Farm News
Again, the news for the week is the weather. The first light frost of the fall came on Friday night and a heavier frost on Saturday night. Temps dropped to 32 here at the house. We spent Friday afternoon covering all the peppers and eggplant. Saturday the entire family spent the day in the garden harvesting any tomatoes we did not intend to cover. We can’t possibly cover everything so we pick and choose the most productive, most flavorful varieties. We covered the beautiful bed of chard, the perfect red beans you see today, the basil and the last of the summer squash. All veggies covered came through unscathed – even the basil although it is not entirely fit for distribution in boxes.
Again, the news for the week is the weather. The first light frost of the fall came on Friday night and a heavier frost on Saturday night. Temps dropped to 32 here at the house. We spent Friday afternoon covering all the peppers and eggplant. Saturday the entire family spent the day in the garden harvesting any tomatoes we did not intend to cover. We can’t possibly cover everything so we pick and choose the most productive, most flavorful varieties. We covered the beautiful bed of chard, the perfect red beans you see today, the basil and the last of the summer squash. All veggies covered came through unscathed – even the basil although it is not entirely fit for distribution in boxes.
Today, we are taking any green tomatoes from plants that didn’t survive the frost but the fruit was somehow protected by the foliage or even heavy weed cover. These we can hold on to and distribute in the coming weeks. The red beans came through with thousands of blossoms intact – amazing! It is the challenge of the market grower – outsmart the weather and you just might get beans or tomatoes a few more weeks.
Besides the first frost, we have been busy! The laying hens are headin’ west as we begin moving them to their overwintering area in the garden. This will be a series of small moves until they arrive in the northwest corner near the road so we can get to them for chores despite bad weather and big snow drifts. Snow drifts? Yes, it will be here before you know it. It's not something we like to think about but we have to be prepared.
Until then, let’s crunch on a fresh bean, make salsa, and enjoy these perfect fall days. Beautiful box today with some of the best food of the season. Enjoy.
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| Tomato Quarts Being Filled With An Amazing Variety of Tomatoes |
In Your Box Today
Red Onions - On a burger, on a salad or in the fresh salsa recipe below, we love red onions.
Red Onions - On a burger, on a salad or in the fresh salsa recipe below, we love red onions.
Tomatoes – A beautiful medley of tomatoes today – a whole quart! You will find the delicious orange ‘Sungold’ cherry tomatoes, maybe a yellow ‘Limmony’ plus a sprinkling of small red slicing tomatoes. What a treat for the first week of October after the first frost. Enjoy as these are some of the last ripe tomatoes of the season.
Arugula – The arugula is thriving. This is the weather it loves – gone are the hot days which make the leaves spicy hot and encourage the flea beetles pressure. The cool nights and rain makes this green explode with growth. If the flavor is more than you can handle in a straight salad, arugula is excellent on a sandwich in place of lettuce. It can top pizza or wraps. It can even be made into pesto – see recipe below.
Cutting Celery – The celery is also responding to the cool weather – the stems are very sweet. The leaves are more pungent but still very tasty. Use this anywhere you would use celery – soups and homemade chicken stock, potato salad, and egg salad.
Peppers – More beautiful peppers today. Did you know peppers freeze easily? Wash, slice open, remove seeds and seed cavity, slice and place in freezer container or bag. That’s it! We freeze the damaged fruit and use them all winter. They are 100 times better than any fresh organic pepper in the store.
Bok Choy
Cilantro – Our planting of cilantro had a hard time this year with all the heat. But we have a small patch established, finally, and we’re giving out the first of this favorite herb today. You will find the leaves sweet and flavorful and very fresh as they were picked just this morning. Cilantro is a must in any homemade fresh salsa but we also enjoy it sprinkled in our homemade quesadillas and added to our salad mixes.
Royal Burgundy Beans – Thrilled to harvest these beans again. Just a ¾ lb bag today but they are very tasty and very precious after the frost. Depending on the weather, you may see these again one more time if we get lucky.
Recipes
Arugula Pesto
4 cups arugula leaves (5-6 ounces)
1/4 cup pine nuts, toasted OR walnuts, toasted
6 cloves fresh garlic
1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup olive oil
Blend arugula, toasted nuts, garlic and Parmesan cheese in processor until almost smooth. Add olive oil and process until well blended. Season pesto to taste with salt and pepper.
Quick Fresh Salsa
Fresh tomatoes, diced, placed in colander with bowl underneath to catch juice
Peppers, diced
Onions, diced
Fresh cilantro, chopped or torn into small pieces, stem and leaves
Fresh lime juice – a tablespoon for a small bowl of salsa
Salt
Cumin – just a pinch or so gives nice flavor
Combine all ingredients in a bowl and add reserved tomato juice if salsa needs more liquid. Adjust seasoning and serve.
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