CS A For August 27th

Look what Amanda and Ed found! Corn!!  The first of this summers' corn, only for the Full Shares today, but more will be coming in good supply for the next few weeks.  Ours is still a good week away, Amanda and Ed have more growing so we should all get a good feast in the next little while!  We're all growing chemical-free, but we haven't noticed a problem with the corn borer this year but you may, may find a little caterpillar in your corn.  Just cut it out: it's generally in the top inch!  Amanda and Ed also got an interesting pick on cucumbers, including a pale green we think is an Armenian (they were given the seed, without a name), as well as some long English cucumbers.

The hot weather has really kick-started a few crops like cucumbers.  The cucumbers are spreading and flowering like crazy.  Field tomatoes and peppers finally look like they're going strong.  The winter squash, which all have a few fruits, are flowering and spreading and taking over now!  The hot weather does mean the demise of the lettuce and the peas look like they're giving one last pick.  We've already seeded some lettuce for fall and it's slowly coming along, as well as some beans we seeded just a couple of weeks ago.  Unfortunately, we seeded some radish with the lettuce which are ready now.  We're sorry to say potato picking did not go well today so we have just a few bags on the table for purchase or trading.

The summer squash is coming on strong!  Here's a great post with ten awesome recipes for zucchini, although any summer squash can be substituted!  Found this on Facebook: a baked, coated zucchini fritter, which includes an nice, easy recipe for homemade tsatziki sauce.  For something a little different on the snacking front: Salt and vinegar chips - with zucchini!  Here's another great link with ideas on dehydrating zucchini: as chips for snacks or shredded, for re-constituting for winter soups and stews.  I am also rather fascinated by this recipe for raw zucchini ravioli - a little fancy, with some ingredients we don't actually keep in the pantry, but worth a shopping trip I think!  Here's an interesting twist on pancakes with zucchini and broken-up pieces of angel hair pasta!  I'm also thinking of trying this recipe for meatloaf with turkey and zucchini flavoured with Thai green chili paste, which we do keep in the pantry!  Stuffed Patty Pans are all the rage: here's sausage stuffed Patty Pans.  This recipe would also be great with Papaya Pear or Moroccan.  It's similar to what we do with a Vegetable Marrow....which is coming soon!  Any size Patty Pan can be stuffed:  if using a large one it's very cute to cut it into pie-like wedges for serving.  Smaller sizes can be an individual side dish.  Zucchini desserts like these zucchini applesauce oatmeal cookies are fun for upcoming school lunches or an evening snack with tea!  I saw, someplace, a recipe for an orange and zucchini loaf - would love to find it again; anyone know of a nice recipe?

With the cucumbers in good supply have you tried making a Japanese sunomono salad - a lovely, light vinegar salad, usually with rice vinegar (we have substituted a white wine vinegar in a pinch, cut with about 1/5 water).  This creamy cucumber salad looks scrumptious, too!  For something a little more exotic how about these spicy Sichuan pickles, which only need to sit in the vinegar for a couple of hours - although more time would be spicier!  Of course, at tea time you need a proper English cucumber sandwich, white bread and no crusts, please!

So, in today's baskets:

FULL SHARES:  Shelling peas, corn (probably Peaches 'n Cream), mixed cucumbers including Armenian, English and slicing, Dragons Tongue beans, Royal Burgundy purple beans, large zucchini, Crookneck or Papaya Pear, assorted Patty Pan, carrots, radish, peppers Jalapeno and Hungarian Hot Wax.

PART SHARES:  Peas mixed edible pod and Snow peas, mixed cucumbers, Dragons Tongue beans, zucchini, Crookneck or Papaya Pear, assorted Patty Pan summer squash, carrots, Swiss chard, peppers Jalapeno and Hungarian Hot Wax.

SINGLE SHARES:  Cucumbers, pole beans 'Blue Lake', zucchini, Crookneck or Papaya Pear summer squash, assorted Patty Pans, carrots, pepper Jalapeno and Hungarian Hot Wax.

CSA for Thursday, August 23!

Wow, did it get a little steamy this afternoon!  We were kind of petering out by 2 PM when we were still picking tomatoes!  Nothing like a vine-ripened tomato!  A word about tomatoes:  we're picking our field tomatoes, which are a wee bit more exposed to the elements than Evelyn and Menno's beautiful hothouse tomatoes.  We also grow varieties for flavor, not the varieties favorited by growers 'cause they're hard as rock right through delivery to the grocery store!  All our tomatoes may have a small bit of cracking and/or blemishes; especially the little cherry tomatoes are prone to splitting when they're really ripe.  Any that split while we're picking or packaging we just eat....but you still may have a few split during delivery.  They're still awesome....

We're still looking for new and nifty things to do with zucchini!  Shared this great recipe for zucchini pie on our Facebook page a couple of days ago!  Seems part quiche, part custard pie - sounds great.  And you could really do the spicing according to your tastes:  oregano and thyme for something rather Mediterranean, curry for something exotic...the possibilities are endless!  That's the awesome thing about the mild flavor of zucchini - it plays really well with other flavors!

A variety of herbs were cut today.  Some of you will get basil, with a bright green, pointy leaf.  Some will get oregano, with a soft, round, small leaf.  Some will get summer savory which looks rather ferny.  All go really well with tomatoes....and summer squash!  And corn on the cob....especially the summer savory!  Farmer Man is very proud to bring you this corn today!  We've really struggled to grow good corn organically - and we finally seem to be getting it right!  Today we've gotten the first pick on 'Golden Beauty', an old, standard yellow sweet corn.  We had some very lunch (quality control, don't you know!) and it was very nice.  Amanda and Ed supplied all the cucumbers today!

So for the FULL SHARES:  8 cobs corn, English and slicing cucumber, Hungarian Hot peppers, 1 lb. Dragon's Tongue beans, lg. Papaya Pear squash, Gold Rush zucchini, zucchini, 2 lb. slicing tomatoes, bundle of herb, 2 lbs. Cherry Red potatoes, 2 lbs. German Butterball potatoes.

PART SHARES:  6 cobs corn, slicing cuke, bell pepper, 1 lb. Dragons Tongue beans, med. Papaya Pear squash, Gold Rush zucchini, zucchini, pint cherry/grape tomatoes, bunch of herb, 1.5 lbs. Cherry Red potatoes, 1.5 lbs. German Butterball potatoes.

SINGLE SHARES:  4 cobs corn, slicing cuke, a Hungarian Hot pepper, 1/2 lb. Dragons Tongue beans, Papaya pear squash, Gold Rush zucchini, slicing cuke, bunch of herbs, 1 lb. Cherry Red tomatoes, 1 lb. German Butterball potatoes.

What's That? Corn, You Say?

The Chicks check it out!

Rocky and The Hens know what to do!

All our animals get food off the farm.  Teddy Bear, the little doggie, loves to sneak baby potatoes.  We've discovered the goats love zucchini and garlic scapes.  The garlic scapes thing was an accidental discovery, when they got out one day.  Wouldn't have thought garlic and goats, but hey!  Today, we had some cooked corn on the cob, left over from a party.  Chickens and goats get corn in their grain ration, but in a dried form.  All the chickens and the goats got a little corn on the cob to try today.  The Hens and Rocky, went for it in a shot.  They may have had some last year, I don't recall.  The goats found it an interesting challenge.  In case you don't know, goats only have teeth on the bottom jaw, the top jaw is a smooth palate - more about grabbing and mashing twigs and leaves.  The poor goatlings just couldn't get a grip on the corn.  It turned into a bit of a frenzy, as they decided they liked the taste but just couldn't control the cob.  Then they got their hooves in to the action and things went well!  And The Chicks?  Well, The Chicks just didn't know what to do.  We forget, as they have grown quickly, that they are not quite three months old, and so much is new.  They were a little scared of the cobs I gently tossed out.  A full fifteen minutes of walking up to, looking and then walking on ensued.  Finally, some bold chicken took a peck - and liked it!  As soon as one was pecking, the rest tried it and the cobs were soon clean!  A little treat for everyone!

Multi-tasking Fall Chores

Farmer Boy is very busy, even though CSA and Farmers' Markets are largely over. We will still have indoor markets every Saturday morning at the Green Spot Home & Garden Centre, but it's pretty mellow to prepare for one rather than four. However, Fall clean up has started; harvesting of potatoes and other storage vegetables continues and, of course, the animals still have to be fed! Well, this is Farmer Boy doing fall clean up and feeding the pigs! Corn stalks with small undeveloped cobs are a new favourite of The Berks. Now, Farmer Boy could load up the tractor but sometimes he likes the personal touch......