From the Farmers…………..
Cream of the crop
It certainly is fall – all of the squash vines are dying back and if I didn’t look at the calendar, I would think it was the end of September. But the drying vines sure make it easier to find all the squash. This week you’ll find Cream of the Crop early acorn squash in your box. This squash is ready to eat right away but will be even better if you let it sit at room temperature and cure for about a week before you eat it.
Hot days cool nights
On Tuesday, almost the hottest day of the week, Gigi and the interns did a volunteer job of moving a big pile of dirt at Pilgrims UCC church. Our crew made short work of a seemingly overwhelming task. Then back to the farm where our neighbor John delivered a load of third crop hay to be unloaded into the barn. I don’t know exactly why hay always arrives on the hottest days – and it is even hotter up in the eaves of the barn where the warm hay is being stacked. And then, this morning at 7:00 when we began our work day, everyone had sweatshirts and hats on in the cool weather. What a relief it was to work today with lower temperatures and humidity. It certainly raised everyone’s spirits.
Mac's Birth Story
In case you didn’t read the email update, Reba our Dexter cow, finally gave birth to a beautiful black bull calf on Sunday afternoon. She waited until everyone was gone. Gigi and I pulled into the driveway at 6:00 PM. Reba was laying down and already pushing. We changed clothes quickly and got back out there in time to see two hoofs and a nose protruding. A few pushes later, he was out, just to his hips. I reached over to help clean him up, and Reba decided to stand. His hips were still stuck so he was dangling a bit. I reached forward and gently grabbed a leg, Reba gave one more push and he was out. Even though he is small as cows go, he is big for a Dexter calf. We have named him Macintyre or Mac for short. He weighs about 70 pounds and Reba is a really good mother. We have not begun milking her yet as we are letting Mac have all of her colostrum (first milk). This weekend, we’ll be making a stanchion to restrain Reba so that we can milk her. We are guessing that she is not going to be overly calm about being milked by humans. She has a huge udder and we are hoping that means that she will give us a lot of milk (and cream!).
Winery
We are now taking orders for wines from Stark Wines. Stark Wines plans to specialize in fruit wines. We have sampled quite a few of their wines and have been pleased. Currently they have Raspberry, Blueberry, Strawberry, Rhubarb and Apple available. There will be a few more varieties coming later. The price is $12 per bottle. Check the sidebar of the blog for more information – send your check written out to Stark Wines– and we will deliver your wine to your drop site. We’re excited to be coordinating with Stark Wines to offer these wines to you.
Watermelons
In your share this week, you’ll be receiving at least two watermelons. All the watermelons are ripe and ready and so we picked them all. I was worried that if we didn’t harvest them, they would not hold in the field. If you can’t eat all your melon right away, and you don’t have room in your fridge, you can hold the melon for several days to a couple of weeks at cool room temperature. We have been being creative with watermelons at the farm. Last night Kristen made watermelon jelly and tonight she’s juicing a bunch of melons for me to mix up a batch of watermelon wine.
Shareholder recipes
We love hearing from you as you share how you prepared your veggies from our farm. We are including Bruce and Karen’s eggplant recipe. They found it at http://kalynskitchen.blogspot.com/2007/08/spicy-grilled-eggplant-recipe-with-red.html
They said it was delicious, easy to prepare and used up all their eggplant. What more could you ask for?
Abby sent this recipe that is a hit with her infant daughter.
Baby food
1 summer squash (today's was green, but any will do).
Peel, cut into large cubes, and cook on high 3 minutes in microwave with a little water. Add 1/4 or 1/2 cube tofu and blend in food processor.
Serve or freeze.
10 month old Teraysa ate it like it was ice cream. I had to give her 2 servings immediately cuz she was clamoring for more.
Rebuilding the Earth Bread Oven
At the end of the hottest day of the week (Tuesday), we started rebuilding our earthen outdoor bread oven. We built a mud oven from Kiko Denzler’s plan five years ago. It never quite worked up to our expectations and we had planned to rebuild it long before now – but just never found time to do so. Dale has been wanting to get started all summer – so we decided now is the time. A toe in the hole
The pictures show part of the process. We tore down the old bread oven, moved the cement blocks, rocks, and dirt to the new site, and are beginning the rebuilding process. We’ll work at it a bit at a time and hopefully within a couple of weeks, we’ll be baking breads and pizza’s outdoors.
laying out the bricks
BEWARE of HOT!!! Peppers
One final note. In your box this week are two VERY HOT pepper varieties. The yellow transparent ones about 3 to 4 inches long are Aji Cristal and are extremely hot. The small ones that look like tiny carrots are Bulgarian Carrot and while the skin is not terribly hot, the seeds and membranes are mouth and tongue searing. Dale brought one in for me to sample and I took a cautious bite – nothing – another bigger bite – nothing – a bite with seeds – and my whole mouth was numb. So be careful. Keep them away from your young children. Wear gloves when you cut them if you are worried about burning on your hands. And enjoy some really hot, hot sauce.
Until next week……………………Robin
What’s in Your Box this week
Carrots – Cosmic Purple
Watermelon – could be any of the following: Mickey Lee (Pale green/red), Picnic (large green oval/red), Blacktail Mountain (dark green round/red), Sunshine (striped/yellow), New Orchid (striped/ orange), Starlight (striped/red)
Cantaloupe – Eclipse – some shares will include a cantaloupe
Eggplant – an assortment of the following: Dancer (pink), Galine (purple), Thai green (long pale green), Kermit (round green), Orient Express (long purple), Orient Charm (long pink)
Peppers – an assortment of the following sweet peppers: Carmen (long red or green), Lipstick (stubby red or green), Gypsy (yellow), Wizard (green bell), Islander (purple bell).
HOT: Aji Cristal (yellow), Bulgarian Carrot (orange), Conchos (jalapeno)
Summer Squash – an assortment of the following: Bennings Green Tint pattypan, Lita, President, Zephyr, Horn of Plenty
Potatoes - Fingerlings: La Ratte (tan), Rose Finn (red)
Tomatoes - Red Sun and Paragon (red slicing)
Bok Choi - Joi Choi
Winter Squash – Cream of the Crop (white acorn)
Onion – Sierra Blanca white
Swiss Chard – Northern Lights
Basil – Holy Red and Green
