CSA Week 14

Well, after griping about the cool temps all summer, here we are the first week of September swimming in 80 degree humidity. The eggplant love it! We happily were able to harvest enough to send out to a handful of ping tung and travatia varieties to members and will be cycling them through by POD. We also harvested the first of the celery, with more to come as well. Many of the tomatoes, however seem to be tapering off and we doubt we'll be sending them for much longer. But as some crops fade away, new ones come in. Last week we sent the first of the winter squash to regular shares and potatoes to everyone, and there are many more to be harvested. 

Academic shares started this week adding about 15 new CSA members to the farm. Welcome to our new farm members!

Sometimes I feel like writing the blog is a bland chore as the repetition gets to me; farm update, harvest, recipe, repeat. I do enjoy writing and finding the time to write anything beyond the dole drum necessities with all the other demands of farm life is tough. I do hope I don't bore the tears out of you all too! Perhaps when the season ends I'll have time to get to more of the philosophical end of farming I'd like to incorporate into the blog, as there are many folks who enjoy reading it who aren't CSA members and would like to know more than CSA updates. 

Speaking of CSA updates, we are still planning our Fall Harvest Potluck for October 19th. Unfortunately there will not be the option of pick your own carving pumpkin as the excessive wetness in the fields  rendered many of our plants and their amazing oranging fruits to rot. But fear not as the carving pumpkins were planted in a different wetter field than the pie pumpkins and they are looking great, we've even harvested some, but felt like August was a little over kill to start sending out pie pumpkin, although a few did find homes from the Regional Market last Saturday. 

Some of you may recall Freyja's tiny pepper plant from way back in March or April. She picked her first pepper from it the other day. Man, was she proud. We are finally starting to see some peppers of a worthwhile size and have found two of the mini sweet peppers with color.  In many ways I do hope this heat lasts and we have a great Indian Summer so we can harvest some peppers before the frosts come. 

While washing the lovely  beets this week, we found this little guy! It's now in the kid's bug cage and we hope to see a monarch emerge soon if it's still alive in there after being manhandled in the harvest. If it makes it, rest assured I'll keep you updated with some pictures! The odd thing is most of the time monarchs make their cocoons on milkweed where they feed, not beet greens!  I've been scouring the milkweed we left in the hedgerows for the monarchs; the  one caterpillar we don't mind having around, for one due the fact that they eat solely the one weed, and for two the fact that their numbers have been dropping drastically like the honeybees due to overuse of herbicides killing their food! http://www.nationofchange.org/new-report-shows-monsanto-major-culprit-record-decline-monarch-butterflies-1391179118 We are happy to offer a home to these beautiful beneficial insects. Our Sunflowers are constantly buzzing with several different kinds of bees, laden with pollen,  and a bumble bee colony has made a home in the kids' climbing tree, much to their dismay.  We would like to add a few more laying hens and a honeybee hive or two to the roster for next season. Some of the fruiting crops that didn't do well, such as the carving pumkins seemed to be a matter of pollination, and honeybees give both fruit and their wonderful sweet honey, so they're kind of a two for one deal providing they stay alive. Many of our bee keeper friends lost a bulk of their hives last winter, so getting someone to bring hives to the farm just wasn't a possibility. If we have our own though, they have agreed to process the honey for us!

This week's harvest included: lettuce, kale, swiss chard, red radishes, baby daikon radishes (the long white ones) beets, tomatoes, cucumbers, the last of the fennel, some summer squash that we sent to the new share members as the new planting is just starting to come in and we figured everyone else might be getting sick of them, and celery and eggplant.  The daikons will get bigger, and what we sent out this week is just a bit of thinning that needed to be done. They are an Aisian cooking radish enjoyed in soups, kimchees and the like. They can also be shredded or sliced and enjoyed in a salad raw, and their large greens make a wonderful pot green dish as well. 

Out in the fields, the daikons are plumping up, winter squash filling in and getting color, and we've spotted several rutabagas nearly the size of volley balls! We did not plant traditional cabbage as traditionally it just has never done well, but our chinese cabbage is looking great and we anticipate sending some out next week. There are many more beets to look forward to, so if you missed them this week, there will be more! We are prepping our high tunnel for fall plantings including leeks and red pac choi. The farmer's markets are starting to fill with apples; a sure sign fall is on it's way. Grindstone Farm will start getting their local organic apples from Knapp Farm starting with Mackintoshes, so if you're interested check out their website for availability and pricing. We plan on going in on an order with them to get you some of Knapp's wonderful apples in the coming weeks.

This week's recipe:  from Naturally Ella: A mouth watering Daikon recipe using Kale as well I can't wait to try (wish my family's taste buds would become more adventurous!)
 http://www.yummly.com/recipe/external/Roasted-Daikon-Radish-and-Kale-Spring-Rolls-with-Tahini-Honey-Dipping-Sauce-Naturally-Ella-289028

ROASTED DAIKON RADISH AND KALE SPRING ROLLS WITH TAHINI-HONEY DIPPING SAUCE

Recipe type: Vegetarian Main Course

Prep time:  10 mins
Cook time:  20 mins
Total time:  30 mins

Serves: 2
 

• 1 large Daikon Radish
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• ⅛ teaspoon salt
• 1 handful of Kale (I prefer curly kale)
• 4 oz brown rice noodles
• 6-8 spring rolls wrappers
• Sauce:
• 2 tablespoons tahini
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 2 teaspoons toasted sesame seeds
• 1 tablespoon honey
• ½ teaspoon chile flakes, optional

1. Preheat oven to 350˚.
2. Slice radish in to 2 strips and toss with olive oil and salt. Roast until tender, 15-20. While is roasting, destem and roughly chop the kale, set aside.
3. Bring a pot of water to a boil and cook brown rice noodles until tender, 4-6 minutes. Drain and set in your assembly station.
4. Once radishes are ready, set up your spring roll rolling station with the water, radishes, kale,rice noodles, and a place to roll/cut each spring roll.
5. Soak the rice paper for 10-15 seconds (you don’t want it too soft when taking it out of the water.) Place rice paper on a cutting board and load with veggies and noodles. Roll, tuck, and fold in sides as you go. Continue with remaining ingredients.
6. Once done slice in half and serve.
7. To make the tahini sauce, whisk ingredients together and taste. Adjust according to desired taste.

We hope everyone has been enjoying their shares so far. It's been a long and rewarding season for us growing for you, and still two more months of great organic goodness to come.