TOMTEN FARM

Asian Green Salad Mix (Mizuna, Red Mustard, Tatsoi), Thai Kang Kob Pumpkin, Red Meat Winter Radish, Mustard Greens, Green Peppers, Serrano & Jalapeños, Scallions, Cilantro

This past week has been full of changes and excitement on the farm. Last Sunday we had a fabulous workday planting all of our 2015 garlic crop with a small group of CSA members. The weather was very windy, crisp, and cold; but the work went quickly and efficiently. We really appreciate having CSA members come out and join in with some of our work. Garlic planting is a perfect job for a group of people, since most of us love garlic, everyone seems excited to learn how it gets planted and for us to get it accomplished in one day makes the planting more consistent and efficiently done. Plus a newly straw mulched crop looks beautiful and neat. Sunday was also the last day our apprentice Pete worked with us. This marked the end of our regular season and although the work is not really slowing down for us, it is when the work should be slowing down. Having Pete at the farm for seven months really increased our productivity and allowed our business to produce more than was capable with just the two of us. He was a great addition to our operation and we look forward to seeing what he will do on his own. So now we are back to just the two of us; which for the last few weeks of the CSA and two weekly markets, means a lot of harvest hours. Once December comes we will be coming to market less frequently and working more on planning, administrative, and maintenance projects. For now though, lots of harvesting and selling while the food is still abundant. In the middle of last week we finally had our big high tunnel built. This amazing crew of 5 people took less than two days to erect this huge high tunnel in our backfield. For those of you who come out to the farm, it is definitely changing the view. The high tunnel will allow us many possibilities for increased food production and season extension. We are excited to begin leaning how to produce food well with the issues that arise in a covered and enclosed space. It’s a whole new game.

This week’s share includes our favorite Winter squash variety: Thai Kang Kob, technically a pumpkin, it is great in curry, soup, and roasted. It is extremely versatile and has a beautiful hard flesh. We have included a recipe below for Silky Cocount Pumpkin soup. This recipe is absolutely fabulous and easy to make. Over the past few years it has become one of our favorite ways to eat this pumpkin. In addition we have recipes for mustard greens, green peppers, and a wonderful simple salad dressing from Japanese Farm Food which would be great on the salad mix this week. Please enjoy the share…..Autumn and Brian

Jaw Phak Kat: Northern Thai Mustard Green Soup With Tamarind and Pork Ribs – Pok Pok by Andy Ricker

Tofu and Peppers with Spicy Peanut Sauce

Easy Chicken Fajitas 

Silky Coconut-Pumpkin Soup – Hot Sour Salty Sweet by Jeffery Alford & Naomi Duguid

3-4 Shallots unpeeled

1 1/2 lbs of Pumpkin or Squash

2 cups canned Coconut milk

2 cups Pork or Chicken Broth

1 cup loosely packed Cilantro

1/2 teaspoon Salt

2 Tbls. Thai fish sauce

Generous grindings of Black Pepper

¼ cup minced Scallions

In a skillet or on a grill, dry roast the unpeeled shallots until softened and blackened. Peel, cut lengthwise and set aside. Peel the pumpkin and clean off any seeds. Cut into ½-inch cubes. You should have 41/2 – 5 cups cubed pumpkin. Place the coconut milk, broth, pumpkin cubes, shallots, and coriander leaves in a large pot and bring to a boil. Add the salt and simmer over medium heat until the pumpkin is tender, about 10 minutes. **Stir in fish sauce and cook for another 2-3 minutes. Taste for salt and add a little more fish sauce if you wish. (The soup can be served immediately, but has even more flavor if left to stand for up to an hour. Reheat just before serving.) Serve from a large soup bowl or in individual bowls. Grind black pepper over generously, and, if you wish, garnish with a sprinkling of minced scallion greens. Leftovers freeze very well.

**At this point you can strain out about 1/3-1/2 the pumpkin cubes and blend just for a few seconds, return to the pot and the soup will have a slightly more creamy and emulsified texture.

Soy Sauce Vinaigrette – Japanese Farm Food by Nancy Singleton Hachisu

1 Tbls Soy Sauce

1 Tbls Rice Vinegar

2 Tbls Rapeseed Oil

Whisk the soy sauce and vinegar together in a small bowl before drizzle-whisking in the rapeseed oil to emulsify. Take care to rewhisk if you do not dress the salad immediately after making the vinaigrette. Spoon enough well emulsified vinaigrette on the salad to film the leaves and gently toss with light hands. The leaves should not be drippy, nor should there be any dressing pooled up in the bottom of the bowl after serving (if so, you have overdressed the salad). Save any extra dressing in a jar in the refrigerator. Keeps for several weeks or more.

Lettuce or Salad Mix, Savoy Cabbage, Collard Greens, Green Tomatoes, Golden Ball Turnips, Truckers Favorite Cornmeal, Fennel, Parsley

 This week we are giving a nod to classic Virginian fare. We had a surprise success this year with our first real corn grain crop of Truckers Favorite, an heirloom  variety that is well adapted to growing in the South and is traditionally used for cornmeal, grits, or flour. In early October we hand picked the corn from our 12 150’ rows, shucked each ear and then laid them out to dry in our greenhouse. Once dry Brian shelled all of the corn using Sub Rosa Bakery’s hand cranked corn sheller. All said and done we have 200lbs of beautiful whole corn.

For this week’s share we have freshly stone ground cornmeal that can be used for cornbread, corn cake, corn pone, or whatever you prefer. If you fall in love, we will have grits and cornmeal available at market during the holiday season until we run out. Along with the cornmeal we have a few items for a perfect southern meal: green tomatoes, collard greens, cabbage, and turnips.

Hopefully with this cold November weather you can enjoy some tasty hot meals. If you are not familiar with Edna Lewis, please look her up and try some of her recipes below. She grew up in the Virginia Piedmont and went on to become a very influential person in the food world. Due to her farm upbringing, she had a sense of local and seasonal fare long before current trends made these concepts popular. Her cookbooks are a great inspiration for us as farmers and cooks. Enjoy the share….. Brian and Autumn 

Corn Pone –The Taste of Country Cooking by Edna Lewis

Preparation of Leafy Greens – The Taste of Country Cooking by Edna Lewis

New Cabbage with Scallions – The Taste of Country Cooking by Edna Lewis The first time we would cook and serve our newly grown garden cabbage was on a wheat-threshing day. We would cut up many heads and cook them in a large iron pot with liquid from the pork shoulder and a small amount of fat for seasoning. Cabbage cooked that way was a hearty fare, good sustenance for hard working men. We children usually had the food that was left over from the midday meal that night for supper and thought it was just great. No other food in the world seemed to have quite the good flavor of what was left over from a wheat-threshing dinner.

1 2-pound head new cabbage, 1/3 cup tender green scallion tops, cut into ¼” slices, 2 cups boiling water, or preferably stock from boiled pork shoulder, 3 Tbls freshly rendered fat from bacon or ham, salt and freshly ground pepper

To prepare the cabbage, trim away the outside leaves and cut the head into quarters. Cut away the core, leaving just enough to hold the leaves intact. Place the pieces of cabbage in a bowl of cold water for about 15 minutes or so to wash out any dust or bugs, particularly if it has come straight out of the garden. Remove, drain in a colander, then place in a 3-quart saucepan and add the scallion tops to give added flavor and color. Pour the boiling water or stock over and toss the cabbage with two spoons to make sure that each piece is scalded. Add the fat so that it coats the cabbage, then turn the burner low so that the cabbage boils briskly but not too rapidly for 25-30 minutes –any longer and the cabbage will become too soft and its taste will change. Drain. Toss the salt to taste and a good grating of freshly ground pepper to heighten the flavor. Serve hot.

Fried Green Tomatoes 

Turnip Casserole –Mastering the Art of French Cooking by Julia Child

Salad Mix, Escarole, Carrots, Broccoli, Broccoli Raab or Spigariello, Jonathon Cushaw Squash, German Red Garlic

This past week we harvested all the remaining Winter squash and pumpkin out in the field and moved them into our greenhouse for a few days to cure the stems a bit and check out if there were any rotten ones before transporting them all to our basement to store for the next month or so. For the first time we have actually had a decent squash harvest and a few of the varieties thrived in our planting. As with our cucumber, melon, and zucchini crops this year, part of this increase in yield is due to better understanding and management of the crop. Another aspect is that we planted the Winter squash in our home plot; which seems to be our best soil on the farm. Whatever the cause, we are excited to have more to sell and to give to the CSA members. We do not grow the typical varieties that are seen at market here, like acorn, spaghetti, and delicata. Rather we focus on heirloom varietals that grow well in this region and have superior taste and texture qualities for making excellent pies, soup, curry, or for eating on their own.

This week in the share you will get Cushaw squash; which makes the best squash pie I have ever made or eaten (recipe included below) and is fabulous stewed and used for soup. Currently Dutch and Company in Richmond is using cushaw for a fabulous chicken soup. The variety we grow is white and known as a Jonathon Cushaw. Just like the more popular green cushaw, these squash have a buttery flavor and a somewhat textured, stringy meat. They can be stored for up to 4 months. The neck of the squash is all meat, whereas the bowl is mostly seeds with a thin layer of meat. The cushaw can grow really large, over 30” long with a bowl over 12” in diameter. Many share members will receive a half cushaw; which we recommend you process within a week. This can mean stewing or steaming big pieces and then freezing for later use in pies or soup. Do not feel overwhelmed to use it all right away. Other highlights this week include returning escarole, the last big handful of garlic, and more sweet broccoli and carrots. Check out some recipes and enjoy the share….Brian and Autumn

Stewed Cushaw and Yummy Deliciousness Cushaw Coffee Cake

Rich Squash Pie – The Fannie Farmer Cookbook

Basic Pastry Dough for a 9” pie shell, 1 cup pureed cooked winter squash, 1 cup heavy cream, 1 cup sugar, 3 eggs, slightly beaten, 3 Tbls brandy, 1 tsp cinnamon, 1 tsp nutmeg, ½ tsp powdered ginger, ½ tsp salt, ¼ tsp mace

Preheat the oven to 425. Line a 9” pie pan with pastry dough. Combine the remaining ingredients in a large bowl and beat until smooth and well blended. Pour into the lined pie pan. Bake for 10 minutes, then reduce the heat to 300 and bake for 45-60 minutes more or until the filling is firm.

Spigariello – a Botanical Mystery

Wilted Escarole Salad

Escarole and Rice Soup – The Classic Italian Cookbook by Marcella Hazan

1 head escarole (3/4-1 lb), 2 TBL finely chopped yellow onion, ¼ cup butter, Salt, 3 ½ homemade meat broth or 1 cup canned chicken soup mixed with 2 ½ cups water, ½ cup rice preferably Arborio, 3 TBL fresh grated parmesan.

Detach escarole leaves discard any that are bruised and wash the rest in multiple waters until clean. Cut into ½ inch wide stripes In stockpot sauté onion in butter over medium heat until nicely browned. Add escarole and a light sprinkling of salt. Briefly sauté the escarole, stirring once to twice. Add ½ cup of broth and cook over very low heat until escarole is tender (25-45 depending on freshness and tenderness). When escarole is tender add rest of broth, raise heat and bring to a boil. Add rice and cover. Cook rice 15-20 minutes, stirring occasionally until just al dente, firm to the bite. Off the heat, mix in the Parmesan cheese. Taste and correct for salt, spoon onto plates and enjoy.

Hot Anchovy-Flavored Dip for Vegetables – The Classic Italian Cookbook by Marcella Hazan

¾ cup Olive Oil, 3 Tbls Butter, 2 tsp finely chopped Garlic, 8-10 flat anchovy fillets, chopped & 1 tsp Salt

Heat the oil and butter until the butter is thoroughly liquefied and barely begins to foam. Add the garlic and sauté very briefly. It must not take on any color. Add the anchovies and cook over very low heat, stirring frequently, until the anchovies dissolve into a paste. Add the salt, stir, and bring to the table along with raw vegetables. Broccoli: cut off florets and put aside for another use. Serve just the stalks, after peeling the tough outer skin. Carrots: scrape or peel clean and cut lengthwise into sections ½” thick. Sweet Peppers: wash in cold water and cut into quarter sections, remove any seeds and the pulpy inner core.

Frisee, Fennel, Beets (Chioggia or Red), Lettuce (Red Leaf or Green Oakleaf), Broccoli Raab or Spigariello, Red Meat Winter Radishes, Roma Tomatoes, Dill, & Something Extra.

As the leaves begin changing and the days grow exponentially shorter, our work is beginning to shift as well. Around the farm we are still very busy with poultry and of course there is always weeding to do; but overwhelmingly we are prepping and planning for next year. Bed preparation, cover cropping, maintenance on our hoophouse, catepillar tunnels, and greenhouse in preparation for winter growing as well as some continued farm and crop land cleanup. Plus big infrastructure projects, crop planning, and the loads of administrative work that gets left undone each growing season is reprioritized. We are continually excited about our Fall shares and the new items we have available each week, the only issue is running out of day light on harvest days. Too much product is never a problem, but it is difficult when you cannot find time to harvest it all.

The wildly popular Red Meat Radishes are back. This Chinese variety of winter radish is often referred to as a watermelon radish and has a bright pink center with a sweet and slightly spicy taste. Winter radishes are more hearty and sturdy than the typical spring radish and can be stored for 4+ months without compromising flavor or texture. They can be eaten raw; but they also are great when cooked. Check out this great article in the Washington Post that gives some background on this delicious vegetable with recipes included at the end. Fennel, Frisee (Curly Endive), and Spigariello are also included in this week’s share. As a simple option, you can roast fennel, beets, and radishes for a delicious side dish. Don’t forget about the Dill, it is one of our favorite pairings with beets. Check out the last recipe for a frisee and beet salad, but use dill instead of parsley, yum. If you are ever feeling stuck with your options for Broccoli Raab, here is a great article followed by some inventive recipes. Spigariello could also be used in many of the same preparations.

Blood Orange, Roasted Fennel & Radish Salad

Oven Roasted Salmon with Potatoes, Beets, and Fennel

Spaghetti with Oven-Roasted Tomatoes and Caramelized Fennel

Roasted Baby Beet Salad with warm Goat Cheese and Frisee

Asian Salad Mix (mizuna, red mustards, tatsoi), Carrots, Broccoli, Bok Choy, Daikon Radish, Napa Cabbage, Sweet Peppers, Scallions, Cilantro

Fall has started with a bang and brought amazing weather for growing crops. Our farm looks abundant and lush right now, which is a great reward after the Summer’s heat. So until we wait for frost, we are happy to have a lot of diversity. This week we introduce our fall broccoli and carrots; which both pair nicely with napa cabbage, bok choy, and sweet peppers. The sweet peppers are really sweet right now. It could have something to do with the near frost conditions last Saturday night. Check out the recipes below, almost all are from the lovely Japanese Farm Food by Nancy Singleton Hachisu. Enjoy cooking….Autumn and Brian

Udon Stir Fry with Bok Choy and Vegetables

Broccoli with Tofu and Yuzu Japanese Farm Food by Nancy Singleton Hachisu

Salt Massaged Napa Cabbage with Yuzu Slivers Japanese Farm Food by Nancy Singleton Hachisu

Daikon and Daikon Leaf Salad Japanese Farm Food by Nancy Singleton Hachisu


1 medium-small daikon

1 TB Sea Salt

2 small or 1 medium Yuzu (or substitute Meyer Lemon)

2 TB Organic Miso

2 TB Organic Rice Vinegar

4 TB Organic Rapeseed Oil


2 TB Slivered Scallions

Slice the daikon into manageable lengths.  Cut those pieces in half vertically and slice lengthwise into fine slabs.  Lay those slabs flat on the cutting board and slice into fine julienned strands about 1.5 inches long.  Put the julienned daikon into a medium-sized bowl as you go.  Chop a large handful of the most tender leaves medium -fine and add to the julienned daikon.  Sprinkle with the salt and massage in gently.  Let sit for 10 minutes.  Pare off the yellow zest of a yuzu or meyer lemon with a sharp knife, avoiding the white pith.  Stack roughly and slice into fine slivers.  Muddle the miso with the vinegar and whisk in the oil until emulsified.  Squeeze the daikon and daikon leaves in handfuls and drop into a clean bowl.  Toss with the yuzu peel and onion greens.  Give the dressing a quick whisk and fold into the daikon right before serving.  Ratio: miso:rice vinegar:oil – 1:1:2

Simmered Chicken-and-Miso Meatballs – Japanese Farm Food by Nancy Singleton Hachisu

Stock
1 piece Konbu
6 Tbls brown rice miso
¼ small head napa cabbage Quartered lengthwise
6 fat scallions
Meatballs
1 lb coarse-ground or hand chopped chicken thigh
2 Tbls chopped scallions (whites and green tops)
2 Tbls brown rice miso
1 Tbls finely grated ginger
1 Tbls potato starch
Cooked rice, for serving

Fill a medium-sized, heavy pot with 2 quarts (2 liters) of cold water. Drop the konbu and scallions into the water and bring to a simmer. Measure the miso into a large soup ladle and dip the ladle slightly into the simmering water to wet the miso. Whisk enough hot water into the miso so that the miso will not leave lumps when fully submerged into the simmering konbu stock.

(prepare the meatballs while you are waiting for the konbu and scallion stock to simmer.) Duno the chicken meat into a large mixing bowl and add the scallions, miso, grated ginger, and potato starch. Mix well with your hands to distribute all the aromatics. Form 10 2-inch diameter meatballs by tossing the meat between your two palms. The shape does not need to be perfectly round but it is important for the outer surface to seal. The surface should be slick and glossy. Lay the lengthwise-cut napa quarter wedge on a cutting board, remove the core with a V cut, and slice crosswise into thick strips (about ¾”). Add to the simmering stock and bring back to a simmer.

As soon as the stock begins to simmer, drop as many meatballs as can comfortably cook in your pot (they should not be crowded when they rise to the surface) and cook at a lively simmer until the meatballs pop up, about six minutes or so.  Check for doneness by gently pressing on a meatball, it should not have a lot of give, but should not be rock hard either. Spoon up two or three meatballs into a small bowl along with some  of the napa cabbage and a little broth. Serve with a bowl of rice.

Carrot Slivers Stir-fried with Soy Sauce– Japanese Farm Food by Nancy Singleton Hachisu

3 Tbls rapeseed or light sesame oil

2 small dried peppers, torn in half

4 cups julienned carrots

2 Tbls soy sauce

Heat the oil over medium-high heat in a large frying pan. Add the peppers and warm until fragrant. Turn the heat up to high and throw in the carrots. Toss several minutes over high heat until the carrots have softened but not wilted. Test for doneness by sampling a piece or two. Splash in the soy sauce and toss for a couple of seconds to draw the soy sauce flavor into the carrots. Ratio: vegetable: oil: soy sauce- 1cup: 2 tsp: 1 ½ tsp

Lettuce (little gem or panisse oakleaf)

Potatoes (russet or german butterball)

Anaheim and Poblano Peppers

All Purpose Tomatoes

Collard Greens

Eggplant

Arugula

Celery

Leeks

This week’s share introduces Collard Greens for the first time since early last Spring way before the CSA started. Collards are one of our favorite greens. They are so versatile, have an awesome texture that can hold up and not get mushy, and have a delicious complex flavor. Although these collards will get sweeter as the cold encroaches and we get frost, they are really awesome right now because the plants are young with large tender leaves. Collards pair nicely with potatoes and peppers, so try them all together or cook with any type of pork. This week marks the end of a few of our crops for the CSA: eggplant, celery, leeks, and potatoes. All of these crops were hit hard by either fungal or pest issues combined with some mismanagement on our part. There have been many lessons learned for future growing season. We will miss these crops of course, especially the leeks which had such a short life this year, but we are also so happy about the over abundance of crops we have that are thriving, happy, and of course tasty. Check out some of the recipes below and enjoy the share…..Autumn and Brian

Cook the Book: Collard Greens with Poblano Chiles and Chorizo

Potato and Collard Green Hash

Potage Parmentier (Potato Leek Soup)

Eggplant Caponatina Half this recipe with our ingredients and use regular tomatoes instead of cherry tomatoes, for a delicious appetizer.

Beets, Salad Mix, Russian Kale or Broccoli Raab, Hakurei Salad Turnips, All Purpose & Sauce Tomatoes, Sweet Italian Peppers, Romano Beans, Cippolini Onions, Flat Leaf Parsley

What a great time of year. The weather is beautiful, the food abundant and diverse, and for us farmers the opportunity for rest is within sight. We are not there yet though, this next month is full of a lot of planning for this coming year. In late September we begin putting in cover crop and preparing our open land for next Spring and Summer crops. In order to have these areas ready when we need them, we have to use the appropriate cover crop. For early spring crops such as onions, potatoes, and brassicas (broccoli, cabbage, kale, radishes, etc.) we need to use areas with winter-killed cover crops, so that after they die back from heavy frost, we can get into the land to prepare it. Other areas we want a cover crop to grow and develop through the Winter and into the Spring, so we can get as much organic matter built up as possible. All of this means we need to have a plan and know where things are going in the coming season. As a young farm, we are still putting systems in place, so planning now is necessary.

We are also looking forward to planting garlic for 2015. Garlic is one of our favorite crops. Planting it takes a considerable amount of time and energy. The beds are prepped with lots of compost and some fertilizer. The CSA work shares will assist in early November with the actual planting which includes separating cloves, dibbling the ground as we plant 5 rows with cloves every 6”; then the cloves are planted one by one, and finally covered with straw mulch. This year we have reserved 115lbs of our garlic harvested in 2014 to use for seed for 2015. We are still not able to save all our seed as we really like selling it and so we buy in a portion from a farm in upstate NY. The garlic farms in NY state are really amazing and we are thankful to have found good original seed sources, which we still use to supplement our stock. So as fall begins, we still have many projects and of course the continued care for our current abundant crops.

This week’s share brings back beets and hakurei salad turnips. It has been a few months, but they are back. Make some delicious beet and turnip salads, or add them onto a green salad. Or if the weather is turning cool, roast them both with some cippolini’s and kale or raab. We have a few more weeks of tomatoes and a new influx of beans, so enjoy these while the weather is still warm enough for them to grow. Check out the recipes and enjoy the share……Autumn and Brian

Meshweya (Tunisian Roasted Salad) – The New Book of Middle Eastern Food by Claudia Roden

Sweet Red Pepper-Beet Soup                             

Broccoli Rabe with Pepper and Onion

Turnip and Orange Salad –The New Book of Middle Eastern Food pg.80 by Claudia Roden

This Salad is Tunisian. Wash 1 lb young, tender turnips and slice them very thinly. Macerate for an hour in a mixture of 3 Tbls olive oil and the juice of one bitter Seville orange or a mixture of orange and lemon juice (the dressing needs to be sharp), with a crushed clove of garlic, salt, and pepper. A pinch of ground chile is optional (aleppo pepper is amazing). Serve as it is with a few sprigs of parsley or add a chopped up orange (my favorite).

Pancar Salatasi (Beet and Yogurt Salad) – The New Book of Middle Eastern Food pg.93 by Claudia Rodent

This is a Turkish way of dressing beets. 1 lb young beets, 2 Tbls lemon Juice, 2 Tbls olive oil, 1 cup plain whole-milk yogurt, salt, 1 Tbls finely chopped parsley

Cut the tops off the beets and boil them in plenty of water for 30-40 minutes, until tender. Peel and slice them. Mix the lemon juice with the oil. Add the yogurt and salt and beat well. Then mix with the beets. Pour into a serving dish and garnish with chopped parsley

Loubia bi Zeit (Green Beans in Olive Oil) – The New Book of Middle Eastern Food pg.92 by Claudia Roden

3/4lb green beans, 1 onion coarsely chopped, 2-3 Tbls olive oil, 2 cloves garlic sliced, 2 tomatoes peeled and chopped, salt and pepper.

Top and tail and wash the beans. In a saucepan, fry the onion in oil until soft. Add the garlic, and when the onion and garlic begin to color, add the tomatoes and the beans. Only just cover with water, add salt and pepper, and simmer, uncovered, until the beans are tender and the liquid is reduced. Serve cold.

Baby Tatsoi

Mizuna

Mustard Greens (Southern Giant & Japanese Red)

Napa Cabbage

Heirloom and Salad Tomatoes

Baby Daikon Radishes

Shishito Peppers

Chiles (Khmer, Cuban Hat, Serrano)

Baby Leeks

This has been a whirlwind of a month so far. We have been having more visitors than we are accustomed to what with our first farm supper and now this weekend as part of the Richmond area Farm Tour. It is wonderful to share our space and story with our shareholders, customers, and people interested in small-scale intensive farming. For us our farming is so inextricably linked to cooking and eating that we find it very rewarding to find individuals who want to cook with delicious food and because of that want to know more and get a better picture of what it takes to get food onto your tables. Besides all the visitors, we are also in the midst of getting our Winter crops going, thinking about what we will need all the way through next March. Sometimes it is hard to conceptualize that far ahead, but for us to have the crops we want and to continue experimenting with what can survive through the winter, when it should be planted, under cover or not, etc. we have to be starting transplants now and direct seeding has to take place before the middle of October. We are really lucky because in the next month we will be having a 96 ft by 30 ft high tunnel constructed in our back crop field. This high tunnel will allow us to extend our growing season more effectively and have more crops through the winter and spring season. This high tunnel will also allow us more covered space for our nightshade and curcurbit crops in the summer. As we have written before these crops can be healthier and less disease prone when we can control irrigation and keep their foliage dry. This high tunnel project has been funded by the USDA Natural Resources and Conservation Services and we are grateful that such assistance exists, as it is not a project we could have financed ourselves. Lastly this month has been filled with lots of poultry work; we currently have two more batches of broiler chickens on pasture and two different flocks of Muscovy ducks. This coming Thursday we will process the first flock. Duck processing is one of the most labor-intensive activities we have on the farm. Every year we question whether it is worth it and then we taste the duck and decide well yes it is. So our weeks are staying full and busy, the days get shorter and cooler, and farming continues.

This week’s share includes a lot of cooking greens, hopefully you have missed them enough that you are excited for many different green dishes. The leeks, daikon, napa, and mustards can be used for kimchee, if you are so inclined, you can look back to last May for our recommended recipe. We have included a few different chiles of various heat; the Cuban Hat has some heat, is delicious in eggs, pico de gallo, or a salad, and pairs well with avocado; the Serrano can be used both raw or cooked, and the Khmer is the hottest and is delicious added whole to a stir-fry or sautéed greens. This will be the last of the shishito’s for the share, please enjoy and try them blistered or tempura battered, so delicious. Check out the recipes and enjoy the share…..Brian and Autumn

Salad Play – tatsoi, daikon, and candied walnut salad

Stir-fried Napa cabbage and leeks with noodles

Orecchiette With Mustard Greens

Shishito Peppers Tempura

Monkfish Nabe with Mizuna –Japanese Farm Food by Nancy Singleton Hachisu

Arugula

Scarlett Queen Salad Turnips

Russian Kale or Broccoli Raab

Okra

Tomatoes (Sauce and All Purpose)

Sweet Peppers (Lipstick, Yaglik, & Corno di Toro)

Dill

Garlic

Welcome to our Fall CSA. We have 10 weeks of delicious food ahead. Over the past week the weather has taken a serious turn and maybe you have noticed but the days are getting shorter in great leaps and bounds. Around the beginning of September, we begin losing over 15minutes of light every week. As farmers we notice this in everything we do. First off our workdays get shorter, which is always a bit of a relief until its harvest day and we realize we are quickly running out of time and still have many crops left to harvest. This is compounded with having a whole new set of crops in abundance such as greens and quick root crops. Secondly the growth of crops begins to slow and this happens at an astronomical rate throughout the month. Direct seeded crops such as beets, salad greens, carrots, and spinach can be seeded 7 days apart and will be harvestable about 4 weeks apart. Over the next three weeks we will be seeding crops for winter and overwintered harvest, as well as quick growing crops such as arugula and salad mix that we can harvest around mid November (usually they are ready 21-30 days after seeding). Growing crops for winter production is a totally different skill than growing during the normal season. So this means for the next 3-4 weeks we have a lot of direct seeding and transplanting to do and then we are pretty much finished with planting except for the occasional crop such as garlic or fava beans. We are excited that so many of our fall crops have taken off so well and that we can offer salad turnips, broccoli raab, and kale in this first share alongside returning tomatoes, peppers, and okra. Check out some recipes below and enjoy the share…. Brian and Autumn

Pickled Okra

Sukuma Wiki (African Braised Kale with Tomatoes)

SCARLET QUEEN RED TURNIP SALAD  -Instead of cucumbers, put the salad on a small bed of arugula, add some dill, delicious.

Dry-aged Italian Beef Sandwich with Homemade Giardiniera, Sweet Peppers, Suet-Fried Chips and Broccoli Rabe

Okra, Kale, Old Bay, and Andouille Saute

Okra
Padron Peppers
Paprika (smoky & spicy, great for drying or cooking)
Green Mild Peppers (seyrek & cubanelle)
Summer Squash or Eggplant
Romano Green Bean
Swiss Chard
Arugula
Celery Stalks
Dill & Parsley
Red Creole Onions

Welcome to our last Spring/Summer share of 2014. We have included some items to make a great creole meal. We were hoping to have some sauce tomatoes included too, but the tomato plants are just sitting with loads of green tomatoes on them, so perhaps later in the Fall. This may be the last share for 2014 to include summer squash, padron peppers, and the Romano green beans. We hope you have enjoyed having them as much as we have. Check out the recipes below and enjoy the share…Brian and Autumn

How to cook perfect gumbo

Fire-Charred Green Beans with Cajun Dipping Sauce Recipe

SHRIMP, BACON AND OKRA ‘CREOLE-CAJUN’ ZUCCHINI PASTA

Cajun Dirty Rice with Eggplant