Volume XXI, Number 9 – July 30, 2013
In
this week’s box:
Cucumbers: Suyo Long (Asian-style, long & bumpy)
or Diva (English-style, torpedo-shaped, smooth)
Eggplant: Orient Express (long, thin, dark purple),
Listada (purple/white striped) and/or Ping Tung(neon purple)
Hot Peppers: Wenk's Yellow Hots (lt yellow to bright
orange) and/pr Georgia Flame (dark red)
Lemon Balm
Purslane
Scallions
Tomatoes: asst varieties (see descriptions below)
and perhaps one of the following:
Beans:
mix or Romano-Marvel of Venice
(long, flat, light yellow)
Broccoli
florets
Melon:
Cream of Saskatchewan (lt
green with dark green stripes)
Summer
Squash: Patty Pan(dk green/yellow/lt.green round, flattened),Yellow (bumpy,
pear-shaped) or 8-Ball (small, round, green)
For those with the Cheese option: Cheesemaker's
Choice Chevre
For
those with the Egg option [full & half]: one dozen free-range eggs
(assorted colors)
For
those with the Herb option: Basil: Sweet, mountain mint, oregano
Featured
Recipe(s) (see below): BGF Fresh Garden Salsa
Purslane Cucumber Salad
Broiled
Eggplant with Crunchy Parmesan Crust
Precipitation in the past week:
0.24” (experienced rain dancers welcome!)
What’s up on the farm?
It has been a busy and varied
week on the farm. The biggest focus has been on weeding, clearing spent beds
and sowing fall crops. The peas are done for the season, so we are halfway through
their "evacuation plan" as are the turnips. We also did some tiller "4-wheeling"
as we began working the cleared garlic beds to prep them for future crops. We
discovered (entirely on accident) that the way to get the crew to weed faster
is to "chase them with the tiller".
Never fear, no one was harmed and there was much hysterical laughter and
weed flinging that ensued, but most importantly, the gnarly garlic beds have
been tamed and are ready for the next stage of preparations.
Wednesday, while the farm crew held down the duties at the farm, the farmers "went to town" and represented BGF & Farm Crawl at the Knoxville overnight for RAGBRAI. What an amazing event with riders from all over the world…crazy and fun to share a little bit of our lives with them. We've also had more visitors this week (with more to come) and it is always interesting and rejuvenating to see the farm through their eyes. In addition, Jill had a chance to judge vegetables at the Lucas County Fair, which is always fun and we spent Sunday on a road trip to visit a wonderful new farm in western Iowa that we are pleased to mentor this year (though we will undoubtedly be learning as much from her as she will from us!) Whew, what a week!
Wednesday, while the farm crew held down the duties at the farm, the farmers "went to town" and represented BGF & Farm Crawl at the Knoxville overnight for RAGBRAI. What an amazing event with riders from all over the world…crazy and fun to share a little bit of our lives with them. We've also had more visitors this week (with more to come) and it is always interesting and rejuvenating to see the farm through their eyes. In addition, Jill had a chance to judge vegetables at the Lucas County Fair, which is always fun and we spent Sunday on a road trip to visit a wonderful new farm in western Iowa that we are pleased to mentor this year (though we will undoubtedly be learning as much from her as she will from us!) Whew, what a week!
So what's happening now? The
first sowing of beans are waning, and unless we get some good rain, they are
done for the season and the 2nd sowing is just barely starting to produce, so
most of you will notice a lack of beans in your box today. We anticipate we
will be back in the bean business in the next week or so. The Romano beans
(flat, Italian-style beans) are slow to produce this year but we have start
picking them and some few will go out this week. They are a wonderful tasting
flat-pod bean that we love for adding to stir-fries or roasting, but you can
use them in any bean recipe.
We were pleasantly surprised
to discover a couple of ripe melons in the field yesterday, so they will be
going out in a lucky few boxes today as well. These are a small (6-8"
diameter) heirloom, green melon with creamy-white flesh. Enjoy them as you
would any watermelon. Don't worry, if you don't get one today, there are many
more to come and we will continue harvesting and sending them out as they ripen
over the remainder of the season.
We are getting the first real
start of the tomato harvest this week. For today, everyone will be
getting just a taste of what is to come. We anticipate putting lots of tomatoes
into the boxes for the foreseeable future, but there are so many, that instead
of listing each variety every week, here is a full description of all the
tomatoes we are growing this year. You should anticipate seeing the
majority of them over the course of the season. As there is such a
rainbow of colors (including green), the best way to tell if an individual
tomato is ripe is by touch. A ready-ripe tomato will yield to gentle
pressure. We try to send a range of ripeness in each delivery, so that
you can enjoy them throughout the week, so do try to notice which are the most
ripe and dig into those first.
Azoycha: Lemon-yellow medium-sized fruits with sweet, yet rich
flavor.
Black Cherry: Beautiful black cherry tomato with rich flavor.
Black Krim: purple/red slicing tomato
with excellent full flavor
Blondkopfchen: Small yellow 1” cherry tomato with excellent sweet
taste.
Cosmonaut Volkov: medium-large red slicer with
a full-rich flavor
Dr. Wychee Yellow: Large orange tomato with meaty, rich tasting flavor.
Federle: Long, pointed red paste-type
tomato with rich flavor
Golden Rave: Small 1–2 oz yellow, plum shaped tomatoes with good
tomato flavor. Perfect snacking tomato.
Green Zebra: Small, 2 1/2" olive
yellow with green stripes and a sweet zingy flavor
Isis Candy: Small, red-striped cherry
tomato
Japanese Black Trifele: A dark maroon, pear-shaped tomato with green
shoulders and sublime, rich flavor.
Juliet: Small 1 – 2 oz red fruits that are the perfect flavor
and shape for slicing onto pizza or salad.
Paul Robeson: Large, brick-red fruits with dark green
shoulders. Has a sweet, rich, smoky flavor.
Pantano Romanesco: A large, deep red Roman heirloom. The flesh is very
rich, flavorful & juicy.
Red Zebra: Smallish red tomato with
irridescent green stripes with a bright, citrus-y flavor
Redfield Beauty: 3”– 4” flat pink fruits with excellent, full flavor.
White Queen (Beauty): Medium-sized, smooth white-skinned tomato with sweet,
juicy flesh, low acid.
The farm crew
finds the range of tomato names quite inspiring and has been entertaining
themselves while weeding by making up a "Farm Drama" using those
names. If we are lucky, they will commit some of those entertainments to paper
and we will share them with you in a future newsletter.
A little detail on your produce this week:
Tomatoes: Store whole tomatoes at room temperature, out of direct sunlight. Once
cut, tomatoes can be stored in a sealed container in the refrigerator.
Hot Peppers: Place whole, unwashed peppers in a plastic bag, seal,
and refrigerate for a week or more.
Melons: Handle watermelons carefully. When harvested at their
peak ripeness, they can crack or split easily if
bumped or roughly handled. Refrigerate watermelons right
away. (Watermelons do not ripen off the vine and
do not emanate a ripe smell.) Cut melon should be
covered in plastic wrap, chunks or slices should be kept in an airtight
container, and both should be refrigerated. Eat all melons within a week.
Is a weekly newsletter
not enough for you and you want to read more about our daily adventures or see
pictures of the farm? Follow us
at our blog at http://beyondthebluegate.blogspot.com/
and on Facebook (just search Blue Gate Farm) and “Like” us.
That’s about it
this week, if you have any questions or comments be sure to let us know.
Best from the farm,
Jill & Sean (and Blue & Luci)
BGF Fresh Garden Salsa
2 to 3 medium tomatoes,
finely diced (or 10 to 12 mini
tomatoes, what ever you are growing!)
½ cup scallions, finely chopped
1 hot pepper, seeds removed
(and set aside) and diced
½ - 1 cup purslane leaves
1 TBS lime juice
1 TBS apple cider vinegar
1 TBS flat leaf parsley
minced
1 TBS lemon balm, minced
1 tsp oregano, minced
Salt and pepper to taste
1. Combine all of the
ingredients. If you are a spicy kind of person, add leftover jalapeno seeds to
add more of a kick especially if using Georgia Flame peppers
2. Serve in your favorite way
of eating salsa and ENJOY!
Purslane and cucumbers are a match made in heaven. Don't hesitate to add purslane to any good cucumber recipe.
3 medium sized cucumbers, sliced
1 cups Purslane leaves
1/2 cup yogurt
2 tsp Tbsp olive oil
1 tsp red wine vinegar
1 Tbsp chopped mint
coarse black pepper, to taste
1. Slice cucumbers and mix together with Purslane in a salad bowl.
2. In a blender, mix together the rest of the ingredients for your dressing.
3. Coat the cucumber-purslane mixture well with the dressing. Serve chilled.
Note: It's best to put the dressing on just before serving. The salad becomes watery if prepared too much in advance. Makes about 4 servings.
Recipe Source: http://rosesprodigalgarden.org
Broiled Eggplant with
Crunchy Parmesan Crust
This is such
an easy way to make a crunchy-crusted eggplant appetizer that you may even feel
guilty about the raves it receives. Try with a marinara sauce for dipping.
mayonnaise
eggplant, cut into 1/4-inch slices
freshly grated Parmesan cheese (about 1/2 cup)
Preheat the broiler. Lightly oil a baking sheet.
Spread mayonnaise sparingly on both sides of each
eggplant slice, then dip the slices in the grated Parmesan cheese, thoroughly coating
both sides.
Arrange the slices in a single layer on the oiled
baking sheet and place under the broiler until golden brown, about 3 minutes.
Flip the slices and broil until golden brown and
crunchy on top and the eggplant is soft, about 3 minutes more
Recipe Source: Angelic Organics Kitchen
