Week 5 – July7, 2010                                                                         Paul Bucciaglia

                                                                                                            18 Fort Hill Road

New Milford,  CT 06776

                                                                                                            860-210-7961

                                                                                                            forthillfarm@gmail.com

                                                                                                            www.forthillfarm.com

Farm News

Well, it’s just really hot out there.  The heat is taking its toll on the plants, and to a lesser extent, on our plucky crew.  We are running like mad this time of year.  Janine is busy leading the harvest.  Nate and Amanda are doing the plumbing and other leg work to keep our lines of sprinklers running.  Jake is switching valves all over the farm trying to keep the drip lines to the field tomatoes, peppers, and winter squash full of water.  Alice runs the transplanter rig, getting the fall Brussels sprouts, broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, and the last of the sweet corn into the ground.  Our Morning Crew is busy weeding, mulching, planting, and bunching carrots and radishes to put out for CSA distributions.  And I run around with the Big Irrigation Gun, pointing as much water as I can at our crops, and trying to keep up with whatever the farm throws at us.   So far we have been able to keep up with the ‘dry spell’, but we have maxed out the irrigation capacity of our wells.  They are pumping at full tilt, but still we are starting to fall behind schedule on irrigations.   Four days with forecasts over 95 F are not going to help that any…..  it’s a tight situation.  On our crop walk today, we saw some nice ears forming in the sweet corn, and small melons the size of softballs.  Winter squash and pumpkins are vining like crazy and throwing out first fruit, and tomatoes and peppers are looking good.  Nice sized spuds are hiding under the hills beneath the potato plants.  So hopefully this ‘dry spell’ won’t turn into a drought, and we’ll be able to catch up on our watering.  Keep your fingers crossed!

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.  The Pick Your Own patch is open to all shareholders, once per week, Tues. and Thursday 2:30 to 6:30 PM and Sat. 8AM to noon.

Featured this week: 

Early Jersey Wakefield Cabbage:  a pointy headed, heirloom cabbage great for slaws and salads.  Store up to 3 weeks in the fridge crisper.

Fennel:  A Mediterranean vegetable, with a unique anise taste.  Use fresh in salads with olive oil, or see recipe below.

Purplette onions:  We’ve been trialing this early fresh onion for a few years, and this seasons edition is the nicest we’ve seen.  Cut the greens and store in the fridge for several weeks.

Parsley: Curly or flat Italian, a versatile kitchen herb.  Store in a bag in the fridge for up to a week.

Carrots:  our first of the season.  Carrots can be a little tricky to grow in New England, this is one of the best tasting crops we’ve grown.  Enjoy!

Tomatoes:  first of the season!  These are from our greenhouse.  Store at room temperature, out of direct sunlight, for 1 to 4 days depending on ripeness.  You may get the round, red ‘standard’ varieties, or the more brightly colored (and funky shaped) heirloom varieties.  This year we have Paul Robeson, Cherokee Purple, and Striped German in the greenhouse.  Tomato season will start off slow with just a few per share, and with any luck we’ll get a field crop this year to fully satiate all you tomatoholics out there.

Also available:  radishes, cucumbers, summer squash, salad mix (remember, store no more than 3 days in vented bag.  Wash and spin in a salad spinner and store there for up to a week).

Potentially on the way:  carrots, scallions, fresh garlic, green beans, tomatoes, and kale.

Recipes, suggested by Janine McCormick

Coleslaw, By Janine McCormick

The Slaw:

½ large Green and/or Red Cabbage, thinly sliced        

2 to 3 medium carrots, grated

Grated radishes or salad turnips *optional         

The Dressing:

1 TBSP sugar   salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste  

1 TBSP water   1 tsp celery seed

1 TBSP Apple Cider Vinegar   2 TBSP dried Dill or horseradish        

Mayonnaise     ½ tsp paprika  

1 ½ tsp lemon juice

Prepare the dressing first; dissolve the sugar into the water and then add the apple cider vinegar.  Stir in mayonnaise, using as much or as little as you like for the consistency you prefer.  Add the remaining seasonings.  Taste and adjust any of the dressing ingredients to suit your taste.  Then set the dressing aside while you prepare the slaw.  Once the slaw ingredients are ready, pour the dressing over them and toss well to coat. 

Grilled Fennel with Lemon and Parmesan, by Janine McCormick

1 to 2 fennel bulbs       Sea salt

Extra virgin olive oil    Parmesan Cheese

1 lemon

Preheat your grill to medium; be sure that the grates are well cleaned.

Slice the fennel in half lengthwise, if you have a large fennel bulb you could even quarter it.  ** Be sure to leave enough of the core intact so that the fennel layers stay together.  Toss the fennel halves or quarters with a generous amount of olive oil and place on the preheated grill.  Grill for about 7 to 10 minutes per side, cooking time will vary slightly with the size of the fennel.  You will see pronounced grill marks and the fennel will become soft and tender.  Remove from the grill, drizzle with a little more olive oil, squeeze the fresh lemon juice over the top, sprinkle with sea salt and freshly grated parmesan.  Great served with grilled chicken or fish.

Shrimp and Feta stuffed Zucchini, from foodandwine.com, recipe adapted by Janine McCormick

2 TBSP extra virgin olive oil, more for brushing          Salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 large onion, finely chopped  ¾ lb. shelled and deveined shrimp, finely chopped

½ fennel bulb, finely chopped 2 TBSP chopped parsley

1 large garlic clove, minced     2 TBSP chopped dill

4 plum tomatoes, chopped       3 medium zucchini, halved lengthwise

½ tsp crushed red pepper         1 ½ cups crumbled feta (6 oz.)

Preheat the oven to 425.  In a skillet, heat the 2 TBSP of olive oil.  Add the onion, bell pepper, fennel and garlic and cook over moderately high heat, stirring, until tender, 6 minutes.  Add the tomatoes and crushed red pepper, cook, mashing, until thickened, 5 minutes.  Season with salt and black pepper.  Remove from heat, let cool slightly.  Stir in the shrimp, parsley, and dill.

Using a spoon, scoop out the flesh of the zucchini leaving a ¼ inch shell all around.  Rub with oil and season with salt and pepper.  Stuff with the filling mixture.  Transfer to a lightly oiled roasting pan and roast for 30 minutes, until the filling is cooked through and the zucchini are just tender.

Preheat the broiler, position a rack 6 inches from the heat.  Top the zucchini with the feta and broil for 5 minutes, until the feta is melted and golden.  Serve hot or at room temperature.