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!

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 5

 Attention - If you haven't already - please pick up a CSA Membership Information sheet - or ask us to email you one.  It's summer vacation time, so please make arrangements for your basket if  you are going away! Thanks a million...

Lettuce                        Green Beans              Fresh Garlic

Chard             little Beets                   Summer Squash

Parsley                        Sorrel Cilantro          Dill     Basil    

Elegant solutions will be predicated upon the uniqueness

of place. ~ John Todd

The summer solstice was yesterday - as hard as it is to believe, we are now beginning our earthly journey tilting away from the sun.  The days are hot hot hot and we're making the most of the mornings and evenings to finish the mulching and continue irrigating.  We've had some mighty good help from good friends lately.  That's a lot to be grateful for!  The gardens look amazingly beautiful for as dry as it has been.  The corn and beans keep growing.  Some plants are moving a little slower in the drought.  They are spending their energy reaching deeper to find the moisture they need.  One of the beauties of our low hollow location is that there is water for them to find under the ground!

A good thing about all the sun is that it will be bringing the tomatoes on a little earlier.  The larger fruits are looking less green, showing just the faintest blush. The eggplants and peppers are blooming profusely now and setting small fruit.  Watermelon and cantaloupe vines are stretching their tendrils long.  I'm sweating it out for the first cucumbers to fill out.  The first planting got lost in the heat and shuffle, so we're a little behind on those cooling fruits.  Summer squashes are fully on a roll now.  Send us your best squash casserole recipes.  Here we go!

These sweet little Beets were getting just right for salad.   We enjoy them curled onto the salad with a potato peeler.  The slices are thin enough to crunch right into the salad, adding a great color element and great rooty sweetness.  Feta cheese and toasted sunflower seeds are nice compliments as well.

All recipes this week are from the Mennonite Central Committee's excellent cookbook:

Simply In Season.

Stacked Vegetable Quesadillas

1/2 sweet onion, thinly sliced                       saute in 1 Tbsp oil until translucent

1 clove garlic (or more) minced                    4 oz. mushrooms, sliced

2 carrots, julienned                                        1 summer squash, julienned

1 green or red sweet pepper, thinly sliced

Add and cook 5 minutes more just until vegetables are tender.  Salt and pepper to taste.

12 corn tortillas                                              1 1/2 cups pepper jack cheese, shredded

Assemble 4 stacks simultaneously on a baking sheet.  Start with a tortilla, top with a large spoonful of vegetables, some grated cheese, and then another tortilla.  Repeat layers, ending with a third tortilla. Place stacks in preheated over at 400F for 10-15 minutes, until cheese is melted and stacks are hot.  Cut into  quarters and serve warm with salsa, sour cream, avocado and/or chopped fresh cilantro.

Thai Green Beans

5 cup green beans                  Steam 5-8 minutes until bright green and lightly crunchy.

1/2 onion, chopped               2 Tbsp ginger root, peeled and minced

3 cloves garlic, minced

In a frypan or wok saute in 2 tsp sesame oil over medium heat until onion is tender, 5 minutes.

Add to taste: 3 Tbsp soy sauce                       2 Tbsp Thai sweet chili sauce

Add and cook 5 minutes:            1 cup firm tofu (cubed or crumbled, optional)

Add steamed beans and stir to coat with sauce.  Simmer over medium - low heat for 5 minutes.  Serve over rice.  Garnish with toasted cashews, sesame seeds, or slivered almonds.

I love these kinds of recipes!  perfect for summer birthdays...

Secret Chocolate Cake

2 cups beets, cooked, peeled, chopped         1/2 cup applesauce

puree until smooth, set aside.

1 1/2 cups sugar                                            1/2 cup oil

1/2 cup plain yogurt                                     3 eggs

combine a large mixing bowl.  beat with electric mixer 2 minutes.

1/2 cup baking cocoa, sifted                         1 1/2 tsp vanilla

add along with pureed beets; beat another 90 seconds.

2 1/2 cups flour, white, wheat or mixed     1 1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt                                                     1 tsp cinnamon

Gradually sift into the batter, mixing it in with a spoon but stirring only until blended.

1/2 cup chocolate chips and/or chopped nuts

Stir in.  Pour into a greased 9x13 pan.  Bake at 350F until knife tests clean, 40-50 minutes.  To bake in a bundt pan, pour half of batter into the greased pan, sprinkle chips or nuts evenly on top, then add remaining batter.

Variation: substitute 2-3 cups shredded raw summer squash for the cooked beets.  Use ground cinnamon and add 1/2 tsp allspice.

Paul is in the midst of fixing the tractor PTO.  Another truckload of hay is in order to mulch the melons.  Corn needs thinning.  Cucumbers need a trellis.  Lulah needs to spend most of the day up to her neck in the cool creekwater while Levon tries his hand at rock skipping and the various possibilities therein for good sound effects.  We're busy folks here, so I'll not tarry.

You be well and enjoy the harvest.

Paul, Coree, Lulah and Levon