Big Lick Farm

CSA Harvest #21~ The Garlic is In!

2011-10-18T21:26:00.000-07:00

Many thanks to our awesome CSA members who spent their Sunday afternoon helping us plant 2,400 feet of garlic for next season! As you can see from the pictures above everyone seemed to have a great time and the old adage of "many hands make light work" rings true! There were a few things about garlic which I forgot to add in last week's blog. For one garlic is the most important crop that we save our seed from each year to replant. The taste of garlic actually improves as it is grown on the same soil year after year. Die hard garlic enthusiast claim the subtle flavors from the soil can be tasted in the garlic much the way a wine aficionado can swirl wine in their mouth and describe the soil it was grown in by the subtle notes in the wine.
The garlic we planted on Sunday was given to us two years ago by our good friends and fellow CSA farmers Norm and Cinda Lehne who farm out Garden Valley Blvd. For the first year or two of our CSA season we really relied on Norm and Cinda for support and growing advice for this climate that was new to us. We traded items back and forth in our CSA (we grow crops they do not and vice versa). Finally we seemed to get a handle on when to get things in the ground so we were able to make it the full 26 weeks with the items we had grown on the farm that we did not need to go pillage Norm and Cinda's fields in search of extra produce to fill that baskets.
Every year around this time we catch our breaths, survey the fields and the storage sheds and hope we have enough product left to make it through the remaining CSA weeks. For the last few years we have pulled though.. this year because the summer birth of Tione we are a little more anxious than usual. One huge bonus is that we have not yet had a frost and we hope that the warm, sunny weather will last as long as possible!

This week you will notice an extra goody in your CSA share and that is the addition of Asian pears that a fellow CSA member told us about. Asinete and I picked them Monday at an organic pear orchard out on Del Rio Rd outside of Roseburg. The man who had planted and tended the trees had passed away and there was no one left to tend to and harvest the fruit. The orchard had been open to u-pickers but there were still soft, rotting fruit in a thick layer all over the ground. It made it hard to pick as we slid around in the pear slurry. We are happy that these will not be wasted and we hope will be relished by you!`

Enjoy and we will see you next week! Five more weeks to go!

Suzie, Asinete, Tione, M.A, Sally, Grandma GG and Violet

Harvest This Week Includes:

Asian Pears (will keep best in your fridge)

Carrots

Watermelon

Kale (Red Russian or Winterbor) *kale chips recipe below yumm!

Red Meat Radish

Shallots

Onion

Yukon Gold Potatoes

Boothby Blonde Cucumbers

Cilantro

Tomatoes (not pretty but all we could muster)

Delicata Winter Squash

How to Cook It

Winter squash is different from summer squash in that it has a hard rind on it that allows it to be stored at room temperature for months at a time. There are many different varieties of winter squash and most need to be cured (well dried for several weeks) before eating but delicata is one of the few you can eat without curing. Winter squash is chock full of vitamins and minerals!
Classic Baked Delicata Squash
1 Delicata squash
1 tablespoon Butter
2 tablespoon Brown Sugar
2 teaspoons Maple Syrup
Pinch of salt
A pinch of fresh ground pepper (optional)
A pinch of cayenne pepper (optional)
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Using a strong knife, cut the squash in half lengthwise. Spoon out seeds and stringy bits in the center of each half. (save the seeds!) Place each half in a baking pan, cut side up. Rub 1/2 Tbsp. butter on the inside of each half. Add a pinch of salt (and black pepper and cayenne if you wish), add 1 Tbsp brown sugar to each half, then drizzle each half with maple syrup. Adding a little water, about 1/4 inch, to the bottom of the baking pan will help keep the squash from drying out.

Bake for an hour, or until the squash is very soft. When serving, if there is any of the sugary butter sauce left, spoon that over the squash.

Serves 2

yield: Makes 6 servings

This is my favorite way to cook winter squash. You peel, and slice it, then cook it in a skillet with cider and winter herbs.
adapted from Bon Appétit

Ingredients

2 medium delicata squash (about 2 pounds) or other firm winter squash
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/4 cup very coarsely chopped fresh sage
1 tablespoon coarsely chopped fresh rosemary
1 1/2 cups fresh unfiltered apple cider or juice
1 cup water
2 teaspoons sherry vinegar
1 teaspoon salt
Freshly ground black pepper
print a shopping list for this recipe

Preparation 1. Squash. If using delicata squash, peel it with a vegetable peeler, cut it lengthwise in half, and scrape out the seeds with a spoon. Cut each piece lengthwise in half again, then crosswise into 1/2-inch -thick slices. Other types of squash should be peeled with a chef's knife, seeded, cut into 1-inch wedges, then sliced 1/2-inch thick.

2. Herb Butter. Melt the butter in a large (12-inch) skillet over low heat. Add the sage and rosemary and cook, stirring, until the butter just begins to turn golden brown, 3 to 5 minutes. Do not brown the herbs. Cooking the herbs in butter mellows their flavor and improves their texture.

3. Cooking the squash. Add the squash to the skillet, then the apple cider, water, vinegar, and salt. Cook, stirring occasionally, over medium heat at an even boil until the cider has boiled down to a glaze and the squash is tender, 20 to 30 minutes. Taste and season with pepper, and additional salt if needed.

Vegan Cheesy Kale Chips (guaranteed delicious!)

First you will need to make the sauce to coat the kale chips. We just use a regular old blender which works fine!

CASHEW CREAM
1 cup raw cashews. Rinse the cashews under cold water. Place the cashews in a glass bowl, cover with 1 - 2 inches of water, cover and refrigerate for at least 8 hours. Remove from fridge, rinse with cold water, place in blender and cover with
1 - 2 inches of water. Turn the blender switch to high and blend until cashew mixture is completely homogeneous.

Step 2: season the Cashew Cream. I added about a teaspoon each of garlic powder, cayenne pepper, freshly ground black pepper, and sea salt, but you can season however you want. A few tablespoons of nutritional yeast add the "cheezy" flavor. Pay a visit to your local health food store for nutritional yeast. (You can often buy it in the bulk section by the scoop and it makes a great popcorn topping!) A lot of recipes called for bell pepper, which would add some great nutrition and flavor.

Step 3: Rinse the kale and tear it into smaller (but not too small because it will shrink a good deal when you bake it) pieces. Pat or spin it dry so the "cheeze" sticks.

Step 4: Coat the kale with the cashew cream mixture. Just pour it on top and toss it with your hands in a large bowl.

coat the kale in your "cheezy" cashew cream

Step 5: Spread the kale thin on a parchment lined cookie sheet (2 sheets should be enough for 1 bunch of kale). Bake at 375 until crispy, wait 15 minutes and then flip with a pair of tongs and bake for another 10-15 minutes until crispy.

Eat right away or else keep sealed up tight as it quickly loses its crisp!

CSA Harvest #20

2011-10-11T14:44:00.000-07:00

Welcome to week 20 of eating locally! For many of you this has been a new experience to enjoy food harvested and grown right in your community. Some of you have been with us since our humble beginnings and this will be your 98th week of eating our produce (considering that this is our 4th year running the CSA program).
In these four years we have tried many crops and moved our CSA drop off location three times. As many of you know the first year our drop off was at the old New Day Market location downtown by the Bagel Tree. Having people pick up their CSA shares at New Day provided us cooler space to keep CSA shares cool and fresh on hot days and also it had the benefit of bringing more business in to New Day. We were there for half a season before we had to move due to the uncertainty of New Days time left in the building and lack of space for their product and our CSA shares in their cooler. At that point a CSA member who lived in Hughcrest offered us their home as a drop off and so we finished our first year and second season dropping off there. The third and fourth year has brought us to Broccoli Street where we hope to stay as long as they let us :).

This past weekend was spent spreading cover crop seeds since the rains we have had moistened the soil enough for us to work it up without the ground turning to dust and blowing away. Walking through the cleared fields with a hand spreader to be sure the seeds are evenly dispersed. Planting cover crops is one of my favorite things to do on the farm. It is the one crop that we plant for the health of the ground and the one crop that we do not harvest. We always seem to battle the pigeons though as they appear overnight after we plant the cover crop seeds. There are always seeds that are not buried that the pigeons find. I try chasing them out of the field with the dogs barking behind me. They fly off in a cloud, circling the farm and valley only to land again and resume eating more exposed seeds when we've gone. We always hope there are enough seeds hidden from the pigeons to sprout!

This coming week also marks garlic planting time where we will go through our storage garlic, choose out the largest heads, separate them into cloves and begin planting out. Garlic has the longest growing season of any other crop on the farm. It requires nearly 10 months of growing before it is ready to harvest! When planted now in mid- October it will not be ready to harvest until around the 4th of July. We hope you will still be with us to enjoy it then!

If any of you would care to join us in planting out the garlic please let us know via email or phone. We are planning on planting it out this Sunday October 16th from 1-4pm(ish). Many hands make light work!

Thank you for supporting local farmers!

Suzie, Asinete, Tione, M.A, Sally, Violet and Grandma GG

Harvest This Week Includes:

French fingerling Potatoes

Onions

Garlic

Salad Turnips

Head lettuce (we had to fight the deer for these heads.. you may notice they sampled some of yours).

Hot pepper mix (Serranos, Anaheim and Jalapeno)

Tomatoes (not the prettiest due to the rain!)

Strawberries OR Raspberries

Watermelon (this week for sure!) Last week we were forced to skip it due to lack of room in the baskets and the fact that our second delivery truck died in the field forcing us to fit everything in one truck).

Boothby Blonde Cucumbers

Summer Squash

Italian Flat Leaf Parsley

Eggplant

Recipe Ideas

Roasted Parsley Potatoes

2 lbs potatoes (if you can find fingerling potatoes, use them.)
1/4 cup olive oil
2 tablespoons mayonnaise
2 tablespoons garlic, minced
2 tablespoons parsley, chopped
1 tablespoon basil, chopped
salt
pepper
grated Parmesan and chopped parsley (to garnish) (optional)

Directions:

1.Preheat oven to 375°F 2. Cut potatoes into large pieces (if potatoes are small, you can leave them whole). Do not peel skin. 3. In a large bowl, fold the rest of the ingredients (except the garnishing) with the potatoes and make sure that the potatoes are coated with all the ingredients. 4. Place potatoes in roasting pan uncovered. 5. Roast for about 30 minutes, stirring occasionally, until potatoes are golden brown in some spots and cooked through. 6. Garnish with parmesean and chopped fresh parsley if desired.

Curried TurnipsOne chopped onion

2 tablespoons oil
5 or 6 turnips sliced thin
2 teaspoons curry powder
1 teaspoon salt
one lemon, cut into wedges

Sauté the onion in the oil for a few minutes until translucent. Add the turnips, the curry powder and salt and cook until everything is tender. Squeeze some lemon juice over the dish before serving and serve with extra lemon wedges.

Enjoy! Next week: delicata winter squash and kale!

CSA Harvest #19

2011-10-04T17:11:00.000-07:00

Nothing says Autumn like a truckload full of harvested winter squash! Asinete, Tione and I and a helper spent Sunday hauling in the winter squash from out in the field. We knew the rain was coming and wanted to get the squash in while they were dry. We will have five varieties to share with you in the coming weeks.. butternut, green acorn, Cha Cha (a green Kabocha variety), delicata and Red Kuri. If you are new to the winter squash world you are in for a treat! Winter squash are sweet, chock full of nutrients and cook up wonderfully in pies and many other dishes (also while they are sitting on your counter waiting to be used they add quite a festive flair!) You can see Asinete above doing his best Jack 'O Lantern face!

The first fall rains on the farm are welcome as they give all the crops a good drenching.. doing a much more thorough job than we do with our irrigation system. The rain is not good for the berries however.. it makes them wet, soggy and quick to spoil so please enjoy your berries quickly!

We spent another part of Sunday erecting a large carport to store our tractor implements under this winter. This year we have invested in our new Kubota tractor along with the costly implements of a new rototiller and flail mower.

In the next coming weeks we will be cleaning up the farm.. tilling in old crops and starting to plant out our cover crops which will arrive this week (all 350 pounds of them!) We will need to make the tough call about when to call it quits on the strawberry patch and till them in before the ground is too muddy to work. The strawberries you have been enjoying this year are now in their second year which is their last year. As the years progress the berries produce less and less, are smaller and not as sweet. This coming Spring we will replant 2,000 new strawberry crowns and will be rewarded soon after with large, sweet berries!

The last big planting we will do this Fall is planting out our garlic. We would love to have some help planting out the cloves. We will be planting it out on Sunday October 16th from 1-4 pm. There will be snacks provided! Please let us know if you can make it out even if just for an hour.

Enjoy the tastes of Fall!

Suzie, Asinete, Tione, M.A, Sally, Violet & Grandma GG

Harvest This Week Includes:

Beets

Red Meat Radish *also called watermelon radish.. cut them open and see why!

Sweet Corn (please excuse the corn ear worm at the top. The tip of the corn is all they should be living in.. simply cut off the tip and eat!)

Strawberries OR Raspberries

Boothby Blonde Cucumbers ( a crunchy, sweet, heirloom gherkin from Maine)

Basil

Tomatoes (large ones only this week.. the rain made all the cherry toms split open)

Sweet Peppers (some are ugly we know. These have been sunburned. Just cut away that part and eat the rest.. they are still good!)

Shallot

Yellow Copra Storage Onions

French Fingerling Potatoes (look at the beautiful blush inside when you cut it!)

Watermelon (finally!) Instead of eating cold out in the warm sunshine you may have to eat huddled up by your wood stove!) Eat it and relive the long days of summer :)

Recipe Ideas

Beet Risotto with Purple Greens

6 cups vegetable stock
1 tablespoon butter
2 tablespoons olive oil
3 small spring onion bulbs, chopped
1 spring garlic stem, or 4 garlic chives, chopped
1 1/2 cups Arborio rice
1/2 cup dry red wine
3 tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped
3 tablespoons fresh basil, chopped
3 medium beets, peeled and grated
3 cups of greens – use the beet greens, and if you need to make up the difference, you can add chard, kale or spinach.
Salt and pepper to taste
3/4 cup fresh grated Parmesan
Zest and juice of one lemon

Bring stock to a simmer on the stove. In another large, wide-bottomed stock pot, heat the butter and olive oil, then add the onion and garlic and cook on medium heat until translucent, about 2 minutes. Add the rice, stir to coat it, and cook for 1 minute.

Add red wine, stir, and simmer until it is absorbed. Stir in the parsley, basil, and beets, plus some salt and pepper to taste. Combine well, then add 2 cups of the stock, cover and cook at an energetic simmer until the liquid is absorbed.

Begin adding the remaining stock at 1/2 cup increments, stirring constantly until each addition has been absorbed. When you have a half cup left, add the chopped beet greens. When the last ½ cup is absorbed, stir in 1/2 cup of Parmesan cheese. Taste for salt and pepper, and sprinkle with remaining Parmesan. Garnish with parsley and serve.

Watermelon Radish
This gorgeous root crop, also called red meat or red heart radish, is
less spicy than other radishes. It is great sliced thin or grated raw into
salads, roasted with olive oil and herbs or butter and brown sugar, or
sliced or diced into a stir fry or soup. Red heart radish slices are great
chip or cracker substitutes to use with hummus and other dips, and
make great edible garnishes for any dish. The tops can also be sautéed
like any other green.

CSA Harvest #18

2011-09-27T21:37:00.001-07:00

Happy Fall! As much as we love the long summer days the beginning of Fall excites us as well. Fall on the farm is all about cleaning up the remains of the season. Much of this clean-up is done after the first hard frost when the last, brave tomatoes, eggplant and peppers succumb to the freezing weather. At this time we can pull out the weed mat, roll up the drip tape, and pull out t-posts that we use for staking tomatoes. This season we planted 520 main season tomato plants in addition to the 120 early Glacier and Oregon Spring toms. We get a little nutty for tomatoes over here!

Fall also means the time to plant garlic (helpers anyone?) and also prepare the ground for planting our overwintering cover crops.
For cover cropping in the winter we plant a cold hardy mixture of vetch, bell beans and cow peas. These three plants are legumes which fix nitrogen (a crucial nutrient needed by plants. Cover crops also help hold the soil in place with their roots to prevent soil erosion. Insects and other animals love cover crops too since it provides a habitat for them to live in. Last it is much more beautiful to us to look out and see cover crops growing then bare mud in the fields and we rest easy knowing we are doing right by the soil.
Winter time for these farmers means some R&R and road trips so unlike many of you who greet the upcoming winter with dread we tend to mark our calendars and count down the days!

In that spirit please enjoy your 18th week of produce.. there are 8 more weeks of CSA left.. 8 more weeks until Thanksgiving.. yikes!

The Big Lick Crew: Suzie, Asinete, Tione, M.A, Violet, Sally and Grandma GG

Harvest This Week Includes:

Salad Turnips (no need to peel... super buttery and sweet!)

Corn

Strawberries OR Raspberries (with shortening/cooler days now not as many)

Salad Greens (please wash again and remove excess water to keep uber fresh)

Summer Squash

Red and Yellow Sweet Onions (get ready for the massive onion onslaught! We have loads of them!)

Eggplant (Purple is called Dancer and the smaller with white stripes is called Fairy Tale)

Garlic

Cilantro (salsa time!!)

Cherry Tomatoes

San Marzano Roma Tomatoes

Hot pepper mix (Hungarian Hot Wax, Jalapeno, Serrano and Poblano)

Carrots

*No recipes again this week.. our apologies.. This farmer/mommy cannot keep her eyes open any longer as the time now is 10:38pm Tues eve) For recipe ideas please check out allrecipes.com

Thank you!

CSA Harvest #17

2011-09-20T20:56:00.001-07:00

Thank you to all of you who came and shared scrumptious food at Big Lick Farm's 4th Annual Farm Tour/Potluck. We feasted like Kings and grooved to the smooth sounds of Mato's musical mix and Steve's accordion. We hope you all had as much fun as we did! Getting our CSA members to the farm is an important part of the season. We like you to know where your food comes from and to see the fields that pumped out the produce to you and your family. We are consistently amazed at how much food this small plot of land produces.
Each year we plan on recording the weights of everything we harvest just to keep track of yields but it has not happened yet. We would love at the end of the year to say we harvested 600 pounds of cantaloupe, 1,000 pounds of beets etc. This information would be tallied each year to see if our farming techniques are becoming more efficient or not. Successful farmers (like all business minded folks) keep careful records each season of what they planted and where, crop yields, season challenges, what crops performed best and which should not be planted again and more. We are learning the important art of record keeping. Especially important each season is the dates you plant a certain crop so we know for next season. Organization and record keeping is a skill we still have not yet mastered but we will keep trying!

There were plenty of pictures taken at the potluck and this blog is having trouble posting them. We should have some posted by next week. Also check Big Lick Farm's Facebook site for potluck pics!

Enjoy the last week of summer's bounty.. that is right.. we only have two more days of summer left... Friday is the Autumnal Equinox. Soon time for winter squash and hot soups!

Your farmers: Suzie, Asinete, Tione, M.A, Sally, Grandma GG, Violet

Harvest This Week Includes:

Desiree and Purple Majesty Potatoes

Rainbow Chard

Summer Squash

Shallot

Red Onion

Strawberries OR Raspberries. *both are in a lull. You may get both or you may get one or the other. We are not sure yet as more to harvest in the am.

Heirloom Tomatoes

Mix Cherry Tomatoes

Luscious Sweet Corn (if you find a worm in the top simply cut off the tip. This is the corn ear worm which affects the later plantings of corn.)

Bartlett Pears

Carrots

Grapes

Please remember your sweet corn is best if you eat it now! If you cannot eat immediately store in your fridge.

CSA Harvest #16

2011-09-13T20:41:00.000-07:00

If you are what you eat then this week each of you will be sweet corn! Finally after the weeks and months of waiting it is ready and we have lots of it to share! We're sure you remember of us writing about the corn woes we faced earlier this year when the seed kept rotting in the cold soil.
Also we are cursed with the dreaded wire worm at our farm which is the larvae of the click beetle. Crop rotations are a must when dealing with wire worm as they love root crops, corn and brassicas (cabbages/broccoli). In fact the last harvest of carrots you had were looking so beautiful and the next week we went to harvest more of them and the wire worms had moved in and made ugly tunnels through them and we had to share the rest with the pigs and not you.

When farming you must learn to roll with the punches since many of the things you plant and tend and care for never come to fruition. The bugs or deer eat them or the weeds take over seemingly overnight. Farming definitely teaches you the art of letting go. Each Fall we watch sadly as the first hard frost kills off the tomatoes, peppers and eggplant. Of course this sadness is quickly overshadowed by the growing excitement we feel at having some down time in the winter.

At this time of year on the farm we are busy clearing up spent crops (such as the cantaloupe which are done now). Also the large block of early tomatoes that you enjoyed early this summer. We are still planting as well, lettuce, spinach, chard, bok choy, radish and turnips. Enough things to carry us through the last weeks of CSA harvests.

We are embarrassed to be showing off the fields this year to those of you attending the potluck. Dealing with weeds on an organic farm is a battle and this season it is a battle we have lost! Instead of calling the farm walks "farm tours" we may be instead calling them weed identification walk. C'est la vie! Next year is a clean start!

We hope to see you all this Sunday for the potluck and weed identification walk! :)

Your farmers~ Suzie, Asinete, M.A, Violet, Sally and Grandma GG

Harvest This Week Includes:

Easter Egg Radish (we are more impressed with the leaves on these! Recipe ideas for the leaves below!)

Baby greens (a mix of arugula, mustard and green bibb lettuce)

Jalapenos (salsa anyone?)

Heirloom Tomatoes

Cherry Tomatoes

Luscious Sweet Corn

Cucumbers

Summer Squash

Watermelon

Summer Squash

Bartlett Pears

Grapes

Garlic

Yellow Sweet Onion

Raspberries

How to Keep it Fresh and Eat it!

The Bartlett Pear!~
The Williams' bon chretien pear, commonly called the Williams pear, or Bartlett pear in the U.S. and Canada, is the most commonly grown variety of pear in most countries outside Asia. It is the pear that is most commonly used for canned pears. It is wonderful eaten fresh and also when baked. If your pears are still too firm to eat leave them at room temperature to ripen. Once they are ripe and soft to the touch they will last longer in the refrigerator.

Pear Frangipane Tart
Servings: 8

Pastry for 9-inch tart pan

1/2 pound blanched almonds

2/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon sugar, divided

3 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 teaspoons grated orange zest

1 tablespoon Oloroso or other sweet Sherry

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons butter, cut into 8 pieces

3 ( 1/2-pound) Bartlett pears, firm but ripe

Apple cider vinegar

1 tablespoon butter, melted

1. Prepare the pastry and fit it into a 9-inch tart pan with a removable bottom. Refrigerate until well chilled, about 20 minutes. Prick the shell with a fork and bake until lightly golden, about 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and let come to room temperature.

2. Heat the oven to 375 degrees and place a baking sheet on a low rack.

3. In a food processor, grind the almonds. Add 2/3 cup sugar, the eggs, vanilla, orange zest, Sherry and salt, and process to make a smooth, sticky paste. With the motor running, drop in the butter through the feed hole, piece by piece, and process until smooth.

4. Peel the pears, cut them in half lengthwise and with a spoon remove the vein for the stem and the seed pit. As you finish each pear half, slip it into a work bowl filled with a mixture of 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar and enough water to cover all of the pears.

5. Spread the almond mixture in the base of the tart, using the back of a spoon to spread it as evenly as possible.

6. Pat each pear half dry and carefully cut it into thin crosswise slices, about 1/8 inch, keeping the pear in its original form. As you finish each pear half, lift it, using the flat of the knife as a spatula, and carefully place it in the tart pan, with the narrow stem end toward the center. Gently press down into the frangipane. Place each subsequent pear half next to the previous one in a spoke pattern until the tart is filled. Brush the pears with the melted butter and sprinkle with about 1 tablespoon sugar.

7. Place the tart pan on the baking sheet and bake until the almond mixture is puffed and golden and the pears are tender, 40 to 45 minutes. Serve at room temperature.

Each serving: 355 calories; 149 mg. sodium; 89 mg. cholesterol; 21 grams fat; 4 grams saturated fat; 37 grams carbohydrates; 9 grams protein; 5.04 grams fiber.

Pear and Apple Salad with Cranberry Vinaigrette

Total Time: 25 minutes

Servings: 4

1/2 cup rice vinegar

1/2 cup cranberry juice

1/4 cup minced dried cranberries

1 tablespoon minced shallot

2 teaspoons sugar

1/2 teaspoon chopped fresh rosemary

2 teaspoons olive oil

Salt

Cracked pepper

1 pear

1 apple

1 lemon, cut in half

1 endive, sliced crosswise

5 cups mixed salad greens

1/4 cup toasted walnuts, coarsely chopped

1. Combine the rice vinegar, cranberry juice, cranberries, shallot, sugar, rosemary, olive oil and salt and pepper to taste. Let the dressing stand for the flavors to meld.

2. Meanwhile, cut the pear into quarters then core and slice. Place the slices in a shallow dish filled with water and the juice of half a lemon; the liquid should cover the fruit. Cut the apple into quarters, core and slice. Place the slices in a shallow dish with water and the juice of the remaining lemon half to cover.

3. Just before serving, drain the pears and apples. Toss together in a large bowl with the endive and salad greens. Arrange the salad on a platter and sprinkle with the toasted walnuts. Serve the dressing alongside.

Each serving: 250 calories; 1,143 mg sodium; 0 cholesterol; 7 grams fat; 1 gram saturated fat; 46 grams carbohydrates; 2 grams protein; 5.99 grams fiber.

Honey-Poached Pear with Greek Yogurt and Toasted Walnuts
Total time: 50 minutes, plus cooling time

Servings: 4

1/4 cup plus 4 teaspoons honey, divided

2 cups sugar

1/2 slice lemon

3 black peppercorns

1/2 vanilla bean, split lengthwise

2 large Bartlett pears

1/2 lemon

1/2 cup Greek yogurt

1/2 cup toasted walnut pieces

1/2 teaspoon melted butter

1. Combine 4 cups water, one-fourth cup of the honey, the sugar, lemon slice and peppercorns in a large saucepan. Using a knife, scrape the seeds from the vanilla bean and add to the mixture. Bring to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer 10 minutes to blend the flavors.

2. Add the pears and simmer until they are tender, about 15 to 20 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat and lift the pears into a glass bowl, then pour over the juices. Let cool to warm. Refrigerate at least 1 hour, or up to overnight.

3. When you are ready to serve, remove the peel and stem from the pears. Halve each pear lengthwise and remove any seeds, if necessary. Cut each pear half into 4 wedges.

4. Arrange two pear wedges on a plate and squeeze a few drops of lemon juice over them. Spoon 2 tablespoons of the yogurt on top. Drizzle 1 teaspoon of the honey over the yogurt and around the pears on the plate. Repeat with the three remaining plates. Toss the toasted walnuts with the melted butter then scatter over the pears and serve immediately.
449 calories; 5 grams protein; 84 grams carbohydrates; 4 grams fiber; 13 grams fat; 4 grams saturated fat; 6 mg. cholesterol; 11 mg. sodium.
Copyright © 2011, Los Angeles Times

Radish Top Soup

Don't throw out your radish greens. Believe it or not, those fuzzy leaves can be transformed into a smooth green soup, with a hint of watercress flavor.
6 Tb butter
1 cup chopped onions or leeks
8 cups loosely packed radish leaves
2 cups diced peeled potatoes
6 cups liquid (water, chicken stock)
Salt
1/2 cup cream (optional)
Freshly ground pepper

Melt 4 tablespoons butter in a large saucepan, add onions or leeks, and cook until golden, approximately 5 minutes. Stir in radish tops, cover pan, and cook over low heat until wilted, 8-10 minutes.
Meanwhile, cook potatoes until soft in liquid along with 1 teaspoon salt. Combine with radish tops and broth, and cook, covered, for 5 minutes to mingle flavors. Puree finely in a food processor. Add cream if desired. Season to taste with butter, salt and pepper.

Spicy Stir-Fried Radish Greens
(Makes 2 servings, can easily be doubled.

8-10 ounces radish greens and/or swiss chard, washed and cut into 1/2 inch slices
2-3 tsp. peanut oil
2 large garlic cloves (for seasoning the oil)

sauce mixture:
1 T soy sauce (I like Kikkomans)
1 tsp. rice vinegar (not seasoned)
1 tsp. Agave nectar
1/4 tsp. (or less) Sriracha sauce or other hot sauce

Wash and dry radish greens and/or swiss chard. (I used a salad spinner.) If desired, soak greens for about 30 minutes in very cold water. (This makes sure they're crisp for the quick stir-frying.) Working in batches, cut greens crosswise into 1/2 inch slices.

Mix together sauce ingredients and set aside. Preheat the wok or large, heavy frying pan until it feels very hot when you hold your hand there, then add the oil. When oil looks shimmery, add the garlic cloves and cook about 30 seconds, making sure garlic doesn't start to brown. Remove garlic and discard.

Add chopped radish greens and/or swiss chard all at once and immediately begin to stir-fry, turning greens over and over just until they are almost all wilted. (For me this was only one minute, but I have a great gas stove with a burner with really high heat.) When greens are almost all wilted, add sauce ingredients, stir, and cook 30 seconds more. Serve hot.

Yummy!! Enjoy!!

CSA Harvest 15 and the arrival alas of the sweet corn!

2011-09-06T21:55:00.000-07:00

The month of June is considered strawberry season in this neck of the woods but with the variety we have planted (seascape) our strawberry season last for 6 months out of the year. Above you can see Tione supervising the strawberry picking and Suzie's Mom lending a helping hand in the harvest (we truly are a family farm!) Tuesday and Friday are our strawberry harvest days. Tuesday we harvest for the CSA and Friday for the Sat Market in Roseburg. In the peak of strawberry production harvesting can take two people up to four hours a day. Today as we picked my Mom asked me what my favorite crops were to harvest.. definitely not the strawberries only because it can be so back breaking. My top two favorite crops to harvest are melons (love to see them turn yellow and then slip right off the vine) Also I love harvesting eggplant.. moving along the row with a sharp pair or pruners cutting the beautiful fruits and piling them into the box gives me a feeling of satisfaction.

And finally the sweet corn! It could have gone another day before harvesting to really fill out the kernels but if we waited until next week it would not be good. This is our first planting of corn! We have three more plantings maturing so there will be more to come! The variety we grow is a bi-color sweet corn called Luscious. Corn is the best picked straight off the plant, prepared accordingly (alot of times for us in the field preparing simply means peeling back the husk and munching!)and eaten. Immediately after picking sweet corn the sugars in it begin turning to starch. It is especially good grilled on the bbq.

Unfortunately this year has not been a good one for our sweet peppers. You will get a few today but it is a sad harvest compared to last year when we were literally harvesting wheelbarrows full of the fruits. Many of the peppers that have formed have developed huge scabs that are caused by the sun (called sun scald).. it happens to tomatoes as well and you may have noticed a bit on your raspberries (the white areas). Early this week I went through and removed bucket loads of the peppers that were the worst marred from the sun scald. If you notice a small spot on any of your peppers simply cut that part away, the rest is still good!

Potluck Sunday September 18th from 2-6pm! Please RSVP

Harvest This Week Includes:

Sweet Corn

Shallots

Red Torpedo Onion

Ambrosia Melon

Sweet Pepper

La Ratte Fingerling Potatoes (please wash well before enjoying)Don't worry about peeling these.. very thin skinned!

Beets

Strawberries

Raspberries (hopefully enough for all)

Basil

Cherry Tomato Mix

Heirloom Tomatoes

Summer Squash

Eggplant

How to Store it and Enjoy it!

La Ratte Fingerling Potatoes.. please excuse the mud on these. Their skins are so thin that we tried to rub dirt away and ended up rubbing off all the skin. They should be stored at room temp until ready to use. Only wash right before cooking!
This is the first time we have grown this certain variety of fingerling and we are very impressed with its high yields... will definitely be planting more of these next season. We will have two more varieties of fingerlings for you all to try as well.. French fingerling and rose finn. yummy!
More info about La Ratte fingerlings....
Long prized by French chefs as a top quality fingerling it is an absolute delight to cook with. Long uniform tubers, yellow flesh with firm waxy texture and a nice nutty flavor, holds together very well. Especially good for potato salad or as a boiled potato. Commands a high price both in the restaurant and fresh market trade

CSA Harvest #14

2011-08-30T23:05:00.000-07:00

Good day everyone! We are excited to announce that there will now be fresh baked artisan breads avail for those of you picking up your baskets in Roseburg. Anthony (the baker) and Sandee his wife will be offering samples of their difft loaves with some avail to buy for $3 loaf. We have had their bread and it is delicious! The bread will be avail. for sampling and purchase from 5-6:30pm tomorrow (Wed) at the pick up site on Broccoli Street.

Here is a letter from Anthony regarding his breads!~

Hi, My name is Anthony Szlachciuk. I am a new baker and my specialty is Artisan sourdough bread.

Some of my clients are : "Black Bird Bar and Grill", "Mystic earth" and "Till it shines" coffee and deli.
You might have also seen me selling my loaves at Roseburgs "Old Town Market" on Thursday nights or "The Lookingglass Farm Market" on Fridays.

This week at the CSA pickup i will have four kinds of sourdough boules and batard loaves.

The types are:
1. Walnut Cranberry loaf
2. Currant loaf
3. Roasted Jalapeño and cheddar cheese
4. Plain Seeded(Flax, sesame and sunflower seed)
Come and see me for free samples of these tasty breads and I will have fresh bread for sale. loaves cost 3 dollars.

Thank you so much and sincerely at your service
anthony

We hope you find some time to sample their breads. We support community through community supported agriculture (and baked goods) ;)

Suzie, Asinete, M.A, Violet, Sally and Grandma GG

Harvest This Week Includes:

Fennel

Ambrosia Cantaloupe (super ripe.. eat promptly and store in fridge!)

Rainbow Chard

Garlic

Yellow sweet onions

Peaches OR Plums

Peppers (jalapeno and Anaheim. Chile Relleno recipe below!~

basil (finally)

Heirloom tomatoes

Cherry tomatoes

Strawberries

Raspberries (hopefully enough for all!)

Cucumbers

Summer squash

How to Use it!

Bruschetta with Tomato and Basil Recipe

Prep time: 15 minutesCook time: 10 minutesIngredients

1 1/2 lbs ripe tomatoes
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar
6-8 fresh basil leaves, chopped.
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
1 baguette French bread or similar Italian bread
1/4 cup olive oil
Method
1 Prepare the tomatoes first. Parboil the tomatoes for one minute in boiling water that has just been removed from the burner. Drain. Using a sharp small knife, remove the skins of the tomatoes. (If the tomatoes are too hot, you can protect your finger tips by rubbing them with an ice cube between tomatoes.) Once the tomatoes are peeled, cut them in halves or quarters.
2 Make sure there is a top rack in place in your oven. Turn on the oven to 450°F to preheat.

3 While the oven is heating, chop up the tomatoes finely. Put tomatoes, garlic, 1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil, vinegar in a bowl and mix. Add the chopped basil. Add salt and pepper to taste.

4 Slice the baguette on a diagonal about 1/2 inch thick slices. Coat one side of each slice with olive oil using a pastry brush. Place on a cooking sheet, olive oil side down. You will want to toast them in the top rack in your oven, so you may need to do these in batches depending on the size of your oven. Once the oven has reached 450°F, place a tray of bread slices in the oven on the top rack. Toast for 5-6 minutes, until the bread just begins to turn golden brown.

Alternatively, you can toast the bread without coating it in olive oil first. Toast on a griddle for 1 minute on each side. Take a sharp knife and score each slice 3 times. Rub some garlic in the slices and drizzle half a teaspoon of olive oil on each slice. This is the more traditional method of making bruschetta.

5 Align the bread on a serving platter, olive oil side up. Either place the tomato topping in a bowl separately with a spoon for people to serve themselves over the bread, or place some topping on each slice of bread and serve. If you top each slice with the tomatoes, do it right before serving or the bread may get soggy.

Serves 6-10 as an appetizer. Or 3-4 for lunch (delicious served with cottage cheese on the side.)

Yield: Makes 24 small slices.

Caprese Salad
Yield- 4-5 servings

Ingredients
3 vine-ripe tomatoes, 1/4-inch thick slices
1 pound fresh mozzarella, 1/4-inch thick slices (found this at Fred Meyer in their salad bar area)
20 to 30 leaves (about 1 bunch) fresh basil
Extra-virgin olive oil, for drizzling
Coarse salt and pepper
Directions
Layer alternating slices of tomatoes and mozzarella, adding a basil leaf between each, on a large, shallow platter. Drizzle the salad with extra-virgin olive oil and season with salt and pepper, to taste.

Baked Chile Rellenos with Corn and Crema
serves 4

Prep time 45 minutes, total time 1 hour
6 Anaheim chiles
5 ears fresh corn, husks and silks removed
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 red onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
½ teaspoon salt
Black pepper
2 cups Monterey Jack cheese, or other Mexican melting cheese
½ cup Mexican crema
Procedures1
Adjust oven rack to upper middle position and preheat oven to 375°.

2
Meanwhile, if you have a gas stove, turn heat to high on one of the burners, and set as many of the anaheims as will fit on the grate. Cook, flipping and moving the chiles often with a pair of tongs, until blackened on all sides. If you don't have a gas stove, turn on broiler to high. Place chiles on a baking sheet covered with aluminum foil, and place underneath the broiler. Cook, flipping occasionally with a pair of tongs, until blacked on all sides.

3
When chiles are blackened, transfer to a plastic bag and seal. Let them steam for at least five minutes. When done, peel off the blackened skins. Cut a slit down the side of each, starting under the stem and continuing down to the tip. Carefully remove the seeds, being careful not to tear the chile.

4
Using a sharp knife, cut the kernels off the corn cobs. Heat the olive oil in a large skillet set over medium-high heat. When shimmering, add the onion and garlic. Cook until onion is translucent, about two minutes. Add the corn, and season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring often, until corn turns golden brown, about five minutes. Turn off heat and set aside.

5
Carefully stuff each chile with a layer of ½ cup of the sauteed corn mixture, ¼ cup of the shredded cheese, and 1 ½ tablespoons of the crema. Finally, add a 1 ½ tablespoon of cheese on top of each slit. When stuffed, place each chile slit side up on a baking dish.

6
Transfer baking dish to the upper middle rack in the oven and cook for ten minutes. Turn on the broiler to high, and cook until the cheese is golden brown, about five minutes. Serve immediately.

CSA Harvest #13~ the halfway mark!

2011-08-23T17:14:00.000-07:00

Here we are at the halfway point for CSA deliveries and the climax of the amount of produce you will be getting in your baskets. As you noticed in the early part of the CSA deliveries leafy greens reigned supreme, now the heat of summer and longer days have allowed the later maturing crops to ripen! Hello this week to eggplant, shallots, peaches and melons!
For those of you who love your lettuce it will be back as the days cool off. We have another planting of lettuce in the ground and the deer have found it. We do not have deer fencing... living on the flood plain of the river we are not willing to invest that much money into a project to have it wash away when the river decides to flood again. This means each year in the late summer when the hills dry up we have deer to contend with. By day they sleep in the shade along the river and at night while we sleep they help themsleves to their favorite things on the farm~ beans, lettuce, corn and carrots. In a few weeks you may find your carrot tops nibbled down or jagged edges on your head lettuce, the telltale sign that a deer has smapled it before you. Our dogs do their duty and bark from our fenced in yard but we do not like to let them loose to chase the marauding deer since we live right off of Highway 99 which is highly traveled at all hours. So please excuse any cosmetic flaws you may see (especially in your lettuce greens) in the next coming weeks!

We wanted to include some images from the great onion harvest of 2011! With Geronimo's help we were able to haul in the walla wallas, red torpedo, red marble, cipollini, red zepplelin, Alisa Craigs and copras. We store the onions on pallets under the shade of the fir trees. Be prepared for the large onion flood coming your way!

This year we have also experimented with growing shallots.. that delicious onion family member that tastes like onion crossed with garlic. Shallots are usually a delicacy item.. very expensive to plant from bulbs and seed. The shallots in your basket were started from seed way back on the cold day of February 2nd.. they did great and now hang in our barn drying for storage. You will see the shallots as regular visitors to your basket now too!

Please don't forget about our upcoming annual potluck at the farm happening September 18th from 2-6pm... please RSVP as soon as you can to let us know you will be attending, what you will be bringing and how many in your group.

This Week's Harvest Includes:

Potato Mix ( yukon golds, purple majesty and mountain rose) use combined for great colors!

Green Haricot Vert Beans and Yellow Wax Beans

Carrots

Strawberries (we are so impressed with these seascapes and how long they pump out these berries!)

Shallots

Tomatoes

Cherry Tomato Mix (includes sungolds, red cherry, isis candy, brown berry and lemon drop)

Cucumber

Summer Squash

Red Marble onion and Cipollini Onion

Dill (great with potatoes!)

Eggplant! (finally!)

Melons

Peaches (we are hoping enough for everyone) Please bear in mind the trees are young (only three years old) and only a few are really loaded with fruit. Also much to our dismay earwigs have come out at night and started to nibble into the ripening fruit. Next year we know now to apply tanglefoot (a sticky paste that you apply to the base of tree that prevents insects from crawling up the trunk) For this year please cut away any superficial holes you may see in these sweet, fragrant beauties!

How to Keep it and Eat it!

Eggplant~ these fruits are members of the nightshade family like their brothers tomatoes. They keep best loose in the crisper drawer of your fridge. They should be eaten within 5 days for best quality.

Baba Ganoush~ no eggplant introduction is complete without including this recipe! A wonderful dip for pita wedges or spread for sandwiches.

Ingredients
1 eggplant
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/4 cup tahini (sesame seed paste in natural food section of grocery store)
2 tablespoons sesame seeds
2 cloves garlic, minced
salt and pepper to taste
1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil

Directions
1.Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Lightly grease a baking sheet.
2.Place eggplant on baking sheet, and make holes in the skin with a fork. Roast it for 30 to 40 minutes, turning occasionally, or until soft. Remove from oven, and place into a large bowl of cold water. Remove from water, and peel skin off.
3.Place eggplant, lemon juice, tahini, sesame seeds, and garlic in an electric blender, and puree. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Transfer eggplant mixture to a medium size mixing bowl, and slowly mix in olive oil. Refrigerate for 3 hours before serving.

Spicy Szechwan Eggplant

Ingredients
1 large eggplant, diced
4 tablespoons soy sauce
1/4 cup chicken stock
1 teaspoon chili sauce
1 teaspoon white sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
2 tablespoons oyster sauce
1 tablespoon cornstarch
4 tablespoons water
2 cloves garlic, minced
4 large green onions, finely chopped
1 tablespoon chopped fresh ginger root
1/2 pound medium shrimp - peeled and deveined (can substitute chicken here)
1 pound lean ground beef
1 tablespoon vegetable or sesame oil

Directions
1.Remove the eggplant stem and cut into 1-inch cubes. In a medium bowl, combine the soy sauce, chicken stock, chili sauce, sugar, ground black pepper and oyster sauce. Stir together well and set aside. In a separate small bowl, combine the cornstarch and water, and set aside.
2.Coat a large, deep pan with cooking spray over high heat and allow a few minutes for it to get very hot. Saute the garlic, half of the green onions, ginger and shrimp for 3 to 5 minutes, stirring constantly, until they begin to brown. Stir in the ground beef and cook for 3 more minutes, again stirring constantly, until browned.
3.Pour the eggplant into the pan and stir all together. Pour the reserved soy sauce mixture over all, cover the pan, reduce heat to medium low and let simmer for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in the reserved cornstarch mixture and let heat until thickened. Finally, stir in the rest of the green onions and the sesame oil.

CSA Harvest #12

2011-08-16T22:59:00.000-07:00

The colors and tastes of summer can be experienced in your basket this week. Finally so many of the crops that we have had our doubts would produce anything have finally started to come alive and decide to grow and produce something edible for us all. The corn is tasseling (finally!) Neon purple eggplant are appearing and we will harvest the first ripe melons tomorrow! A true sign that summer is upon us.

This week and last week we have been busy getting many of the fall crops planted. More broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, kohlrabi, cilantro, baby greens, radishes and turnips. Soon as the days shorten and turn cool again it will be too late to start more things so we take advantage now of our warm days to get things to grow!

Also on the farm we are doing our big onion harvest. When we see the tops of the onion leaves start to turn brown and die back we know that the onion bulbs are done growing and it is time to stop irrigating them and let them start drying to cure for storage. We grow lots of onions (perhaps too much!) but we figured that onions were a staple that many of you use to cook your meals plus the onions can be stored for many months once cured and added to your baskets over a long period of time.
This week in your basket you will find a tremendous yellow onion, perhaps the biggest you have ever seen! This variety is an heirloom sweet variety called Alisa Craig.

Next week will be CSA harvest #13.. this means our halfway mark with 13 more weeks to go. It also means for some of you that the second half of your payment is due. If you are unsure of your balance please email us.

Also we hope you all can make it to our 4th annual Potluck/Farm Tour Sunday September 18th from 2-6pm. Please RSVP via email if you think you can make it!

Enjoy this week's bounty!

Suzie, Asinete, Tione, Grandma GG, M.A, Sally & Violet

Harvest This Week Includes:

Strawberries

Dill

Glacier and Oregon Spring Tomatoes

Summer Squash

Head Lettuce

Cucumbers

Cantaloupe (possibly on rotation) Small variety called Tasty Bites and larger Sarah's Choice.

Fennel Bulb

Beets

Alisa Craig Sweet Onion

Garlic

Yellow Wax and Haricot Vert green beans (half share this week)

Sungold Cherry Tomatoes (possibly on rotation.. hoping we can get more ripe ones on vine before delivery tomorrow!)

Raspberries (like cherry tomatoes possibly on rotation depending how many more ready to harvest in the am.)

How to Use it!

Roasted Beets with Dill

yield: Makes 6 servings

This simple side dish is even easier to prepare if you roast the beets the day before you plan to serve them.

Ingredients
2 pounds beets, trimmed (about 6 medium)
1/4 cup water
6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) unsalted butter (can use less and still tastes great!)
1/4 cup chopped fresh dill
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
print a shopping list for this recipe

Preparation Preheat oven to 400°F. Place beets in small roasting pan with 1/4 cup water. Cover pan tightly with foil. Bake until beets are tender when pierced with knife, about 1 hour. Cool slightly. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover and refrigerate.) Peel beets. Cut into 1-inch pieces.

Melt butter in heavy large skillet over medium heat. Stir in dill and lemon juice. Add beets and toss until heated through, about 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Transfer to bowl; serve.

Creamy Beet with Dill Soup

Serves 8

Ingredients
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 1/2 pounds raw beets, cut into 1-inch chunks
1 large onion, cut into large dice
1 tablespoon butter
1 pinch sugar
3 large garlic cloves, thickly sliced
1 teaspoon toasted caraway seeds*
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
3 cups chicken broth, homemade or from a carton or can
2 tablespoons fresh dill
1 1/2 cups half-and-half (or whole milk)
Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
Garnish: chopped hard-cooked egg

Directions
1.Heat oil over medium-high heat in a large, deep saute pan until shimmering.
2.Add beets, then onion; saute, stirring very little at first, then more frequently, until squash start to turn golden brown, 7 to 8 minutes.
3.Reduce heat to low and add butter, sugar and garlic; continue cooking until all vegetables are a rich spotty caramel color, about 10 minutes longer.
4.Add caraway seeds and cayenne pepper; continue to saute until fragrant, 30 seconds to 1 minute longer.
5.Add broth; bring to a simmer over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to low and simmer, partially covered, until beets are tender, about 10 minutes.
6.Using an immersion blender or traditional blender, puree (adding fresh dill) until very smooth, 30 seconds to 1 minute. (If using a traditional blender, vent it either by removing the lid's pop-out center or by lifting one edge of the lid. Drape the blender canister with a kitchen towel. To 'clean' the canister, pour in a little half-and-half, blend briefly, then add to the soup.)
7.Return to pan (or a soup pot); add enough half-and-half so the mixture is soup like, yet thick enough to float garnish. Taste, and add salt and pepper if needed. Heat through, ladle into bowls, garnish and serve.
Footnotes

*To toast caraway seeds, heat 1/2 tsp. caraway seeds in a small skillet over medium-low heat until they start to gently pop and smell fragrant. Cool slightly, then crush with a rolling pin.

CSA Harvest #11

2011-08-09T21:55:00.000-07:00

Eleven weeks down and 15 more to go and the best things are still to come! Peaches which are ripening, sweet corn tasseling, melons growing, eggplant, basil, shallots, winter squash, pears, brussels sprouts, and much more!

For many of you this is the first time you have tried a CSA program. As you wade through new and possibly strange vegetables (ie: kohlrabi!) each week you may wonder again what the benefits are of eating locally. We found this list of reasons why it is important to eat locally and in season. This list is not complete but it is a good start!

10 Reasons to Eat Local Food

1. Eating local means more for the local economy. According to a study by the New Economics Foundation in London, a dollar spent locally generates twice as much income for the local economy. When businesses are not owned locally, money leaves the community at every transaction. (reference)

2. Locally grown produce is fresher. While produce that is purchased in the supermarket or a big-box store has been in transit or cold-stored for days or weeks, produce that you purchase at your local farmer's market has often been picked within 24 hours of your purchase. This freshness not only affects the taste of your food, but the nutritional value which declines with time.

3. Local food just plain tastes better. Ever tried a tomato that was picked within 24 hours? 'Nuff said.

4. Locally grown fruits and vegetables have longer to ripen. Because the produce will be handled less, locally grown fruit does not have to be "rugged" or to stand up to the rigors of shipping. This means that you are going to be getting peaches so ripe that they fall apart as you eat them, figs that would have been smashed to bits if they were sold using traditional methods, and melons that were allowed to ripen until the last possible minute on the vine.

5. Eating local is better for air quality and pollution than eating organic. In a March 2005 study by the journal Food Policy, it was found that the miles that organic food often travels to our plate creates environmental damage that outweighs the benefit of buying organic. (reference)

6. Buying local food keeps us in touch with the seasons. By eating with the seasons, we are eating foods when they are at their peak taste, are the most abundant, and the least expensive.

7. Buying locally grown food is fodder for a wonderful story. Whether it's the farmer who brings local apples to market or the baker who makes local bread, knowing part of the story about your food is such a powerful part of enjoying a meal.

8. Eating local protects us from bio-terrorism. Food with less distance to travel from farm to plate has less susceptibility to harmful contamination. (reference)

9. Local food translates to more variety. When a farmer is producing food that will not travel a long distance, will have a shorter shelf life, and does not have a high-yield demand, the farmer is free to try small crops of various fruits and vegetables that would probably never make it to a large supermarket. Supermarkets are interested in selling "Name brand" fruit: Romaine Lettuce, Red Delicious Apples, Russet Potatoes. Local producers often play with their crops from year to year, trying out Little Gem Lettuce, Senshu Apples, and Chieftain Potatoes.

10. Supporting local providers supports responsible land development. When you buy local, you give those with local open space - farms and pastures - an economic reason to stay open and undeveloped.

As farmers we would also like to add that commercial farmers only collect about 10 cents of the retail food dollar. The majority of that food dollar goes to brokers, advertising and shipping cost. Local farmers like Big Lick Farm who sell directly to the consumers cut out the middle person and get full retail price for their food. Farmers can earn a fair wage to raise their families.

Upcoming Farm Tour and Potluck!

We hope you can all join us for our annual farm tour/potluck. We have decided on Sunday, September 18th from 2-6pm. More details to come as we near the date! We hope you can all come out and see where/how your food is grown!

Enjoy this week's goodies!

Suzie, Asinete, Tione, Grandma GG, M.A, Sally and Violet

Harvest This Week Includes:

Kohlrabi (peel until you get to the tender flesh inside)

Garlic

Walla Walla Onion (please store in fridge!)

Green Simpson Lettuce

Cucumber

Squash mix (zephyr and costata romanesco zucchini)

Italian Flat Leaf Parsley (recipe ideas below)

Tomatoes

Strawberries

Raspberries OR Sungold Cherry Tomatoes

Maxibel Haricot Green Beans (full share only this week.. new planting just kicking into production).

Recipe Ideas:

Flat leaf parsley is a mainstay of our gardens each year. It grows all season and as we cut it it just comes back again better than before. Parsley is so good for you too! It is rich in Vitamins A and C and the minerals, iron and calcium.

Your parsley will keep very fresh stored in a plastic bag in the crisper drawer of your fridge. We love it especially chopped very fine and added to our fresh green salads. If you would like to get more fancy here are some ideas!

Tabouli
2 cups bulgur
2 cups boiling water
1 bunch Italian flat-leaf parsley
1 bunch mint
3 cloves garlic
4 tomatoes
3 scallions
juice of 4 lemons
⅓ cup olive oil
Fresh ground pepper
Salt to taste

1. Place bulgur in large bowl, add boiling water and toss well with a fork. Let rest in refrigerator for ½ hour.

2. Finely chop mint and parsley; peel and finely chop garlic. Cut tomatoes into ¼” cubes. Slice scallions finely.

3. Add all vegetables to bulgur. Combine lemon juice and olive oil. Pour over bulgur-vegetable combination. Add salt and pepper to taste.

4. Let flavors blend for at least two hours before serving. Serve chilled or at room temperature.

Chimichurri a traditional Argentine spicy condiment that is typically served with grilled and roasted meats

1 large bunch flat-leaf parsley
8 cloves of garlic, peeled
3 tablespoons minced onion
1/3 cup vinegar
5 tablespoons water
1 teaspoon coarse kosher or sea salt
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon hot pepper flakes (optional)
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 cup extra virgin olive oil

1. Finely chop the parsley and garlic in a food processor. Add the onion, vinegar, water, salt, oregano, pepper flakes, and black pepper and process until the salt crystals are dissolved.

2. Add the oil in a thin stream. Do not over process. The chimichurri should be fairly coarse.

3. Correct the seasoning, adding additional salt or vinegar to taste. Let stand at room temperature for several hours before serving.

CSA Harvest #10

2011-08-02T15:26:00.000-07:00

Hooray for summer that is actually outside and now reflected in your CSA baskets! Tomatoes, beans, cucumbers, squash and berries. The luscious bi-color sweet corn will not be far behind. We would have been getting ready to harvest the first crop by now if our first two sowings had not rotted in the cold, wet spring soil. Many of the other U-Pick farms in our area will have corn long before us since the seed they plant is treated with chemical fungicides to protect them from rotting in the uncertain Spring weather. Due to our certification with Certified Naturally Grown we are not allowed to use these seeds and chemicals and instead we need to rely on Mother Nature to let us know when the time is right for the corn to grow on its own. Of course this method resulted in quite a bit of wasted seed that rotted and time planting and replanting only to have nothing sprout. Still we would not farm any other way!

We wanted to include a picture of our faithful helper who arrives every Monday and works nine hours straight stopping only for an occasional sip of water. Geronimo comes from Oaxaca,Mexico and is a great help to us this season. His help allows us more time to play with Tione and make sure his needs are met. The pictures above show Geronimo digging up the potatoes that you will be enjoying in your baskets this week. Potato digging is hard work and I am not very good at it. I seem to find the potatoes best by spearing them underground with my digging fork. If you see spuds in your basket that have nicks or cuts it's a safe bet that they are ones I harvested. Please enjoy nicked ones first since they do not store as well. In your baskets this week is a mix of Red Pontiac potatoes, Mountain Rose (look inside when you cut them and see the beautiful rose colored hue!) Also the magnificent but stingy yielding Purple Majesty Potato. We have over 8 other varieties of potatoes growing at the farm yet to harvest!

Enjoy your bounty!

Suzie, Asinete, Tione, M.A, Violet, Sally and Jeanne

Harvest This Week Includes:

Potato Mix

Romano Beans

Carrots (new crop! yummy!)

Green Onions

Strawberries

Rainbow Chard

Summer Squash Mix

Cucumbers

Raspberries (this week we do hope for everyone! If not enough for all those who did not get last week will!)

How to Cook it and Store it!

Rainbow chard is one of the favorite crops we grow at the farm for a number of reasons. First of all every time we pick a bunch we don't know whether to cook it up or put it in a flower vase to enjoy its vibrant colors! Another reason is that chard is a crop that we can keep harvesting from almost all season. As we harvest the outer, largest leaves the new leaves keep coming up from the middle. The majority of the crops that we grow at the farm are harvested once and done (carrots, potatoes, beets, onions, turnips, radish, head lettuce). The last reason we love chard is because it is so darn tasty, easy to prepare and so good for you! Chard has high levels of magnesium, calcium, vitamin K, iron, potassium, vitamin A, folate, zinc, copper, vitamin C, dietary fiber, and vitamin E. Not only beautiful but good for you too!

Your chard will keep best wrapped in plastic bag in crisper drawer. Use by the weekend in one of the recipe ideas below.

Stuffed Chard Leaves

ingredients

1 pound 90%-lean ground beef
1/2 cup plain dry breadcrumbs
2 medium shallots, minced, divided
1 1/2 teaspoons Italian seasoning, divided
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper, divided
8 large Swiss chard leaves, stems removed (see Tip)
1 14-ounce can reduced-sodium chicken broth
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1 28-ounce can crushed tomatoes
1/2 cup freshly shredded Parmesan cheese (optional)

directions

1.Gently mix beef, breadcrumbs, 1 tablespoon shallot, 1/2 teaspoon Italian seasoning, garlic powder and 1/4 teaspoon pepper in a large bowl until just combined. Divide the mixture into 8 oblong 3-inch portions.

2.Overlap the two sides of a chard leaf where the stem was removed and place a portion of beef there. Tightly roll the chard around the beef. Place each roll, seam-side down, in a large nonstick skillet. Pour in broth, cover and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat to a simmer; cook until an instant-read thermometer inserted into the center of a roll reads 165Â°F, 8 to 10 minutes. Discard any remaining broth.

3.Meanwhile, heat oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add the remaining shallot, 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning, 1/4 teaspoon pepper and crushed red pepper. Cook, stirring often, until the shallot is soft, 1 to 2 minutes. Stir in tomatoes and cook, stirring occasionally, until slightly reduced and thickened, about 8 minutes. Serve the chard rolls topped with sauce and Parmesan cheese, if desired.

4.Tip: Remove chard stems, including the widest section of the rib at the base of the leaf, by making narrow triangular cuts.

Chard with Olives and Goat Cheese

ingredients

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1 pound chard, stems and leaves separated, chopped (see Note)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
1/4 cup chopped pitted green olives (can use kalamata)
1/4 cup currants
1/2 cup crumbled goat cheese (2 ounces)

directions

1.Heat oil in a Dutch oven over medium heat. Add chard stems, salt and pepper and cook, stirring often, until softened, 3 to 5 minutes. Stir in chard leaves and cook, stirring constantly, until wilted, about 2 minutes. Stir in olives and currants. Dot goat cheese over the top, cover and cook until the chard is tender and the cheese is melted, about 2 minutes more.
2.Note: After washing the chard for these recipes, allow some of the water to cling to the leaves. It helps steam the chard and prevents a dry finished dish.

recipe source
eatingwell

Easy Chard Recipe

Ingredients

1 large bunch of fresh Swiss chard
1 small clove garlic, sliced
2 Tbsp olive oil
2 Tbsp water
Pinch of dried crushed red pepper
1 teaspoon butter
Salt

1 Rinse out the Swiss chard leaves thoroughly. Remove the toughest third of the stalk, discard or save for another recipe. Roughly chop the leaves into inch-wide strips.

2 Heat a saucepan on a medium heat setting, add olive oil, a few small slices of garlic and the crushed red pepper. Sauté for about a minute. Add the chopped Swiss chard leaves. Cover. Check after about 5 minutes. If it looks dry, add a couple tablespoons of water. Flip the leaves over in the pan, so that what was on the bottom, is now on the top. Cover again. Check for doneness after another 5 minutes (remove a piece and taste it). Add salt to taste, and a small amount of butter. Remove the swiss chard to a serving dish.

CSA Harvest #9

2011-07-26T23:12:00.000-07:00

Hi faithful blog readers and CSA members! This week I am going to make the newsletter very short.. my apologies.. long day harvesting, long day tomorrow harvesting, 11 pm and 5 week old baby that doesn't sleep for very long require me to do so!

The main events going on at the farm currently are weeding like maniacs, planting like maniacs and harvesting like... yep you guessed it.. maniacs! This is the time of the season when the produce just oozes out of the field by the truckload and we have to struggle just to keep up with the picking, especially with crops like beans and squash that require you to constantly harvest.

Also we are looking forward to our first peach harvest this year! Three years ago we planted 43 peach trees at our farm. Last year the 43 trees produced 6 peaches! This year there are too many to count. They are not big but they look beautiful and we guarantee they will be luscious!

Also later this season we will have our annual farm tour and potluck. Most likely the potluck will happen in September. We will give you all plenty of time to mark your calendars!

Harvest This Week Includes:

Kohlrabi

Strawberries

Raspberries (we hope enough for everyone! We will harvest Wed am)

Early Tomatoes! (Glacier and Oregon Spring)

Sweet Red Torpedo Onions

Yellow Zephyr Squash

Italian Flat Beans (also know as Romano Beans)

Green Slicing Cucumber

Beets

Garlic

Since the new items this week are all things you are accustomed to I am going to skip the recipe section and instead direct you to a great recipe source and that is allrecipes.com When you get to the website simply type in the vegetable you want to find recipes for and hundreds will come up! Sorry I promise more recipes next week!

Enjoy!!!!

CSA Harvest #8

2011-07-19T19:44:00.001-07:00

Here we are another week deeper into summer and still lamenting the rainy weather! The silver lining to all this rain is that we have not had to run around irrigating. Of course with the wet, warm weather we are worried about fungal diseases breaking out in our crops. Especially susceptible to diseases in this wet weather are the melons, tomatoes, beans, cucumbers and squash. We have to take preventative measures to avoid fungal outbreaks by not working in these crops when the leaves are wet. Beans are notorious for becoming diseased when you work in them and their leaves are wet. For this reason we had to wait until this afternoon when the day was late enough that the leaves of the beans were as dry as possible before we could harvest them. The beans in your basket this week are a variety called Italian Flat Pod. They are delicious and we hope you think so too!
Also today marks the first potato harvest of 2011! Thank you to our helper Geronimo who braved the mud to get them to you. Please do not wash them until just before cooking them. Once the skins get wet they will not keep. This variety in your basket today is an early maturing variety of potato called Red Pontiac.
Hooray also we wanted to start thinning out the largest Walla Walla onions and share them with you. Walla Wallas are a seasonal treat and we like to use them first since they do not store well.

We hope you enjoy these new tastes in your basket this week!

Locally yours~

Suzie, Asinete, Tione, M.A, Violet and Sally

Harvest This Week Includes:

Broccoli (last harvest until Fall)

Chinese Cabbage

Radishes

Raspberries (use quick! Rain made them soggy. Won't store)

Strawberries (also use quickly!)

Red Pontiac Potatoes

Walla Walla Onions

Lettuce

Italian Flat Leaf Parsley

Yellow Zephyr Squash

Italian Flat Beans

How to Cook it and Store it:

Potatoes~ wash only right before cooking. Store at room temp in a dark place (paper bags work well).

Walla Walla Onions~ these will keep best in a plastic bag in the crisper drawer of your fridge. They will store for a week before drying out and losing their flavor. We like to chop us the green leaves of the onion and use that in stir fry. Walla Wallas are the perfect sweet onion to top your favorite burger or however you can enjoy them raw!

Walla Walla Sweet Onion Salad

2 Walla Walla Sweet Onions thinly sliced
4 Cucumbers thinly sliced
1 Cup mayonnaise
2 Tbls. white vinegar
1 Tbls. of sugar
Separate sliced onions into rings and combine with cucumber in a large bowl. Combine remaining ingredients and beat until smooth. Pour sauce over onions and cucumbers and mix thoroughly. Cover and refrigerate at least 1 hr. Serve well-chilled.

Walla Walla Sweet Onion Rings

1 Large Walla Walla Sweet Onion
12 oz Beer (light or dark)
1 1/3 Cup all purpose flour
1 tsp. Salt
1 1/4 tsp. Baking Powder
2 1/2 tsp. sweet Basil leaves
Peel and cut onion into 1/4-inch slices and separate into rings.

Heat oil (1 inch deep) to 375 degrees in a large skillet. Beat remaining ingredients with rotary beater until smooth. Dip each ring into batter, letting excess drip into bowl.

Fry a few onion rings at a time in hot oil until golden brown, turn once, drain.

Mixed Green Salad with Apples and Walla Walla Sweet Onions
Serves 4 - 6
INGREDIENTS:

4 tablespoons olive oil

1 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

Salt and pepper to taste

1 medium Walla Walla Sweet Onion, peeled and cut into 1/8ths

1 large Granny Smith, or Red Delicious apple, unpeeled, cored, thinly sliced

8 cups (about 6 ounces), blend of greens

12 basil leaves

1 cup thinly sliced shaved Parmesan cheese, (about 2 ounces)

DIRECTIONS:

1.Whisk together the olive oil and vinegar in a small bowl. Season with salt and pepper. Set aside.
2.Toss Walla Walla Sweet Onion together with the slices of apple, greens and basil in a large bowl. Add dressing, toss to coat. Top with shaved Parmesan cheese.

walla walla sweet onion and cherry tomato bruschetta

Servings: 8
Ingredients:

•20 cherry tomatoes, cut in half
•1 medium Walla Walla Sweet Onion, cut into thin slices
•15 kalamata olives, pitted and finely chopped
•2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh basil
•1-tablespoon capers, drained
•1/2 cup olive oil
•2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar
•1 teaspoon finely chopped garlic
•Freshly ground black pepper
•8 slices Italian country bread, about
•1/2 inch thick and 4 inches wide
•4 ounces mascarpone cheese

Instructions:

1.Mix together tomatoes, onions, olives, basil, capers in a small bowl. Whisk together the olive oil, balsamic vinegar, garlic, and black pepper. Pour over the tomato-onion mixture, and toss. Set aside.
2.Brush the bread with olive oil and grill slices directly over medium heat, turning once, until toasted, 2 to 3 minutes total. Divide the mascarpone evenly among bread slices, spreading it with a knife. Spoon the tomato
onion mixture over the mascarpone cheese, dividing evenly and serve at room temperature

Italian Flat Beans~~ these beans are an Italian variety that are very tasty. They can be used the same way you would use any green bean. Please be aware that overcooking will cause them to become mushy. They will store best for up to a week in a plastic bag in the crisper drawer of your fridge.

Italian Flat Beans with Tomato and Garlic
4 servings

Ingredients:
1 pound Italian green beans or string beans, ends trimmed; cut on the diagonal into 2- to 3-inch pieces
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
3 medium cloves garlic, cut into very thin slices (a scant 1/4 cup)
1 medium tomato, preferably peeled, cored and seeded, then cut into 1/2-inch dice (8 ounces)
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
6 to 8 large basil leaves, cut into chiffonade (stacked, then rolled tightly and cut into very thin strips; optional garnish)
Directions:

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Add the green beans and cook for 5 to 7 minutes, until tender. Drain immediately.

While the beans are cooking, heat the oil in a medium saute pan or skillet over medium-low heat. Add the garlic slices, distributing them evenly. Cook for 4 to 5 minutes, until the slices become almost translucent and start to brown on the edges; be careful not to let the garlic burn. Add the diced tomato and salt and pepper to taste, then reduce the heat to medium. Cook for 2 to 3 minutes, so that the tomato is heated through. Add the cooked green beans and heat through for 1 to 2 minutes; mix well. Taste and adjust seasoning as needed.

Transfer to a serving dish and top with the basil, if desired. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Italian Style Fried Potatoes
Ingredients:

*Two large potatoes
•1/2 pound of flat green (Romano) beans
•3 cloves of garlic
•2 tablespoons of tomato paste
•1-2 teaspoons of hot pepper flakes (optional)
•1/2 cup of extra virgin olive oil
•Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
Process:

Begin by peeling the potatoes and cutting them in 1/8 inch slices. Next, submerge the potatoes in a large bowl of water and repeat process until the water turns clear (you're looking to remove the starch from the exterior of the potato as it will help during the cooking process). Add the olive oil to a large fry pan and add your potatoes (making sure the potatoes are well dried). After adding the potatoes, allow them to cook, untouched, for 5-7 minutes. Stir the potatoes and make sure both sides begin to brown and crisp up. Remove the cooked potatoes and place in a bowl with a few paper towels. Next, remove the stems from the green beans and quickly steam the beans for 2-3 minutes. Chop your garlic cloves into think slices and add to the fry pan with oil. Next, add the steam green beans and the tomato paste. Season the ingredients with salt and pepper and add the fried potatoes back the fry pan. Combine the ingredients until the tomato paste is dissolved and the potatoes and beans are coated with the paste.

CSA Harvest #7

2011-07-12T20:45:00.000-07:00

Happy.... errr.. summer???? We have our doubts at this point if it is summer after all! Today when getting a head start on the CSA harvest Asinete dug out the rain gear that we had buried away for later months. I braved the drizzles to get some of the delicate raspberries harvested. Rain and ripe raspberries are not a good combination, the berries are so delicate that the rain turns them to mush and then to mold. For this week the raspberries will begin their rotation through the half share baskets. We still do not have enough of them for all but we do foresee that being a possibility soon (when the sun and warm weather return anyways).

Also this week marks the first week we were able to fill a bowl with our early Glacier and Oregon Spring tomatoes. Not enough to share with you yet but in another week or two yes!

Yesterday with some much needed help we were able to get the garlic all harvested.. just in time too as we need it to be dry to avoid molding. It is now hanging in the storage sheds to dry further. In the next week or so you will be getting some dried garlic bulbs to add to your recipes.

Asinete is still doing 98% of the harvesting and farm work on his own.. it is amazing to see how much work one person can do. Especially considering we are growing on 5 acres. I find that I no sooner step outside to try to help Asinete then the baby monitor is filled with Tione's wails and he needs feeding again, or a changed diaper, or a cuddle (but really no complaints here! Just don't let Asinete know I prefer taking care of baby more than I enjoy weeding :) ) Really just relishing in enjoying these first few weeks of our baby's life... they are going fast and we will not get them back.

We hope you are enjoying your produce so far! Next week we will have our first potato harvest so you can look forward to some potatoes along with some walla walla onions!

Harvest This Week Includes:

Carrots

Kohlrabi (recipe ideas below)

Green Onions

Head Lettuce

Bok Choy

Chinese Cabbage (please see recipes from last week!)

Raspberries (on rotation)

Summer Squash (on rotation)

Kohlrabi~ We know we threw you a curve ball the week Tione was born and you received this Dr. Seuss looking vegetable in your CSA share with nary a note or recipe to accompany it. Well this week we will let you in on the wonderful world of kohlrabi! Kohlrabi can be eaten raw or cooked, and it taste a lot like broccoli stems. The word kohlrabi is German for cabbage turnip (kohl as in cole-slaw, and rübe for turnip) though kohlrabi is more related to cabbage and cauliflower than to root vegetables. We usually eat them raw, just peeled, sliced and added to a salad, but they are also delicious cooked.

ROASTED KOHLRABI
Hands-on time: 10 minutes
Time to table: 45 minutes
Serves 4 (smallish servings since roasted vegetables shrink so much)

1 1/2 pounds fresh kohlrabi, ends trimmed, thick green skin sliced off with a knife, diced
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon garlic
Salt
Good vinegar

Set oven to 450F. Toss the diced kohlrabi with olive oil, garlic and salt in a bowl. (The kohlrabi can be tossed with oil and seasonings right on the pan but uses more oil.) Spread evenly on a rimmed baking sheet and put into oven (it needn't be fully preheated) and roast for 30 - 35 minutes, stirring every five minutes after about 20 minutes. Sprinkle with a good vinegar (probably at the table so the kohlrabi doesn't get squishy).

NUTRITION ESTIMATE
Per Serving: 64 Calories; 3 g Tot Fat; 0 g Sat Fat; 8 g Carb; 4 g Fiber; NetCarb 4; 31 mg Calcium; 1 mg Iron; 23 mg Sodium; 0 mg Cholesterol; 2 g Protein;

Kohlrabi Puree
4 kohlrabi bulbs with leaves
2 Tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
4 ounces mushrooms quartered (*optional)
3 Tablespoons cream (or milk, chicken stock, olive oil, or water)
salt and pepper to taste

1. Trim the kohlrabi bulbs, peeling them if the skins seem tough. Rinse the leaves (discarding any that are yellow) pat them dry, and coarsely chop. Set aside. Cut the bulbs into 1-inch chunks.

2. Bring a saucepan of lightly salted water to a boil, and add the kohlrabi chunks. Reduce the heat and simmer until tender, about 15 minutes.

3. Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a skillet. Add the onion and sauté over medium-low heat until softened, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook, stirring, another 1 to 2 minutes. Don't let the garlic brown.

4. Add the mushrooms and the reserved kohlrabi leaves to the skillet. Cover, and cook 5 minutes. Then uncover, and cook, stirring, until all the liquid has evaporated, 3 minutes. Set the skillet aside.

5. Drain the kohlrabi chunks and place them in the bowl of a food processor. Add the mushroom mixture and the cream (or whatever substitute you're using). Purée until smooth. Salt and pepper to taste.

6. Transfer the purée to a saucepan and reheat over low heat, stirring, 2 minutes. Serve warm.

Makes 6 portions

CSA Harvest #6

2011-07-05T22:54:00.001-07:00

Hi everyone! We wanted to share the artistic talents of fellow CSA farmer Sandee McGee from Oh My Gato Farm. Sandee gave us the precious gift of a newborn photo shoot with Tione! Sandee and her husband Anthony operate Oh My Gato Farm out of Winston and Anthony is a baker supreme! You can find some of their baked delicacies at the Lookingglass Farmer's Market every Friday afternoon outside of the Lookingglass Store.

We have been blessed by the spirit of camaraderie among fellow CSA farmers here. We have been helped along the way greatly by longtime Roseburg Farmer's Norm and Cinda Lehne who also operate a CSA program. When we got our new tractor and were in need of a brush hog for it to keep our land mowed Norm called us up and said we were welcome to indefinitely use theirs since they had other mowers. Also our first two years running our CSA program here were alot more crazy. We were still learning about the growing conditions in Oregon and Asinete was a first time farmer. We still had our CSA program going until Thanksgiving. Of course several hard frosts came in and knocked out 95% of our crops. Norm and Cinda called us up again and said their CSA had ended and we were welcome to come out and harvest whatever we could for the CSA out of their fields.
It is this generous spirit among our fellow farmers that we are so grateful for!

Hope you enjoy this week's harvest!

Suzie, Asinete, Baby Tione, and the Crew!

Harvest This Week Includes:

Strawberries (Half shares)

Raspberries (Full shares) *they are just now coming on.. we foresee enough for all soon!

Scallions

Beets (use the tops like Swiss Chard!)

Cheddar Cauliflower (high in beta carotene due to orange color)

Chinese Cabbage

Peas (Rejoice! This is the last of 'em.. the heat has done them in)

Italian Flat Leaf Parsley

Cilantro

Romaine Lettuce

Yellow Zephyr Summer Squash (we are hoping there is enough for everyone but if not there will be plenty coming on soon!)

How to Cook it and Store it:

Beet time! These beauties are chock full of vitamins and minerals. The beet greens can be used just as you would use Swiss Chard. Beets will store best with leaves removed, in plastic bag in crisper drawer of fridge. If you plan to use the leaves rinse well, and store in plastic bag in crisper drawer too. Beets are the King of storage, so if you don't get to them right away fear not! They will stay fresh and happy for as long as a month in your fridge (but we hope they get eaten this week!)

We wanted to include this recipe for any definite beet haters. Whip them up in these chocolate brownies and no one will be the wiser! The beets make the brownies ubermoist and also impart a wonderful rosy glow on the brownies.

Beet Chocolate Brownies (trust us these are delish!)
You need:

•3 oz (90 g) Dark chocolate (I used a 75 % cocoa dark chocolate)
•3.5 oz (100 g) flour
•3.5 oz (100 g) almond powder
•3 oz (90 g) sugar
•3 oz (90 g) butter (soft)
•4 eggs
•7 oz (200 g) shredded raw red beetroot
•Vanilla extract
•Confectioner sugar and cocoa for decoration
Steps

•Start by peeling and shredding the beets. Set aside
•Melt the chocolate in a double boiler.
•Mix together (using a food processor) the butter with the eggs, then add the sugar.
•Mix until lighter, then add the chocolate, flour, almond powder, the beets and the vanilla extract, and mix well.
•Butter a small mould (round mould or square one works well) and place greased parchment paper at the bottom)
•Pour the preparation in it and bake in the oven for about 30 mns in a preheated oven, 350 F (180 C)
Note: Your brownies are cooked once the blade of a knife comes out dry after you insert the blade in the cake.

< Beet Risotto
ingredients

1 bunch red beets with greens (about 1 1/2 pounds)
6 cups reduced-sodium chicken broth or vegetable broth
5 tablespoons balsamic vinegar, divided
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon butter
1 small sweet onion, such as Vidalia, cut into 1-inch cubes
2 cups arborio rice
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese (optional)

directions

1.Remove greens from beets; cut off and discard stems. Cut the greens crosswise into 1/2-inch strips; set aside. Scrub beets; place in a saucepan large enough to hold them in a single layer. Add broth and, if necessary, enough water to just cover them. Bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat to a gentle boil and cook until the tip of a sharp knife can be easily inserted into the beets, 30 to 45 minutes.

2.Transfer the beets with a slotted spoon to a cutting board to cool. Measure the cooking liquid; either add water or reduce over high heat to get 6 cups total. Strain through a sieve lined with paper towels into a medium bowl. Slice off beet ends and slip off skins. (To avoid Lady Macbeth hands, wear rubber gloves or hold beets in a paper towel.) Cut the beets into 1/4-inch dice; transfer to a medium bowl and gently mix with 2 tablespoons vinegar. Set aside.

3.Heat oil and butter in a Dutch oven over medium heat. Add onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until translucent, about 3 minutes. Add rice, increase heat to medium-high and cook, stirring constantly, until all the rice is opaque, about 1 minute. Add the remaining 3 tablespoons vinegar and 1 cup of the reserved beet-cooking liquid. Stir until almost all the liquid has been absorbed, adjusting the heat as necessary to maintain a simmer, about 4 minutes. Continue to add the beet broth, 1 cup at a time, stirring after each addition until all the liquid has been absorbed and adjusting the heat as necessary to maintain a simmer.

4.Add the reserved beet greens to the rice along with the final cup of broth. Cook, stirring, until the greens are wilted, about 2 minutes. Add the reserved beets and continue stirring until all the liquid has been absorbed, about 2 minutes more. Season with salt and pepper. Serve with Parmesan cheese, if desired.

Chinese Cabbage~ yet another vegetable that may leave you scratching your head and wondering what to do with it! Good news is it is very simple to prepare. Add it shredded at the last minute to your stir fries or try it in the super easy Cabbage Salad recipe below. Stores best in plastic bag in your crisper drawer.

Chinese Cabbage SaladIngredients
2 tablespoons sesame seeds
1 1/2 tablespoons rice vinegar
1/2 teaspoon sesame oil
2 tablespoons white sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/3 cup olive oil
4 cups shredded cabbage
2 carrots, shredded
1 (3 ounce) package ramen noodles, crushed
Directions
1.In a small skillet, toast sesame seeds over medium heat until golden brown and fragrant.
2.In a small bowl, mix together vinegar, sesame oil, olive oil, sugar, salt, pepper, and ramen seasoning packet.
3.In a large bowl, mix together cabbage, carrots, and crushed ramen noodles. Toss with dressing to coat evenly. Top with toasted sesame seeds.

Sorry~ that is it for recipe ideas for this week as it is now 11:38pm Tuesday eve.. baby Tione was fussy until 10:45pm making the usual blog posting time unavail... Now off to sleep while I can! ~ suzie

CSA Harvest #5

2011-06-27T21:03:00.000-07:00

Happy Day Everyone! It is with great pleasure that we introduce our greatest achievement to date and that is in the birth of our first child.. baby boy Tione (pronounced Sohneh) born June 20th at 8 pounds and 4 ounces. His name is a Kiribati name in honor of his Kiribati father and heritage and it means "gift from heaven".. we found the name very appropriate.

Life has been a bit chaotic since his arrival.. operating the farm on sleep deprivation has become the new routine and Asinete is on his own in the field for the time being until Mama heals up. We are more thankful than ever to our CSA support team M.A, Violet and Sally who are here every Wed to help harvest, wash and pack your baskets. Also thank you to our neighbor and good friend "Aunty Joo Joo" for helping with harvest while Mama is on the mend.

You are right to think it strange for farmer's to have a summer baby and we couldn't agree more! We had planned on a winter baby, a time of the year where we have time to put up our feet and enjoy the slower pace of life on the farm. But in the end Tione came when he was supposed to and we are just so happy he chose to come at all!

With the extra hubbub going on at the farm we have decided to hire someone once a week to help try to keep us from falling too far behind. We were fortunate to acquire the agrarian skills and gifts of Geronimo our Oaxacanian friend who comes and spends 9-10 hours a week with us. He has already taught Asinete quite a few tricks of the trade in the month he has been with us. We are grateful for his expertise and it sure is great to have another set of hands to battle the weeds that never give us a break, new baby or not.

As the summer crops draw nearer to harvesting next week we will be filling the now empty greenhouse with seed trays of fall crops. Kales, cabbages, broccoli, cauliflower, brussels sprouts and all the other yummy tastes of fall we love.

We hope your experience so far eating locally and in season has been a great one! We have many more veggies and fruits to tempt your pallets and your taste buds planned for the upcoming weeks.

Thank you for supporting this local(and now family)farm~

Suzie, Asinete, Baby Tione and the Crew

Harvest This Week Includes:

Fennel Bulb (try some recipe ideas below)

Nantes Carrots

Broccoli OR Cauliflower

Strawberries

Snow OR Snap Peas (freezing suggestions below if you'd like to save some of the bounty)

Head Lettuce

Cilantro

Cabbage (a very comical looking new variety we are growing called caraflex) Let us know what you think! It was bred this way to pack more easily. We hope it tastes good too!

How to Store it and Cook it!

Fennel~ love it or hate it we hope you give it a chance! Do not be offset by the smell and think it tastes like licorice. When prepared in one of the recipes below you will see too that the taste is like that of the most tender celery heart. Indeed fennel can be used in the place of celery in salads and other recipes. We hope you become a fennel lover too! The bulb keeps best wrapped in a plastic bag in the crisper drawer of fridge.

Oven Potatoes with Fennel

20 ounces Yukon Gold potatoes, cut in 1/2" cubes
1 medium fennel bulb, trimmed and cut in 1" slices
1 medium sweet onion, diced
1 tablespoon fresh parsley, minced finely
2 teaspoons vegetable oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
freshly ground black pepper -- to taste

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Spray baking sheet with nonstick cooking spray. In large bowl, combine potatoes, fennel, onion, parsley, oil, salt and pepper; toss gently until well coated. Arrange mixture in a single layer on a prepared baking sheet. Bake, turning occasionally, until potatoes are crisp on all sides, 30-35 minutes. Serve immediately.

Fennel and Carrot Pasta

Ingredients

1 bulb fennel (about 1 pound)
4 ounces bow-tie, gemelli, or corkscrew pasta
2 large carrots, cut into thin strips (1 cup)
1/2 cup chopped onion
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 teaspoons olive oil
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/8 teaspoon salt
1-1/2 cups shredded radicchio or fresh spinach
2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese

Directions

1.Remove upper stalks from fennel, including feathery leaves. Discard any wilted outer layers on fennel bulb; cut off a thin slice from the base. Wash fennel and pat dry. Quarter fennel bulb lengthwise and discard core; cut quarters in thin strips.
2.Cook pasta in a large pot of lightly salted boiling water for 5 minutes. Add fennel and carrots; cook for 5 minutes more or until pasta is al dente (tender but still firm); drain.
3.Meanwhile, in a small skillet cook onion and garlic in hot oil for 3 minutes or until onion is tender. Stir in pepper and salt. Transfer pasta mixture to a serving dish; add onion mixture, radicchio or spinach, and Parmesan cheese. Toss well to mix. Makes 4 side-dish servings.

How to preserve your snow/snap pea bounty for later in the season

It is that time of year again when the peas are coming in heavy, the big hurrah before the tender vines succumb to the summer heat and literally are killed off by it. We wanted to share with you a few easy steps you can take to freeze your peas for later use.
Your peas will need to be blanched before they can be frozen. Bring a large pot filled with water to boil on stove. Once water is boiling add the peas and boil for 90 seconds. Have a large bowl or pot ready nearby filled with ice cold water. After peas are blanched in hot water for 90 seconds immediately strain them and add strained peas to ice water for 90 seconds. Strain out cold peas and place in freezer bags (vacuum seal bags work best). Viola! You have your frozen peas ready to eat later this year.

CSA Harvest #3

2011-06-13T07:17:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the third week of produce! Hopefully you have managed to keep up with the mass quantities of Spring roughage that has been coming your way.

We want to use this newsletter to introduce ourselves to some of you for the first time! We ran this post back in Jan of 2009 but wanted to dust it off and re post since our history has not changed! We are a husband and wife team farming 5 acres on the beautiful Umpqua floodplain! Here is our story....

Suzie's story.....2011 will be my 8th year of organic farming. I was born into a rural lifestyle in Orange County, Ca. in the beautiful coastal sage scrub hills and canyons of Trabuco. I grew up without electricity (home was too far away from town at the edge of Cleveland National Forest). While my parents had jobs away from "the ranch" there were always plenty of horses, pigs, chickens and goats to contend with, hills to climb, streams to forge and snakes to catch! Growing up surrounded by nature was a tremendous influence early on that directed my lifestyle and career choices. While away at college in the Monterey Bay I became involved in environmental restoration using Ca. native plants. I became an AmeriCorps intern and helped many other interns and volunteers to restore the former army base of Fort Ord back to it's native state (replanting old fire roads and abandoned artillery ranges with native plant species to increase biological diversity and prevent erosion). While in Monterey I also became involved in an organic educational farm in Salinas called ALBA. ALBA consists of more than 100 acres and is used as a school to help teach migrant farm laborers how to become independent business people, teaching students how to grow using organic methods and how to successfully market their products. I began to volunteer my extra time here helping students with their CSA programs. At ALBA while harvesting and working with the land I found my calling~ organic farming! I received my Bachelors of Science in environmental studies but did not know what I would do with it until my days at ALBA. From Monterey Bay I took a job as a school farm manager in a small town in South Monterey County called San Ardo. Here with the help of the community and school we were able to turn an abandoned 1 1/2 acres into a certified organic school/community farm. The students from K-8th attended weekly classes held at the farm in our outdoor classroom. Some classes were spent digging in the compost pile to learn about decomposing, other days measuring plant growth, some harvesting all the ingredients needed to make some salsa! It was a great place to learn more about organic farming and share the beauty of nature with children. In 2002 I decided to take a year trip overseas.. this led me to New Zealand (picking and packing kiwi fruit), into Australia (just a tourist), Fiji and then to the remote country of Kiribati (in between Australia and Hawaii on the equator) where I was teaching English for two and a half years and where I happened to meet my future husband and business partner Asinete Tibwe! We married in his country and arrived in Oregon together in the summer of 2007. My folks live in Myrtle Creek and told us what an amazing place Douglas County was... they were right!

Asinete's story~ 2011 will be my 4th year as an organic farmer. Before this I was a fisherman in my country since Kiribati is made up of small islands surrounded by the Pacific Ocean. The Kiribati people source almost all of their food from the sea. We catch and eat all sorts of fish (reef fish, shark, marlin, barracuda, and our favorite~ tuna!) Also we catch spiny lobster, octopus, eels and many kinds of shellfish. We catch fish in many ways. We dive for many species and use long spears to catch them. Sometimes we drag nets under the ocean and catch reef fish that way as well. Many people use the local canoe called a waa and they fish from here with nets or poles.
The country of Kiribati is made up of scattered coral atolls. The highest point of all islands is only one meter above sea level. We have no mountains or hills, lakes or rivers. Except for harvesting coconuts and a root like vegetable called babai (like taro root) my people are not farmers. I have learned how to grow all these crops in the USA (most of which I had never tasted before!) My favorite crop to grow is broccoli and sweet corn.. both of which I had never tasted before coming to the US. I love farming but miss my days of diving and fishing in the ocean! It helps that we live on the river though since when summer comes I can at least dive in the river and look for crawdads!

Thank you for supporting our dream here in Oregon!

Suzie & Asinete

This Week's Harvest Includes:

Green Garlic

Strawberries (eat these fast! With the rain they got wet and won't keep long)

Head lettuce

Snow OR Snap peas

Broccoli (hooray~ we had enough for everyone last week and this week!)

Spinach

Radish OR Salad Turnips

Mesclun Mix

How to Store it and Cook it~

Broccoli~ Enjoy this fleeting crop while it lasts. Last Spring we had a bumper crop of broccoli but this season as you already know we have had one problem after another keeping it alive... we are hoping for one or two good broccoli harvest soon and then the rest will come this Fall when the weather cools down again.

Broccoli stores best in a plastic bag in the crisper drawer of your fridge for best taste and most nutrients use within 3-5 days.
Broccoli is hailed as a wonder vegetable. It is packed full of phytonutrients that boost your body's immune power. It has been found in numerous studies to prevent cancer, cleanse and detoxify cells, prevent heart disease and cataracts, build up the density of bones and strengthen the immune system.

Skillet Browned Broccoli with Pan Toasted Garlic

ingredients

3 large broccoli stems with stem end attached
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
Coarse sea salt
Ground black pepper
3 Tbsp. thinly sliced garlic (use your green garlic!)

directions

1.Preheat a 12-inch cast-iron skillet over medium heat. Slice broccoli heads lengthwise in a 1-inch-thick slices, cutting from the bottom of the stem through the crown to preserve the shape of the broccoli (reserve any florets that fall away for another use). Brush both sides of each broccoli slice with some of the olive oil and sprinkle lightly with salt and pepper.

2.Place half of the slices in the heated skillet and set a heavy medium skillet on the slices to press them to the cast-iron skillet. Cook over medium heat for 3 to 4 minutes, or until well browned. Turn slices and cook second side for 3 to 4 minutes more or until browned (for more tender broccoli, cook over medium-low heat for 5 to 6 minutes per side). Repeat with remaining broccoli slices. Transfer to a warm platter, cover, and keep warm.

3.Drizzle the remaining olive oil into the hot skillet, reduce heat to medium-low and add garlic slices. Cook garlic, stirring gently and constantly for 2 minutes or until the slices are lightly browned. Transfer to a plate lined with paper towel and sprinkle lightly with salt and pepper.

4.Arrange broccoli on serving platter. Sprinkle the toasted garlic slices over broccoli. Makes 8 servings.

5.*Kitchen Tip: Keep cooked broccoli slices warm in a 300 degree F oven or cover with foil while the remaining broccoli cooks.

Radishes~

Do you have a hard time facing those radishes each week? Cooking them actually turns the heat into a sweet flavor. Try this out and see how you like it!

Braised Radishesadapted from Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone by Deborah Madison

1 bunch red radishes
1 to 2 Tablespoons butter
1 stalk green garlic, cleaned as you would a leek and chopped, use all the light green part
1/2 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme
Salt and pepper to taste

Trim the leaves from the radishes, leaving a bit of the green stems, and scrub them. Wash the leaves and set aside. Leave smaller radishes whole and halve the larger ones.

Melt 2 to 3 teaspoons of the butter in a small saute pan. Add the green garlic and thyme and cook for 1 minute over medium heat. Add the radishes, a little salt and pepper, and water just to cover. Simmer until the radishes are tender, 3 to 5 minutes. Add the leaves and cook until they're wilted and tender, 1 minute more. Remove the radishes to a serving dish. Boil the liquid, adding a teaspoon or two more butter if you like, until only about 1/4 cup remains. pour it over the radishes and serve.

CSA Harvest #2

2011-06-06T18:21:00.000-07:00

Hooray for sunshine and warm weather! We have had to take advantage of it and get the eight varieties of peppers all planted as well as 250 eggplant plants. Unfortunately last Friday we had to replant the first batch of sweet corn since our first sowing done on May 13th all rotted due to the cold, wet ground. We probably won't have corn that is "knee high by the fourth of July" but we are hoping to get a total of 4-5 different plantings of sweet corn in so we can have it all summer. We know it is a favorite among the CSA members! When we attended an organic farming conference last winter we were surprised to learn that sweet corn and cole crops (broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower) are the two main crops that farmers lose money on. The main reason being that thye need so much fertilizer to grow as well as time to mature that many farmers will not bother with them. However we know for the CSA that they are a favorite item!

In other farm news we have been busy trying to keep up with the strawberries as they kick into high gear now with the weather warming up. Usually in the summer months strawberry harvesting takes up to 6 hours of our time each week. It is a slow process for us.. usually on hands and knees to be sure we don't miss any. Then we are sure to pop off any bad ones that the birds or slugs beat us too.. if they are not slimy we enjoy them ourselves to fuel our picking. Usually by the end of the strawberry harvest we are holding our berry swollen, aching bellies!

We hope you are all enjoying the tastes of late Spring from the farm! We look forward to meeting all of you at our upcoming farm tours and annual farm potluck!

Thank you for your support!

Suzie, Asinete and the Big Lick Crew: M.A, Violet and Sally

Harvest This Week Includes:

Rainbow Chard~ please see recipes from last week's newsletter!

Seascape Strawberries

Bok Choy~ more recipe ideas below

Spinach

Head Lettuce

French Breakfast Radishes

Snow OR Snap Peas

Broccoli (full Share only this week.. next week should be enough ready for all)

How to Store It and Cook It

Snow Peas and Snap Peas keep best in a plastic bag in the crisper drawer of your fridge. Their sweet sugars start turning to starch quickly so they taste best if you use them within two days. Both types of peas are high in Vitamins A and C. These peas are excellent prepared in dishes with your bok choy.. some ideas below!

Bok Choy with Peas
4-6 Servings Size

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon peanut oil
2 garlic cloves, finely minced
1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger
3/4 lb baby bok choy, leaves separated
1/2 lb peas
1/2 cup chicken stock (or vegetable stock if you wish to keep it vegetarian)
2 tablespoons oyster sauce
1/2 teaspoon sesame oil

Directions:
Prep Time: 15 mins

1 Add the oil, garlic and ginger into a wok or large saute pan. Turn the heat to medium-high. As the oil heats, the garlic and ginger will infuse the oil with flavor. Take care that they do not burn. When the oil is hot, add the bok choy and the peas and toss to coat them in the oil.
2 Stir-fry the mixture for about a minute. Add the stock and oyster sauce and bring to a boil. Cover and cook for 2 minute until the bok choy stems are crisp-tender. Drizzle the sesame oil over the mixture and serve.

Shrimp, Bok Choy and Peas Stir Fry
Ingredients:
1 cup long-grain rice
3 tablespoons oyster sauce
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon Chinese rice wine (or dry sherry)
1 tablespoon water
1 teaspoon sesame oil
½ tablespoon brown sugar
2 tablespoons peanut or canola oil
16 large uncooked shrimp—peeled
1 red pepper—julienned
1 bunch bok choy—leaves separated and chopped
16 snow peas or snap peas—trimmed and halved on the diagonal
2 cloves garlic—crushed

COOK the rice. MIX together the oyster sauce, soy sauce, Chinese rice wine, water, sesame oil and sugar in a small bowl. HEAT a wok or large frying pan over a high heat, add 1 tablespoon of the oil and stir-fry the shrimp for 2 minutes. REMOVE the shrimp from the wok and set aside on a plate. HEAT the remaining oil in the wok and stir-fry the red pepper for 2 minutes. ADD the bok choy and peas and stir-fry for 4 minutes. ADD the garlic and stir-fry for a minute, then return the shrimp to the wok. ADD the sauce mixture and mix to heat through. SERVE with rice.

CSA Harvest #1 for 2011!!!

2011-05-29T17:17:00.000-07:00

It is with great pleasure that we bring you the first CSA basket of the season! It has been a rough Spring for us as we explained in our long email to each of you. Last season seemed delayed enough but this season it rained all of March which is the usual time we get our ground worked up and our earliest crops started and in the ground (cauliflower, broccoli, cabbage, carrots, beets, potatoes, greens, herbs, onions, parsnips, radish and peas).

As organic farmers we are very mindful of how we treat the soil.. we know if we take care of it properly it will provide abundant crops for us. This is why we feed the soil and protect it from overwintering rains with cover crops like fava beans and clover that provide habitat for animals, protect the soil from erosion and when tilled into the ground in the Spring add nutrients and rich organic matter.

With that in mind earlier this Spring with a few days of sun and then a week of rain predicted after that we had to decide to finally get in and start working the ground even though it still seemed too wet. Several areas of the farm are loamy (almost sandy) and they tilled up fluffy and clod free. Other areas have more clay (which holds more water) and these areas looked good while we were tilling but then dried in huge clumps. The least favorite texture of soil we like to work with and the least favorite soil conditions for our plants to grow in! The soil texture also limits where we plant things. The softest, smoothest soil is where we focus planting the very small seeds like carrots, turnips and baby salad greens.

Even with this years delayed season we are still sticking with June 1st as the first delivery. We know several other CSA farmers who are delaying their first CSA harvest by 1 or 2 weeks.

We hope you understand that Spring time means greens and lots of them! Enjoy them now because when/if(?!) summer ever arrives the light greens will be replaced by hefty heirloom tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, potatoes, sweet corn and melons.

If you have trouble getting through the raw volume of greens try sauteing them up in one of the recipe ideas below.. they wilt down to a manageable size then!

We wanted to include a few pictures of the farm. There have been some big changes here this season... the biggest to come in the next few weeks.. the arrival of our new farm hand (eventually!) our baby boy due to arrive June 13th. We are expecting he will either come before or after that date though! Also with baby coming we finally took the plunge and bought a new tractor with all the necessary implements to farm with. We will be paying off this tractor monthly for the next five years but it was a wise investment considering the amount of time it will be saving us for years to come.

As the weather settles, warms and the sun shows its beautiful face again we will be hosting farm tours, and our annual potluck farm party in the late summer. We hope you can all make it at least once this season to see where the food you eat comes from!

Enjoy the bounty of the wet Spring and thank you for choosing to support local farmers!

Suzie, Asinete and the Big Lick Crew: M.A, Violet and Sally

Harvest this Week Includes:

Rainbow Chard

Pac Choi/Bok Choy

Spinach

Head Lettuce

Mesclun Mix

Hakurei Turnips (if you want still more greens tops are edible!)

Green Garlic

How to Store it, and Cook it!

Green Garlic~ green garlic can be used in a variety of ways.. it is good all the way up along the thick stalk and we even has someone at the farmers market say they were going to wrap the garlic leaves over their baked potatoes and the baked taters were heavenly.

Green garlic will store best in the crisper part of your fridge wrapped in a plastic bag. Be sure to wash well before using as sometimes grit can gather between the leaves.

Rice Bowl With Spinach and Green Garlic~ from NY Times

1 bulb green garlic, trimmed of stalk (save stalk for another recipe below!)

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1/2 pound scallions, white and light green parts only, finely chopped

Salt to taste

1 1/2 pounds baby spinach, stemmed and washed

1 tablespoon chopped flat-leaf parsley

1 tablespoon chopped fresh mint or tarragon

Freshly ground black pepper

Cooked brown rice or other grains of your choice for serving

1. If the garlic has formed cloves, separate them and remove the thick shells from the tender cloves. If it has not formed cloves, just remove the outside layers. Chop coarsely. You should have about 1/4 cup chopped green garlic. If using the pea shoots, sort through and discard any budding flowers or leaves and the thin ends with the tendrils. Wash thoroughly.

2. Heat the oil over medium heat in a large, heavy lidded skillet, and add the olive oil. Add the scallions, green garlic and a generous pinch of salt. Cook, stirring, until tender, two to four minutes. Working in batches, add the spinach or pea shoots and salt to taste. Turn up the heat, and toss with tongs until the spinach or pea shoots wilt enough to allow room for another batch. If using pea shoots, cover and steam two to four minutes. Spinach does not require covering; just toss in the pan until it wilts and is tender and fragrant. Add the parsley and mint or tarragon, season to taste with salt and pepper, and serve with brown rice or other grains of your choice.

Yield: Serves four.

Advance preparation: This dish is best served right after it’s made, but you can cook grains ahead and reheat.

Green Garlic Pesto

This pesto keeps very well, covered and chilled up to 3 days or frozen up to 2 months.

Prep Time: 30 minutes
Total Time: 30 minutes
Ingredients:
•1/2 pound green garlic
•1 Tbsp. vegetable oil
•1/2 tsp. salt, plus more to taste
•1/4 cup pine nuts
•1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
•1/4 cup freshly shredded pecorino cheese or other hard sheep's milk cheese
Preparation:
1.Trim and discard root ends of green garlic. Finely chop green garlic, rinse thoroughly and pat or spin dry.
2.In a large frying pan over medium-high heat, cook vegetable oil, green garlic, and 1/2 tsp. salt until soft, about 3 minutes. Let cool to warm room temperature.
3.In a blender or food processor, pulse pine nuts to chop. Set aside. Add green garlic and process, scraping down sides as necessary, until bright green and smooth. With motor running, drizzle in olive oil. Pulse in reserved pine nuts and cheese. Taste and add more salt if you like.

Makes enough Green Garlic Pesto to coat 1 pound linguine

Hakurei Turnips~ you've tasted turnips before and perhaps even shunned them but give these buttery gems a try and you too will be a turnip lover! These are a Japanese variety and the seed is pricey but worth it! We included turnip green recipes too!
Your turnips will keep best wrapped in plastic in the crisper drawer of fridge.

Creamed Turnips in Butter Sauce.
1.Slice the turnips very thin and chop the tops roughly. (I leave out the 2-3 inches of stem and the very top of the turnip bulb)
2.Place all in a pot with a little water (1/4 inch in pot) and boil until the turnips are tender and water is almost gone.
3.Turn off the heat and stir in 3/4 to 1 cup milk in the pot and season with salt and pepper to taste.
4.Add 1/2 teaspoon of dry chicken base.
5.Combine 3 T butter and 2 T flour in a microwave safe dish and microwave on high about 45 seconds until the mixture is bubbly.
6.Stir the flour and butter together and add to the pot. Cook and stir the mixture to make a light, buttery sauce.

White Hakurei Turnip Gratin

Melt 1 Tablespoon butter in a non-stick 12 inch skillet (make sure you have a top to fit the pan.)

Wash one bunch of white hakurei turnips well, top and tail them, and slice them in 1/4 inch slices. Save the turnip greens for another recipe. You don’t need to peel the turnips. Layer the slices in the pan. Sprinkle the sliced turnips with 1 teaspoon dry thyme, 3/4 teaspoon salt, 1/4 tsp. freshly ground pepper, and 1/8- 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper.

Cook for 3 minutes over medium heat, then pour 1/2 cup heavy cream and 1/2 cup chicken stock over the top. Cover and cook the turnips over medium heat for 20 minutes. The turnips will be completely cooked through, but there will be considerable liquid left in the pan. Remove the cover and cook to reduce the liquid. When most of the liquid has reduced (about 5-10 minutes), and the sauce is thickened, grate finely 1/2 cup of fresh parmesan cheese evenly over the top. Watch closely as the cheese melts and make sure that the liquid does not entirely cook away. Recipe credit: www.gfzing.com

Serve the turnips hot. The recipe is supposed to serve 6, but maybe realistically it would only serve 4, once they discover that they love turnips!

Mesclun Mix~ the mesclun mix in your CSA share is a zesty mix of young arugula, tatsoi, ruby streaks and purple orach mustard. We love these greens mixed in with the mild spinach and lettuce leaves in a salad. They are also great plopped onto your favorite sandwich. Store in the plastic bag in crisper drawer and try to use up within a week!

Mesclun Salad
Ingredients:
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1/4 teaspoon sugar
2 tablespoons olive oil
5 ounces mesclun mix(8 cups)

Preparation: Whisk together lemon juice, mustard, sugar, and 1/2 teaspoon salt in a large bowl until salt and sugar are dissolved, then add oil in a slow stream, whisking until emulsified.

Add greens to dressing and toss to coat. Serve immediately.

Rainbow Chard~ chard is chock full of vitamins and minerals and it is a great crop to grow on our farm since it keeps producing even after we harvest it once. Chard keeps best in a plastic bag in the crisper drawer (if you still have room in there!)

Rainbow Chard Bruschetta
ingredients
2 tablespoons olive oil
8 ounce Swiss chard, coarsely chopped (about 3 cups)
2 tablespoons water
Salt and pepper
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
6 slices French bread, cut diagonally 3/4-inch thick and toasted
1/2 cup torn arugula (this can be taken from your mesclun mix)
2 ounces garlic-and-herb feta cheese or plain feta cheese, crumbled (1/2 cup)

directions
In a large skillet or wok heat the 2 tablespoons olive oil; stir-fry Swiss chard over medium-high heat for 2 minutes. Add water and cook 2 minutes more. Add salt and pepper to taste. Remove from heat. In a small bowl combine the 1 tablespoon oil and the vinegar, set aside. To serve, divide chard among the pieces of toast. Drizzle with the oil-and-vinegar mixture. Top with arugula and feta cheese. Serve immediately. Makes 6 side-dish servings.

Garlic Creamed Chard

Per serving: 141 calories; 9 g fat (4 g saturated fat, 3 g mono unsaturated fat); 13 mg cholesterol; 10 g carbohydrates; 4 g protein; 2 g fiber; 369 mg sodium; 625 mg potassium Nutrition Bonus: Vitamin K (463% daily value), Vitamin A (140% dv), Vitamin C (35% dv), Magnesium (24% dv).

ingredients

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1 pound chard, stems and leaves separated, chopped (see Note)
2 tablespoons minced garlic (use your green garlic!)
4 teaspoons unsalted butter
4 teaspoons all-purpose flour
2/3 cup low-fat milk
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg

directions

1.Heat oil in a Dutch oven over medium heat. Add chard stems and cook, stirring often, until softened, 3 to 5 minutes. Stir in chard leaves and cook, stirring constantly, until wilted, about 2 minutes. Cover and cook, stirring once, until tender, about 2 minutes more. Transfer to a colander placed in the sink and press with a wooden spoon to remove excess liquid. Return the chard to the pot, cover and keep warm.
2.Place garlic and butter in a small saucepan over medium heat and cook until the garlic is fragrant but not browned, about 2 minutes. Whisk in flour and cook until bubbling, about 30 seconds. Add milk, salt, pepper and nutmeg; cook, whisking constantly, until thickened, 1 to 2 minutes. Stir the chard into the sauce and serve immediately.
3.Note: After washing the chard for these recipes, allow some of the water to cling to the leaves. It helps steam the chard and prevents a dry finished dish.

recipe source
eatingwell

Bok Choy/Pac Choi~ Bok Choy is a unfamiliar vegetable to many of you but no longer! This Asian green is considered to have the highest amounts of calcium than any other vegetable. It is also an excellent source of Vitamin A, B complex, C and minerals. Like your other veggies it will keep best wrapped in damp towel or put in a plastic bag in crisper drawer of fridge. Only store for one week.

Stir Fry Bok Choy~ Thai Style

Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 5 minutes
Total Time: 15 minutes
Yield: SERVES 4 as a Side Dish
Ingredients:
•2 heads of large bok choy
•1 Tbsp. coconut oil or other vegetable oil
•STIR-FRY SAUCE:
•2 Tbsp. oyster-flavored sauce (Vegetarians/Vegans: substitute vegetarian oyster-flavored sauce OR vegetarian stir-fry sauce)
•2 Tbsp. soy sauce
•2 Tbsp. fish sauce (Vegetarians/vegans: substitute 2 Tbsp. Thai Golden Mountain Sauce
•2 Tbsp. sweet Thai chili sauce (available in most supermarkets)
•2 Tbsp. brown sugar
•2 tsp. fresh lime juice
•7-8 cloves garlic, minced
Preparation:
1.Rinse the bok choy and cut off the bottom stem part at the base of each head. Separate into individual leaves. If the white sections of these leaves are very wide or large, you can slice them in half lengthwise, or into thirds. Tip: If stir-frying larger bok choy, slice off the green leaf tips. Add the thicker white sections to the wok first, then throw in the leaves at the end (these will cook very fast).
2.Mix all the stir-fry sauce ingredients together in a bowl or cup. Stir well to dissolve the sugar.
3.Heat a wok or large frying pan over medium-high to high heat for 30 seconds to 1 minute. Add oil and swirl around.
4.Now add the bok choy plus 2-3 Tbsp. stir-fry sauce. Stir-fry 1-2 minutes, or until pan/wok starts to become dry.
5.Now add another 2-3 Tbsp. sauce and continue stir-frying another 2-3 minutes, or until the bok choy is bright green and the white stems are softened but still crunchy.
6.Taste-test the bok choy with the sauce. Add more sugar if too sour for your taste, or more lime juice if too salty. Also, fresh minced chili or dried chili can be added if you prefer it spicier. If you prefer more sauce, add a little more, as desired.
7.To serve, lift out the bok choy and place on a serving platter or in a serving bowl, then pour the sauce (from the bottom of the wok or pan) over. Serve immediately with plenty of Thai jasmine-scented rice. ENJOY!
Stir-Fry Sauce Tip: Keep extra stir-fry sauce (in a covered jar or container) in your refrigerator for up to 1 month. This sauce is excellent with many different kinds of stir-fried vegetables, as well as with chicken, tofu or wheat gluten, pork, and seafood. Enjoy!

Garlic-Ginger Bok Choy Stir Fry

Bok Choy Recipe
Servings: 4
Ingredients:
1 1/2 pounds bok choy
1 1/2 tablespoons canola, vegetable or peanut oil
1-2 cloves garlic, finely minced
1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger
3 tablespoons broth or water (or 2 tablespoons broth/water + 1 tablespoon wine)
salt to taste
1/2 teaspoon sesame oil

Directions:
1. Start by trimming the stem off - don't trim too much - just the end. Cutting the thick stem off will ensure that the bok choy cooks evenly. Separate out the leaves, keep the tender center intact and clean under running water. Drain.

2. Finely mince garlic and grate fresh ginger with a microplane grater. Grating the ginger helps break up the tough fibers! (and yeah, sometimes when the ginger is nice and fresh, I don't even bother peeling off the paper-thin skin)

3. Place wok or frying pan on your stove and pour in the cooking oil. Add the garlic and ginger. Turn the heat to medium-high. Let the ginger and garlic gently sizzle in the oil. When the aromatics become fragrant and light golden brown, add the bok choy leaves. Toss very well to coat each leaf with the garlicky, gingery oil for 15 seconds. Pour in broth, water or wine. Immediately cover and let cook for 1 minute. Season with salt and drizzle a bit of sesame oil on top.

CSA Harvest #26- the last of the season

2010-11-21T15:49:00.000-08:00
Just in the nick of time we are wrapping up our 2010 CSA season! We saw on the weather report that Tuesday we are going to have a low of 16 degrees! This cold snap will kill off most of our fall crops that are left in the field. It will mean the end for any lingering cauliflower, savoy cabbage, broccoli and lettuce. Tuesday will find us busy still in the cold and wet trying to salvage all that we can before the killing frost comes. About the only things that should not die in weather that cold are our cover crops, kale, remaining brussel sprouts, green cabbage and leeks.

It seems so fitting that our last delivery each year falls on Thanksgiving week. A week that is dedicated to families coming together to share a wonderful meal. We hope that the produce in your baskets finds its way into your favorite dishes (or some new ones~ see below!) and satiates your friends and family that share your table.

We hope you all find so much to be thankful for!
Happy Holidays and we will see you in the Spring of 2011~

Suzie, Asinete, M.A., Violet and Sally (the Big Lick Crew)

Harvest For the Final Week:

Brussel Sprouts! yes they look funny! please pop them off the stem and use some of our recipe ideas below!

White or Purple Cauliflower (have too much? find out how to freeze it below)

Broccoli

Potatoes

Winter Squash (may be butternut, delicata, sunshine, green acorn)

Garlic

Head Lettuce

Rainbow Chard OR Beets (if you're a beet hater see if you can't find someone to trade with at pick up site! Or else give them another try.. these are smaller and more mild.)

Fennel (have you tried it roasted with parsnips, carrots, beets, potatoes yet? Or sliced thin on a salad)

Parsnips (we know we promised them for last week but they would not fit!)

Kohlrabi (the green, tennis ball looking things in your basket) recipe ideas below!

Cabbage

Green Tomatoes

Carrots (tops cut off to make room in baskets for all other loot)

red and yellow storage onions

How to get through it all and some recipe ideas that are Thanksgiving inspired:

Brussel Sprouts... if you think all brussel sprouts taste like old gym socks try these sweet gems. The majority of all store bought brussel sprouts are grown down in the central coast area of California where the weather does not get very cold. Brussel sprouts love cold weather though and the little sprouts are much sweeter and more tender when grown in our cooler climate. You may have been in Sherm's or Fred Meyer recently and seen that they too are selling many sprouts just like these, on the stalk. To use them simply pop them off the stem (even the little ones!) and use in some recipe ideas below. Brussel sprouts take a long season to get ready. We started these from seed back in June and still the sprouts are on the small side.

Brussel Sprouts with Bacon
serves 4

Ingredients
3 slices bacon, chopped
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil, 1 turn of the pan
1 shallot, chopped
1 1/2 pounds Brussels sprouts, trimmed, small spouts left whole, larger spouts halved
Salt and pepper, to your taste
1 cup chicken broth
Directions
Brown bacon in a medium skillet over medium high heat. Remove bacon to a paper towel lined plate. Add extra-virgin olive oil to the pan, 1 turn. Add shallots to the pan and saute 1 to 2 minutes. Add Brussels spouts and coat in oil. Season with salt and pepper. Cook Brussels sprouts 2 to 3 minutes to begin to soften, then add broth. Bring broth to a bubble, cover and reduce heat to medium low. Cook 10 minutes, until tender. Transfer sprouts to a serving dish with a slotted spoon and top with cooked bacon bits.

Kohlrabi~ Kohlrabi is a strange vegetable.. less strange looking now since we removed all the large leaves from it to help it fit in your basket.The bulb part that you eat actually grows above ground. It can be eaten raw or cooked but does need to be peeled first. To peel use a sharp knife and cut right under green skin to reveal white flesh inside. Kohlrabi might look like a turnip when peeled but it is actually related to cabbage and broccoli tasting like a cross between the two. Kohlrabi is not only tasty but good for you as well! It is high in antioxidants, fiber and Vitamin C...peeled, raw and cut into wedges it is a wonderful addition to your Thanksgiving crudites platter!

Roasted Kohlrabi with Garlic and Parmesan Cheese
Original Recipe Yield 4 servings
Ingredients
4 kohlrabi bulbs, peeled
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 clove garlic, minced
salt and pepper to taste
1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
Directions
1.Preheat an oven to 450 degrees F (230 degrees C).
2.Cut the kohlrabi into 1/4 inch thick slices, then cut each of the slices in half. Combine olive oil, garlic, salt and pepper in a large bowl. Toss kohlrabi slices in the olive oil mixture to coat. Spread kohlrabi in a single layer on a baking sheet.
3.Bake in the preheated oven until browned, 15 to 20 minutes, stirring occasionally in order to brown evenly. Remove from oven and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. Return to the oven to allow the Parmesan cheese to brown, about 5 minutes. Serve immediately.

Preserving your Cauliflower abundance for later use

Remove all leaves off of cauliflower. Cut head into 2 inch florets and wash clean. Be on the lookout for slugs and or slug poo which wash off easily in cold water. Add the clean florets to a pot full of boiling water. Boil for three minutes and remove promptly. Put immediately into sink full of cold water to stop cooking process. When cool drain cauliflower well in colander and when dry place in freezer bags and freeze for later use!

CSA Harvest #25

2010-11-16T18:38:00.000-08:00
Twenty five weeks?? I just typed that into the title of this week's blog and it seems so surreal! How can it be that 25 weeks of the CSA year have gone by already? The end of each season is bittersweet. The thought of not greeting most of you every Wednesday is gloomy! The silver lining however is that we have time to regroup, to relax and plan for how the next season will be even better.

We feel fortunate that even with the tough growing season we had in the early part of the year we were still able to keep the produce pumping out. We were fortunate too in that our Fall has been mild so far. If we had had a hard frost by now it would have really limited the amount of produce you have been getting in your baskets these last few weeks... but as it is watch out!! We are planning on going out with a loud kabOOM! These last two deliveries we are going to load your baskets to the brim and hope the fruits of our extensive harvest list are able to fit in your baskets.

Thank you to each of you who filled out the CSA Survey for 2010. Because each season is different we get different responses at the end of each year. Some universal favorites were the sweet corn, strawberries, raspberries, potatoes, garlic, red peppers, lettuce and even (shock!!) kale!! Some of the un favorites that we saw more than once were beets and fennel. Sadly we will have at least one more harvest of fennel. If you haven't tried it sliced up and roasted with carrots, potatoes and parsnips you need to... the fennel bulb tastes just like the tender heart of celery.

In terms of the drop off time/ day and location only 1 person out of 70 said it was not a good day or time.. the rest said it was perfect for them. There is nothing we can do about the time of day since it takes us all day to pick, wash, pack and load up the truck. Also the day of the week works perfectly with our harvest schedule for farmers market (gives enough time in between harvests for crops to size up).

All in all with the survey results it seems like more than 95% of you were very happy with the CSA program this year. We always have a small turnover. Families that have never tried a CSA program before and realize at the end of the first year it is not for them. Many people want to choose what items they buy and that is completely understandable! If you were one of these people don't forget that you can also support us at Farmer's Market in Roseburg from April-October.. we appreciate all the support we can get.

Farming is not a lucrative career but what it lacks in monetary gain it makes up for in friendships, a strong back and work ethic and the unwavering feeling that the work you are doing is making a difference.

Thank you for allowing us that opportunity!

Harvest This Week Includes:

Baby Carrots

Parsnips (last of them! try roasted with carrots and potatoes)

Winterbor Kale OR Bok Choy

Purple or White Cauliflower

Broccoli

Leeks

Onion

Green Tomatoes (let sit at room temp to ripen or use green)

Garlic

Potatoes

Delicata Winter Squash

Parsley OR Cilantro

Recipe Ideas:

Delicata Delish~ serves 4

Ingredients

* 1 large delicata squash, halved lengthwise and seeded
* 3 tablespoons butter, divided
* salt and pepper to taste
* 1 cup uncooked quinoa
* 2 cups water
* 2 shallots, chopped
* 1 clove garlic, minced
* 1/3 cup pine nuts

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. Arrange the squash halves cut side up in a baking dish. Fill dish with about 1/4 inch water. Place 1 tablespoon butter on each half, and season halves with salt and pepper. Cover dish, and bake squash 30 minutes in the preheated oven, or until very tender.
3. Place quinoa in a pot with 2 cups water. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer 15 minutes.
4. Melt the remaining 1 tablespoon butter in a skillet over medium heat. Stir in shallots and garlic, and cook until tender. Stir in pine nuts, and cook until golden. Gently mix into the pot with the cooked quinoa.
5. Cut the squash halves in half, and fill each quarter with the quinoa mixture. Serve each stuffed squash quarter on a bed of the remaining quinoa mixture.

Nutritional Information open nutritional information

Amount Per Serving Calories: 379 | Total Fat: 17g | Cholesterol: 23mg

Delicata and Garlic~ serves 8
Ingredients

* 3 delicata squash (if you don't have 3 please adjust recipe)
* 1/4 cup olive oil
* 3 cloves garlic, minced
* 1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Oil a 9x13 inch baking dish.
2. Peel delicata squash, slice in half lengthwise, and remove seeds. Cut into 1/2 inch thick slices. Place in baking dish, and toss with olive oil, garlic, and parsley.
3. Bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes, or until tender.

Nutritional Information open nutritional information

Amount Per Serving Calories: 120 | Total Fat: 6.8g | Cholesterol: 0mg

CSA Harvest #24~ 2 more!!

2010-11-09T19:51:00.000-08:00
Brrrrrr!!! It seems like fall is really here to stay now and we are eager to get some of the beauties of the fall harvest put in your baskets before the frost gets to them first. This week we delve into the butternut squash (our favorite!). If you have been with us for a few seasons now you know we have always had quite a bit more winter squash in the baskets compared to this year. The problem we had this year was slugs got to the winter squash before we could get them harvested. We never knew the amazing eating ability of a slug until we saw large butternuts that were just empty shells, all the flesh inside eaten out by the fat slugs. Next year we will plant more to compensate for slug damage. Also we just may decide to go into the escargot business (after all slugs must be easier to eat then snails since they are already out of their shell.) Hey don't knock a good protein source! Plus they go down real smooth!

We have heard back from some of you that Monday, November 22nd will be the best day for the last delivery and we agree! Delivery will be at the same time (after 5pm) just on Monday. For the last delivery it is very important that you bring bags or a box to place the contents of your basket into since we will need all baskets back at this point for next season. This is the best time to bring back any baskets you may have at home as well!

Don't worry we will remind you about all this next week as well!

Until then, stay warm, safe and enjoy these beauties of Fall!!

Harvest This Week Includes:

Violet Queen Cauliflower

Butternut Squash

Garlic

Savoy Cabbage

Head Lettuce

Bell peppers (the last of 'em either rejoice or savor!)

Potatoes

Green Tomatoes (either leave at room temp in your kitchen or use some recipe ideas below!)

Onion

How to use it!

Thank you to CSA member Beth Houseman for passing on some recipe ideas for green tomatoes. If you don't want to eat them green just leave out at room temp and they will ripen.

This recipe is from my Uncle Jules (Julie) Korn, who passed away this year.

Pickled Green Tomatoes

4 lbs green tomatoes
1 heaping tsp pickling spices, per jar
1 garlic clove, sliced, per jar
1 tsp canning salt, per jar
4-6 cup vinegar
4-6 cup distilled water
(can add hot peppers)

1. Prepare jars, lids, etc.
2. Heat equal parts vinegar and water to boiling (approximately 3/4 cups each per jar to start)
3. Add salt, spices, and garlic to each jar
4. Prepare tomatoes, slice into halves or quarters (if necessary) and pack tightly into jars
5. Pour boiling liquid over tomatoes and let settle. Keep adding liquid until filled to top, may take 30 minutes as tomatoes absorb. When cool, cover lid with plastic wrap and tighten band. Invert on towel and let sit a few hours. When cool, refrigerate. Ready to eat when color turns (dull light green).

I did can some, in water bath for 15 minutes (then turn off heat, let sit in water 10 min, then remove from canner).

Fried Green Tomato BLT

* 3 green tomatoes, sliced 1/4 inch thick
* 2 eggs
* 1/2 cup whole milk
* 3 cups canola oil
* 1/2 cup flour
* 3 tablespoons cornmeal
* 2 teaspoons salt
* 1 1/2 teaspoons freshly ground pepper
* lettuce
* 4 slices bread
* 4 slices bacon, cooked
* mayonnaise
* salt and pepper

Procedures

1.Pour the oil into a small pot. Heat it to 365 degrees. Preheat the oven to 225 degrees. Place a wire rack on a sheet pan in the oven.

2. Crack the eggs into a small bowl. Pour in the milk and whisk together. In another small bowl combine the flour, cornmeal, salt, and pepper.

3.Dredge the pieces of slices of green tomatoes one at a time in the flour mixture, shake off any excess, and then toss in the egg wash to coat, and then transfer back to the flour mixture.

4. Toss the pieces in the hot oil, and cook for 2 minutes on each side. When done place the fried tomatoes in the oven on the wire rack.

5. Construct the sandwiches. Slather the pieces of breads with mayonnaise. Sprinkle with salt and lots of pepper. Top with bacon, lettuce, and the fried green tomatoes. Top with the other slice of bread.

Butternut Info

NUTRITION

Butternut squash is a well-balanced food source that is rich in complex carbohydrates and low in saturated fat and sodium. It is a very good source of vitamins A and C and a good source of beta-carotene, magnesium, manganese, calcium and potassium.

Roasted Winter Squash Soup

Prep Time:
30 Min
Ready In:
1 Hr

Servings 4

Original Recipe Yield 4 cups

Ingredients

* Roasted Winter Squash:
* 2 tablespoons butter
* 2 cups raw winter squash (butternut, hubbard, acorn)
* Salt and pepper

* Soup:
* 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
* 1/2 cup diced onion (1/4-inch)
* 1/4 cup diced celery (1/4-inch)
* 1/4 cup diced carrot (1/4-inch)
* 1 cinnamon stick
* Sea salt and freshly ground pepper
* 32 ounces chicken broth
* 1/2 teaspoon ground toasted coriander (optional)
* Roasted Winter Squash (above)
* 1/2 cup half-and-half, if desired* (optional)
* 2 tablespoons toasted pumpkin seeds
* 1/2 cup plain Panko crispy bread crumbs, toasted light brown in saute pan over medium heat

Directions

1. To make roasted winter squash: Heat oven to 375 degrees F. Heat butter over medium-high heat in an ovenproof saute pan; add diced squash, salt and pepper. When squash begins to brown, place pan in oven. Roast for 15 minutes or until medium-brown on all sides. Remove from oven and let cool slightly. Puree in food processor, or mash with potato masher or ricer. Measure 1 1/2 cups squash; reserve.
2. To make soup: Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan over medium heat until hot. Add the onion, celery, carrot and cinnamon stick; saute until soft but not brown, about 10 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Add the broth and the coriander; bring to a boil. Simmer for several minutes. Stir in reserved squash until smooth; simmer gently to let the flavors meld, about 10 minutes. Discard the cinnamon stick.
3. Puree the soup using an immersion blender or in a blender until smooth. (The soup can be made ahead to this point, cooled, covered, and refrigerated for several days or frozen for about 1 month. It will thicken as it cools and may need thinning with broth or water when reheating.)
4. Return the soup to the pan and reheat gently. Add the half-and-half. Adjust the seasoning with salt and pepper. Top each serving with pumpkin seeds and toasted bread crumbs.

Butternut Squash Soup with Ravioli
ingredients

* 2 pounds butternut squash
* 2 14-1/2-ounce cans vegetable broth
* 1/2 cup water
* 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
* 1 tablespoon margarine or butter
* 1 9-ounce package refrigerated cheese ravioli
* 1 tablespoon molasses (optional)

directions

1. Peel squash. Halve lengthwise. Remove seeds and discard. Cut squash into 3/4-inch pieces.
2. In a large saucepan, combine squash, broth, water, and cayenne pepper. Cook, covered, over medium heat for 20 minutes or until squash is tender.
3. Transfer one-fourth of the squash-and-broth mixture to a blender container. Carefully blend, covered, until smooth. Repeat until all of the mixture is blended.
4. Return blended mixture to large saucepan. Bring just to boiling. Immediately reduce heat. Simmer, uncovered, for 5 minutes. Add the margarine or butter, stirring until just melted.
5. Meanwhile, prepare the ravioli according to package directions. Drain. Ladle hot squash mixture into bowls. Divide cooked ravioli among bowls. If desired, drizzle with molasses. Makes 5 side-dish servings.
6. < Make-Ahead: Prepare soup as directed, except do not add ravioli. Cool soup. Transfer to an airtight container. Store in the refrigerator up to 2 days or label and freeze for up to 2 months. To reheat, transfer frozen soup to a large saucepan. Cook, covered, over medium-low heat for 15 to 20 minutes or until heated through, stirring often. Cook ravioli as directed and serve with soup as directed.

Violet Queen Cauliflower

To enjoy the beauty of this cauliflower with it's vibrant colors it is best to eat raw in salad or used as a base for dips. Also tasty roasted. Cut into florets and coat with olive oil and kosher salt. Spread on cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees for 25 mins or 'til done.

CSA Harvest #23~ 3 more to go

2010-11-02T20:32:00.000-07:00
Happy sunshine everyone!! We have been loving this weather to be cleaning up everything for the season. We have to resist the temptation to start growing more crops with the weather so warm. We have pulled and cleaned up 300 of the tomato vines with 300 more to go on Thursday. Also rolling up drip tapes and unhooking aluminum irrigation pipes and getting them out of the field in case there is a flood this winter (the main drawback to our wonderful loamy soil!)

We have three more CSA deliveries to go and seeing as how our last harvest is Thanksgiving week we would like to hear from you all to see which day you would prefer to have produce delivered. We are sure many of you will be leaving town and we would prefer to have last CSA drop off either on the Monday or Tuesday of Thanksgiving week. Please email us and let us know what day will work best for you. We will have to go with the majority vote on this one. If you will be out of town for the whole week please arrange for a friend to pick up your CSA basket for you.

We have sent out the email surveys and so far have heard back from 22 of you. This means more than half of you still need to fill out your survey. It is very quick, 10 questions that will help us to figure out where improvements can be made with CSA program. We value all your input... thank you for taking the time to fill these out!

Happy eating!!

Suzie, Asinete, M.A., Violet and Sally

Harvest This Week Includes:

Bok Choy (recipe ideas below)

Red Zeppelin Onion (don't you love that name?)

Hardneck Garlic

Dinosaur Kale (recipe ideas from fellow CSA members below)

Leeks

French Fingerling Potatoes

Parsnips

Cauliflower OR Broccoli

Daikon Radish (to reduce heat of radish first peel before eating)

Raspberries (on rotation)

How to Cook it and Store it:

Hooray for fall cauliflower! We decided to take advantage of the weather while it was sunny and harvest the cauliflower. They are not as huge as they could be but the endless days of rain case the tops to start molding and we want to be sure they are not wasted. Cauliflower keeps best in the crisper drawer wrapped in a plastic bag.

Roasted Cauliflower (tried and true!!)

Yield 6 servings

Ingredients

* 2 tablespoons minced garlic
* 3 tablespoons olive oil
* 1 large head cauliflower, separated into florets
* 1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
* salt and black pepper to taste
* 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley (optional)

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F (220 degrees C). Grease a large casserole dish.
2. Place the olive oil and garlic in a large resealable bag. Add cauliflower, and shake to mix. Pour into the prepared casserole dish, and season with salt and pepper to taste.
3. Bake for 25 minutes, stirring halfway through. Top with Parmesan cheese and parsley, and broil for 3 to 5 minutes, until golden brown.

Nutritional Information open nutritional information

Amount Per Serving Calories: 118 | Total Fat: 8.2g | Cholesterol: 4mg

Bok Choy Ideas Bok choy is not only delicious but it is wonderful for your body as well! Bok Choy aids in healthy digestion. It is high in vitamin A, vitamin C, beta-carotene, calcium and dietary fiber. The leafy vegetable is lowfat, low calorie, and low carb, and also contains potassium and vitamin B6. Some of the vitamins found in bok choy are also powerful antioxidants, making this tasty cabbage an extremely healthy treat.

Simple Bok Choy

1 T oil (toasted sesame is very good or olive oil)
1.5 lbs bok choy (sliced into pieces)
1 T light soy sauce
2 T chicken stock or water
Garlic Minced *optional(we love garlic and add lots of it almost at end of cooking to get health benefits)
Heat wok or large skillet over moderate heat. Add oil and then bok choy. Stir fry 3-4
minutes, until leaves have wilted a little. Add soy sauce and chicken stock/water.
Continue to stir fry for a few more minutes, until the bok choy is done until still slightly crisp.

Very easy, very good.
source: Ken Hom's Chinese Cookery

Bok Choy Stir Fry

This is an easy recipe.

1 1/2 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce
1 tablespoon dry Sherry
1 teaspoon oriental sesame oil
1 teaspoon cornstarch
2 teaspoons vegetable oil
3 large garlic cloves, minced
1 tablespoon minced peeled fresh ginger
1/8 teaspoon dried crushed red pepper
3 1/2 cups thinly sliced trimmed bok choy
1 5-ounce can sliced water chestnuts, drained
3 green onions, cut into 1-inch pieces
10 1/2 ounces extra-firm tofu, drained, cut into 3/4-inch pieces

Combine first 4 ingredients in small bowl; mix well. Heat vegetable oil until very hot in heavy large wok or skillet over high heat. Add garlic, ginger and crushed red pepper. Stir-fry until aromatic, about 30 seconds. Add bok choy and stir-fry until just wilted, about 2 minutes. Mix in water chestnuts and green onions and stir-fry until onions are tender, about 1 minute. Add tofu and lightly stir-fry until tofu is just heated through, about 2 minutes. Pour over soy mixture. Stir-fry until liquid boils and thickens, about 1 minute.

STIR-FRIED RICE
2 1/4 cups water
1 1/2 cups long grain rice
2 1/2 tbsp. vegetable oil
4 eggs beaten
3 carrots, peeled, thinly sliced on diagonal, then slivered
3 cups thinly sliced bok choy stems and leaves
4 oz. fresh shiitake mushrooms, stems removed, caps sliced
1/4 lb. snow peas, trimmed, slivered
1 1/2 tbsp. oriental sesame oil
3 green onions, sliced
Szechuan Salt-Pepper (If you don't have this, you can use regular black pepper.)

For Rice:

Bring 2 1/4 cups water to boil in medium saucepan. Add rice and bring to boil. Reduce heat to low, cover and cook until water is absorbed, about 20 minutes. Fluff with fork. Transfer to bowl and cool completely. (Can be prepared 1 day ahead. Cover and refrigerate.)

Heat 1 1/2 tablespoons vegetable oil in wok or heavy large skillet over high heat until hot but not smoking. Add eggs and cook until puffed around edge. Using spatula, push cooked egg toward back of pan while tipping pan forward, allowing uncooked egg to flow forward. Continue cooking until eggs are no longer runny but still soft and fluffy. Cut eggs into pieces with edge of spatula and transfer eggs to plate.

Heat remaining 1 tablespoon vegetable oil in wok over high heat. Add slivered carrots and stir-fry 1 minute. Add sliced bok choy, sliced shiitake mushroom caps and slivered snow peas. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and stir-fry until vegetables just begin to soften, about 4 minutes. Add oriental sesame oil and heat mixture, then add cooked rice and stir-fry until heated through. Stir in eggs and sliced green onions. Season rice to taste with Szechuan Salt-Pepper and serve immediately.

Bon Appetit, June 1993

white-bean-kale-ragout-recipe

1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 cup chopped onion
2 Italian chicken sausages, cut into 1/2-inch slices
2 turnips, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch cubes (about 3 cups)*optional
3 garlic cloves, minced
6 cups de-stemmed, chopped kale (about 1 bunch)
1/2 cup chicken or mushroom stock
2 16-ounce cans cannellini beans, drained
1 14-ounce can diced tomatoes, undrained
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon red chile flakes

Heat oil in a large saute pan over medium-high heat. Saute onion and turnip for 8 minutes, or until bronzed. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and add sausage and garlic to pan. Cook for 2 more minutes, then add kale and remaining ingredients. Bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat to medium-low and simmer for 12 minutes, stirring occasionally, until kale is tender.

Serves 4

CSA Harvest #22

2010-10-25T20:27:00.000-07:00
Whew, well it is safe to say that one thing we did not spend our weekend doing was irrigating the fields! The crops have all had a refreshing drink and the 500 foot radius around our pigs has been washed clean of all the dust those pigs like to raise.
The combination of heavy rain and heavy wind can often wreak havoc on the crops and when we went out to view the storm aftermath this morning we noticed several of our fall planted broccoli's and cauliflowers had blown over. The plants are still rooted though and there is no fear of them drying out. Today was spent pulling one of the pumps out of the river since the rainfall has caused the river to rise up quite a few feet. We didn't want the pump to be underwater (this has already happened last season)and a trip to Popeye the pump mechanic is not an expense we need again.
We still have one more pump in the river, higher up than the pump we pulled out today. At this point in the season the pump will be obsolete as the rains look like they may be here to stay.

There is still a lot of farm clean up to be done since we have (luckily!!) not had a frost yet (although we are getting our first frost advisory tonight). Last year our first frost happened October 7th. I remember clearly Asinete and I out in the fields trying to pick and harvest every green, pink, reddish tomato we could find. Green tomatoes will ripen just fine off of the vine. We have over 600 tomato vines planted including the t-post stakes and bailing twine we use to string them up. Tomato vine clean-up is a major undertaking at Big Lick Farm. Also this year we had an early blight hit our tomatoes in the spring (remember how cold and wet it was all the way though June?) So that blight lives in the foliage of the tomato vines now. This means we will need to haul all of the vines to the dump. Usually we compost much of our crop residues or else we just till them back into the earth where they break down. When disease hits though we need to take more sanitary measures and get rid of all the plants so we don't have the same problem next season. Also we need to look for more varieties of tomatoes that are more blight resistant. We really do keep learning each season!

Please look for your surveys this week that we will send by email. 10 questions that help us greatly in planning for the next season and getting the insight we need to keep you all happy! Also for those of you wishing to be with us next year for the 2011 CSA season we will be emailing each of you after the New Year to get email confirmations that you would like to be with us again. After the first of the new year CSA deposits and payments are very welcome so we can have capital to start the 2011 season strong once again (costs of seeds and fertilizers are high. We do have limited spots and quite a few new members on a waiting list. All of our returning members will have first priority though! :) We will remind you more about this before the last CSA basket goes out this year!

Be well and enjoy the crisp, sweet crunch of fall!

Suzie, Asinete, M.A., Violet and Sally

Harvest This Week Includes:

Broccoli- hooray! the first of the fall broccoli!

Garlic

Concord Grapes- it's true~ they even taste purple!

Beets

Head Lettuce

Sweet Onion

Winterbor Kale (did you try the kale chips recipe yet?)

Winter Squash~ some of you will get spaghetti squash~ large football shaped yellow squash. Others of you will get the small, delicate delicata. Recipe ideas for both below.

We are also hoping for tentative harvest of sweet peppers, cukes, tomatoes, and summer squash.. the availability of these depending on if we get a hard frost tonight or not...

Recipe Ideas for your fall bounty

Concord Grapes~ rich in vitamin C and very high levels of antioxidants make this a very healthy, tasty treat! They seem to taste best when chilled. Keep in a bowl in the fridge and enjoy!

Spaghetti Squash~ if you got the single, large pale yellow squash in your basket congratulations! That is a spaghetti squash! We were requested to grow this squash by one of our awesome volunteers (Violet) who is allergic to all things wheat. She told us spaghetti squash made a delicious, healthy pasta substitute!
Here are some ideas on how to prepare it in some tasty meals!

A dieter's dream, a four-ounce serving of spaghetti squash has only 37 calories.

The average four-pound spaghetti squash will yield about five cups.

Spaghetti Squash can be stored at room temperature for about a month. After cutting, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate up to 2 days. Spaghetti squash also freezes well. Pack cooked squash into freezer bags, seal, label and freeze. Partially thaw before re-using, then steam until tender but still firm, about 5 minutes.

How To Cook Spaghetti Squash

* Bake It -- Pierce the whole shell several times with a large fork or skewer and place in baking dish. Cook squash in preheated 375?F oven approximately 1 hour or until flesh is tender.

* Boil It -- Heat a pot of water large enough to hold the whole squash. When the water is boiling, drop in the squash and cook for 20 to 30 minutes, depending on its size. When a fork goes easily into the flesh, the squash is done.

* Microwave It -- Cut squash in half lengthwise; remove seeds. Place squash cut sides up in a microwave dish with 1/4 cup water. Cover with plastic wrap and cook on high for 10 to 12 minutes, depending on size of squash. Add more cooking time if necessary. Let stand covered, for 5 minutes. With fork "comb" out the strands.

* Slow Cooker or Crock-Pot - Choose a smaller spaghetti squash (unless you have an extra large slow cooker) so that it will fit. Add 2 cups of water to slow cooker. Pierce the whole shell several times with a large fork or skewer, add to Crock Pot, cover and cook on low for 8 to 9 hours.

Once the squash is cooked, let it cool for 10 to 20 minutes so it will be easier to handle, before cutting in half (if it wasn't already) and removing the seeds. Pull a fork lengthwise through the flesh to separate it into long strands.

Recipe ideas for spaghetti squash once it is cooked:

Spaghetti Squash Alfredo

Servings
8

You can make this rich Alfredo sauce lower in fat by using reduced fat sour cream and low fat cheese, making this dish suitable for both low fat or low carb dieters can appreciate.

Ingredients
1 medium spaghetti squash, cooked by your favorite method and separated into strands
1 cup sour cream
1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
2 cloves garlic, finely minced
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
Instructions
In a medium-sized saucepan, combine the all ingredients except spaghetti squash over medium-low heat and whisk until smooth and creamy, stirring constantly to prevent burning. Add the spaghetti squash strands to the sauce and stir until thoroughly mixed and heated through. Serve immediately.

Buttered Spaghetti Squash

ingredients

* 1 medium spaghetti squash (2-1/2 to 3 pounds)
* 1/2 cup finely shredded Parmesan cheese
* 3 tablespoons butter or margarine, cut up
* 1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil, oregano, or parsley
* 1/4 teaspoon salt

directions

1. Halve squash lengthwise; remove and discard seeds. Place squash halves, cut side down, in a large baking dish. Using a fork, prick the skin all over. Bake in a 350 degree F oven for 30 to 40 minutes or until tender.
2. Remove the squash pulp from shell (see photo, directional). Toss squash pulp with 1/4 cup of the Parmesan cheese, the butter, basil, and salt. Sprinkle with the remaining 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese.
3. Makes 6 servings
4. Spaghetti Squash with Marinara Sauce: Bake spaghetti squash as directed in step 1. Omit Parmesan cheese, butter, basil, and salt. For marinara sauce, in a medium saucepan cook 1/4 cup chopped onion and 2 cloves minced garlic in 1 tablespoon olive oil or cooking oil. Stir in one 14.5-ounce can diced tomatoes, undrained; 1 teaspoon dried Italian seasoning, crushed; 1/8 teaspoon fennel seeds, crushed; 1/4 teaspoon salt; and 1/4 teaspoon black pepper. Bring to boiling; reduce heat. Simmer, uncovered, for 10 to 15 minutes or until desired consistency, stirring often. Remove the squash pulp from shell. Spoon sauce over squash pulp. If desired, sprinkle with grated Parmesan cheese. Per 3/4 cup squash with 1/4 cup sauce: 84 cal., 3 g total fat (0 g sat. fat), 0 mg chol., 233 mg sodium, 14 g carbo., 0 g fiber, 1 g pro. Daily Values: 1% vit. A, 19% vit. C, 7% calcium, 5% iron. Exchanges: 1/2 Vegetable, 1/2 Starch, 1/2 Fat

recipe source
BHG.com
Better Homes and Gardens

There are tons of spaghetti squash recipes online as well.. find the one that sounds best to you!

Delicata Squash... this winter squash is appropriately named. They are smaller squash, a perfect meal for two! If you did not get delicata this week.. no worries, there will be plenty for everyone later.

Delicata Delish

Prep Time:
15 Min
Cook Time:
30 Min
Ready In:
45 Min

Yield 4 servings

Ingredients

* 1 large delicata squash, halved lengthwise and seeded
* 3 tablespoons butter, divided
* salt and pepper to taste
* 1 cup uncooked quinoa
* 2 cups water
* 2 shallots, chopped
* 1 clove garlic, minced
* 1/3 cup pine nuts

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. Arrange the squash halves cut side up in a baking dish. Fill dish with about 1/4 inch water. Place 1 tablespoon butter on each half, and season halves with salt and pepper. Cover dish, and bake squash 30 minutes in the preheated oven, or until very tender.
3. Place quinoa in a pot with 2 cups water. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer 15 minutes.
4. Melt the remaining 1 tablespoon butter in a skillet over medium heat. Stir in shallots and garlic, and cook until tender. Stir in pine nuts, and cook until golden. Gently mix into the pot with the cooked quinoa.
5. Cut the squash halves in half, and fill each quarter with the quinoa mixture. Serve each stuffed squash quarter on a bed of the remaining quinoa mixture.

Nutritional Information open nutritional information

Amount Per Serving Calories: 379 | Total Fat: 17g | Cholesterol: 23mg

Squash with Herbs

Ingredients:

2 medium winter squash (about 2 pounds)
3 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup fresh sage, chopped
1 tablespoon fresh rosemary, chopped
1 1/2 cups apple cider or juice
1 cup water
2 teaspoons wine or herb vinegar
1 teaspoon salt
freshly ground pepper to taste

If using delicata squash, peel it with a vegetable peeler, then cut it lengthwise in half, and scrape out the seeds. Cut each piece in half again lengthwise, then crosswise into 1/2-inch-thick slices. Other squash should be peeled, seeded, cut into 1x 1/2 inch pieces. Melt the butter in a large skillet over low heat. Add the sage and rosemary and cook until the butter just begins to turn color-3to5minutes.Add the squash to the skillet, then the apple cider, water, vinegar, and salt. Cook stirring occasionally, over medium heat at an even boil until the cider has boiled down to a glaze and the squash is tender, 20 to 30 minutes. Taste and season with pepper and additional salt if needed.

Spicy Squash Soup

Ingredients:

2 1/2 tsp. Cajun seasoning

1 1/2 lb. Delicata or other winter squash

2-3 tsp. fresh ginger, peeled and minced

1 liter milk

2 cup sweet onion, diced

1 cup celery, diced

2 tbsp. minced garlic

4 tsp. olive oil

10 oz. frozen corn kernels

10 oz. frozen green beans

3/4 cup fresh basil leaves, chopped

Trim edges of squash, cut into four pieces, remove seeds. Steam 12-15 minutes until soft. Scrape the squash from the skin into a blender, add ginger and 2 1/2 cups milk; purÃ©e. SautÃ© onion, celery and garlic in 3 tsp. olive oil until onions are soft. Reduce heat to low, stir in Cajun spice mix. Stir for 30 seconds, add squash purÃ©e and remaining milk. Bring to a boil, simmer for 15 minutes. Add corn and green beans and continue to simmer. Stir in basil. Season with salt to taste.

Baked Delicata Squash

Ingredients:

1 delicata squash

1-2 Tbsp. butter

salt and freshly ground black pepper

Cut off the ends of squash, cut in half lengthwise. Remove the seeds. Leaving the skins on, cut the squash into 1/2-inch wide lengths. Place these on a baking sheet, dot with butter, and sprinkle generously with salt and pepper. Roast at 375 degree F. oven until soft. This is the basic recipe. You can add herbs, spices or honey to it if you wish.

Delicata Squash Puree

Ingredients:

One 2-lb. Delicata squash

1 lb. potatoes, peeled and quartered

1 cup heavy cream or half and half

2 tbsp. butter or olive oil

1/4 c. finely chopped fresh chives

salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste

Split the squash in half and scoop out the seeds. Peel the outer skin and cut the squash into 3-inch pieces. Place squash and potatoes in a large saucepan and fill with water and 1/2 tsp. salt. Bring to a boil and cook until both the squash and potatoes are fork-tender (30-40 minutes). Drain liquid (reserving about 1 cup) and add in cream and butter. Using a potato masher , mix well. Add chives and season to taste with salt and pepper. Add cooking liquid if you want it a bit thinner consistency.

Enjoy!!!

CSA Harvest #21.. with a thank you to our garlic planting helpers! 2011 garlic in the ground!

2010-10-18T10:22:00.000-07:00

Well we did it! With the help of 5 CSA members that came out to volunteer their precious Sunday afternoon we were able to get all of the garlic in for next year. We had planned on it taking two Sunday afternoons but we were fueled on salsa, strawberries and dark chocolate. Thank you to each of you who joined us. If you missed this opportunity fear not as next season there will be plenty of projects to go around!

This week we delve deeper into the fall crops with parsnips making their debut as well as tender salad greens. If you are wondering what the orange flecks are in your salad mix those are calendula petals.. edible and they make a beautiful salad as well. We also planted more fennel as a fall crop and the first harvest is ready. If you tried it in the summer and were not thrilled please give it another shot. The combination of cooler growing weather and harvesting it while it is smaller will make it very tender. Parsnips and fennel bulb complement each other in several recipes that we posted below.

The carrots this week are just right, heavy, sweet and crisp. I am crunching on one now as I type. As CSA members you are given the opportunity to eat things in season. A few weeks ago a man came by farmers market and was looking around for locally grown bananas.... in all fairness he was from San Diego where bananas may very well grow side by side with carrots. I had to remind him that he was in Oregon which isn't known for its tropical fruit growing. Our region does produce hundreds of other tasty fruits, vegetables and nuts and to fully appreciate them we must remember why it is so important to eat locally and in season.

When you buy direct from local farmers, your dollars stay within your community, and strengthen the local economy. More than 90¢ of every dollar you spend goes to the farmer, thus preserving farming as a livelihood and farmland.

This is important because as mergers in the food industry have increased, the portion of your food dollar paid to farmers has decreased. Vegetable farmers earn only 21¢ of your dollar; the other 79¢ goes to pay for marketing, distribution, and other costs.

There are other good reasons to eat more local, seasonal food:

*to reduce the energy (and associated CO2 emissions) needed to grow and transport the food we eat

*to avoid paying a premium for food that is scarcer or has travelled a long way (the average food item consumed in the USA has traveled at least 1,500 miles)

*to support the local economy (local farmers keeps .90 cents of every dollar you give them. Most farmers that do not sell directly to the public only get .21 cents of your dollar)

*to reconnect with nature's cycles and the passing of time

*seasonal food is fresher and so tends to be tastier and more nutritious

* This info taken from eattheseasons.com

Enjoy fall's bounty!

Suzie, Asinete, M.A., Violet and Sally

Harvest This Week Includes:

Salad Mix

Carrots

Fennel (recipes below)

Sweet onions

Parsnips (recipe ideas below)

Potatoes

Daikon radish (if you enjoy a milder radish peel before eating)

Tomatoes

Peppers (spicy and sweet varieties)

How to store it and cook it!

Parsnips are a new crop for Big Lick Farm to grow as they were requested by several folks last year. No other crop we grow takes as long to mature as a parsnip does. We planted these by seed in the cold, rainy days of March and they are just now mature enough to begin harvesting. The roots are a bear to wash. We took our time with these, scrubbing each root individually with a brush. Hands down parsnips are the most time consuming crop to wash that we grow but the taste makes up for the effort! Don't let that gnarled root scare you off! Just follow some of our tips and recipe ideas below and you too will be a parsnip fan.

Store parsnips chilled and loosely wrapped in plastic. Fresh parsnips will last a week or two properly stored.
Cooking With Parsnips
Parsnips have a great, distinctly nutty flavor. When cooked until tender they also have a lovely, starchy texture that works beautifully roasted or added to soups and stews. Parsnips pair particularly well with other root vegetables like potatoes, carrots, and turnips. Unlike carrots they do not taste good raw!

Roasted Winter Vegetables

Preheat the oven to 400 F. Use in any combination and cut into similar sized chunks: parsnips (peeled), small fennel heads, carrots (peeled if you like), chunks of daikon radish (great cooked), beets and/or potatoes. Toss with enough cooking oil to coat the vegetables and season with salt and pepper. Roast in a large glass or ceramic baking dish, uncovered, until browned and tender, 20 to 30 or even 40 or 50 minutes. Stir every 10-15 minutes so that they cook and brown evenly.

Aromatic Parsnips and Carrots

cook time: 50 mins

servings: 10

A fragrant combination of herb seasonings and citrus are infused into fresh parsnips and carrots to create an easy stove top side dish or meatless entree. Prepare this vegetable side dish ahead; chill up to 24 hours, then microwave, stir, and serve.

ingredients

* 1-1/2 lb. small parsnips, peeled and halved lengthwise
* 1-1/2 lb. small carrots, peeled and halved lengthwise
* 3 Tbsp. olive oil
* 3/4 tsp. fennel seeds, crushed
* 1/2 tsp. ground coriander (optional)
* 1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
* 4 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
* 2 Tbsp. chopped fresh cilantro
* 1 tsp. finely shredded lemon peel
* 2 Tbsp. lemon juice
* 1/2 tsp. salt
* 1/8 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
* 1 Tbsp. Olive oil

directions

1. Cut any long parsnips and carrots in half crosswise. In a very large skillet, cook parsnips, covered, in small amount of boiling salted water for 2 minutes. Add carrots; return to boiling. Cook for 4 minutes more. Drain; set aside. Carefully wipe skillet dry.
2. Heat the 3 tablespoons oil in same skillet over medium heat. Add fennel seeds, coriander, and cinnamon. Cook about 1 minute or until fragrant, stirring occasionally. Add parsnips, carrots, and garlic. Cook 10 to 12 minutes or until vegetables are tender, turning occasionally. Remove from heat. Stir in cilantro, lemon peel and juice, salt, and pepper. Drizzle with olive oil. Makes 10 to 12 servings.
3. Make-Ahead Tip: Prepare through Step 2. Transfer to 2-1/2- or 3-quart microwave-safe casserole. Cover; refrigerate up to 24 hours. To serve, microcook, covered with lid or vented plastic wrap, on high (100% power) for 7 to 8 minutes, stirring once. Serve as above.

recipe source
BHG.com
Better Homes and Gardens

Fennel and Parsnip Puree

yield: Makes 2 servings
Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.
Ingredients

* 2 large parsnips (about 1/2 pound), peeled and cut into 1/2-inch-thick slices
* 1 small fennel bulb (sometimes called anise), stalks trimmed flush with bulb and bulb chopped (about 1 cup)
* 1/2 tablespoon unsalted butter

Preparation

In a saucepan cover parsnips and fennel with salted water and boil, covered, 15 to 20 minutes, or until very tender. Drain vegetables well in a large sieve. In a food processor purée hot vegetables with butter and salt and pepper to taste.

Honeyed Parsnips and Carrots with Rosemary

Serves 8.

To add richness, sauté three ounces sliced pancetta until crisp; crumble over before serving.

Ingredients

* 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
* 1 pound carrots (about 4 large), peeled, cut into 3x1/4x1/4-inch sticks
* 1 pound large parsnips, peeled, halved lengthwise, cored, cut into 3x1/4x1/4-inch sticks
* Coarse kosher salt
* 2 tablespoons (1/4 stick) butter
* 1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary
* 1 1/2 tablespoons honey (such as heather, chestnut, or wildflower)

Preparation
Heat oil in large skillet over medium-high heat. Add carrots and parsnips. Sprinkle with coarse kosher salt and pepper. Sauté until vegetables are beginning to brown at edges, about 12 minutes. DO AHEAD: Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover and chill.
Add butter, rosemary, and honey to vegetables. Toss over medium heat until heated through and vegetables are glazed, about 5 minutes. Season to taste with more salt and pepper, if desired.

CSA Harvest #20

2010-10-12T18:20:00.000-07:00
Good day everyone. We were hoping to post some pictures of last Thursday's event at the farm when two 4th grade classes from Glide came for a visit. Alas the pictures don't want to seem to load so I will stick to the 1,000 words to describe each missing picture! We had kids, teachers, parents, and even the bus driver and Principal visiting. A wonderful time was had by everyone. When the students got here we broke into 4 groups. One group was working in the greenhouse sifting compost, planting their own pots with lettuce and spinach and then getting a close look at the 6 honeybee hives that are on the farm. Thank you CSA member Elee Hadley for coming to the rescue to lead this group! Asinete took one group down into the field and they helped him pull out old cucumber vines, pull up weed cloth and then harvest tomatoes for salsa making. The kids in Asinete's group then came up into our garage/packing shed and Violet taught the kids how to properly cut tomatoes and make salsa. The other group worked with my Mom to cut the tops off of our storage onions and put them in mesh bags. Also this group worked on breaking up heads of garlic and separating the heads into individual cloves to get ready to plant in the upcoming days. In between the clove breaking and onion cutting my Mom gave an impromptu geography and cultural lesson about Asinete's homeland of Kiribati. It was funny to see the kids all running up to Asinete and saying Mauri! The last group was with me for the farm tour where students, tasted, smelled and traversed their way through the row crops answering trick questions like "what is this unopened green flower called that we eat?" many of the kids knew it was broccoli. Then the farm tour kids ended down in the peach orchard and helped me to spread cover crop seed between the peach trees. Wonderful to have all that energy and helping hands. Every thirty minutes the groups would switch so all the kids got a chance to do the 4 different events.
The field trip was made possible in large part from Wildlife Safari. Wildlife Safari had received grant funds to help get school kids involved in local, conservation work. If you would like to encourage your child's class to come out for a visit we would be happy to host more students. Probably looking toward next Spring at this point since weather may turn soon.

In other news life on the farm is all about clean up this time of year. Many of the rows we covered with weed barrier cloth. The cloth is held into the soil with metal clips so these are all pulled out, weed cloth is rolled up (150 foot rolls) and then stored up in the shed for next season. Also drip tape for irrigating certain crops needs to be rolled up carefully on a spool and put away for next season. Our main clean up will come after our first frost which will kill off many of the things still growing (peppers, basil, cucumbers, squash).

Also at this point in the season we have tried to plan out what each harvest will include now that we have a count of what's available out in the field for the remaining 6 weeks. We are keeping our fingers and toes crossed that all of our fall crops will mature in time. A lot can happen in 6 weeks!

Happy Eating!!

Suzie, Asinete, M.A., Violet & Sally

Harvest This Week Includes:

Leeks! (we've been waiting for these babies all season!) recipe ideas below!

Rainbow Chard (recipe ideas below)

Luscious Sweet Corn blowout! ~ alot and the last of it for 2010!

Green Slicing Cucumbers

Tomatoes

Strawberries

Peppers (sweet and hot) The hotter ones are thinner.. when in doubt taste a tiny sliver)

Garlic

Winter Squash (finally!) every other week from here on out Recipe ideas below..

Daikon Radish (recipes below)

Raspberries (on rotation)

How to Store it and Eat it!

If your desire for the Big Lick strawberries is waning the berries freeze really well. Cut off stems, rinse and then freeze on cookie sheets so that berries don't freeze in one big clump. We use these in smoothies and also heated up and put on pancakes. Once they are frozen they are soft and lose their texture.

The raspberries you may have all gotten by now are a fall bearing variety called Autumn Bliss. Raspberries are very delicate and need to be eaten asap. Store in your fridge for up to 2 days.

Sweet Corn preservation: depending on how much sweet corn you get in your basket you may want to save some for later. Here are some ideas to help you.

On the cob doesn't lend itself to freezing. We freeze corn every year, it is great!
Husk the corn. Fill huge pot with water (enough to hold corn)
bring water to a full boil
put corn in and wait to start boiling again
boil for about 8-10 min
pull from water and immediately put in cold water
when corn is cool
cut off cob with sharp knife
bag in zip lock and freeze
Use by next summer when fresh corn in avail again.

Hooray for Leeks!! Leeks are in the Allium family like onions and garlic. They taste like a very mild onion. Anywhere you would use onion you can add leek chopped up. It stores well wrapped loosely in a plastic bag and put in the crisper drawer of fridge.

Lemony Risotto
from Almost Vegetarian by Diana Shaw

serves 4-6

1 lemon (or 2 small)
3 cups broth: vegetable or chicken
1 large leek, white & green part, cleaned and chopped
1 bay leaf
1 T butter, unsalted
2 shallots, minced
1 T chopped parsley
1 cup arborio rice
2 T white wine
1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese

Halve and juice the lemon and remove the zest with a vegetable peeler. Leave half the zest in strips and mince the rest. Set aside the juice and the minced zest.

Place the strips of zest in a saucepan with the broth, leek, and bay leaf. Bring to a boil over med-high heat, then cover and simmer gently over low heat for 30 minutes.

Stain the broth through a sieve, discard the leek and bay leaf, and pour it back into the saucepan. Cover and bring it back to a gentle simmer over low heat.

Meanwhile, in a separate saucepan melt the butter. Saute the shallots, parsley, and minced lemon zest over med-low heat until the shallots are soft, about 10 minutes. Add the rice and stir until it’s just about evaporated, about 3 minutes. Add the white wine and lemon juice, turn up the heat, and stir until it’s just about evaporated, about 2 minutes. Lower the heat.

Using a ladle, add about 1 C hot broth. Stir constantly over med heat until the broth has been absorbed. Add another ladle full of broth and keep stirring until it’s been absorbed.

Continue the process, adding broth a half cupful at a time and stirring in this way, until the kernels are plump and no longer chalk white in the center. This should take 25 to 30 minutes altogether. The rice is almost done when the kernels are still separate but starting to bind and there are pools of broth on the surface. It’s done when the liquid has been absorbed, and the kernels are bound in what looks like very ricey, yet somewhat creamy, rice pudding.

When the risotto is nearly done, stir in 2 T more broth, along with the Parmesan cheese, and stir well until all the liquid has been absorbed, about 3-4 minutes. \

Sausage-Leek Soup
serves 6

1/2 pound smoked sausage
1/4 olive oil or butter
3 cups cleaned, chopped leeks
3 tablespoons chopped herbal celery or parsley
4 cups chicken or vegetable broth
1 cup milk or half and half
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
S & P to taste

Slice or cut the sausage into thin slices. Heat oil in a large saucepan on medium heat. Add the sausage, heat and stir for 3-4 minutes add the chopped leeks, heat and stir for 5 minutes. Add the celery/parsley, stir add the chicken broth bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer for 20-30 minutes. Remove from heat and puree with a hand blender or in a food processor. Return to the pot and place over a low flame; stir in milk and gradually stir in the grated cheese. Season to taste with S & P and serve hot.

Daikon Radish.. if you don't love the heat of normal radishes try these! Daikon Radish (Raphanus sativus subsp. longipinnatus) is an everyday component of Asian cuisine. In fact, it is the most widely grown vegetable in Japan. You’ll find it with your meal at almost any Japanese restaurant. It can be prepared almost anyway you like, including raw, fried, grilled, boiled. Not only does it taste great, but Daikon is also good for you. It is very low in calories, helps in digestion and is a a good source of vitamin C, phosphorus and potassium. There is even some evidence that it helps fight cancer.

Daikon Radish Miso Soup (Miso is a paste that is made from fermented soybeans). It is a superfood and has been proven to reduce chances of breast cancer in women. Not only that it tastes wonderful too! We get our miso paste at Sherm's in their refrigerated section in health food isle but any store should have it! We use the yellow miso since the taste is so mild.

Ingredients

1 Qt. water
8 Tbsp. miso paste
1/2 cup chopped Daikon radish
tofu, chopped into small cubes
2 strands of chopped green onions
Directions

Add Daikon radish to slow boiling water, let cook for another 10 minutes or until soft. You can cut the Daikon anyway you like but if you slice it relatively thin (1/4 inch) and then cut in half so that they are half-moon shaped, it will cook faster.

Add miso paste. The best way is to take a small amount of the soup in a small bowl and mix the miso paste in there until it is evenly distributed, then pour the soup (with miso) back into the soup pot.

Remove the soup from heat immediately after adding the miso paste.

Add the tofu and green onions and serve!

Makes around 6 servings.

Pork Bone and Daikon Radish Soup

Ingredients

1 lb pork bones or pork ribs
1 lb Daikon radish
1/2 leek sliced thinly and/or cilantro
sliced fresh ginger (about 2 inches of a regular size ginger)
Directions

Boil pork bones for approximately 5 minutes. Remove and discard water. This gets rid of the scum that floats to the top.
Add ginger and pork bones to 4 cups (or enough to cover all the ingredients) of fresh boiling water for 10 minutes then reduce to a low boil and cook for at least 90 minutes.

Chop Daikon radish. Slice the radish into 1/4 – 1/2 inch thick circles and then chop them into quarters.

Add Daikon and thin slices of leek to soup and let cook for 20 minutes.

Add chopped green onions or cilantro, salt to taste.

Makes 4 servings.

You do not need to follow just these two recipes.. Daikon is wonderful added to stir fry's and freshly cut up in salads.

Rainbow Chard Chard like the kale we have been putting in your baskets in chock full of all sorts of good vitamins and minerals. Chard keeps best in a plastic bag in the crisper drawer of your fridge.

Seared Rainbow Chard with Leeks

Gourmet | August 2000

yield: Makes 8 servings

active time: 25 minutes

total time: 25 minutes
Ingredients

* 1 bunch rainbow chard
* 1.5 tablespoons unsalted butter
* 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
* 1 large leek (white and pale green parts only), halved lengthwise and cut crosswise into 1/4-inch-thick slices
* 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt

Preparation

Cut stems from chard (if leaves are large, cut out coarse portions of rib), then cut stems crosswise into 1/4-inch-thick slices. Stack chard leaves and roll into cylinders. Cut cylinders crosswise to make 1-inch-thick strips of leaves.

Heat butter and oil in a 12-inch heavy skillet over moderately high heat until foam subsides, then sauté chard stems and leeks with sea salt and pepper to taste, stirring occasionally, until slightly soft, 3 to 5 minutes.

Add chard leaves and continue to sauté, stirring frequently, until wilted. (If greens begin to brown before they wilt, sprinkle with a few drops of water.)

Swiss Chard Tian
from A Complete Menu Cookbook for All Occasions by Brother Victor-Antoine d’Avila-Latourrette 4-6 servings

1 bunch rainbow chard
Olive oil, as needed
1 leek or 1 onion, chopped (if using a leek, make sure it’s cleaned, and only use the white and light green parts)
3 garlic cloves, minced
3 eggs
S and P to taste
4 teaspoons water
Bread Crumbs, as needed

1. Chop the chard, both leaves and stems, and then boil the chard for about 20 minutes (yikes, I think I would do 5-10 in my kitchen-julia) in lightly salted water. Drain the chard and set it aside.

2. Preheat the oven to 350degrees. Pour some olive oil into a large skillet. Add the onion and saute lightly over low-medium heat for 2-3 minutes. Add the garlic, and saute for another minute. Add the Swiss chard and continue sauteing for 2-3 minutes more, blending the ingredients well. Beat the eggs in a deep bowl, add the salt, pepper, and water. Mix well.

4. Butter thoroughly a long, ovenproof dish. Place the chard mixture in it and spread evenly. Pour the egg mixture on the top and also spread evenly. Sprinkle some bread crumbs over the top surface. Place the dish in the oven for about 25-30 minutes. Serve hot.

Winter Squash Storageinter : store in a cool, dry place: nearly anywhere in your kitchen or pantry should work. If the winter squash doesn't have nicks/fresh gashes it should last for months. Winter squash is a powerhouse of vitamins and beta carotene!

In case you've never tried to cook winter squash, it couldn't be simpler: Cut in half with a big sharp knife. Remove seeds. (If you've ever carved a pumpkin, these two steps should be very familiar.) Put in a baking pan (use glass, metal or ceramic would also work) cut side down, with a little water in the pan. Or rub the cut side with a little oil first. Bake in a medium oven (325, or 350, or 400, etc.) until it's easily pierced with a fork. Remove, and eat. Possible toppings: many like maple syrup, and/or salt and pepper. You can also add cut, seeded halves of winter squash to the crockpot with some water, and let it cook that way for a few hours. This method works especially well when all you want is the cooked flesh to puree for a soup or other dish.

Another winter squash/pumpkin preparations:

cut up pieces (large ones) already seeded into a crock pot for 2 or so hours on high. When a fork can easily pierce the squash/pumpkin pieces, remove it and scrape the flesh into a food processor and whirl a bit. Then freeze in 1 and 2 cup increments. Soup and pie are obvious and delicious choices, you can also put 1 cup of this puree into nearly every batch of muffins, waffles, cookies, pancakes, biscuits etc. that you make. Just take an existing recipe and add a cup of squash puree.

Curried Winter Squash
Ingredients

* 3 cups cooked, mashed winter squash
* 1 1/2 tablespoons curry powder
* 2 tablespoons butter or trans fat-free margarine
* 2 tablespoons maple syrup
* 1/2 teaspoon salt, or to taste
* 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper, or to taste
* 3 tablespoons sweetened coconut flakes, toasted (optional)

Directions

1. In a medium bowl, combine first six ingredients. Cook until warmed through and blend in coconut at end.

Squash Cookies

Original Recipe Yield 5 dozen

Ingredients

* 1/2 cup butter, softened
* 3/4 cup white sugar
* 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
* 2 eggs
* 1 1/2 cups mashed, cooked winter squash
* 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
* 1 teaspoon baking soda
* 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
* 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
* 1 cup raisins
* 1 1/2 cups chopped pecans
* 1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
* 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
2. In a large mixing bowl, cream butter and sugars until fluffy. Beat in the eggs and squash. Sift together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and spices; add to mixture, stirring until well blended. Stir in raisins and nuts. Spoon onto cookie sheets spacing cookies 2 inches apart.
3. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes in the preheated oven, until edges are golden.

Nutritional Information

Amount Per Serving Calories: 171 | Total Fat: 7.8g | Cholesterol: 22mg

CSA Harvest #19~ 7 to go!

2010-10-05T20:04:00.000-07:00
Good day! How can it be that 19 weeks have gone by already? And really what we're wondering is how can there be 7 weeks left? :) no, no it's true time does fly when you are having fun and that's what we like to do down here at Big Lick Farm! While we've been having fun we also have been enjoying our fall weather. I love how the light changes at this time of year, still sunny but softer not intense like at summer. The soft light of fall allows us to hang up our huge sombreros and trade them for ball caps which allow for much better visibility. We are watching clouds of Canadian Geese as they migrate south in preparation for winter. Also we watch as the first dry leaves of fall litter the fields. At this time of year a definite perk of being a farmer is being able to be outside to witness the splendor of fall.

This year we have noticed so much more life on the farm in terms of beneficial insects and small, colorful tree frogs. Praying mantises are everywhere we turn. Lingering in the strawberry plants catching grasshoppers, mating in the winter squash patch and hanging out on the huge sunflowers waiting for pollinators to come. Also the tree frogs, leaping widely into the riot of vegetable growth. We are convinced the increase of life at the farm is in response to the way we are growing food.. in a way that promote life and diversity! Unfortunately we do need to go into areas and mow occasionally and till. The increase of animal life makes it a slow process as we mow and till. Baby steps taken to be sure as many of the critters are out of the way as possible. Several times we will see a praying mantis come ambling out of the greenery we are in the process of mowing and we will stop the machines and carry the mantis or tree frog to safety. Call us softies but the frogs and mantises do such a fine job of pest control they are treated with much respect.

This Thursday we are anticipating 42 4th grade students from Glide to visit the farm. The students will be broken into groups and get hands on experience in harvesting, composting, salsa making and helping to plant more cover crop seed as well as learning about organic farming methods. Thank you to our CSA member and Glide 4th grade teacher Julie Vandehey for making this happen! We will post photos next week.

For now we will get to the recipes as we still need to prepare for the arrival of kids to the farm!

Enjoy!!

Suzie, Asinete, M.A., Violet and Sally

Harvest This Week Includes:

Luscious Sweet Corn (yay it's back!! our last planting.. enjoy!)

Summer Crisp Lettuce

Heirloom Tomatoes

Sweet Yellow Onion

Tromboncini Squash

Cucumber

Carrots

Strawberries

Raspberries (on rotation)

We know you are all familiar with the above crops for this week's harvest so enjoy!

Also thank you to those of you who have forwarded recipes on how to prepare kale. We were happy to hear that many of you are loving the kale! We will post those forwarded recipes in the upcoming weeks when kale becomes a more frequent part of your CSA share (after we have our first frost). Last year we had our first frost October 7th... that would be this Thursday. We are hoping the first frost will hold off for a bit longer this year since we had such a cold, wet spring.

CSA Harvest #18

2010-09-28T20:30:00.000-07:00
Mauri everyone and hooray for the 18th delivery! Also a hooray is definitely in order for this beautiful weather we've been blessed with. As we've been working this week we try to absorb every ray of sun we can to store it up for the long, cold, gray winter ahead. The welcomed warm days have also made the strawberries pump out even more berries than normal and they're sweeter too! Please savor these last weeks of berries since when the fall rains really hit the berries will be done until next spring.

At this time of year on the farm we are still busy planting last minute crops that can grow and mature quickly. Baby salad greens, more turnips, lettuce, arugula and spinach that we hope will find their way into your basket during the last few weeks. Also we are clearing out the spent corn to get it ready for the garlic planting that will happen in about two weeks. If anyone would like to try their hand at planting garlic extra hands are surely welcome in this activity! We will be planting out 27 lines of garlic on beds 100 feet long. We fit three lines of garlic per bed. This leaves us with enough to sell and give in the CSA each season with enough left over for planting when fall comes. We try to save the largest cloves for planting since large cloves make large bulbs.

Many farmers try to save costs and be more self reliant by saving their own seeds each season. Due to time and lack of a labor force here at Big Lick we pretty much only save garlic seed for replanting and for the past two seasons potatoes (along with annual flowers). Garlic actually gets better and better as it is grown in the same site year after year. The plant begins to adapt to the soil and the climate. This will be our fourth season planting this garlic at Big Lick Farm. The potatoes we have tried saving enough each season but they do not do as well when saved each year. Potatoes are more susceptible to viruses and disease which can weaken the plants over time and lead to reduced yields. We will need to save up enough to buy more seed potatoes for next season. The main expense we pay for seed potatoes are shipping costs since most all the seed potatoes come from Colorado and need to be shipped out via UPS. Of course the benefit to ordering new potato seeds are there are always delicious new varieties to try! This year sadly our potato variety has dwindled down to a few French fingerling and lots of yukon golds. We will be planting some different varieties next season.

Already we have been making lists of new varieties other Oregon CSA farms have had success with and ones which we would love to grow next season. Also we will be sending out surveys in the next few weeks to each of you (via email). We would love to hear some feedback about how we're doing. And input as to how to make 2011 our best season ever is greatly appreciated!

Happy eating!

Suzie, Asinete, M.A., Violet and Sally

Harvest This Week Includes:

Basil tops (may be the last of it depending when the first frost comes!) freezes well!

Yukon Gold Potatoes

Softneck garlic

Yellow Sunshine Watermelon

Charantais cantaloupe (really there this week! sorry they did not fit last week!)

Hakurei Turnips

Lacinato kale aka Dinosaur Kale (the most nutritious of all the kales)

Heirloom Tomatoes

Strawberries

Lipstick and Gypsy Peppers (too many? they freeze well!)

Luscious sweet corn (from our last planting) we are really hoping we can get some in baskets tomorrow.. if not this week then definitely next week!)

Raspberries (on rotation)

How to Store it and Cook it!

Did you make the kale chips from the recipe last week? My mom who thought kale was blah before made the kale chips this last weekend and could not stop raving about them... try for yourself! guaranteed you will love! more kale recipes from last week's blog..

Hakurei Turnip Gratin

Melt 1 Tablespoon butter in a non-stick 12 inch skillet (make sure you have a top to fit the pan.)

Wash one bunch of white hakurei turnips well, top and tail them, and slice them in 1/4 inch slices. Save the turnip greens for another recipe. You don’t need to peel the turnips. Layer the slices in the pan. Sprinkle the sliced turnips with 1 teaspoon dry thyme, 3/4 teaspoon salt, 1/4 tsp. freshly ground pepper, and 1/8- 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper.

Cook for 3 minutes over medium heat, then pour 1/2 cup heavy cream and 1/2 cup chicken stock over the top. Cover and cook the turnips over medium heat for 20 minutes. The turnips will be completely cooked through, but there will be considerable liquid left in the pan. Remove the cover and cook to reduce the liquid. When most of the liquid has reduced (about 5-10 minutes), and the sauce is thickened, grate finely 1/2 cup of fresh parmesan cheese evenly over the top. Watch closely as the cheese melts and make sure that the liquid does not entirely cook away.

Serve the turnips hot. The recipe is supposed to serve 6, but maybe realistically it would only serve 4, once they discover that they love turnips!

Turnip Greens
Ingredients

* 1 bunch Hakurei turnip greens, cut into large strips
* 1 clove garlic, minced
* 1 Tablespoon Olive Oil
* 1 Tablespoon Soy Sauce
* 1 teaspoon fresh ginger, minced or 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
* 1 clementine, tangerine, or small orange, peeled and sectioned
* A pinch of sugar, brown sugar or honey
* salt

Directions

In a large skillet, heat the olive oil. Add the turnip greens and the remaining ingredients. Saute until the greens have wilted. Serve with slivered raw Hakurei turnips.

Chicken Salad with Hakurei Turnips and Raisins

Ingredients

* 2 cups diced chicken
* 6 small Hakurei turnips diced
* 1/4 cup raisins
* 2 tbsp mayonaise
* 1 tbsp dijon mustard
* 1 tbsp brown sugar or honey
* 1/4 tsp ground coriander, ground cumin, or curry powder
* 1/2 tsp tabasco sauce
* salt and lots of black pepper

Directions

Mix all the ingredients together. Let the salad rest for at least 1/2 hour to allow the flavors to bind.

CSA Harvest #17

2010-09-21T21:41:00.001-07:00

Good day everyone. In honor of only 1 more day left of summer (yes Thursday is the Autumnal Equinox)I wanted to post a picture of the country that Asinete calls home.. the Pacific Island of Kiribati. Where is Kiribati you will probably ask.. well if you look at a map midway between Australia and Hawaii right along that doted line that is the equator you will see tiny, scattered islands and that is Kiribati. Since Kiribati straddles the equator it is always summer there. If you would really like to surprise Asinete you could greet him with the Kiribati greeting.. Mauri!! (pronounced Mowree)just don't tell him I told you ;)

It might be the end of summer but after this week we still have 9 more deliveries to make! Our last delivery will be Thanksgiving week.. most likely on a Mon or Tues as many of you may be gone for the holiday. Don't worry we will keep you all updated! If you still have unpaid balances we would really appreciate all of those to be paid completely by Nov 1st.

The rain has given all the crops at the farm a good soaking. Some crops love the rain (broccoli, carrots, fennel, lettuce and more) whereas others suffer in some ways (mainly split tomatoes & rotting strawberries that don't like getting wet). You may notice you don't get as many strawberries this week and that is because too many were beautiful on one side and complete mush on the other.
Amazingly our new raspberries that we planted this spring are going gangbusters heavily loaded down with the fall crop of berries. Still not enough for all of you at once but this week we are going to start rotating them through the CSA baskets so hopefully you will all get some in the next few weeks. Next year they will be much bigger and even more loaded with some for everyone!

Happy Fall and perhaps you can celebrate the Equinox with a large cold slice of .. watermelon? yep! Sorry that we could not get these yellow sunshine melons to you sooner in the blazing hot days of summer.. we hope you will still enjoy them! The other melon in your basket is a French cantaloupe called a Charentais. We would love to hear what you all have enjoyed more.. the cantaloupe you have already been getting the last few weeks (Ambrosia) or this new Charentais melon..

Enjoy the last week of summer's bounty!

Suzie, Asinete, M.A., Violet and Sally

Harvest This Week Includes:

Hakurei Turnips (they're back!!) use those greens as well!

Strawberries

Yellow Sweet Onions

Sweet Peppers and Hungarian Hot Wax Peppers (the longer skinnier ones either yellow or red) *hot ones will be in paper sack with your cherry tomatoes!

Carrots

Winterbor Kale (recipe ideas below.. please try kale chips recipe below.. yummmm!!!)

Summer Squash

Cucumbers

Cherry Tomatoes

Heirloom and San Marzano Tomatoes

Sunshine Watermelon

Charantais cantaloupe

On rotation: raspberries

How to store it and cook it!!

In case we did not tell you your carrots keep better with their tops lopped off and keep the topless carrots in a plastic bag in the crisper drawer until used.

Kale time!!

Your kale this week is a variety called Winterbor. Kale may be new to your palate but it should be a mainstay of your recipes from fall through early spring. Kale survives our winters like a champion and the cold weather even makes it more tasty by converting the starches into sugars when the weather freezes.

The following is an excerpt from a holistic health website regarding kale:
"Nutritionally rated, kale is near the top amongst vegetables. It's a real nutrition booster, with its high level of beta carotene and plentiful
amounts of vitamins C and E. These antioxidants make it a good food to lower the risk of heart disease, stroke and cataracts. Kale is also loaded with such minerals as calcium, potassium, manganese and iron.

Additionally, kale is high in sulforaphane, which stimulates the body to
produce cancer-fighting enzymes. Sulfur compounds called glucosinolates, which are found in generous amounts in cruciferous vegetables like kale, are broken down into compounds called isothiocyanates and indoles when the vegetable is chewed or cut. The presence of vitamin C makes this process even more effective, as the compounds are more readily available for the body's use.

Researchers believe kale's cancer-lessening ability stems from these
and many population compounds. Some surveys, experimental testing, several animal trials studies have found that eating kale on a regular basis lowers the risk of different cancers.

Kale is also among the highest vegetable sources of chlorophyll, an immune system stimulant.

In the "Medical Value of Natural Foods," published in 1936, Dr W.H. Graves wrote that kale is also effective in treating constipation, obesity, acidosis, emaciation, poor teeth, pyorrhea, arthritis, gout, rheumatism, skin diseases and bladder disorders."

The longer kale is stored, the stronger its flavor becomes. The best way to store it is to wrap it in a damp towel and place it in a plastic bag in a cold place like the refrigerator. In this way it lasts for 10 to 14 days.

Kale Recipe Ideas!! The kale tastes much better if you tear or cut the leaves away from the hard rib part of each leaf. We find tearing leaves much faster than cutting!

Garlicky Braised Kale

3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
4 to 6 cloves garlic, minced
Generous pinch red chile flakes
10 ounces kale
2 tablespoons water
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper

Heat a large, heavy pot over medium-high heat until hot but not smoking. Add the oil and swirl to coat the bottom of the pot. Add the garlic and chile flakes and sauté for about a minute, or until fragrant. Add the kale and sauté for another 2 to 3 minutes, or until just wilted. Add the water. Cover, reduce the heat to medium-low, and cook, stirring occasionally, for 8 to 10 minutes, or until the kale is tender. Stir in the lemon juice and season to taste with salt and pepper. Transfer to a bowl and serve immediately.

Serves 2 to 4. A fantastic side dish that will go with just about anything. Toss with pasta and grated Parmegiano-Reggiano to turn it into a simple and delicious complete meal.

Hilary's Delicious and Nutritious Kale Chips!
You need:

* 1 bunch of kale
* 1/4 teaspoon paprika
* salt to taste
* 1/4 teaspoon sugar
* dash of cayenne pepper
* 1 Tablespoon olive oil

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350° F.
2. Wash and dry kale. Remove leaves from stems and rip into chip-sized pieces. Place kale in large bowl.
3. Drizzle about 1 tablespoon of olive oil on kale and evenly massage onto leaves. Slowly add salt and paprika and pepper (or your choice of seasonings) to kale while tossing in bowl. Do not add the sugar yet.
4. Spread kale evenly on very lightly coated baking sheet or on parchment paper on baking sheet. Place in the oven and bake for about 12 minutes. Flip after 5 minutes. Keep your eye on them to make sure they don’t over cook or burn (they can easily).
5. Remove when done and place on paper towels to absorb excess oil. Sprinkle with sugar while still hot.

Orzo with Kale

Ingredients

* 1 teaspoon ground turmeric
* 2 cups uncooked orzo pasta
* 2 tablespoons olive oil
* 4 cloves garlic, sliced
* 1 bunch kale, stems removed and leaves coarsely chopped
* 1 large lemon, juiced
* 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
* 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese, or to taste
* salt and black pepper to taste

Directions

1. Bring a large pot of lightly-salted water to a boil; sprinkle the turmeric over the boiling water and stir in the orzo; return to a boil. Cook uncovered, stirring occasionally, until the pasta has cooked through, but is still firm to the bite, about 11 minutes; drain. Scrape into a mixing bowl and set aside.
2. Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Cook the garlic in the hot oil for a few seconds until it begins to bubble. Stir the kale into the garlic, cover the skillet with a lid, and cook for 10 minutes. Remove the cover and continue cooking and stirring until the kale is tender, about 10 minutes more. Stir the kale mixture into the orzo along with the lemon juice, nutmeg, and Parmesan cheese. Season with salt and pepper. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Nutritional Information open nutritional information

Amount Per Serving Calories: 103 | Total Fat: 2.1g | Cholesterol: < 1mg

HUNGARIAN STUFFED PEPPERS

1 sm. onion, diced
1 tbsp. butter
1/4 c. regular rice
1 1/2 c. water
1 tbsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
6 med. size peppers
1/4 c. butter
2 tbsp. all-purpose flour
2 tbsp. sugar
1 1/2 c. tomatoes, peeled & quartered or 2 cans Italian stewed tomatoes

Saute onions in tablespoon of butter until soft in a large skillet. Add rice; cook over low heat for 1 minute. Stir in 1/2 cup water. Cook until rice is tender (about 10 minutes). Remove skillet from heat; add meat, salt and pepper. The night before wash peppers, cut off tops, scoop out seeds and membrane. The next day, stuff loosely with rice mixture. On top of the stove, melt 1/4 cup butter. Stir in flour, sugar, remaining 1 cup water and tomatoes. Simmer over low heat; stir constantly until sauce is smooth. (Use only 1/2 cup water if using canned tomatoes.) In a crock pot, stand filled peppers upright. Cover with tomato sauce; cover. Simmer over low heat until peppers are tender (about 1 hour or so). Serve with crusty French bread. Serves 6.

CSA Harvest #16

2010-09-14T00:20:00.000-07:00

They say a picture is worth a 1,000 words so let me use up some cyberspace with these images from the CSA harvest last week. If it is not evident from the photos above Wednesday's on the farm tend to be the best days of the week. On Wednesday we are joined by our take charge, fast paced volunteer trio. M.A., Violet and Sally carefully wash, cut, tie, weigh, bag,and place each item with the utmost TLC into every basket. We are lucky indeed to have this volunteer force willing to lend a helping hand.

In other farm news many of you decided to join us for our third annual potluck this past Sunday. The amount of food brought by each of you was astounding and our pack house was bulging at the seams with bowls piled high with your festive, delicious creations. We hope you enjoyed your time at the farm and we thank fellow CSA member Steve Erickson for providing music with his accordion and also the musical posse from Om Garden's for bringing the Stevie Wonder vibe to the farm!
I will post some photos of Sunday's potluck on the blog so please be on the lookout!
We noticed we inherited several new plates and utensils. If you think you may have left something here please let us know what it is so we can get it back to you!

We also want to give a shout out to our new patrons at Lighthouse Center Bakery in Umpqua and Steamboat Inn (on the North Umpqua Highway). Both of these business's see the importance of supporting local, sustainable farms in their own communities and we want to thank them as it helps to keep our business viable. If you find yourself at either Steamboat Inn (they have a great breakfast menu!) or the Lighthouse Bakery/Cafe please let them know you appreciate them supporting our farm.

You may be going through a greens withdrawal but we will begin to dispense the greenery again starting next week with our new crop of kale and rainbow chard.

Until then enjoy the lingering tastes of summer!

Suzie, Asinete, M.A., Violet and Sally

Harvest This Week Includes:

Green and Royal Burgundy Beans (they're back!!)

Basil (recipes below)

Summer Squash (tromboncini and yellow crookneck) recipe ideas below!

Cucumber Mix (green slicing/boothby blonde, lemon)

Ambrosia Melon (store in your fridge til you enjoy!)

Hardneck garlic

French Fingerling Potatoes (our all time favorite!)

Strawberries

Sweet Lipstick/Gypsy Bell Peppers

Cherry Tomato Mix

Heirloom Tomatoes

Red Torpedo Onions

Recipe Ideas!!

Basil Info: Researchers report that basil contains antibacterial compounds, which make the essential oil great for treating skin conditions. In India it is used in a kind of aroma therapy and is said to give people sattva, enlightenment and harmony. In Arabian countries it has long been used to alleviate menstrual cramps, so, many Arabian men refuse to eat it.

BASIL WALNUT VINAIGRETTE~ great topping for green beans!
1 tsp. chopped garlic
20 basil leaves
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
2 tsp. dijon mustard
4 tbsp. white wine vinegar
1/2 cup olive oil

Whirl together the above ingredients, and toss with lightly steamed green beans and/or cooked potatoes, or? Then toss with: chopped walnuts and 3 sliced scallions.

Summer Squash with Basil and Pecorino Romano Cheese
1 1/2 pounds firm summer squash
4 Tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
3 garlic cloves, peeled and chopped
Salt and Pepper to taste
3 Tablespoons freshly grated imported Pecorino Romano cheese
10 basil leaves

Wash the squash well. Trim squash and slice into thin coins. Place olive oil in a large saute pan and turn the heat to high. Add the squash and toss in the oil until it is lightly golden in spots but still crisp, about 4 minutes. Turn the heat to medium low, add the garlic and S & P to taste. Cook until the squash is tender but still has a trace of crispness.

Transfer the squash to a serving platter. Sprinkle the grated Pecorino Romano cheese over squash. Tear the basil leaves into fragments and scatter them over the top.

Squash Casserole

3 1/2 c chopped yellow summer squash
1/2 c chopped sweet onion
2 Tbsp flour
2 eggs, beaten
1 cup milk
1 cup cheddar cheese, shredded
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
1/2 tsp salt
lots of black pepper
1 cup dry bread crumbs or crushed crackers
butter

Preheat oven to 350. Cook the squash and onion together (should make a combination of about 4 cups) in boiling water until tender and drain well. Combine in a large bowl with the eggs, flour, milk, 1/2 cup of cheddar cheese, and about 1/2 cup of crumbs. Spoon into a large buttered casserole dish and top with the rest of the crumbs, cheese, and dot with butter to taste. Bake at 350 for 40 minutes or until golden brown.

French Fingerling Potato Info:
Nutritional Value
French Fingerlings contain calcium, niacin, protein, iron, potassium, vitamin C, vitamin B-6 and dietary fiber. One medium-sized potato contains about 100 calories. For optimum nutritional benefits, cook with skins or lightly peel as most of its nutrients are just under its skin. Look closely when you cut into the French fingerling.. don't you just love that red blush color? Keep your fingerlings at room temperature in a paper sack.

French Potato Salad
Makes 6 servings

* 2 1/2 pounds fingerling or small new potatoes, halved (quartered if large)
* Coarse salt and ground pepper
* 1/4 cup olive oil
* 3 tablespoons Dijon mustard
* 2 tablespoons sherry vinegar
* 1 small shallot, minced (2 tablespoons)
* 3 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
* 1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme
* 1/4 small red onion, sliced

Directions

1. Place potatoes in a large pot; cover with cold water by 1 inch and season generously with salt. Bring to a boil; reduce to a simmer and cook until potatoes are tender, about 15 minutes. Run under cold water to cool slightly, then drain.
2. Meanwhile, in a large bowl, whisk together oil, mustard, vinegar, shallot, parsley, and thyme; season with salt and pepper. Add potatoes and onion and toss to combine. Serve at room temperature. (To store, refrigerate, up to overnight.)

From Everyday Food, July/August 2009

CSA Harvest #15.. goodbye summer :(

2010-09-07T21:07:00.000-07:00
Ahhhhh don't you just love these lingering days of summer? Ha! Can't you hear my voice dripping with sarcasm? Dripping as heavily as the rain is off the eaves of the house at the moment. So much for thinking that a weather forecast with 30% chance of rain wouldn't amount to much. Today was spent scurrying around covering everything with tarps (or the Oregon state flag as one friend calls the ubiquitous blue tarp). Our ton of storage onions should still be snug and dry.. the problem is our potatoes which we have been storing in the ground. Now with the ground thoroughly soaked the taters we have grown for eating are going to start either sending up sprouts and growing or rotting. So guess what we will be spending our next few days doing? yep! digging spuds and trying to save those beauties for the CSA.

The downpour has also wreaked havoc on our tomato harvest this week. Our tomatoes are on a strict watering regime (normally!) They are only given an hour of water a week through a drip tape at their roots. Too much water and the fruits will not be near as sweet and also they will start to crack as the water is absorbed into the fruit. With the great, soaking drench we've had today there is a guarantee that you will be getting some split tomatoes in your shares. Just remember your tomatoes have had a very long rain water bath and are even cleaner than normal so a few cracks should not prevent you from enjoying them.. they will just need to be enjoyed asap!

But fear not because this Sunday will be a beautiful day! We hope you will spend your Sunday afternoon with us from 2-6pm for the potluck! Don't worry..we won't force anyone to dig potatoes either! We will have a garlic planting party in October though and then we would love the help. But this Sunday will be devoted to eating, talking, walking the fields & listening to great music from the friends of Big Lick Farm! We hope to see you here! Directions will be sent out to each of you. If you have not received directions please email us!

Buen aprovecho!

This Week's Harvest Includes:

Strawberries

Cucumbers

Arugula! (check out the recipe for arugula pesto below!)

Easter Egg Radishes

Yellow Crookneck Squash and a new variety we were requested to grow from fellow CSA members called Tromboncini.. a beautiful summer squash. You will now it when you see it! Treat as you would any summer squash.

Sungold/White Cherry and Black Cherry Tomatoes

Heirloom Tomatoes

Ambrosia Melon!!! Yummmy.. a sweet, fragrant cantaloupe.

Sweet Corn (new variety we've never grown) open pollinated which we wanted to grow because it means we could save the seed if we want to. Let us know what you think of it.

Yellow Sweet Onion and Red Torpedo Onion

Sweet Peppers (finally!)

How to Store it and Cook it!

Hooray for sweet peppers! The lipstick peppers in your basket this week are smaller than bell peppers but sweeter.

Storage

Store peppers for short-term use by refrigerating them in the crisper drawer of your fridge. To ensure good air flow, remove peppers from any plastic bag. With proper refrigeration, a healthy pepper should last from three to five days in the refrigerator.

Store peppers for up to a month by freezing them. Frozen properly peppers should retain good flavor and color for a month. Wash, core and seed fresh peppers to get them ready for freezing. They can be frozen either whole or sliced.

For longer storage:
Store peppers for long periods by blanching and then freezing them. Blanching will ensure good color and flavor retention. Place washed, cored and seeded peppers in boiling water for two to three minutes, and then freeze them. They may be frozen whole, halved, sliced or chopped.

Nutritional Value
A good source of vitamin A, vitamin C, calcium and potassium, red peppers are higher in vitamin A and vitamin C than green peppers.

For cooking:
Add the sweet crunch of Lipstick peppers to all types of salads. Chopped, grated or sliced in rings, add flavor to casseroles, pasta dishes, egg dishes and pizza. Stuff with rice, cheese, meat.

Creamy Corn Soup with Roasted Red-Pepper Sauce
Serves6

* Active time:35 min
* Start to finish:35 min

ADAPTED FROM DIANE CARLSON, THE CONSCIOUS GOURMET CULINARY RETREAT, SANTA FE, NEW MEXICO, AND ANNEMARIE COLBIN
May 2008
Don’t be turned off because this soup is actually good for you. The secret to the silky texture of this soup is oatmeal. Rolled oats have their own starch and give body and creaminess when blended, adding extra fiber to your diet as well.
For red-pepper sauce

* 2 red bell peppers (1 lb total)
* 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
* 1/4 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
* 1/4 teaspoon hot sauce, or to taste
* 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt

For soup

* 4 ears of corn
* 1 medium onion, chopped
* 2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil
* 5 cups water
* 1/4 cup rolled oats
* 2 teaspoons fine sea salt

*
Garnish:
chopped flat-leaf parsley or cilantro

Roast peppers for sauce:

*
Roast peppers on racks of gas burners on high, turning with tongs, until skins are blackened all over, 10 to 12 minutes. (Or broil peppers on rack of a broiler pan 5 inches from heat, turning occasionally, about 15 minutes.) Transfer to a bowl and let stand, covered, 10 minutes.

Make soup while peppers roast and stand:

*
Cut kernels off cobs, then scrape cobs with knife to extract “milk.”
*
Cook onion in oil in a heavy medium pot over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, until golden, about 5 minutes. Add corn with its “milk,” water, oats, and sea salt and simmer, uncovered, stirring occasionally, 15 minutes.

Finish red-pepper sauce while soup simmers:

*
Peel peppers (do not rinse), then halve lengthwise, discarding stems and seeds.
*
Purée peppers in a blender with oil, lemon juice, hot sauce, sea salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper until very smooth, 1 to 2 minutes. Season with hot sauce and salt, then transfer to a bowl.

Finish soup:

*
Purée soup in 2 to 3 batches in cleaned blender until smooth (use caution when blending hot liquids), then strain through a fine-mesh sieve into a large bowl if desired. Reheat soup if necessary, then season with salt.
*
Serve soup drizzled with some red-pepper sauce and serve remaining sauce on the side or reserve for another use.

Cooks’ note: Soup and sauce keep separately, covered and chilled, 3 days.

Arugula Ideas: Store your arugula in a plastic bag in fridge. Try to use within 5 days.

Arugula Corn Salad with Bacon

Ingredients

4 large ears of corn
2 cups of chopped arugula (about one bunch)
4 strips of bacon, cooked, chopped
1/3 cup chopped green onions
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 Tbsp white wine vinegar
1/8 teaspoon ground cumin
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
Method

1 Cook the corn ears, in their husks, either on the grill for a smokey flavor, or by steaming in a large covered stock pot with an inch of boiling water at the bottom of the pot, for 12-15 minutes. Let the corn cool (can run under cold water to speed up the cooling), remove the husks and silk. I recommend cooking the corn in the husks for the added flavor that the husks impart. If you boil or steam the corn ears after you've already husked them, or if you cook them in the microwave, reduce the cooking time by a few minutes.

2 To remove the kernels from the cobs, stand a corn cob vertically over a large, shallow bowl. Use a sharp knife to make long, downward strokes, removing the kernels from the cob, as you work your way around the cob.

3 In a medium sized bowl, mix together the corn, chopped arugula, bacon, and onions. In a separate bowl, whisk together the oil, vinegar, salt and pepper, and cumin. Mix dressing into salad just before serving. Taste and add more vinegar if necessary to balance the sweetness of the corn.

Serves 4.

Arugula Pesto

Ingredients

* 2 cups of packed arugula leaves, stems removed
* 1/2 cup of walnuts
* 1/2 cup fresh Parmesan cheese
* 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
* 6 garlic cloves, unpeeled
* 1/2 garlic clove peeled and minced

Method

1 Brown 6 garlic cloves with their peels on in a skillet over medium high heat until the garlic is lightly browned in places, about 10 minutes. Remove the garlic from the pan, cool, and remove the skins.

2 Toast the nuts in a pan over medium heat until lightly brown, or heat in a microwave on high heat for a minute or two until you get that roasted flavor. In our microwave it takes 2 minutes.

3a Food processor method (the fast way): Combine the arugula, walnuts, roasted and raw garlic into a food processor. Pulse while drizzling the olive oil into the processor. Remove the mixture from the processor and put it into a bowl. Stir in the Parmesan cheese.

3b Mortar and pestle method (photo pictures pesto produced this way): Combine the nuts and garlic in a mortar. With the pestle, grind until smooth. Add the cheese and olive oil, grind again until smooth. Finely chop the arugula and add it to the mortar. Grind up with the other ingredients until smooth.

Because the pesto is so dependent on the individual ingredients, and the strength of the ingredients depends on the season or variety, test it and add more of the ingredients to taste.

4 Mix with freshly prepared pasta of your choice*. You may need to add a little bit of water or more olive oil to mix the pesto more evenly with the pasta.

Makes enough pesto sauce for an ample serving of pasta for four people.

Late Summer at Big Lick

2010-08-31T22:26:00.000-07:00

Hooray the blog allowed me to post these images after all! You can see above the baby fall crops that we are nursing along as well as our beneficial residents on the farm, the tree frogs which are everywhere this year and the praying mantis which I found hanging out on the sunflower catching every insect that came to pollinate. Sadly the mantis decided to grab a poor, unsuspecting honeybee in this picture.

Also above you can see the tomato confit we made. We included recipe for it in the newsletter below!

CSA Harvest #14

2010-08-30T21:00:00.000-07:00
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!!

CSA Harvest #13.. the halfway mark!

2010-08-23T22:47:00.000-07:00
Hooray! It looks like summer is back again! We had our doubts as fall seemed to be edging in early this past week.. not yet!! We have not even started harvesting our heirloom tomatoes yet. We checked our blog from week 13 last season and sure enough we had been harvesting heirloom tomatoes for three weeks already. We have to remind ourselves and you that for a month after we planted the tomatoes earlier this spring they just sat in the mud and cold rain not growing at all. On the other hand the seascape everbearing strawberries are sure living up to their name! They are rearing up for at least another month of picking after taking only a small midsummer nap. We already see more flowers and fruit forming after two weeks of more relaxed harvests.

Asinete and I have been scrambling around the farm to get fall crops in as we are running out of time.. our days of sun and warmth for optimum growing are limited and we were reminded of that this morning when I went out and could see my breath it was so chilly. Not only have we been busy planting (arugula, broccoli, head lettuce. daikon radish, violet cauliflower, savoy cabbage, two kinds of kale, beets, storage carrots, hakurei turnips, and much more!)
Also we have been seeding vacant areas of the farm with a cover crop mix of crimson clover, fava beans and annual rye grass. Last year in the fall we dutifully planted in our fava bean cover crop and it had only come up a few inches before the week long weather of 8 degrees killed it all. This winter we are not putting all of our eggs in one basket! If the fava beans freeze out we will still have the annual rye and the crimson clover. Cover cropping is an important element of sustainable agriculture. Cover crops protect the soil from washing away and eroding during our heavy winter rains. Cover crops provide habitat and nectar for insects and other animals. Cover crops add nutrients to the soil when the are tilled in leaving the soil richer and healthier. Plus seeing a healthy stand of cover crop coming up just makes us feel good! It is our way of giving something back to the land and knowing the land can rest for a few months without us tilling, digging, poking, and compacting it.

Here's to another wonderful 13 weeks of fresh, Big Lick produce! Please don't forget to mark your calendar for September 12th (Sunday) from 2-6pm we will have the farm potluck/tour.. we hope you can all attend! Please email Suzie at portersuzanne@yahoo.com if you will be attending and how many in your party.

Thank you for eating locally!

Suzie, Asinete, M.A., Violet and Sally

Harvest This Week Includes:

Asinete's famous, Luscious Bi-Color Sweet Corn

Garlic

Maxibel Haricot and Royal Burgundy Beans

Cherry Tomato Mix

Basil Tops

Cucumber medley (lemon, white Boothby blonde, green marketmore)

Strawberries

Red Torpedo and Walla Walla Onions (we've got lots and lots of onions so you can expect them every week from here on out)

Glacier Tomatoes AND (hopefully!) some heirlooms! (may include Cherokee purple, brandywine, pruden's purple, green zebra, striped German or Black Krim)

Summer Squash

How to Cook it and Store it!!!

Forget about storing that sweet corn! Corn begins losing its sweet taste as soon as it is picked. Once picked the sugars in the corn begin turning to starch. If you do need to store it for one or two days at the most keep the husks on the corn to keep fresh and wrap in plastic bag and place in fridge until ready to use.

Cooking Corn on the Cob
When it comes to cooking, corn is very versatile. After husking, cook corn by placing ears upright in a stockpot with 1 to 1-1/2 inches of water and a tablespoon or two of sugar. Cover the pot and let it steam for about 7 minutes after boiling begins. Or... lay the ears in a pan, with two to three quarts of water and about 3 tablespoons of sugar, and boil for about 4 minutes. Never add salt to the water since that can make the corn tough. Do not overcook.

Corn can also be microwaved. For the best flavor, remove the outer husk, letting the inner husks remain. After microwaving, pull the husks downward to remove them along with the silk. Or... you can clean and husk the corn first, wrap it in waxed paper or plastic wrap and cook for about two minutes per ear.

Grill corn by wrapping individual ears in aluminum foil after cleaning and husking. Add a small amount of butter and seasoning and wrap the corn in the foil. Grill for about 15 minutes, turning a few times.

Honey Roasted Sweet Corn

* 6 ears corn
* 1/3 cup honey
* 1/3 cup water
* salt and pepper to taste

Preparation -
On each ear of corn - Pull the husks back partially but do not remove them. Remove the silk; set aside. In a small saucepan, bring the honey and water to a boil. Reduce heat to medium and cook for about 4 minutes. Brush the corn with the honey and water mixture. Add salt and pepper to taste. Pull the husks back on the corn. Wrap each ear in aluminum foil. Place the wrapped ears on the grill and cook for about 15 minutes, turning frequently.

Herbed Corn on the Cob

* 6 ears corn
* 1/2 cup butter
* 2 T. fresh parsley - minced
* 1/2 tsp. thyme
* 1/4 tsp. pepper

Preparation -
Clean and husk the corn. Mix the parsley, thyme and pepper with the melted butter. Lay each ear of corn on a piece of aluminum foil. Brush each ear with the butter mixture. Wrap carefully in the foil. Grill for about 15 minutes, turning frequently.

Basil time at Big Lick! We hope you like it as much as we do! We love it and consequently it did wonderfully for us with basil now protruding from all corners of the farm. The basil will keep best in the plastic bag in the warmest part of your fridge (which may be up on the shelves inside door). Here are some basil ideas for you!

BASIL WALNUT VINAIGRETTE
1 tsp.
20
1/2 tsp.
1/2 tsp.
2 tsp.
4 tbsp.
1/2 cup chopped garlic
basil leaves
salt
pepper
Dijon mustard
white wine vinegar
olive oil

Whirl together the above ingredients, and toss with lightly steamed green beans and/or cooked potatoes, or? Then toss with: chopped walnuts and 3 sliced scallions

A Simple TOMATO AND BASIL SAUCE
The Top 100 Italian Dishes, Diane Seed

1 tbsp. olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 lbs. tomatoes, peeled
8 basil leaves

Heat the oil and gently fry the onion and garlic until they are
transparent. Add the tomatoes and cook quickly in a shallow uncovered
pan so that the sauce thickens and remains a bright red. Season to
taste then puree with the basil leaves.

CSA Harvest #12!!

2010-08-17T21:10:00.000-07:00
Good day! It is with renewed vigor, hope and enthusiasm that we deliver your 12th week of produce to each of you this week! Wow.. maybe that spirulina and bee pollen energy combo actually works! We hope you all have managed to stay afloat upon the rising tide of squash, berries, basil and beans.. I don't think we could keep up with a weekly basket at this point. A friend of ours at the Sat farmer's market asked us how we liked to prepare those beautiful ringed chiogga beets and we told him that we don't eat produce.. he thought we were joking but it is partly true! At the end of day we can't muster up enough energy to get creative in the kitchen. Mono meals rule the farmer's life in mid summer. We thrive on quesadillas, nachos and Thai flavored kettle chips. Anything that is quick and easy to stuff into the mouth to fuel the next round of weeding, planting and irrigating. In fact 99% of the produce we eat is eaten out in the field while we work.. is this carrot sweet enough? quick wipe on the jeans to remove most of the mud and then popped into the mouth.. yes! beans, lettuce leaves, tomatoes, cukes even Asinete's infamous sweet, luscious corn is peeled open and eaten raw while hoofing it around the fields. Speaking of sweet corn it should be making an appearance in your baskets next week! Hooray! It is usually everyone's favorite part of the season (and we even find enough time to fire up the grill and throw fresh picked ears on a few nights a week).

In other farm news melons are really growing now as summer progresses and we finally see little eggplant! Peppers will also be making an appearance in baskets next week and we have quite a few tasty varieties for you to sink your teeth into. Also the heirloom tomatoes are turning from green to red (or green to light green as is the case of the tangy green zebra tom). The early glacier tomatoes you all have been getting are winding down. Also winding down sadly are the seascape berries we thought would be in the baskets until the first rains. Since this is our first time growing strawberries we are learning as we go.. we hope they will get a second wind and carry on until October we know they have become a favorite item for many of you.

Please don't forget the potluck date of Sunday, September 12th from 2-6pm. Come out and see where/how your food is grown, meet the friendliest and cutest bacon and pork chops you've ever seen and let the kids try their had at making homemade ice cream the hand cranked way! Also get a chance to meet other CSA members!

Enjoy!

Suzie, Asinete, M.A., Violet and Sally

Harvest This Week Includes:

Royal Burgundy and Green Bush Beans

Cucumbers (finally!!) mix of green marketmore, lemon and white boothby blonde

Cherry Tomato Medley (mix of orange sungold, white cherry and black cherry)

Red Marble Onions and Walla Wallas

Strawberries

Savoy Cabbage (the last cabbage for many a month we promise!!)

Michelle's Easter Egg Radishes

Summer Squash (patty pan, zucchini, yellow crookneck) recipe ideas below!

Glacier Tomatoes

How to Store it and Cook it!

More cabbage! What were we thinking?... I know! Well at least this variety is different and to us more attractive and more tasty than the standard green cabbage you have gotten before. This variety is called a Savoy leaf cabbage because of the frilly leaves. To many Savoy cabbage is the queen of cabbages. It is believed to have originated in Italy, or more precisely the ‘Savoy’ region, which is on the border of Italy, France and Switzerland. The earliest record of this variety dates back to the early 1500s. It is tender enough to be eaten raw in salads. A drawback of its tenderness is that it does not have the keeping quality of the standard green cabbage you've gotten. A week is generally the longest a head of Savoy cabbage will stay fresh in the refrigerator.

Simple Savoy Recipe:

Ingredients:

2 lbs. fresh wrinkly-skinned Savoy Cabbage
2 cloves garlic
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
Instructions:

1. Peel away the outer leaves of the cabbage and discard them. Then slice the rest of the cabbage into thin 1/4" strips.
2. Heat the garlic cloves in the oil in a large nonstick pan.
3. When the oil is hot add the cabbage and salt.
4. Mix often until the cabbage is thoroughly cooked.
5. Salt and pepper to taste.
Notes:

If the cabbage gets to dry while cooking just add a little water to keep it from sticking. Note that the volume will reduce by 60 or 70% when cooked.

Cabbage and Potato Pancakes (from Simplicty - from a Monastery Kitchen)

1/2 head small green cabbage
4 large potatoes, peeled and grated
1 medium sized onion, finely chopped
2 eggs
3/4 c milk
salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
a small bunch of parsley, chopped
8 TBS vegetable or olive oil

1. Quarter the cabbage and steam it for about 6-7 minutes. Drain and chop the cabbage finely.
2. Place chopped cabbage, grated potatoes, and chopped onion in a big bowl. Mash them thoroughly with a masher and mix them well with a spatula.
3. In a separate deep bowl beat the eggs. Add the milk and beat some more. Add the cabbage-potato-onion mixture. Add some salt and pepper and the chopped parsley. Mix all the ingredients together until thoroughly blended. Refrigerate 1 hour.
4. Preheat oven to 250. To make the pancakes use a crepe pan or nonstick skillet. In the pan heat about 1 tablespoon of oil (each time) to low-med and pour in about one eighth of the potato mixture. Flatten the mixture evenly with a spatula and cook over medium heat until the pancake turns brown at the bottom. Turn the pancake over carefully and continue cooking the other side. When the pancake is done, slide it carefully onto an ovenproof platter. Repeat the process until all the pancakes are done. Keep the pancakes in the warm oven until ready to serve.

Italian Stuffed Savoy Cabbage (‘Casseola')

INGREDIENTS
1 1/2 pounds of Savoy Cabbage
3 carrots
1/2 large onion
6 slices of bacon (or pancetta),
4 Tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup of grated parmesan cheese
Salt and pepper

Remove eight good looking outer leaves from the cabbage. Blanch them briefly in boiling water and lay on a paper towel to drain.

Chop the remaining cabbage, the carrots and the onion. Fry briefly in the olive oil until wilted but not browned; add the bacon, and season with salt and pepper.

Place a well-drained cabbage leaf on a plate or chopping board, fill with 1/8 of the stuffing mix and sprinkle with half a tablespoon of parmesan cheese. Fold the sides towards the middle and roll the leaf up, place with folded side down on a baking sheet. Repeat until the ingredients have been used up. Sprinkle with the remaining parmesan.

Bake 15 minutes at 350 degrees

Serves four.

(courtesy of: Italian Food Recipes)

Recipes ideas for the summer squash bounty!

Zucchini Chips

Ingredients

* 1/4 cup dry breadcrumbs
* 1/4 cup (1 ounce) grated fresh Parmesan cheese
* 1/4 teaspoon seasoned salt
* 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
* 1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
* 2 tablespoons fat-free milk
* 2 1/2 cups (1/4-inch-thick) slices zucchini (about 2 small)
* Cooking spray

Preparation

Preheat oven to 425°.

Combine first 5 ingredients in a medium bowl, stirring with a whisk. Place milk in a shallow bowl. Dip zucchini slices in milk, and dredge in breadcrumb mixture. Place coated slices on an ovenproof wire rack coated with cooking spray; place rack on a baking sheet. Bake at 425° for 30 minutes or until browned and crisp. Serve immediately.

Grilled Zucchini and Summer Squash Salad with Citrus Splash Dressing

Ingredients

* 2 tablespoons grated orange rind
* 3/4 cup fresh orange juice (about 3 oranges)
* 1/2 cup fresh lime juice (about 3 limes)
* 3 tablespoons honey
* 2 teaspoons olive oil
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper
* 2 red onions
* 4 zucchini, each halved lengthwise (about 1 1/4 pounds)
* 4 yellow squash, each halved lengthwise (about 1 pound)
* Cooking spray
* 3 tablespoons thinly sliced fresh basil

Preparation

Combine first 7 ingredients in a large zip-top plastic bag. Peel onions, leaving root intact; cut each onion into 4 wedges. Add onion, zucchini, and yellow squash to bag. Seal and marinate in refrigerator 1 hour, turning bag occasionally.

Prepare grill.

Drain vegetables in a colander over a bowl, reserving marinade. Place vegetables on a grill rack coated with cooking spray, and grill for 8 minutes or until tender; turn and baste occasionally with 3/4 cup of the marinade. Place the vegetables on a serving platter; sprinkle with the basil. Serve the vegetables with the remaining marinade.
Nutritional Information

Calories:
168 (16% from fat)
Fat:
3g (sat 0.4g,mono 1.8g,poly 0.5g)
Protein:
4g
Carbohydrate:
36.1g
Fiber:
4g
Cholesterol:
0.0mg
Iron:
1.3mg
Sodium:
302mg
Calcium:
70mg

Zucchini Relish

Ingredients

* 1 cup chopped zucchini
* 1/2 cup chopped onion
* 1 tablespoon white sugar
* 1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil
* 2 tablespoons chopped red bell pepper
* 2 tablespoons lemon juice
* 1/4 teaspoon salt
* 1/4 teaspoon pepper

Directions

1. In a medium bowl, stir together the zucchini, onion, sugar, basil, red pepper, lemon juice, salt and pepper. Cover and refrigerate until serving.

Royal Burgundy Beans

These beans are beautifully colored but have the tendency to turn green when cooked. There are two ways you can prevent this from happening. One is to place a pinch of baking soda in the boiling water as you blanch the beans. The soda helps preserve the color. Another option which has been shown to work is sauteing the beans in a butter base in a skillet.

Thank you and enjoy!

CSA Harvest #11~

2010-08-10T22:00:00.001-07:00
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!!!!!!!!!

CSA Harvest #10

2010-08-03T17:36:00.000-07:00
Good day farm friends! We are going to skip the newsy part of the newsletter this week as our computer is in the repair shop and I'm relying on the neighbors computer (and land and refrigeration etc etc!) blessing to have wonderful neighbors!

All is well on the farm and we are busy prepping for the fall crops to be planted in the upcoming days! The farm potluck date is verified and it will be Sunday, September 12th from 2-6pm. We will let you know next week what you can bring to share for the potluck!

Thank you and now onto the recipes and list of this week's harvest!

Your farmers,

Suzie, Asinete, M.A, Violet and Sally

Harvest This Week Includes:

Strawberries!

Green Cabbage (see recipe ideas below)

Walla Walla Onions (also Red Torpedo onion in full shares)

Fennel Bulb (more recipe ideas below)

Glacier Tomatoes

Maxibel Haricot Green Beans

Summer Squash

Scarlet Nantes Carrots

Leaf Lettuce

Italian Falt Leaf Parsley

How to Store it and Cook it!

Thank you to CSA members Joe and Rita of Myrtle Creek for passing on the cabbage and fennel recipe below:

GERMAN CABBAGE MUFFINS
Servings: 12

1 3/4 c flour
2 t celery seed
1 T baking powder
2 c cabbage
1 t salt
2 egg
1 T sugar
3/4 c milk
2 t onion flakes
6 T butter

Combine flour, baking powder, salt, sugar, onion flakes and celery seed
thoroughly. Add the grated cabbage and stir into the dry ingredients. Whisk
the eggs, milk and melted butter together well. Add to dry ingredients and
stir quickly, making sure it isn't over 10 sec. Spoon into greased muffin
pans and bake in preheated oven until done. bake at 400 for 20 min. makes
12

Also made several quarts of cabbage slaw with some bulb fennel grated in, along with carrots, onion, fennel leaves, parsley (both kinds) and just used milk to thin the mayo. as Joe is diabetic so I don't do the sugar/vinegar dressing although I could and just use Splenda, which I did use in place of the sugar in the cabbage muffins

Thanks Rita for these ideas!

Cabbage Kimchee (Korean Pickles)~ thank you Zoe from Valley Flora Farm for this recipe!

Ingredients:
1 head green cabbage, cut into 2" pieces
A few radishes, cut into half moons
5 c water
2 Tbs. sea salt
2 Tbs. ginger, minced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 green onion, chopped
1/2 tsp cayenne

Instructions:

In a large bowl combine water, 1.5 Tbs. salt, cabbage & radishes. Set aside on counter for 12 hours.
Remove cabbage & radish from soaking liquid and combine with ginger, garlic, onions, cayenne & 1/2 tsp. salt.
Put into a jar or crock. Pour soaking liquid over vegetables up to 1 inch from the top.
Cover loosely with a clean cloth and set aside on the counter for 3-7 days.
Enjoy plain as or as a condiment with other foods.
From "Healing with Whole Foods," Pitchford

It may be hot too fire up the oven but if it cools off enough this sounds yummy and another way to use your cabbage.

Braised Cabbage
1 medium head green cabbage, about 2 pounds
1 large yellow onion, sliced into rough 1/3-inch slices
1 large carrot, sliced into ¼-inch rounds
¼ cup good-quality chicken stock, or water
¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
1/8 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
1 egg, poached according to the directions here
Maldon salt, or fleur de sel, to taste

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit, and position a rack in the middle of the oven.

Peel off and discard from the cabbage any bruised or messy outer leaves. Give the cabbage a quick rinse under cool water, and dry it lightly. Cut it into 8 wedges, and trim away some of the woody core, leaving enough to hold each wedge intact. Arrange the wedges in a 9 x 13 baking dish. They may overlap a little, but you want them to lie in a single—if crowded—layer. If they don’t fit nicely into the dish, remove one wedge and set it aside for later use in a quick sauté, salad, or soup.

Scatter the onion and carrot over the cabbage, and pour the stock and oil over the whole mess. Season with a couple pinches of coarse salt, a couple grinds of the pepper mill, and the red pepper flakes. Cover the dish tightly with foil, and slide it into the oven. Cook the vegetables for 1 hour; then remove the dish from the oven and gently turn the cabbage wedges. If the dish seems at all dry, add a couple tablespoons of water. Cover the dish, and return it to the oven to cook until the vegetables are very tender, about an hour more.

When the cabbage is completely tender, remove the foil over the baking dish, turn the oven up to 400 degrees, and continue cooking until the vegetables begin to brown lightly on their edges, another 15 or so minutes.

Serve warm, topped with a poached egg and sprinkled with plenty of good, flaky Maldon salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Note: The cabbage keeps well in the fridge for a few days, sealed in an airtight container.

Yield: 1 serving, plus leftovers for another half-dozen meals

Cabbage, Fennel and Carrot Slaw~ adapted from Epicurious
*serves 10

1 2 1/2-pound cabbage, quartered, cored, very thinly sliced (about 18 cups)
2 fresh fennel bulbs, trimmed, halved, very thinly sliced (about 3 cups)
1 small onion, thinly sliced
1 very large carrot, peeled, coarsely shredded
3/4 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup sour cream
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon hot pepper sauce

Preparation: Combine cabbage, fennel, onion, and carrot in large bowl. Whisk mayonnaise, sour cream, lemon juice, sugar, and hot sauce in medium bowl to blend. Season dressing to taste with salt and pepper. Add dressing to cabbage mixture; toss to coat. Season slaw to taste with salt and pepper. Refrigerate at least 1 hour and up to 2 hours, tossing occasionally. Transfer to serving bowl.

FENNEL STUFFED WITH CREAM CHEESE AND KALAMATA OLIVES

1 large fennel bulb (about 1 pound)
3‑ounce package cream cheese, softened
1/3 cup drained Kalamata olives, pitted and chopped

Trim fennel stalks flush with bulb, reserving fronds, and cut outer 2 layers loose at base, removing them carefully and reserving rest of bulb for another use. Chop reserved fronds. In a small bowl cream together cream cheese, olives, and chopped fronds. Spread inside of larger fennel layer with cream cheese mixture and press back of other layer onto filling firmly. Chill fennel, wrapped tightly in plastic wrap, at least 1 hour or up to overnight. Unwrap fennel and cut crosswise into 1/3‑inch‑thick slices. Cut slices crosswise into 1 1/2‑inch‑wide sections.

Green Goddess Green Beans

1 1/2 lb green beans, trimmed
1/3 cup coarsely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup sour cream
1 1/2 teaspoons red-wine vinegar
1/2 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon anchovy paste
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
Cook beans in a 6- to 8-quart pot of boiling salted water , uncovered, until just tender, 6 to 8 minutes. Drain in a colander and immediately transfer to a bowl of ice and cold water to stop cooking. When beans are cool, drain in a colander and pat dry.
Purée parsley, mayonnaise, sour cream, vinegar, lemon juice, anchovy paste, salt, and pepper in a blender until smooth. Transfer to a bowl and toss with beans.

Adapted from epicurious.com

Enjoy!! Off to pick those beans for the green goddess recipe yummers!

grated raw beet salad!

2010-07-27T22:55:00.000-07:00
People who swear they hate beets love this salad. It’s a North African-inspired mixture of grated, uncooked beets dressed with orange and lemon juices and a small amount of olive oil. It makes a great starter when you’re serving something robust as a main course, like a couscous.
Recipes for Health

Martha Rose Shulman presents food that is vibrant and light, full of nutrients but by no means ascetic, fun to cook and to eat.

1/2 pound beets

3 tablespoons freshly squeezed orange juice

1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

2 tablespoon minced chives, mint or parsley (or a combination)

Salt to taste

Leaves of 1 romaine heart

1. Peel the beets with a vegetable peeler, and grate in a food processor fitted with the shredding blade.

2. Combine the orange juice, lemon juice and olive oil. Toss with the beets and herbs. Season to taste with salt. Line a salad bowl or platter with romaine lettuce leaves, top with the grated beets and serve.

Yield: Serves four.

Advance preparation: The grated beets can be dressed and kept in the refrigerator, covered well, for a couple of days. They become more tender but don’t lose their texture, and the mixture becomes even sweeter as the beet juices mingle with the citrus. Toss again before serving.

Nutritional information per serving: 58 calories; 3 grams fat; 0 grams saturated fat; 0 milligrams cholesterol; 6 grams carbohydrates; 1 gram dietary fiber; 32 milligrams sodium (does not include salt added during cooking); 1 gram protein

Martha Rose Shulman can be reached at martha-rose-shulman.com.

CSA Harvest #9~

2010-07-26T17:40:00.000-07:00

Happy Sunny, Summer Day! We wanted to share some images from the farm tour two weeks ago. Thank you to our CSA members Ardyce (pictured above) and her daughter Kris for printing these pics up for us to share with you! If you look close at the pics above you can see the field of strawberries with our 1948 farmall cub tractor in the background and also the little red barn where the chickens sleep at night. Notice how we like to goof around with overgrown squash at the farm!

Today it took us a whopping three hours to harvest all the berries for the CSA. We have berries everywhere! Since our 'fridges are full of berries we had to take a truckload of our produce up to Dillard Farm Stand today. Jill Laurance (McGregor) who owns the stand and farm was kind enough to share some of her coveted walk in cooler space with us.. how nice! We went pretty gung ho this spring with our green cabbage planting and had 160 heads in the field that needed to be cut. We wanted to give you all a break this week on the cabbage so we needed to find a cool place to keep it in the meantime.. luckily cabbage stores well! We also went through and harvested what appears to be the last of the spring planted broccoli.. (finally!) it is sooo good though! Broccoli will not store as well so it will make an appearance in your baskets again this week. Please get through any lingering cabbage this week as next week we may hit you again hard with it (limited access to that coveted cooler space!)

Back to the joys of a walk in cooler.. it is definitely on our list of either buying one already made or building our own.. it is a pretty big expense and really we will only need it for three months out of the year.. but how much easier it would make our lives.. so if any of you have one collecting dust in your backyard please let us know! :) (we can always wish!)

Another huge thank you is in order this week to CSA members Beth and Jim Houseman. They both came down from Sutherlin for the farm tour and as we walked among the potato patch they saw we did not have a proper potato digging fork. So we were surprised a few days later when Jim pulled into our driveway with a new digging fork in his hand. It is truly these moments that make many a hot, weary, dreary day of farming worthwhile! So thank you Houseman's for your gift! You can thank them as well as it hopefully ensures many less potatoes riddled with slashes and cuts from the shovel method of harvesting.

Thank you to all of you for supporting these local farmers!

Suzie, Asinete, M.A (see M.A I spelled it right!) Violet and Sally

Harvest This Week Includes:

Summer Squash

Strawberries

Basil Tops

Beets

Maxibel Haricot Bush Beans

Black Seeded Simpson Lettuce

Walla Walla Onions

Broccoli

Glacier Tomatoes (a few for everyone!)

How to Store it & Eat it!

Your beans this week are a French green bean called a Haricot Vert.. they are characterized by their long, pencil thin shape. They are our favorite string beans because they taste so good and although bush beans (not pole) they produce and produce. Green beans are will keep best in a bag in the fridge.

Green Bean Stir Fry
Serves 2

Ingredients

* 1 tablespoon soy sauce
* 2 garlic cloves, minced
* 1 teaspoon sesame seeds, toasted
* 1 teaspoon brown sugar
* 1 teaspoon peanut butter
* 3/4 pound fresh green beans, trimmed
* 4 1/2 teaspoons vegetable oil

Directions

1. In a bowl, combine the soy sauce, garlic, sesame seeds, brown sugar and peanut butter; set aside. In a large skillet, stir-fry the green beans in oil until crisp-tender. Remove from the heat. Add the soy sauce mixture; stir to coat.

Ginger-Garlic Green Beans

1 lb. fresh green beans
2 teaspoons vegetable oil
2 tablespoons fresh ginger, peeled and minced
8 cloves garlic, minced
1/3 cup low sodium chicken stock

Wash the beans, trim the ends, and cut into 2" pieces. Arrange beans over vegetable steamer and place over boiling water. Cover and steam 5 minutes, until the green beans are tender crisp. Drain beans and set aside.

Heat vegetable oil over low heat. Add ginger and garlic and sauté 3 minutes ,or until tender. Add chicken stock, stir. Add beans, cook 4 minutes stirring occasionally. Serves 4.

Walla Walla (bing bang) onions! Walla wallas are pretty famous and coveted around these parts and for a good reason! They are heavy, juicy and sweet and a fleeting seasonal treat. Walla Walla season is from early June through mid- September and we have learned the hard way that you cannot store walla wallas for more than a few weeks without them spoiling so use them up quick! If you would like to keep the green tops on them please refrigerate or else lop off the tops and keep onions in a cool, dark place.

French Onion Burgers

Makes 4 servings

Ingredients:
2 teaspoons vegetable oil
2 cups chopped Walla Walla onions
1 pound ground beef
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 large egg white, lightly beaten
1 teaspoon salt
4 hamburger rolls
4 teaspoons blue cheese salad dressing

Directions:
1. Preheat grill to medium high heat.

2. Heat oil in a 12-inch cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion and saute 10 minutes or until tender. Spoon onion into a large bowl. Set aside to let cool.

3. Add beef, pepper, egg white and salt to onion, and stir well. Divide beef mixture into 4 equal portions, shaping into 3/4-inch-thick patties.

4. Oil grill grate. Grill burgers for 5 minutes on each side or until done.

5. Serve burgers on rolls with dressing.

The Houseman's Onion Casserole (passed along from CSA members.. if you have a fave recipe using Big Lick produce please pass on for us to post!

4 large walla walla onions (please half recipe if not enough onions in your bskt!)

1/2 cup butter

saltine crackers

2 eggs

1/2 cup milk

black pepper

1/4 cup cheddar cheese grated

1 can (15 ounces) cream of mushroom soup

1. Slice onions, saute in butter 'til clear

2. Grease bottom of 9x13 baking dish, crush some crackers into bottom of dish

3. Add half of onions and half of soup, alternating until gone.

4. Beat eggs, milk and pepper. Pour over top.

5. Top with cheese and some additional crushed crackers.

6. Bake at 350 degrees until brown (about 30 mins) yummy!

More beet ideas sure to tempt the beet hater in your family!

Beet burgers

Makes 6-8 servings
4 medium sized beets
2 sprigs of basil, chopped
1/2 onion, chopped
2 eggs, beaten
salt and black pepper, to taste
1/4 to 2/3 cup flour
olive oil
mozzarella cheese
burger buns

1. Trim beet tops and root. Shred the beet in a food processor; transfer to a bowl. Add basil, onions, eggs, salt and pepper; mix.
2. Mix in just enough flour to make the mixture stick together. Form into 4-inch patties about 1/2 inch thick. (Don't make them too thick or the centers won't cook well.)
3. Heat 1/4 inch of olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Fry patties 2-3 minutes on one side, until crispy. Turn, place a slice of mozzarella on top and fry 2-3 minutes more, until crispy.
4. Place hot on bun; serve immediately.

Roasted Beets with Pesto~ serves 4

Ingredients

* 4 beets, trimmed, leaving 1 inch of stems attached
* 6 tablespoons basil pesto
* salt and pepper to taste

Directions

1. Place the beets in a large saucepan and cover with 1 inch of water. Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce the heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer until the beets are just tender, about 30 minutes. Drain, and allow the beets to cool until you are able to handle them. Peel and cut into 1/2 inch thick slices, then toss with the pesto in a bowl.
2. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Grease a baking sheet.
3. Spread the beets out onto the prepared baking sheet. Bake in the preheated oven until the beets are hot and have turned slightly brown around the edges, 10 to 15 minutes.

In regards to the pesto I just whipped up a huge batch on Sunday in the food processor and then froze it in ice cube trays until frozen, then popped pesto cubes into freezer bags for winter use. I took all the basil (even the more tender stems) put in food processor, put in enough nuts (pine nuts, walnuts or even macadamia nuts work well), a quick squeeze of fresh lemon juice, three cloves of garlic (we love garlic.. you could use less :) and then a good drizzling on top of all with your favorite olive oil. Since I was freezing ours I did not add the Parmesan cheese but you could add to taste and whip up with the rest of the ingredients.. should be smooth and no chunks when you are done!

Happy eating!!!!!

CSA Harvest #8~ ode to a strawberry

2010-07-19T23:28:00.000-07:00

Hooray for the 8th harvest of 2010~! And finally a celebration of strawberries that are filling our fridges (when I say our I mean every square inch of our fridge) and also our neighbors fridge!) strawberries are also filling our tummies as we pick we find one small flaw in every few plants and decide it's best if we cull the fruit by popping it into our mouths.. every one of our work shirts is now covered with red blotchy stains from the juicy treats.

In other news this past Saturday we had our first ever Big Lick Farm tour and it was great to have some of you decide to spend your afternoon with us! We will hopefully be posting pics soon as a CSA member took pics and we will need to wait for them (hint hint :) . Guests left with arms full of the first summer squash and baskets of berries.. see what you missed out on! :) We hope you all can make the annual potluck which will be in the near future. We will post the date as soon as we decide!

Days now are set to the rhythm of sprinklers and seeds trickling through hands, down fingers and onto the soil. It seems strange to be planning for fall since we have just started harvesting our summer crops.. but fall crops have always been a weak spot for us here. The time of year when the fall crops need to be planted and tended is now and we have always been overwhelmed with keeping the last of the spring crops and the summer crops alive and healthy.. and our energy reserves of the winter rest are starting to erode.. but we will persevere!

This week you will see a new vegetable that you may not be familiar with.. it is bulb fennel. We have posted recipe ideas and directions for how to prep it for eating below. Also the broccoli you got this week is tenacious.. these plants suffered heavy chewing by pesky flea beetles in their early spring feeding frenzy. At several points we considered just mowing the ragged broccoli seedlings down.. good thing we didn't! Depending on the weather this really may be the last broccoli until the fall when the seeds we are just now planting start producing... hopefully in about 70 days!

We hope you have been enjoying each week of produce so far!

Your farmers~ Suzie & Asinete with the help of awesome volunteer trio: MA, Violet and Sally!

Harvest This Week Includes:

Fennel

Garlic

Green cabbage

Salad Mix

Strawberries

Hakurei Turnips

Broccoli

Zucchini.. standard green and ridged Italian heirloom zuke called a costata romanesca

Glacier Tomatoes (a sprinkling of them this first week in the full share baskets.. hopefully enough for everyone next week!)

How to Cook it and Store it:

Fennel Storage: store in a plastic bag in the fridge. If space is a problem, remove the long fronds to store just the fennel bulb.

Fennel: popular as a vegetable in Italy, it can be thinly sliced and eaten plain or as part of a vegetable platter. It is often served with just salt and olive oil as a simple appetizer or salad course. It can be chopped up into salad as celery, and indeed used almost anywhere celery is used.

Fennel is high is vitamins A and E, calcium and potassium. Fennel and ginger make a good digestive tea. (Steep the fresh leaves with a bit of sliced ginger for 5 minutes in boiling water.)

SOME IDEAS from The Victory Garden Cookbook

*
Sprinkle chopped fennel leaves on hot baked oysters or clams.
*

Add cooked fennel to omelets, quiches, stuffings or sauces.
*

Add stalks to stocks for their flavor.
*

Add sliced sauteed fennel to fish chowders.
*

Cook fennel in your favorite tomato sauce.
*

Place stalks and leaves on barbeque coals as they do in France. The fennel scent permeates the grilled food.
*

Slice steamed or blanched fennel, cover with a vinaigrette and serve chilled.
*

Chop raw fennel and add to tuna fish sandwiches.

Oven Potatoes with Fennel

20 ounces Yukon Gold potatoes, cut in 1/2" cubes
1 medium fennel bulb, trimmed and cut in 1" slices
1 medium sweet onion, diced
1 tablespoon fresh parsley, minced finely
2 teaspoons vegetable oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
freshly ground black pepper -- to taste

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Spray baking sheet with nonstick cooking spray. In large bowl, combine potatoes, fennel, onion, parsley, oil, salt and pepper; toss gently until well coated. Arrange mixture in a single layer on a prepared baking sheet. Bake, turning occasionally, until potatoes are crisp on all sides, 30-35 minutes. Serve immediately.

Pickled Fennel with Orange from The Joy of Pickling by Linda Ziedrich
Julia suggests using these on a sandwich, on a cheese board/.cracker platter, or tossed in a green salad.

2 fennel bulbs, sliced thin
1 t pickling salt (kosher or other uniodized salt)
zest from ½ an orange, in strips
1 or 2 small fennel fronds (optional)
6 T white wine vinegar
6 T orange juice
1 T sugar
4 black peppercorns, cracked

In a bowl, toss the fennel slices with the salt. Let them stand 1 hour. Drain the fennel slices, and toss them with the orange zest. Pack gthem into a pint jar, placing a fennel frond or two against the side of the jar, if you like. In a saucepan, heat the vinegar, orange juice, sugar, and peppercorns to a simmer, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Pour the hot liquid over the fennel. Cap the jar, and let cool to room temp.
Store the pickle in the fridge . It will be ready to eat in a day or two, and will keep for at least several weeks.

When all else fails roast it! Normally fennel tastes like a cross between celery, cabbage, and licorice. Roasting, however, brings out an entirely new flavor - as if pine nuts decided to join the party.

Roasted Fennel Recipe

Ingredients

* 2 fennel bulbs (thick base of stalk), stalks cut off, bulbs sliced
* Olive oil
* Balsamic vinegar

Method

1 Preheat oven to 400°F.

2 Rub just enough olive oil over the fennel to coat. Sprinkle on some balsamic vinegar, also to coat. Line baking dish with silpat or aluminum foil. Lay out piece of fennel and roast for 15-20 minutes, until the fennel is cooked through and beginning to caramelize.

Serves 4.

As you warily oggle the fennel in your basket please know that we too are doing the same since we have never grown it before and only heard from other CSA farmers about what a wonderful asset to the baskets the bulbs were! Pretty sure we are going for the roasted fennel recipe! Easy and sounds divine!

Plenty more fennel recipes on line if needed!

CSA Harvest #7

2010-07-13T14:12:00.000-07:00

Good day everyone... isn't it great to have sunshine without the baking heat? we think so! We have been busy big licker's over here in preparation for the farm tour this coming Sat July 17th. We have heard from many of you and look forward to showing you where your food is coming from and how we grow it. If you plan to attend and you have not yet rsvp'd please do so as soon as possible. We have included directions to the farm in the weekly email.

At this time of the year many of the spring crops have finished producing and we need to get the beds ready for the fall crops. Above you can see Asinete mowing down the buckwheat cover crop we planted. It seemed a shame to mow it down just as it started to flower as the honey bees were going crazy for the nectar. However to get the full benefit of the buckwheat as a cover crop it needs to be mowed and tilled as soon as it flowers for two main reasons. After flowering the plant begins to prepare for seed production, at this point all the nutrients the plant has added to the ground is taken up again for energy to produce seeds. We want those nutrients to stay in the ground for the next crop! Also once buckwheat flowers the stalks go from being succulent and tender to woody and tough. Woody and tough stalks take much longer to break down in the soil. We are filling up the greenhouse again to be sure we have seedlings ready to plant by the time the buckwheat has finished decomposing.

In other news the strawberries are blooming their fool heads off and this has led to some big, beautiful berries in your baskets this week and our volunteers will even get some this time since so far they have been strictly rationed to only CSA members.

We hope many of you can join us in the field this Sat!

Your farmers~ Suzie, Asinete, MA, Violet and Sally

Harvest This Week Includes:

Spinach! (in July??? yes!)

Carrots

Strawberries

Red Marble and/or Ciopollini Onions

Romaine Lettuce

Yukon Gold Potatoes (please use the ones that were nicked in the harvesting process first!)

Green Cabbage

How to Store it and Cook it!

Green Cabbage is a great storage vegetable.. keep in the crisper drawer of your fridge as you use it.

Cabbage and Beet Slaw (still have beets to use? put 'em in this)

Ingredients
Beet salad:

* 2 tablespoons Sherry wine vinegar
* 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
* 5 tablespoons safflower oil
* 3 large raw beets, peeled, coarsely grated

Cabbage salad:

* 1/4 cup distilled white vinegar
* 1 tablespoon soy sauce
* 1 tablespoon sugar
* 5 tablespoons safflower oil
* 6 cups very thinly sliced green cabbage
* 2 tablespoons chopped fresh mint

Preparation

For beet salad:
Whisk vinegar and mustard in large bowl. Gradually whisk in oil, then mix in beets. Season with salt and pepper.

For cabbage salad:
Whisk vinegar, soy sauce, and sugar in another large bowl. Gradually whisk in oil. Mix in cabbage and mint. Season with salt and pepper. Let salads stand 30 minutes and up to 2 hours at room temperature, tossing occasionally.

Cabbage Slaw

* 4 cups julienned green cabbage (or 2 cups red cabbage, julienned, and 2 cups green cabbage for a more colorful presentation)
* 1 3/4 cups Pearl Oyster Bar Tartar Sauce
* 5 tablespoons sherry vinegar
* 1/2 teaspoon sugar
* 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
* Pinch of freshly ground black pepper

Preparation

In a large bowl, blend all the ingredients well. Refrigerate at least 3 hours before serving.

Spinach Ideas:

Warm, Bacon, Spinach Salad

Ingredients

* 3 bacon strips, diced
* 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
* 1 egg
* 6 tablespoons water
* 2 tablespoons vinegar
* 1 tablespoon sugar
* salt and pepper to taste
* 3 cups torn fresh spinach
* 1/2 cup seasoned croutons

Directions

1. In a skillet, cook bacon until crisp. Remove bacon to paper towels. Drain, reserving 1 tablespoon drippings. Stir flour into drippings until smooth. In a large bowl, beat egg; add water, vinegar, sugar, salt and pepper. Slowly pour into skillet. Bring to a boil; boil for 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Place spinach in a bowl. Remove dressing from the heat; stir in reserved bacon. Immediately spoon desired amount over spinach; add croutons and toss to coat. Serve warm. Store leftover dressing in the refrigerator for up to 2 days. Before serving, reheat over low heat just until heated through.

Enjoy!!!

CSA Harvest #6

2010-07-06T13:09:00.000-07:00
Happy Sunny Day! It looks like we might get a summer after all! The image of the green tomatoes I posted last week has changed.. those green, hard as rock balls have started to turn orange and then red! We are pretty confident we have the first ripe tomatoes on our block! Unfortunately there are not enough ripe ones for this week's harvest but with the summer weather here to stay they should find their way into your baskets and stomachs next week!

In other news with the help of many friends we have expanded our greenhouse space. While greenhouse space isn't at a premium this time of year when most crops are seeded directly in the garden in early Spring we are hard pressed to find enough extra inches left unoccupied in our current greenhouse. A friend of ours had a unused fiberglass greenhouse they wanted to find a home for and they knew Big Lick could put it to good use! Of course today we find ourselves a bit itchy.. like we've been installing insulation.. but that little greenhouse will be a warm safe haven for the tender seedlings of spring... we will post pics of it in the next few days..

We have some wonderful news that we're sure you're all going to love and that is that the snow peas are finished! Yes today we did the last harvest of the year and then we came at the tender vines with knives cutting the plants right at the soil level. Peas are a legume (like beans) and they actually take nitrogen from the air and store it in their roots on small nodules. We wanted to be sure the roots of the peas stayed in the soil so they can fertilize the next crops going in.

Also happening at the farm this week is the great garlic pull of 2010~! Garlic cloves that we planted in late October are now ready to be pulled out of the ground, bundled and hung to dry in the storage shed. We have lots of garlic for you in the weeks ahead and some to enjoy today.

We have heard from some of you who will be attending the farm tour on Sat July 17th at 3pm and 5pm.. we hope more of you decide to join us! Please rsvp to our email address to we can plan for your visit! For those of you who have replied we will send out email directions in the upcoming days!

Enjoy this week's harvest!

Suzie, Asinete, MA, Violet and Sally!

Harvest This Week Includes:

Hardneck Garlic (a more pungent garlic with large, easy to peel cloves)

Genovese Basil

Bull's Blood Beets

Cauliflower OR Broccoli (last of these 2 crops for awhile)

Cabbage (Chinese or standard green)

Snow peas (rejoice! the last of 'em!)

Cilantro

Baby Hakurei Turnips

Black Seeded Simpson Leaf Lettuce

Strawberries (we hope enough for all.. we have to wait and see!)

How to Use it and Store it!!

Basil... ahh the essential summer food and one of our favorites! Basil deteriorates quickly so please use asap.. to keep fresh in the meantime wrap leaves in a lightly damp (not wet) towel and refrigerate.. basil does not like to get wet! Fresh leaves freeze well.. place in plastic zip lock bag, remove air, seal and freeze... fresh pesto freezes well too!

Basil in believed to have originated in India where it was viewed as a holy plant and was grown around temples and shrines. A "good Hindu" was supposed to leave this life with a basil leaf on the chest to aid in passage to the next.

Easy Pesto! (please adjust recipe according to how much basil you receive!)
3/4 cup olive oil
1 garlic clove
1 TBSP pine nuts, walnuts or even macadamia nut pieces
1/4 tsp salt
1/3 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
4 cups fresh basil leaves

Place all ingredients except for basil leaves in a blender or food processor. Blend until smooth, then add basil a handful at a time, blending until all the basil is incorporated and pesto is smooth. yummy! use as a topping on pizza, on toast, on eggs on pasta.. pesto is good almost anywhere! Pesto can be frozen.

Double Tomato Bruchetta

Ingredients

* 6 roma (plum) tomatoes, chopped
* 1/2 cup sun-dried tomatoes, packed in oil
* 3 cloves minced garlic
* 1/4 cup olive oil
* 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
* 1/4 cup fresh basil, stems removed
* 1/4 teaspoon salt
* 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
* 1 French baguette
* 2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

Directions

1. Preheat the oven on broiler setting.
2. In a large bowl, combine the roma tomatoes, sun-dried tomatoes, garlic, olive oil, vinegar, basil, salt, and pepper. Allow the mixture to sit for 10 minutes.
3. Cut the baguette into 3/4-inch slices. On a baking sheet, arrange the baguette slices in a single layer. Broil for 1 to 2 minutes, until slightly brown.
4. Divide the tomato mixture evenly over the baguette slices. Top the slices with mozzarella cheese.
5. Broil for 5 minutes, or until the cheese is melted.

Cabbage Ideas

If you received the Chinese cabbage in your basket today here are some ideas about how to use it:

Chinese Cabbage is also known as Napa Cabbage.. they thrive in cooler weather and so are usually only avail early summer and fall. Store your Chinese cabbage in the crisper drawer of your fridge.. also leave outer leaves on until ready to use.. the outer leaves will keep the more tender leaves inside fresh.

Cooking Tips:

chop raw Chinese cabbage into green salads

substitute Chinese cabbage in traditional coleslaw

For an Asian styled salad, toss chopped cabbage with grated carrot, chopped green onion, toasted sesame oil, rice vinegar and soy sauce.

Napa Cabbage Salad
* 1 medium head cabbage, shredded
* 1 bunch green onions, chopped
* 2 (3 ounce) packages chicken flavored ramen noodles
* 4 ounces slivered almonds, toasted
* 1/2 cup olive oil
* 2 tablespoons white sugar
* 3 tablespoons distilled white vinegar

Directions

1. In a large bowl, combine the cabbage, green onions, noodles and almonds.
2. Prepare the dressing by whisking together the oil, sugar, vinegar and seasoning packets. Pour over cabbage mixture and mix well to coat. Refrigerate until chilled and serve.

Best way to use Beets for all those beet haters out there!

Beet Brownies! Divine!!

You need:

* 3 oz (90 g) Dark chocolate
* 3.5 oz (100 g) flour
* 3.5 oz (100 g) almond powder
* 3 oz (90 g) sugar
* 3 oz (90 g) butter (soft)
* 4 eggs
* 7 oz (200 g) shredded raw red beetroot
* Vanilla extract
* Confectioner sugar and cocoa for decoration

Steps

* Start by peeling and shredding the beets. Set aside
* Melt the chocolate in a double boiler.
* Mix together (using a food processor the butter with the eggs, then add the sugar.
* Mix until lighter, then add the chocolate, flour, almond powder, the beets and the vanilla extract, and mix well.
* Butter a small baking pan and placed greased parchment paper at the bottom)
* Pour the preparation in it and bake in the oven for about 30 mns in a preheated oven, 350 F (180 C)

Note: Your brownies are cooked once the blade of a knife comes out dry after you insert the blade in the cake

The trick to making these disappear? Just don't tell your kids that there are beets in them!

I would add more recipes but here it is 11:40 pm and falling asleep again in front of computer... hot day tomorrow!

CSA Harvest #5

2010-06-29T21:57:00.000-07:00

Good day all! We wanted to include a few images of life at the farm these days.. summer means never a dull moment and it seems if you listen close enough you can hear the plants growing! The picture at the bottom is of a swarm of bees that left the hive and during a tornado of whirling, buzzing honeybees flew about 100 feet before landing on the branches of an apple tree. By nightfall they were shaken back into a new hive with more elbow room and are bringing in nectar like mad!

Also above you can see the early green tomatoes of the Glacier tomato.. today as I took the picture I noticed the first red tomato and interestingly enough on the same day last year (the 29th of June) we also found the first red tomato! Surprising given that this spring has been much colder and wet.

In other farm news we have had many baby birds leaving the nests around the farm. It is great to rest on the hoe for awhile and watch them flutter around a bit wobbly while their mom keeps a close eye on each one. So far there have been tiny baby sparrows, and noisy stellar's jays and then the newest ones fledging have been American robins. They are entertaining to watch as they search out worms and grubs in the soil their head constantly bobbing up and down as they hop down the rows. Loved those little birds until this afternoon when Asinete and I did our nightly strawberry harvest and realized that too many of the best, ripest berries had huge chucks slashed out of them and then we saw the baby robins bobbing innocently away down the aisle. Disturbing and aggravating yes but we were able to harvest enough berries between tonight and a few nights ago to get some to all of you today.. including the baby robins! We are hoping in the next few days a strong wind will carry them farther down the river and that this won't be a problem for long! We try to look at it as our land tax.. hopefully if we are willing to share a bit we can be rewarded by a more plentiful harvest.. let's hope so!

We hope you can all join us for the farm tour coming up this Sat July 17th with one tour at 3pm and another at 5pm. Please rsvp to us via email if you think you can attend and how many you will be with. We will provide juice and snacks and may even bust out the hand cranked ice cream maker (throwing in some ripe berries!)

Thank you and enjoy the newest goodies that this season has brought!

Suzie, Asinete, MA and Violet

Harvest This Week Includes:

Yukon Gold New Potatoes

Snowball Cauliflower or Romanesco Cauliflower

Rainbow Chard

Rainbow Carrots

Snow peas (not much longer we promise!)

Black Seeded Simpson Lettuce

Seascape Strawberries (not a lot this first week but more to come!)

Broccoli (less this week but one more big harvest before the fall crop comes in)

Italian Flat Leaf Parsley (goes great with potatoes see recipes below!)

How to Cook it and Store it:

The Yukon Gold potatoes in your basket are called new potatoes because they were just dug out of the ground today and their skin has not cured. You will notice the skin on these are very thin and some even peel off. Because of the thin skins new potatoes do not store well and are best eaten within 2-3 days. If you need to store longer than this please put in the crisper bin of your fridge. No need to peel these buttery beauties as most of the nutrients in a potato lies right under the skin. kept in a

Garlicky Yukon Gold Potatoes
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 50 minutes
Total Time: 60 minutes
Ingredients:

* 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
* Salt and freshly ground pepper
* 2 pounds Yukon Gold potatoes, large ones quartered small halved.
* 6 medium garlic cloves, thinly sliced
* 2 Tablespoons finely chopped flat-leaf parsley

Preparation:
Preheat the oven to 400 F. Brush a baking sheet with 1 tablespoon of the oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Arrange the gold potatoes on the baking sheet, cut side down, and bake for 45 minutes, or until crisp and golden brown. Transfer the potatoes to a bowl.

Heat the remaining 3 tablespoons of oil in a large skillet. Add the garlic and cook over moderately low heat, stirring, until crisp and lightly browned; do not let the garlic get too brown or it will be bitter.

Pour the garlic and oil over the potatoes, add the parsley and toss. Season with salt and pepper and serve at once.

Yield: 8 servings

Yukon Gold Potato Gratin
SERVES 4

Ingredients

* 1/2 tablespoon unsalted butter
* 1 lb yukon gold potato
* 1 cup sharp cheddar cheese
* 2 tablespoons sour cream
* 1 tablespoon olive oil
* 2 garlic cloves, very finely minced
* 1 tablespoon fresh thyme
* 3/4 teaspoon salt
* 1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
* 1/3 cup chicken broth or white wine
* 4 fresh thyme sprigs (to garnish)

Directions

1. Heat oven to 400 degrees F. Butter a 9-inch round or oval baking dish.

2.Slice potatoes 1/8-inch thick and combine thoroughly in a mixing bowl with 1/2 cup cheddar cheese, the sour cream, olive oil, garlic, thyme, salt, and pepper.

3. Arrange potatoes in a neat overlapping pattern in the baking dish. Pour chicken broth over potatoes.

4. Bake 35 minutes, until potatoes are nearly-tender and the cheese and potatoes are starting to brown. Sprinkle with remaining cheese and bake another 10-15 minutes.

5. Garnish with thyme sprigs and enjoy!

Rainbow Chard~ Please keep your chard wither wrapped up in a damp towel in your fridge or in a plastic bag. It does tend to wilt quickly if not wrapped. This chard is chock full of nutrients! Here are some recipe ideas to get your creative juices flowing!

Sauteed Swiss Chard with Parmesan Cheese

Ingredients

* 2 tablespoons butter
* 2 tablespoons olive oil
* 1 tablespoon minced garlic
* 1/2 small red onion, diced
* 1 bunch Swiss chard, stems and center ribs cut out and chopped together, leaves coarsely chopped separately
* 1/2 cup dry white wine
* 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice, or to taste
* 2 tablespoons freshly grated Parmesan cheese
* salt to taste (optional)

Directions

1. Melt butter and olive oil together in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Stir in the garlic and onion, and cook for 30 seconds until fragrant. Add the chard stems and the white wine. Simmer until the stems begin to soften, about 5 minutes. Stir in the chard leaves, and cook until wilted. Finally, stir in lemon juice and Parmesan cheese; season to taste with salt if needed.

Chard, Sausage and Feta Frittata~

Ingredients

* 12 ounces swiss chard, stems and centers removed
* 1 tablespoon olive oil
* 1 cup onion, chopped
* 8 ounces mild Italian sausage, casings removed and broken up
* 8 large eggs
* 1/4 cup heavy cream
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
* 1 cup feta cheese, crumbled

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 325°F Spray 8x8x2 baking dish with nonstick spray.

2.Bring large pot of salted water to a boil. Add Swiss chard and cook until just wilted, about 2 minutes. Drain and finely chop. Place in a kitchen towel and squeeze dry, set aside.

3. Heat oil in a large skillet over med-high heat. Add onion and saute until soft, about 4-5 minutes. Add sausage and cook until browned and done, breaking up with a fork; about 5-7 minutes. Remove from heat and cool.

4. Whisk eggs, cream, salt and pepper in a large bowl. Add chard and sausage mixture, then feta; stir to blend. Transfer mixture to prepared baking dish.

5. Bake until set in center, 45-55 minutes. Transfer to a rack and cool for 15-20 minutes. Turn over onto a platter, then flip to so that the frittata is right-side-up. Cut into 20 pieces.

6. NOTE: Can be made 1 day ahead. Place frittata pieces on baking sheet, cover and chill. Rewarm in 325F oven for 10 minutes, or until heated through.

Enjoy!!

CSA Harvest #4~ Sunny with a side of snowpeas!

2010-06-22T14:19:00.000-07:00

Happy Summer!! That's right! It seems like we might get a summer after all and the best part is yet to come with the juicy heirloom tomatoes, sweet melons, nutty squash, brilliantly colored peppers, and basil (well those are some of my favorites anyways!) Of course we are still a few weeks behind schedule with the summer crops since several of the things we planted from seed ended up rotting in the cold, wet ground that plagued our Spring. Luckily we should have enough cool weather things to carry us through until then...

We wanted to invite all of you out for our first ever farm tour!! We always have a farm potluck later in the season open to all CSA members.. but this year we wanted to have two events here at the farm so everyone has at least one chance to see where their weekly baskets come from and also a chance to meet others getting weekly baskets. We are scheduling the farm tour for July 17th with two tours one at 3pm and one at 5pm.. We wanted the farm tour to happen week after next but that would put us at 4th of July weekend with many folks taking trips. Don't worry we will remind you all in the next week or so about upcoming farm tour on Saturday July 17th.

We are still busy as ever irrigating, weeding and seeding until the days seem to blur together. We had ordered 4 tons of certified organic fertilizer called Nutri-Rich. It is manufactured in Canby and is made up of composted and pelleted chicken manure with micro nutrients added. To date this season we have gone through two tons of it! In the photos above you can see some of the prime river bottom land that we are fortunate enough to grow on. Behind our yellow lab you will notice some land that is fallow (or bare of any crops). We just planted this area with a cover crop of buckwheat which will be tilled back into the soil when it flowers to enrich the soil and get it ready for the fall crops. At this time of year we are already starting to plan out what crops we will be planting now to harvest in Oct and Nov when many of the summer crops get killed off by frost.

Hooray for strawberries!! The berries will make their debut this week in the full share baskets. Hopefully now that the warm weather is here we can get enough for half share members in the upcoming weeks. Our berries are coming on later because we just planted the bare root plants in March and the plants have needed time to get settled in. So hopefully this means that they will produce longer into summer and early fall!

Enjoy!! Suzie, Asinete, MA & Violet

Harvest This Week Includes:

Snow Peas (they are at their peak now!)

Broccoli (also at its peak!)

Romaine Lettuce (outer leaves can be removed to get to more tender and blanched heart)

Bok Choy (the last of it until fall)

Green Garlic

Beets

Romanesco Cauliflower

Strawberries (full shares only this week)

How to Cook it and Store it!

Beets

Beets are one of our favorites because of their earthy smell and taste. Now only that but they store for up to 3 months in the crisper of your fridge..bidding their time until you're ready! Don't toss the greens either! They are edible as well. Beets are high in Vitamin A and C and also carotenes. The beet greens are high in Vitamin C, iron and calcium.

To store beets and keep them firm remove greens about 1-2 inches above the beet. Store beets in a plastic bag and put in crisper drawer in fridge. Beet greens should be used asap as they will not keep well. For quick storage keep in plastic bag or damp towel in crisper.

Roasted Beets on a Bed of Beet Greens

Ingredients

* 1 bunch beets with
* greens
* 1/4 cup olive oil, divided
* 2 cloves garlic, minced
* 2 tablespoons chopped onion (optional)
* salt and pepper to taste
* 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar (optional)

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees (175 degrees C). Wash the beets thoroughly, leaving the skins on, and remove the greens. Rinse greens, removing any large stems, and set aside. Place the beets in a small baking dish or roasting pan, and toss with 2 tablespoons of olive oil. If you wish to peel the beets, it is easier to do so once they have been roasted.
2. Cover, and bake for 45 to 60 minutes, or until a knife can slide easily through the largest beet.
3. When the roasted beets are almost done, heat the remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil in a skillet over medium-low heat. Add the garlic and onion, and cook for a minute. Tear the beet greens into 2 to 3 inch pieces, and add them to the skillet. Cook and stir until greens are wilted and tender. Season with salt and pepper. Serve the greens as is, and the roasted beets sliced with either red-wine vinegar, or butter and salt and pepper.

Nutritional Information open nutritional information

Amount Per Serving Calories: 204 | Total Fat: 13.9g | Cholesterol: 0mg

Roasted Beets with Feta

Ingredients (green garlic from your basket can be used in place of shallot)

* 4 beets, trimmed, leaving 1 inch of stems attached
* 1/4 cup minced shallot
* 2 tablespoons minced fresh parsley
* 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
* 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
* 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
* salt and pepper to taste
* 1/4 cup crumbled feta cheese

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Wrap each beet individually in aluminum foil, and place onto a baking sheet.
2. Bake beets in preheated oven until easily pierced with a fork, 45 minutes to 1 hour. Once done, remove from oven, and allow to cool until you can handle them. Peel beets, and cut into 1/4 inch slices.
3. While the beets are roasting, whisk together shallot, parsley, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and red wine vinegar in a bowl until blended; season to taste with salt and pepper, and set aside.
4. To assemble the dish, place the warm, sliced beets onto a serving dish, pour vinaigrette over the beets, and sprinkle with feta cheese before serving.

Beet Greens Recipe

While this recipe calls for discarding the stems, if you want you can use them too if they aren't too woody. Just cut them into 1-inch segments and add them to the onions after the onions have been cooking for a minute.
Ingredients

* 1 pound beet greens
* 1 strip of thick cut bacon, chopped (or a tablespoon of bacon fat)
* 1/4 cup chopped onion
* 1 large garlic clove, minced
* 3/4 cup of water
* 1 Tbsp granulated sugar
* 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
* 1/6 cup of cider vinegar

Method

1 Wash the greens in a sink filled with cold water. Drain greens and wash a second time. Drain greens and cut away any heavy stems. Cut leaves into bite-sized pieces. Set aside.

2 In a large skillet or 3-qt saucepan, cook bacon until lightly browned on medium heat (or heat 1 Tbsp of bacon fat). Add onions, cook over medium heat 5 to 7 minutes, stirring occasionally, until onions soften and start to brown. Stir in garlic. Add water to the hot pan, stirring to loosen any particles from bottom of pan. Stir in sugar and red pepper. Bring mixture to a boil.

3 Add the beet greens, gently toss in the onion mixture so the greens are well coated. Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer for 5-15 minutes until the greens are tender. Stir in vinegar. (For kale or collard greens continue cooking additional 20 to 25 minutes or until desired tenderness.)

Serves 4.

Snow Pea Info!

We know that perhaps we got a little giddy when we planted the pea patch in early Feb! Savor them now for as soon as the heat gets here the peas will die off. Peas should be used immediately. Like corn the sugar in peas in converted to starch as soon as they are picked. If you do need to refrigerate keep in plastic bag in the crisper drawer of your fridge. Your peas can be frozen for later use if you'd like to stretch them longer. To freeze them they must first be blanched in boiling water for 2 mins, then immediately cooled under cold water to stop cooking. Drain well and freeze in freezer zip locks or vacuum sealed bags.
Your snow peas are not only tasty but also so good for you! High in vitamins A,C, K and B's. They are also high in iron, potassium and phosphorous and also high in fiber!

Asian Salad

Ingredients

* 1 (16 ounce) package pasta
* 2 cups broccoli florets
* 1 red bell pepper, chopped
* 1/2 cup diced red onion
* 1 cup snow peas
* 1 cup Asian-style salad dressing
* salt to taste
* ground black pepper to taste
* 1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger root (optional)
* 1 tablespoon minced garlic (optional)
* 1 tablespoon sesame oil
* 1/2 tablespoon sesame seeds

Directions

1. Blanch broccoli in rapidly boiling water for 3 to 5 minutes. Remove from the water. Blanch snow peas for 1 to 2 minutes. Remove from water.
2. Cook one pound of pasta in a large pan of boiling water until al dente. Drain, and transfer to a large bowl.
3. Toss pasta with salad dressing. Toss with broccoli, red pepper, red onion, and snow peas, ginger, and garlic. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
4. Refrigerate for several hours or overnight. When serving, sprinkle with sesame oil and sesame seeds.

Nutritional Information open nutritional information

Amount Per Serving Calories: 361 | Total Fat: 20.2g | Cholesterol: 41mg

Moo Goo Gai Pan (a great way to use your peas and bok choy together!)

Ingredients

* 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
* 1/4 pound sliced fresh mushrooms
* 1/4 pound snow peas
* 1 (8 ounce) can sliced water chestnuts, drained
* 1/4 pound sliced bok choy
* salt and black pepper to taste
*
* 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
* 1 teaspoon minced garlic
* 1 teaspoon minced fresh ginger root
* 3/4 cup skinless, boneless chicken breast meat - thinly sliced
* 1 teaspoon white wine
* 1/4 teaspoon white sugar
* 1/4 cup chicken broth
* 1 tablespoon cornstarch
* 2 tablespoons water

Directions

1. Heat 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil in a wok or large skillet over high heat. Stir in the mushrooms, snow peas, water chestnuts, and bok choy; season to taste with salt and pepper. Cook and stir until the vegetables are just tender, about 5 minutes. Remove the vegetables from the wok and wipe the wok clean.
2. Heat the remaining 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil in the wok. Stir in the garlic and ginger; cook a few seconds until the garlic begins to turn golden brown. Stir in the chicken and cook until the chicken is no longer pink, about 5 minutes. Add the wine, sugar, and chicken broth; bring to a boil. Dissolve the cornstarch in the water and stir into the simmering sauce. Once the sauce returns to a simmer, stir until thick and clear, about 30 seconds. Return the vegetables to the wok and toss until hot and coated with the sauce.

Nutritional Information open nutritional information

Amount Per Serving Calories: 175 | Total Fat: 8.4g | Cholesterol: 26mg

Broccoli

Yes we got crazy planting the broccoli as well! This week will be the largest harvest of this early spring planted crop. When we sent out our surveys last year almost all of the CSA members responded that they would like to see more broccoli! At an organic farming conference we attended this winter we were saddened to hear that broccoli holds the title of the top two crops that you actually lose money on as a farmer! Why? Simply because they require a fairly long growing time and lots of fertilizer and the reward for your efforts? One large broccoli head if you're lucky! There will be small florets after this week for awhile. Any guess what the other big money loser crop is for a farmer? Tell us what you think at the pick up tomorrow~!

Broccoli is so good for you! When eaten fresh and not overcooked it is loaded with vitamin A,C, calcium, potassium, and iron. Broccoli has also been touted as an anti cancer vegetable due to a special enzyme called sulforaphane. Please use your broccoli promptly as all those nutrients will wilt with the broccoli. Store for a few days in a plastic bag in the crisper portion of fridge. Broccoli can also be blanched in boiling water for storage in freezer. Cut head into florets and slice stems. Blanch for 3-4 mins, rinse in cold water to stop cooking and freeze in freezer bags or vacuum seal.

Raw Broccoli Salad Recipe
(Serves 2)

3 cups of chopped broccoli
2 cloves of garlic, finely minced
2 tbs of finely minced cilantro
1 tsp of cumin seeds
1/4 cup good quality extra virgin olive oil
Juice from 1 lemon
1/2 tsp of sea salt

Method:

1. Wash and finely chop the broccoli, several florets at a time. Include 1 garlic clove in the chopping. Chop for another minute and then add the second clove. Keep chopping until the broccoli is in tiny pieces.
2. Place the broccoli into a large, non-reactive bowl. Add the rest of the ingredients and then mix well with a metal spoon. Cover and let the broccoli sit in the fridge for one hour.
3. Serve with accompanying meal of chicken, seafood or on its own.

Broccoli Salad

5 cups shredded broccoli (shred with food processor)
1/2 - 1 cup red onion
1 cup raw sunflower seeds
1/2 cup raisins

Add all to a bowl.

Dressing
1 cup raw cashews
3T raw agave nectar (or honey)
2T raw apple cider vinegar
1/4t sea salt
1/4 cup water

Blend the dressing in a *blender (you may want to soak the cashews in water for an hour just to soften them up if your blender is not high speed to make it easier to blend or you can try first in the food processor then the blender). Pour over the broccoli mix and mix well with your hands to really coat it. Enjoy!

Augustine's Favorite Roasted Broccoli

Cut broccoli into long florets, peel and cut stem into strips as well. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Place broccoli florets on large cookie sheet and drizzle liberally with olive oil and sprinkle with sea salt to taste. Toss broccoli so all evenly coated with oil and salt and place in over. Heat for 10 mins and then toss. Roast another 5 mins or until broccoli is tender and even a bit toasted! YUMMYYYY!!!

Off to bed to pick peas in the early dawn!

CSA Harvest #3

2010-06-14T23:33:00.001-07:00
Good day Everyone Happy Summer Solstice (on the 21st) and hooray for three days in a row without rain! woah.. now wait a minute what is this about rain for the CSA harvest and delivery!? Guess we did not have to race to get the pump back in the river today after all!

Have most of you been reading about, looking at stories and images from the oil spill in the gulf? I have and we don't have tv or get the newspaper but we do have internet and NPR on the radio. It's overwhelming and tragic and we ask ourselves "how can I be less dependent of those fuels for my existence?" well guess what? Eating locally is one of the main ways you can do that. In a time when most of the food we eat travels an average of 1,300 miles away you can enjoy the fresh crunch of the snow peas and carrots and know they were grown less that 2o miles away. That is a big step that helps to reduce our reliance on fossil fuels.

Many people and maybe most of you seek out organic foods for personal health reasons and that is great. As farmers the driving force for us in growing food using organic methods is for the health of the planet and second for our own personal health. Of course many of us are realizing that the health of both the planet and our bodies are interlinked. So thank you for the sake of your health and the health of the planet to eating locally and organically! Actually we are now certified naturally grown. Certified Naturally Grown (CNG) is a third party certification program. That means someone we did not know came and inspected our fields and reviewed our records and seeds to be sure we don't plant GMO seeds (genetically modified) or seeds that have been treated with chemicals. Also they cheked to be sure we were not using pesticides or herbicides and to see that we use only certified organic fertilizer. We had wanted to become certified organic as we were in Ca. but the cost is fairly prohibitive and we do not sell things wholesale. Since we only sell locally we can explain to folks about how we grow our crops and now we have the certified naturally grown to confirm our commitment to growing food healthy for people and the planet! You can check out more about what Certified Naturally Grown at their website and check out our farm profile there.

We are looking ahead for a future 3rd annual farm tour and potluck day for all CSA members. So stay tuned!

Thank you for eating locally!

Suzie, Asinete, MA & Violet

Harvest This Week Includes:

Carrots

Snow Peas

Hakurei Turnips

Grandpa's Admire Butterleaf Lettuce (Romaine in full shares) Romaine for all next week!

Broccoli

Bok Choy (aka: Pac Choi)

How to Store it and Eat it!

Bok Choy is a traditional stir fry vegetable from China. The Bok choy growing season is limited to the cooler months of spring and fall. Bok choy is often touted as the garden vegetable highest in calcium. Bok choy is an excellent source of vitamins A, B complex, and vitamin C.

Storage Tip: wrap bok choy in a damp towel or put in a plastic bag and place in the hydrator drawer in the 'fridge. Store for up to 1 week.

Stir Fry Bok Choy

Cook Time: 5 minutes
Total Time: 5 minutes
Ingredients:

* 4 bunches bok choy (basically, 1 bunch per person)
* 2 slices ginger
* 2 tablespoons soy sauce
* 1 teaspoon sugar, or to taste
* 1/4 teaspoon salt, or to taste
* 1/4 cup water
* A few drops sesame oil
* 1 1/2 tablespoons vegetable oil for stir-frying

Preparation:
Wash the bok choy and drain. Separate the stalks and leaves. Cut the stalk diagonally and cut the leaves across.
Heat wok and add oil. When oil is ready, add ginger and stir-fry briefly, for about 30 seconds, until the ginger is aromatic. Add the bok choy, adding the stalks first, and then the leaves. Stir in the soy sauce, sugar, and salt, and stir-fry on high heat for 1 minute.
Add the water, cover the wok and simmer for about 2 minutes. Stir in the sesame oil and serve. Serves 4.

Bok Choy Salad

Ingredients

* 1 medium head bok choy, diced
* 1 bunch green onions, chopped
* 1 (3 ounce) package ramen noodles
* 1/2 cup blanched slivered almonds
* 2 tablespoons sesame seeds, toasted
* 1/3 cup olive oil
* 3 teaspoons lemon juice

Directions

1. Combine bok choy and green onions; cover and chill.
2. Whisk together the olive oil, lemon juice and ramen noodle seasoning packet. Refrigerate until chilled.
3. Break ramen noodles into small pieces; combine with toasted almonds and sesame seeds.
4. Before serving, combine the cabbage mixture and noodle mixture; add dressing and toss to coat.

Snow Peas enjoy the weekly share of snow peas as they are a fleeting spring treat. Once summer arrives the vines will wither. They are strictly a spring treat. Snow peas are full of vitamins A & C.

Snow Peas with Pine Nuts and Mint

Ingredients

2 Tbsp olive oil
1/2 pound snow peas, rinsed, dried, tips of the ends cut off, strings removed
1/4 cup pine nuts
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 teaspoon dark sesame oil
10 large mint leaves, chopped
Method

1 Heat olive oil in a large skillet on medium high heat. Add the snow peas, garlic, and pine nuts. Stir to coat with the oil. Cook for 1-2 minutes, stirring. You do not want to overcook the snow peas or they will get limp. They should still be a little bit crunchy.

2 Remove from heat. Stir in the sesame oil and chopped mint leaves. Serve immediately.

Serves 2-3.

Sorry all another late blog entry and I'm falling asleep as I type! For any other recipe ideas for your goodies please try allrecipes.com there are millions of recipes avail!

CSA Harvest #2

2010-06-07T21:51:00.000-07:00

Happy Sunshine!! Well it was a sunny day today (Mon eve) as I write this newsletter.. it looks like the rain will have one last hoorah later this week. We will be happy to see it then since we have had to pull our irrigation pumps out of the river due all the rain. The problem now with the warm days is that our loamy soil is on the sandy side and does start to dry our very quickly leaving baby seedlings droopy and stressed for water. As soon as the river goes down we will need to put in the irrigation pump for the second time this year.

We are not the only ones lamenting the weather as many of you may have seen the story in the Sunday paper about other farmers in our area that have been struggling with muddy, flooded fields. But we see the light at the end of the tunnel in next week's weather forecast~ all sunny days!!

We wanted to add some images that show what is going on at the farm these days. You can see our new crop of fat little pink piglets.. we will have to change our name to Pig Lick Farm :) these little cuties are 7 weeks old and will live with us here on the farm until about Thanksgiving and then they will go to feed families. It is a bittersweet thing having animals on the farm. They bring so much life and joy and energy to the land that we work and live on. For us the driving force of raising our own meat is knowing that the animals we eat had a good life here on the farm with us.

In other pictures you will see our wonderful volunteers hard at work packing all of your CSA baskets in our garage/packing shed. Another image of Asinete prepping our wash tub for the veggie dunk. Yes, that is an old bathtub! It has been used for 20 years as a watering trough for a cow.. and then sat empty in our field for 5 years. Don't worry it has been bleached and scrubbed since those cow water trough days!

Right now we are busy on the farm trying to do many things at once; fertilize, weed, plant, harvest and plan what is going to go where 4 months down the line. Crop rotation and planning is a crucial point in CSA farming. Constant planning and planting to be sure there is always a full CSA basket each week. As soon as one crop is finished and harvested the planting bed is tilled, fertilized and tilled again then planted with the next crop. The best planting are the cover crops that we plant to feed the soil. Today we planted buckwheat seeds where the fall crops will be planted. The buckwheat will grow and flower and provide beneficial insects with nectar and habitat for all the baby tree frogs that we have seen hopping all over the fields. A week after the buckwheat flowers it will be tilled in and add nutrients to the soil... the best kind of fertilizer! It is our goal to one day leave this land in better shape then when we found it.. that is probably the driving force for many small, sustainable/organic farmers.

Enjoy these lingering days on spring!

Your farmers~

Suzie, Asinete, MA, Violet and Sally

Today's Harvest Includes:

Green garlic and garlic scapes (unopened garlic flowers)

Grandpa's Admire Heirloom Lettuce

Snow Peas

Green Broccoli OR Romanesco Cauliflower (yellow head)

Italian Flat Leaf Parsley

Mesclun Mix (arugula/tatsoi/mustard)

Rainbow Chard OR Collard Greens

You might be scratching your head looking in your basket and wondering what in the world a garlic scape is. The scape is the unopened flower from a garlic plant. When growing garlic it is a good practice to allow the garlic to produce a scape but it must be popped off before it opens or else the garlic bulbs will never form properly. My favorite way to enjoy scapes is to heat up olive oil and saute the scapes in a skillet until they are wilted and tender. They have a wonderful garlic taste without alot of heat. Here are more scape ideas...

Garlic Scape Ideas:

-You can add sliced scapes to any stir fry recipe.
-Slice and sprinkle over any pasta, or slice and cook them in almost any sauce recipe.
- Great in guacamole and fresh salsa, too.
- Chop & add to softened cream cheese.
-Add chopped fresh scapes when serving a light garlic soup; can also add them to buttered, french bread floated on the soup. -Use them as you would green onions, they're just better.
- Good in salads, on bruschetta, pizza.
- An excellent addition to stocks....and much Asian cuisine.
-Put in Thai chicken/basil/coconut soup.

Garlic Scape Tortilla

1 & 1/2 cups chopped garlic scapes
1/2 cup chopped scallions
1/4 cup hot water
Salt & Pepper
4 large eggs
2 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil

Place garlic and scallions in a 10 inch skillet with 1 tsp. oil, 1/4 cup water and a pinch of salt. Cook covered over med. high heat until tender, about 5 minutes. Drain well. Beat eggs with salt and pepper. Add remaining oil to skillet. When oil is hot, shake skillet to spread greens evenly, add eggs. Cover and cook over med. low heat until top is set [2-3 Minutes].

Mashed Potatoes with Garlic Scapes

2 1/2 lbs. russet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1" pieces.
2 Tablespoons butter (can omit this if on a restricted fat diet/lifestyle)
1-2 Tbsp, olive oil
1/4 cup finely chopped scapes
1/4 cup hot milk (or more)

Cook potatoes until very tender. Drain and return to pot. Over medium high heat, melt butter with olive oil in a small skillet. Add scapes and saute about 5 minutes. Add to potatoes and mash. Gradually add milk while stirring. Season with salt and pepper.

Chicken With Garlic Scapes & Capers

2 whole skinless boneless chicken breasts, halved
2 Tbsp. Unsalted butter
2 Tbsp. vegetable oil
4 Tbsp. dry white wine
2 Tbsp. lemon juice
4 chopped garlic scapes
1 Tbsp. drained capers

Between sheets of plastic wrap slightly flatten chicken. In a large heavy skillet heat 1Tbsp. of butter and the oil over medium high heat. Saute until cooked through. Season with salt & pepper. Transfer chicken to a platter and keep warm. Pour off fat from skillet and add the remaining butter, the wine, lemon juice, scapes and bring mixture to a boil. Stir in capers and salt & pepper to taste. Spoon sauce over chicken. Serves 4.

Roasted Garlic Scapes
Take the scapes and put them in a lightly oiled roasting pan, top with salt (kosher or sea salt works best but any will do). Put the loaded and covered pan in a hot (425 °F) oven for 30 to 45 minutes or until they are beginning to turn brown. serve as a side or main dish. Tastes like roasted garlic but creamier.

Green Garlic
Green garlic is simply immature garlic and looks like a slightly overgrown scallion or green onion. They are pulled by growers when thinning crops and, increasingly, grown as a crop in their own right. To use, trim off root ends and any tough part of the green leaves. Chop or slice white, light green, and the first few inches of the dark green leaves (as long as they are tender). Use as you would green onions or garlic.

Penne with Ricotta and Green Garlic Sauce
Penne served with a sauce of green garlic, parsley, ricotta, butter and Parmesan cheese.

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups fresh whole-milk ricotta
1/2 cup finely minced green garlic
2 tablespoons minced parsley
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
1 pound dried penne or fusilli pasta
2 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese plus grated Parmesan for the table

Instructions
Combine the ricotta, green garlic and 1 tablespoon of the parsley in a large bowl; season with salt and pepper.

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Add the pasta and cook until al dente. Just before pasta is done, remove 1/2 cup of the boiling water. Whisk enough of the hot water into the ricotta to make a smooth, creamy sauce.

Drain the pasta and add to the sauce along with the butter. Toss well. Add 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese and toss again, adding a little more of the hot water if needed to thin the sauce. Taste and adjust seasoning.

Serve on warm plates, topping each portion with some of the remaining parsley. Yummmm!!

Collard Greens~ full of flavor and nutrients! The leaves can be juiced (use 1/4 green juice to other things such as apple and carrots). Collards can be used much the same way that the rainbow chard is.. our favorite way is always the easiest!

Sauteed Collard Greens~ adapted from Epicurious

* 3 pound collard greens, leaves halved lengthwise and stems and center ribs discarded
* 2 tablespoons vegetable oil

Preparation

Stack several collard leaf halves and roll up tightly into a cigar shape. Cut crosswise into very thin slices (no wider than 1/8 inch). Roll and slice remaining leaves in same manner.

Heat oil in a 12-inch heavy skillet over moderately high heat until hot but not smoking, then sauté collards, tossing with tongs, just until bright green, about 1 minute. Season with salt and pepper.

For more recipe ideas for anything in you basket you can check allrecipes.com or epicurious.. there are many recipes avail online.. I would add more but it is now past midnight and tomorrow is harvest day!! Rain or shine!

CSA Harvest #1 for 2010~ Robin's Harvest

2010-05-31T22:42:00.000-07:00
Good day to all of you new and returning farm friends! It is with great pleasure that we introduce you to your first CSA share of 2010. For some of you this will be your 53rd delivery of produce if you have been with us since we started. That is a lot of cucumbers and pounds of heirloom tomatoes. We hope by now you have received our emails and phone calls about where to pick up your baskets and the steps that need to be taken to ensure you get your basket and not someone else (check the name on the tag on basket!) If you are sharing with someone it may be under their name...

We wanted to dedicate this first CSA share to the memory of Robin Miller. He and his wife Violet have volunteered with us every CSA day since we began two seasons ago. Robin passed away unexpectedly this winter and we miss his smile already. He was the star washer and packer of the baskets into the trucks for delivery. Without volunteer effort like Robin, his wife Violet and our other star volunteer M.A we would be very worse for the wear!

As many of you are aware the groans and complaints of the wet spring weather have also been echoed in our home.. it has been wet, muddy, cold and pretty miserable for many a week here. The wet weather makes it hard to work, till and get things planted and the slugs have flourished while the crops they've been helping themselves to (mainly the carrots) have been replanted twice now.
While the tomatoes, eggplants, squash, peppers and beans are all just sitting there our greens have been going berserk and this can be reflected in the first few CSA shares you will be receiving. Enjoy all these green leafy vitamin powerhouses now because when (IF) summer ever decides to come they will stop thriving and just bolt as soon as we plant them. So yes, greens are the king of spring!

The 2,000 seascape strawberries we planted in March are blooming and we are eagerly keeping a watchful eye on any ripening berries.. those can be a sweet treat to look forward to hopefully by next month! Also our raspberries we planted a month ago are leafing out and getting established in their mulch covered rows.

It seems strange that the CSA is just starting and yet our work season as farmers is nearly half over (since we started preparing planting for the CSA in the middle of January and will stop for a winter break in early Dec.. but we don't want to start thinking about winter yet since it doesn't seem to have left anyways! ;)
At this time of year every day is precious to be out planting before the summer solstice June 21st at which point the days start to get shorter and the plants don't receive as much sunlight. So in other words this is the busiest time of the year for a farmer!

We thank you for your support and many of you who we have never even met have paid the full amount up front for the CSA share.. that is a huge leap of faith and we sure hope we don't (or our veggies don't) disappoint.

Enjoy this first week's bounty with your family and maybe lucky friends too!

Salud!! (to your health!)

Suzie, Asinete, MA, Violet and Sally~

Harvest This Week Includes

Rainbow Chard

Flashy Trouts Back Lettuce (a beautiful French heirloom)

Hakurei Turnips (one of our favorite Spring treats!)

Tyee Spinach

Arugula/Tatsoi/Purple Mustard Mix

Red Oakleaf Lettuce

Snow Peas OR Broccoli (both crops just started producing.. soon enough of both for all!)

Please note that produce is field rinsed only... we give most everything a wash in cold water to keep fresh and remove most of the dirt.. however it would be best if you wash again before enjoying~

How to Store it, and Enjoy it!

Your lettuce will keep best if you remove all the leaves off of the head, wash gently in cold water, drain or spin dry and store wrapped up in a damp (not wet!) towel in your 'fridge. Romaine will keep longer than red oakleaf lettuce so try to use red lettuce first.

Try mixing your head lettuce with the arugula/tatsoi/purple mustard mix you got this week. Some people find the arugula and mustard overpowering by themselves but blended with the leaf lettuce greens in a salad they are just right. We also enjoy the greens stuffed into a sandwich! Another good treat is toasting up hazelnuts (filberts) in a cast iron skillet on the stove. Heat the nuts up and turn frequently to keep the nuts from burning.. you want toasted not burnt.. add the warm nuts to your salad.. also we get the dried cranberries in the bulk section of the grocery store and throw those in the salad too.. yummy!

Red-Leaf Lettuce and Celery Salad~ adapted from Epicurious.com
* 1 cup water
* 1/2 cup chopped onion
* 2 tablespoons Sherry vinegar
* 1 teaspoon caraway seeds, toasted
* 1 teaspoon sugar
* 3/4 teaspoon dry mustard
* 1/3 cup olive oil
* 1 head of red-leaf lettuce, torn into bite-size pieces
* 3 large (outer) celery ribs, very thinly sliced on a long diagonal (about 3 cups)
* 1 cup tender inner celery leaves, coarsely chopped

Simmer water and onion in a small saucepan, uncovered, until onion is softened and most of water is evaporated, 10 to 15 minutes. Purée in a blender with vinegar, caraway seeds, sugar, mustard, and 1/2 teaspoon salt. With motor running, add oil in a slow stream and blend until dressing is emulsified.
Combine lettuce, celery, and celery leaves in a large bowl and toss with just enough dressing to coat.

Mustard/Tatsoi/Arugula Stir Fry

Ingredients

* 1/2 cup thinly sliced onions
* 2 cloves garlic, minced
* 1 Tbsp olive oil
* 1 pound spicy greens, washed and torn into large pieces
* 2 to 3 Tbsp chicken broth or vegetable broth (vegetarian option)
* 1/4 teaspoon salt
* 1/4 teaspoon pepper
* 1/4 teaspoon dark sesame oil

Method

1 In a large sauté pan, sauté onions in olive oil over medium heat until the onions begin to brown and caramelize, about 5 to 10 minutes. Add the minced garlic and cook a minute more, until fragrant.

2 Add the mustard/arugula/tatsoi greens and broth and cook until the greens are just barely wilted. Toss with sesame oil. Season with salt and pepper.

Rainbow Chard
Chard is one of our favorite crops to grow here at Big Lick. It is a cut-come again plant and it is possible to harvest off of one plant for over a year! Chard (like most all leafy greens is chock full of nutrients). They are high in vitamins A,E, and C and minerals such as iron and calcium. Interestingly the minerals in chard are more easily absorbed from chard then spinach. Chard contains no oxalic acid (an element present in spinach that tends to bind the minerals and render them unavailable during digestion.

It is best to store chard like you do your lettuce greens.. well rinsed/drained and wrapped in slightly damp towel in fridge.

Simple Chard Recipe

Ingredients

* 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
* 4 cloves garlic, minced
* 1 bunch Swiss chard, stalks discarded, leaves cut into wide ribbons
* 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
* salt and pepper to taste

Directions

1. Heat the olive oil on a large skillet over medium heat. Stir in the garlic and cook until tender and aromatic, about 2 minutes. Add the Swiss chard and balsamic vinegar; cook and stir until the chard is wilted and tender, about 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper and serve.

Susana's Frittata

This is one of my favorite ways to use chard and the eggs we get each day.

ingredients:

1 bunch chard
1 med yellow onion
1 TBSP olive oil
1/2 pound potatoes
6-8 eggs
1/4 cup grated parmesan of cheddar cheese (optional)

Cut onion into thin slices and saute in large skillet with olive oil for 2 mins. Boil potatoes in separate pot until easily pierced with fork. Take out potatoes (peel if you want.. I don't since most vitamins in taters are right below the skin). Take those potato pieces and add to your semi sauted onions.. add more olive oil if you think necessary. I have some favorite dried herbs that I add along with salt and pepper. Once potatoes start to look lightly browned take your chard bunch and rip leaves off of the stem. Use the leaf pieces only and rip into bite sized pieces.. add to skillet and cook until chard wilts and turns bright green. While chard sautes take your 6-8 eggs and scramble together with the grated cheese. Pour the egg mix evenly over chard, potatoes and onions.. cover with lid and cook on med low until cooked all the way through.. if covered no need to flip it over! The chard is really yummy this way..

Spinach

Spinach should be rinsed again and patted dry with towel or spin dry. Store in plastic bag in 'fridge for up to a week.

Spinach is the most widely used dark green in this country. Spinach is high in chlorophyll, Vitamin A, and Vitamin C. Do to the naturally occurring oxalic acid in spinach the minerals (like calcium) are not easily assimilated by our bodies.

You can add your spinach to your salads, to the frittata recipe above or use one of our recipe ideas below.

Spinach Recipe

Ingredients

* 2 large bunches of spinach, about 1 lb
* Olive oil, extra virgin
* 3 cloves garlic, sliced
* Salt to taste

Method

1 Cut off the thick stems of the spinach and discard. Clean the spinach by filling up your sink with water and soaking the spinach to loosen any sand or dirt. Drain the spinach and then repeat soaking and draining. Put the spinach in a salad spinner to remove any excess moisture.

2 Heat 2 Tbsp olive oil in a large skillet on medium high heat. Add the garlic and sauté for about 1 minute, until the garlic is just beginning to brown.

3 Add the spinach to the pan, packing it down a bit if you need to with your hand. Use a couple spatulas to lift the spinach and turn it over in the pan so that you coat more of it with the olive oil and garlic. Do this a couple of times. Cover the pan and cook for 1 minute. Uncover and turn the spinach over again. Cover the pan and cook for an additional minute.

4 After 2 minutes of covered cooking the spinach should be completely wilted. Remove from heat. Drain any excess moisture from the pan. Add a little more olive oil, sprinkle with salt to taste. Serve immediately.

Serves 4.

Jamie's Cranberry Spinach Salad (from allrecipes.com)
Ingredients

* 1 tablespoon butter
* 3/4 cup almonds, blanched and slivered
* 1 pound spinach, rinsed and torn into bite-size pieces
* 1 cup dried cranberries
* 2 tablespoons toasted sesame seeds
* 1 tablespoon poppy seeds
* 1/2 cup white sugar
* 2 teaspoons minced onion
* 1/4 teaspoon paprika
* 1/4 cup white wine vinegar
* 1/4 cup cider vinegar
* 1/2 cup vegetable oil

Directions

1. In a medium saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. Cook and stir almonds in butter until lightly toasted. Remove from heat, and let cool.
2. In a large bowl, combine the spinach with the toasted almonds and cranberries.
3. In a medium bowl, whisk together the sesame seeds, poppy seeds, sugar, onion, paprika, white wine vinegar, cider vinegar, and vegetable oil. Toss with spinach just before serving.

Hakurei Turnips~ there are turnips and then there are the white buttery gems that are the Hakurei! Who knew that a turnip could be a gourmet food but these white beauties are! They are best eaten right as they are.. perhaps a dash of salt before popping them into your mouth! Others like to add the sliced pieces to their favorite stir fry.. here are some recipe ideas for the turnips and their greens!! (just what you needed.. more greens!)

The Hakurei, or Tokyo, turnip is a Japanese variety that’s crisp, juicy, and delicious raw. They work wonderfully in salads or slaws, but cooking enhances their natural sweetness. They’re versatile enough to go with just about anything.

Daniel “Chino” Parilla’s Braised Hakurei Turnips
6 Hakurei turnips, tops removed
2 cups cold water
3/4 cup mirin
1/4 cup white soy sauce

Trim turnips and peel with a vegetable peeler. (1) Cut the turnips into sixths and (2) place them in a saucepan with the remaining ingredients. (3) Cover and bring to a simmer over medium-low heat; cook very slowly for about 15 minutes, or until just tender. Let cool to room temperature in the braising liquid, then drain and serve with steamed or roasted fish.

White Hakurei Turnip Gratin
Melt 1 Tablespoon butter in a non-stick 12 inch skillet (make sure you have a top to fit the pan.)

Wash one bunch of white hakurei turnips well, top and tail them, and slice them in 1/4 inch slices. Save the turnip greens for another recipe. You don’t need to peel the turnips. Layer the slices in the pan. Sprinkle the sliced turnips with 1 teaspoon dry thyme, 3/4 teaspoon salt, 1/4 tsp. freshly ground pepper, and 1/8- 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper.

Cook for 3 minutes over medium heat, then pour 1/2 cup heavy cream and 1/2 cup gluten-free chicken stock over the top. Cover and cook the turnips over medium heat for 20 minutes. The turnips will be completely cooked through, but there will be considerable liquid left in the pan. Remove the cover and cook to reduce the liquid. When most of the liquid has reduced (about 5-10 minutes), and the sauce is thickened, grate finely 1/2 cup of fresh parmesan cheese evenly over the top. Watch closely as the cheese melts and make sure that the liquid does not entirely cook away.

Serve the turnips hot. The recipe is supposed to serve 6,

Chile- Vinegar Turnip Greens

Ingredients

* 1 1/2 teaspoons olive oil
* 2 garlic cloves, minced
* 1 (1-pound) bag turnip greens, chopped
* 1 cup fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
* 1/4 cup rice vinegar
* 2 teaspoons chile paste with garlic
* 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Preparation

Heat oil in a stockpot over medium-high heat. Add garlic, and sauté for 30 seconds or until lightly browned. Add the greens, and sauté for 5 minutes or until wilted. Add the remaining ingredients. Bring to a boil; cover, reduce heat, and cook 45 minutes.

There are many, many, many more recipe ideas on the internet to help you get through this weeks bounty. Try myrecipes.com and allrecipes.com and type in the vegetable you need recipe for. Most recipes are rated and that is helpful!

Don't forget to return your baskets for next week's delivery!

Next week's harvest may include the same as today but add green garlic, broccoli and or cauliflower.