Finished for 09

We are done for this season. Whew. What a lot of work and a lot of fun. More veggies than last year. More farmer friends. Super great members. Aaand I got to hang out with my sister and her new husband a lot.

The garlic is in the ground for next year. We're trying onions from seed for next year and we are re-evaluating our plan of attack for the CSA as a whole.

New next year - we got some cranberries in the ground to try them again for next year. We also planted currants, serviceberries, and gooseberries so hopefully we'll expand our unique fruits in the baskets.

Members, please email us what you would like to see different for next year.

Also, we're starting our orders so check out High Mowing and Johnny's or Seed Savers Exchange for what we should order. We're always open to suggestions from other catalogs as well.

Bundle up for the winter and email me if you'd like to be put on the notification list for when signups start in the springtime.

week 15

Cooking in Season

Final Week

September is rounding out the end of the season and this will be the last cooking in season newsletter. Next week is a BOYB - bring your own basket. We'll pull out everything we have left and let all our members stock up for the winter. Bring your own containers and take only what you like. We’ll have keeper squash, potatoes, maybe some sweet potatoes, apples, possibly a few carrots (I’m still terrible at carrots) and whatever else we can pull up.

Our first grape harvest at the vineyard is this weekend and I will be driving the grapes down to North Carolina to watch the first pressing, which means I might not be back to bid you all farewell, so I swiped a couple bunches of Marquettes, which are the grapes set to be harvested and put a few in the baskets. They are almost good enough to be a table grape, very sweet but also very seedy. I also have some more no spray apples, which my mom is whipping into pies as we speak for the freezer. And the corn is no spray and it’s bud worm season so do not be alarmed. Just cut off the ends and enjoy not eating chemicals.

I feel as now is a good time to break the bad news... our tomatoes are all but dead. The best part about fall is being able to walk outside the back door to pick a fresh, red ripe tomato from the vine and put a big slice on, well, pretty much anything and everything. The sad part about this year is that with the weather being cool, a late blight is wiping out all tomatoes that aren't heavily sprayed with fungicide. The blight started with plants shipped out of New York to big box stores and there's not much that anyone can do right now. It's depressing and spreading like wildfire so if you have tomatoes at home (and they're still alive) look for black spots, which is an early sign, and the organic treatment is copper, but you should use according to the directions and with caution. With how interconnected our food distribution system is, it’s amazing that this doesn’t happen more often or get more attention. Sometimes the world seems so small when diseases spread this quickly with trucking and distribution. Oh well, at least we’re taking a step in the right direction as we hope to start more of our own plants next year in our own greenhouse using our own seeds we’ve saved this year.

Actually, that sounds kinda exciting, but I think it might be too early to think about next year already.

Anyway, with next week being our last week, it's time to really start thinking about putting veggies away for the winter. I am very partial to freezing as with most small batch veggies, it’s easier than canning and leaves a lot of the vitamins. Just make sure to mark everything well while you still know when you put it away to avoid the freezer burnt beans in the back corner of the freezer from –who-knows-when. Maybe even some of your basket will make it from storage to the thanksgiving table (oh, especially the sweet potatoes) and you can enjoy autumn with the most delicious holiday and think of us.

Peppers Preparation – Select crisp, tender, green or bright red pods. Wash, cut out stems, cut in half and remove seeds. If desired, cut into 1/2-inch strips or rings.Heated – Good for use in cooking. Water blanch halves 3 minutes, strips or rings 2 minutes. Cool promptly, drain and package, leaving 1/2-inch headspace. Seal and freeze.Unheated – Good for use in uncooked foods because they have a crisper texture, or in cooked foods. Package raw, leaving no headspace. Seal and freeze.

Melons Preparation – Select firm-fleshed, well-colored, ripe melons. Cut in half, remove seeds and rind. Cut melons into slices, cubes or balls. Syrup Pack – Pack into containers and cover with cold 30 percent syrup. Leave headspace. Seal and freeze. Unsweetened Pack – Pack into containers, leaving headspace. Seal and freeze.

Beans Preparation – Select young tender pods when the seed is first formed. Wash in cold water, snip and cut into 2 to 4-inch lengths. Water blanch 3 minutes. Cool promptly, drain and package, leaving 1/2-inch headspace. Seal and freeze.

Squash Preparation – Select firm, mature squash with a hard rind. For spaghetti squash, mashing the cooked pulp is not necessary. Cook until soft in boiling water, in steam, in a pressure cooker or in an oven. Remove pulp from rind and mash. To cool, place pan containing pumpkin in cold water and stir occasionally. Package, leaving ½-inch headspace. Seal and freeze. Or….. Pumpkins and most winter squash should be harvested when mature, before frost. You can tell if they are mature as the skin will be hard and difficult to scratch with a fingernail. Leave an inch of stem on when cutting, then “cure” near a furnace or warm area (80 to 85 degrees F) for 10 days. This will harden the rind further, and heal any cuts. Then store dry between 50 and 60 degrees. Below this and they can get chilling damage. Above this and they can get stringy. Acorn squash should be handled similarly, only don’t cure as such warm temperatures will make them stringy.

It’s been a great season. Glad you all joined in. Check the website for updates and winter laments. I hope to be back by next week but if not, enjoy the last of the bountiful harvest.

~janee

week 14

Cooking in Season
week 14

I am so happy. It has been a few months of searching through the massive amount of apple trees at work, taking a bite out of each tree to find plenty of cider apples or wild apples with that mealy texture and mild taste, thinking maybe they’re not that bad. This tree is it. Laden with a bunch of juicy but crisp apples, these are the apples I was searching for. I know I asked the name and it’s one of those combo names that’s escaping me right now like jonafree or jonagold. In any case, they are delicious and no spray… but I still strongly advise as I always do to wash before eating. Most blemishes are only skin deep, but with all apples, a small hole can mean someone already found the tasty fruit and might still be inside. Oh, and we should be pressing cider soon, which is always exciting.

We also have a couple grapes too scattered throughout. They all have seeds. I have a concord seedless planted, but at the rate it’s growing, it will be years before I start picking the fruit. If the seeds are too much for you, you could always enjoy some juice, although one bunch really won’t give you that much. The internet has some creative ways of extracting juice like boiling and straining, but if you just want a glass of very fresh grape juice, just wash and stem the grapes, put them in a ziplock bag, mash, and then strain. You don’t get a lot of juice, but it’s delicious and no seeds to worry about..

Anyway, on to the veggies…
I remember the first time I ever cooked eggplant. It was at the start of my culinary explorations when I was young and I picked up an eggplant out of the produce aisle for it’s beautiful purple color and lovely shape. I figured it couldn’t be that hard and it reminded me of zucchini so sliced it up and sautéed it in a pan all by itself. Excited to try my new dish, I shoveled the first flimsy piece in my mouth only to spit it back out. The texture was like a raw fish, it soaked up all the oil like a sponge, and there was this overwhelming bitterness to it which made me vow never to cook it again.
I have since gotten over that with a simple tip I plucked out of a vegetarian cookbook – an hour before cooking, slice your eggplant, lay it on a paper towel and flip it halfway through with a dash of salt and it will sweat out all of the bitter juices. So that was one problem solved. The next was how to cook it without saturating it completely with oil and loosing the firm texture. I find that with all super absorbent veggies, when sautéed I used half water and half oil, allowing the water to soak in first and then adding the oil so it doesn’t stick. A step up from this is throw it on the grill and brush with seasoned oil or butter. In the end, I find it has a firm texture which reminds me of steak or a good portabella mushroom.
After the initial fear of eggplant left me, I found it is great stacked into a lasagna or sautéed with squash on a bed of scalloped potatoes. This recipe is simple (and would be great with a grilled half of a sweet pepper too) and with the sweating preparation out of the way, it might make you look at this beautiful vegetable in a different light. If not, well it’s always great breaded, deep fried and covered in cheese like a good eggplant parmesean.

Grilled Eggplant Sandwich
4 teaspoons Olive Oil
1 clove Garlic, finely chopped1 1/2 teaspoons chopped, Fresh Basil2 small Eggplants sliced1/2 cup Cream Cheese, Low-Fat Whipped, or Goat Cheese4 pieces Focaccia or other good quality bread, sliced in half, lengthwise2/3 cup kale or other greens, washed and dried4 slices Tomato
Preparation:Preheat grill to medium heat. Add olive oil, garlic, salt, and fresh ground pepper and ½ teaspoon fresh chopped basil to small bowl. Stir to combine. Brush both sides of eggplant slices with olive oil mixture. Grill eggplant over direct heat, 3 minutes per side. Mix cream cheese, 1-tablespoon fresh chopped basil, salt, and fresh ground pepper in small bowl. Spread 4 halves of focaccia bread with cheese mixture. Top with kale, slice of tomato and focaccia bread slice.

See you next week ~janee

week 13

Cooking in Season

week 13

The tips on the leaves are starting to turn now but the weather is holding at the same –not really too hot- level it’s been at all summer. The pumpkins are crawling along and a few are hinting at oranges through their green veins. The tomatoes in the back garden got blight and are now toast, but the romas and heirlooms at work are doing just fine so far surrounded by ragweed in bloom. (sneeze.) I see local plums and peaches at the farm up the street and wonder how the heck they manage that. I’ve been looking for local cherries but this season has been a bust. Exotic fruit growers in the area said we had an extremely ground chilling winter last year and everything took a hit. We’re planting new peach trees in hopes of production in the future.

The grapes are hanging airily on the vines at work and I’m testing them every three days and charting them to see when the chemical compounds are just right for harvest. It’s so funny how something as earthy and basic as growing things can turn so scientifically complicated.

This past week I’ve eaten out of the garden more than ever. Wed night I grabbed a leftover basket and chopped up some turnips, squash, beet greens, potatoes and fresh tomatoes and put them in a light tomato sauce and it turned out amazing. I feel as though I’ve overlooked turnips unjustly as their mild flavor was just the perfect surprising zing to the dish. Last night for Labor day my sister cooked up a green / purple / yellow bean and tomato dish that was amazing and we had steamed sweet corn and ribs. I loved the red corn, which turned an odd shade when cooked but still was sweeter than I thought it would be. I would plant it again.

And I already feel this year winding down a lot as we start to tuck up the gardens after another very odd Ohio growing season. Last year we had so many tomatoes we didn’t know what to do. This year was the year of the summer squash. I wonder what next year will be like…

Anyway, now is the time for some much appreciated feedback. Throughout the season we hope that we are providing what our members are looking for; weather and growing conditions permitting. Here’s your chance to let us know how we did and what we could do better. Also, if anyone feels so inclined to post on our localharvest page, we’d much appreciate it and offer up a free dozen eggs for your time.

You can email me your feed back or fill it out and bring it in next week.

On a scale of 1 to 5 for your CSA preferences, how important are the following with 1 being not at all and 5 being extremely important:

__ Diversity of fruits and veggies __Flexibility in pickup

__ Organic __ Local

__ Recipes __Heirloom varieties

__ Fruits included

Anything you would have liked to see more of?

______________________________________________________________________________________

Comments or suggestions for next year? ______________________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________________

Any feedback is always helpful. Thanks and see you next week…. ~janee

week 12

Cooking in Season
week 12

The

The nights are really dropping temperature now and the morning feeding now requires long sleeves. It seems like as soon as I put my sweaters away it’s time to get them back out again. We just tilled for our winter gardens and are about to plant garlic for next season… and lots of it! We never have enough. Also to keep us through the winter, we’re planting more kale, carrots for next year, turnips, spinach (which I usually have terrible luck with), along with any other root veggie seeds we still have around. Soon it will be time to press the apple cider, which is always a really good time and very messy. The winter wheat is going in soon as well.

The melon patch has officially been picked! After months of waiting and grandma telling us every week that we were a month away, we’re finally pretty confident that they are ready. Use them right away or cut them up and freeze them for great smoothies to beat the winter blues. Our sugar baby melons took a blue ribbon at the Randolph fair, our tomatoes, flower arrangement and shelled beans got second. We’re already planning for next year and I’m kicking myself for not entering stark county’s fair. Oh well, there’s always next year.

Outside my mom’s kitchen window we’ve been watching a volunteer squash / pumpkin looking vine crawl its way among the volunteer sunflowers under the bird feeder. It’s been the mystery plant for months with big leaves and beautiful yellow flowers with spotted green fruits forming. I was worried that it was a squash cross pollinated with a gourd and it would be bitter, but it turned out to be completely delicious. I love stuffed squash. Here’s a recipe that will use up the winter squash that are just now coming in. It calls for sausage, but it is just as delicious with a sticky wild rice or some cooked down pinto beans as well.

Stuffed Acorn Squash with Molasses
· 4 small acorn squash or 1 spaghetti squash
· 1 tablespoon butter
· 1/2 cup diced red bell pepper
· 2 large green onions, thinly sliced
· 1 pound bulk breakfast sausage (or substitute wild rice or julienned green beans or cooked beans)
· 1 cup fresh breadcrumbs
· 1/2 cup canned beef broth (or veggie broth)
· 1/2 teaspoon pepper
· 1/4 teaspoon salt
· 2/3 cup mild-flavored (light) molasses (or I loooove to use real maple syrup)
Preparation
Preheat oven to 400°F. Cut two 3/4-inch-thick slices from center of each acorn squash for a total of 8 slices (reserve ends of squash for another use). Scoop out seeds and fibers from center slices and discard. Arrange squash rings in single layer in 15x10x2-inch baking dish.
Melt butter in heavy medium nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add bell pepper and green onions; sauté until tender, about 3 minutes. Transfer to large bowl; cool. Mix in sausage (or substitute), breadcrumbs, broth, pepper and salt. Mound mixture in center of squash rings, using about 1/3 cup for each. (Can be prepared 1 day ahead. Cover and refrigerate.)
Brush squash with half of molasses. Bake 15 minutes. Brush with remaining molasses and bake until squash are tender and sausage is cooked through, about 25 minutes.


Enjoy,
~Janee

week 11

Cooking in Season

week 11

These are the glory days of gardening, when buckets are over flowing with fresh picked goodies from the garden and after picking barefoot in the morning dew with the sunrise warming my back, I ran inside to throw a chicken in the slow cooker nestled in among juicy fresh tomatoes and fresh parsley and spices. The pickles from a couple of weeks are ready and disappearing fast. The winter squash are growing and growing and climbing all over their neighboring weeds. The sweet corn at work is among ragweed as tall as me and so picking ended up being allergy hell as the subtle pollen drifted in the wind… right into my nose. The sweet corn here is on it’s second wave, a new variety we’ve never tried that was supposed to be a super sweet red but it cross pollinated with the super sweet incredible corn next to it and is a weirdly tinted combo of the two.

The tomatoes are ripening on the vine, taking their good sweet time. I just submitted a bunch of veggies to the Randolph fair up by my work and I giggled when I saw that many of the “red tomato” entries were not yet red, but blushing greens. Then I didn’t feel so bad for my sun kissed entries. We also entered a giant version of a CSA basket along with some shelled beans and two sugar baby melons, which grandma contends are still not ripe yet.
I love tomato season. I had tomatoes with my eggs this morning. My slow cooker is filled with my chicken, tomato and lentil dish and my mom is working on onions, peppers, tomato, and sausage for Wed night dinner. I have tomatoes in my lunch, on every sandwich, and Travis admitted to picking one and eating it right there in the middle of the garden. The sauce tomatoes are coming on well and I look forward to canning pasta sauce and salsa, though my cilantro never really cooperates.

We were talking at work about how supermarkets have made everything be by the pound and made to look pretty, which leaves the consumer with pretty produce with empty taste. Wine grape growers are having a similar dilemma – if the suppliers sell by the ton, it is to their benefit to grow a lot of over fertilized, over irrigated grapes of lower quality because no one wants to pay for a product done right. That makes me sad, but I know often in the supermarket I am looking only for a good deal too, but usually it’s at the cost of taste. Enter our pears. (Make sure to wash them!!!!) They are not much to look at to be sure. You’d probably pass them over at the supermarket, but they are completely delicious. The skin is so thin it’s like cutting through butter and they are so sweet and delicious it makes me swear off those hard green pear-rocks at the store. It takes a long time to make sure they are just right and we do not get the yield that commercial growers get –same thing with our tomatoes, corn, beans, pigs, turkeys… pretty much everything around here! It takes a long time and a lot of work, but I think it’s worth it.

… maybe I’m just getting nostalgic with autumn coming and school back in session. We’re already saving seeds for next year, taking about what we’re planting where. Only 5 weeks left in CSA including today. It sure is flying by!

Anyway, I love America’s Test Kitchen. Here’s a great salsa recipe that they tested to be a sure fire winner.

Fresh Tomato Salsa
1 ½ pounds firm, ripe tomatoes, cored and cut into 3/8 inch dice - about 3 cups (I throw in tomatillos as well for some zip)
1 large jalapeno chile, seeds and ribs removed and set aside, minced (option in my opinion)
½ cup minced red onion
1 small garlic clove, minced
¼ cup chopped fresh cilantro leaves (sorry, mine all went to seed)
½ teaspoon salt
Pinch of ground pepper
2 – 6 teaspoons juice from 1 to 2 limes
Sugar to taste (up to 1 teaspoon)
1. set a large colander in a large bowl. Place the tomatoes in the colander and let them drain for 30 minutes. As the tomatoes drain, layer the jalapeno, onion, garlic and cilantro on top. Shake the colander to drain off the excess tomato juice. Discard the juice and wipe out the bowl.
2. transfer the contents of the colander to the now empty bowl. Add the salt, pepper, and 2 teaspoons of the lime juice; toss to combine. Taste and add the minced jalapeno ribs and seeds, sugar and additional lime juice to taste.

See you next week,
Janee

week 10

Cooking in Season

week 10

The middle of August is the perfect time for sweet tea and I have to remind myself to do all those summertime things that I’d been too busy to do during the crazy early days of summer. The cicadas are out and the nights sound a bit more eerie now as the dusk is sneaking up closer and closer each night. The pumpkins at work are flowering, but with all the fungus that’s hit the cucumbers, I’m worried it’s going to jump over to the winter squash and pumpkins.
Welcome the tomatoes to the scene and I am about ready to walk down to the orchard to taste test to see if the pears are ready. Travis found a cool caterpillar in the carrots. Turns out it’s going to be a black swallowtail. Good thing he didn’t smash it!

The okra is coming along well, the beets are at all different stages of getting ripe, and we’re testing melons weekly to see if they are ready. I am sure it looks very scientific – all of us out in the melon patch, holding each one up to an ear and knocking on it to hear a thud. I am not sure what a thud sounds like, but I hope they are ready soon.

Also, if anyone is a home bread maker, I have organic wheat from a local farmer that I’d like to share. I think its soft winter wheat and I got it to put some in the ground for next year and use some for beer making. Let me know if you’d like some. Also, if anyone would like to buy in to a pig share, let me know. We have their date set in mid September and if you’d prefer different cuts, we can do that as well. Also just ordered second batch of meat birds, which should be ready in October if you’re interested.

Our recipe was submitted by our member Tracy Weiner for a dense casserole that uses everything in season right now. It’s completely delicious and very easy to make, and a great way to use corn off the cob if you so desire.
CORN, ZUCCHINI AND TOMATO PIE
3 cups fresh or frozen defrosted corn kernels
5 small zucchini, cut into matchsticks 5-6 cups
2 tsp salt
1 tsp ground black pepper
1 TBSP fresh dill weed
2 TBSP melted butter
3-4 vine ripe tomatoes, cut into ½ inch thick slices
½ cup freshly grated parmesan 2-3 cups
½ cup dry bread crumbs 3 cups
2 TBSP olive oil
I also added some sautéed onions, green peppers and mushrooms
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In 13” x 9” baking dish, combine the corn, zucchini, 1 tsp salt ½ tsp. pepper, dill and melted butter, tossing to coat the vegetables. Cover the vegetables with the tomatoes. Sprinkle with the remaining salt and pepper.
In small bowl, combine the cheese and the breadcrumbs. Sprinkle the mixture over the tomatoes and drizzle with the olive oil. Bake the pie for 30 minutes, or until the cheese is bubbling. Remove it from the oven and let it stand for 5 minutes before serving.
See you next week,
Janee

week 9

Cooking in Season
week 9

Every single window is open, screened or unscreened. The ceiling fans are on. The dogs are swimming. Even the turkeys took a wade through the creek to cool off. It is August.

As with every season in Ohio, this one has been an unpredictable roller coaster ride. Every year we break records and every year we fight a different problem. Last year, we had a hot, dry July, which made the peppers go crazy and the kale weep. This year we are having trouble with all the rain and humidity. The vineyard has mildew that spreads like wildfire and a fungus wiped out our peach trees early this wet spring. The potatoes are really disheartening as there are types that have just rotted in the ground while others are holding up pretty well. Our tomatoes look weepy. The garlic is puzzling me as to what’s going wrong. Our cucumbers are getting hit with all different cucumber diseases, but they keep growing through it. And I am holding back a green tomato recipe.
But the good thing about a CSA vs. a regular farm that only grows two crops is… well, the potatoes are struggling, but man, the turnips and melons are happy. I am walking through, picking the few ripe tomatoes and cursing that the zucchini are still producing… but the recipe this week will bring everything in your basket together in total delicious bliss. I am going to try to freeze some batches to see how it does because this casserole really tastes like summer.

A quick walk around the orchard makes me happy as the Liberty apple tree has a triple crop this year and they are the most delicious apples! The early Lodi tree is a bust this year, but the pears are looking good… if we can only keep the blights off of them with this warm weather.

The wait is over and to pick or not to pick the sweet corn has been decided. Fire up the grill! First round of butter and sugar corn is in the baskets this week along with some of whatever they planted at work. The corn we grow here is organic and being that corn is so delicious, lots of other things might have found it first, so I apologize for any uninvited guests. But then again, I’d take an occasional worm over dousing it with Sevin or any other harsh chemical. My favorite way to cook corn I think I learned from Martha Stewart – remove the silk and shuck the corn down, leaving a couple of husks left to cover the cob – then grill adding a little bit of water and butter just to keep it from drying out. I haven’t tried it again yet this year so I might be forgetting a step and I think she tied her corn husks in a perfect little bow, using the stem as a handle, but I’m not that fancy.

Anyway, here is a delicious and easy recipe from my mom’s friend Kim that will throw all the veggies in your basket together for a great meal. Leftovers are great too and it goes great with eggs. Simple and delicious!

Squash-Rice Casserole
8 T rice
4 small squash, sliced
6 tomatoes, chopped
2 small onions, diced
2 stalks celery, diced
2 green peppers, diced
3 t salt
1 t pepper
4 T butter, sliced
5 T brown sugar
9x13 baking dish

Throw the rice in the bottom of the pan, uncooked. Layer everything in order listed on top of rice. Cover tightly with foil. Cook at 300 degrees for 2 hours.

The rice cooks itself and everything melds together amazingly If you have a recipe, email it to me. Now I am going to get back to waiting for the tomatoes to turn red… and gold, and purple, and striped orange. My sandwiches just seem dull until then.
Janee

week 8

Cooking in Season week 8



Week 8 is upon us and we are halfway through the season. It is at this point in the season where the back garden is really starting to make an appearance along with a great contribution this week from gardens around where I work. My boss who lives with just his wife planted about 10 crookneck squash plants and has only eaten squash once this season! His plants are huge and producing perfectly warty summer squash that are begging for a home. The black raspberries in his woods are a bit smaller than the ones up around here, but delicious all the same.

The great debate today is whether or not the sweet corn is ready. I like it young and tender but Jason is saying it is still too small to pick. Our first batch is Butter and Sugar, which a neighbor at the vineyard proclaims to be the best. Our second planting is That’s Delicious S2, a super sweet type, which my boss says will make you swear off all other sweet corn. I am not a great connoisseur of sweet corn. What I do know is once it is picked, the sugars start to change into a different carbohydrate and it looses its deliciously sweet flavor. The sooner you eat it the better. I just got another laboriously long story from an old farmer about how disgusted and outraged he was at this one local market when he saw the sweet corn being packed up at the end of the day only to be refrigerated and sold the next day. Sweet corn doesn’t send me into a rage or anything, but I know the fresher the better.

Oh, and the pickles are here! Now is the time to start thinking about putting some veggies back for the long (and boring) months of winter. We have been freezing beans and zucchini bread like crazy around here. Now we are about ready to jump into canning and inviting anyone who would like to join. I got some bulk cucumbers that are begging to be pickled and a recipe to die for. (email if you’d like it.) I highly suggest refrigerator pickles if you are not into the whole hot water bath canning thing. Anyway, we are taking helping hands in our canning kitchen. Come if you’re a canning master or would like to learn. $20 for all the supplies and you take home a portion of whatever we make. Jars, lids, vinegar or any contributions are welcome. Probably will be Wed or Thursday night… might be Sunday if the cukes will keep that long. Just email me if you’re interested. janeehouston@gmail.com

Appearing in this week’s basket and probably popping up in the ones to come are tomatillos. This cousin of tomatoes is used in South American cooking and is loved for its tart, tomato-like flavor. They keep in the fridge for about 2 weeks, husked. If you didn’t catch some in your basket this week, don’t worry. There are plenty more on the way….

Roasted Tomatillo Salsa
• 5 or 6 fresh tomatillos
• 1 fresh pepper
• 1 garlic clove, unpeeled
• 1t fresh cilantro
• 1/4 onion, coarsely chopped
• 1/2 teaspoons coarse salt
Remove husks and rinse under warm water to remove stickiness. Broil peppers, garlic, and fresh tomatillos on rack of a broiler pan 1 to 2 inches from heat, turning once, until tomatillos are softened and slightly charred, about 7 minutes.
Peel garlic and pull off tops of chiles. Purée all ingredients in a blender.
See you all next week,
Janee

week 7

Cooking in Season

week 7

It is the end of July now. I feel like I have to say that to remind myself not to complain about the heat. If this year was like every other year, it would be sweltering and 90, but perhaps I am heaving a sigh of relief too soon. We still have all of August…

While picking today, I fear it might be a light week. The melons just keep growing and growing, the tomatoes are sooo slow, the peppers are still rather small, the squash is dying like a Shakespearian actor, and my boss picked all the blue berries at work for her pies. Our first tomato turned red, a nice roma ox heart type. Our second tomato turned yellow, a golden jubilee. Prepare thy tomato recipes. We are about to get bombarded.

I did pull some turnips up yesterday while a neighbor farmer told me turnip stories and how to cook them – cut them in cubes and boil them like potatoes until they are no longer crunchy, then drain the water and add heavy cream and spices (not sure what spices he meant) and put back on the heat, stir constantly until the flavors meld together. I haven’t had a chance to try it yet, but this is just the first pass through the field, thinning out the ones that are too close together. Usually you can eat the leaves but I picked them yesterday and they lost a lot of water with the heat.

In good new, the cucumbers are coming on now. I think that nothing is better than just peeling and slicing a cucumber and putting garlic salt or soy sauce on it and eating it fresh. I have no idea what is going on this year but some of the skins are a bit bitter. It depends on the fruit but it seems to only be skin deep, which is easily remedied with peeling.

Here is a recipe submitted last year by Linda Chen. Simply delicious!

-----This is the recipe for the Taiwanese cucumbers - I'll give my mother-in-law credit & call them 'Betty Chen's (Taiwanese) Pickled Cucumbers'!

~ 1 cucumber, cut into 2 inch sticks or cut to your preference (but not too thin)

~ 1/4 - 1/2 tsp salt

~ 1 TBsp apple cider vinegar

~ 1/2 - 3/4 tsp brown sugar

~ garlic, 2 cloves minced or to taste

~ 1 tsp sesame oil

~ tiny bit of hot chili bean paste (doe ban jan) - you can probably substitute with chili oil, dash hot sauce, or red pepper flakes

cut cucumbers & sprinkle with salt - let sit for 15 min - mix vinegar, sugar, garlic, sesame oil, & chili bean paste - pour over cucumbers, toss & eat!

It tastes just as good if the cukes don't sit for 15 min.

*sesame oil* - Not all sesame oil is created equal, I've tried several. My & husband I agree that Kadoya is the best!- thumbs down on Ty Ling brand

- I always refrigerate my sesame oil since it's not used quickly. This will retain freshness & prevent rancidity.

Enjoy….

~Janeé

week 6 extra pics

My morning basket




Here is the kale picked with the dew still on it along with some beet tops, chard, and fresh basil.

Throw it in the skillet!
Add some fresh eggs... thank you ladies for all your hard work.


Breakfast is served.

week 6

Cooking in Season

week 6

Today I feel like such a hunter – gatherer. With my dog at my side and thunder clouds rolling overhead, I dove hands first into the wild black berries in the orchard which are flourishing this year after we cleared out some non-productive filbert trees. They seem very happy and vigorous now, so laden with berries that they bend down to the ground. I am grateful for the few years I invested in ballet as a kid as I tip toe, balancing on one leg to avoid the prolific brambles. I am also shocked that the birds have not found these wild gems as well yet.
There are a few things in this world that I have the hardest time growing but completely love. One is melons, which Travis is taking care of this year. Another is onions that never get big, but my sister planted them and hers are doing very well so far. And my biggest envy of the garden is carrots. Even as a kid, the only thing that I ever wanted to plant was carrots. Every year I would fuss with the tiny seeds, fight with the weeds that always grew faster than the tiny carrots, and at the end of it all I would harvest these gnarled little roots that has all the flavor of a stick. Carrots have been my white whale and I always wonder who can get their carrots to grow in the perfectly straight perfectly orange way that ends up in bags at the supermarket.
This year I tried again, going for the short growing orange ones and branching out to some cosmic purple carrots and some sweet yellows. I pulled one up to see how it tasted and was pleasantly surprised. It must be the chill in this July air. They still look a bit gnarled, but they make up for it in taste.
This morning I had the most delicious breakfast. I woke up and picked the greens that are enjoying this mild July. I am shocked at how long the cool weather veggies have been producing and even this morning our new fire loose head lettuce looked good enough to pick. The kale is doing well as I snipped off the tender leaves still covered in dew. I pulled up a couple garlic cloves that, while very small, are still pretty delicious and also grabbed a yellow crook neck squash. I went to the hen house, thanked the ladies and took out a couple eggs.
Here is my simple recipe for delicious fresh greens omlette.
1 onion, sliced thin
1 clove of garlic
2 sprigs of basil
A handful of greens chopped thick- anything from beet tops to chard to kale will do
1 summer squash, sliced
2 eggs per person, scrambled
Salt and pepper to taste
Sautee the onions and garlic together until the onions start turning clear. Add the summer squash and cook for another few minutes. Chop the greens coarsely and the basil fine. Add ¼ cup of water carefully so not to splash the oil and then add the greens and the basil. Cover with a lid and allow to steam until the leaves wilt, about 3 minutes on medium.
Uncover and drain any excess water. Stir up eggs and add to the pan. Cook until the eggs are no longer runny, stirring constantly. Check out pictures of my breakfast at highmillcsa.blogspot.com
From here, you can cover with cheese or sour cream, salt, pepper, hot sauce or whatever makes you happy in the morning. This works for almost all greens and it is an excellent and healthy way to start your meal. I would recommend this recipe with spinach… but then again, that’s another thing that I have a really hard time getting to grow well here.
Oh well, enjoy the berries and see you next week!
~Janeé

week 5

Cooking in Season

week 5

First things first –
Cook out this Sunday, July 19th from 1 – 5pm

This Sunday we are grilling straight out of the gardens. Stop by as we showcase local foods made by local people for our potluck style cook out. We will even have some local beer to sample and possibly some local beef as well. It’s a free day and all members are welcome to invite anyone to come out for a laid back day of fun here at the Park. (swim at your own risk)

Anyway, just a reminder – we reuse the baskets so please return them.

For the most part, planting is finished for the season. I just got a hundred tomato plants in gallon pots donated to us and they are already in the ground and happily adjusting to non-pot bound life. I only have a couple more flats of cabbage and some random flowers to put in the ground and that’s it.
This is the part of the season where things feel like they are coasting. The baskets just keep morphing in all shapes and colors as you will notice some different colors of beans. Not one to be bound by the traditional green bean, we have some purple and yellow beans along with some dragon tongue heirloom types. All of them can be cooked like green beans as long as we are picking them small. We might have some shelling beans coming soon, but those really took a hit from the varmints this year.

This is probably the last week for zucchini as the squash bugs are carrying our plants to heaven as we speak. Here is a recipe submitted by our CSA member Linda Hartman for how to use and freeze the last of this years bountiful harvest.

Zucchini Bread
3 eggs
1 cup of vegetable oil or you can use apple sauce
2 cups of sugar if you use apple sauce you can reduce the amount of
sugar by at least half.
2 cups of grated zucchini (just wash and grate don't peel or seed!)
2 tsp vanilla
3 cups of flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
3/4 cup chopped walnuts
Beat eggs and add sugar and oil. Then add grated zucchini and nuts to
egg mixture.
combine dry ingredients then add to eggs & zucchini
pour into two un greased bread pans
bake at 325 for an hour or an hour and 15 mins
allow to cool on a rack and remove from pans when cool enough to handle
This bread freezes very well and makes a yummy breakfast treat

~Janeé
p.s. all recipe submissions are welcome. Just email me! janeehouston@gmail.com

week 4

Cooking in Season
week 4

I was picking for this weeks basket and thought, wow – looks a lot like last week. The cucumbers are poised and ready, with tiny little pickles sitting next to their happy yellow flowers. The tomatoes are little green pebbles atop giant happy green plants. The peppers are tiny versions of their future selves, kinda waiting for the hot sun that July usually offers. The basil is going crazy. The purple beans are threatening to produce. The unique pole beans are climbing but not flowering. I am sneaking under the potatoes, pulling out the new tender potatoes a little at a time. I apologize for any knicks and cuts from my trowel. The skins are really thin right now.


Our berries are so spread out and it takes hours just to get a cup. I can’t even imagine picking enough for jam or a bunch of pies. After his huge melon patch endeavor, Travis is looking around trying to find out where the berry patch will be. The blue berries at work are huge and covered with tiny berries that I stare at every day, just thinking that they are blushing a little more. The transition colors from green little berries, to blush, to purple… I am still waiting for the blue part.

We are slowly sneaking kohlrabi in the baskets. It is a very underappreciated vegetable. We tried the purple variety this year as it was said to be a bit sweeter and I have a second planting of the green variety for later in the season. Kohlrabi isn’t a root but an enlarged stem right above the ground with the leaves coming right off like flower petals. It is very high in potassium and fiber and low in calories. I like to ask people what it tastes like just to hear the responses, which are usually a combination of two veggies like – a cross between a potato and a turnip or a radish and a cabbage.
I cut mine up into thin slices like coleslaw and throw it in salads. Jason’s grandmother from Austria loves kohlrabi, but I forgot to grab the recipe.

Here is a simple kohlrabi salad recipe from epicurious.com that is a summer time fast food.

• 3 medium kohlrabi (2 pounds total)
• 1/2 small red onion
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 tablespoons drained capers
• 2 ounces mâche (lamb’s lettuce; 4 cups) or other small tender lettuce
• Equipment: an adjustable-blade slicer
Peel kohlrabi. Slice very thin with slicer and put in a bowl.
Slice onion very thin with slicer, then rinse in a sieve and pat dry. Stir into kohlrabi.
Stir together lemon juice, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and a pinch of pepper, then stir in oil and capers. Pour over vegetables. Toss with mâche, then serve immediately.
Enjoy,
Janeé

week 3

Cooking in Season
week 3

Today has been a really hard day. We buried our best little gray cat and our most friendly little lamb. It is half raining, which is appropriate weather for such a sad day. They will both be missed. We will plant a peach tree in their memory.

The wind is blowing and the rain is coming frequently, which means that our organic apples will get beaten up and not look pretty… but looks can be deceiving. Our crop last year was so full and delicious. I hope this year is as prolific. I do know that our pears are starting to look really good. We’ll see how it all works out.

Anyway, our beans are on the way, coming in waves thanks to the deer that keep sneaking in and lopping the tops off. The peas are on their way out and are half in between sugar snap and pod peas. Our raspberries are just starting and we’re out there fighting with the birds to get the best berries. Our blue berries are coming, but they are new little bushes so I am not holding out for very high production this year. Our lettuce has fizzled, our chard, kale and celery are thriving… and everyone should batten down the hatches and prepare for ZUCCHINI season!!!!

It is a joke among farmers that during zucchini season, you should never leave your car doors unlocked anywhere or else someone will drop off a bag of zucchini in your back seat without you knowing. It is a very difficult veggie because a) it is delicious but… b) it comes all at once and… c) you can’t really freeze, can or dry it so you have to use it all at once. I slice mine lengthwise and throw it on the grill with a simple olive oil sauce. My second fav way to cook it is… Lasagna!

2 1/2 cups zucchini, sliced 1/4 inch thick (about 2 medium)
1/2 lb lean ground beef (I use 1 lb.)
1/4 cup onion chopped
2 small tomatoes cut up
1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste
1 garlic clove minced
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano - 1/2 teaspoon dried basil - 1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
1/4 cup water
1/8 teaspoon pepper
1 egg
3/4 cup low fat cottage cheese (or low fat or fat free ricotta)
1/2 cup mozzarella cheese shredded (I use 8 oz. divided)
1 teaspoon flour

Directions
1 Cook zucchini until tender, drain and set aside. Fry meat and onions until meat is brown and onions are tender; drain fat. Add next 8 ingredients and bring to a boil.
2 Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered 10 minutes or until reduced to 2 cups.
3 In small bowl slightly beat egg.
4 Add cottage cheese, half of shredded cheese and flour.
5 In (1 1/2-qt.) baking-roasting pan arrange half of the meat mixture. Top with half of the zucchini and all the cottage cheese mixture. Top with remaining meat and zucchini.
6 Bake uncovered at 375 degrees F for 30 minutes.
7 Sprinkle with remaining cheese. Bake 10 minutes longer.
8 Let stand 10 minutes before serving.

Delicious! ~janee

week 2

Cooking in Season
week 2

It is only two days into the official start of summer and already the humidity and heat are rising. These are the delicate days of –to pick or not to pick- where one day could be the difference between perfect spring lettuce or bitter leaves that couldn’t take the heat and went to seed. I am looking at the kohlrabi with the same tentativeness, thinking that I should give it another week to fully mature, but risking it possibly splitting in the heat. I guess time irons everything out in the end.

I hope you all enjoyed your first week baskets. We had grilled asparagus for father’s day and I pickled whatever we had left. The asparagus patch now looks more like a miniature forest with wispy little green trees, all going to seed.
I forgot to reiterate last week that all of our stuff has no preservatives and should be eaten within the first few days or as quickly as possible. This also means that if you can’t make it to pickup day, send someone in your place or make arrangements with me to pickup as soon as you can.

Anyway, this week we are starting to see the change from spring to summer. The peas are coming in waves and my sister keeps saying how she just picked them all this morning and more keep coming ready almost by the minute. I am crossing my fingers and cutting the head lettuce, the best crop I have had… ever, hoping that it is still young and perfect. And we are starting to shift from the light spring veggies into the hearty summer ones with a couple early squash and zucchini. If my math is right, Jason has about 4 summer squash plants per basket this year so there is a lot more to come …as long as we can keep the squash bugs away.

Wrapping up our spring salads, here is a winning recipe from allrecipes.com that will add some zing to your lettuce and snow peas salad.

¼ c mayonnaise
1 tablespoon mustard
1 tablespoon honey
½ tablespoon lemon juice

Whisk ingredients together and toss with your salad. All flowers in with your lettuce are edible. Hope you enjoy!


~janeé

Week 1

Cooking in Season
week 1

Hi. Welcome Members! Over the next few months, we are going to move through the Ohio growing season where we’ll taste the crisp spring through the lettuce and berries, and really feel the summer heat through the tomatoes and sweet corn, finishing up in the fall’s preparation for winter with butternut squash, potatoes, and storable root veggies and apples. It is challenging to try to use things in your basket as they come, but I find that a lot of things that are in season together in the garden also go well together in the kitchen.

Anyway, here are a few things to remember as we start the season:
1. Wash your fruits and veggies. Everything is fresh picked and might still have some dirt on it, but before you eat it, definitely give it all a rinse.
2. Bring back your baskets from the week before. We reuse.
3. Some things such as cabbage and broccoli are so delicious that everything wants to eat it and since we don’t use harsh chemicals, I recommend a cold salt water bath before cooking just to be certain you are bug free.
4. There is still time to move up basket sizes if you would like more produce. We will pro-rate the remainder of the season. Just email me – janeehouston@gmail.com
5. Let me know if you would like eggs or herbs a day or so before pickup day and I will have them ready. Herbs are $2 and eggs are $3. – also, we love to barter! This week we would like to trade your old, leaky garden hoses for eggs or herbs. Our melon patch will thank you.

In your baskets this week, we have the last of the June strawberries. These tiny berries pack big taste, almost like candy, only good for you. Our asparagus is chemical free and delicious. Just bend them in half until they snap and discard the bottom part. Our celery is not blanched and really tastes like… celery. Also, some baskets have fresh lettuce and others have watercress, an “eat wild” sweet green that can be eaten like lettuce.

The veggie of the week is radishes. I love vegetables, but radishes are the one that make me cringe. Jason thinks I am crazy not to eat them fresh and my grandma eats them straight out of the garden with bread and butter, but I can’t stand them fresh unless they are sliced thin and hidden in a salad. So, here is a simple recipe from allrecipes that takes the bite out of them making them into a mild radish flavor that kinda tastes like a potato for those non-radish lovers like me.

20 ounces radishes, sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
Drizzle of olive oil
1 cube ice
Salt and pepper to taste

1 – preheat the grill for high heat.
2 – place radishes, garlic and ice cube on a double layer of aluminum foil large enough to wrap contents. Drizzle with olive oil (or a dab of butter) and salt and pepper to taste. Tightly wrap foil.
3 – place foil packet on the grill and cook for 20 minutes until radishes are tender.


Hope you all enjoy. See you next week as the beans, new potatoes, and kohlrabi start coming in and more berries turn ripe.

~janeé

Into to CSA 2009

We at High Mill Park are happy to provide some of the freshest fruits and vegetables you can find anywhere! Our CSA is a celebration of food and a gathering of an amazing community, providing local food to local people and bringing taste back to the table.

Before you decide to join, a few things to consider:Do you eat at home at least 3 meals a week? Do you like to cook with fresh vegetables? Are you willing to try new things? Are you able to come out to the farm and pickup your basket once a week or arrange for someone else to pickup for you? Would you like to learn more about where your food comes from, how it grows and be in tune with the seasons of Ohio?

What our CSA is all about:

1) Local - Buying local foods ensures that you are eating the freshest fruits and vegetables around. It also reduces your carbon footprint by avoiding shipping produce from other states. We like to be involved in the community because we are part of the community and local farmers care more about what happens to their local environments.

2)Taste - Nothing tastes better than a fresh peach warmed by the summer sun, or snap peas, picked that morning when the dew was still fresh. We carefully select the varieties we grow based on taste, then we grow them slow, allowing them to mature just when the time is right for the flavor to be at it's fullest. In our baskets, you'll find some unique produce you won't find anywhere else. We also have fresh picked herbs for an extra $2, with all forms of basil, herbal tea mixtures, among others.

3) Pickup - Once a week, we'll have a basket at the farm waiting for you. We try to make baskets up so that people can choose what they like. We welcome members to wander around the gardens or check out how the apples are doing in the orchard. Some members like to pick up their baskets and run, while others tend to linger, watching the chickens scratch around or feeding the pigs crabapples. Pickup day is a time we all look forward to as we enjoy sharing what we grow.

4) Baskets - We stack our baskets full of a wide variety of fruits and vegetables. We try to grow everything that our Ohio climate will allow. In our orchard we have apples, pears, peaches, plums (if a late frost doesn't nip them), hazelnuts, gooseberries, a young paw paw, grapes and possibly our cherry trees might start producing this year. Our berry patches have red and black raspberries, strawberries, melons, and a couple sad blueberry plants. Our gardens are bursting with everything from corn to beets to cucumbers and heirloom tomatoes... and everything in between. Check out what's on order and email me suggestions!
Our season starts the last week in June and ends the last week of September with a harvest fest the first Saturday in October.

5) Getting involved - CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture, and we'd like to do just that. We invite members to come out and try their hand at weeding in the garden or help us irrigate the gardens in spring. We will be offering basic gardening classes for those who'd like to take some knowledge home with them.We also have events out at the park such as our spring seed swap, our zucchini bake off and fall pie bake off all of which are FREE!