Week Eight

It’s exciting to us to be eating more and more food from the garden. Almost every meal incorporates something that we have grown or that has been grown in this county or the surrounding ones. It’s a good time of year for local eating.

The food is its own motivator because it is really so delicious compared to what you can get at the grocery store at any time of year. But the change for our planet is good too. “If every U.S. citizen ate just one meal a week composed of locally and sustainably raised meat and produce, we would reduce our country’s oil consumption by over 1.1 million barrels of oil every week. That’s not gallons, but barrels.” (Steven Hopp)That’s a real difference.

We hope that you all are enjoying your food. We would be happy to hear any feedback that you have. While we have had huge gardens and worked on other farms, this is our first year growing for other people on our own, so let us know how it’s going.

Farm work is still going at a breakneck pace and we would be glad to see some rain. We are trying to work in the coolest parts of the day, and I can’t help but feel very sorry for the sheep panting in the field in their wool coats. Phew. Everything is looking good though and we are glad for that.

Your basket this week will have:

potatoes

zucchini

green peppers

tomatoes OR green beans

purslane

onions

garlic

If you have a strong preference for either tomatoes or green beans, let us know and we will try to honor that preference.

I told you last week that you would be getting purslane this week. “Purslane is rich in antioxidants and the famous Omega-3 fatty acid (that many people think is only found in oily fish). In addition, 100 grams (a small serving) contains 300 to 400 milligrams of alpha-linoleic acid, 12.2 mg of alpha-tocopherol (vitamin E), 26.6 mg of Vitamin C, 1.9 mg of beta-carotene, and 14.8 mg of glutathione. All of which is to say that Popeye has been eating the wrong plant!” (Whole Foods Guide to Nutrition)

Happily, it really is tasty. If you look it up online you can find dozens of recipes that sound good. Small salad with just purslane, purslane mixed with tomato and cucumber with lemon vinaigrette, tea sandwiches with cream cheese and purslane, pasta with purslane, bacon, onions, and garlic, purslane omelet or frittata. There are lots of ways to enjoy it - including raw which is our favorite. Let us know what you think.

Speaking of recipes, I want to share my new favorite potato recipe with you. It’s from Feast by Nigella Lawson. So good.

1. Boil 1 1/2 pounds of small potatoes (if they are large, you can cut them before boiling) for 30 minutes..
2. While the potatoes are boiling preheat the oven to 450 with a roasting pan in the oven.
3. Drain the potatoes. Put them in a large skillet or platter along with 6-8 cloves of garlic. Use a potato masher to roughly crush them. You want them to still be whole but smashed.
4. Pour 1/4 cup olive oil into the hot roasting pan and let it heat. Then place in the smashed potatoes and garlic (which will start to sizzle immediately - be careful!). Sprinkle with salt and pepper and place in the oven for 15 minutes.
5. Remove from the oven and flip the potatoes and garlic and heat for 15 more minutes. They will be browned and really tasty!!

As you may recall from your newsletter, we are providing 20 weeks of food out of a 22 week period from May 21 - October 15 with two weeks off to be announced ahead of time. One of those weeks off will be next Friday, July 16. There will be no delivery next week. We will resume delivery as normal the next week, Friday, July 23. We hope you miss your baskets a little!

Remember to let us know if you are interested in the fall shares (the cost is cheaper before August 1!), if you want eggs, and please bring your baskets.

Thanks for your support and we will see you Friday!

Week Seven

We are sorry for the lateness in getting out this newsletter. Things are good here (but busy!) and we are so grateful for cooler weather. We hear it’s not going to last, but, oh, the respite has been wonderful.

The last of the main season planting has been finished. Finally!! Some of our summer mainstays may be later than you will see elsewhere, but they should be really good. We planted many varieties of heirloom melons and winter squashes. There are so many more varieties of these vegetables (and others) that you never see in the store and we love to grow them and really love to eat them.

Now we are trellising tomatoes, weeding, starting fall seeds, weeding, mowing, weeding, mulching, weeding - oh and did I mention weeding? I laughed when I read about an author who kept a huge garden (Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver which you should think about reading if you haven’t) thinking every year that the weeds were the absolute worst ever that year and then going back to read previous journal entries that basically said the same thing. The weeds are the worst every year apparently. Samantha and Lila have been gorging on purslane (Ben and I eat it too) which is a weed trying to take over the tomato patch. You might get some in your baskets next week. Farmers grow it on purpose in Europe, which is hard for me to imagine since it is everywhere in our garden. It’s actually quite tasty and is the green highest in the omega-3 fatty acids that are all the nutrition craze right now. And when you eat it, you’ll be helping us in our war against weeds.

I’ve been reading cookbooks lately for inspiration. Local Flavors by Deborah Madison is a beautiful book as well as inspiring. It has been inspiring me to make Chard Soup with Noodle Nests; Lasagna with Chard, Ricotta, and Walnuts; Chard Gratin, Zucchini Risotto; Soft Taco with Roasted Green Chile and Goat Cheese. I tell you, this book is a treasure trove. Based on the inspiration that I’ve been getting from this book, I’m going to share with you three recipes for the abundance of squash and zucchini that will continue to come your way for pretty much the rest of the sumer.

Zucchini Risotto (adapted from Local Flavors)

1 pound zucchini or squash

5-6 cups vegetable or chicken stock

2 tablespoons butter

1/3 cup diced shallots

1 1/2 cups arborio rice

1/2 cup white wine

1 cup grated parmesan

1. Cut zucchini into a small dice
2. Melt the butter in a wide pot. Add the onions and squash and cook over medium low heat, stirring occasionally until squash has begun to color, about 15 minutes.
3. Add the rice and stir to coat it with butter. Pour in wine and simmer til absorbed then add 1/2 cup of stock and simmer til it’s absorbed. Keep adding stock in 1/2 cup increments until the rice is cooked.Turn off the heat and stir in cheese.

Note: You call also add some garlic at the end, some diced tomatoes, some herbs - anything really. It’s delicious either way!

Slow Cooked Sliced Summer Squash (adapted from Local Flavors)

1-2 pounds summer squash or zucchini

3 tablespoons olive oil

1/2 cup water

salt and pepper

1. Slice the squash 1/4 inch thick.
2. Heat oil in a wide skillet. Add squash and cook over medium low heat flipping squash every 3 or 4 minutes until it’s tender and golden, about 20 minutes. Add water and continue cooking until none remains. Season with salt and pepper and serve.

Note: This is also good with garlic stirred in at the end or any herb sprinkled on top at the end.

Lila’s Favorite Zucchini Orzo

Lila could eat this at every meal every day. And always, as she sits down to eat this, she says, “I’m so glad it’s summer and we have zucchini.” This is an inexact (but very forgiving) recipe.

1. Slice some onions thin (as few as one and as many as three). Grate zucchini (you can use whatever you have up to two pounds or so - it really cooks down).
2. Melt 1 tablespoon butter and 2 tablespoons olive oil in a wide skillet over medium heat. Add zucchini and onions along with 1/2 teaspoon salt. Mix together. The zucchini will release it’s liquid and cook down a fair amount. Then it will start to brown. When it does this scrape the bottom of the pan and let it continue to brown a bit. This is the tasty stuff. This whole process takes maybe 10-15 minutes. When it is done to your liking then turn off the heat. At this point you can add a clove or two of minced garlic or some herbs.
3. While the zucchini is cooking bring a pot of water to a boil and cook orzo according to box instructions (I use around 8 oz of orzo for 4 people). When it is finished mix it with the zucchini mixture. Add a generous grating of parmesan cheese and enjoy!

This week in your baskets you will have:

garlic

carrrots

chard

green peppers

kohlrabi

zucchini

blueberries (from Blueberry Hill Farm)

Remember to let us know if you are interested in the fall share. We will offer a half share for fall which will be $125 before August 1 and $150 after. The half share will be the same with delivery every two weeks and you will be able to specify whether you would like more greens, cole crops, root crops, or winter squash. Let us know!

Thanks for support that keeps us farming!