CSA Harvest #11~

Woohoo! Here we are already at the 11th week of deliveries! It seems like fall is already here though! What happened to summer? Those cool, foggy mornings are sure nice to work in but it doesn't seem like summer unless we're sweaty and grumpy by 2. With the cooler temps the heat loving crops like melons and eggplant have slowed down. We are sure all of you will get melons (watermelons and musk melons) we are not so sure we will have an eggplant harvest. We put in two long rows hoping it would be enough for everyone and so far not an eggplant fruit to be seen! They are one of our favorite crops to harvest and eat too!

A large section of the farm is bare now as we just tilled in lots of weeds and spent crop residues to prepare new beds for the fall planting. Much of the lettuce we had planned for the CSA shares bolted in the warmer temps we had before but the chickens and the pigs have been grateful for the salad bar offerings as of late. Enjoy this week's lettuce as it will be the last for a few weeks since we did not plant in July due to the heat. Lettuce does not grow well in warmer temps. Hotter weather makes the leaves bitter and also the plant gets so stressed out from the heat it shoots up a big flowering seed stalk (this process is called bolting) and many crops have this tendency.

We hope you all marked your calendar for our annual farm potluck on Sunday September 12th from 2-6pm. I was hoping to be organized enough to assign families different dishes to bring.. although it would not be a bad thing if everyone brought desserts! beet brownies for everyone! Please give us another week of two to figure out the easiest way to assign folks dishes.. please save the date and time on your calendar though!

Another late night and early day tomorrow. We have green cabbage stockpiled in the cooler but we wanted to give you all a week's respite from it! Be prepared though since next week you will be getting another type of cabbage in your share called a savoy. Savoy cabbage has frilly leaves and is really good cooked in stir fry.

Enjoy the week's harvest!

Suzie, Asinete, M.A, Violet and Sally

Harvest This Week Includes:


Yukon Gold Potatoes

Genovese Basil Tops

Summer Squash

Garlic

Strawberries

Lettuce (Grandpa's admire and/or Black Seeded Simpson)

Chiogga Beets (beautiful white rings inside beet!)

Glacier Tomato

Cherry Tomatoes (mix of orange Sungold, black cherry and white cherry)

Insalada Caprese
yield: Serves 4 to 6
(Tomato and Mozzarella Salad)

Insalata caprese (literally, the salad from Capri)

Ingredients

* 2 pounds vine-ripened tomatoes (about 4 large), sliced 1/4 inch thick
* 1 pound fresh mozzarella, sliced1/4 inch thick
* 1/4 cup packed fresh basil or arugula leaves, washed well and spun dry
* 1/4 teaspoon dried oregano, crumbled, if using arugula instead of basil
* 3 to 4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
* fine sea salt to taste
* freshly ground black pepper to taste


Preparation

On a large platter arrange tomato and mozzarella slices and basil leaves, alternating and overlapping them. Sprinkle salad with oregano and arugula and drizzle with oil. Season salad with salt and pepper.


Bruschetta ~ another way to pair that tasty basil with those tasty tomatoes! serves up to 16 as an appetizer

Ingredients

* 1 French baguette, cut into 1/2 inch thick circles
* 8 plum tomatoes, diced
* 1 cup chopped fresh basil
* 1/2 red onion, minced
* freshly ground black pepper
* 3 cloves garlic

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
2. Combine tomato, basil, and red onion in a small mixing bowl; stir well. Season with freshly ground black pepper. Set aside.
3. Arrange bread on a baking sheet. Place in oven, and bake until well toasted, approximately 5 minutes.
4. Remove bread from oven, and transfer to a large serving platter. Let bread cool 3 to 5 minutes. Rub garlic into the top of each slice of toast; the toast should glisten with the garlic. Spoon the tomato mixture generously onto each slice, and serve.


Cream of Tomato and Basil Soup

serves 4


Ingredients

* 4 tomatoes - peeled, seeded and diced (not necessary to peel and seed according to comments from people who made this dish)
* 4 cups tomato juice
* 14 leaves fresh basil
* 1 cup heavy whipping cream
* 1/2 cup butter
* salt and pepper to taste

Directions

1. Place tomatoes and juice in a stock pot over medium heat. Simmer for 30 minutes. Puree the tomato mixture along with the basil leaves, and return the puree to the stock pot.
2. Place the pot over medium heat, and stir in the heavy cream and butter. Season with salt and pepper. Heat, stirring until the butter is melted. Do not boil.

Nutritional Information open nutritional information

Amount Per Serving Calories: 473 | Total Fat: 45.4g | Cholesterol: 143mg


Suzie's Oven Roasted Yukon Golds
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Scrub your yukon gold taters until skins are clean and then cut into bite size chunks to make home fries. Add the cut pieces to a large mixing bowl. Next dice up as much of the garlic as you like for flavor. We love garlic so we put at least 1/2 of the whole head of garlic in with enough tater pieces to fill a standard cookie sheet. Add garlic pieces to the bowl and then season bowl with salt, pepper, and even cayenne pepper for a bite. If you have some flat leaf parsley in your fridge still you could dice fine and add to tater mix. Add enough olive oil to mix to coat all potato pieces. Mix up everything in bowl with clean hand to be sure pieces are evenly coated. Spread out pieces on cookie sheet and bake for 20 mins. Flip pieces with spatula after 20 mins and cook another 20 mins. Continue cooking and flipping every 10 mins until done (usually 25 mins on each side).


Need beet inspiration? We posted some great recipe ideas for beets on the blog for the week 9 delivery (2 weeks ago).


Enjoy!!!!!!!!!