Farm News

It’s the dog days of summer, without all that annoying heat. I guess the jet stream has decided to visit North Carolina, bringing unusually cool, wet weather for this July. Crops continue to grow well though, with the arrival of the first eggplants and field tomatoes this week. The greenhouse tomato crop is still coming in strong but seemed to have peaked last week, so it’s good to see the field tomatoes coming on. I am a little concerned about those field tomatoes though as the plants are now a good six feet tall and have grown the largest vines I have ever seen, but the fruit seem to be a bit small. They are going to be a mess to pick but hopefully we will get some nice tomatoes out of the patch. The first varieties to come out of the field are known more for their earliness than their flavor, but the beefsteaks and heirlooms won’t be too far behind them.

In other news we have been experiencing an odd question at the farmers markets these days. More than a few people have picked up an ear of corn or a tomato and asked us “is this really organic”? We are somewhat puzzled by this as each of our produce items is labeled “certified organic”. Rather than assume that folks are testing the veracity of our claims, I have decided to view this as a compliment on the great taste and appearance of our produce, perhaps what they really mean to ask is “how did you grow this without chemicals”? Maybe I should just answer that five million corn borers can’t be wrong!

Hope you enjoy the harvest.

Paul (For Tara, Michael, Bob, and Jean)

FORT HILL FARM WEBSITE GOES LIVE! For two years people have been saying “Paul, you need a website”, and due to the efforts of my brother Joe with help from our bro-in-law Jack it went live sometime last week. Most of it is under construction and probably won’t get a whole lot of revamping until the snow flies. But we hope to have the newsletters posted in the next week or two so you can refer back to one if you like. The web address is www.forthillfarm.com

FORT HILL FARM IN THE NEWS: For a guy who has collected a bunch of junky tractors and recruited a few fellow crazies to pick veg all day in the hot sun, I sure do get a lot of media attention. We were written up in “Delicious Living” magazine last summer due to an inside connection (my brother’s girlfriend Vicki is the Art Director at that magazine, more proof of the ‘six degrees of separation’ theory). You can see that article at http://www.healthwell.com/delicious-online/d_backs/sep_03/farm_s2.cfm?path=print&path=print. I was also interviewed on a west coast radio show called “Beyond Organic“ (also connected through a friend) on start-up farmers, if you have some time to kill you can hear me say “Ummm” seven thousand times in the last 20 minutes of that program, archived on the web at http://www.strauscom.com/radio/032404.html. And there was a nice write up about our heirloom tomatoes in the Newtown Bee at (http://www.newtownbee.com/Features.asp?d=Archive2000&s=Features09-25-2003-13-13-27.htm).

In the box this week:

Tomatoes Sweet corn

Cucumbers Beets, topped

Kale Summer Squash

Eggplant ‘Ailsa Craig’ Big Sweet Onions

Red Potatoes Garlic

What do I do with it?

Eggplant: you’ll get either the standard dark purple, white, or ‘neon’ purple. They all cook the same. Store in the fridge for up to a week. See the recipe below for Baba Ganouj below, which makes for a nice summer appetizer or spread.

Sweet Corn: Good corn so far this year. This variety is called Ambrosia, it’s very sweet and tender, WBD (wormy but delicious).

‘Ailsa Craig’ Onions: Are one of my favorite crops. Slice these on your sandwich, in salads, or brush ½” to ¾” slices with olive oil and put on the grill.

Red Norland Potatoes: Atkins, shmatkins. Eat these spuds, boiled and buttered, or mashed skins and all with raw garlic. Then skip the elevator, escalator, car, golf cart, rider mower, easy chair, or whatever else is replacing muscle locomotion in your life. New potatoes are one of life’s joys that should not to be killed by a dieting fad.

Coming soon: Very good chance for tomatoes, carrots, parsley, potatoes, and onions. Hopefully we will have lettuce in the box for next week. We may have a gap in the sweet corn next week but for sure back in two weeks.

Recipes:

Kale Crunch

CSA shareholder Alice Daood emailed me this recipe, by way of a friend from Belgium.  She states that “it satisfies my urge for salty snacks”.  I say any recipe that can start with a bunch of kale and end with that statement has to be worth a shot!  Thanks for sending in the recipe, Alice.

A little bit of olive oil or spray for the baking tray

Big bunch of Kale, roughly cut into 2" X 2" pieces

3 Tablespoons of Grated Parmesan Cheese

Preheat the oven to 350.  Line a cookie tray with foil. Spray the tray with olive oil spray or spread out a thin layer of olive oil across the pan with your fingers.  Spread kale across pan.  Bake 10 minute, mixing once or twice.  Sprinkle Parmesan over kale, and bake for a few more minutes, to taste.  Cool on another plate or tray.  The kale should be crisp and crunchy.

Baba Ganouj, from “The Moosewood Cookbook”

1 medium eggplant ½ tsp. Salt

2 medium cloves garlic, minced black pepper and cayenne, to taste

¼ cup fresh lemon juice olive oil

¼ cup sesame tahini minced parsley

Preheat oven to 350F. Lightly oil a baking sheet. Slice the eggplant in half lengthwise, and place face-down on the baking sheet. Bake for 30 minutes or until very tender. Cool until it’s comfortable to handle. Scoop out eggplant pulp, and discard the skin. Place the pulp in a food processor or blender, and add the garlic, lemon juice, tahini, and salt. Puree’ until smooth. (Another alternative is to mash by hand, leaving the eggplant a little chunky). Transfer to a serving dish, cover tightly, and chill. Drizzle the top with a little olive oil and sprinkle with minced parsley just before serving. Serve with crackers or pita bread.