- Lettuce Mix
- Baby Arugula
- Roma and Red Slicing Tomatoes
- Green Tomatoes
- Mix of Crimini & White Button Mushrooms (from River Valley Ranch)
- Romaine Lettuce
- Green-Top Carrots
- Curly Parsley
- Green-Top Celery Root (aka Celeriac)
- Garlic Bulbs
- White Salad Turnips
- Honey Crisp Apples
- Yellow Delicious Apples
- Italian Plums
- Purple Concord Grapes
- White 'Neptune' Grapes
Final Week of the Summer Season
This is the final week of the Summer Vegetable Season, the Summer Egg Season and the Fresh Fruit Season. Thank you to everyone who has participated in this part of our CSA program. Every year has its challenges, and this year was no different. Some of the toughest points of the season for us were losing entire broccoli plantings to the heat and seeing large parts of our carrot plantings washed away during rainstorms. Despite its challanges, this has been a really good season overall. Some of the bright spots for us were bountiful plantings of peppers, beans, leeks, cucumbers and fall greens. Another big highlight came as a result of hiring Jeff Miller to be our Assistant Farm Manager. It's been a real pleasure to work with Jeff this year, and we look forward to working with him in the years to come. Before I get too ahead of myself, I should remind everyone that the season is not over yet! Those of you who signed up for the fall season have lots to look forward to beginning next week--broccoli, carrots, potatoes, squash, cabbage, beets, garlic, onions, turnips, rutabaga, leeks, lettuce, spinach, kale and more. Thank you, everyone, for your support of our farm. We value the opportunity to grow healthy, delicious food for our community. Have a good week. -Peg
This is T
The prairie grasses on the farm are in their full autumn glory. It's been a beautiful week so far.
We hope you're enjoying it as much as we are!week.Th
Notes from the Farm Kitchen
Both our field tomatoes and our hoophouse tomatoes continue to ripen, but at a considerably slower pace than they did during August and September. We'll probably pick small quantities of red tomatoes for another week or two before we expect to get a nice hard frost. Many of the plants are still loaded with green tomatoes that will never have a chance to ripen. Since we hate to see such beautiful fruits go to waste, we've included 4 or 5 green tomatoes in each share this week. Unripe tomatoes tend to take on the flavors of other ingredients in a recipe, so they can be used in many different ways. One of my favorites is a delicious Green Tomato Spice Cake in which the tomatoes could be mistaken for apple pieces. If you are wondering about the nutritional content of green tomatoes, you might be suprised to find out that they have as much Vitamin C and beta-carotene as ripe tomatoes. They also contain respectable amounts of calcium and potassium.
Celeriac, also known as celery root, is a somewhat unattractive (see photo below) but very tasty relative of celery. It is prized in Europe, especially in France, where it features prominently in the classic Celeriac Remoulade, a dish composed of shredded celeriac, mayonniase and Dijon mustard. Don’t be put off by its knobby exterior. Use a sharp kitchen knife to trim the outside layer from the celeriac bulb before chopping it. (A vegetable peeler just doesn't do the job here.) Because celeriac has a wonderful mild celery flavor, it can be used in place of celery in many soups and stews. In fact, I prefer the flavor of celeriac over stalk celery in many dishes because of its very smooth flavor (no sharpness or bitterness like stalk celery sometimes has). The celeriac bulb will store for a long time in a plastic bag in the refrigerator. The greens can be cut off and used to flavor vegetable broth or other soups. Here are some ways to use the bulb:
- Roast with carrots and potatoes and serve with roast chicken or pork.
- Boil celeriac pieces and mash them with an equal amount of boiled potatoes. Season with salt, pepper and butter. (This is heavenly!)
- Combine with grated carrots, shredded cabbage, or other root vegetables to make flavorful autumn slaws.
This Week's Recipes:
Pickled Green Tomatoes
Fried Green Tomatoes with Parsley Mayonnaise
Green Tomato Spice Cake with Raisins and Walnuts
Celeriac, Carrot and Pear Salad
Creamy Celeriac and Mushroom Soup (non-dairy)
Braised Chicken with Celeriac and Garlic
Gina Neely's Turnip Greens & Toasted Pecans served with Honey Cornbread Muffins
Next week's harvest (our best guess)... gold beets, red lettuce heads, green lettuce heads, cabbage, yellow onions, butternut squash, tomatoes, broccoli and more!
