Weekly Share August 25th – 31st

Shishito Peppers
Eggplant or Okra
Asian Long or Romano Beans
Slicing Tomatoes
Serrano Chilies
Thai Basil
Arugula
Onions
Something Extra

This is our final week for the Spring/Summer portion of our 2025 CSA. Overall it has been a very successful season so far, even with the harsh and difficult early Summer weather which has negatively affected our Summer crops over the past month. The spring was abundant and we were able to store away some roots and cabbage to add some diversity to the Summer offerings. We are finally seeing some of the Summer crops bounce back a bit and our fall crops are beginning to establish themselves. We have been basically without any farm hands for the past two months and its looking like that will continue for the foreseeable future. We were very thankful to have a crew of helpers come out this past week for a few days so we were able to get a ton of crops in the ground. But one of the effects of being without help is that we are very slow to get areas ready, seeding and transplants happen over a longer stretch and that means we have less abundance coming on in our seasonal transitions, than a larger or more staffed farm might. This will mean a slow move into Fall crops and more reliance on late Summer crops in the early September Fall CSA shares. We thank you all for joining us this season and hope you have cooked many delicious and nourishing meals with our food. Check out the recipes below and enjoy the share…..Brian & Autumn

Okra in Tomato Sauce (Bamia B’Zeit)

Spicy Stir-fried Long Beans

Long Bean Salad

Som Thum Tua-Thai (Som-Thum Style Green Beans)

Shishito (or padron) peppers with okra

Gaji-namul – Eggplant Sidedish

Japanese Eggplant With Chicken & Thai Basil

Eggplant with Thai Basil
1 lb eggplant, cut into ½-inch slices
4-5 cloves garlic
1-2 medium sized fresh red or green chilies (or sweet bell pepper for the meek)
1 Tbsp light soy sauce or tamari
2 Tbsp dark soy sauce
2 Tbsp palm sugar or dark brown sugar
1 bunch Thai basil
Slice the eggplant into ½ inch rounds and fry them over medium high in a wide skillet with ¼ inch of canola or other frying oil. When things get going, the eggplant slices will absorb the oil and you will gradually see it penetrate through to the top.  Make sure that they don’t get too brown on the bottom before this happens.  If the eggplant slices absorb all the oil and still don’t look wet, you must add more—but don’t worry, because they will release much of it as they cook.  When they look like they have absorbed enough oil and they start to get nice and brown on the bottom, flip them over and brown them on the other side.  If the pan is dry at this point, don’t add more oil because the slices have absorbed enough to fry themselves.  When they’re done, drain the slices on paper towels
Meanwhile, cut the garlic into slices and the chilies into diagonal rings.  When the eggplant is ready, remove it and add 2 Tbsp of fresh oil to the pan, add the garlic and half the chilies, and stir-fry until the garlic is golden.  Add the soy sauces and sugar, stir for about 30 seconds until the sugar starts to bubble, and return the eggplant to the pan.  Add torn basil leaves, stir and serve, garnished with the rest of the chilies (if you dare!)