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Field Notes
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Last week I celebrated by birthday. Usually on the farm, blueberries are ready around my oldest brother's birthday, Macintosh apples blossom right around Mothers Day, and Macintosh are ready to eat by my birthday. If we make it through Columbus Day without a first frost we are doing pretty good.
Due to the early and mild spring this year most of the crops are ahead of schedule by one or two weeks. So- the Macs have been coming in already. The Cortlands are now ready. The Bosc pears that are not usually ready until the third week of September are already nice and sweet. Most of the perennial fruit crops began early and are ending early. We started with peaches in July instead of August but while we usually enjoy the peaches through most of September, their sweet juices are now a memory. But, It was nice that we were able to start the fruit share a whole two weeks earlier than normal. Some, but not all of the perennial fruit crops will end early. However, the fall raspberries which started two weeks earlier do not stop producing until the weather gets cold. So, the warm year will provide us with more raspberries than any year yet.
Farmer Dave
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In Your Vegetable Share - Week 15
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The following items will most likely make an appearance in your share this week (and as always, the contents of your share is ultimately determined by Mother Nature's harvest conditions): - Tomatoes
- Husk Tomatoes or Tomatillos
- Eggplant
- Corn
- Bell Peppers
- Kale or spinach or broccoli raab
- Hakurei turnips or Radishes
- Broccoli
- Herbs
- And more, depending on harvest conditions!
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In Your Fruit Share:
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In the fruit shares this week: - Raspberries (weather depending!)
- Pears
- Apples
- And possibly more, depending on harvest conditions!
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CSA FAQ:
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Q: When is the last CSA pickup for this year? When do the late fall shares begin?
A: There are only six short weeks left of the vegetable and fruit shares for this year! The week of October 22nd through October 26th will be the final pick up of the regular season.
If that is too soon for you to stop enjoying your fresh, healthy vegetables and you would like to extend your CSA season an additional 7 weeks, the Late Fall share begins immediately after the vegetable and fruit shares end. The Late Fall share begins the week of October 29th and runs all the way until the week of December 10th.
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Storage Notes
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Some tips for storing your share this week:- Greens do best when in the fridge and kept cold. If you find your greens are not lasting as long as you would like, try turning your refrigerator a degree or two colder - it makes a big difference!
- For root vegetables, such as beets, radishes and turnips, cut the greens off and store them separately from the roots. The roots will keep much longer, and you can cook the greens separately (just like you would spinach or Swiss chard!)
- Tomatoes will keep their flavor best at room temperature - store them on your countertop! Refrigerators rob tomatoes of their flavor. The flavor does not usually return when they are brought back to room temperature.
- If you run out of space in your crisper drawers, try using some large tupperware-like containers. You'll find your veggies last a long time in those!
- Are fruit flies a problem? Fill the bottom of a glass with apple cider vinegar or a little bit of red wine. Carefully prick a small hole in the center of a coffee filter that is just big enough for the fruit fly to crawl through. Place the coffee filter over the top of the glass and poke it down so that the small hole is just over the liquid in the glass. Put a rubber band around the top of the glass to hold the filter in place and you've made yourself a nice little fruit fly trap!
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Recipe of the Week!
All things Orange!
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The recently harvested pumpkins have been getting stacked immediately outside my office window giving me a nice preview of the coming fall leaves and inspiring lots of fall colored recipes. Let's get our beta carotene infusion this week!
Carrot & Caraway Soup with herbed croutons
Adapted by Farmer Dave's from Epicurious.com
Ingredients :
- 1 Tablespoon butter
 - 1 onion, chopped
- 12 ounces carrots, peeled and sliced
- 1 teaspoon caraway seeds, crushed in mortar with pestle
- 2 cups chicken or vegetable broth
- chopped fresh parsley (optional)
- Day old sourdough bread cut into 1 inch cubes
- Olive oil
- Chopped herbs such as sage, thyme or rosemary
Directions:- Melt butter in heavy medium saucepan over medium heat. Add onion and sauté 1 minute. Add carrots and sauté until onion is tender, about 8 minutes. Add caraway and cook 30 seconds. Add broth. Cover and simmer until carrots are tender, about 35 minutes.
- Transfer soup to processor; puree. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Do ahead Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover and refrigerate.
- Preheat oven to 325. In a large bowl, toss the cubed bread with olive oil and herbs until coated. Spread in a single layer on a cookie sheet and toast until croutons are golden and crisp.
- Return soup to saucepan and bring to simmer, thinning with more broth if too thick. Ladle into bowls. Garnish with croutons, parsley and serve.
Pasta with Butternut Squash and Sage
Ingredients:- 1 medium butternut squash
- 1 small sweet onion, peeled and diced
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- Olive oil
- Salt and pepper
- 1/2 cup fresh sage leaves
- 1 pound farfalle pasta
- 3/4 cup pine nuts, toasted
- 4 ounces high quality Parmesan, shredded or shaved (about a cup total)
- Heat the oven to 375°. Cut the butternut squash in half and scoop out the strings and seeds the middle cavity. Flip the squash halves upside down and peel them. Cut the squash into 1-inch cubes. Toss with the onion, garlic, a drizzle of olive oil and salt and pepper. Mince about half of the fresh sage leaves and also toss with the squash.
- Spread the squash mixture in a thin layer on a large baking sheet and roast for about 40 minutes or until the squash is soft.
- Heat salted pasta water to boiling and cook the farfalle until al dente. Drain and set aside. As the squash finishes roasting, heat about two tablespoons of olive oil in a large high-sided sauté pan. The oil is ready when it pops and sputters. (Don't let it start smoking.) Drop in the rest of the sage leaves and fry for about a minute, or until they begin to just shrivel up.
- Remove with a slotted spoon and salt lightly. Crush with the back of a spoon.
- Add the pasta to the pan, along with the roasted squash mixture. Crumble in the sage. Cook, stirring frequently, for five minutes or until the pasta is heated through and getting crispy on some of the edges. Add the pine nuts and cook for another minute. Stir in the cheese and serve.
More "Orange" recipes:
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| Vegetable Spotlight: Aji Dulce Peppers |
What's easily confused with a habanero, tastes sweet and smokey and a staple of Latin American cuisine? The Aji Dulce pepper!
 | Aji Dulce on the left || Habanero on the right
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These tiny colorful peppers have all of the flavor of a habanero with absolutely none of the heat. Also known as ajicito or cachucha in the Caribbean these little peppers are the foundation of sofrito- that special seasoning that gives Puerto Rican cuisine it's distinctive flavor. Unbelievably easy to make, quickly whip up a batch of this sofrito and freeze in ice cube trays to season chicken, pork, rice and beans all winter long!
The Rojas Family Sofrito
From the abuela to the gringa friend to you!
Ingredients: - 2 bell peppers or 3 cubanelle peppers, cored and seeded
- 10 aji dulce peppers, cored and seeded
- 4 plum tomatoes or 2 medium tomatoes
- 2 medium onions, peeled and chopped
- 1 head of garlic, peeled
- 1 bunch of cilantro
Directions:
Chop and blend together in a food processor until reaches a salsa-like consistency. Not sure what to do with your sofrito? Here are some classic Puerto Rican dishes that everyone will love .
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Upcoming Events:
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Fuse Bistro's 4 course Farm to Table Beer Dinner
September 23rd at 5:00pm
Reservations required! Mingle with the owners of Backlash Brewery, Slumbrew Brewery and Farmer Dave! Call 978-323-0424 to book your seat now!
Visit Fuse Bistro.com to see the menu and more information.
Farmer Dave's note: For the past three years, Scott, one of the owners of Fuse Bistro has been making a weekly stop at the farm to pick up what he knows to be the foundation of his great flavored dishes.
We're in the final countdown! Only 3 weeks left until our annual Farmer Dave's CSA potluck.
Join us on Sunday, October 14th from 1:00 - 6:30pm for our 2012 CSA Member Appreciation Potluck.
You won't want to miss the opportunity to eat, play games, go on a hayride, enjoy some great music, and socialize with your fellow CSA members and farmers!
The potluck is free for CSA members and their families. The only requirement is that you bring a dish to share that is large enough to feed 8-10 people.
We're also looking for a few volunteers to help out with the following items:
- Cooking extra food, with extra produce we'll supply
- Face painting!
- Photographing the event.
- Clean up crew!
Email Ginger at farm@farmerdaves.net if you'd like to help out with any of these items or if there's some other talent that you have that would enhance the day! |
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 Groundwork Share-A-Share™ Update
|  Thanks to generous donations by you (CSA members) to the Groundwork Share-A-Share™ fund, we were able to subsidize the cost of shares in 2012 for over thirty individuals and families, as well as shares for local food pantries.
We'd love to be able to subsidize late fall shares as well. Please consider helping us in our efforts to make the CSA accessible to more families by donating to Groundwork Share-A-Share.
To learn more about the program, click here. Thank you all for helping us keep this program going in 2012! |
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Contact us:
Farmer Dave's
437 Parker Road
Dracut, MA 01826
(978) 349-1952
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