CSA Harvest #14

Happy Fall or is it winter out already?! Just what we weren't hoping for is a late spring and an early fall... it is frustrating and frightening when the business you run is solely dependent upon the weather. We are keeping eagle eyes on the weather report to make sure more rain is not expected. This early in the season rain is not a welcome sight as it wreaks havoc in several areas. First of all the ripening strawberries get wet and then begin to mildew very quickly. We are still hoping for a strawberry harvest this week but please eat berries promptly as they won't last as long. We are also drying nearly a ton of assorted onion varieties on wooden pallets under the trees in our yard. The onions need time to fully dry and "cure" before their tops can be cut and they can be stored away in boxes. Luckily the rain was light enough that it did not get through the thick canopy of pine trees so our onions stayed dry and happy.. also we have been storing the potatoes in the ground as they keep better here than in boxes.. as long as the ground stays dry! So hopefully this light rainfall made the soil just moist enough to easily excavate this week's potatoes for your baskets.

We got some great shots of farm life that I wanted to post on here and of course now the blog doesn't want to upload them.. grrrr! Check back and hopefully it will decide to let me post some!

We have had an unpleasant learning experience on the farm and that has to do with the sweet corn. As many of you know we farm on two different (but adjacent) properties. We have two of our own acres that we farm and then next door 3 acres farmed on our friends land. Our 2 acre patch is long and narrow so for ease of farming with the tractor we decided to run our beds long along the whole length of the field. On our neighbors side we have the rows cutting across the width of the field. What happens is the wind almost always comes up from the river and sweeps across the crops. This year we planted much of the sweet corn on our neighbors side. The problem with that is that the wind hits the first rows of corn and blows them back to hit the next row and then you have a huge, messy, headache of corn domino effect. This corn domino effect is exacerbated by watering too late in the morning leaving the soil soggy for the the afternoon winds and plop there falls another corn stalk. Asinete and I have already spent several hours in the corn patch straightening up every crooked stalk and packing dirt around their base to keep straight. All looks well again until you look out a few hours later and see them all laying down again. Corn excels on our side though due to the way our beds run. The wind blows between corn and not through them making for happy corn and happy farmers. If you are coming on the farm tour you may notice our last plating of corn that looks like a tornado whipped through it.. don't be alarmed but do know that we've learned our lesson!

Actually did some cooking this Sunday and had some amazing results with a recipe for tomato confit that we will post below.

We hope to hear from more of you who will be attending the farm tour Sunday September 12th from 2-6pm. There will be music, ice cream making, socializing, recipe swapping, laughing and farm tours.. if you plan on coming please RSVP and let us know what dish you will be bringing to share.. (a potluck of nothing but zucchini bread could be interesting)!


Enjoy the harvest this week and thank you again for helping to keep local farmers employed in these tough times~

Suzie, Asinete, M.A., Violet and Sally (the awesome volunteer trio!)



Harvest This Week Includes:

Asinete's Luscious Sweet Corn (last of first planting~ should be lots more by next week!)

Red Marble and Walla Walla Onions

Strawberries

Cherry Tomato Mix

Summer Squash

Potatoes (red pontiac/yukon gold)

Glacier Tomatoes

Bartlett Pears (light harvest)

Nantes Carrots

Italian Flat Leaf Parsley

Cucumbers

How to Store it and Cook it!

Your sweet nantes carrots will actually keep better if you lop the tops off of them and leave them wrapped in plastic bag in crisper drawer. The tops will suck the moisture out of the root leaving you with a limp, rubbery carrot.. bleh!

Glazed Carrots
Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups of carrots, sliced.
2 tablespoons of butter.
2 tablespoons of brown sugar.
1 teaspoon of orange peel, grated.
1/2 teaspoon of salt.
Directions:

Cook the carrots in hot water until they are tender. Drain.

Melt the butter in a skillet.

Add the cooked carrots, sugar, grated orange peel, salt.

Cook over a medium heat, stirring constantly, until carrots are glazed.

Serve as desired.

Some recipe ideas for the bumper crop of summer squash!

Oven-roasted summer squash

Makes 4 servings

2 Tbsp. olive oil
2-3 Tbsp. lemon pepper
1 Tbsp. dried rosemary
1 lb. potatoes, scrubbed and diced
1 1/4 lbs. summer squash; combination zucchini, crookneck, etc., in 1 inch cubes
1 large red onion, cut into 1 inch chunks

1. Put oil, lemon pepper, rosemary (crush first) and potatoes into plastic bag. Shake well to coat.
2. Add squash to bag; shake again to coat.
3. Spread veggies on shallow baking pan. Roast at 400 degrees for 30 minutes. Increase oven temperature to 450 degrees, stir vegetables, and continue roasting until brown, about 20 minutes.

Jazar wa Kusa (Zucchini and Carrots, a recipe from Egypt)
adapted from Mediterranean Vegetables by Clifford Wright

2 large fat carrots, sliced diagonally about 1/4 inch thick
2 zucchini, ends trimmed, sliced diagonally about 1/4 inch thick
1 teaspoon freshly ground cumin seeds
Salt & pepper to taste
2 Tablespoons olive oil

1. In a large bowl, toss the carrots and zucchini together with the cumin and season with salt and pepper.

2. Heat the oil in a large skillet over med-low heat and cook the carrots and zucchini until crisply and tender, 25 to 30 minutes, tossing frequently. Serve hot.


Broiled Squash with Tomatoes~ serves 4
Ingredients:
2 small zucchini
2 small yellow squash
4 small tomatoes
1 clove garlic
5 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/3 cup seasoned bread crumbs
salt -- to taste
freshly ground black pepper -- to taste

Directions:

Scrub zucchini & yellow squash under cold running water; rinse & dry with paper towels. Trim ends and discard. Halve each squash lengthwise; set aside.

Wash tomatoes & dry with paper towels. Cut 1/2 inch thick slice from top of each tomato and, using a sharp paring knife, cut around top in zigzag pattern; set tomatoes aside.

Peel & mince garlic. Set aside.

Melt butter in a small saucepan over low heat; set aside.

Preheat broiler.

Brush cut sides of squash halves with some of the butter. Place cut-side down on a broiler rack set 3 inches from heating element & broil 5 minutes. Turn squash & broil another 3 minutes.

Meanwhile, stir garlic, bread crumbs, and salt & pepper into remaining butter.

Add tomatoes to broiler rack with squash, sprinkle all veggies with crumb mix, & broil another 2 minutes, or just until crumbs are golden brown.

Carefully transfer veggies to platter. Cover loosely with foil and keep warm on stove top until ready to serve.

Cherry Tomato Confit (tried and true recipe! yummy!)

Take all the cherry tomatoes from your CSA basket. Discard stems and place on cookie sheet or baking dish.. tomatoes should be in a single layer, use more trays as needed. Use lots of garlic! Add whole cloves or cloves that are cut in half.. the more garlic the better! Add your favorite herbs such as rosemary, basil, thyme, sage and salt and pepper and then drizzle heavily with olive oil. Mix all this together with your hands until tomatoes are evenly coated with oil and herbs. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Bake tomatoes until they begin to shrivel and turn almost jellylike. Should bake for at least an hour before done. We made several quarts and froze in the freezer in jars. This confit is wonderful on bread, tossed with pasta, in a salad, topping for meat... possibilities are endless!

Enjoy!!