Farm News

The Third Annual Fort Hill Farm Pot luck on Sunday was a smashing success, thanks partly to some very pleasant weather and mostly to the great CSA cooks who turned out, casserole dishes at the ready. The crew and I had a great time getting to chat with everyone, and it was good to hear that many of you are really enjoying the CSA and the farms’ produce.

September is rolling along a really fast clip, but as the day length shortens and the mornings become cool and crisp we are reminded that fall is around the corner. We are somewhat surprised that the 90 degree days we have worked in all summer are following us into the middle of September. I try not to whine about farming; most people know that it involves lots of hours in the field in often less than favorable conditions, but at this time of year we find ourselves fighting some accumulated fatigue. We are keeping up with the late summer harvests of winter squash and potatoes, but I am really looking forward to some cool fall weather, fixing all our broken equipment, and taking up spring projects left unfinished. And we know that a long winters nap is not too far away, so we try to enjoy our time in the field.

Hope you enjoy the farm and harvest,

Paul, for Janine, John, Leah, and Bob.

Crop Update:

We are definitely entering a new phase of the CSA harvest as we say goodbye to summer crops like corn and tomatoes and turn our attention to the fall crops. 2005 has been a great year for heat loving crops and we have tons (literally) of winter squash coming in this week. We will distribute the short term storage varieties (spaghetti, acorn, delicata) and save the butternuts to sweeten up for the last few weeks of the CSA. We have several different types of potatoes and you will be getting about 2 lbs. a week for the remainder of the season. Sweet potatoes look nice this year, we will dig them soon, cure them in the greenhouse for a week or two, and begin distribution in early October. Fall greens, including kale and collards, will be available each week. We will start pulling leeks very soon, and we have a good harvest of onions and garlic ready to be cleaned, graded and distributed. We are a little short on broccoli this year but will have it for the next week or two, followed by cabbage and cauliflower. I have been using terms like ‘dry’ and ‘dusty’ to describe this year, but if we don’t get rain soon I will have to start using the capital D word, DROUGHT. Soil moisture is very low, and has depressed yields of fall lettuce and salad greens. We also have some new and unusual crops coming in the next few weeks like daikon radish and celeriac as well as ‘comfort food’ like turnips.

PUMPKINS! are available at the farm. Each share can get one pumpkin, extra pumpkins are available $3 for small, $4 for medium, and $5 for large (this is a change in policy but we thought it would be helpful for larger families). Get your pumpkin during regularly scheduled Pick Your Own hours, Tuesday and Friday from 2:30 to 6:30 PM and Saturday 8AM to noon. Go to the front of the white barn and follow the “PYO” instructions on the white board.

“HOW LONG DOES THE CSA DISTRIBUTE FOOD?” Must be getting late in the season as we are hearing this question from time to time. We will definitely distribute produce through the month of October, we’ll make a definite call on the last week in a month or so.

Featured this week:

Acorn squash: one of the best known winter squashes. Will store for a few weeks in a cool, dry, place out of direct sunlight.

Also in the box: potatoes, tomatoes, carrots, garlic, broccoli, sage, red peppers, onions, Lacinato kale, and Farmers Choice.

Recipes:

Roasted Tomato Baked Acorn Squash, P. Allen Smith Gardens Newsletter

Ingredients:

1 Acorn squash salt and pepper to taste

½ Tbsp fresh sage, minced 2 Tbsp honey

2 Tomatoes coarsely chopped 2 Tbsp butter

2 oz. Shredded cheddar cheese ½ c. dry white wine

Directions:

Cut the acorn squash in half (you can also cut a small piece off of the round bottom so the squash lies flat). Remove seeds and discard. Put the squash into a baking dish and sprinkle with a little salt and pepper and small amount of the sage. Layer the bottom with a thin layer of the chopped tomatoes, divide the cheese into the two squash halves. Add 2 Tbsp. Of wine into each squash half and add the rest of the tomatoes. Top with the remaining sage and a little more salt and pepper. Pour the rest of the wine into the bottom of the pan and add a little water if needed. Put into a preheated oven of 400 and bake for 1hour. Check a couple of times to be sure you haven’t baked all of the liquid away, you can add more wine or water if needed. The squash should be tender enough to pierce with a fork. Pull out the squash and drizzle each half with 1 Tbsp of honey and dot with ½ Tbsp of butter and bake for 5 more minutes until the butter melts and the honey caramelizes.

Marinated Broccoli and Carrots, Moosewood Restaurant Daily Special

Marinade:

1 large garlic clove, minced or pressed 1 tsp grated fresh ginger root 2 Tbsp vegetable oil 2 Tbsp rice vinegar

2 tsp soy sauce

1 large broccoli stalk, peeled and cut into spears

2 medium carrots, peeled and cut into 21/2 x ¼ inch sticks

Whisk together all of the marinade ingredients and set aside. In a large saucepan, blanch the broccoli spears in boiling water for about 2 minutes. Stir in the carrots and continue to simmer for 5 minutes or less, until both vegetables are just tender and still brightly colored. Drain them and transfer to a serving bowl.

Pour the marinade on the vegetables and toss well. Refrigerate or set aside at room temperature for about 20 minutes to allow the flavors to mingle and permeate.