What to Do With Your Share---Week 15

We are sorry that the pickin’s have gotten a little slim lately. The heat wave of July put many of the plants in the field into a somewhat dormant mode. For many fruiting plants, such as tomatoes, tomatillos and eggplants all the blossoms of July were burnt by the heat, keeping them from setting fruit for later (now!). Our later plantings of cucurbits were likewise affected and even with irrigation, the plants were severely stressed and then overrun by squash bugs. The beans have been totally confused, blossoming over three weeks ago but barely forming a bean. We hope that they may still produce.

For now though, we do have some delicious vegetables. The potatoes did well this year and we are handing out a double share to the fulls this week. The sweet potato plants are tropical by nature, and with a generous supply of irrigation water have thrived. We plan on digging some this week for inclusion in the shares soon.

This week we will be handing out the delicious and nutritious sweet potato greens. A regular staple in many parts of the world, they are a nice change from all of the fruits of summer. To spice them up we recommend that you mix the cooked greens with some tasty peanut sauce.



Sweet Potato Greens with Peanut Sauce
To cook the sweet potato greens simply cut off the lower half of the leaf stem and rinse the leaves. Put ¼ cup of water in a saucepan, add the greens and cook until tender. You can also add a tablespoon of red or white wine vinegar for flavor and a little salt. Mix or top the greens with peanut sauce.

Sauce Ingredients
2 tbsp peanut butter
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp sesame oil
1 tsp sugar
1 tbsp water
pinch of salt

Stir all of the ingredients together. I also recommend the Cooking with Amy blog. She gives a very good summary of how to make peanut sauce to suit your personal taste.

In the Share - Week 14

Carmen sweet peppers

TOMATOES (F/P) From now on we will be lucky to have one or two per share each week.

ROMA TOMATOES (F) Also called paste tomatoes for the thick sauce they make.

SWEET PEPPERS (F/P) The sweet peppers continue their late summer run.

CARROTS (F/P) From our cold storage, a sweet taste of spring.

OKRA, EGGPLANT, HOT PEPPERS OR BEETS (F/P) The last of the spring beets out of cold storage or choose from an assortment of summer fruits.

RED ONIONS (F/P) Read Tom’s post for more on our red onion varieties.

YELLOW ONIONS (F) The onions did well this year and we are sharing the bounty. These are our best keepers so you don’t need to use them right away.

HERB CHOICE (F) Basil, summer savory, dried herbs

ALSO THIS WEEK: Parker Farms shares

NEXT WEEK: More peppers, okra and eggplant. Potatoes and garlic. Maybe green beans?

FARM REPORT
It really does feel like late summer on the farm with the cooler weather and finally we are getting caught up on the rain. After a few years of paying attention to the seasons you start to recognize the signs that mark the shift from one season to the next. One evening taking Rocky for a walk there was a family of crows overhead. The crickets are noisy with their chirping now and the goldenrod is getting ready to bloom. Last week we were presented with a new way to mark the change of the seasons – our first fruit share from the Pierce family at Of the Earth Farm.






The first share included Gravenstein and Redfree apples, Asian pears and luscious peaches. Tom and I tend to not eat much fruit since vegetables are right at hand and free for the taking, so it feels luxurious to gorge ourselves on all their delicious fruits. With another share arriving tomorrow, we are starting to contemplate applesauce or pies in the near future.

I don’t know if everyone knows how lucky we are to have the Pierce’s join our little community. If you have ever looked for it, you would know that local, organic tree fruit is very hard to find around here. Our humid, buggy summers make it a real challenge to produce organic tree fruit that is edible, much less as beautiful and tasty as the Pierce’s. This is why we were so thrilled when the Pierce’s contacted us last winter with the idea to offer fruit shares to the membership. They recently transitioned their orchard to only using organic methods and we are so glad to have them join us. We sincerely appreciate their willingness to take the leap and congratulate them on their delicious success.

What to Do With Your Share---Week 14

Some of this week’s harvest started over 3 weeks ago. The onions were pulled and set in the upper barn to cure. This year is a very good crop. These latest onions have cured well and are all unique. Below is a photo of the four varieties in the barn: Prince, Cabernet, Rosa di Milano, and Tropea.



As a storage onion, Prince is the strongest flavored by far. The Cabernet are very round and very juicy, with a nice sweetness and flavor. The Rosa di Milano have a top that flattens out. They are sweet, pungent and somewhat fine. They have many thin layers with a nice color. The Tropea onions are perhaps the mildest of the four, and are perfect for raw eating, while sweetening when cooked.



We are currently spend much time cultivating the fall planting. Knowing how the hours of sunlight is dwindling makes a farmer anxious. We are rooting for some very healthy looking fall crops to come out of the heat wave and grow for fall.

Last Thursday our good friend Liz Graznak brought her farm crew and helped us get a lot of work done. One was weeding leeks. To make sure their effort stuck we then mulched them with the help of the self-monikered "Team Awesome" on Saturday morning. The farm crew, including our pictured new apprentice Danni Hurst, finished them off on Tuesday.

In the Share - Week 13

beautiful basil

TOMATOES (F/P) Tomatoes are winding down now. We’ll have a few for a few more weeks thanks to a late planting of “heat setting” types that will set fruit even in hot temperatures.
FINGERLING POTATOES (F/P) See Tom’s post for more on these dainty delicacies.
GARLIC (F/P) no meal is complete without the lovely allium.
SALSA PACK (F/P) the tomatillos won’t be around much longer so enjoy them while you can or freeze your salsa to enjoy later.
SWEET PEPPERS (F/P) Should be more of these sweet babies for awhile.
OKRA OR HOT PEPPERS (F) Nothing says late summer like okra and peppers.
HERBS (F/P) The basil (see above) just keeps coming this year thanks to a heavy layer of mulch.
ALSO THIS WEEK: Bread of Life Bakery shares
NEXT WEEK: Tomatoes, sweet peppers, hot peppers and okra. Carrots and onions. Hopefully the beans will be back.

FARM REPORT
The break in the weather has cheered up farmer and plant alike at the farm. The cooler temperatures are so very appreciated after such a long stretch of nasty heat. Even changing our schedule to avoid the heat of the day just barely kept the farm crew from overheating. Most of the crops (if you don’t count the entire Cucurbitae family – cukes, squash, melons, pumpkins – all goners) survived the heat but just by the skin of their teeth. Now with those days behind us, all of us survivors hope to limp towards fall growing stronger as the days grow shorter.
While the temperatures have moderated, we still are very dry. The irrigation system continues to keep the plants alive and growing, but we could really use a good soaker. We’ve received perhaps an inch total these past two weeks from four different rain events that looked really promising but didn’t quite deliver. Here’s the scene from one morning last week when we thought we’d definitely get a good downpour.



During the boiling heat we were trying our darndest to get some lettuce seedlings started for the fall. Finally we made room indoors for our dear lettuce and sure enough the cooler temps. provided by our little window AC unit did the trick.



Today we saw the first sprouts pushing up through the potting soil so we quickly moved them to a sunnier location down at the shade house. If all goes well we should be eating lettuce by the end of September.

What to Do With Your Share---Week 13

The shares are expected to enter a lull for a little while, as the summer crops recover from the heat wave, and the fall crops set down their roots. But there is still some delicious harvesting to be done, as we have over 4 beds of potatoes to dig yet.

This week Kipfel fingerling potatoes are in the share. As I write the blog we have not dug the bed, so I do not know how the harvest will be, but we did dig some the other day to try out.



The first two varieties of potatoes you received (Caribe and Kennebec) are mealy in texture and are good for baking and mashing. The Kipfel and remaining varieties this year are more of a waxy texture that makes them well suited for frying and boiling. The recipe below is a simple and delicious. The shape of the fingerlings make them easy to cut into bite-size rounds.

Fried Fingerling Potatoes
Ingredients
Fingerling potatoes
Olive oil
Summer savory (optional)
Salt and pepper

Method
1. Cut the potatoes cross-wise to form little rounds.
2. Add 1 tbsp olive oil to a heavy skillet. Add the potatoes. Let cook for a minute on high heat and then stir so that all of the potatoes are covered in oil. Turn heat down to medium, add salt, pepper and herbs and cook 2 more minutes.
3. Add some water, enough to cover the bottom of the pan. Cover and cook 10 minutes.
4. Uncover, stir, and cook another 3 to 5 minutes, until potatoes are cooked through and browned.

Bulk List----Week 12

Paste tomatoes (firsts) - $3.00/lb; $2.50/lb over 10 lbs
Tomato seconds (heirloom and hybrids) - $2.50/lb; $2.00/lb over 10 lbs
Drying tomatoes: $4.00/qt
Tomatillos: $2.00/lb
Salsa Packs: $2.50/pack
Jalapenos: $2.50/pint
Herbs (summer savory): $2.50/bunch

What To Do With Your Share---Week 12

While we are struggling to keep crops going and start plants for the fall, the tomato crop continues to be a bumper. The harvest of the last two weeks has been record-breaking. So we continue to suggest that you make sure to find a way to eat or preserve all of your tomatoes.

One thing that may be helpful, as we noted last week, is to freeze your extra tomatoes. To do that you need to first blanch and peel them. Rather than take photos and show you how, we can take advantage of this well done Youtube video showing the process. .

Another is to make a quick sauce. It isn’t often that the combination of fresh tomatoes and beautiful onions is at hand. Especially when some of them are the “torpedo –shaped” Tropea onions. We like their flavor and shape and would like to know what you think. One way to try them out is the recipe below.



Fresh Tomato Sauce
Ingredients
Tomatoes
Onions
Jalapeno (optional)
Basil
Oregano and/or summer savory
Olive oil
Salt

The quantities are up to you and is dependent on the amount of tomatoes you have. Six or seven medium tomatoes would call for one large onion. If you like onions, add more.

Method
With a paring knife, core out the tomato and remove any bad spots. Cut in half and squeeze out the juice. Chop tomatoes into 1 inch chunks. Chop the onions and sauté in olive oil. Add the pepper and oregano, cook 2 more minutes. Add the tomatoes. Stir, cover and bring to boil. Remove lid and simmer for 20 minutes or so, until tomatoes are breaking down.

Take half of the sauce and puree it in a food processor, or run it through the food mill. Return the pureed sauce to the pot. Stir and cook 5 minutes. Serve over pasta with basil garnish.



Purslane
In organic farming, when certain plants crop up on their own in your fields, you don’t immediately define them as a weed and kill them. What grows well in your soil is an indication of its condition. It is known that if the plant purslane grows, you have a healthy and rich soil.

We have noticed a great abundance of it in our fall crop beds. So, as organic farmers our logical next step is to eat it. We learned to like it several places in our internships in NY and Indiana, and enjoy its flavor and texture. A great source of omega-3 fatty acids and other vitamins and minerals, it is especially nutritious.



We made a simple salad with it on Sunday and really enjoyed it. We picked the leaves off the stems and tossed them with some oil and vinegar. Next we topped it all with pickled beets. Large chunks of tomato would also be a good combination. We hope you try it and enjoy it.