What to Do With Your Share---Week 10

Some suggestions this week for eating in the heat. This hot weather calls for only limited cooking, so as to keep the house coooool. Here are a few of the things we have been eating during the heat wave.

With the tomato surplus rising, we continue to gobble them up. Our standard lunch for the last week has been tomato sandwiches. They always include some type of basil accompaniment. The simplest is to pluck some large leaves and layer them on. Another is to make some pesto and use it as a spread. You can add the pesto to some mayonnaise and it will last even longer. Dress it up however you want, and eat it quick, as you can’t pack it in your lunch unless you want a soppy sandwich.

Gazpacho is yet another quick meal from the share that fills our fridge regularly. Last year’s blog has a gazpacho primer. This no-cook, cool soup is one of those things that tastes so right on a 99 degree day.

As a Bread of Life specialty bread subscriber we regularly get pizza crust in our share. We bought a new toaster oven last winter that fits a 12 inch pizza crust. A few fresh veggies, some homemade goat cheese, a sprinkling of olives or anchovies, and dinner is served.

You may remember from two weeks ago that we started to ferment some cukes into pickles. This old, old food preservation method has held on for centuries for a reason. It works so well, is easy, and creates a taste treat you can only get from cukes, water, salt, seasoning, a crock, and patience.

The photo below is the finished pickle. Fragrant, tart, crunchy and juicy, you have to taste them to understand just how good they are.



On the bulk front, along with the paste tomatoes, we suggest trying the jalapenos. Last year we canned them Mexican style (Chiles Jalapenos en Escabeche). Our recipe is from the critically acclaimed The Art of Mexican Cooking by Diana Kennedy. A link to a very similar recipe is here. If you like jalapenos, and want some to tend to a wintertime craving, make this dish.

Bulk List---Week 10

Jalapenos: $2.50/pint
Swiss chard: $3.00/bunch
Carrots: $3.00/bunch
Herbs (summer savory, tarragon, thai basil): $2.50/bunch
Large basil bunch: $3.00/bunch

Medium and large/slicer pickling packs are available in a limited quantity this week, depending on harvest. If we cannot fill your order this week you will be put on a wait list for next week.

When placing your order, be sure to specify what types of aromatics you want. Choices are:

cornichon (tarragon, thyme, garlic, onion, hot peppers, grape leaves)
dill (dill flowers, onion, hot peppers, grape leaves)
garlic (garlic, hot peppers, grape leaves)
Pickle pack (medium cukes): $14/pack
Pickle pack (large cukes): $12/pack

What to Do With Your Share---Week 9

The soaring temperatures and humidity this past week has been enough to make you dizzy. The past week has been as long and hard and hot as I can remember, but with a nice payoff of a new barn front and a good harvest.

This week is peak for squash and cucumbers, while the peppers and eggplant continue to produce well. The tomatillos are coming on, as well as the hot peppers. We continue to dig a good crop of garlic, and hope for the okra to kick in soon (especially if we can weed it).



New to the share this week (as a choice) are salsa packs. Familiar to many, the pack contains most all the ingredients you need for a fresh salsa (tomatillo, garlic, onion and jalapeno). Just add a tomato and a few other ingredients, and you will have an incredibly fresh and flavorful dish

Check out our past blogs for our Fresh Salsa and Roasted Salsa recipes.

We are also starting to add hot peppers as an occasional choice. We don’t plan on giving everyone hot peppers, but if you like them, keep your eyes open as they may be a choice, or in the swap box. Right now the hot peppers are Numex Joe E. Parker (Anaheim type good for frying) and jalapenos.

This week also marks the return of dried herbs. We plan on having a selection of dried herbs available as a choice each week. These herbs are cut and dried in our hot, hot summer greenhouse. The tins they come in are reusable, so we will take them back if you have no need for them when you are done.

Another item that may be less familiar to some is Thai basil. An herb choice, this is the basil that often is a part of spring rolls and other Asian cooking. Try it in last week’s cucumber salad recipe.

In the Share - Week 9

TOMATOES (F/P) The heat is bringing on the favorite fruits of summer. This week Nyagous, a velvety brown heirloom is coming in nicely along with our early reds.
CHERRRY TOMATOES (F) Try one of the pink ones, it’s a new variety for us. Let us know what you think.
POTATOES (F/P) We’ll be digging the Caribe and the Kennebecs this week. Both are have a mealy texture great for mashing.
BEETS (F/P) Last of the spring beets go in the shares this week plus a few available on the bulk list.
CUCUMBERS (F) The cucumbers grew fast in this heat, which is perfect weather for a cold bowl of gazpacho.
SUMMER SQUASH (F) Lots of round zucchini and pattypan squash. So cute and they won’t slide off the grill like the long ones.
GREEN BEANS (F/P) Whoa, we went from no beans, to loads of beans. With few pickers on the schedule we can’t pick them all. Everyone gets a good amount this week, but if you want more you’ll have to come pick ‘em yourself.
EGGPLANT AND GREEN PEPPERS (F) Soon we will let the peppers ripen and stop picking their green fruit. In the meantime, enjoy!
GARLIC (F/P) Partial shares get a choice of garlic or herb. The garlic is not quite cured, so use soon or refrigerate.
HERBS, HOT PEPPERS OR SALSA PACK (F) Basil, thai basil, dried herbs, jalapenos, Numex anaheims, or salsa pack. It’s a hodge podge of good things to complement your vegetables. Read Tom’s post for more info.
ALSO THIS WEEK: Bread of Life Bakery shares
NEXT WEEK: More beans, tomatoes, eggplant, peppers, cucumbers and squash. Onions and carrots.

FARM REPORT
To state the obvious, it has been blazing hot this week. As luck would have it, back in May we chose this weekend for a volunteer day at the farm. I am happy to report that the weekend was injury-free and that we got a lot of work done despite the heat. A big thank you goes out to all the folks that braved the heat with us: John Graff, Kelly Parker, Rick Robson, Mark Flynn, Tiffany Coleman, Trish Berrong, Chris Riebenslager, Lucas Knutter, Keith and Nancy Stubblefield. We know there could have been many more comfortable ways to spend your weekend, instead you slogged it out with your farmers who are forever grateful.

The barn at the farm has seen alot over the century that it has stood. Originally built to dry tobacco, it once held a dairy operation before its current life as our vegetable farm's only barn. It serves us as a packing house, storage and tool shed, garlic and onion drying house and equipment shed and workshop.



On Saturday the tearout of the old siding began.




By Sunday morning all the siding was off and the new, wider doorway was framed in.




The new siding went up as the sun beat down.


Almost finished and no one passed out from the heat. Hooray!

Bulk List---Week 9

Beans don’t pick themselves, and we have a lot of beans in the field as of today (and not enough pickers). Join the fun and have some good produce to eat, freeze, or make into dilly beans.

U-pick green beans $1.50/lb
Beets: $3.00/quart
Swiss chard: $3.00/bunch
Carrots: $3.00/bunch
Walla Walla onions: $3.00/bunch
Herbs (summer savory, tarragon, thai basil): $2.50/bunch
Garlic: $1.00/head
Large basil bunch: $3.00/bunch

In the Share: Week 8

Cherry tomatoes ripening

TOMATOES (F/P) We have just enough for everyone to get one tomato or some cherry tomatoes and not all the fruit you get is completely ripe. To ripen a tomato, leave it on your kitchen counter or for quicker ripening place in a paper bag. Ripe tomatoes of any color (and we grow a lot of different colors) feel soft with gentle pressure. Most of what we have this week are hybrid early reds and heirloom “black” varieties (more burgundy or brown really with various amounts of green-shoulders) and there's a few pink ones. By the end of the season we hope you get a chance to try all of our 30 varieties and find a few favorites.

CARROTS (F/P) While the tomatoes are just starting, the carrot harvest is in full swing. More sweet orange carrots from the April planting.

CUCUMBERS (F/P) The struggling first planting of cucumbers has turned the corner and is pumping out the fruit.

EGGPLANT and/or GREEN PEPPERS (F/P) The graceful eggplants and peppers are also giving up their jewels.

SUMMER SQUASH (F) The first planting of summer squash has been a bit of a dud. The second planting of round squashes is looking good and is just starting to come in. As happens in the squash patch, a few got larger than we want. These will be at the end of the line as a "take what you want" extra. They would be great stuffed or turned into baked goods.

WALLA WALLA SWEET ONIONS (F/P) See Tom’s recipe for a sweet onion, tomato, cucumber salad. Tastes like summer.

HERBS (F/P) Pesto basil bunches or a mixed bunch of summer herbs.

KOHLRABI (all) Extra item this week for those who want it, last of the season but still very tender and substantial.

ALSO THIS WEEK: Parker Farms shares

NEXT WEEK: More cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers, squash and eggplant. Potatoes and beets.

FARM REPORT
Killing weeds is one of our favorite ways to kill time on the farm. Over the years we have gotten better and quicker at the task. The various cultivators and discs that we attach to our electric Allis Chalmers G made quick work of many a weed this week. Hoes were also put into service for the places the tractor can’t go like around the bigger plants like the tomatoes, peppers and eggplant. The leeks are especially demanding of cultivation because they are in the ground for such a long time. After a combination of farmers and CSA members completed the task of hand weeding around the plants, we were able to get them in top notch shape with a few passes of the G.



Leek cultivating



the end result

What to Do With Your Share---Week 8

Summer is in full swing here as the days heat up. Work is demanding in July, but the warm and dry is something that has been missing over the past several years. The weather has produced a crop of peppers and eggplant that is our best to date. We are hoping that the plants maintain their health and produce into the Fall.

If such a fate is ours, you will be eating eggplant, peppers and tomatoes on a regular basis. So here are a few tips to enjoying these wonderful and beautiful vegetables.
1. Do not refrigerate your fresh tomatoes. It adversely affects both taste and texture.
2. Raw and crunchy eggplant can be a turn-off. You should cook you eggplant to the texture of a cooked mushroom.
3. Eggplant does not have a strong flavor, so you can add it to most any dish and it will take on the flavor of the dish.
4. Peppers are easy to preserve. If you have too many just cut them, clean them, chop them (if desired) and freeze them.

Cucumbers are something to use this week, as we are having a good harvest at the moment. The simplest thing is a cucumber, Walla Walla onion, and tomato salad. Cut them up, add the dressing of your choice, and you have a great veggie dish. The Walla Wallas are particularly sweet and make this not just any salad.



The request for pickle packs has been great. We are glad that pickling has become a CSA experience for so many of you. You may have to be patient (you are in the cuke queue) and flexible as far as when you get yours though. We have 200 feet of plants, but they have been temperamental as far as production. The small ones are in highest demand and are the slowest producing.

I’m here to say that the large cukes have great potential too. We recently started a crock of fermented pickles using the large ones. Our friend Linda Coussens gave us a large, high quality Gartopf crock. We started the process on Sunday, filling it with whole cucumbers, onions, garlic, tarragon, dill and salt water. Ten days like that, and then 2 weeks in the larder. So come the end of July we will update you on their progress.



Another good use is making pickle chunks. Get some pickling lime and follow their recipe. Lime pickles are the crunchiest you can get.