 Midsummer Farm CSA Weekly Newsletter: Share Pick Up #13 Hi - I hope you have gotten through the hurricane in good shape and that your life is getting back to normal now.
Hurricanes are tough on field crops and we're hoping all the vegetable plants recover and start producing in earnest again before the weather gets too cold! As it is, the nights have been very cool - a bit too cool for basil to grow and tomatoes to ripen. These cool nights have been appreciated by us and the greens, but the poor tomatoes and peppers and the other warmth-loving vegetables are not appreciating it (especially after getting all battered around by the wind)!
On a good note, the wind seemed rather high during the hurricane - so the damage wasn't as bad as we thought it would be. We also harvested a bunch of tomatoes earlier than we normally do, to ripen indoors, saving them from getting smashed up by the wind and also taking the weight off the plants. What we're worried about now is root damage from the plants getting tossed back and forth in the wind, so we did an extra dose of an organically certified Seaweed and Fish fertilizer to get as much nutrients as possible right there for the damaged roots to access. Hopefully it will work and we'll see fruit set again soon.
We're seeing a lot of people worrying about flood contamination on their vegetables. And indeed we do have poultry as well as manure piles being composted on the farm. However, we planned the farm set up to have all animals and compost piles downhill of all the growing areas. The growing areas are also uphill from any neighbors' yards as well as having the standard barrier growth. So we are happy to assure you that there is no worry about contamination at all.
So despite the hurricane, the CSA baskets this week should be plentiful - we're also digging potatoes again as well as yams soon, probably for next week's baskets depending on how fast the soil dries out ... Next year, I think we're going to plan a "Potato-Digging CSA Party" - it is just so much fun digging up the mounds and finding potatoes under there!
This week, we'll also have greenhouse figs, I believe, in the baskets! There's something fabulous about plum tomatoes and figs together. I made a great simple salad with figs cut into quarters, chopped tomatoes, a sprinkle of black pepper, sea salt, and a dash of champagne vinegar. It was sublime.
We are also harvesting leeks this week. Leeks are easily frozen raw, so freeze what you don't use for the winter! I usually cut the tough dark green tops off, then I cut them in half length wise, and rinse the soil out of the layers before popping them in the freezer.
Peppers are also very easy to freeze - and should be frozen raw as well. I usually cut them in half and take out the seeds, rinse them off, and then bag them up for the freezer. I also put a bunch of hot peppers into the food processor and chop them up fine, into a paste. I spread the hot pepper paste on a plate into a very slim layer and I place the plate in the freezer until it is solid. Then I take the disk of hot pepper off the plate and bag it up. This way, when you need a dash of hot pepper, you can just go and break what size chunk you need off the disk. I usually make a couple different disks - some with very hot peppers and some with milder ones or you can mix sweet pepper into the disk as well for a mild but flavorful start to a sofrito or really any saute.
If you have any issues getting over to us to pick up your basket this week, please let me know - we'll do what we can to schedule a pick up that will work.
Also, please remember to bring back your baskets - we are very low this week - so we may be using boxes instead of baskets.
Thanks again and best always,
Barbara & Mark
Midsummer Farm
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