Radishes
Desiree Red Potatoes
Okra, Eggplant, or Peppers
Bunching Greens
Yellow Onions
Jalapenos
Mesclun Salad Mix
Cozy Swiss Chard Soup with Potatoes
Smashed Potatoes with Jalapenos
Potato Hash with Peppers and Onions
Smoked Eggplant, Radish, & Herb Salad
Frisee
Fennel
Kohlrabi
Bibb Lettuce
Lacinato Kale
Koginut Winter Squash
Tomatoes
Dill
The sun has been out for over a week and we are so very grateful. Although it is getting colder quickly, with a potential frost this coming week, we are seeing some jump in growth with newly planted or young plants; although more mature plants are struggling to get much size. Lots of damage was done during the grey, humid three-week period of constant, heavy rains; but many crops will pull through. We were able to finally catch up with all our planting this past week. A few things went into the crop fields; but mostly we are planting and seeding in our high tunnels for overwinter growing. Now with the cold coming we make sure frost sensitive plants (tomatoes) can be tucked in for protection, either with row cover or closing up all the tunnel ends. After all the rain, we are also contending with lots of weeds, so our mission over the next two weeks is to get as many areas cleaned up so our crops have good ventilation and space to grow. In addition, we will be feeding them with lots of fish and seaweed emulsion to give them the support they need. Not only do heavy rains cause soil erosion, they also leach all the nutrients and fertilizer out of the fields, so now we add stuff back in.
This week’s share has the first of the winter squash, Koginut, a cross between butternut and kabocha, it is delicious with a smooth, buttery texture. Unfortunately, we did not get enough cushaw to give to the CSA, for the first time in many years; but we have a nice amount of Seminole pumpkins and Koginut winter squash to make it a good harvest. We have a lot more greens in this week’s share, along with some delicious dill, kohlrabi, and fennel. Lots of aromatic and crunchy textures to make delicious salads, soups, or even casseroles. Enjoy the share….Brian and Autumn
Barley Soup with Greens, Fennel, Lemon, and Dill
Greek-Style Kohlrabi Pie or Gratin With Dill and Feta
Chopped Salad with Frisee & Fennel
Brown butter-roasted winter squash salad with Pecorino Toscano Fresco and toasted pumpkin seeds
Napa Cabbage
Misato Rose, Daikon, & Korean Radishes
Lemon Drop, Jyoti, & Thai Chilies
Shishito Peppers
Cilantro
Celery
Ginger
Garlic
Spicy Shrimp And Napa Cabbage Stir Fry
Yam Khai Dao (Fried egg salad) – Pok Pok by Andy Ricker
You must find some carrots & lettuce for this recipe.
Shishito Peppers with Ginger Kabayaki Glaze
Korean Hanger Steak with Blistered Shishito Peppers & Pickled Daikon
Philippine Sour Shrimp Stew (Sinigang na Hipon) (radish & yu choy)
Collard Greens
Okra or Eggplant
Highlander Onions
Verona Saladette Tomatoes
Poblano or Anaheim Peppers
Jalapeno or Serrano Peppers
Lettuce Mix
Eggplant Tacos with Roasted Poblano & Caramelized Onions
Roasted Poblano & Onion (Rajas)
Pinto Bean & Poblano Rice Collard Green Rolls with Ancho Sauce
Okra or Eggplant
Red Slicer Tomatoes
Radishes or Hakurei Turnips
Russian Kale or Mustard Greens
Sweet & Cubanelle Pepper
Crowder Peas
Aji Dulce
Basil
Oh it has been so rainy, making it a little stressful and very difficult to ready beds, plant out vegetable starts and manage the fields of weeds and growing pest problems that come with temperate and weedy conditions. We have had great temperatures for germinating fall carrots, beets, turnips, etc.; but many newly germinated plants are being eaten by cut worms, army worms, and so on making for a less than ideal situation. With dwindling day light lengths, we cannot make up these plantings, but rather have to make the best of it, in order to have our crops mature to size. Growing slows immensely by the first week of October, especially when they are outside. Our tunnel crops have enough protection and warmer nights offering a little more growth than those unprotected crops. On the other hand, outdoor crops develop sweetness and integrity from cool nighttime temperatures, light frosts, wind and rain. In general though we are happy that the rain has not been too heavy at any one time, as this is really damaging to our soil, causing run off and compaction. Little by little we are getting plants into the ground, managing pest populations, handling weedy beds and enjoying the cooler temperatures of course.
This week’s share still has a lot of late Summer love, even though we have officially come into Fall with the Autumnal Equinox this past weekend. We have a few special crops this week. Aji dulce chilies look a lot like habaneros but without the heat, they are sweet, concentrated, and full of delicious tropical notes. They are fabulous raw, sliced thinly on a salad or made into a relish/salsa or cooked, in South America they are often used in a creamy chicken stew. Any which way they bring great flavor to any dish. Crowder peas are a difficult crop for us as the deer and groundhogs love them, a trap crop so to speak, but we have been delighted by our farmer friend in Georgia’s Calico crowder seed and so we dedicate a small space every year. You will get a very small amount of these, basically amounting to a taste, so think about adding them to a larger dish as an accent. You will need to hand shell them, a time-consuming labor of love but since they will be fresh, they will cook quite quickly. Think about adding to a soup, rice dish, tomatoes and okra, or into a grain salad. Check out the recipes and enjoy the share….Autumn & Brian
Tomato & Egg Stir-Fry with Sauteed Mustard Greens
Mustard Greens Saag Paneer
(use some kale, turnip greens, and more mustards to replace the spinach)
Edna Lewi’s Roasted Okra with Field Peas, Tomatoes, & Mint
Mustard Greens or Russian Kale
Radishes or Hakurei Turnips
Salad Mix or Arugula
Shishito Peppers
Khmer Thai or Jyoti Chilies
Thai Basil
Garlic
Shishito Peppers with Bonito Sand and Tofu Mustard
Spicy Coconut Rice Noodles with Kale and Basil
Rice Vermicelli with Chicken and Nuoc Cham
Stir-Fried Hakurei Turnips With Dried Shrimp, Chiles, Garlic And Lime
Arugula or Mesclun Salad Mix
Okra
Tomatoes
Mild Peppers
Romano Green Beans
Assorted Eggplant
Yellow Onions
Welcome to the 2024 Fall CSA season. We love the fall as we tend to have the most diversity of the entire season, with some summer crops lingering long and fall crops ramping up. Right now we are still mostly in the Summer crops as late July and early August was very rainy, making it difficult to get into our crop fields for planting. Although much is now planted, the shortening daylight, means we often have to wait awhile for crops to get ready. There will be cut salad greens though as they are quick and looking luscious after the cool temperatures we have had. Each week new crops will jump on board and due to the levels of diversity, many crops will only be in your share once or twice. We were hoping the kale might be ready but it is still a little small, next week it will be ready as will some short growing roots. Planting is still a little behind as we were away this past week and there is still a ton of crops ready to go in the ground, so this week will be busy trying to play catch up. Our large late fall root planting will happen in the next few days along with our first spinach and weekly yu choy seedings. This month is the last of our outdoor field seedings, by October we are planting everything in tunnels for December through March production. This time of year timing is key and we are already a little thrown off, so we will see what that means for the Fall; but we are happy with the health of a lot of the crops so far and look forward to an abundance of greens very soon.
This week highlights late summer with green beans, okra, and eggplant in abundance. The tomatoes, peppers, and onions are great tools for cooking the first three, along with spices and herbs of your choice whether you are looking at doing Indian, Mediterranean, Turkish or Middle Eastern style recipes. Check out the recipes below and enjoy the share……Autumn & Brian
Burrata with Romano Beans and Roasted Eggplant
Quick Okra, Eggplant, & Turmeric Stew
Kadai Bhindi (Indian style Okra with Bell Peppers)
Eggplant in a Spicy Honey Sauce –The New Book of Middle Eastern Food by Claudia Roden
The sauce is a splendid example of the hot, spicy, and sweet combinations; which are a thrilling feature of North African cooking. Serve it cold with bread.
2 medium-large eggplants
olive oil
salt
3 cloves garlic, crushed
2 inches fresh gingerroot, grated, or cut into pieces
1 ½ tsp ground cumin
large pinch cayenne or ground chili pepper, to taste
4-6 Tbls honey
juice of 1 lemon
2/3 cup water
Cut the eggplants into rounds about 1/3” thick. Do not peel them. Dip them in olive oil, turning them over, and cook on a griddle or under a broiler, turning them over once, until they are lightly browned. They do not need to be soft, as they will cook further in the sauce. In a wide saucepan or skillet, fry the garlic in 2 Tbls of the oil for seconds only, stirring, then take off the heat. Add the ginger, cumin, and cayenne or gorund chili pepper, honey, lemon juice, and water. Put in the eggplant slices and cook over low heat –either in batches, so they are in one layer, or together, rearranging them so that each slice gets some time in the sauce –for about 10 minutes, or until the slices are soft and have absorbed the sauce. Add a little water if necessary.
Russet Potatoes
Pozzano Tomatoes
Sweet & Mild Peppers or Okra
Leutschauer Paprika
Genovese Basil
Garlic
Something Extra
This is the last share in our 2024 Spring/Summer season. Thanks so much for joining us on this journey. Overall this has been a difficult growing season thus far; but we are hopeful with the last few weeks mild weather, that our Fall and Winter crops might thrive. Even with all the difficulty of erratic temperatures, drought, mild monsoon, and so on; we have had some very tasty vegetables. The tomatoes have been delicious, eggplant thriving as always, our early spring brassicas were lovely and abundant, with some absolutely fabulous cabbage. Despite losing almost all the potatoes, we were overjoyed with an abundant onion crop. Basil has been going strong, yes you are getting it again. We encourage you to make pesto (without adding the cheese) and freeze it. This is one of the easiest ways to preserve a bit of summer for the cold winter months and you will not regret it, promise. Even better, if you have an extra ice tray, fill it with pesto, freeze, then put the cubes in a large Ziploc, this is an easy way to use small or large amounts without defrosting it all at once.
Even though we yielded 20% what we usually do with potatoes, we are adding them to this share as we close out the season and take our annual break. We hope you savor them as we are, little by little. This share feels very late Summer, with lots of types of peppers, okra, potatoes, and tomatoes. The ripened peppers have been loving the cool nights and are very sweet. Revel in the dog days of Summer, as the cucumbers and squash will soon be gone (the bug pressure is so intense each planting seems shorter every year). When we come back from our break, we will begin to reintroduce cut greens, salad and bunching greens; but slowly and paired with late summer peppers, okra, and tomatoes. Check out these recipes and enjoy the share…..Autumn & Brian
Okra in Tomato Sauce (Bamia B’Zeit)
Aloo Bhindi – Spiced Potatoes & Okra
Crispy Smashed Potatoes with Garlic Pesto
Lebanese Breakfast Eggs & Tomatoes
Bell Pepper & Basil Tagliatelle
Pepperonata (Potatoes with Peppers & Onion)
(Use your leutschauer paprika to replace cayenne in the recipe)
Crimson Sweet Watermelon
Sweet & Mild Peppers or Okra
Asian Eggplant
Long Beans
Cucumbers
Hot Chilies
Thai Basil
This past week has been wonderful with cooler temperatures and less humidity. We finally began our Fall planting and the weather is truly cooperating. In a few days the temperatures will swing even lower, allowing us to get our first round of carrots, beets, cilantro, & dill going. The cool weather also allows us to transplant throughout the day and will help the plants adjust to their new home quickly. We will be planting a lot of chicories, lettuces, our first round of bunching greens, and fennel. Busy busy for the next two weeks.
For the first time since we began farming we are taking a full week away from the farm in early September. This is a very busy time for us usually as we are planting all through August and early September and with all the planting comes hoeing, hand weeding, irrigating, feeding, and pest management; but this year we are taking a longer break. So this current weather is helpful and lowering the stress that August always brings; but we still have a tremendous amount of work to pack into the next two week’s so all is thriving while we are away and we have food to bring you for the first Fall share in September.
We are happy to include another watermelon in your share this week. These are very large in size, out of our control; but do not feel overwhelmed, there are many easy uses. When you cut into it, you can keep the cut watermelon for a few weeks in the fridge. Don’t have room for it all, make juice with a blender. You do not have to remove the seeds, just cut off the rind, throw in a blender, then pour through a sieve, to remove seeds and pulp. Add lime and keep for a few days in your fridge. Check out the recipes below and enjoy the share…..Autumn & Brian
Fresh Watermelon Thai Basil Fresca
(We make this without the added sweetener and don’t bother removing the seeds prior to blending, they will be strained out when running the juice through a sieve)
Cucumber, Basil, & Watermelon Salad
Thai Louisiana Basil Vegetable Noodles
Tam Taeng Kwaa (Thai Cucumber Salad) –Pok Pok by Andy Ricker
Eggplant
Shishito Peppers
Pozzano Tomatoes
Yellow Romano Beans
Summer Squash
Yellow Onions
Aji Dulce Chile
There are only three weeks left of the Spring/Summer CSA season. We are definitely coming out of mid-summer; the days are becoming a little shorter, this week the nights will be considerably cooler, meaning a little less humidity, and we are inundated with summer crops. With a challenging Spring season and a lot of heat early, we had less spring crops stored away for the summer months and they are long gone. Now we are on a constant rotation of eggplant, tomatoes, an ever-expanding diversity of peppers, zucchini, squash, cucumbers, & beans. The tomatoes and eggplant have been superb so far, with much more to come. The cucumbers have been tasty when the weather is hot and sunny and we are happy to say our 2nd succession of beans with Asian long and yellow romano is doing well with all the rain. Okra is very close, the plants are full of flowers and they will be abundant very soon. In about a month we will have greens and quick roots returning; but for now salads from beans, tomatoes, cucumbers, and eggplant must suffice.
We are including a few aji dulce peppers in this week’s share. They look like habaneros but have no heat; just a very concentrated tropical, musky, fruity chile flavor. Thinly slice with onion, add some lime and salt and use as a condiment on meat, grilled veggies, or avocado and cucumbers. You can also add when cooking chicken or fish. These peppers are delightful. Check out the recipes and enjoy the share… Autumn and Brian
Tomato Sauce with Onion & Butter
Caramelized Onion, Tomato, & Eggplant Pasta
The Last of It: Corn, Zucchini, & Shishito Pepper Hash
Romano Beans with Burrata, Roasted Eggplant, Fresh Basil & Garlic Oil
Green Beans in Tomato Sauce – The New Book of Middle Eastern Cooking by Claudia Roden
1/2 onion, coarsely chopped
2 Tbls olive oil
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
½ lb ripe tomatoes, chopped
½ lb green beans, topped and tailed and cut into 2-3 pieces
salt and pepper
1/2 tsp sugar
juice of ¼ lemon
Fry the onion in oil till soft and golden. Add the garlic, and when the aroma arises, add the tomatoes and beans. Season with salt, pepper, and sugar, add water as necessary to cover the beans, and lemon juice, simmering 15-20 minutes, or until the beans are tender and the sauce reduced a little.
