BGF News - September 17, 2019-Vol. XLII, No.16
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| Harvesting lettuce bouquets |
In this week’s box:
Baby lettuce bouquets
Beans: Carson (yellow) and/or Provider (green)
Buttercup Squash
Cherry Tomato Mix
Garlic: Farmer's Folly
Habanero Peppers: Helios (orange habanero in the clamshell box)
Onions: Red Carpet
Sweet Peppers: Assorted
Summer Squash: 8 Ball (green,round), Golden Glory (bright yellow zucchini), Patty
Pan (scalloped white, green or yellow), Slik Pik (thin, yellow) or Zephyr (green & yellow)
Tomatoes: see descriptions in 7/30 newsletter post
Turnips: Hakurei
and perhaps one of the following: (please see **NOTE after "A Little Detail..." below)
Broccoli: Imperial or Belstar
Eggplant: Orient Express (dk purple) & or Orient Charm (lavender)
Okra: Bowling Red and/or Candle Fire
For those with the Egg option [Full shares]: one dozen free-range eggs (asst. colors)
For those with the Herb option: Sweet basil, ginger mint & sorrel
Featured Recipes: ** indicates a BGF favorite
Fresh Tomato Salsa
Roasted Tomato Salsa
Roasted Eggplant Salsa
Okra Salsa
Buttercup Squash Recipes
What’s up on the farm?
Precipitation in the past week: 0.2"
Baby lettuce bouquets
Beans: Carson (yellow) and/or Provider (green)
Buttercup Squash
Cherry Tomato Mix
Garlic: Farmer's Folly
Habanero Peppers: Helios (orange habanero in the clamshell box)
Onions: Red Carpet
Habanero Peppers: Helios (orange habanero in the clamshell box)
Onions: Red Carpet
Sweet Peppers: Assorted
Summer Squash: 8 Ball (green,round), Golden Glory (bright yellow zucchini), Patty
Pan (scalloped white, green or yellow), Slik Pik (thin, yellow) or Zephyr (green & yellow)
Tomatoes: see descriptions in 7/30 newsletter post
Turnips: Hakurei
Turnips: Hakurei
and perhaps one of the following: (please see **NOTE after "A Little Detail..." below)
Broccoli: Imperial or Belstar
Eggplant: Orient Express (dk purple) & or Orient Charm (lavender)
Okra: Bowling Red and/or Candle Fire
Okra: Bowling Red and/or Candle Fire
For those with the Egg option [Full shares]: one dozen free-range eggs (asst. colors)
For those with the Herb option: Sweet basil, ginger mint & sorrel
Featured Recipes: ** indicates a BGF favorite
Fresh Tomato Salsa
Roasted Tomato Salsa
Roasted Eggplant Salsa
Okra Salsa
Buttercup Squash Recipes
What’s up on the farm?
Roasted Tomato Salsa
Roasted Eggplant Salsa
Okra Salsa
Buttercup Squash Recipes
What’s up on the farm?
Precipitation in the past week: 0.2"
Welcome to our annual Salsa Box! Or Sauce Box if you prefer. Every year when the tomato harvest is at it's heaviest, we "stuff" as many of them into the boxes as possible to give folks the opportunity to stock up on some salsa or sauce. We try to include recipes to appeal to lots of difference salsa tastes, but always include our favorite: Mezair (a fresh Kurdish salsa). As many of you may know, the "FarmHer-in-charge" isn't particularly fond of cilantro so we always substitute parsley/par-cel or mint and sometimes sorrel in our salsa recipes. If you have the same issue, we encourage you to try one of these alternatives. If you do like cilantro, well, that's ok too. Speaking of salsa ingredients, a heads up on the hot peppers. Our Wenk's Yellow Hot peppers are just poking along, but we are getting buried in beautiful habanero peppers right now, so that is what we are sending out. Be aware that they are fairly hot, so proceed slowly when adding them to salsa or other dishes. We've packed them in clamshell boxes so no one accidentally mistakes them for a sweet pepper and takes a bite unwittingly.
Speaking of heat, this brief (we hope) return to summer isn't our favorite weather trend. Although we spent the whole summer working in warmer temperatures, our cooler August really killed all of our heat tolerance so we are a bit grumpy in the fields right now. The crops and animals definitely feel the same and everyone would like a nice rain. While the warm weather crops like peppers and eggplant are enjoying the return to midsummer, our mid season lettuces are bolting and the 2nd succession of beans just gave up the fight. The storm-damaged basil never recovered so we've cleared that and beans #2. We do still have basil in the high tunnels that might keep going a bit longer and beans #3 that we just started harvesting so those will continue to appear in the boxes for a while yet. This will likely be the final summer squash delivery as those plants are also just about spent. They've certainly given us a bounteous season and now we start to focus on winter squash. We harvested the buttercup squash yesterday and are really pleased with it. I roasted up a damaged one last night with a handful of onions, fennel and sausage and it was delicious! I hope you enjoy yours as much as I did!
Buttercup Squash
New toys for the FarmHers!
While we would really like a good rain shower, this past weekend we were hit with a "shower" of new-to-us equipment. Thanks to my parents who were able to attend a sale and and auction while I was at market, we have added a "new" tractor tiller, waterwheel transplanter, mulch layer, cultivator and bulk storage bins. These items may be big game changers for us in the future when it comes to weed control and crop production.
Speaking of the future, we've started getting questions about the end of the season, so here's the current plan:
October 15- Final CSA delivery
October 26- Final Farmer Market
November 5- First VegEmail Sale
A little detail on your produce this week:
Welcome to our annual Salsa Box! Or Sauce Box if you prefer. Every year when the tomato harvest is at it's heaviest, we "stuff" as many of them into the boxes as possible to give folks the opportunity to stock up on some salsa or sauce. We try to include recipes to appeal to lots of difference salsa tastes, but always include our favorite: Mezair (a fresh Kurdish salsa). As many of you may know, the "FarmHer-in-charge" isn't particularly fond of cilantro so we always substitute parsley/par-cel or mint and sometimes sorrel in our salsa recipes. If you have the same issue, we encourage you to try one of these alternatives. If you do like cilantro, well, that's ok too. Speaking of salsa ingredients, a heads up on the hot peppers. Our Wenk's Yellow Hot peppers are just poking along, but we are getting buried in beautiful habanero peppers right now, so that is what we are sending out. Be aware that they are fairly hot, so proceed slowly when adding them to salsa or other dishes. We've packed them in clamshell boxes so no one accidentally mistakes them for a sweet pepper and takes a bite unwittingly.
While we would really like a good rain shower, this past weekend we were hit with a "shower" of new-to-us equipment. Thanks to my parents who were able to attend a sale and and auction while I was at market, we have added a "new" tractor tiller, waterwheel transplanter, mulch layer, cultivator and bulk storage bins. These items may be big game changers for us in the future when it comes to weed control and crop production.
Speaking of heat, this brief (we hope) return to summer isn't our favorite weather trend. Although we spent the whole summer working in warmer temperatures, our cooler August really killed all of our heat tolerance so we are a bit grumpy in the fields right now. The crops and animals definitely feel the same and everyone would like a nice rain. While the warm weather crops like peppers and eggplant are enjoying the return to midsummer, our mid season lettuces are bolting and the 2nd succession of beans just gave up the fight. The storm-damaged basil never recovered so we've cleared that and beans #2. We do still have basil in the high tunnels that might keep going a bit longer and beans #3 that we just started harvesting so those will continue to appear in the boxes for a while yet. This will likely be the final summer squash delivery as those plants are also just about spent. They've certainly given us a bounteous season and now we start to focus on winter squash. We harvested the buttercup squash yesterday and are really pleased with it. I roasted up a damaged one last night with a handful of onions, fennel and sausage and it was delicious! I hope you enjoy yours as much as I did!
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| Buttercup Squash |
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| New toys for the FarmHers! |
Speaking of the future, we've started getting questions about the end of the season, so here's the current plan:
October 15- Final CSA delivery
October 26- Final Farmer Market
November 5- First VegEmail Sale
A little detail on your produce this week:
Beans: Fresh beans are an easy "store." Just leave them in their plastic bag and keep them in the produce drawer. Can last up to 2 weeks.
Buttercup Squash:
One of the most popular winter squash varieties, buttercup squash has a sweet and creamy orange flesh. Containing more than 200% of the recommended daily amount of vitamin A, it is also high in vitamins C and B. An added benefit is that buttercup squash is an excellent source of dietary fiber.To prepare, wash the outside thoroughly. Cut in half and remove the seeds and stringy pulp. Place cut side down in a baking dish, add 1/2 cup of water and cover with aluminum foil. Bake at 375 degrees for 30 minutes or until tender. Buttercup squash can also be easily micro-waved. Follow the above instructions, cover with wax paper, and micro-wave on High at 5-minute intervals until tender. Serve with butter , salt and pepper or brown sugar. Try a little parmesan cheese for variety.
Broccoli: Wrap broccoli loosely in a plastic bag and keep it in the vegetable bin of your refrigerator for up to a week. Immediately before cooking, soak broccoli, head down, in cold, salted water (1 teaspoon salt to a 8 cups of water) for 5 minutes. Any [organic] critters will float to the top where you can rescue them or allow them to suffer a salty death. (Note: If you soak broccoli in salt water before storing, it will become too rubbery and wilted to enjoy.) Slice the juicy, edible stems and use them wherever florets are called for. Peel particularly thick skin before using.
Peppers: Place whole, unwashed peppers in a plastic bag, seal, and refrigerate for a week or more. Rinse peppers just before use. For sweet peppers, cut around the stem with a small knife and lift out the core. Slice down the side to open it up and then cut out the inner membranes. Store unused portions in a sealed bag or container in the refrigerator.
Summer Squash/Zucchini: Refrigerate unwashed zucchini and summer squash for up to a week and a half in a perforated plastic bag or in a sealed plastic container lined with a kitchen towel. These do not need to be peeled to use, just slice them up and go!
Peppers: Place whole, unwashed peppers in a plastic bag, seal, and refrigerate for a week or more. Rinse peppers just before use. For sweet peppers, cut around the stem with a small knife and lift out the core. Slice down the side to open it up and then cut out the inner membranes. Store unused portions in a sealed bag or container in the refrigerator.
Summer Squash/Zucchini: Refrigerate unwashed zucchini and summer squash for up to a week and a half in a perforated plastic bag or in a sealed plastic container lined with a kitchen towel. These do not need to be peeled to use, just slice them up and go!
Tomatoes:
always store whole tomatoes at room temperature, out of direct sunlight. A light "squeeze" is the best test for ripeness. Once cut, store in a sealed container in the refrigerator.
A few other details: All of your GREENS will keep best if stored in a plastic bag, with the top folded over and placed in the produce drawer of your refrigerator.
** NOTE: You will notice over the course of the season that some box contents listed above say "Perhaps one of the following..." These are items that we can’t harvest in sufficient quantities for the whole CSA to receive at one time. We do track who gets what and we will do our best to ensure that everyone eventually receives each item. On some items this may take several weeks, so please be patient.
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 on Facebook at Blue Gate Farm and/or share your recipes, experiences and questions with other BGF members at Blue Gate Farm Community.
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 Luci, Indigo & Sky)
** NOTE: You will notice over the course of the season that some box contents listed above say "Perhaps one of the following..." These are items that we can’t harvest in sufficient quantities for the whole CSA to receive at one time. We do track who gets what and we will do our best to ensure that everyone eventually receives each item. On some items this may take several weeks, so please be patient.
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 on Facebook at Blue Gate Farm and/or share your recipes, experiences and questions with other BGF members at Blue Gate Farm Community.
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