should be the final picking. We look forward to clearing them out and digging the potatoes. Melons didn’t enjoy the rain that much, but everything else in the upper garden is holding up and looking good. Next week, there will be eggplants. Take care and enjoy your food!

week 14

the tomato jungle

Tomatoes        Cucumbers     Eggplant

Watermelon/Cantaloupe       

Summer Squash        

Peppers           Potatoes          Garlic             

Basil (green and purple)        Parsley                Sorrel    Chives

“Where is our comfort but in the free, uninvolved, finally mysterious beauty and grace of this world that we did not make, that has no price? Where is our sanity but there?  Where is our pleasure but in working and resting kindly in the presence of this world?”    ~Wendell Berry

Every season has its particular flavors.  Those of you who have been with us for awhile have seen the fluctuations.  One year it was okra that just wouldn’t quit.  This year the okra just won’t get started!  Last Autumn, there was so much broccoli we almost couldn’t stand to eat it anymore.  This season, even though the tomatoes are plentiful (if not beautiful), squash is our winner.  We have never ever seen squash plants live this long and produce this much squash.  Each week, we think that the powdery mildew is surely taking over and the whole patch is going to go down, and maybe a few plants will succumb, but not many, and those remaining continue to produce LOADS of squash.  Now our very favorite patty pan type, Bennings Green Tint is coming in.  It is more sweet and creamy than any other summer squash we have tried. 

Here’s a salad we had this week that was a real winner:

Wash and slice a long cucumber (or two short ones) in half lengthwise, then into half moon slices.  Cut a Bennings Green Tint patty pan into slices similar to the size of the cuke.  Mince a large clove of garlic.  Toss cucumber, squash, and garlic with a pinch of salt.  Cut a sprig of purple basil leaves chiffonier, and chop some chives.  Add the herbs to the salad and dress with plain yogurt and freshly ground pepper.  Beautiful and delicious!

We had a little extra help from some friends this week and got as much of the upper gardens into shape as possible.  Some portions of the melon patch are beyond recovery, but the big weeds that had threatened to take over the path between the peppers and the eggplant are subdued.  The corn/bean/squash project is in full swing, and although it is beautiful to behold, it is dreadful to encounter on foot.  All three varieties of plants do appear to be thriving.  There are large squash, beautiful bean flowers, and towering Indian corn stalks.  However, to pick the beans, one has to walk on the squash vines, and the morning glories are mixing with the bean vines in a disturbing tangle.  It will be an interesting harvest.  Nice to see hummingbirds perched on corn tassels as they take a break from the red bean flowers.  It’s great to be alive in the living world.  We planted the flat-leafed kale on the west side of the corn patch, and even though the seed was old, it germinated perfectly.  On the other side of the patch, and past the tomatoes (if you can get through the tangle of those vines!), the morning glories’ cousins, the sweet potatoes, appear to be thriving.  We don’t recall ever seeing the vines grow so tall.  They have bushed up above knee height now.  Surely it bodes well for the Autumn harvest!

Down in the lower garden, we’re rather frantically working to make room for the Fall crops.  Recent plantings of arugula look good and may be ready to harvest next week.  Don’t hold your breath, but the lettuce is shaping up nicely and will make a come back, eventually.

Recipes this week are adapted with gratitude from Susan Voison’s Vegan Kitchen Blog.  So, you could easy make both of these dishes non-vegan if that’s your preference.

Ridiculously Easy Roasted Squash and Onions

about 2 small to medium summer squash per person
1/2 small onion per person               freshly ground black pepper             salt

1) Preheat oven to 425F.
2) Lightly spray a baking sheet with canola or olive oil. Trim the ends of the squash, cut off the slender necks, and slice the necks in half, lengthwise.  Then slice each squash into lengthwise slices, about 1/4 to 1/2-inch thick.  Lay the slices on the cooking sheet in a single layer.
3) Trim the ends of the onion and peel it.  Cut it in half down through the top and place each half cut-side down on a cutting board.  Slice into thin wedges.  Separate the layers of the onions and sprinkle them over the squash.
4) Bake for about 15 minutes, until bottoms of squash begin to brown.  Sprinkle with pepper and salt, turn each slice over, and bake until bottoms of squash are browned, about 15 minutes more.  Serve immediately, hot out of oven.

Roasted Eggplant Pesto

If your sun-dried tomatoes are not packed in oil, make sure they are still soft and flexible. If they seem overly dried out, you will need to soak them in hot water before using.

1 large eggplant                     1/4 cup whole almonds

2 sun-dried tomatoes                         2 cloves garlic

2 cups basil leaves, lightly packed                1 tablespoon nutritional yeast

salt to taste

1)  To Do Ahead:

Preheat oven to 400F. Trim off and discard the stem end of eggplant and cut in half lengthwise. Place cut-side down on a baking sheet lined with a silicone liner or parchment paper. Pierce the backs of the eggplant with a fork in a few places. Bake until completely soft and somewhat collapsed, about 30 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool completely. This can be done ahead of time and stored in the refrigerator until ready to use. 

2)  At least 2 hours before using (and up to overnight), place almonds in a bowl and cover completely with water. Allow to soak at room temperature. Drain water before using.

3) Just Before Serving:

Put the almonds, sun-dried tomatoes, and garlic into food processor and pulse to chop. Peel the eggplant and add it, the basil, and the nutritional yeast to the processor and process to a coarse puree. Add salt to taste and pulse to blend.

4)  Add a tablespoon to a serving of warm pasta (if the pesto is too thick to easily coat the pasta, add a little hot water to it), or use as a spread for bread or a dip for crackers or vegetables. Store in a covered container. For best color, either press a sheet of plastic wrap onto the exposed surface or spray with a light film of olive oil.

Stripes (the new pet chic) still has no siblings, but rules the roost with Lulah as her mother hen and protector.  We enjoy sunning her and watching her develop her innate chicken-ness.  We hope that you enjoy whatever is mostly innately yours this weekend, too.

Be well ~   

Paul, Coree, Lulah and Levon Entwistle

week 13

Tomatoes        Cucumbers     Watermelon   

Summer Squash        Peppers            Eggplant        

New Zealand Spinach                       Potatoes          Garlic             

Basil                Dill      Parsley                       Sorrel    Chives

“…before we plow an unfamiliar patch, It is well to be informed about the winds, About the variations in the sky, The native traits and habits of the place, What each locale permits, and what it denies.” ~ Virgil

mama brahma hen and little stripes

The most lively news this week is that we have a hatchling.  One cute fluffy chick has hatched from underneath the two broody hens in the chicken pen.  It has feathers on its feet and a cute little stripe on its head.  Lulah calls it Stripes.  We’ve removed it from the momma hens (with frequent visitations and overnight stays) with the hopes that she will continue to hatch eggs and Stripes will soon have siblings.  In the meantime, the baby has bonded to us and follows us around and an amazing rate of speed for one so small.  She rides in pockets and on shoulders and peeps VERY LOUDLY if left alone for too long. 

The cold snap slowed down production of the okra (one day we’ll have okra), but whatever mood that the tomatoes were in has lifted and they’re back in full swing.  THIS is the week to make roasted tomato sauce (see last week’s newsletter).  It’s not so bad running the oven in the cooler weather now.  We woke one morning to find the temperature at 51 degrees!  Eight years ago, when we moved back from Maui, August was like this.  Strange, but not un-welcome.

Eggplants are enjoying life now.  If you find that you simply cannot eat 8 eggplants in the course of a week (yes, there will be more next week), you might consider freezing a few.  We love to pull them out and throw them into stir fry dishes in winter, or blend up a batch of baba ghanoush.  Just roast until they’re completely cooked, leave the skins on or off as you like, and pop them in a freezer bag for safe keeping.  Even though the harvest of peppers is not as abundant as the eggplants, the peppers are looking great.  They had to go slow with the heat and drought, but they are recovering beautifully and we foresee a beautiful crop of red and yellow sweet peppers on the horizon. 

The basil couldn’t be more beautiful right now.  Think about your pesto needs for this winter and we’ll be happy to sell extras soon.  Throw the dill heads into some cucumber dish – we just planted another row of dill, so hoping for a new batch soon.

we break for watermelon

Watermelons are looking good.  Unfortunately, we never got that last load of old hay to mulch them, so find the melons is like wading through seas of morning glory and pigweed until something round extends its shape to your eye.  Ah – a melon, with wilted tendril, white patch on the bottom, and a watery, vibratory, THUMP to it.  These are Crimson Sweet, Ali Baba, and Malali.  There will be more of next week.

New Zealand Spinach is back.  Here’s what we do… pluck off all the succulent leaves.  Toss the stems to the chickens.  Rinse and then cook the leaves, just as you would spinach.  Drain and squeeze out excess moisture, then use the greens anywhere you want a dark cooking green.  I recommend looking back at the newsletters to Chard Utopia (probably in week 1 or 2) – a spanikopita-type dish.  Or, you could make Judith’s lasagna with the summer squash and throw the NZ Spinach into the layers.  Quiche, omelet, curry, or just olive oil and roasted garlic.  There are not many dark greens in the garden this time of year.  We hope this one serves you well.

One recipe from Gaby Forte in Pacific Grove: I dice my eggplant and onions (and sweet bell peppers if I have them), and add to them walnuts and currants. Sprinkle it all with salt and pepper and extra virgin olive oil. Then bake it in the oven until the eggplant is cooked, remembering to toss them once in a while as it bakes and add little tads more of olive oil if needed. Whenever I am in a hurry I start it off on the stove, on a pan that can go straight to the oven, and finish it off there. We enjoy it on crostinis (toasted bread), alongside a giant green salad. This eggplant dish is good both hot and cold, and it makes a great sandwich for lunch on pita bread the next day. From Chef Gabriela Forte 

Princess Eggplant from Mariquita Farms (Chinese home recipe)

2 pounds smallish white or purple eggplants              3 tablespoons peanut or safflower oil
2-4 cloves garlic, chopped                                          1 bunch parsley or cilantro, chopped              

1 bunch chard (Coree says: NZ spinach), washed and chopped (ok to leave water on leaves)

sauce: Mix together with a bit of water:

2 cloves garlic, chopped                      2 Tablespoons rice vinegar
2 teaspoons sugar                                1 Tablespoon soy sauce
Tablespoon dark sesame oil                1 Tablespoon black bean sauce

Cut the eggplants into large-ish bite-sized pieces. Cook them over high heat in the oil, after 2 minutes, add the garlic and stir often, until the eggplants are mostly cooked through. Add the chard and mix in until it's wilted some, about 1 or 2 minutes.

Add the sauce to the still-hot eggplant mixture. STIR in the parsley or cilantro just after removing from the heat, serve with rice.

ah, sunflower!

In college, my friends and I used to play a game in which we would ask each other, in any given situation: “How is this (whatever it was at the moment) a metaphor for all of life?”  Wading through the jungle of tomato patch brought a metaphor clearly into focus.  The tomatoes are in full fruit.  We’ve nursed the plants from the time they were seeds in tiny one inch soil blocks on a table in our living room.  We weeded, hoed, mulched, caged and urged them through drought heat and rain into becoming what they are.  And now, we spend several hours at a time in harvest, sorting, packing, and canning them.  And, as I examine the plants, I see signs of the wearing on of the season.  There are the first withering leaves of the blight that comes every year.  There are splits and blemishes on the stem ends of the fruits.  These tell us there will be an end to this glorious tomato patch.  No matter what we do to prolong the season, it has to end sometime.  It sounds sad, but it really is OK.  I wouldn’t want to harvest the tomatoes 2 or 3 times a week all year round.   How exhausting!  What I DO want is to enjoy this bountiful harvest and see it used to its fullest, for as long as it lasts.  I will not seek to unnaturally prolong life, but certainly to make the most of it.  That’s my metaphor for all of life, this week.

Thank you all for your generous and enthusiastic support of Lulah’s farm stand.  She hopes to share many more cherry tomatoes with you soon.

                       

week 12

Sweet Corn                 Green Beans                           Cucumbers

Cantaloupe/Watermelon      Summer Squash        Peppers   Eggplant      Tomatoes        Potatoes          Garlic

Green Onions              Basil               Cilantro          Parsley

Thrush song, stream song, holy love ~ 

that flows through earthly forms and folds, 

the song of Heaven’s Sabbath fleshed ~ 

In throat and ear, In stream and stone, A grace living here as we live,~ 

Move my mind now to that which holds ~ 

Things as they change. 

~W. Berry

The summer roller coaster is running full speed ahead.  These intense thunderstorms tend to pop up on Thursday nights, fortunately AFTER we’ve gotten home.  The weeds think they are winning the garden, but the fruits are still coming, and with perseverance we shall overcome the goose grass, maintain beauty, and make room for the Fall greens in every nook and cranny.

One week is a long time in the life of a corn ear worm.  There will probably be more of them in this week’s corn harvest.  Much of this patch landed on the ground in one of the last couple storms.  They’ve held up amazingly well, all things considered.  It’s uncertain whether there will still be corn next week.  If we have any, it will be the smaller secondary ears.  Enjoy!

The fun news in the farmyard lately is that two of our hens are setting on eggs.  When we refreshed our chickens last year, we chose more old fashioned breeds with the hopes that they might “get broody” sometime and make chicks.   It’s been several years since we oriented our flock toward natural reproductive cycles.  Many modern birds have the broodiness bred out of them for the sake of better egg production.  When hens get broody and hatch chicks, they don’t want to make eggs for awhile (makes sense!).  Broodiness also tends to spread throughout a flock, so even if just one hen wants to set, the others may not lay as many eggs.  So, our egg production is down, but excitement is high to see how this whole hatching phenomena unfolds.    The chicks should be beautiful multi-purpose mutts.  We’ll try to post photos as we go along.

Lettuce is still struggling.  It seems strange that we managed to bring lettuce to town all during the drought only to have it wimp out on us now that the rain has returned!  We have a few theories: In dry conditions, roots grow deep, seeking water.  When rain pours down and the soil is soggy, the roots die back because they don’t need to go deep.  This is not good for the leaves above ground.  Also, when it pours 1 ½ to 2 inches in a sudden storm, the lettuce drowns in the anaerobic soggy soil.  A couple days later, the sun is blazing again, temperatures reach up into the high nineties, and the plant struggles to cope with the change.  Most of you know how much we love to grow, and eat, lettuce.  We’ll be glad when this little rough spell is over.

Last weekend’s storm also brought on a string of tomato explosions.  At the first picking, as soon after the rain as we could bear to get into the garden, almost half of the tomatoes were split open.  The plants had taken up so much water that the tomato fruits couldn’t contain the change in their tender skin.  That was sad.  Wednesday’s picking looks better, but still kind of rough.  The good news is that there are MANY BIG green tomatoes on the plants.  With a few good turns from the weather, we’ll see a steady stream of tomatoes for quite awhile.

This eggplant recipe is a tapas-type, not for anyone who doesn’t like to fry.  We had something similar (and stunningly delicious) in a restaurant in Asheville – with no breading.  To make it really sing, add rosemary.  I’m sure deep-frying is not necessary here.

Fried Eggplant Chips with Honey Drizzle

1 small eggplant (or Japanese), cut in half lengthwise and sliced very thinly
2 eggs, beaten well                 1 cup breadcrumbs (or seasoned breadcrumbs)
honey                                      oil for frying

Slice the eggplant lengthwise and slice very thinly. Dip the eggplant into the beaten egg and then coat with bread crumbs.  Heat the oil to 375° and fry the breaded eggplant slices until crisp and brown. Drain on cooling rack (without paper towels). Put on individual plates or large platter and drizzle with honey. Serve immediately.

And our friend Judith passed along these tips about roasting tomatoes to make a delicious sauce.  Everything we’ve ever eaten from Judith’s kitchen has been wonderful – give it a try:

Roasted Tomato Sauce

Preheat the oven to 400.  Use a large cookie sheet covered with parchment paper.
Wash and lightly core the tomatoes.  Slice in half at the widest point round.
Sit open face up and place on the pan as tightly as will fit filling the pan completely.
Sprinkle dry basil and oregano - no salt, no oil.

Roast them for about 90 min more or less.  When you see steam pouring off them and they are about 1/3 or 1/2 cooked down it's the best time to use them. 

Pull out and use when cooled enough to easily transfer to the food processor.  Make a paste or flavorful sauce by adding fresh basil, fresh garlic, a little olive oil.  Blend. Yum! Try tasting before adding salt.  I have never needed any.  Oh yes and I leave the seeds in.  Lots of recipes call to have them removed.  I don't get that at all...that's just me.

Squash Lasagne
Use the above sauce for the base.
Add any of these layers in combination to make a delightful creation:
-garlic, fresh basil, olive oil pesto      -layers of romano cheese and mozzarella
-mushrooms sauted with onions       -lightly roasted thin sliced chicken breaded with parmesan
-italian sausage                                  -thinly sliced and lightly roasted eggplant
-tofu (non gmo) with basil and parmesan as a non-dairy cheese alternative.

Slice the patty pan squash or any kind in very thin but cohesive rounds or lengthwise.
Arrange as layers in the same way you would the noodles of lasagne.
Layer sauce; squash; mushrooms & onions; cheese and pesto etc. as you would for a lasagne.
Be sure to add sauce to every other layer and finish at the top.
Bake for 1 hour at 350 or until it looks done. Might be less than an hour.

This is the end of green beans for a little while.  The okra is finally getting big enough to warrant regular picking, so we hope to send some next week.  Melons will continue to roll in, and there will be more eggplant, and maybe more chard or similar greens.  Until then…

Be well!                                                                                           Your gardeners, the Entwistles

week 10

blooming cucumbers - dense with life

Green Beans                Cucumbers      Eggplant

Peppers                        Tomatoes         Lettuce

Summer Squash          Onions             Garlic             

Basil Cutting Celery Sorrel

It's hard to believe that July is almost over - but it is.  At least the weather is finally seasonal, meaning hot and sticky beyond belief!  The kids seem to do nothing but sweat and swim, and we feel as tho we were swimming in sweat as we pull the weeds from the garden, getting ready to plant another round of squashes, cucumbers, beans, and then the Autumn crops. 

Last Thursday's intense storm knocked the corn over pretty hard, but it's recovering, and we hope to have sweet corn very soon.  Lulah found the first ripe cantaloupe and it was a winner.  It looks like the melons will be small this year, but very sweet, due to the dry spell.  The latest picking of beans is coming out very nicely, but the lettuce is suffering.  Everything enjoys having the weeds pulled away, and its wonderful to feel the good moisture in the ground again. 

The gardens are overflowing right now.  Lulah announced that she would make lunch one day this week.  She wandered through the gardens with a basket, picking a few cilantro flower heads here, a handful of green beans there, a few carrots, a small head of lettuce, some basil, and of course tomatoes (tomatoes go with everything right now).  She washed and chopped and shredded (documenting everything as she went along with her old digital camera - a born blogger!) and served us a chunky fresh salad in the heat of the day.  She's one lucky girl and she knows it.

This is the end of the carrots until the Fall.  We're looking for room to plant the next round, contemplating the needs of the garden for over-wintering cover crops, Fall greens and roots, and fallowing for spring.  It's long term thinking, and as we try to do it well, we realize how little of our modern world works this way.  It's deeply satisfying to make a compost pile with the intent that it not be used in this calendar year.  Mid-summer is the time to plan what ground to leave open over the winter so that have open ground to plant the 2013 spring garden.  We will all be a year older, hopefully wiser for our time spent living, and still grateful for something fresh from the good soil. 

Here's a winning eggplant idea from Alice Waters:

Eggplant and Tomato Pizza

Grill 1/4 inch slices of eggplant, or oven-roast them, brushed with oil and seasoned with salt and pepper.  Roll out or shape a disk of pizza dough, and brush with olive oil mixed with garlic chopped very fine.  Make an even layer of thin red onion slices, place a few thin round slices of fresh mozzarella on the onions, and arrange the grilled eggplant slices and large slices of tomato on top, in a single layer.  keep the layers light or the crust will be soggy.  Season with salt and pepper, drizzle with olive oil, and bake in a preheated 450-500 degree oven for 4 to 10 minutes, until the crust is crisp and golden brown.  Scatter basil leaves over the pizza and serve.

And then there's: Cucumber, Mango and Red Onion Salad

This is a good salad to serve with spicy Mexican food. Peel and thinly slice cucumbers, mango, and sweet red onion - about the same amount of each, but exact proportions do not matter at all.  Season to taste with freshly squeezed lime juice and salt, and garnish generously with cilantro leaves. (Wow!)

Or: Chilled Tomato Soup

4 pounds ripe tomatoes                       2 stalks celery (or some cutting celery)

2 Tablespoons salt                               3 shallots

1 small cucumber                                White wine vinegar (or balsamic)

Cut the tomatoes into quarters, put them in a bowl, add all the salt, and mix well.  Peel and seed the cucumber, clean the celery, and peel the shallots.  Cut them all into a fine dice, put the shallots in a small bowl, add just enough of the vinegar to cover, and set aside.

            After about half an hour the salt will have softened the tomatoes.  Mash them with a wooden spatula and work them through a food mill to obtain a thick tomato juice.  Add the shallots, celery, and cucumber.  Season to taste with salt and vinegar.  Use balsamic vinegar if the tomatoes need a little sweetness.  Refrigerate over ice and serve well chilled.

If any of you put up food - I have new canning lids for you.  Conventional canning lids (Ball, Kerr, and Golden Harvest are all owned by the same mega corporation) contain BPA in their sticky interiors.  The safety claim is that the BPA doesn't get in the food unless the food touches the BPA coated surface, but the more we learn about BPA, the more we want to keep it very far away from our children's food.  So, we researched and learned about Tattler lids.  Tattler is a small American company that makes these re-usable, BPA free canning lids.  They are notably more expensive than ordinary lids, but indefinitely reusable, so they get "cheaper" by the year.  We put in a large order with the bulk food co-op we order with, and have some left over to offer to anyone who wants to try them out.  You can learn more about them at: www.reusablecanninglids.com.  We have regular mouth lids available for $7/dozen (great price since we were part of a really large order).  Just let us know if you want to try them out and we'll pack them along. 

Next week, we won't have lettuce (GASP!). It will be back, we're just in a gap. There will be more green beans, most likely sweet corn, cantaloupes, and peppers. There won't be eggplant again for a couple more weeks, so make the most of these. There will still be beautiful basil, probably some cilantro, and of course, there will be tomatoes.

We hope you all have a wonderful weekend.

Paul, Coree, Lulah and Levon

A poem this week, dedicated to the logging operation going on in our adjacent woods:

In a Country Once Forested, by Wendell Berry

The young woodland remembers the old, a dreamer dreaming

of an old holy book, an old set of instructions,

and the soil under the grass is dreaming of a young forest,

and under the pavement the soil, is dreaming of grass.