August 14 - 2007
CSA Newsletter August 14th 2007 'We have difficulty understanding a benevolent nature with elegantly simple systems because we have made nature in our own image. As members of the human species, we find ourselves surrounded by conflict, confusion, violence, and war. We interpret nature to fit our pattern. We see natural processes as if they were projections of our action. Thus, we see malevolence in the relationship of one organism to another and in nature’s relationship to us. We don’t notice the beneficial balances between predator and prey that are maintained throughout the natural world. We miss the obvious garden logic of tipping that balance in our favor by creating optimum growing conditions for our plants. Instead we see the temporary agents of that balance (insects and diseases) as threatening forces to be battled and defeated. We need to look again.' Eliot Coleman in Four Seasons Harvest Hello again. Hope you all had a great week. Wow, school starts next week! Crazy! Hope all the kids are excited. The Harvest· 1# salad mix· ½# Swiss Chard · ¼# arugula· 1 bunch carrots · 1 bunch beets · 1 bunch Evergreen Hardy White Bunching onions · Squash· Tomatoes· Cucumbers · Peppers (Long red ones are sweet, little red ones are HOT, orange bell are delicious!)· Eggplant · Herbs · Banana Fingerling Potatoes · Green and purple Beans · Edible Flowers * Not everyone will get Edible flowers, beans, cucumbers, peppers, squash or eggplant, but you will get at least one of those! Potatoes: Yup, it’s the beginning of potato time, a favorite time of the year for me! We have grown a few varieties of potatoes this year. I will tell you about each one as you get them. This week it’s Banana Fingerling Potato also known as Russian Fingerling, the most popular fingerling potato. It has smooth yellow skin and yellow flesh. These potatoes are meant for fresh eating not for storage. I would recommend steaming or roasting Green parts of a potato indicate it has been exposed to the light (sunlight or florescent lighting). A chemical called solanine is produced in the potato when exposed to light. Eating a large amount of solanine can be toxic. Hedge your bets by cutting away any green sections of the potato before cooking (you do not need to discard the whole potato, just the green part). I hill my potatoes (hoe dirt up around the base of the plant) to keep the tubers out of the sun. I expect not to find too many green tinted potatoes. I hope you all enjoy the potatoes this year as much as I know I will. The NewsI just want to check in to see how everyone is doing. Are you getting enough food? Too much food? Please let me know what you think about the general amount of food, i.e. too many greens, perfect amount of greens, too many roots crops, enough root crops, etc. This doesn’t necessarily mean anything will change; I just want to get a feel for how you all are doing. We are going to get new vases because the stainless vases leak and are tippy. We are wondering if you all like to keep the flowers in the vase you get them in, or if you prefer to take them out of our vase and put them into your own. Let me know so we can order new ones soon. That’s all the questions this week. We will do a more thorough survey at the end of the season; this is just a little check in. Thanks for your responses. The RecipeAlayne and I found the recipe this week. Chopped Salad with Beets, Beans, Goat Cheese and Hazelnuts ACTIVE TIME: 30 MIN TOTAL TIME: 1 HR SERVES: 6 Hugo Matheson suggests reserving the beet greens and using them as a bed for whole grilled fish: Clean the greens, then wilt them in a saucepan with a bit of water, olive oil and salt. Ingredients · 1 large beet (6 ounces), quartered · Water · 1/4 cup skinned hazelnuts · 1/4 pound green beans · 2 tablespoons plain low-fat yogurt · 1 1/2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice · 1 teaspoon honey · 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil · Salt and freshly ground pepper · 1/2 pound mixed salad greens, such as baby romaine, butter lettuce, radicchio and endives, coarsely chopped · 1 carrot, finely diced · 1 celery rib, finely diced · 1 plum tomato, seeded and chopped · 1 tablespoon chopped mint leaves · 2 1/2 ounces soft, fresh goat cheese, crumbled directions1. Preheat the oven to 375°. Place the beet in a small baking dish with 1/4 cup of water. Cover with foil and roast the beet for 45 minutes, until tender. Let cool slightly, then peel and finely dice. 2. Meanwhile, spread the hazelnuts in a pie plate and toast them for about 10 minutes, until they are golden. Let cool, then coarsely chop the nuts. 3. In a small saucepan of boiling salted water, blanch the green beans until crisp-tender, about 5 minutes. Drain and cool under running water. Pat the beans dry and cut them into 1/4-inch pieces. 4. In a large bowl, whisk the yogurt with the lemon juice, honey and olive oil and season the dressing with salt and pepper. Add the diced beet, hazelnuts, green beans, salad greens, carrot, celery, tomato, mint and goat cheese and toss gently. Serve the salad right away. MAKE AHEAD The recipe can be prepared through Step 3 and refrigerated overnight. Store the toasted hazelnuts in an airtight container. NOTES One Serving 138 Calories, 10 gm Total Fat, 2.6 gm Saturated Fat, 9 gm Carbohydrate, 3 gm Fiber. Enjoy the bounty! Daisy
August 7 - 2006
CSA NewsletterAugust 7th 2007 A garden is the place millions of people go to touch the earth, to smell the flowers – to use some of that fabled human brainpower in the cause of better participating with natural processes in the place they call home. If serves as an art project, an organic produce market, a spiritual practice, a pharmacy. It offers ongoing lessons in ecology, biology, chemistry, geology, meteorology. Gardening imparts an organic perspective on the passage of time. Jim Nollman Why We Garden (p.2) Hello all. Hope you have had a fantastic week of rain and cooler temps. Almost feeling like fall to me after that brutally hot July. Apparently it’s feeling like autumn to the Elk as well as they have started bugling on Quarry Mountain. The Harvest · 1# salad mix · ½# mature spinach · ¼# arugula · ¼# basil · Herbs · Beet bunch · Carrot bunch · Onion bunch (Mini Purplette or Purple Bunching) · Baby leek bunch · Tomatoes · Cucumber · Eggplant · Peppers · Squash · Flowers · Edible Flowers Peppers: This week there will be a few varieties of peppers going out. Good old Jimmy Nardello’s Sweet Italian Frying Pepper. These are the long red ones. The little red guys are called Fish. The catalog rates them as a 3 on the hot scale of 1-6……….Alayne almost socked me in the nose last week when I had her bite into one………they might be more like a 4.5. But she came back this week telling me they were great in the guacamole she made this weekend. Then there are the Sweet Cal Wonder Bell Peppers. These are your classic bell pepper shape with a yellow/orange color. The News
Well, it’s happened……the deer and the rodents are in the field. I guess it was naive/hopeful of me to think that our very labor intensive and over-built fence would keep them out. Luckily the fox can get in also to help out with the rodent population. The RecipeLast week Alayne and I were wrapping our egg salad in the Lettuce Leaf Basil leaves. Maybe you all have been doing this all along, but it was a first for me and I thought it a fantastic use for those great big leaves. I asked Penny from Blind Dog to come up with something fantastic to wrap up in those leaves. Here it is: Penelope Lehman-Kinsey Blind Dog Restaurant & Sushi Thai Chicken Wraps with Basil3 (6-ounce) chicken breasts for lean, thighs for more flavor 1 tablespoon soy sauce 1 tablespoon vegetable oil Sea Salt & Pepper to taste Salad: 1/2 seedless cucumber, peeled, halved lengthwise and thinly sliced on an angle 2 cups fresh bean sprouts 1 cup shredded carrots 3 scallions, sliced on an angle 12 leaves basil, chopped or torn 3 tablespoons chopped mint leaves (4 sprigs) 1 tablespoon sesame seeds 2 teaspoons sugar 2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar or white vinegar Salt Spicy peanut sauce: ( you can substitute cashews or almonds if you have a peanut allergy) 1/4 cup room temperature chunky peanut butter, soften in microwave if it has been refrigerated 2 tablespoons soy sauce 1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar or white vinegar 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper Preheat grill to 400 degrees. . Toss chicken with soy, salt & pepper and oil and grill 6 minutes on each side. Combine cucumber, sprouts, carrots, scallions, basil, mint and sesame with a generous sprinkle of sugar and vinegar. Season with sea salt, to taste. Whisk peanut butter, soy sauce, vinegar and cayenne pepper together. While whisking stream in vegetable oil. Slice cooked chicken on an angle. Toss with veggies and herbs. Pile chicken and veggies in large basil leaves and drizzle liberally with spicy peanut sauce. Enjoy! See you soon. Daisy
July 31 -2007
CSA NewsletterJuly 31st 2007 'Gardening requires lots of water - most of it in the form of perspiration.'
Lou Erickson Hello everyone. Hope you enjoyed the rain last week, pretty amazing storms
I thought.
The Harvest
· 1# salad mix
· ½# Brassica Mix (Bull’s Blood Beet Greens, Red Russian Kale, Swiss Chard)
· ¼# arugula
· ¼# basil
· 1 bunch beets
· 1 bunch turnips
· 1 bunch carrots
· 1 bunch scallions (either Evergreen Hardy White or Purple Bunching)
· Green Garlic (Wild Rocambole)
· Squash (either Caserta Zucchini or Black Beauty Zucchini)
· Tomatoes (Aunt Ruby’s German Green, Purple Russian, Cherokee Purple, Brandywine, Chadwick Cherry, Sungold Cherry)
· Eggplant (Turkish Orange or Listada de Gandia)
· Peppers (Jimmy Nardello’s Sweet Italian Frying Pepper)
· Cucumber
· Herbs (Cilantro, Dill, Thyme, or Mint)
· Edible Flowers
· Flower Bouquet
Not everyone will get peppers, squash, cucumbers edible flowers, flower bouquet or eggplant – but you’ll get some of them!
Let’s talk some more about turnips! Why, why should we be eating them?
The turnip was brought to America by Jacques Cartier, who planted it in Canada
in 1541. It was planted in Virginia by the colonists in 1609. The Indians adopted
its culture from the colonists and soon it grew everywhere. Since colonial times
the turnip has been one of the most common garden vegetables in America.
Pliny the Elder wrote that he considered turnips one of the most important vegetables
of his day, rating it “directly after cereals or at all events after the
bean, since its utility surpasses that of any plant.”
But most importantly, turnips contain potassium, iron, and are a good source
of vitamin C.
Green Garlic: Green Garlic means that the garlic has not cured yet. It is meant
for fresh eating not storage.
The News
I harvested all the garlic on Sunday. We grew 3 varieties of garlic this season
all hardneck varieties: Georgian Crystal, Wild Rocambole and Metechi Purple
Stripe. Hardneck varieties have a wider range of flavors – yes, different
garlic varieties have different flavors. For people who get into it, it can
be similar to wine, each variety with a different bouquet of flavors. More on
that later…
You will get just one bulb this week; the rest of the garlic has been hung in
Craig’s barn to cure. After about 3 weeks I will pull it down and clean
it, some will go to you all, but most will be kept to plant this fall for next
year’s crop. For the next few years I will be building our stock of garlic
seed, keeping the best cloves each year to re-plant. For any of you gardeners
out there who are not growing garlic, I would highly recommend it. Garlic is
a very gratifying crop to grow; first up in the spring, hardy, and stores well
into the winter.
Our t-shirts and bags are now for sale. If you’d like to purchase some
just give me a holler when you are picking up your vegetables.
**We are running short on flower containers, please bring them back this week
if you are storing any for us..
There are still a few families who have not signed our new contract. Please
sign one this week…or I will have to start mentioning names…
The Recipe
This week’s recipes come from some of you. After quite a few conversations
about recipes last week during CSA pick-up, I decided to send out some of the
great recipes I heard and/or tasted.
Heather’s Turnip Chips
· Peel turnips
· Slice thinly
· Toss with a little olive oil, salt and pepper
· Bake in oven until crispy
· Eat ‘um up!
Gavin’s Mashed Turnips and Potatoes
· Peel turnips
· Boil turnips and potatoes separately
· Drain water from both
· Combine in pot and mash with butter, salt, pepper, and milk
· ( I would steam some garlic and mash that in also)
Jolie’s Roasted Beets and Turnips
· Peel turnips (are you noticing a trend here)
· Cube beets and turnips
· Toss with olive oil, garlic, salt, pepper, and rosemary
· Bake in oven until easily punctured by fork
· Serve as side dish or do as Pete does and put this concoction into
a tortilla with beans, cheese, etc for a little burrito action.
Alayne’s Greens Quiche
Ok, so the crust comes from Martha Steward Living, but the rest is from Alayne
The crust:
Pate Brisee (Pie Dough)
Pate brisee is the French version of classic pie or tart pastry. Pressing the
dough into a disc rather than shaping it into a ball allows it to chill faster.
This will also make the dough easier to roll out, and if you freeze it, it will
thaw more quickly.
INGREDIENTS
Makes 1 double-crust or 2 single-crust 9- to 10-inch pies
· 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
· 1 teaspoon salt
· 1 teaspoon sugar
· 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, chilled and cut into small pieces
· 1/4 to 1/2 cup ice water
DIRECTIONS
1. In the bowl of a food processor, combine flour, salt, and sugar. Add butter,
and process until the mixture resembles coarse meal, 8 to 10 seconds.
2. With machine running, add ice water in a slow, steady stream through feed
tube. Pulse until dough holds together without being wet or sticky; be careful
not to process more than 30 seconds. To test, squeeze a small amount together:
If it is crumbly, add more ice water, 1 tablespoon at a time.
3. Divide dough into two equal balls. Flatten each ball into a disc and wrap
in plastic. Transfer to the refrigerator and chill at least 1 hour. Dough may
be stored, frozen, up to 1 month.
A few handfuls of fresh Copper Moose greens (spinach, chard, beet greens
etc.) sauté with 2 minced garlic cloves and a small onion until wilted,
drain liquid and cool. When cool chop finely.
5 or 6 eggs beaten
1 cup of milk
fresh basil chopped
Pesto
Fresh Copper Moose tomatoes
Fresh Goats cheese, or Feta
Bake pie crust. When cool, spread pesto over bottom. Mix eggs- milk- spinach
mixture and cheese together with salt pepper basil and any other herbs that
you have on hand. Poor in prepared pie shell. Place sliced tomatoes on top
and maybe sprinkle with a bit more cheese. Bake at 350 for about 40
minutes, Enjoy!
Alrighty then, that’s it. See you soon,
Daisy
July 24 - 2007
CSA Newsletter July 24th 2007 Man is only 7 inches from starvation – the seven inches or so of topsoil from which we all, in one way or another, derive our sustenance. Agricultural saying Wow, the last delivery of July, I can’t believe it. The summer is flying by. The Harvest 1# salad mix ½# mature spinach ¼# arugula ¼# mixed basil 1 bunch dill 1 bunch cilantro Squash Eggplant Tomatoes Cucumbers Peppers 1 bunch beets 1 bunch carrots 1 bunch onions Edible flowers Flower bouquet ***Not everyone will get squash, cucumbers, tomatoes, edible flowers, flower bouquet or eggplant. But you will definitely get a couple of those. I am keeping track of who is getting what each week and will make sure it all evens out. Salad Mix - Can you taste the heat in the salad mix? I sure can. Not quite as sweet as it was at the beginning of the season. You can expect that until it starts to cool off a little again. Spinach - Because this is mature spinach I would recommend sautéing or steaming it. It still tastes great fresh, but the leaves are rather large and unruly. Squash – Caserta Zucchini and Black Beauty Zucchini are the varieties this week. Eggplant – Turkish Orange Eggplant is a unique orange fruit great for stuffing (although these may be a little small for that). Listada de Gandia is a beautiful purple stripped Italian eggplant. Onions – You will either get a bunch of Evergreen Hardy White Bunching Onions, Deep Purple Bunching Onions or Purplette Onions. You can cook, pickle or eat the Purplette Onions fresh. Beets – Same varieties as past weeks, except you may see a few Detroit Dark Red Beets in there also. Carrots – Scarlet Nantes carrots are sweet and crisp, great for fresh eating. This variety is very high in amino acids. Pepper – Jimmy Nardello’s Sweet Italian Frying Pepper (whew! That’s a mouthful). This is an heirloom variety from Jimmy Nardello who lived in Naugatuck, Connecticut until his death in 1983. His family had been growing these peppers in that region ever since coming to the U.S. Mr. Nardello’s mother originally brought the seeds with her when she immigrated to the U.S. in 1887 with her husband Guiseppe. These peppers are super sweet and one of the very best for frying. (Doesn’t it just crack you up to know that much about a pepper…) The News If you haven’t received your free t-shirt yet, grab me when you pick your veggies up and I will help you out. Same goes for the bags. Feel free to buy t-shirts and bags for the whole family, maybe all your friends and neighbors too….. Kids - $14 Adult - $17 Bags - $13 If you haven’t signed the new contract get one of those this week also. The Recipe Here is another great recipe from Gavin Baker Chef/Owner of the soon-to-be Salt Restaurant. Heirloom Tomato Risotto For the Tomatoes: 1 pound (#) assorted Copper Moose Farms heirloom tomatoes such as Cherokee purple, purple Russian, Chadwick Cherry or Aunt ruby’s German green 2 Tablespoons (T) of high quality, cold-pressed olive oil 1 teaspoon (t) local salt 1 t fresh ground white pepper PREPARATION: Preheat the oven to 190 degrees. Rinse tomatoes and remove stem. Cut all tomatoes until they are roughly the same size as the smallest one, then toss together with the oil, salt and pepper. Spread tomatoes in a single layer on a sheet pan and place uncovered in the oven. Slowly roast for 45 minutes. When tender and “melting”, gently strain off the juice from the pan into a blender. Remove approximately 25% of the best looking tomato pieces and reserve for the garnish. Add the remaining tomatoes to the blender and puree. Pass through mixture through a fine strainer and taste. You don’t want to adjust the seasoning at this point; you simply need to know “where you are at”. Chill the mixture immediately over an ice bath to retain as much color and flavor as possible. Reserve. For the Risotto: 1 ½ cups (c) carnaroli rice (you can use aborio, but carnaroli is the best). 3 quarts (qts) filtered water Local salt and fresh ground white pepper ½ c mascarpone cheese, softened ¼ c freshly grated parmigiano-regiano ¼ c high quality butter, unsalted, softened 1-2 c heirloom tomato puree, from above Roasted tomato pieces from above, skin removed and sliced Pinch of smoked paprika Pinch of nutmeg PREPARATION: Bring 2 qts of the water to a rolling boil and season lightly. Add the rice, stir once, reduce heat slightly and allow to blanch for 7 minutes. At the end of this time frame, strain, discard the liquid and spread the rice onto a sheet pan in a single layer. Cool by fanning and gently folding rice with a rubber spatula. Care should be taken to not break the grains. This is also why you should reduce the heat slightly when adding the rice. A rolling boil will batter the rice around. This same rule applies to pasta, potatoes and anything else you can think of for that matter. To finish the risotto: Combine about half of the rice with enough filtered water to cover by a ½ inch in a heavy-bottomed pot. You can use a light veg stock, but I find that pure water is the best choice as it doesn’t mask any of the delicate heirloom flavors. I would definitely avoid chicken stock or any wines as these will certainly overpower the tomato essence that we are after. Using a heat resistant rubber spatula and medium heat, stir continuously until the mixture begins to simmer and the water is absorbed. Add a bit more water and cook until creamy. Add a bit more water, then a spoon of mascarpone and a spoon of butter; stirring all the while. When creamy, add the some of the tomato puree and some of the parmesan. Stir to combine, then taste. At this point, you must make your own decisions. I prefer a super creamy, loose mixture that is vibrant in color and taste. For this, I would continue to add the remaining cheeses, butter, and tomato puree, thinning with water as needed. When you reached the desired consistency, season with salt, fresh ground white pepper, the smoked paprika and a pinch of nutmeg. When satisfied, fold in the diced tomato pieces and serve at once. Don’t be afraid to thin the risotto with water. A thick risotto is heavy on the stomach and palate. NOTES: At this point, you can go in several directions. To keep it as vegetarian main course, pair it with sautéed beet or mustard greens that have been flavored with young garlic. To make it more elegant, fold in some lightly sautéed lobster pieces and a few sprigs of tarragon. The possibilities are endless. Wow, that one looks fantastic! See you all soon. Daisy
July 17 - 2007
CSA Newsletter
July 17th 2007
'A garden is the place millions of people go to touch the earth, to smell the flowers – to use some of that fabled human brainpower in the cause of better participating with natural processes in the place they call home. It serves as an art project, an organic produce market, a spiritual practice, a pharmacy. It offers ongoing lessons in ecology, biology, chemistry, geology, meteorology. Gardening imparts an organic perspective on the passage of time.'
Jim Nollman Why We Garden (p.2)
Ahhh, blessed rain, or…..blessed rain drops. I can’t quite say it’s raining here this morning, but there were a few rain drops falling on Alayne and me as we harvested. We are enjoying a break from the sun.
The Harvest
1# salad mix
½# baby spin
¼# arugula
¼# mixed basil
Edible flowers
Chioggia and Golden Beet bunch
Purple Top White Globe Turnip bunch
1 bunch of Lincoln Leeks
1 bunch of Deep Purple Bunching Onions
Arrowhead Cabbage
Tomatoes
Mideast Prolific Cucumbers
1 bunch of herbs (you will get one of the following: Cilantro, Sage, Parsley or Thyme)
Flower bouquet
Last week a few members got tomatoes or cucumbers, this week more members will be getting them.
Tomatoes – The same variety of tomatoes will be going out as last week. I will put them on a stainless steel table in the packaging room again; check the list on the walk-in-cooler door to see if you are picking some up this week.
Edible Flowers – A few members will get edible flowers this week. It will be a mix of Calendula, Nasturtium, arugula and radish blossoms. I would recommend sprinkling the petals from these flowers on your salad after you have dressed it. You will find that the Nasturtium, radish and arugula blossom have a little bit of a kick to them. Enjoy!
Lincoln Leeks – These leeks are best harvested as baby leeks, so that’s what we have done. There will be mature leeks coming later in the season. These should be nice and tender for stir fry’s.
Arrowhead Cabbage – This is an early green variety. It is a cone shaped, pointed mini cabbage. They have dense heads with sweet, tender, thin leaves that are perfect for summer salads, slaws, or cooked dishes.
We all know cabbage is good for us…..but why?
Cabbage (and the rest of the crucifer family) contains phytonutrients which work as antioxidants to disarm free radicals before they can damage DNA and cell membranes. Phytonutrients in cabbage signal our genes to increase production of the enzymes involved in detoxification. Because of all that, cruciferous vegetables appear to lower our risk of cancer more effectively than other vegetables. Recent studies show that people eating more cruciferous vegetables have a lower risk of prostate, colorectal and lung cancer. Additionally, organically grown cabbages are shown to have more phytonutrients than those grown conventionally. Eat your cabbage!
Herbs – if you are confused about which herb you have received, send me an email and I will clarify for you.
Flower bouquets – more members will get flowers this week. Check the list on the walk-in-cooler door again.
The News
Our T-shirts are in. Each membership will receive one free t-shirt, and then you are welcome to pick up as many more as you would like. Catch me tomorrow or Thursday morning for your T-shirt.
I have been chipping away at getting all members to sign our new contract. The new contracts will be out with the flowers and tomatoes, if you have not signed one yet, please take one home, read it, sign it, and bring it back the following week. Thanks so much.
The Recipe
The recipes come from me this week.
Drunken Leeks Recipe
Ingredients 6 to 8 small leeks, trimmed and washed 1 clove garlic, crushed 1/2 cup red wine 1 tsp red wine vinegar 2 Tbsp parsley, chopped Dash salt Black pepper
Instructions
Melt the butter and cook the leeks and garlic for 3 minutes over medium heat.
Add the red wine and some salt and mix well. Cover and cook for 15 more minutes or until leeks are tender.
Place the leeks on a serving dish and reduce the liquid left in the pan for 2 minutes.
Add the vinegar and pepper to taste. Pour over the leeks and garnish with parsley.
Yield: 3 to 4 servings
Cabbage Salad
4 cups shredded or thinly sliced cabbage
1/4 cup grated or finely sliced carrots
1/4 cup thinly sliced celery
1/4 cup chopped green pepper1 teaspoon finely chopped onion
1/2 teaspoon dill or basil or parsley
1/2 cup mayonnaise, light or low-fat
1/2 cup yogurt, plain nonfat1 teaspoon mustard
1/2 teaspoon lemon juice1/2 teaspoon sugar
Wash and prepare vegetables for chopping. Use a cheese grater or slice all vegetables thinly with a sharp knife. Put in a large bowl. Add herbs to taste.
Mix mayonnaise, yogurt, mustard, lemon juice, and sugar in a small bowl. Blend well. Add to vegetables.
Mix well. Keep in refrigerator until ready to eat.
That’s all. Have a great day.
Daisy
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