Recipe Of The Week: Turnip Greens

Turnip Greens

 

Bring about 1/4 of a inch of water to a boil.  Add one pound of turnip greens and 1/2 teaspoon of salt.  Return to a boil and simmer for 5-10 minutes, depending on size.

 

4 slices of bacon

1 onion chopped

6-8 cups of turnip greens

salt and pepper to taste

 

Fry bacon and remove fro skillet.  Saute onions in the bacon drippings.  Add the greens to the skillet.  Cover and cook for 5-7 minutes.  Add crumbled bacon, salt and pepper.  Serve immediately.

A First For Me

This is the first week since I have been involved with the CSA that Andy or Lizzie has been to busy to write a newsletter.  And to add to that, Rue and Susan, the couple that help with the communications for the farm, are out of town enjoying some family time. 

 

And I thought that spring was the busiest time for them.  Our boxes were full to overflowing again this week.  I have never seen a bigger head of broccoli!  And strawberries...what a sweet surprise!

Fluffy Has A Friend

Anna is going to start raising rabbits to sell to make a little money.  So I drove to my favorite rabbit pick up spot (Jamie Kinner's in Batavia) and picked up a male brown mini Rex.  Just so happens that the Kinner's use to own a coffee shop in Batavia that was a CSA dropoff.  And Adam, Andy's brother dresses chickens for the Kinner's.  And Jamie went to school with my next door neighbor.  Very small world around here.  I met Jamie thru FreeCycle about a year ago.

Fluffy didn't come out to meet Chocolate Drop.  This is home sweet home for the rabbits and all the little bunnies to come...a reused, recycled, repurposed chicken coop and run.  I love that.  And an added bonus, Sem, the watch dog.

Anna from this day forward will be known as my Cedarmore Blogger Assistant.  She suggested that we go out in the yard and take some pictures of all of her growing things.  These are her knockout roses.

She suggested a close up.  And after every shot she has to okay the pics.

Her sad sunflowers.

The birds are enjoying them.  So next year I am going to plant a row of sunflowers over by the chicken coop.  She got me hooked.

Slowing Down?

Has anyone noticed that the days are getting shorter?  The weather is getting cooler?  And the leaves are starting to turn.  All of this means that some of the work on the farm is beginning to slow down.  Andy says that this is his favorite time of year.  Work might be slowing down from the spring and summer shares, but there is still work to do, plenty of it.  The sweet potatoes are needing to be dug up.  Andy and his crew do all the digging by hand.  Talk about a job!  And then there is planting of the garlic for next year.  Hopefully these two projects will be accomplished in the next two or three weeks.

Along with shorter days and cooler nights, comes a change in the plants that are to be harvested.  Which means a whole new menu.  More green and less tomatoes and sweet corn.  Oh how I am going to miss that sweet corn!

Even with things beginning to slow down, our boxes are full to over flowing.

Running out to the farm on Saturday to deliver a buck mini Rex so Anna can begin raising rabbits.  Can't wait to see how much Fluffy has grown.

Recipe Of The Week: Chewy Tortillas

Chewy Tortillas

8 cups of soft wheat flour
2Tablespoons of salt
3 cups of milk or water warmed
2 Tablespoons of baking powder
3 Tablespoons of olive oil

In a mixer with the dough hook, mix together flour, baking powder, and salt.  Add olive oil and mix.  Slowly add the milk.  Knead for two minutes after the dough forms a ball and begins to cling to the sides.  Cover and allow to rest for at least 20 minutes.  Divide into 40 equal balls. (It works well to freeze the dough at this point for future use). Allow to rest for at least 10 minutes before pressing to rolling.  Cook on a griddle over high heat until bubbles begin to form.  Flip and cook a little longer until bottom has some light brown spots. Store leftovers in the freezer for best exults.  Good results can be made without a mixer.

Makes 40 tortillas.

Lizzie suggests adding onions, radishes, peppers, tomatoes or just about anything you want.  And I love this part...'of course you may prefer to buy your tortillas rather than making them.  This is fine, but making your own can be fun and adventurous and we encourage you to give it a try once in awhile.'

Those Are Some Really Big Radishes

This is the first week of the fall share.  And once again the boxes are packed really full. Must be all the good weather we have been having.  And had been surprised with the moisture that he has found in the ground while digging sweet potatoes,  He thinks the cooler weather and the shorter days keeps in moisture in the ground longer.

The fall crops are still looking good.  There should be a good sweet potato harvest this year.  The regular potatoes are looking just a s good.  Andy says that tomatoes are starting to slow down but we are still getting lots.  He seems to think they are slowing down a few  weeks sooner than he thought they would.  There is a large patch of green beans that they are starting to hardest from.  He is hoping they will last until the frost.

In this weeks box you will find a large leafy green leaf with red stems.  That would be Swiss chard, my all time favorite vegetable in the entire world.  The long red vegetable with green leaves that looks like a radish on steroids, is actually a "Shunkyo" radish.  It is a little more spicy than most radishes.  More mild radishes will be coming later in the fall. 

If you have a moment, please take the time to email Rue and he can let Andy how you are liking your boxes.  If you have any questions or suggestions.  Any feedback is helpful.  If you would like to send along a recipe to share, please email me.  Both email are listed on the right side of the blog.

Recipe Of The Week: Chard Salad

Chard Salad

1 pound of coarsely chopped chard
1/2 cup of thinly sliced celery
1/2 cup of thinly sliced radishes
1/4 cup of sliced onions
1/4 cup of olive oil
1/4 cup of lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon of dry mustard
1/4 teaspoon of celery seed
salt and pepper to taste

Steam chard for 3 to 5 minutes. Drain.  Rinse under cold water to cool.  Drain well.  To combine, toss chard with celery, radishes, and onions.  Put remaining ingredients in a jar with a tight lid.  Shake well.  Pour over salad.  Toss to coat.  Season to taste and serve.

Short But Sweet

Not too much in way of news from the farm today.  Andy wants to let the people who joined the summer shares that he hates to see them go because this will be their last box.  But if you have an All Season Share for the CSA you have 10 more weeks.

There was a good rain last night so that should really help the fall crops take off.  As far as Andy can tell there should be a good crop for the fall season.

Lots of good vegetables this week...again the box is jammed.  And for those of you that are new like I was, the big yellow thing is spaghetti squash.  It can be cooked just like any other winter squash.  I had to look it up.

I got a letter from Lizzie in my box today.  She has been really busy canning.  Tomatoes are coming out her ears.  And she is thankful that there will be no more to can because the rest will go to the pigs.  Today she was in the process of canning 2 bushels of concord grapes and two bushels of apples.

They got some bad news yesterday.  Andy's dad was injured in a car-buggy accident.  He has a broken back and some broken ribs.

Fluffy is doing well but continues to escape from her pen.  We are trying to figure out how to make it safe for her.  She gets out and runs loose in the yard.  The kids are worried that the dog or cat might catch her...and that would be a really bad thing.  Pray for Fluffy.

Recipe Of The Week: Spaghetti Squash Salad

Spaghetti Squash Salad

 

3 cups of cooked spaghetti squash

2 cups of cauliflower, cut into bite size pieces, parboiled

1 cup of celery, sliced thin

1 medium onion diced

1 green or red pepper, diced

1 teaspoon of dill weed (optional)

1 cup of sugar

1/2 cup of vegetable oil

1 cup of vinegar

1 teaspoon of paprika

 

Combine squash, cauliflower, celery, onion, peppers, and dill weed.  Shake rest of the ingredients well in a jar with the lid on tight.  Pour over vegetables.  Chill before serving.



Almost Overflowing

The weather on the far is nice but a little more of the light showers that they have been getting would be nice.  Produce is still looking nice.  It looks like the sweet potatoes should be ready to harvest in a week or two.  So dig out that sweet potato pie recipe.

There are still plenty of tomatoes on the vine.  So many that Andy is offer tomatoes by the pound.  Canning tomatoes are those tomatoes that just don't make the grade for our CSA boxes.  They might be smaller with a few nicks and bumps on them.  But the are great for canning.  If you would like to order some they are 50 cents a pound.  Hurry and place your order by emailing cedarmorefarm@gmail.com ASAP because frost is just around the corner and once it comes that will be the end of the tomatoes.  You will be billed at the end of the month.

Just a friendly reminder...please return your empty CSA box each week.  And any containers (green baskets and jars with rings) from previous weeks.  This helps keeps the cost of the CSA down and recycling/reusing is a good thing.

The boxes are so full this week that they are hard to close!

More on the Growing Methods...Andy though it was important that he list the products that are used on the pants to defer insects and disease...Neem oil, Garlic spray (this is made from his own garlics grown in the field) Mycotrol O, Montery Insect spray, Pyganic, Dipel, Surround and Champ (a copper spray).  These products are all approved by the NOP (National Organic Program).  Andy likes to think of them as band aids.  They use them to help the infested plants get back on their feet.  The primary focus at Cedarmore is to rebuild the soil.  Mycotrol O, Montery Insect spray and Dipel are beneficial bacterias that will infest insects and their eggs.  They have been found to be very affective in controlling certain species of insects.  Surround and garlic spray work more by deterring insects away from the crops.  Surround forms a white coating on the pants that insects don't like.  Garlic has a bad smell that insects don't even like.  Champ or copper sprays help prevent disease.  Pyganic is used primarily to control those tough cucumber beetles.  No other spray seems to work on those pesky beetles.  The down side to Pyganic is that it will also kill the beneficial insects.  For that reason Andy only uses it when he has to.  It is supposed to be non-toxic to humans and animals.