CSA For September 16th!

The tomatoes came through our cold spell nicely,
under their fleece cover! 

Well, the cold spell has come and gone!  The forecast is warm for the next five days.  We definitely had frost - there are touches on the summer squash, the cucumbers that we didn't cover look crispy.  Everything we covered is fine - and hopefully will keep going as the weather improves now!

We started digging our garlic...and what a disappointment!  The heads are small to, well, tiny!  Can't figure out why when there has been such consistent moisture this season.  We knew something was 'up' when they didn't flower or scape.  We love the scapes and we missed them this year!  The garlic is tasty, but some of the cloves are just little slivers.  We found, when we dug some on Sunday to go with our lamb shank (see our Facebook page) that it is just too much hassle to try to completely strip the papery covering off the tiny cloves.  And you know what?  It didn't matter - it was so light it just disappeared during the cooking.

Spaghetti squash is coming nicely.  It's so unique in that the flesh comes out, well, like spaghetti rather than a nice soft puree.  Here's a great recipe for using it just like pasta, gluten free! Try Spaghetti Squash with Turkey Meatballs on a cool autumn evening!  Or how about stuffed with lasagna!  This would work well with any winter squash.  The seeds of all winter squash are edible, once roasted!  Pumpkin seeds are the best known, of course, but they are pretty much all good and great to toss on salads, roasted veg or even to top your muffins and such!  Here's an great link with basic instructions for harvesting and roasting the seeds.  This vegetarian stew with winter squash, crushed tomatoes and beans sounds delightful! A rift on Mexican posole, it would be rib-sticking and warming on a cool Fall night.

Feel like a little baking?  Here's Pumpkin roll with maple frosting!  This would be wonderful with Sugar pumpkin, Kabocha, Hubbard, Boston Marrow or even Delicata!  These Winter Squash Brownies sound fabulous - and the link has a bunch of other links for pumpkin/winter squash goodies!

Fall is a fantastic time to start making casseroles.  The house smells good, having the oven on warms things up a bit on a cool evening.  Comfort food indeed, and casseroles are often quite simple!  Here's a great link from The Kitchn with 10 Casserole Recipes including vegetarian lasagna and a potato, squash and cheese version.

Got zucchini or other summer squash to use up?  These zucchini and cheddar hand pies sound good.  If you're not into making the dough from scratch, I'm sure those tubes of crescent rolls in the grocery store would work just as well!

Today, for The FULL SHARES:  Garlic, Lemon Ball cucumber, carrots, beets, zucchini, mixed Largo and Crookneck summer squash, Sangria potatoes, spaghetti squash, Delicata winter squash, tomato, apples.

PART SHARES:  Garlic, Lemon Ball cucumber, carrots, beets, zucchini, Crookneck summer squash, Sangria potatoes, Spaghetti squash, Delicata winter squash, tomato, apples.

SINGLE SHARES:  Garlic, Lemon Ball cucumber, carrots, beets, zucchini, Crookneck summer squash, Sangria potatoes, spaghetti squash, Delicata winter squash, tomato, apples.

CSA For September 11th!

All the tomatoes under fleece! Two five-hundred foot rows!
Thanks for pal Deb who came and helped!

The last thirty six hours, for us, have been all about frost!  Wednesday night had a possibility (although I don't think it happened) and tonight's forecast low of -2 Celsius ( about 29 F.) will absolutely do some damage.  Wednesday afternoon we put aside soap making and barn cleaning and a few other chores to cover, protect and harvest everything we could!  The summer squash will not make it through temperatures below freezing so we took everything we could find.  Today's CSA families will get a handful of the delightful wee baby summer squash and free choice of some larger green and yellow zucchini.  We saved enough big ones for Tuesday's families, because they will hold well.  And we donated a bunch to Samaritan House.  We had to make hard decisions today: dig potatoes or keep harvesting tender veggies?  The tender veggies won out, so there are no potatoes for CSA today!

The cucumbers will probably not survive also.  We have covered the Lemon Ball and part of one patch of slicing cukes but the rest will be left to fend for themselves.  The thing is, when frost comes, is that we only have so much stuff to cover stuff with!  And our priority:  the tomatoes and peppers.  It is unbelievable to us that our CSA families have not yet gotten a ripe tomato!  And it's almost the middle of September!  So we've picked some that were showing some colour and have 'tucked in' the rest!

We've given you a ton of links for using summer squash.  Here's one we've never, ever shared before: How about making your own gummy candy from dehydrated summer squash?

Everyone got a fairly good supply of cucumbers today.  I found this article very interesting: cucumbers as the new baguette!

Many of you will still have larger sizes of summer squash and here comes the winter squash!  All are fabulous stuffed - here's a link with a myriad of stuffing recipes!  We've taken the first of the Spaghetti squash today, and it and vegetable marrow, as well as large sizes of zucchini and Patty Pan are my favourite for stuffing.  The sweeter winter squash, such as Kabocha and Acorn, are lovely with a fruit stuffing.  Simple, easy and looks impressive on the plate!

It's 9:30 PM and I'm just finishing the blog post.  After getting home from CSA we've had a quick bite to eat, put the goats and chickens to bed, fed the dogs and cats, then picked some crab apples for some friends that want them but can't seem to get over here to pick their own.  It was getting too dark to even see the crab apples, so we've unloaded the CSA crates from the truck, checked all our frost protection and covered a few more things and there is nothing else we can do.  It is what it is - and we'll find out tomorrow just what has transpired!

So for today, FULL SHARES:  Slicing cucumbers, Lemon Ball cucumbers, beets, Delicata, large Spaghetti squash, small 'Small Wonder' spaghetti squash (round one that looks like it has green netting), Acorn squash, Winter Sunshine Kabocha (the small orange one), green zucchini, small and large, yellow zucchini, Jalapeno and green bell pepper, corn, carrots.

PART SHARES:  Slicing cucumber, Lemon Ball cucumber, beets, Delicata, Spaghetti, Acorn and Winter Sunshine Kabocha winter squash, small green and yellow zucchini, large zucchinis, jalapeno pepper, corn, carrots.

SINGLE SHARES:  Slicing cucumbers, Lemon Ball cucumber, beets, Delicata, spaghetti, Acorn and 'Winter Sunshine' Kabocha winter squash, green and yellow baby zucchini, large zucchini, jalapeno, corn, carrots.

CSA For Sept. 27th

Hand-picking the ripest pear tomatoes!

Hard to believe that it is the last CSA day for the year!  It will feel very odd next Tuesday and Thursday - like there's something we're forgetting, something we should be doing.  It will take us a few weeks to 'stand down'.

Today's last pick up is about stocking you up a bit: there's a choice of potatoes, cured and ready for storage.  Depending on your share size, you'll get varying amounts.  Potatoes do best with dark, cool storage - but with some moisture, not too dry.  If you've got a dry space in your pantry or kitchen, try placing a pan of water in with the potatoes.  Dry storage isn't a big problem - the skins will just dry out faster and become harder.  Not a huge issue 'cause you'll probably eat these potatoes within the next month or so!  You know that the skin holds half the nutrition - so just scrub 'em and keep eating the skin when you can!

We've also got a spaghetti squash for everybody - they store really well so you can pick from some 'ready to rumble' or one that you can eat with Christmas Dinner!  Although we don't think the flavor or texture is quite as nice, it is easy to microwave winter squashes - and cut your cooking time down by more than half!  Here's simple instructions for microwaving spaghetti squash - but it applies to all the squashes.  If you like it spicy, how about a mac-n- cheese style Spaghetti squash with jalapeno cream?  For something a bit more exotic, and not even slightly local, how about spaghetti squash with shrimps or scallops?  If you cook up a big one, this breakfast loaf sounds awesome - we may try it this weekend!

The variety of tomatoes going to CSA! The bags
of slicers have some to ripen on your counter!

Everyone is getting to choose from among a number of different tomatoes today.  There are some yellow pears, a very limited amount of 'Indigo Rose' and a few cherries.  There's also bags of Aunt Ruby's German Green (which seems to have become a CSA favorite), Brandywine, Opalka, mixed bags of the low-acid Husky Gold and Lemon Boy, as well as some conventional red.  Most of these are ripening in our sun room because of cold nights - they'd all be dead and done if we hadn't picked them last Friday!  Enjoy the last of summers' fruits!

And for everyone: what's a late September CSA without a pumpkin?  Everyone's getting a pumpkin today - some gorgeous Sorcerer, or a bit of Sugar Pie is available, by choice!  Sorcerer is a beautiful, big pumpkin, totally appropriate for decorating but also good eating!  It's not quite as smooth as Sugar Pie or quite as sweet - but delicious none the less!  The hefty size makes it an awesome selection for freezing!  We just roast pumpkin, take out the meat, mash it a bit with a fork, then we pack it into freezer bags in one cup portions - perfect for a batch of muffins or a pumpkin loaf all winter!  Just remember, if you're following another recipe and it asks for canned pumpkin - it may assume that the spices are in the canned product - so you may need to add the cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and clove yourself!  Here's the pumpkin pie spice mix I use, and I make up a bit to have in the spice rack!

It's been so nice seeing everyone every Thursday - a great group of enthusiastic 'local foodies'.  We've had so much fun swapping recipes and cooking techniques, and even dehydrating tips (Thank, John!).  We'll be at the Global Market Saturdays until October 13th - hope to see some of you there!

CSA For Sept. 25th

CSA 2012 is not going out with the bang we might have wished for.  It hasn't been a great harvest and we're just squeaking by the value set on everybodys' share.  In better years, we'd meet the value on the final pick up day and then have a bonus day - but this is not that kind of year.  Still, the last CSA pick up is always a sad day for us: we have so many delightful people within our CSA families and we won't be seeing them for a while now!  Oh, we'll see a few of them at the remaining Global Markets, some will come to the farm to buy eggs or potatoes through the winter, but mostly we're saying 'good bye' today - until next year!  The last CSA day is also a wee bit of a relief for us - the work, the toil is done for another year; maybe next week on Tuesday I'll finally give this house a really good cleaning!  Or maybe the dogs will finally get a haircut....

It's a spaghetti squash kind of a day - 'cause that is what the harvest is!  Everyone is getting spaghetti squash, in varying amounts, depending on the share size!  It's the most unique of Winter Squashes: once baked, it comes out of the skin like threads of spaghetti pasta!  It's nice as a side dish, either served savory with spaghetti sauce, or sweetened up a bit with maple syrup or brown sugar.  Treat is like a pasta, and toss it with veggies and feta cheese.   Keeping with a Mediterranean theme, how about a Chicken and Spaghetti Squash dinner?  Spice it up Moroccan style - yummy!  Cook up a big one, 'cause there is soooo much more to do with it:  we love these spaghetti squash pancakes from the divine Mollie Katzen!  How about a Spaghetti Squash and Meatball Muffin?  Or, mash it up good and use it in a snack muffin, like this recipe!

Everyone is also getting a 'Sorcerer' pumpkin, a medium size pumpkin.  Yes, it would make a good carving pumpkin for Halloween, but it's also good eating.  Not quite as smooth a texture as Sugar Pie' pumpkin, not quite as sweet, but still good eating!  Hmmm, pumpkin spice pancakes!  Yes, just roast a the pumpkin, mash up the meat for fresh pumpkin puree!  We've made a version of these before: just delightful, and the house smells so good!

We brought along a variety of potatoes, and everybody got a selection, based on the size of their shares.  There was a basic good red, 'Roko, the classic baked potato 'Russet', the delightful 'Island Sunshine', the very tasty 'German Butterball' and another red 'Purple Viking'.  Everyone also got to pick from a selection of tomatoes: cherry, classic red slicers, low-acid yellows, Brandywine or Aunt Ruby's German Green.

We also brought half of the watermelon and cantaloupe harvest; the other half will go to Thursdays' families.  It wasn't a big deal: they are generally small and unripe.  We've been covering them every night for almost two weeks - there's another chore we won't be sad to see finished.  On the kitchen counter, they should ripen within a week, you'll know when the fragrance of the fruit is apparent.  We're not sure how a family of four will split these little guys: maybe a spoonful for everybody in yogurt or on ice cream!

We've so enjoyed our Tuesday CSA families!  We hope you've all enjoyed the fresh-picked food - harvested just for you!  We hope we've introduced some new food to some of you and shared some good recipes!  We've love to hear from you and get ideas for next year:  Caryl mentioned at today's pick up that she'd love sunflower heads, ready to harvest sunflower seeds to roast!  That's doable!  What would you like to see next year?

CSA For September 11th.

A touch of frost on Sunday!

The day started rather sad, with all the coverage of the memorials for 9/11.  Hard to shake the feeling, especially as it was cold, cloudy and windy as we got started this morning.  I was wearing the most layers I have this season - and rather wishing for a hat!  Time to get into the chest and get out my beloved caps and fingerless gloves!

A touch of frost on Sunday.  It is really just in evidence in one part of the gardens, in the top of the slope on the east end, where there is no shelter belt.  Odd place, as frost is suppose to sink.....Some of the winter squash are all that appear damaged, and it is only a minor set back.  The top-most leaves have 'crisped' up a bit, nothing major!  It certainly does make one feel the season is drawing to a close; the renters are starting to clean up their plots, leaving bare, sad little patches.

We hope you're coming to see us this Sunday, during Manitoba's Open Farm Day!  We'll be giving little tours from Noon to 4 PM, and we're just five minutes east of Brandon!  All the instructions are in the previous blog post.  Pet a goat, pat a doggie, chase a chicken...and a free barn kitten with every visit!

Everyone is getting a little tomato taste fest today!  Everyone has a golden tomato, a 'Husky Gold'.  All the golden tomatoes are low in acid, and great for people with stomach problems, canker sores and such.  They are also very tasty - sweet, juicy without the acid 'bite' of red tomatoes.  Everyone is also getting a mixed pint of cherry and grape tomatoes.  It includes an heirloom 'Black Cherry', golden and red grape and the wee cherry tomatoes.  The Full Shares also have an 'Opalka', an heirloom  Roma type tomato often used for sauce and salads: meaty and flavorful!

So, for the FULL SHARES:  5 lbs. Bintje white potato, 5 lbs. Roko red potato, slicing tomatoes, pint mixed cherry/grape tomatoes, cucumber, 9 cobs of corn, spaghetti squash, mixed bell, jalapeno and Hungarian Hot Wax peppers, garlic, onions.

PART SHARES: 3 lbs Bintje white potatoes, 3 lbs. Roko red potatoes, slicing tomatoes, pint mixed cherry/grape tomatoes, cucumber, 6 cobs corn, spaghetti squash, bell pepper, jalapeno, garlic, onions.

SINGLE SHARES:  2 lbs. Bintje white potatoes, 2 lbs, Roko red potatoes, slicing tomatoes, pint mixed cherry/grape tomatoes, cucumber, 4 cobs corn, small spaghetti squash, bell pepper, garlic, onions.

CSA For September 6th!

Some interesting things for the trade table!

Lots of signs of the imminent arrival of Fall around the farm today!  Our day started with the barn cats being very interested in getting into Farmer Man's shop, where the feed is stored.  Once we got into the shop, definite signs that a little critter had been feasting on the sunflower seeds that the goats get as part of their grain ration.  More signs of mice in the bean patch, where lots of beans were discarded because of mice bites! The mice like to eat out the seeds in the older beans, nibbling a perfect little half-moon out of the bean.  We apologize if any nibbled beans escaped our scrutiny!  Also, while in the bean patch this morning, a flock of wild turkeys went overhead - a very distinct sound.  They were followed shortly after by a flock of geese, honking on their way south west.

Some interesting things on the trade table today!  Some different tomatoes, including the golden 'Husky Boy', a low-acid tomato but very sweet, juicy yet meaty.  There is also a heirloom cherry tomato called 'Black Cherry', a dusky purple/rose coloured tomato.  Very tasty, not really sweet, kind of 'smoky', but very juice!  Maybe try some Lemon Ball cucumbers, an old variety that's round, yellow, thin-skinned and very tasty!  Some tomatillos are available, as well, if you've been yearning for some fresh Salsa Verde!

We've dug a few new varieties of potatoes for you today:  'Blue Mac' is a blue/purple skinned white potato with a lovely flavor, smoother texture - but not as creamy as Sangria.  We've also got 'Island Sunshine', the first dig of a baking potato.  This one has the fluffy texture of a 'Russet Burbank' with a more golden flesh.  Excellent baked, mashed or good for fries!  A good pick on corn, tomatoes and cucumbers for everyone today.

Everyone is getting spaghetti squash - the rather unique Winter Squash whose cooked flesh will come out of the skin like spaghetti!  We usually cut them in half, remove the seeds, rub with butter or oil, and bake face down in the oven at about 350 C. until the skin can easily be pierced with a fork (for the big guys, maybe 45 minutes to an hour!).  You can cook them in the microwave and cut your time down by more than half, but we don't think the flavor or texture is as nice.  Once cooked, the meat can be scrapped out with a fork and comes out quite like spaghetti!  You can eat it like spaghetti with tomato sauce, or just with butter, salt and pepper.  I like all my winter squash, including this one, with a little brown sugar or maple syrup!  Cook extra of the squash and try this recipe for spaghetti squash pancakes - they're very good!  Remember, uncooked piece of Winter Squash will hold nicely in the fridge for 7 - 10 days, so don't be intimidated if you got a big one!  Try to leave the seeds in a half you won't be cooking right away!  A whole Winter Squash, kept in a dark and cool place, will keep for months!

So for the FULL SHARES: 4 lbs. Blue Mac potatoes, 4 lbs. Island Sunshine potatoes, 8 cobs corn, cucumbers, Lemon ball cucumber, 2 lbs. tomatoes, 1 lb. Dragons Tongue beans,  Romanesque zucchini, Crookneck squash, Patty Pan squash, Spaghetti Winter Squash,

PART SHARES:  3 lbs. Blue Mac white potatoes, 3 lbs. Island Sunshine potatoes, 5 cobs corn, cucumber, 1 lbs. tomatoes, 1 lbs. Dragons Tongue beans, Romanesque zucchini, Crookneck squash, Patty Pan squash, Spaghetti Winter Squash.

SINGLE SHARES:  2 lbs. Blue Mac potatoes, 2 lbs. Island Sunshine potatoes, 3 cobs corn, cucumbers, 1 lbs. tomatoes, 1/2 lbs. Dragon Tongue beans, Romanesque zucchini, Crookneck squash, Patty Pan squash, Spaghetti Winter Squash.

Dark Days 11/12: Week 1

The Dark Days Challenge is underway!  We decided our first meal of local food for the challenge would be Monday, which we've been observing as Meatless Monday  Not too much of a stretch for us as we are vegetable growers!  Looking around, we decided on baked beans, from our stash of 'Jacob's Cattle' which we harvested this year.  Also had a 'Small Wonder' spaghetti squash on the counter, very ripe, so thought we'd use a recipe for a squash pancake that we haven't used in a while.  We usually do a bean recipe with rice and although we do have some local wild rice, we decided to use 'Cavena Nuda', a rice substitute that is actually a type of hulless oat or naked oat!

There is a lot of conflicting information out there on using fresh, dried beans.  We harvested ours late in September, it took us a few weeks to get them cleaned and ready for storage.  Some info says you shouldn't have to soak fresh beans at all and they should cook quickly.  Other sources say you should still soak them for a short period, if nothing else but to remove the sugars that can cause the 'musical' effect.  We did soak them for a couple of hours, changing the water a couple of times.  They plumped up nicely but lost most of their lovely cranberry/ivory color!  We then chose to use our home canned marinara sauce for baking the beans..  This is a multi-purpose tomato sauce from Sherri Brooks Vinton's excellent 'Put 'em Up!'.  All tomato sauce ingredients were from the farm.  We sauteed a bit of our onion and garlic and then mixed beans, sauce and sauteed veg in a baking dish and into the oven!  The mixture was done in about an hour and a half - so very quickly for baked beans!

We roasted our little spaghetti squash (and roasted some butternut, too, for a nice soup tonight!).  We used Molly Katzen's recipe for the squash pancake, from here.  We didn't get the full amount of cooked squash called for in the recipe and adjusted the ingredients on the fly.  Our chicken coop supplied the eggs, our flour is local and organic: De Ruyck's that we get from Two Farm Kids, and we just skipped the salt and pepper.  When I cracked one of the eggs it was a double yoker, and may have made the pancakes a little too 'eggy', but they were good nonetheless.  Alongside were our nude oats, which are an excellent rice substitute!  They are chewier than rice, but a lovely wheaty flavor - and good for you!  A tasty, hearty dinner for one of our coldest nights so far this year!  Have you cooked a totally local meal  recently?  Even if you're not blogging, feel free to join in  The Dark Days Challenge by telling us about it in the comments section!

Dark Days Challenge: Week 1

With Farmer Man working long hours and every day at the Christmas Tree Lot, we're not sitting down together for a lot of meals. But, we knew he'd get off early yesterday, so we planned our first Dark Days meal. We did good, too! Roasted organic lamb chops from our friends Duane and Shelley at Logan Farms in Nesbitt, Manitoba. Some of the nicest lamb we've every had, just yummy. A trip to our own root cellar yielded a spaghetti squash and some lovely 'Blue Mac' potatoes from our garden. 'Blue Mac' potatoes have a purple/blue skin that cooks up pale beige. It's kind of in between the smoothness of a red potato and the fluffiness of a white potato. We cooked up extra for some nice hash browns one of these mornings. The storage drawer in the fridge has some of our own garden carrots and some fresh rosemary came from the little bush in sun room. We roasted the squash and the lamb in the oven, steamed the potatoes and carrots. Simple but good!

Dark Days Challenge Meal

On Sunday, the only day Farmer Man is home early from the Christmas tree lot, I had a local meal waiting. Something warm and filling! Lamp chops from our friends at Logan Farms, topped with canola oil and red onion (from the root cellar, as are all the veggies). I slow cooked the lamb until Farmer Man arrived home and then broiled them a few minutes to crisp up the onion. Steamed carrots and more of the red onion, and spaghetti squash pancakes! The pancakes were a medium squash, which produced about 2 1/2 cups of spaghetti when baked. I combined that with about 1/4 cup of flour and 1/4 cup of Parmesan cheese (not local, admittedly) and chopped in some fresh sage from the herb pot. Fried on both sides to brown them up and yummy! Served with a little Swiss chard relish my sister made and some sour cream. Very warming after a cold day at the Christmas tree lot!