This Week's Vegetable Harvest:
- Bell Peppers
- Eggplant
- Savoyed Cabbage
- Red & Yellow Onions
- Beans (Green, Romano or Tongue-of-Fire)
- Cucumbers
- Fresh Basil
- Green and/or Red Lettuces
- Zucchini/Summer Squash (the last of the season)
- Sweet Corn (not from our farm. See Notes from the Farm Kitchen for more info.)
This Week's Fruit Share:
- Pristine Apples (a tart yellow variety)
- Raspberries
- Blackberries
Photo Journal: A Visit to Mick Klug's Fruit Farm
Last week we packed up the kids and headed to Michigan for a little
rest and relaxation before the craziness of tomato season hits. One of the
highlights of our trip was a visit with our friend Mick Klug. Mick is the farmer
who grows all the fruit for our fruit shares.
The weather was beautiful and the kids were anxious to start picking. They started in the blackberries...
...and then moved on to the raspberries. In this photo Avery
amuses his little sisters while feasting on fresh raspberries.
Matt took advantage of the opportunity to swap growing tips and
techniques with Mick...
... but managed to fit in some picking too. Here he is picking
the very last apricots of the season.
I spent plenty of time wandering around with my camera...
...marveling at the beauty of it all. To see more photos of
our visit with Mick, click here. Enjoy the tour!
Mark Your Calendars
Please join us from 2 until 5 p.m. at the farm on 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.)
Notes from the Farm Kitchen
Savoyed cabbage is much like the more traditional green cabbage only its leaves are crinkled and curly. I think savoyed cabbage is one of the most beautiful vegetables we grow. It can be used fresh or cooked. Store in the refrigerator in a plastic bag and it will keep for weeks.
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Like tomatoes, eggplant, and potatoes, peppers belong to the Solanaceae family. They are native to South and Central America, and now play an important role in cuisines all over the globe. This week we are harvesting green peppers, purple peppers, and a few with a touch of red or orange. Green peppers and purple peppers are similar in the sense that both are harvested in the immature stage of a pepper plant's development. When left on the plant, green peppers eventually turn red while purple peppers eventually turn orange. Purple peppers taste like green peppers and can be used in the same way--in sandwiches, salads, stir-fries, casseroles, etc.
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Once again, this week's share includes sweet corn from Didier Farms in Prairie View, IL. It is not organic, but it is local and delicious.
We're picking three kinds of beans this week-- romano beans, tongue-of fire beans, and traditional green beans (see photo below). The beans in your share will be one of the three. Romano beans are broad, flat-podded beans that are sometimes referred to as Italian flat beans. They can be prepared much like the more familiar green beans. They will take slightly longer to cook than a thinner bean, but be careful not to overcook them as they will become mushy. Tongue-of-fire beans are fresh shelling beans, which means that you don't eat the pods of this lovely pink beauty. If left on the plant, these beans would mature into the type of dried beans that we are all familiar with. They can be used like dried beans, but they are more creamy than starchy and they cook in less than half the time of dried beans. Fresh shell beans are best eaten with a couple of days. The romanos and traditional green beans will store up to a week. Be sure to store all three types in the refrigerator.
A quick update on the tomato crop: We've got loads of beautiful green tomatoes on very healthy-looking plants. Like you, we are eagerly anticipating our first taste. There may be some ripening by next week. We're keeping our fingers crossed!
This Week's Recipes
Next Week's Harvest (our best guess)... Swiss chard, leeks, shallots, carrots, peppers, broccoli, peaches, nectarines, raspberries and maybe tomatoes!
