This weekend’s Farm Share will most likely include:
Salad Mix, Summer Squash, Sweet Pepper (orange or red in color), Tomatoes (slicing and cherry), Onions, Parsley, Garlic, Eggplant
(See recipe suggestions toward the end of this newsletter.)
This is for our Farm Share CSA members who pick up:
~ on Saturday @ the Farmers Market @ St. Stephen’s
~ on Saturday @ the Brandermill Green Market
~ on Monday @ Summer Lake
This next month is the hardest time of year for the plants we grow. It is very, very hot and humid. Most plants we grow don’t love both. At the same time, a lot of bugs and fungal disease love these conditions. It’s a tough combination and is the reason we harvest more in November each year than we do in August.
In Monday’s email to Farm Share CSA members we included the following note:
*Crop notes: It’s never the best year for everything…Tomatoes, Summer Squash, and Herbs are producing in great abundance, but we also have a few crops that aren’t producing as much as we had hoped (sweet peppers are ripening very slowly; green beans, eggplant, and salad greens are not yielding well). So:
— Our shares this week are not as large as we had planned for. However, this is why our Farm Share stretches across the whole season: some spring and early summer weeks’ shares were above-average size, some of these July/August shares are smaller-than-average size, and we feel confident that some weeks in the fall will have above-average size shares again. This averages out to provide the value that we plan for our members.
— We don’t want to overwhelm members with too many tomatoes, squash, or basil, yet we have them in great abundance right now and we want you to have them if you want them! At pick-up on Saturday and Monday, we will have extra of all three available for Farm Share members to take as desired. Preservation (canning, pickling, or freezing) recipes follow.
We plant multiple successions of heat-loving tomatoes, squash, peppers, etc. because the plants only live and yield but for so long. We want to harvest these vegetables for months.
But mild-temperature-loving plants don’t stay alive or survive transplant this time of year. We would have to plant 4 times as much salad greens, for example, to harvest the same amount that that we get in spring or fall. Thus, our vegetable offering for the next month is less diverse than the rest of the year. Thank you for embracing seasonal eating with us, and for being patient with us through August. We are planting for September harvest right now, and it’s going to be delicious. And October! October is glorious.
This week’s harvest includes:
Basil, Chard, Cilantro, Garlic, Microgreens, Okra, Parsley, Bell Peppers, Summer Squash (yellow and zucchini), Tomatoes…and our Organic Naturally Leavened Bread .
2016 Market Share CSA Members: Reserve your selection online to pick up Saturday, July 30th at our farm, at the Brandermill Green Market, or at the Farmers Market @ St. Stephens. (Everything remaining after pre-orders will be available for purchase at the Brandermill Green Market and at the Farmers Market @ St. Stephens.).
Recipe Suggestions:
Parsley: This Goddess Salad Dressing recipe calls for fresh parsley. If this is too much parsley for you to eat this week, try drying it (oven, air dry, and dehydrator instruction found at that link) and then using it (even in the winter time!) to make homemade salad dressing, such as these Three Salad Dressing recipes (Chipotle Ranch, Ranch, & Italian).
Summer Squash: Yes, you can pickle summer squash! See this recipe for Refrigerator Summer Squash Pickles. We also shred summer squash (in the food processor) and then use it in the fall/winter in bread, cake, etc. Favorite recipes (for fresh or frozen squash) are Lemon Summer Squash Bread, Summer Squash Cake, Summer Squash Fritters.
Tomatoes: Swordfish Steak w/ Tomatoes & Capers (This calls for cherry tomatoes but you can also substitute rough chopped slicing tomatoes.) Here is an assortment of the 12 Best Tomato Salad recipes. To put up tomatoes: Roasted Tomatoes for the Freezer, Canning Crushed Tomatoes, Canning Salsa
Onions: Quick Pickled Onions (we made these last week and are now topping almost every dinner with them!) We make this recipe even more quick by using the food processor slicing blade to cut the onions very thin, very fast. Ours our pictured below.
Sweet Peppers: We most commonly eat these on top of salad or sliced into long, thin strips and topped with soft cheese (goat cheese, cream cheese, pimento cheese…)
Basil: Freezing Basil Pesto is a summertime ritual here so that we can enjoy this herb with pasta and casseroles in January. (According to that recipe website, “Basil is high in antioxidants and is considered one of the most nutritious herbs. It is rich in vitamin A and C and contains potassium, magnesium, iron.” Also, we substitute walnuts for the pricey pine nuts called for in most pesto recipes.)
Eggplant: Grilled Eggplant with Balsamic-Honey Reduction is a favorite of ours, plus we recently fell in love with Curry-Marinated Eggplant (these can be roasted in the oven or grilled, and can be made with any shape of eggplant). Roasted Eggplant Slices are delicious (and call for fresh herbs to be brushed on top).
Enjoy ~
Janet, Dan, & the whole Broadfork crew
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