Week 9: Halfway!!!

“Where shall I put all these gifts with which the summer morning rewards me, and only me? Save them up for future books?  Use them immediately for a practical handbook called `How to be Happy?’ Or, getting deeper, to the bottom of things, understand what is concealed behind all this: behind the play, the sparkle, the thick green greasepaint of the foliage? 

“For there really is something—there is something! And one wants to offer thanks, but there is no one to thank.” 

Nabokov, The Gift

Let's keep it short: long day of harvest, lots to eat!

1. Pint of Sungold tomatoes OR 5 ears of corn.  These are always our earliest tomatoes; delicious!  By the afternoon I may have others in case these disappear quickly.   This week's corn is grown by Lou D'Allasandro of North Salem.  Just had 3 ears for dinner...fantastic!!!

2. 1 1/4 pounds of new potatoes.  Great crop this year.  Freshly dug, local potatoes are as superior to the store bought variety as tomatoes are.  7 other varieties will follow.

3.  Basil.  This crop doesn't quit.  Make a pesto and toss it with steamed and lightly mashed potatoes!

4.  Head of lettuce.  Finishing with some of the Australian, adding some Butterheads to the selection.

5.  Spring Onions/Scallions.  Whatever you wish to call them, they keep getting fatter and tastier.

6.  2 cucumbers OR 2 squash OR box of peppers (green and yellow sweet, jalapenos, and some wicked hot variety whose name I'll try to find in the morning).

7.  Box of plums OR 4 peaches.

8.  Swiss chard or Red Russian Kale or Green Cabbage or Chinese Red or Green Cabbage.

Interested in Organic Apples?  I've got an old espaliered tree I let grow and that has produced a nice crop of delicious apples.  This tree had never been sprayed with anything, ever.

Are you a fan of Cherry Stomp?  We've got Apricot Stomp this week.  

See you tomorrow!

Week 8

After all that heat, everything and everybody appreciated a cool drink.  A perfectly timed respite saved me time with the sprinklers and let me spend time on sowing all of the crops that will be ready come fall.  Fall!  We still have much summer heat to get through...

Tomatoes are juusssstttt beginning to ripen.  Should see them in the share next week, I hope, certainly within two weeks.

In the meantime, in this week's share:

1.  3/4 lb of beans--check out this delicious cold bean salad recipe--perfect for hot nights: make it in the morning, keep it in the fridge until dinner!  French string bean salad  We've had it many nights since the beans started coming in.

2.  2 cucumbers or 2 zucchini (the round varieties are very nice!) or 1 monster zucchini (perfect for grilling or for this recipe:

1 lb. zucchini or squash (about 2 medium-sized)
1/4 cup shredded parmesan (heaping)
1/4 cup Panko breadcrumbs (heaping)
... 1 tablespoon olive oil
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
freshly ground pepper, to taste
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line two baking sheets with foil and spray lightly with vegetable spray.

Slice zucchini or squash into 1/4 inch-thick rounds. Toss rounds with oil, coating well.

In a wide bowl or plate, combine breadcrumbs, parmesan, salt and pepper.

Place rounds in parmesan-breadcrumb mixture, coating both sides of each round, pressing to adhere. The mixture will not completely cover each round, but provides a light coating on each side.

Place rounds in a single layer on baking sheets. Sprinkle any remaining breadcrumb mixture over the rounds.

Bake for about 22 to 27 minutes, until golden brown. (There is no need to flip them during baking -- they crisp up on both sides as is.)

3.  Big bunch of parsley: Parsley Pesto!

4.  2 heads of lettuce!!!  I love these Australian varieties and will miss them as we progress back to cooler season heads.

5.  Spring Onions--I'd call them scallions at this point--use all the green!!!

6.  4 ears of very nice corn from the Fingerlakes region!

7.  Pint of juicy plums or 4 peaches.

We'll also have chard, micro greens, cabbage, Flamingo sweet peppers and nicely hot jalapeños, basil and chives; Polenta is back in from Cayuga Pure Organics.

See you tomorrow!

Week 7

That's a lovely cucumber flower above; there are many of them this year, for the weather remains sublime.

Our first crop of Red Russian kale, which we were cutting as a baby green, suffered the trials and tribulations of the crazy spring weather, and I was never terribly happy with it.  This second crop is beautiful, and you get a bag full in this week's share.  If you haven't heard, kale is possibly the world's greatest food, for the following reasons:

• Anti-cancer benefits from its glucosinolates, carotenoids (lutein and beta-carotene) and flavonoids. Kale has been researched a bunch lately. Studies discovered that the isothiocyanates in the kale help bladder, breast, colon, ovary and prostate cancer. Kale turns off bad genes that cause cancer.
• Antioxidants:  Kale contains 45 different flavonoids (like Quercetin) which act as antioxidants and anti-inflammatories. Other cruciferous vegetables containing antioxidants include broccoli, cabbage, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, collards, kohlrabi, pak choi but a surprising number of other vegetables are also in this family—see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cruciferous_vegetables
• Kale relieves oxidative stress responsible for diseases such as cataracts, atherosclerosis and COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease)
• Decreases cholesterol: Kale works better at cholesterol removal when steamed because the fiber in it can bind better to bile acids in the digestive tract. This process is part of the cholesterol lowering effect.
• Detoxifies the liver by affecting both Phase I and Phase II detoxification. Kale helps to detoxify the body as all dark green leafy vegetables to because they support these liver functions.
• Anti-inflammatory
• High in Omega-3 Fatty Acids
• Excellent source of Vitamin K (better than any of the World’s Healthiest 135 Foods and twice the amount of other cruciferous foods.) See these foods here: http://www.whfoods.com/foodstoc.php
• Kale is an excellent or very good source of vitamin A, vitamin C, manganese, dietary fiber, copper, tryptophan, calcium, vitamin B6 and potassium. It is also quite good in iron, magnesium, vitamin E, vitamin B2, protein, Vitamin B1, folate, phosphorous and vitamin B3.

We had this yummy kale and polenta pie the other night.  We're low on the wonderful Cayuga Pure Organics polenta in the stand, but I'll try to have more for the weekend.

This week's share of 8 items:

Beans!!! (Timing was right for some rally tender beans this week--and the plants are loaded for more for next!)

Baby asian eggplant--very tender and tasty

Zucchini/summer squash--likely just one apiece, but really, how much do you need?

Head of Lettuce--these are lettuces bred for summer heat--they have a slight, very interesting bitterness to them--delicious on their own, but paired nicely with a smooth cheese, cucumbers, or pine nuts...

Basil or Chives

Red Russian Kale

Spring Onions--I could eat these all by themselves simple sautéed in butter.

Pint of blueberries or half pint of blackberries or sour cherries or some sweet cherries of light quarts of apricots

We have Water Buffalo cheese, Woodland Farm Peaches, beef, chicken and bacon--all pastured--at the farm stand.

These are some very nice micro greens (basil/kale/cress), chard, and lettuce-like mustard, along with the last of the radishes for the spring.  Cucumbers are coming in nicely, and are at the stand, but not enough for the share this week.

Still waiting on ripe tomatoes...

CSA Week 6

As we head into the heart of summer, the pace picks up.  First summer squash, first beans, first little cucumbers make the list this week.  We're a couple of weeks away from the first heirloom cherry and plum tomatoes, while the big boys are setting beautiful fruit.  The forecast calls for more heat and sun, and the peppers look good and the eggplant has finally recovered from spring setbacks.  We will continue to  have greens throughout the summer.

At the farm stand we have grass fed ground beef, pastured chickens, and some pastured pork bacon.  Sold everything I brought in the last couple of weeks, so keep it up so I can keep it going--feedback has been great.

We have the usual dairy, along with some goat milk and heavy cream.

No fruit in the share this week, but there are still some sweet cherries and now some sour!  Blueberries and peaches will soon follow.

We had a wonderful crowd for the benefit on the 4th--thanks to all CSA members who came!!!

In this week's share:

1.  Head of lettuce
2.  Bag o' beans (red dragon or green)
3.  1 large zucchini, or 2 smaller, or 3 cukes (for eating or pickling!), or radishes
4.  Chard or lettuce-like mustard (don't pass it up--fantastic!)
5.  Red chinese cabbage--chop it up, saute it in olive oil, salt, pepper, maybe a bit of lemon or honey or soy sauce...delicious!
6. Basil or chives...great, flavorful basil right now...best crop in years!
7. Spring onions--primo!

Have a bit of basil/kale/mustard micro greens, some red and green cabbage, and parsley as well.

See you tomorrow!

CSA Week 5

Busy week for us!  Hope you enjoyed the veggies!

Summer CSA week 4

Oh, the tomatoes, peppers, squashes, eggplants and basil love this heat!!!  Summer veggies love summer weather.  Good fruit set on some of the earliest tomatoes and peppers.  Awesome lettuces this week--melt in your mouth awesome.  Garlic scapes!!!  This is the flowering part of the garlic plant.  Clip off the flower end, and use the rest in every dish you prepare until they run out.  Great pesto!

7 things to do with garlic scapes!

Next week, 4th of July falls of Thursday. Join us in the garden for a fundraiser if you can:  Flowers and Fireworks in the Garden!

We harvest all day Wednesday and the stand should be fully stocked by late Wednesday.  If you absolutely need to pick up Wednesday, feel free.  Otherwise, pick up is on Thursday, or you can certainly wait until Saturday, or Sunday.  Just let me know your plans so I can know how to stock the fridges.

We have March Farm tomatoes at the stand for purchase.  Best tomatoes you will get before ours are ready!

In the share this week:

Must take:

1. Strawberries
2. Head of Lettuce
3.  6 Garlic scapes
4.  Peashoots
5.  Parsley (absolutely delicious...use in everything!)

Choose 2:

Baby kale
Mixed greens for salad (some asian greens and kale mixed in)
Baby arugula
Basil
Senposai
Rainbow Chard
Some green and red cabbage
Fantastic microgreen mix with sunflower shoots, arugula, cress, radish, and kale!!!
Radish microgreens
Chives

Summer CSA Week 3

 

Still very fine weather for all the greens; heat loving veggies, not so much! The early potatoes are flowering, the garlic scapes will be harvested next week, the tomato plants look healthy, but boy, do they need a couple of weeks of 80 degrees and abundant sunshine!  Lousy germination on cucumbers--I believe many of the seeds drowned--so we try again.  Beans are coming nicely--cross your fingers the rabbits stay away!

Strawberries are MUCH better this week; last week they were swollen with rain water, and while tender, the flavor was watery.  This week's, again from Red Jacket Orchards, are smaller, juicier, and sweet with a bit of tartness.  Very nice.  Last big cutting of this crop of the Senposai, the chard remains very tender, and have you tried the parsley yet?  It is packed with flavor--makes a great pesto--and of course, is absolutely loaded with all sorts of GOOD THINGS!

We've added watercress to the microgreens mix--nice and tangy mix this week!  Also, I am now packing it in vented bags, which should allow it to breathe and last longer in the fridge.  They are usually moist when I harvest, so the new bags should take care of that. 

Special offering to CSA members:  Our non-profit, Friends of the Garden of Ideas , is hosting a 4th of July "Flowers and Fireworks" cocktail party in the Garden on the 4th.  Park in the Garden, enjoy the flowers with a summery drink in hand, eat some yummy vegetable nibbles, let the kids run free, then walk down to the High School for the Fireworks--it'll be much easier leaving our parking lot than the high school's!  We're asking $25 per adult; kids are free.  It goes to support the Friends, an entirely volunteer organization.  Click here if you're interested: Flowers and Fireworks!  We can only handle 20 cars, so first come, first serve.

In this week's share:

MUST TAKE:

1.  Strawberries

2. Swiss Chard (Rainbow or Pink Passion)--Tasty chard recipe

3. Spring onions (Use the whole thing!!!)

4. Head of lettuce (mostly green romaine, some red leaf)

5.  Cress/radish/kale microgreens

CHOOSE 2:

Arugula microgreens

Red Russian Kale

Senposai

Salad mix

Beets (Use the greens!!!)

Parsley

Chives

Basil (some--we need heat!!!)