August 18, 2009

CSA News for the Week of August 17th

This Week's Vegetable Share:
  • Carola Potatoes (a yellow-skinned variety)
  • Lavender and/or Dark Purple Eggplant
  • Curly Parsley
  • Beauty Heart Radishes
  • Red Onions
  • Green Bell Peppers
  • Garlic Bulb
  • Assorted Varieties of Tomatoes
  • Kale (either Tuscan, Curly Green or Curly Red)
  • Cucumbers
  • Zucchini and/or Summer Squash
  • Poblano Peppers
  • Fresh Sage and Thyme
  • Mixed Lettuces
  • Arugula

This Week's Fruit Share:
  • Paula Red Apples
  • Nectarines
  • Purple Plums
  • Blueberries (last of the season)
  • Peaches






You are Invited to our Annual Tomato Jubilee!

Please join us from 2 until 5 p.m. at the farm on Sunday, August 30th for our annual CSA Tomato Jubilee! This is your opportunity to pick tomatoes for freezing and canning. We welcome you, CSA members, to pick your own tomatoes, feed the chickens, meet your farmers and take a stroll through the fields. During the Tomato Jubilee the first 10 lbs are free for CSA members. All additional tomatoes are only $1 per pound for members. (There is a limit of 40 pounds per family/CSA share.

Notes from the Farm Kitchen

The Beauty Heart Radish has a humble white-to-pale-green exterior appearance. So humble, in fact, it might just be mistaken for a turnip by the uninitiated. Those in the know, however, recognize this as the radish with the beautiful pink interior. I love this radish for its ability to jazz up late summer vegetable salads. Peel it first, then try grating it and tossing it with lettuce, arugula and any other raw vegetables that appeal to you.

Eggplant is related to other vegetables that thrive in the late summer—tomatoes, potatoes, and peppers. There are many different varieties of eggplant, including white, purple, lavender, pink and green. Eggplant does not need to be peeled, but you may prefer to do so. Before using it in a recipe, I recommend lightly salting eggplant slices and then letting them sit in a strainer for at last 10 minutes. This helps reduce the water content in the eggplant, and improves texture and taste.

I've heard from a number of you who've emailed to express your concern and support in the wake of our discovery of the Late Blight fungus in our tomato fields. (See last week's newsletter for more info on that.) We do appreciate your kind notes of encouragement. We are now seeing evidence of the fungus throughout both tomato fields, but the crop isn't doing too bad, all things considered. Late Blight spreads more quickly in damp conditions, so last week's stretch of dry weather was just what we needed. We're keeping our fingers crossed for another stretch of relatively dry weather this week. We'll keep you posted. In the meantime, we are starting to harvest our first field tomatoes of the season. This week's share contains a mix of field and hoophouse tomatoes. My favorite tomato meal this week was a bacon, arugula and tomato sandwich. It was absolutely delicious!

As far as chile peppers go, the Poblano pepper is a fairly mild one. It definitely has some heat though, so use caution when handling them. The poblanos that you will receive this week are between 3 and 6 inches long and are dark green and glossy. We have packed them in plastic bags so you will easily be able to tell the difference between the poblanos and the sweet green bell peppers.

The key to enjoying kale is, in my opinion, adequate cooking time. Kale that has been properly cooked should be toothsome but not tough. The way to achieve this is by steaming or simmering it for at least 15-20 minutes or by adding it to dishes such as soups and stews where it will have adequate time to simmer.


This Week's Recipes
Gremolata (a parsley-based condiment for fish, potatoes, and other veggies)


Next Week's Harvest (our best guess)... tomatoes, tomatillos, swiss chard, basil, cilantro, carrots, sweet corn, leeks, fresh shell beans, melons, and more!