week 9

The heat of August has sweat dripping into my eyeballs on the morning feeding rounds. The turkeys are getting bigger by the day and the meat birds happily waddle around the back yard, soaking up the sun and chasing bugs. The printout from last week after computer problems is on highmillpark.com/csaI’m at a loss for lettuce and asian greens this year. I had two bok choy plants that lived through the heat and I was so excited that after years and years of just watching them go to seed before I could get a good looking stalk together, these two plants held up through the heat and the sun of summer. All they had to do was flower at the same time to cross pollinate and I’d save the best bok choy seeds for years to come, but one flowered this past week but the other didn’t. No cross pollination. No super bok choy seeds. But one lucky basket might be the winner of the remaining bok choy that looks amazing. If you get it, let me know how it cooks up and I’ll try my little experiment again next year, pulling up all the ones that go to seed to early to find that one perfect bok choy, or I could just start watching the Jersey Shore and eat Mac ‘n Cheese. Seems like a more normal hobby.

Ah, the smooth sailing time of the year when the rush of tomatoes come in along with peppers, winter squash, snap and shelling beans, and the real bounty of the harvest. Sweet corn this week is Incredible. Now we’re working on our fruit cellar for winter storage for potatoes and a super apple crop. I manured the orchard last fall to protect the roots from winter cold and it’s broken down into amazing soil and the apples are thanking me for the food with a super crop. This year I’ve only done dormant sprays on them so they’ve got some surface blemishes, but aren’t covered in chemicals or pumped full of Miracle grow, which makes them taste all the better. Some spots wash off easily. We’re planning for winter already and instead of going dormant, we’re planning on planting winter gardens with all the leftover lettuce and asian greens seeds we didn’t use. Email me if you’re interested, it probably wouldn’t be once a week, but whenever we have enough for a basket of fresh greens, sweet carrots, turnips, broccoli, winter apples and the like, we’d make up a basket and send it your way. Just throwing that out there if you’re interested. Also, last week to signup for meat share, oh, and we’re almost sold out of Thanksgiving turkeys.

This week, garden fresh Baked Vegetable Penne
1 (16 ounce) package penne pasta
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 - 4 summer squash, chopped - 1 onion, chopped - 2 peppers, chopped
1 tablespoon crushed garlic
3 tomatoes, chopped into strainer to drain off excess liquid.
1 (28 ounce) jar chunky style pasta sauce
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper, or to taste
1/2 teaspoon black pepper, or to taste
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

1. Fill a large pot with lightly salted water and bring to a rolling boil over high heat. Once the water is boiling, stir in the penne, and return to a boil. Cook the pasta uncovered, stirring occasionally, until the pasta has cooked through, but is still firm to the bite, about 11 minutes. Drain well in a colander set in the sink, place the pasta in a large bowl, and set aside.
2. While the pasta is cooking, heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat, and cook and stir the zucchini, squash, onion, red and green peppers, and garlic until the vegetables are tender, for about 10 minutes. Pour in the tomatoes, pasta sauce, and corn, and stir to mix. Sprinkle with red and black pepper to taste, and bring the mixture back to a boil. Simmer for 20 minutes.
3. Preheat an oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a 9x13 inch baking dish.
4. Pour the vegetable mixture into the bowl with the cooked penne pasta, stir to mix well, and spoon into the prepared baking dish. Sprinkle the mozzarella cheese over the top, and bake in the preheated oven until the cheese is melted and the casserole is bubbling, 20 to 30 minutes.

Until next week… Enjoy! - Janee