News From Windy Willow Farm, 2008 CSA Week 12

News from Windy Willow Farm
2008 Week 12
This week’s share includes:

Zucchini – We’re at the end of our summer squash season, and we hope you’ve enjoyed them. Our eight-ball zucchini has been a great find, providing a great slicing zuke with less water.
yellow squash
cucumbers, pickling or slicing – the slicing cukes I planted are coming on now. They are supposed to be burpless, and without the bitter gene. I’ve been enjoying them in my daily cuke and tomato salads.
2 head garlic
2 sweet onion – One each, red and white. These onions are gorgeous, and will go perfectly in all of your recipes
1 Qt red potatoes
1 Qt yellow beans
1 pint Sun Gold tomatoes - I offended a friend, by saying I got tired of Sun Golds. They are the sweetest, most wonderful tomato in the garden (is that better?), but are tiring to pick. I love slicing into a huge, meaty, main season tomato, that will fit perfectly on my sandwich. Sun Golds are a snack. Main season tomatoes are a meal.
2 sweet pepper, one long Carmen (Italian Fryer) and a green-to-red bell variety
2 Qt tomatoes – these tomatoes are delicious, and are a mixture of ripeness, varieties and textures. Most are red-based, but judge ripeness by touch, not color. (put them on your counter, stem down and check them every day for ripeness). You’re looking for a give when you give the tomato a gentle squeeze. Varieties: The golfball sized orange tomato is a new variety for me this year, called Sungella. Not too bad, just don’t eat it after a Sun Gold. There are also Thessaloniki (small, round ones), Better Boy, Ultimate Opener (great name, isn’t it?), Bucks County (Heirloom), Big Mama (big, fat paste), Amish Paste (long, skinny paste), Jet Star and a few Red Brandywine. Enjoy them!
1 bunch cilantro – this is part of this week’s Salsa Pack: tomatoes, onions, hot peppers, sweet peppers, and cilantro. See recipe below. I also bought some organic avocados to make guacamole (tomatoes, avocado, lime juice, onion, salt)
5 hot peppers - These are our “accidental” peppers, purchased from our greenhouse. I planted them as a sweet bell, put the row cover on and forgot about them. A month and a half later, I took the cover off and discovered that they were either an ornamental pepper (they’re not) or a hot pepper. The greenhouse guy confirmed that they must be a hot, since he didn’t grow any ornamentals. So, be careful and enjoy.

Best guess for next week – Carrots, eggplant,

Photo Captions: 1)These hot peppers are tiny, but gorgeous! 2) Garlic galore.

Oh, the rain. It’s raining right now, just a passing shower. I’ve had it up to here with rain, I tell you! It’s actually been a great growing season, with most crops doing brilliantly in the garden. But by now, I’m pretty soggy. The weeds are doing wonderfully as well, and I’ve little time to fight them.

The rain has been terrible on our berry crop, rotting it right on the vine. I’m hoping for our late berries to come on soon, and we can enjoy them again. I totally neglected the chinese cabbage, and let the weeds take it over. They are rotting right in the row, since the weeds don’t allow any airflow. I’ll try again with it next year. The corn is coming, though! It’s taller than I am (not so hard to do!) and beginning to tassel, which means we should have corn in 10-14 days.

The greenhouse work is continuing, one step forward, two steps back, it seems. Our greenhouse design is called a Gothic Arch, and it peaks in the middle, like a parenthesis. You bend the multi-walled polycarbonate around these curves. One of our polycarbonate panels broke (not during installation), just cracked from the outside! The company didn’t believe us until we sent a picture of what happened. To fix it, we have to remove the outer three panels and replace the broken one. A headache, for sure. I’ll be happy when it’s done; I wish we could make more progress.

Thanks for your support, we love being your farmers!
Gwen, Mark, Sarah and Jason Hyde

© 2008 Gwen Hyde

Gwen’s favorite garlic pasta
(This pasta dish is to die for. I have friends who swoon when recalling the day I prepared it for them!)
Pasta
Garlic (as much as you dare, pressed)
Olive oil
Fresh basil
Fresh, ripe, chopped tomatoes
Fresh or dry basil and oregano
Chevre cheese
Salt and pepper to taste
A confident smile for when your friends clamor over your brilliance

Boil up your pasta (linguine is my current favorite). While it’s cooking, sauté as much minced or pressed garlic as you dare (most of a head) in olive oil. Add some dry oregano, basil, salt and pepper and cook until garlic is golden. Drain the pasta and toss in the frying pan with the garlic. Arrange pasta on your plate and top with freshly chopped ripe tomato, chopped fresh basil and chevre cheese. Salt and pepper to taste. Drizzle olive oil to finish.

Gwen’s Favorite Tomato Recipes (aka the Tomato Compendium!)

To make the following recipes, start with:

Chopped tomatoes
Chopped sweet onion

And then add the following, depending on your preference:

For fresh salsa: add chopped cilantro, hot pepper (optional), a tablespoon or so of lime juice, and salt.
For fresh tomato sauce (toss with hot pasta): add chopped basil, a little chopped fresh garlic, good olive oil, and salt and pepper. (I just made it for the first time this season and I pressed the garlic into the oil, and added the basil as well. These fragranced the oil nicely, and mixed well with the tomatoes and onions.)
For Bruschetta: add chopped basil, a little chopped fresh garlic, good olive oil, salt and pepper. Heat through (but don’t cook) and finish with balsamic vinegar. Use to top bread that’s been brushed with garlic olive oil (I crush some cloves and soak in olive oil) that I brown under the broiler). Grate parmesan cheese to top.
For cooked sauce: sauté the onion until translucent in a big saucepan, adding crushed garlic near the end. Add chopped tomatoes and cook down for several hours. Season with chopped basil and oregano (I use a 3:1 ration basil to oregano), salt and pepper and a pinch of sugar.