Produce Subscription (Week 34)

Well, we took away the field full of flowers from the various pollinators. Mean farmers! The front section is going from buckwheat (now all flail-mowed) into rye and vetch. Lots of nitrogen to fix and humus to make. Those two will sprout a bit, then go dormant thru the winter to come back strong for a spring cutting. Then we’ll put the field in heavy feeding produce…like peppers or potatoes or tomatillos or the like.

I spy the Dazs-le dog.

Oh, and we are officially out of boxes. So, if you have squirreled some away somewhere, please bring it/them back to the dropsite. We will need to go buy more if they don’t show back up this week. It gets spendy.

Your boxes will be in their respective drop site locations by 9am Wednesday. (Dropsite Location Details) Find the box with your name and have at it!

If you have any questions, please call Roger on his delivery phone 626 488 5437 (if before 10a) and the farm phone 715 426 7582 (if after 10am).

The rainbow continues in your boxes this week.

Tomato, cherry, saladette and slicer sampler Day by day they keep pinking up! Enjoy the new additions.

Pepper, sweet Some greens for a nice BBQ sauce. See below for my grandmother’s recipe…simple and love it!

Pepper, Feher Ozon paprika (immature) We included one of these young peppers to give you a sampling. They take forever to mature, so I start eating them early! They do wonders to a tofu scramble, I have to say.

Potato, Red Gold These are a new variety for us. Poor yield this year, but I do like the way they cook up.

Lettuce mix A little bit of mix to tide us over until the heads start coming along.

Cabbage, Tendersweet This cabbage is different, I have to say. “Tender” is indeed a good descriptor, and juicy too. Great for coleslaw, no waiting required, it serves up well right after preparation.

Beans, wax The last of the beans for awhile; the hot and dry weather came at a bad time in their maturation; I hope they are tender enough…

Squash, zephyr How about some minestrone to use up those squash?

Zucchini Tossed in another 12" fella for some zucchini baking; you have got to try the zucchini brownies …I am in love! (I didn’t frost them…and I made them with ½ maple syrup and heavy on the cocoa powder. Holy cow they are moist and delicious!) Trust me…double the recipe!

Zucchini, baby striped A couple for a pizza-boat lunchbox make-ahead.

Cucumber, slicers Both “Corinto (bumpy)” and “Diva (smooth)” varieties…anyone have a preference?

Cucumber, lunchbox Try this hummus for a personal cucumber dipper… Ultimate Hummus

Cucumber, Little Potato, True Lemon, Crystal Apple and/or Mini-white They sure do all taste different, don’t they. I think I like the mini-whites the best, with apple coming in second. What are your favorites?

Onions, white and Walla walla More of the same; the remaining harvest is coming out of the field this week.

Garlic, Music variety “Sweet, pungent flavor” they say…

Oregano A fresh pasta sauce is in the offing this week, I bet.

Thyme Great addition to scalloped potatoes or tomato soup.

Recipes for your consideration

My favorite over rice or mashed potatoes, from my grandmother’s kitchen. Tangy, rich flavor; easy to toss together.¬

Nana’s Western Style Barbeque Wheatmeat

1 Tbsp olive oil
1 medium onion, thinly sliced
1 green pepper, thinly sliced
2 Tbsp cider vinegar
2 Tbsp veggie Worcestershire sauce
1/4 tsp red pepper, ground (or minced fresh hot pepper)
1 tsp black pepper, ground
2 tsp ground chili pepper
1 tsp paprika
3/4 cup catsup/ketchup, yours or Heinz
3/4 cup water
1 lb seitan/ “wheat meat” chicken-style

Combine all ingredients and simmer 30-45 minutes. Serve over rice or mashed potatoes

From: Source: Nana Heinz’ kitchen

This is a weekend favorite, either for breakfast or dinner. It packs away lots of vegetables and has such a rich diversity of flavors it satisfies the palate.¬

Savory Scramble

1 Tbsp olive oil
1 onion, diced
1 sweet pepper, diced (paprika peppers work nicely)
1 squash/zucchini, sliced or diced
1 tomato, diced
1-2 other vegetables as you please (kale, broccoli, carrot, cauliflower, green bean, mushrooms etc. Add to sauté early if a dense vegetable.
1# extra-firm tofu, crumbled (just squish it in your fists; cooking is fun!)

½ cup soy milk, unflavored
½ tsp sea salt
¼ tsp ground black pepper
1 tsp ground paprika
1 tsp ground tumeric
1 Tbsp fresh or dried parsley
1-2 sprigs fresh oregano, minced (or 1 tsp dried)
4-5 sprigs fresh thyme, stripped from stem (or ½ tsp dried)
2 cloves garlic, pressed/minced

Start the sauté with olive oil and onions on medium heat, then add peppers, then squash, then tomato, then other veggies, then tofu.

Meanwhile, mix the soy milk and herbs/spices in a small bowl.

Once the veggies are cooked to your liking, add the seasoning liquid the pan and stir well to coat. Allow to heat thru for 3-4 minutes on medium.

Serve warm with toast and maybe a patty or two of GimmeLean sausage.

Everyone feel free to add your favorite recipes to the website.

For Your Reading Pleasure

The No Recipe Cookbook: A beginners guide to the art of cooking
by Susan Crowther

I saw this book in our local town co-op grocer; it caught my eye because the title is generally how I cook. As I flipped thru, then started reading thru, I really liked her approach. It is a bit of story-telling, a bit of how-to-stock-your-pantry, and a bit of kitchen wisdom on the little things that make a dish/meal successful.

If you want to navigate away from hard-and-fast recipe reading, give this book a read. It may help you cut the umbilical cord that ties many to strict recipes, and may give you the freedom to “toss” together dinner with just your palate to guide you. “Hmm, what am I hungry for tonight? Maybe something with cumin or oregano or tomato or corn…” You’ll probably make some duds, I do for sure, but I like the freedom this book gives you.

See what you think.

Farm News

It was a beautiful day for harvest today. What a sky! Hard to stay focused on the tasks at hand. :) Weather was perfect, no bugs to contend with, ground was damp from the rain so kneeling was not an act of torture. But, the rain yesterday sure did feed the weeds. Ok, it fed all of the other stuff too, so we are happy on balance.

Take a look at that sky. Love it.

We remain quite pleased with the warm-season produce progress in the high tunnel. Knock wood…not to jinx ourselves. The pruning of the tomatoes and cucumbers has remained on track (pat the back and thanks to MP volunteering.) The cucumbers are growing in an umbrella-trellis system, with one leader going up and then two leaders coming back down after flipping over the top wire. The tomatoes are growing with a two leader system with both stems growing up until they are unreachable, then we “lower and lean” the spool and plant so it coils on the ground. (Well, that is the hope. Sometimes they just sag and crack!) Kinda fun to push these plants into weird growing patterns and yet keep them happy. Oddly enough, pruning off all lower leaves (up to the fruit node) is ideal and keeps disease at bay. I have fun hacking and slashing each week, knowing it is all for a good cause!

The high tunnel is filling up; this is a no-passing zone.

Have a wonderful week, and enjoy the vegetables.

Roger and Lara