This Week's Vegetable Harvest:
- Yellow or Red Watermelons (from Beth Kazmar and Steve Pincus of Tipi Produce in Evansville, WI
- Fresh Basil
- Red Beets
- Carrots
- Romano Beans
- Green Onions
- Maybe Head Lettuce
- Beefsteak Tomatoes
- Yellow "Taxi" Tomatoes
- "Juliet" Grape Tomatoes
- Assorted Heirloom Tomatoes
- Red Seedless Grapes
- Peaches
- Blueberries (I know I said last week was the final week for blueberries, but I guess I was wrong!)
This Sunday is the CSA Tomato Jubilee!
Please join us from 2 until 5 p.m. at the farm this Sunday, August 29th for our annual CSA Tomato Jubilee! This is an opporutunity for you, our CSA members, to pick tomatoes for freezing and canning. We welcome you 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.) Our farm is located inside the Prairie Crossing neighborhood. The farm address is 32140 Harris Road in Grayslake. Please park along Harris Road when you arrive. If you have questions on the day of the Jubilee, please call Matt's cell phone (847) 548-4030.Farm Journal
Friday afternoon
"Mom, come quick!" I hear the frantic cry from the front yard and I dash outside with my heart in my throat. Once all three kids are within my sight, I can see that no one is in mortal danger. My pulse begins to slow as I try to figure out what Avery is doing. He is on the ground hunched over his bug net. "Mom, I need your help. It's a honeybee, and I don't know how to get it out of my net without getting stung."
Avery recently decided he was going to start a bug collection. I'm not sure what prompted this sudden entomological interest, but he's certainly been very diligent about collecting specimens for his collection. He's been so enthusiastic that even some members of our staff have caught the bug-collecting bug. This morning Tyler brought Avery a very large praying mantis he caught while mowing down the cover crop on one of our fallow fields.
As I gingerly coax the honeybee into the plastic bag, I feel a momentary pang of guilt. Yesterday I spent some time hanging out with local beekeeper Joel Kahling and talking with him about the hives that he tends here at our farm. Joel also happens to be a long-time CSA member who visits the farm at least once a week, so he has a pretty keen understanding of what we do here. We, in turn, are especially appreciative of the service rendered by Joel's honeybees. For those of you who might need a refresher, here's a quick lesson in Pollination 101: a honeybee crawls inside a male flower in search of nectar. Pollen sticks to its body, and later, when the honeybee visits a female flower, some of the pollen rubs off onto the female flower's reproductive parts. Once fertilized, the female flower will now produce fruit. It is the work of honeybees and other pollinators that allows us to grow crops such as zucchini squash and cucumbers.
Our farm, free of chemical pesticides and herbicides, provides safe habitat for the honeybees in exchange for the valuable service they provide. It's a place packed with a diversity of pollen sources from early spring through late fall. When Joel and I were hanging out with his bees last night, he made a point of telling me how unique our farm is for this area. I agree. This place is an oasis, and for more than just the bees. It's a refuge for all sorts of insects, birds, amphibians and mammals. If you can make it out to the farm on Sunday for the CSA Tomato Jubilee, we'd love to show you around. Joel will be here too, selling some of his honey and answering any questions you might have about the bees. See you then!
The start of a lifelong interest in conservation? We hope so!
Joel checks on the bees.
Bees gather near the entrance to the hive.Notes from the Farm Kitchen
There's no doubt about it; tomato season has officially arrived at Sandhill Organics. For those of you who haven't seen this week's share yet, here's a sneak peak at the tomatoes you'll receive:
Pretty cool, huh? Starting from the left, we've got an assortment of heirlooms, a pint of "Juliet" grape tomatoes, yellow "Taxi" tomatoes and 5 or 6 beefsteak tomatoes.
As you probably know by now, heirloom tomatoes come in many different shapes and sizes. They also come in a range of colors that includes white, yellow, pink, green, red and a shade of purple so dark it's almost black. Their flavors are as varied as their colors; some are fruity, some smoky, some tart, etc. Besides the pleasure of experiencing these different flavors, growing and eating heirloom tomatoes is a great way to promote diversity in the tomato gene pool. Many heirloom varieties begin to ripen late in the season and have a relatively short window in which they produce good fruit. Our heirloom plants are at their peak now so you'll receive a nice assortment for the next couple of weeks.
Juliet is our favorite variety of grape tomato. It is also known as a saladette tomato. We don't grow cherry tomatoes, mainly because picking them would take more time than we've got. We also dislike the tendency of cherry tomatoes to split after a rainstorm. These grape tomatoes, in contrast, are heavy producers and are very resistant to splitting. There's one trick to maximizing flavor with Juliets, and that is to make sure to let them get as ripe as possible before eating. Unlike some other tomatoes, they have a tendency to turn bright red before they're at the peak of ripeness. For maximum flavor, let them sit on the countertop for several days.
"Taxi" is the name of the bright yellow, uniformly-round tomato in this week's share. It is a low-acid tomato that's fairly meaty and has relatively few seeds. I think this one is better for salads and other fresh dishes than it is for sauces.
"Taxi" is the name of the bright yellow, uniformly-round tomato in this week's share. It is a low-acid tomato that's fairly meaty and has relatively few seeds. I think this one is better for salads and other fresh dishes than it is for sauces.
"Big Beef" is the name of the large, red tomatoes in your share. We really like growing this hybrid variety for its high yields and its large, uniform fruits. Big Beef has the best flavor of any hybrid we've tried. It's the perfect tomato for BLTs and tomato salads. It also makes a good sauce, especially when mixed with some of the "Juliet" tomatoes.
Tips for Preserving your Tomato Bounty
- First, never store tomatoes in the refrigerator if you plan to eat them fresh. Temperatures below 50 degrees have a pretty significant negative impact on the texture of fresh tomatoes and certainly don't do anything for the flavor either. Place fresh tomatoes stem-side-down on a plate lined with a paper towel and keep on the counter.
- On the other hand, if you know you are going to use some of your tomatoes in a sauce or other cooked dish, I say what the heck-- throw them in the fridge. You probably won't notice any negative effects, and storing part of this week's bounty in the fridge is probably the best way to guarantee that none of them will go bad before you're ready to use them.
- Another strategy is to freeze some of your tomatoes in order to enjoy them once the tomato season has ended. One of the simplest methods is simply to wash and dry the tomatoes and pop them in a freezer bag whole. When you remove them from the freezer, run them under warm water for a few seconds and you'll be able to slip the skin right off. While a defrosted tomato will no longer have the same sturdy texture as a fresh tomato, it will be perfectly delicious for use in almost any cooked dish.
Some of My Favorite Tomato Recipes
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Provencal Tomato and Leek Quiche
Grilled Pork Chops with Tomato-Peach Relish
Fusilli with Fresh Tomato & Olive Sauce
Next Week's Harvest (our best guess)... green cabbage, tomatoes, parsley, peppers, cipollini onions, beans, tomatillos, nectarines, raspberries, grapes and more!
