2007 CSA Week 11

News from Windy Willow Farm: 2007 Week 11

This week’s share includes:
1 Qt tomatoes – The only good thing about early tomatoes is their presence. They don’t taste great, like main season tomatoes, but after a year of yearning, they are better than nothing! There are a few main seasons ready, as well as our heirloom, Caspian Pink, included in the share. You may see some lighter yellow or green at the top of the tomato. This is basically sunburn, called sunscald. It affects the look of the tomato and the ripeness of that part only. Cut it off, and enjoy the remainder of the tomato.
1 bunch dill – Apologies for giving cucumbers in last week’s share with no dill with which to pair. I’ve remedied the situation today.
1 bunch basil – Not the most attractive basil since our plants are magnets for Japanese Beetles. Each of these bunches is most of a plant, so enjoy liberally in your favorite recipes. Very easy to preserve by Gwen’s Car Herb Drying Technique: lay or tie the herbs on your dashboard in the morning. Park in a sunny place. At the end of the day, you have a wonderful-smelling car, as well as herbs that are ready for storage in a canning jar.
1 Qt green beans
1 head cabbage
2 zucchini – During the heat of zucchini season I often don’t have time to make the zucchini muffins the kids love for breakfast. I remedy this by shredding the zukes and storing measured amounts in bags in the freezer. Then on a cooler day of fall, when I don’t mind warming the house with the oven, I can defrost and bake to my heart’s content.
5 yellow squash – I have a favorable report on last week’s squash strata! 4 cucumbers – Early in the season I get into a daily salad rut. In cuke season, I’m in a cuke/tomato/cheddar/walnut salad rut. I actually miss it if I eat something else for a day. I recommend you try it!
1 bunch baby carrots – Getting tired of fresh carrots? They also freeze nicely for use in soups all through the year. Just blanch for 1 ½ - 2 minutes, cool in water and pack into the fridge.
2 heads garlic – I’ll leave these in their natural state (with the roots and stalk on) so you can dry it yourself, if you wish. Keep the roots and stalk on until everything turns brown and shrivels, and you’ll have a perfectly dried head for storage.
2 sweet onions – these onions are so great, aren’t they? Snow white and perfect on the inside, and a beautiful design as well! I’ve only recently discovered the following secret: they are so big, they are sometimes too big to use at once, but throwing half away is a shame! So, I wrapped the remainder in plastic wrap and put it in a zipper top bag and successfully stored it in the refrigerator. Success in this case means that I didn’t smell up the whole fridge. And the onion stored perfectly for another day’s use.
1 pt cherry tomatoes – We love Sun gold tomatoes, and the red grapes aren’t too bad either.
1 bunch beets – Usually our beets have fabulous greens, but these were grown in the far field and were enjoyed by deer, turkeys and mice. You can still use them (the greens), but sort through them well.
1 patty pan summer squash- This is a first for us, and we grew it in response to CSA feedback from last year. Let me know how you think it compares to our other summer squash offerings.
Best guess for next week’s share: Oregano, tomatoes, green pepper, potatoes, main-season carrots, eggplant . Don’t hold me to it!

This week is a noisy one in our neighborhood, since it’s the first forecasted to be sunny with little to no threat of rain or storms. All of the farmers are taking advantage of the weather, and as the saying goes, “Make hay when the sun shines.” Even our farmer friend is here cutting our hay. Unfortunately, hay’s readiness disregards the weather: our hay was ready about a month ago, and is now brown, and has lost some of its nutrition. However, since we have no plans to purchase the equipment required to make our own hay, we are at the mercy of others. Zack eats a half to a whole bale of hay per day (the greater amount if he’s inside the barn all due to poor weather) and the sheep eat 2-4 bales a day for the six months of the year the grass doesn’t grow much. That’s a lot of hay to have on hand!

To cut hay, you need an extensive and expensive roster of equipment. The hay is cut with a haybine (which makes one cut, and crimps the grass stalks to speed drying) or a sicklebar mower. These are different from your lawn mower in that it makes only a single cut to the grass (to keep it long) instead of the multiple cuts your mower makes. Then, the hay is allowed to dry for a day, and is fluffed with a tedder or just turned with a rake to dry the underside. This is what makes the windrows you may have seen in the field. Then, the hay is baled, either with a square baler or round baler. With a square baler, you have the option to kick it into a hay wagon or drop it on the ground. These days, farmers make what are called, “ladies bales” weighing 40-50 pounds, instead of the larger, 75 pound bales of previous days. (Round bales are huge, and could weigh 2-300 pounds.) The square bales are then unloaded from the hay wagon onto the hay elevator and stacked in the hayloft or haymow. If anyone wants a firsthand experience, Mark and I will be unloading 4-5 hay wagons into the hayloft on Thursday evening. We recommend wearing long pants, gloves and sturdy boots and bringing lots of water to drink. It’s a hot, dirty and heavy job!

Last October we planted 80 pounds of garlic in our far field. To plant garlic, you separate the garlic heads into cloves and push them, stem side down, 3 inches into the soil, approximately 6 inches apart. Our 80 pounds of garlic planted 3 ¾ rows, 500 feet long. To dig the garlic, we use a garden fork (like a pitchfork, but with only 4 reinforced tines) to loosen the soil around the head, and pull it by hand. Then, the garlic is dried with the roots and stalk attached. The last step is to trim the roots and stalk, and peel off the outside paper. Dried properly, garlic should last most of the year. We used last year’s garlic until May or June of this year! You may notice most of the garlic harvest drying on the lawn area north of our parking area. We’re almost all harvested, with about ¾ of a row left to dig. Next project: Potatoes! I’m proposing and inviting a potato digging party for this Friday, from 9-12. Let me know if you’re interested in attending. I definitely need help since my garden worker is out of the country on vacation for 5 weeks!

When I need a break from potato and garlic digging, I have copious work to do in cleaning up the garden. Currently we have 3 rows that have already been harvested. Our plan is to pull out remainders of the crop, and weeds, and pull up the plastic mulch covering the soil. This, and the plastic irrigation drip tape, we discard. The area is finished with a quick rototilling of the soil to kill the weeds and prepare it for cover crops.

Thanks for your continuing support!

Gwen, Mark, Sarah and Jason

© 2007 Gwen Hyde

Pesto Recipe
2 cups fresh basil leaves, packed
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup Olive oil
3 tablespoons pine nuts or walnuts
3 garlic cloves, finely minced

Place basil leaves in small batches in food processor and whip until well chopped (do about 3/4 cup at a time). Add about 1/3 the nuts and garlic, blend again.Add about 1/3 of the Parmesan cheese; blend while slowly adding about 1/3 of the olive oil, stopping to scrape down sides of container.Process basil pesto it forms a thick smooth paste. Repeat until all ingredients are used, mix all batches together well. Serve over pasta potatoes, vegetables or chicken. Basil pesto keeps in refrigerator one week, or freeze for a few months.


Thanks to Leslie for this recipe. It sounds great, and even lists the Weight Watchers points, for those of us who attempt to count points!!
Zucchini Sticks with Honey-Mustard Mayo


POINTS® Value: 2
Servings: 8
Preparation Time: 10 min
Cooking Time: 40 min
Level of Difficulty: Moderate

These crunchy, crumb-coated sticks taste just as sinful as their fried cousins. Even better, they boast nutrients and fiber, making them a healthy snack to boot!
Ingredients
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp table salt
1/8 tsp black pepper
4 medium zucchini, ends trimmed, cut into 12 x 1-inch sticks each
3 medium egg white(s), lightly beaten
1 cup seasoned bread crumbs
1/2 cup fat-free mayonnaise
1 Tbsp honey
1 Tbsp Dijon mustard
Instructions
Preheat oven to 400ºF. Coat a large baking sheet with cooking spray.
Combine flour, salt and pepper in a shallow dish. Mix well with a fork to combine. Add zucchini sticks and turn to coat. Place egg whites and bread crumbs in separate shallow dishes. Add zucchini to egg whites and turn to coat. Transfer to bread crumbs and turn to coat.
Place coated zucchini on prepared baking sheet and coat with cooking spray. Bake 40 minutes, until golden brown.
Whisk together mayonnaise, honey and mustard. Serve zucchini sticks with honey-mustard mayo on the side. Yields about 6 sticks and 1 tablespoon of dip per serving.

Azalea Grill's Sweet and Sour Cabbage Recipe
Serves/Makes: 4
1 large head of cabbage (Napa or savoy), chopped in 1/4-inch pieces
1/2 cup seasoned rice wine vinegar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
Pinch salt

In a sauté pan over medium heat, bring cabbage and vinegar to a boil. Lower heat and cook, uncovered, until wilted, 3 to 5 minutes. If cabbage dries out, add a bit more vinegar. Add sugar and continue to sauté to slightly caramelize; add salt, and serve.
Per serving: 57 calories, 2 grams protein, 13 grams carbohydrates, 3 grams fiber, no fat, no cholesterol, 72 milligrams sodium.