August 23rd 2010 Newsletter:
Hello friends and hello rain,
At the risk of sounding like a broken record... it's been a whirlwind! We’ve been busy picking mountains of melons and seemingly endless tomatoes. It is indeed ironic that we have so many tomatoes given that we didn’t know if we would be lucky enough to have any.
Most of you know that we found late blight in our tomatoes a few weeks back. Late blight is a disease that effects tomato and potato plants, and which wiped out the tomato crop here in the Northeast last season. A strain of late blight was also in large part responsible for the potato famine in Ireland between 1845 and 1852. We had to harrow under our u-pick tomatoes and cull out about 1/4 of our main field. But, because of the dry weather the plants have been doing great and we have had huge harvests. They could quit anytime but until then we will keep bringing them to you, and eating as many tomato sandwiches as possible.
In addition to the many tomatoes available in your share, we are also selling our ‘seconds’ tomatoes for canning. They are currently on sale for $10/box, which ends up being about 50cents/lb. If you are inspired to can or freeze, now is the time!
Putting up the bounty!
We are thrilled to host a workshop about food preservation with the fabulous Margaret Christie. Margaret is the Special Projects Director at CISA (Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture) and also preserves most of the fruits and vegetables her family eats year-round. She’ll talk about how to get started or expand your home food preservation, including how to involve kids in the process. There will be plenty of time for questions and resources for learning more.
The workshop will be Wednesday September 8th from 5:30 to 6:30pm at the farm.
Other crops
The melons have finished up for the season. They came on all at once because of the hot weather so we hope you ate your year’s fill in the last couple of weeks (we certainly did).
Between the fantastic weather this year and our novice enthusiasm, we ended up with a lot more veggies than we expected. You may have noticed this in the shareroom (e.g.,: “take as many melons as you want!” week). We are happy to pass this abundance along to you but also just want to give you a heads up that the farmshare may not always be this plentiful.
The carrots, beets, zucchini, summer squash, and cucumbers continue to be bountiful and we’ve also been bringing in tons of beautiful eggplants and peppers as well as celery and kohlrabi. The onions and garlic have cured up nicely and will intermittently be available, with leeks coming soon. Other upcoming additions are cabbage and the beginnings of winter squash. Because of poor germination during the heat wave and flea beetle damage, we had a lag in the salad greens for a couple weeks but last week we began picking them again and they look very lovely.
The braising greens are also returning. The green curly and lacinato kale won’t be back until it starts getting cooler but we do have red russian kale, swiss chard and dandelion greens and a new batch of amaranth, and we should begin picking collard greens very soon.
In the u-pick field, there are plenty of herbs and flowers and green (and yellow, and purple) green beans. Please help yourself to as much as you would like. Now is a great time to make dilly beans! The hot peppers are ripening so you might want to catch the moment and make some fresh salsa while the tomatoes are around. The tomatillos have also started ripening (great for green salsa) and there are plenty of ground cherries. Ground cherries are related to tomatillos... they are smaller and ripe when their papery husk is yellow or brown. They can be picked off the plant or gathered from the ground below and eaten like a sweet treat.
Also in the shareroom
- Some of you have been asking for the Maine wild organic blueberries that Michael used to sell at Food Bank Farm. Ben from Burke Hill Farm in Maine will be dropping them off shortly and we will be selling 5lb boxes for $25. We will send out an email as soon as they arrive. Stock up your freezer for pies and smoothies through the winter.
- Apples! We got our first boxes of Paula Red apples last week from Cold Spring Orchards. Like everything else this season, they seem a little early and they are delicious. We will continue to have local apples, many varieties, through the rest of the season.
- We are trying to determine whether we can continue to sell Mapleline milk in the shareroom. In order for them to deliver it to us we need to order a minimum amount and we were having a hard time meeting this. We like having Mapleline milk available. Mapleline is a family farm a few miles up the road. They are growth-hormone free and are unique in selling their milk in reusable glass jars. As a trial run, to see if we can continue carrying milk, we are going to try ordering more milk in the next couple weeks so that we have a more consistent supply available. If you like being able to buy milk in the shareroom please consider making this your “one stop milk shop” so that we can continue to carry it.
Our sweet Sadie
Over the past few months many of you have had the honor of meeting our sweet creature friend, farm dog, Sadie.
We had a heartbreaking day recently on the farm when Sadie passed away. It was the passing of an old and true friend. She has been in our lives, and the constant companion of Mary for 12 years. We wanted to let you know so you won’t wonder why she isn’t sleeping on the step blocking the front door anymore. We are so grateful for the many years of her friendship and grateful that she spent her last days here with us at the farm.
Be well, and enjoy the last days of August.
-Tory and Ray, on behalf of the Next Barn Over crew
Recipes!
Fresh Salsa
2 fresh tomatoes
1 small onion
1 fresh ear of corn
1 red or green fresh pepper
1 clove garlic
1 jalapeno pepper (anywhere from a small slice to a whole pepper depending on what you like)
small handful of cilantro
juice from half a lime (or more to taste)
Chop all of the veggies and mix them in a bowl, add lime and salt and devour with tortilla chips, a meal of beans and rice, tacos or your morning eggs.
Variations: add a chopped cucumber or black beans.
Our favorite middle of the summer salad
Tomatoes
Cucumbers
Onion
Corn – fresh, cut off of the cob (optional)
Feta Cheese
Dice all the veggies. Toss with a little balsamic vinegar (or red wine vinegar), salt and pepper. Simple, fast and delicious.
Baba Ghanoush
Adapted from Madhur Jaffrey’s World of the East Vegetarian Cooking
1 medium sized eggplant (about 1 pound)
1 to 2 cloves garlic, peeled
3 tablespoons tahini
3 to 4 tablespoons lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon salt, or to taste
1 tablespoon minced fresh parsley
Roast the eggplant in a 400 degree oven until the skin is completely blackened and the insides fully softened (really really soft and mushy!!) Peel away the charred skin. In a blender or food processor combine the garlic, eggplant, tahini, lemon juice and salt until smooth (you can also do this by hand – mince the garlic and blend everything together with a fork). Garnish with minced parsley. Serve at room temperature or cold.
Serve with pita bread, hummus, slices of cucumber and tomato, pickled banana peppers feta cheese, olives, grilled skewered lamb.
Tomatillo Salsa Verde
via Simply Recipes
To cook the tomatillos, you can either roast them in the oven, or boil them. Roasting will deliver more flavor; boiling may be faster and use less energy. Either way works, though boiling is a more common way to cook the tomatillos.
1 1/2 lb tomatillos
1/2 cup chopped white onion
1/2 cup cilantro leaves
1 Tbsp fresh lime juice
1/4 teaspoon sugar (optional)
2 Jalapeño peppers OR 2 serrano peppers, stemmed, seeded and chopped
Salt to taste
1. Remove papery husks from tomatillos and rinse well.
2a. Roasting method: Cut in half and place cut side down on a foil-lined baking sheet. Place under a broiler for about 5-7 minutes to lightly blacken the skin.
2b. Boiling method: Place tomatillos in a saucepan, cover with water. Bring to a boil and simmer for 5 minutes. Remove tomatillos with a slotted spoon.
3. Place tomatillos, lime juice, onions, cilantro, chili peppers, sugar in a food processor (or blender) and pulse until all ingredients are finely chopped and mixed. Season to taste with salt. Cool in refrigerator.
Serve with chips or as a salsa accompaniment to Mexican dishes. Makes 3 cups.
Chilled cucumber soup
From a friend of a friend
8 small cucumbers
1 cup cubed boiled potatoes
1/4 cup or more olive oil
2 large cloves fresh garlic
4 TB lemon juice
1/4 cup cashews soaked for at least 2 hours and drained
1 TB red wine vinegar
1 TB maple syrup
Salt to taste
Toasted corn and dill for garnish
Blend everything in the food processor, adding water to get to the right consistency. Things that might need to be adjusted are the olive oil, garlic, lemon juice and maple syrup. Enjoy!
Wilted dandelion greens with sweet onion
From Whole Living
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 cup thinly sliced onion
1/8 teaspoon sugar (we left out the sugar)
1 garlic clove, sliced
1 tablespoon sherry vinegar (we used a little Mirin for sweetness together with a little apple cider vinegar)
a handful of dandelion greens
3 or 4 handfuls of whatever other chopped braising greens you have (e.g. kale, tot soi, swiss chard)
salt and freshly ground pepper
1. Heat oil in a medium skillet over medium heat. Add onion and sugar; cook, stirring occasionally, until onion is golden and has caramelized, about 15 minutes. Add garlic; cook, stirring occasionally, 2 minutes. Add vinegar; cook until vinegar is warm, about 1 minute.
2. Add greens, and toss to combine. Cook until greens have just wilted, about 1 minute (if you are using the large kale add that first and cook for 5 mins before you add other greens). Season with salt and pepper. Serve immediately.