CSA For September 25th!

Panda Bear found it a hot day for working in the garden!

Yesterday was a disappointing day for us.  We were working on the potato harvest, checking winter squash and digging garlic.  Nothing has met expectations this year.  The winter squash foliage should be covering the plots and the squash should be ample.  Instead we have found little spread and the squash are few and far between.  Last year the butternut covered a thousand square feet and there were 50 or 60 squash.  This year: sparse foliage and maybe twelve butternut, none ripe and only three of a decent size.  The potato harvest was even more depressing:  we took up a full row of Linzer, a fingerling that is one of our favourites.  What should have given us twelve or up to fifteen pails of four to five inch long potatoes yielded about two pails of two to three inch potatoes.  Everything was done as usual.  Was it lack of heat?  Inconsistent water?  We could second-guess ourselves all day but yesterday was not a happy day!

These last few days of heat, although hard to work in, have been fantastic for the tomatoes!  If you follow us on Facebook, you may have seen this last night but we thought we'd share it here as well.  Fast and Easy Fresh Tomato Pasta Sauce!  Next week will be the last CSA share for the year and we will load you up with tomatoes: as ripe as we can and some that need to ripen on the counter!  You all know never, never, never put a tomato in the fridge, right?  Right???  Check out this post for ripening tomatoes indoors...you can even improve those tasteless, perfect-looking, store bought globes in mid-winter!

We'll be giving you big bundles of carrots today and carrots and beets next week.  Check out Tuesdays' blog posts for tips on storing root veggies in the fridge for extended periods.  Eat all the small ones first, or any with dings or scrapes - they won't keep well.  And eat some of those wee ones now - raw! They are delicious!  And have you made pesto with carrot tops yet?  It's awesome!

I'm liking the sound of this Pumpkin Streusel Cake!  How about a Pumpkin Spice Latte Mousse for dessert?  Even the littlest Kabocha or Acorn will yield enough to make these Pumpkin Oatmeal Cookies with Cranberries and Walnuts!  Turn winter squash into a pasta sauce with this recipe.  The recipe calls for butternut but ours haven't done very well this year, we're thinking there wasn't enough heat for them.  However, the recipe would be great with Kabocha, Acorn, Hubbard..well almost all of them!  And save the seeds from your winter squash - they're all delightful, like these Spicy Roasted Squash Seeds!  The recipe for these Sweet Potato Fries would be great with any of our potatoes...but awesome with any of the winter squash, as well!  The dipping sauce sounds fantastic!

FULL SHARES:  Garlic, onions, carrots, 3 lbs. Sangria potatoes, 2 lbs. French Fingerling potatoes, spaghetti squash, acorn squash, Lemon ball cucumber, slicing cucumber, tomatoes, green pepper, jalapeno, tomatillos.

PART SHARES:  Garlic onions, carrots, 2 lbs. Sangria potatoes, spaghetti squash, golden Hubbard squash, Lemon Ball and slicing cucumbers, tomatoes, jalapeno or Hungarian Hot pepper, Swiss chard.

SINGLE SHARES:  Garlic, onions, carrots, 2 lbs. Sangria potatoes, spaghetti squash, Buttercup  squash, Lemon Ball and slicing cucumbers, tomatoes, jalapeno or Hungarian Hot peppers.

CSA For September 10th!

Heirloom tomatoes! Yummy!

Oh, have we a treat for you today!  Our friend Angela of Mouse River has had a bumper crop of heirloom tomatoes and we've managed to obtain some for you!  These are heirlooms; Black Krim and Cherokee Purple - awesome flavour, juicy and delicious!  Angela has tomatoes for sale - if you're still looking to preserve or simply want to feast!  Check out her blog post here.  These are all grown organically; she's looking for $3/lb. (the going rate at the farmers market) and she'll do $2/lb. with pick up at her place in Wawanesa!  If enough of us are interested, we may get a nice rate delivered to CSA.....maybe.... just sayin'.  Email her at the link on the blog page!

Amanda and Ed have come up with a nice round of Armenian cucumbers - the long, ridged, pale green ones.  The Single Shares and some of the Part Shares get them this week!  Everyone else has a nice hit of slicing cucumbers.  Amanda also sent some herbs, including basil and we'll finally cut some of ours to go with all those lovely tomatoes!  The classic tomato basil Caprese salad may be on the menu in the next few days!  I find this version of Caprese salad interesting because she's reducing the balsamic vinegar - something we've never done!

A blog post gave me a big giggle this week: 'Ten things to do with zucchini when you're past all hope!'  It's an interesting collection of links from zucchini butter to boats to, well, check it out here!  Here's a great tutorial for making a grain-free zucchini lasagna - the zucchini becomes the noodle!  This link takes you step-by-step through the process!  In this recipe, zucchini becomes spaghetti, with roasted tomatoes!  A 'spiralizer' is probably necessary for this second recipe - a little gadget that slices zucchini and other veggies in special ways!  I'm also loving the look of this zucchini and tomato tart, kind of a pizza, kind of a pie!  Everyone is getting Patty Pan today....as they get larger they are awesome for stuffing as a side-dish; you can serve out little pie-shaped wedges to each diner!  Single Shares have a smaller one - awesome for stuffing for a single serving!  Here's a vegetarian stuffed Patty Pan.  Here's a sausage stuffed Patty Pan; this recipe would also be great for vegetable marrow or Moroccan squash!  Here's the recipe for quinoa-stuffed Patty Pans that we shared on our Facebook page a couple of weeks ago!  Of course, you could use rice instead of quinoa!

As the Winter Squash ripens, you'll be seeing more in your baskets!  Remember that Winter Squash is largely interchangeable in recipes...except for Spaghetti Squash.  It's a little different, but just as viable as long as you mash it or accept a different 'texture' to finished food.  Winter squash are awesome both as savoury and sweet dishes. Everyone is getting buttercup squash today; here's a great link for simple baked buttercup it as a side-dish.  Here's a nifty recipe for pumpkin fudge, dairy-free!

So, in the baskets today:

FULL SHARES:  Heirloom tomatoes, Buttercup winter squash, cucumbers, Patty Pan and Moroccan summer squash, Hungarian hot wax peppers, herbs, garlic, 4 lbs. Sangre potatoes, carrots including Purple Haze and Nantes, apples, corn.

PART SHARES:  Heirloom tomatoes, Buttercup winter squash, cucumbers, Patty Pan and Moroccan summer squash, Hungarian hot wax peppers, herbs, garlic, 2 lbs. Sangre potatoes, carrots including Purple Haze and Nantes, apples, corn.

SINGLE SHARES:  Heirloom tomatoes, Buttercup winter squash, cucumbers, Patty Pan and Moroccan summer squash, Hungarian hot wax peppers, herbs, 2 lbs. Sangre potatoes, carrots including Purple Haze and Nantes, corn.