CSA for September 14, 2010 - Last Day!

Whew, it's a done deal for another year! We've finished CSA earlier than ever this year - largely due to consistent rain throughout the season. The weather has been a good thing and a bad thing - we never did bring our own tomatoes to CSA (they are still mostly green and, now, splitting). But lettuce did well, the late-seeding did much better than it would in most hot years, and beans did fabulously (hope everyone got some frozen for winter!).

This being the last CSA we brought larger bags of potatoes and left them dirty! Dirty potatoes will store better than washed, really! Keep them someplace cool, dark and dry. We also brought, of course, some serious weight in winter squash. These too, will store a long time: keep them cool, dark and dry. Winter squash benefit from something like a shelf, not touching each other. Turn them once a month or so; if rot starts it is often where the squash was sitting on the shelf. We brought a wide selection of winter squash: Part Shares could take up to 15 lbs., Full Shares could take up to 20 Lbs. We were totally willing to deal - especially if someone was interested in one of the monster Hubbards or Boston Marrows (weighing in at 24 - 34 lbs!). We've already had a couple of emails about the round yellow thing - it's a heirloom cucumber called Lemon Ball. We usually take our veggie brush to the skin as it tends to have little bristles and then it's just good eating!

Our growing partners came through today to top things off! Menno and Evelyn Isaac brought some of their luscious organic, hot house tomatoes. Linda Boys provided gorgeous red cabbage for the parts, fresh celery for the fulls, some of the basil and some great Long English cucumbers. Amanda and Ed Wiebe provided the beautiful large onions. Ed and Marilyn Clayton of Clayton Organic Orchard, in Elkhorn provided the awesome apples.

So, for the FULL SHARES: 5 lbs. German Butterball potatoes, 5 lbs. Alladin red potatoes, apples, Long English cucumber, a Lemon Ball cucumber, a mix of bell pepper, Hungarian hot and jalapeno peppers, bundle of Swiss Chard, bag of lettuce, bag of tomatoes, fresh basil, celery, a small winter squash in the box plus a choice of up to 20 lbs of winter squash.

For the PART SHARES: 5 lbs. German Butterball potatoes, 5 lbs. Alladin red potatoes, apples, cucumber, Lemon Ball cucumber, a mix of bell pepper, Hungarian hot and jalapeno peppers, bundle of Swiss Chard, bag of lettuce, Bag of tomatoes, fresh basil, red cabbage, a small winter squash in the box plus a choice of up to 15 lbs. of winter squash.

Also in everyone's box this week is an invitation to 'The Green Keys Tour' featuring Canadian composer and muscian Frank Horvat. We hope everyone can join us October 3. We hope everyone has enjoyed this years' CSA! It's been great fun to help feed everyone all summer! And enjoy!!

CSA for September 7, 2010

We got busy today!! Yes, we did! Having to cancel last week put the pressure on to keep up the volume of veggies our shareholders have received. Fortunately, the weather cooperated today! We certainly do see the results of this cool, rainy weather! Our tomatoes and peppers won't ripen, the basil suddenly has brown spots and the cucumbers haven't grown an inch in the past five days! Not much we can do about all that, though, so we just got busy - and made some calls.

Menno and Evelyn came through with beautiful hothouse tomatoes, Linda Boys was a star (!) with celery and leeks for everybody, some broccoli and some cabbage. Amanda and Ed found some gorgeous onions and some great cucumbers. Couldn't do it without our growing partners!!

Everyone is receiving today a large patty pan or scallopini summer squash called 'Marlborough', a pale green, crown shaped patty pan. Now, you can do anything with this that you would do with a zucchini: dice, slice, cube, saute, stir fry, BBQ. But, when the patty pans get larger, one of our favourite things to do is stuff 'em! Slice off the stem and remove the little seed pouch. You can remove some of the flesh or leave it in place. Stuff it with whatever you might use to stuff a pepper or tomato: rice and ground beef, bread crumb or crouton and herb stuffing, fruit and nuts are awesome!! One of our favs is cream cheese, a can of crab meat, diced red pepper and/or diced red onion, salt and pepper to taste and an herb like tarragon or dill. Yummy! Bake the squash whole until the skin is easily pierced with a fork, around 40 minutes at 375 degrees. Slice and serve pie-shaped wedges, either as a side dish or as your main course.

Everyone is also receiving a nice selection of assorted baby summer squash today. The young, small squash are the gourmet way to enjoy them! We took a good selection, because with frost possible at any time, enjoy them while you can!

So, for the FULL SHARES: 2 lbs 'Linzer Delicatese' Fingerling potatoes, 2.5 lbs 'French' Fingerling and 2 lbs of 'Alaska Sweetheart', the all red potato. 2.5 lbs tomatoes, onions, leeks, cabbage, Swiss chard, celery, a couple of cucumbers, a bag each of 'Romaine' and 'Buttercrunch' lettuce, a couple of assorted zucchini, a crookneck summer squash, and a 'Marlborough' patty pan, one of an assortment of winter squash, bunch of basil, carrots, a head of garlic and apples.

For the PART SHARES: 2 lbs 'Linzer Delicatese' Fingerling potatoes, 2.5 lbs 'French' Fingerling and 2 lbs of 'Alaska Sweetheart', the all red potato. 2.5 lbs tomatoes, onions, leeks, broccoli, Swiss chard, celery, a couple of cucumbers, a bag each of 'Romaine' and 'Buttercrunch' lettuce, a couple of assorted zucchini, a crookneck summer squash, and a 'Marlborough' patty pan, one of an assortment of winter squash, bunch of basil, carrots, and a head of garlic.

CSA for August 31, 2010 Cancelled!

We've never cancelled a CSA share mid-season. We have delayed the start a few times, when things aren't growing really well. But, steady rain yesterday, overnight and drizzle this morning makes it impossible to get on the land to harvest. We wouldn't do our soil, our plants or ourselves any favours by getting on the mud! Plus, the vegetables would be more prone to rust, mold and a host of other problems if delivered wet and mucky. It's a pity, too, because the corn was ready, and now we'll have to take it to the weekend Farmers Markets, because it probably won't wait until next Tuesday. Such is life with veggies! We'll see everyone next week! Next, we have to deal with the leak in the livingroom ceiling!

CSA for August 24, 2010

Well, another lousy weather day for CSA. What is up with that? Heavy rain Monday and into early Tuesday morning, then high winds with a real cold bite for most of the day Tuesday! It's hard to pick the pole beans when the trellising is swinging back and forth by about a foot! You reach for a nice, plump romano bean and suddenly it's gone! I spent most of the day dressed like it was November - three layers and a hood! I even had the notion to dig out my beloved fingerless gloves from winter storage!

But, nonetheless, we got it done. Had some nice volunteer help from Carrie, a lovely young lady we met early in the summer. Someone who's interested in local food and fresh food and contacted us by email to volunteer. She was interested in learning a bit about what we do and how we do it. Coming through Brandon after finishing her summer job at a camp in Clear Lake, she dropped by for a couple of hours and helped picked cucumbers and clean up winter squash. Thanks, Carrie!

For this CSA, Farmer Man made me share the garlic. We dug all our fall-planted garlic about a week ago, and have had it spread out on a table - in the sun, weather permitting. It's cured quite nicely and has done quite well for us this year. We love our garlic, so I must admit I am always unwilling to part with it! If you've only ever had store bought garlic, this may have a bit more kick than you are used to!!

We have a late seeding of lettuce just coming along. The greens are very young still and we didn't get a big harvest, but the greens are lovely! Hopefully, we'll get a better harvest next week. I've got some borage flowering nicely, and hope to add some flowers to the mesclun mix next week for some nice blue colour and a lovely, cucumber flavour! Not that we don't have enough cucumbers..........although the rains have encouraged some of the cukes to get a bit fat and round, which means they become pig food, because they just look to weird to sell or put into the CSA shares.

The winter squash are coming in very well this year. Don't forget that winter squash store quite well - keep them someplace cool, dry and dark and they can be good for months. The flesh also freezes very well! The Kabocha's are fabulous in recipes for pumpkin desserts like pies, cookies and breads. Cook the Kabocha by microwaving or baking, scrap the flesh out, measure the amount you'd need for, say, pumpkin pie, and freeze in freezer bags or containers! Ready to bake a pie this winter!

So, for the FULL SHARES: 8 lbs. 'Almira' white potatoes, large bag Romano green and yellow beans, a bunch of carrots, a mix of yellow cooking, Spanish white and red onions, small bag of mesclun mix, a couple of green peppers, cucumbers, head of garlic, an acorn winter squash, a delicata (or sweet potato) winter squash, a buttercup winter squash and an orange Kabocha winter squash.

For the PART SHARES: Small bag of either Sangria red, Almira white or Yukon Gold potatoes, large bag of 'Kentucky Blue' pole beans, a bunch of carrots, yellow and Spanish onions, small bag of mesclun mix, green pepper, cucumbers, head of garlic, an Acorn winter squash and a buttercup winter squash.

CSA for August 17, 2010

I'm very late posting this. I don't have a good excuse; I have an excuse, but it's not great! I didn't get around to this post last night because I got TV - and boy, was I watching it! You have to understand that we haven't really had much TV here at Aagaard Farms; out here in the country there is no cable, no fancy telephone lines. We got what came through the air: CBC until our local affiliate went out of business, CTV, Global in fine weather only, and the French CBC. So, we finally bit the bullet and got satellite TV yesterday. We probably should have waited until the end of the growing season - I stayed up waaaaaaay past my bedtime last night cruising HGTV, The Food Network, Travel Network, History......well, you get the picture! So to all our CSA members, very sorry for my tardiness!

Yesterday marked the first big harvest of Winter Squash! It's kind of a benchmark - it's rather 'fallish' to be harvesting winter squash, and they have done extremely well in this rainy year! We've got some of the biggest sizes we've every had of Hubbard and Marrow, and it's only mid-August! Can't wait for the end of September! In the picture, the looooong green thing is English Green Marrow, the blue/grey monster is Blue Hubbard and there is also some excellent sizes of Golden Hubbard. The pumpkin-looking squash are a Kobocha type called 'Winter Sunshine', and awesome sweet, smooth textured squash you can use as a replacement for pumpkin in pies and other baking, or as a side vegetable (awesome mashed or whipped with a little brown sugar and cinnamon!). There's also a little blue Kobocha called 'Confection' in there as well, the dark green squash with the light green bump on the end is a buttercup and a there's little bit of acorn squash.

Winter squash differ from the summer squashes like zucchini, papaya pear and Patty Pan in that you don't eat the skin or the seeds. As well, they can last in storage for months! There is lots of variety in texture and taste, and lots of options for cooking. The simplest way to enjoy winter squash is baking or roasting. Wash the skin, cut the squash in half, scoop out the seeds and bake in the oven at around 350 F - 375 until the skin is easily pierced with a fork. For the big hubbards, that can be up to an hour! To speed the process up, they can be done in the microwave, but we don't think the taste and texture is quite as good. Microwaving can cut the time down by 2/3's - so worth it for busy households. Peel and chunk winter squash for roasting, awesome in the foil packages of veggies on the barbeque, and we've even steamed chunked squash in one of our one-pot steamed vegetarian dinners (takes as long or longer than the potatoes)! The seeds are awesome cleaned and then oveb-roasted - just like pumpkin seeds.

So, not a great basket today. Heavy rain overnight and steady rain through the morning made it very hard to harvest! We are a potato-free zone this week, just impossible to get into the potato field. For some of you, this will give you a chance to use up any potatoes before a fresh batch next week. Everything was muddy, dirty and damp! Get the beans out of the plastic bags as soon as possible - they'll be very prone to dark 'blotches' if left in plastic.

For the FULL SHARES: large bag of Dragon Tongue romano beans, large bag of mixed beans, 4 cobs of corn, 6 cucumbers, bundle of beets, two bundles of carrots, large bag of mesclun mix, one of an assortment of summer squash, a small winter squash, a large winter squash and some onions.

For the PART SHARES: small bag of Dragon Tongue romano beans, large bag mixed beans, 3 cucumbers, bundle of carrots, bundle of Swiss Chard, one of an assortment of summer squash, small bag of mesclun mix, small winter squash, medium winter squash and onion.

Hopefully the weather will become nice and the tomatoes will ripen for next week (fingers crossed, toes crossed, arms crossed - except now we look cranky!). Good eating to everyone!

CSA for August 10, 2010

Whew! A hot, muggy day for working. Fortunately, not only did we have our little crew, but we have company who we immediately put to work today! Sister Keltie and nephew Jack were a huge help today, making us ahead of schedule, calm, cool and collected. Not only that, but CSA member Cathy showed up to help - so we had lots of coverage today!

Our fellow growers have come through big time today! Linda has supplied beautiful broccoli, cabbage, beans, peas and snow peas. Ed and Amanda came through with cukes, some of the onions and some of the carrots. Menno and Evelyn are bringing some of their gorgeous, organically grown hothouse tomatoes (!!!!). And, for a tasty treat for all our members, our Farmers' Markets friends Tom and Tracy Stephenson of Arizona Edibles picked apples for us!

We are, once again, bean happy!! Now is the time to freeze some for the winter! It's very easy. Just blanche (partially cook) by boiling or steaming for just a couple of minutes, then cool down as fast as possible but dunking in ice water. Dry and put into freezer bags or freezer containers and into the freezer. Voila! Awesome beans for fall or winter eating. Really, it is that easy! If you're reading this, then you're online and there are excellent recipes for quick dill beans for the fridge and other tasty treats.

The first of the winter squash are here, only for the full shares this week. We've got a great pick of some Long Green English Marrow, which are in the picture here. Marrow is not a widely known vegetable. It is a tradition with my family - I don't think Farmer Man had heard of it before he met me! It is, on its own, a very mild, ok, almost boring vegetable. But, stuffed - ohhhh, it takes on flavors beautiful! Cut in half, scoop out the seeds and stuff with anything you might stuff a pepper or tomato with. Our family tradition is stuffing with a pork sausage and bread stuffing (sister Keltie 'cheats' and uses Stove Top stuffing). Bake until the outside skin is easily pierced with a fork. For those monster marrows, you can cut them in halves or quarters and use each piece separately. A cut marrow is good in the fridge for over a week!

So, for the FULL SHARES: 5 lbs. Aladdin potatoes, 2 lbs. apples (probably Parkland), green pepper, broccoli, cucumbers, tomatoes, carrots, beets, green beans, yellow beans, romano beans, peas, snow peas, head of lettuce, radish, onions, marrow, patty pan squash and crook neck squash.

For the PART SHARES: 2 lbs, Aladdin potatoes, 2 lbs, apples, cabbage, green pepper, cucumbers, carrots, beets, green beans, yellow wax beans, peas, snow peas, head of lettuce, onions, crook neck squash, patty pan or scallopini summer squash, tomatoes, basil.

Enjoy!!

CSA for August 3, 2010

Whew! What a day! So much to harvest, so much to clean, so much to package. The hardest part of CSA, every week, is figuring out how to make what we harvest work for our families. 18 pounds of Dragon Tongue beans and 33 families - they each get........ummmm.......oh, so much math!

First, a big thank you to our little crew, who worked so hard today! Vartan, Nataliya, Danielle, Kara, Patel, Ming and Zhong were out this morning and picked in, first, the mud from last nights' storm. Then, it heated up and became very humid. Couldn't have done it without the crew! Our Farmers' Market right-hand guy Travis came out to package and tidied up after us! Thanks, Travis! It was great to come home to a tidy site!

Second, a big thanks to our growing partners. Linda Boys provided beautiful cabbage, tatsoi, peas, kale and snow peas. Amanda and Ed Wiebe added to the cabbage and peas, and brought the cucumbers. Our buddy Hugh dug carrots in the muck!

So, it's a pea and bean kind of a day. We have never brought such a good haul of shelling peas to CSA. And we are bean happy! Everyone got a taste of three different beans! The summer squash is coming along - and we don't mean zucchini!!! Everyone got a large, oval, speckled green Moroccan or cousa squash called 'Lolita'. It's firm, with a mild nutty flavour. Great raw in salads or with dip, great in sautes, good on the B-B-Q and great stuffed and baked! Everyone also received a patty pan or scallopini, the flying saucer shaped squash. It's one of our favourites! Great texture and flavor, also dense enough to stand up well to the B-B-Q and awesome stuffed! Our fav method is to cut off the top, scoop out some of the flesh and fill with cream cheese, crab meat, diced onions and dill. Bake until the skin is soft enough to pierce with a fork. Yummy!!!!!! The full shares also have a crookneck squash - the Cadillac of southern cooking! In the southern States, it is commonly coated in corn meal and Cajun spice and fried. Buttery and delicate - it's a delight!

So, for the FULL SHARES: 2.5 lbs German Butterball potatoes, 2.5 lbs Alaskan Sweetheart potatoes (with pink flesh!, dense and meaty!), 3 lbs shelling peas, a cabbage, cucumbers, purple, yellow, green and Dragon's Tongue beans, tatsoi, 'Grand Rapids' lettuce, a large and small patty pan or scallopini squash, 3 'Lolita' cousa squash, and a crook neck squash, carrots, onions and a pint of 'Mammoth' raspberries.

For the PART SHARES: 2.5 lbs German Butterball potatoes, 2 lbs shelling peas, snow peas, cucumbers, purple, yellow and green beans, kale, 'Grand Rapids' lettuce, patty pan or scallopini squash, some 'Lolita' cousa squash, carrots, onions and a pint of 'Mammoth' raspberries.

We were soooo on the fly today, that I took really lousy pictures. Apologies - the photo really doesn't do the vegetables justice. This post is getting up later than I had hoped, because I tried to fix the pictures, which I'm not very good at. Hope all you CSA members are enjoying! Remember, please add your comments and recipes!!

CSA for July 27, 2010

There's so much to say, I almost don't know where to start! We're really excited this week; this is the best share yet, with lots of variety. First, did you notice the comments from last week CSA post? Yoko shared some fabulous (like, really fabulous!!) ways she's using some of the veggies. We hadn't even thought about grilling the Oriental greens - awesome. Check out the comments from last week, really. Go now! And please, do jump on there to share any of your cooking/preserving/serving ideas.

Our CSA partners have made a huge contribution to this weeks' share. Linda Boys has sent along spinach, tatsoi, kale, snow peas and summer turnip. If you're not familiar with kale, it's the dark, curly one. It's a super nutritious food - one of the few greens with good calcium levels, among other healthy things. It can be eaten raw or cooked like Spinach or Chard. It would be great in a stirfry with the tatsoi and the snow peas. Summer turnip is not the big yellow things in the supermarket all winter. It's a light, crispy guy, excellent raw, sliced thin into salads or used for a veggie dip. It could also be used in a stirfry!

Our Farmers Market buddy Hugh Moffat came through with carrots this week. Ours are poking along and his are fabulous, so he dug enough for a good bundle for everyone. Thanks, Hugh! And our neighbours Ed and Amanda Wiebe brought the beets. You all know, I hope, that the beet leaves are excellent and nutritious. We steam them like Chard, but you could also slice them into a stirfry!

We've included our Spicy Mesclun mix. This has some very tasty additions like arugula, cilantro and some members of the horseradish family. If you see something like parsley - proceed with caution! The cilantro is the ferny looking stuff. We've also including some 'Grand Rapids' leaf lettuce, so you can 'water' down your Spicy Mesclun, if needed!

So, for the FULL SHARES: 2 bags 'Sangria' red potatoes, 1 bag green beans, 1 bag mixed yellow and purple beans (the purples cook up green!), large bag snow peas, 2 summer turnip, 1 bag Msclun mix, 1 bag 'Grand Rapids', 1 Romanesque summer squash, 1 zucchini, 2 bunches carrots, 1 bundle beets, 1 bag kale, 1 tatsoi and 2 pints 'Red Mammoth' raspberries.

For the PART SHARES: 1 bag 'Sangria' red potatoes, 1 bag green beans, 1 bag mixed yellow and purple beans (the purples cook up green), 1 summer turnip, 1 small bag snow peas, 1 bag Mesclun mix, 1 bag 'Grand Rapids' lettuce, 1 bag spinach, 1 bundle carrots, 1 zucchini, 1 tatsoi and a pint of 'Red Mammoth' raspberries.

Enjoy!! Any questions about what something is or how to use it, email us or post a comment on this blog post!

CSA for July 20, 2010

We're hoping you see this 'cause we're having some Internet/router problems. And if you do see it, it may not be until Wednesday 'cause it takes us sooooo long to upload a photo right now. Anyway, here goes.....

Still a rather small box for this week. We are so close on carrots, beets and Chard, but not quite! Next week! (That's the most common saying, probably, for market gardens. Or, 'Next year!'.) Linda Boys has come through again with tatsoi for everyone (great stirfries last week!), beautiful spinach and some lovely snow peas! The snow peas are the edible pod peas - great raw in salads, with a dip or awesome in a stirfry with the Chinese greens! We're welcoming our neighbours, Mike and Naomi Waddell and Ed and Amanda Wiebe, growing chemical-free not far from us on Veteran's Way! They've contributed some beautiful lettuce for the mesclun mix and all the glorious dill! I personally am in heaven to have dill to go with the baby potatoes! And Evelyn and Menno Isaac are back with CSA, with beautiful salad bags for the full shares!

So, for the FULL SHARES: 2 lbs. baby Norland red potatoes, 2 lbs, baby Yukon Gold potatoes, a bag of tatsoi, bag of spinach, Evelyn's special salad mix, small bag mesclun salad mix, three pints raspberries, a small bundle of Spanish onions and a bouquet of fresh dill!

For the PART SHARES: 2 lbs. baby Norland red potatoes, a bag of tatsoi, small bag of snow peas, bag of mesclun salad mix, two pints raspberries, small bundle of Spanish onions and a bouquet of dill!

If you've got favourite recipes or uses for the veggies or herbs, please leave them in the comment section for this blog post! We've been told it's a little complicated to post a comment, but what my sister Keltie always does is choose anonymous, but signs her comment! Share what you know with the rest of us! We'd be delighted to hear how you used something that you found in your box!

CSA for July 13th, 2010

We've delayed the start of CSA one week, because nothing was growing very well. On the eve of the first share: a huge downpour over-night, making us and the veggies muddy and damp. So, for all our shareholders, we've washed the spinach and the mesclun mix, but I would definitely give it another rinse!!

Linda Boys had a beautiful addition to this weeks' boxes! She came through with gorgeous spinach, awesome mesclun mix and some beautiful tatsoi! Not enough tatsoi for everybody, but it's an awesome start to the season! The tatsoi (also known as Tah Tsai) can be used in salads or stir fries, or just steamed like you might use Swiss chard or beet greens. If it's a little wilted, just stand it in water and it will bounce back nicely! The little spinach leaves in the bag - that's ours. The big fat gorgeous leaves are hers; don't know how she does it! Our neighbour Lillian Weber supplied the saskatoons; we may be her only customer this year - saskatoons, and especially organic saskatoons, have been a hard crop the last few years, very prone to rust and a few other diseases in the wet spring weather. Her u-pick will not open at all this year, so we're very fortunate to have this little pick!

So in your boxes this week:

FULL SHARES: 3 lbs Warba potatoes, 1 tatsoi, 1 bag of spinach, 1 bag of mesclun mix, a bundle of green onions, 2 bundles of basil, 1 sprig French oregano, 2 pints raspberries and one pint saskatoons.

PART SHARES: 2 lbs. Warba potatoes, 1 bag spinach, 1 bag mesclun mix, 1 bundle of green onions, two bundles of basil, a sprig of French oregano, two pints raspberries and one pint saskatoons.

Enjoy!