This weeks share
- Beans
- Carrots
- Cilantro
- Cucumbers
- Eggplant
- Garlic
- Lettuce
- Peppers
- Potatoes
- Summer Squash
- Tomatoes
*Basil
*Melons
Beans – Picked from our third planting, these Venture green are delicious raw or sautéed with your garlic.
Carrots – Fresh bunches of Nelson carrots.
Cilantro – A favorite herb for fresh salsas or cooked with eggplant.
Cucumbers – Just for fun serve the lemon cucumbers cut into wedges and topped with lemon juice.
Eggplant – Simply diced, fried, and mashed does it.
Garlic – Add to the pesto.
Lettuce – Don’t forget it’s the ‘L’ in BLT
Pepper – A single green bell pepper teaser. Most of our peppers we leave on the plant to fully ripen. The green fruits will turn red, yellow and even orange depending on the variety. It takes many months of sun to create a fully mature fruit. So while we are waiting we will give out a few green peppers for you to cook with.
Potatoes – These Sangre potatoes were harvested by fellow shareholders during the potato party that happened this past Saturday.
Summer Squash – The usual assortment from plants that seem to be slowing down a bit.
Tomatoes – Lets all think “hot weather” to get all the tomatoes to ripen on the vine. In the coming months these are the varieties you will be eating:
- San Marzano – A Roma type red paste tomato that usually ripens in September, great for making sauce.
- Early Cascade – The first tomato that has been given out so far, small round slicer.
- Crimson Sprinter – A good slicer for salads.
- Spears Tennessee Green – Tangy, juicy, and green, Tanya’s Favorite.
- Brandywine – The quintessential heirloom, big, dark pink, a real tomato’s tomato.
- Marvel – Deeply pleated, yellow to orange.
- Cosmonaut Volokov – Round and red.
- Valencia – Selected in Maine, it’s a bright orange, round tomato
- Cherokee Purple – A dark red Heirloom with a purple and green cast, it is a great sandwich tomato
Note on Basil – Over the course of the next few weeks you will be receiving larger amounts of basil. On a rotating basis each pick-up will recieve about a half a pound. This should be enough to be able to make pesto and freeze some for the winter months. Pesto can initially be frozen in ice cube trays and then popped out and stored in plastic bags in the freezer.
Note on Melons- The melons are slowly ripening. They will be appearing in your shares in the next few weeks. As they ripen they will go out for pick up. If you do not see them this week you have something to look forward to in the next week or two.
Recipes
Agua de Pepino (Cucumber Limeade)
Adapted from B’s Cucumber Pages
- 1 cucumber, peeled and cut into chunks
- Juice of 2-3 limes
- Sugar to taste (1/4 c or so is good)
- water
- ice
Put cucumber, sugar and lime juice in blender with enough water to reach an inch and a half below the top. Blend well. Strain the pulp out of the mixture and serve over ice.
Fried Cucumbers
Wash and slice cucumbers. Dip them in a mixture of egg and a little milk. Coat them in flour or corn meal and fry in a skillet like you would fry green tomatoes.
Cucumber Mousse 2
Adapted from The Joy of Cooking
- 1 package lime-flavored gelatin
- 3/4 c hot water
- 1/4 c lemon juice
- 1 T grated onion
- 1 c sour cream
- 1 cup cucumber, pared, seeded, and chopped
Dissolve gelatin in water. Add lemon juice and onion. Chill until almost set. Stir in sour cream and cucumbers. Fill a wet mold with mixture and chill thoroughly. When set, invert onto a platter and garnish.
Potato Carrot Soup With Sour Cream & Dill Sauce
- 3 tablespoons olive oil or butter
- 1 pound carrots, peeled and cut into small, bite-sized pieces
- 1 yellow onion, peeled and thinly sliced
- 2 pounds potatoes, peeled and diced
- 3 cloves garlic, minced fine
- 1 1/2 quarts vegetable or chicken broth
- 1 medium bunch chives, chopped fine
- Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
- 1 cup low-fat sour cream
- 1/2 teaspoon paprika
- 2-3 tablespoons chopped fresh dill
In a large soup pot, over medium-low heat, cook the carrots, onions and potatoes in olive oil or butter until soft. Add the garlic and the broth. Simmer over medium heat for 30 minutes. Remove from stove and in batches, puree the soup in a food processor. Pour soup back into pot. Add the chives, and season generously with salt and pepper to taste. In a small bowl, combine the sour cream, paprika and dill. Ladle the soup in bowls, and garnish with the sour-cream mixture.
News from the fields
Potato Harvest Party
This past Saturday was a beautiful day in the potato patch. The farm team and numberous CSA members helped pick up potatoes from the field after they were dug out of the ground with our potato harvester. In total we harvested about 3000 pounds of both Yellow Finn and Sangre varieties. Thanks for all your help. Afterwards we were treated to a delicious potluck lunch and the freshest French fries I had ever tasted, courtesy of Blake and Brian’s deep-frying expertise.
Plate and Pitchfork
We had an incredible weekend of dining on the farm. For three nights six different chefs created feasts under the stars. We raised $2000 for our CSA scholarship fund and $3300 for the Sauvie Island Center. If you want to participate next year be sure to get your name on the Plate and Pitchfork mailing list.