Wednesday, September 3, 2008

News From Windy Willow Farm 2008 CSA Week 16




News from Windy Willow Farm
2008 Week 16

This week’s share includes:

2 heads garlic


2 sweet onions – One each, red and white.
1 Qt white potatoes


3 Qt tomatoes – we have definitely had an excellent tomato season, which hopefully makes up for failures in the sweet corn and edamame departments.
1 Qt green and yellow beans – My last planting of green beans is just coming on, so we should have more greens next week.
1 half pint raspberries – Our fall bearing raspberries, appropriately called Autumn Britten, will keep bearing until frost kills them. I’ve decorated the pints with yellow raspberries, for color. As usual, these berries, though picked this morning, are very perishable and should be eaten, refrigerated or frozen right away.
1 head Tropicana lettuce – These fall lettuces are hoping for some rain, this hot weather could cause our beautiful lettuce to go bitter. So far, so good.
1 Daikon Radish – I didn’t receive much feedback on the first week of Daikon, so I thought we’d give it another try. Try it shredded with some soy sauce on it, (like I eat it at Japanese restaurants) or sprinkled on a salad.
2 Jalapeno peppers – Some like it hot, and these peppers deliver!
1 bunch collard greens – A nutritional powerhouse, I just learned that it is higher in nutrition when cooked than raw. You can use them in any recipe calling for spinach, kale or chard, and is excellent roughly chopped and sautéed in garlic and oil, but what isn’t?
1 bunch parsley
Best guess for next week –Swiss Chard, carrots, red potatoes



Photo Captions: Our gorgeous raspberry plants with huge fruits on them, with sunflowers in the background. These raspberries are as big as your thumb!

Favorite Customer Comment: “Last night, I sliced and roasted the red potatoes (drizzled with olive oil, salt, pepper and rosemary). They were the SWEETEST potatoes I’ve ever eaten. I had them for dessert! Thanks for growing such wonderful food!”

I’ve been worried, for some time, about getting our winter firewood split and stacked to dry in the basement. Last year we were done by April, and now it’s September and we’ve barely started! We heat our house exclusively with wood, but with an oil furnace backup. Since we have 90 acres of forest, we’ve always cut our own wood and burned it in the wood stove in the living room. For the last several days, every spare moment has been spent with the wood splitter. Mark cut the logs last winter and dragged them over the frozen fields to begin to cure near the house. We split them with a log splitter, stack them in the bucket of the tractor, dump it in the bilco door and stack it in the basement. When we’re ready for a fire, we load up the dumbwaiter with wood and winch it up to our main floor. It’s quite a system. Since we haven’t had rain in a while, the wood is clean and dry, so we’re pushing to get it under cover prior to the expected rains this weekend. It’s hard, physically demanding work, and my body is sore and bruised from it. But we like the idea of using renewable resources to heat our home, which makes us less reliant on petrochemicals. Plus, along with our solar system, we expect one tank of oil to last us at least two years!

Garden cleanup has started, and I’ve tried to clean up one row per day. This involves pulling up the plastic mulch, drip tape and reusable irrigation fittings. I always find it a chore, preferring to set up and have the party rather than clean up afterward. Today I walked through our winter squash areas, and they are all looking great: huge butternut squash, sunshine and acorn squash and even pie pumpkins, all working on getting ready for fall. Next week we’ll start to harvest them, as they get sweeter with age.

Tomorrow is Sarah’s first day of kindergarten, where she’ll ride the bus and be there all day. I’m sure we’re in for many transitions in the coming weeks, as we all get used to the new schedule and activities. I never thought I’d be the parent crying at the first day of school, but I had my share of sniffles at pre-k last year, and I’m sure this year will be no different!


Eat what you can, can what you can’t.

Gwen, Mark, Sarah and Jason Hyde


© 2008 Gwen Hyde


This recipe for sauteed collard greens and kale includes seasoning of olive oil, garlic, salt, black pepper, and lemon juice.
Ingredients:
· 1 large bunch collard greens, about 1 to 1 1/2 pounds
· 1 large bunch kale, about 1 to 1 1/2 pounds
· 3 tablespoons olive oil
· 6 cloves garlic, minced
· 1/2 teaspoon salt
· 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
· juice of 1/2 lemon
· a few dashes hot pepper sauce, optional
Preparation:
Rinse collard greens and kale well in a large bowl of cold water. Drain and cut off tough stems. Cut leaves into 1/4-inch strips. You should have about 8 packed cups.
In a well-seasoned heavy skillet or wok, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the garlic and cook, stirring, 30 seconds. Add half of the collard greens and cook, stirring, for about 30 seconds. Add half of the kale and cook stirring, for about 1 minute, until they begin to soften. Add the remaining greens and cook, stirring constantly, for about 10 minutes, until the greens are tender.Season with the salt, pepper, and lemon juice, and a few drops of hot pepper sauce, if desiredServes 4.

Too many tomatoes? Here are some fresh ideas:
A link to some great, creative tomato recipes: 5 fantastic, fresh summer tomato recipes - Food on Shine

A great guide to canning tomatoes, chock-full of pictures: http://www.pickyourown.org/canning_tomatoes.htm


Pan-fried Daikon Slices Recipe
Makes about 10-15 slices, enough for a side dish for 4 people.
I've been eating out a lot these days, so when I cook at home, I try to catch up on the vegetables. But without a lot of time to fuss with complex sauces or multi-step cooking, I've been trying to do a lot with a little.
Slice the daikon into 1 cm medallions.
Heat a large frying pan to medium and add a little bit of sesame oil, just enough to cover the surface.
Just before the oil starts to smoke, arrange the daikon slices in a single layer on the surface of the pan. Fry until they start to smoke slightly. The cooked surface should have dark brown marks, but not black.
Flip'em.
Wait for them to smoke slightly again.
Remove from pan, and arrange on a paper towel to soak up a little oil (shouldn't be much). Arrange on a plate and sprinkle with a little salt.
Total time: 10-15 minutes for half a daikon

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