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?

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Comments or suggestions for next year? ______________________________________________________________________________________

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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