- Oct 11, 2023

Summer CSA Newsletter Week #20, Oct. 8 - 14, 2023 “B” week

Amaranth is beautiful in the fall!

VEGETABLE SHARES

(see FULL and HALF list for which share has what, how much, along with info, guides, recipes)

FULL SHARE:

LETTUCE MIX (¼ lb) - Store in a plastic bag in your fridge. We consider it a “1st Priority Vegetable” and recommend you use it within the first 3 days, as it has a short shelf life. (Although our freshly harvested lettuce will often last a week or sometimes even more!) Guide & Recipes

TOMATOES (1lb mix of slicers, heirlooms, and romas) - Store on your countertop for best flavor. If the tomato is not fully red, wait a couple of days for it to ripen completely or make Fried Green Tomatoes! Our favorite recipe for this dish is below.

RED RUSSIAN KALE (1 bunch) - Sweet, tender and mild, Red Russian kale is often liked by those that are averse to the more traditional curly kale varieties. The stem is edible but most discard it as it doesn’t soften much with cooking. Store in a plastic bag (a Debbie Meyer Green bag if you have one) and keep it in the fridge. This crop technically falls into the category of “1st Priority veggies” to be used in the next week or so. If you can’t use it up by your next share, some good exit strategies are to put it in smoothies, make pesto, or make green cubes! Guide & Recipes

SALAD (Hakurei) TURNIPS (1 bunch) - These popular white golf-ball or smaller size roots are juicy, sweet and less starchy than an average turnip, with a texture that deserves to be eaten raw or barely cooked. Hakurei turnips have the tender, almost creamy texture of a spring radish, but without the sharp heat of a radish, their more mellow turnip flavor shines through.They are crisp and tender. Use them in salads, sandwiches, stir frys, sautes, scrambled eggs or sauces. Remove the edible tops (use in salads or lightly sauteed) and store them separately in a plastic bag in the fridge (or the root will get soft). Best used within 3-4 weeks but will keep a long time! Guide & Recipes

BELL PEPPERS (3 mix color) - Store these in the fridge in a plastic bag. Stuff, add to stir fries, egg dishes, soups, tacos & burritos, pizza, etc. Peppers can also be flash frozen. Just throw them in a Ziploc bag (whole or chopped) and freeze!

BEETS with TOPS (1 bunch) - Remove tops from roots and store separately in the crisper drawer of your fridge in plastic bags. Use the tops within a week, (don't waste your beet greens and stems! They taste delicious and can be quickly and easily pan-fried - see recipes below!) but the roots are hardy keepers and will last for months! Guide & Recipes

BASIL - The best way to store basil is to pretend they are cut flowers. Cut the bottoms of the stems off and put in a glass of water on your counter or table. (They make a pretty centerpiece until you are ready to use them!) Basil is great in pesto - - which can be frozen

.ACORN WINTER SQUASH - Mild, buttery flavor that pairs well with a wide variety of seasonings, both savory and sweet. May be baked, broiled, roasted, steamed, stuffed, sautéed, pureed, or even used as the surprise ingredient in a pie. Stores for up to a couple months in cool, dark place like your garage - just don’t let it freeze! Guide & Recipes

OPTIONAL ITEM:

RED RUSSIAN KALE and/or BASIL

HALF SHARE: (see Full VEG Shares above⬆ for info on each item)

LETTUCE MIX (¼ lb)

TOMATOES (1 lb)

SALAD (Hakurei) TURNIPS (1 bunch)

BELL PEPPERS (3 color)

BEETS with TOPS (1 bunch)

ACORN WINTER SQUASH

MES SHARE -

Off Week but catching up Eggs for those at LEUCC and Home Deliveries

EGG SHARE

Weekly Shares = 1 Dozen Biweekly Shares = 1 Dozen

APPLE SHARE - 4.5 lbs of FLORINA - Combined traits of Jonathan, Golden Delicious, and Rome varieties, medium firm and a blend of sweet and tart with a slight banana flavor, this sweet, aromatic, crisp and juicy variety is good for all purposes, especially for fresh eating. And it stores well - - even for 3 months!

Apple Cinnamon Rolls

from Chris McGuire of Two Onion Farm

Makes 9 rolls. Active time 40 minutes; total time 1 hour 15 minutes

For the filling: 1 1/4 cups light brown sugar 5 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into chunks, plus more for greasing the pan 2 teaspoons cinnamon 1 large apple ( about 8 ounces), cored, and chopped into 1/4 inch pieces For the buns: 1/2 cup buttermilk 1 large egg 3 cups all-purpose flour 1 tablespoon granulated sugar 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder 1 1/2 teaspoons salt 1/2 teaspoon baking soda 12 tablespoons cold unsalted butter cut into small cubes

1. Preheat the oven to 350*F.

2. Grease a 8 by 8 inch baking pan with a bit of butter, set aside. Make the filling: In a small bowl, combine the brown sugar, butter and cinnamon. Using a fork, cut the butter into sugar, working it in until the mixture looks like wet sand. Put in the refrigerator to chill while you prepare the dough.

3. In a small bowl, whisk together the buttermilk and egg; set aside. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and baking soda. Sprinkle the butter over flower mixture and use your fingers to work the butter in. Stop when the mixture looks like sand studded with little chunks. Add the egg mixture and stir with a fork just until the dough begins to hold together. It will look quite ragged and not fully blended, but stop there.

4. Dump out the dough onto parchment paper and knead it just enough to bring it all together, then use a rolling pin and spatula to roll it into a 15″ by 9″ rectangle with straight sides.

5. Sprinkle the dough all over with the filling, leaving a 1-inch border on one of the long sides. Top with the apples and gently press down. Working from the edge opposite the 1-inch border, roll the dough up tightly, like a jelly roll. When you reach the border, give the roll a squeeze and turn the seam upside down.

6. Cut the roll crosswise into 9 equal buns and arrange them in the pan. Bake until golden brown and bubbling, 30 to 35 minutes. Serve warm, right from the pan.

Stuffed Pepper Soup

adapted from Damn Delicious

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 pound lean ground beef

1 medium sweet onion, diced

1 red bell pepper, diced

1 green bell pepper, diced

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 ½ teaspoons Italian seasoning

¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

1-2 lbs fresh or canned diced tomatoes

1 (8-ounce) can tomato sauce

3 cups beef broth

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

2 cups cooked white rice

2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley leaves

Heat oil in a large stockpot or Dutch oven over medium heat. Add ground beef and cook until browned, about 3-5 minutes, making sure to crumble the beef as it cooks; drain excess fat and set aside.

Add onion and bell peppers. Cook, stirring occasionally, until tender, about 3-4 minutes.

Stir in garlic, Italian seasoning and red pepper flakes until fragrant, about 1 minute.

Stir in diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, beef broth and ground beef; season with salt and pepper, to taste.

Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer until flavors have blended, about 15-20 minutes.

Stir in rice and parsley until heated through, about 1-2 minutes. Serve immediately.

Field News & Photos:

Weather’s turned colder, and the change is obvious in the field. Here’s the winter squash field just a couple weeks ago. Some of the leaves were drying up and dying back, but it was still lush and full like this up until last weekend.

And below is what the field looked like after a light frost Saturday morning. The leaves look all sad and are droopy.

While we’d already harvested some of the squashes, we hadn’t gone through and cleaned up the field yet, so Sunday morning we decided to forego our usually “down” day to do so. While about a dozen squashes were also damaged by the cold temperatures, the large majority were protected by the leaf cover and will taste sweeter because of the frost!

The pattern of frost left behind on a spaghetti squash.

Everyone helped with this project, even our dogs. As we picked up the squashes, they hunted for voles hiding in the vegetation.

They ended up catching 5 or 6!

Some squashes were obviously enjoyed by the critters, but not many. Having several farm dogs has helped control the population. Our dogs are definitely our companions, but they’re also a valued part of our team.

Pixie and Marlee getting a tetsukabuto squash. I captured most of the team in this shot.

It’s fun watching the bins fill up! I was really thankful everyone pitched in because it would have been a really big job to clear out the field without them.

Bill and Aidan couldn’t resist playing a few rounds of “Squash Toss” again!

(No squashes were harmed. lol)

As long as we were working, the guys emptied a bed of salad turnips and covered another with some row cover to protect from predicted colder temperatures early in the week. They also covered the lettuce beds.