Farm News

We did get a little shot of rain on Saturday, but not really enough to break us out of our pattern: plant, water, weed, pick, repeat. But not a bad pattern to be stuck in. This weeks share is a real hum dinger: tomatoes! green beans! sweet corn! fresh garlic! Throw in some greens and salad fixings and let the pickin’ and grinnin’ begin. It’s been a hard couple of weeks on the farm but we are happy to have some great produce to offer you to show for our efforts. Last years amazing produce meltdowns have me grateful for the dry weather, and double grateful for our wells and irrigation equipment. The crew has been putting in a huge effort to keep everything watered, weeded and picked, and on top of that we pulled, bunched, and hung in our greenhouse over 20,000 nice bulbs of our very popular German White hardneck garlic. Hopefully we can squeeze a nice nights soaking rain out of the sky to make things go a little more easily.

Hope you enjoy the harvest.

Paul, for Janine, Jake, Alice, Amanda, and Nate

-Pick Your Own at the farm: Plenty of basil, cilantro, and other herbs for the picking. Green beans are in, about 1 pound limit per share. Flower patch is newly opened as well. The Pick Your Own patch is open to all shareholders, once per week, Tues. and Thursday 2:30 to 6:30 PM and Sat. 8 AM to noon.

Featured this week:

Sweet corn: is here! These are the extra early, petite ears from a variety called ‘Trinity’. Very sweet and tender, they don’t need more than a minute or two of boiling –just get them hot enough to melt the butter. Best eaten immediately, you can also store sweet cor

.n in the fridge for up to 2 days.

Basil: for pesto or tomato salads. Basil is best stored in a water filled vase like a bouquet of flowers, at room temp, out of direct sunlight. Do not store in fridge as it turns into a brown slimy mess.

Fresh garlic: ready to peel and chop into your favorite recipe. Store on your counter top or in the fridge.

Tomatoes: are starting to come in a little stronger. Most are from our greenhouse, with the first field tomatoes coming in as well, and very early at that. Store tomatoes room temperature, out of direct sunlight, for 1 to 5 days depending on ripeness. You may get the round, red ‘standard’ varieties, or the more brightly colored (and funky shaped) heirloom varieties. Currently harvested heirlooms include Paul Robeson, Cherokee Purple, Taxi, and Striped German.

Also available: green beans, cucumbers, summer squash, lettuce, scallions,

Potentially on the way: red torpedo onions, yellow beets, tomatoes, cukes, Swiss Chard or kale, summer squash, lettuce

Recipes, suggested by Janine McCormick

Summer Squash and Basil Salad, From Simply in Season

3-4 medium summer squash, julienned ¼ cup olive oil

2-3 TBSP fresh basil, chopped ½ tsp salt

3-4 TBSP parmesan cheese, freshly grated ¼ tsp pepper

1 garlic clove, minced ¼ tsp sugar

¼ cup red wine vinegar

Toss the summer squash, basil and parmesan cheese together. Combine the garlic, vinegar, oil, salt, pepper and sugar and pour over the salad. Mix, chill 1 hour, and serve. Best when eaten the same day. Great served over a fresh green salad with crusty bread.

*Farmer’s Note: This would be great with some fresh sliced tomato and scallions too!

Coconut Curried Cauliflower with Basil, from former apprentice Shad Bridges

1 lg. Yellow onion, chopped 1 head cauliflower, chopped

1 cup whole basil leaves 1 can coconut milk

2 TBSP curry powder 1 TBSP salt

1 tsp pepper 1 TBSP vegetable oil

½ cup water or broth

Heat the oil in a large saucepan over med-high heat. Add the onions and curry powder; cook about 5 minutes stirring often. Add the cauliflower, coconut milk, and water or broth. Cover and simmer until cauliflower is just tender. Add the basil, salt and pepper. Cook 5 minutes more. Serve over rice.

Broccoli Salad with Walnuts, Raisins, and Red Onion, From Recipes from America’s Small Farms

Slice 1 ½ pounds of broccoli and cook (steam or blanch) until crisp tender. Drain well and allow to cool.

Mix ½ cup mayonnaise or plain low-fat yogurt, ¼ cup sugar, and 1 TBSP vinegar until blended; refrigerate overnight. Toss with the broccoli, ¼ cup chopped walnuts, ¼ cup raisins, and ¼ cup red onion.

Steamed Green Beans with Lemony Tahini Sauce, by Jenn Armentrount, from Fine Cooking

1 medium clove garlic 3 TBSP fresh lemon juice

Kosher salt 1 lb. green beans, trimmed

3 TBSP tahini 2 tsp toasted sesame seeds for garnish *optional

Mince the garlic. Sprinkle the chopped garlic with a pinch of salt and use the flat end of your knife to repeatedly scrape the garlic against the cutting board, mashing it into a paste. Transfer to a small bowl and add the tahini. Whisk to blend. Gradually whisk in the lemon juice; at first the tahini will thicken, but as you add more and more lemon juice it will begin to loosen. Once all the lemon juice is added, whisk in water ½ TBSP at a time until you reach the consistency of a creamy sauce. Stir in cumin and salt to taste.

Put the beans into a pot with a steaming basket, sprinkle with kosher salt, cover and steam until just tender, about 3 to 5 minutes. To serve, drizzle the sauce over the beans and sprinkle with sesame seeds if using.

Fort Hill Farm

Newsletter 6: July 13, 2010

Farm News