CSA Newsletter

CSA Newsletter and Recipes (year)6-(week)20

September 6th 2011

Note about fall shares:

Most of you are full season shareholders, but some of you signed up for just the spring and summer shares. I sent a reminder to your email address if you are a spring/summer share 2 weeks ago and will send another later this week, but if you have any doubts, please email me (info@serenbefarms.com).

Spring/Summer weekly (full) shares' last pick up date is this week.

Spring/Summer bi-weekly (half) shares' last pick up will be this week for Atlanta members.

Please inquire about renewal for fall if you're interested in continuing for the next season.

Farm Update from Ryan

storm

Hello Again,

Well things are slowing down a bit now that tomato season is winding down and a good bit of the fall planting is done. As the majority of the longer summer days were spent picking and sorting tomatoes we can now begin to look forward to mornings filled with harvesting greens and root vegetables again. Things around the farm are going well and I am sure the plants are enjoying the much needed rain we received. In preparation for the big storm system that moved through the state Sunday and Monday we ended up spending a bit of time this weekend and over the holiday harvesting and preparing for CSA. This way we could minimize the spread of diseases on our peppers and eggplants and not have to spend so much time getting wet while harvesting other crops. This week we also planted out another round of green onions and our second succession of fall lettuce as the first succession is sizing up nicely and should be ready for harvest within a month. Mmm...farm fresh salads. All of the greens have been growing rapidly and you all will be receiving the first harvest of some of the them in your shares this week. You can look forward to a fall filled with kale, chard, collards, brocolli, and cauliflower. You will begin to see some more summer vegetables in the coming weeks as our second succession of cucumbers and squash are looking healthy and starting to produce small amounts. We will see if this round of cucumbers will be as productive as the first. Could be a great time to make some pickles to enjoy over the winter months. We began seeding next years onions and hope that these guys will live a long and healthy life until they are harvested next April or May. Other than that it is business as usual with a nice break from irrigation duties the next few days. I hope you all enjoyed the holiday and the slower more relaxing pace that rainy days tend to bring.

Ryan

Edible Gardening Ideas from Paige

Many aspiring gardeners show interest on our farm tours or when we're selling transplants in the springtime. The most common excuses for folks not growing their own is that they may not have enough time or they may not have enough space.

Time is an understandable issue -- but consider landscaping with some of these plants in place of other inedible annuals.

But, the space constraint is one easily overcome. If you have space for pots or landscape plants, you likely have enough room for a few of my favorite pretty and edible plants.

Here is a list of a couple of options of vegetable plants well suited for edible landscaping. Most of these are best because they are quite beautiful, very hardy, and keep lush foliage throughout their growing season. Many of them create beautiful blooms that others may confuse with non-edible specimens.

Things that can be planted now:

Kale-this one is easy to start from seed and transplants are widely available. Plant spacing is about 1' apart from one another for large leaves and can be grown closer for baby kale. Red Russian and Winterbor are two nice varieties. Red Russian is colorful and has broad leaves while Winterbor grows more upright and has dense, crinkly leaves. Kale needs more nutritious soil to produce nice plants, but it will tolerate some shade. Annual.

Swiss Chard-easy to start from seed and plants are widely available. For a good, colorful Swiss Chard, I'd recommend Bright Lights or Rainbow Mix. The seeds result in a mix of colored plants, red, orange, yellow, white, etc. Swiss chard can tolerate some shade but also likes ample nitrogen to grow nice leaves. Spacing is similar to the Kale. Annual.

Chives-these take a long time from seed, so I'd recommend buying the plants. Chives make a great border for gardens, helping to deter pests. They form clumps and can be grown as a perennial. They have lovely blooms that taste great in tempura. The full flowers are beautiful as well.

Creeping Thyme-can be planted from a plant. This plant grows great between stones or pathways creating a low blanket effect (that tastes great!). Can tolerate some shade. Perennial.

Things to plant this winter or spring:

Sunchokes (Jerusalem Artichokes) -place the seed piece (about the size of a very small egg) about 2" deep into the soil. These plants don't need much in the way of soil quality, but they do need a sunny location. They get to be up to 10' in good soil and produce beautiful yellow flowers all over the plant. In the fall, the roots grow and you can dig sunchokes to eat all winter long. They do become slightly invasive if you leave any roots behind (but they're easy to weed). Spacing, about 2'. Annual, but self seeding.

Figs, other fruit or nut trees-Make sure you plant these where you'll want them for a long time. They mostly do well in full sun. Ison's is a great nursery about 1.5 hours South. They have fantastic specimens. Don't forget to prune!

To plant after frost date (April 15th):

okra flower Okra-very easy to grow from seed. Either start indoors or directly seed into your garden. Different varieties of okra grow to different heights. Okra needs full sun and should be spaced about 1.5-2' per plant. Okra is in the hibiscus family and grows beautiful flowers. If you let the pods remain on the stalk, they make a gorgeous dried flower. Try Hill Country Heirloom Red or Red Burgundy for a neat red variety. Annual (seed is very easy to save).

hot pepper

Hot Peppers-plants are widely available. Takes a while to start from seed. Hot peppers definitely need full sun and depending on variety need 8-12" between plants. There are many hot peppers great for ornamental plantings. One of my favorites is the Chinese Five Color Pepper. The peppers go from green to purple to yellow to orange to red. Fish Hot is another neat pepper, it has variegated leaves. Annual.

Nasturtiums-a great edible flower and salad green (and a great way to impress your salad eating friends). Nasturtiums do not need much in the way of soil; too much nitrogen will get you a huge plant with no blooms. The trailing varieties can be trellised or put in hanging baskets. The bush varieties can be spaced about 6" from one another to form a nice carpet. Self seeding Annual (and easy to save seed).

Peanuts-peanuts are easy to grow from seed. Wait until the soil is warm (around the first of June) and pop some raw peanuts (or peanut seed) into the ground (without shell, skin ok). Plant seeds about ¾" deep and about a foot from one another. They've got a beautiful green color with yellow flowers and grow in a bush form. I think they're beautiful! In the fall, when they die down, dig up their roots to find a delicious treat. Annual (very easy to save seed).

Good Resources for Organic Gardening:

Websites

www.caes.uga.edu/extension - UGA Extension

www.attra.org - ATTRA (National Sustainable Ag Service)

http://tinyfarmblog.com/ - Small farmer blog

http://www.garden.org/home - National Gardening Association

Books:

The New Organic Grower-Eliot Coleman

Four Season Harvest-Eliot Coleman

Square Foot Gardening-Mel Bartholomew

How to Grow More Vegetables (on less land)-John Jeavons

Seed Starters Handbook-Nancy Bubel

Root Cellaring-Mike and Nancy Bubel

Growing Great Garlic-Ron Engeland

Seeds: Johnny's, High Mowing, Fedco, Southern Exposure Seed Exchange, and Seed Savers

Supplies: Johnny's, High Mowing, Peaceful Valley

Weekly Vegetable Insight -- Sweet Peppers

by Ryan

peppers

History:

Bell peppers were first cultivated over 9000 years ago in South and Central America. While the name "pepper" was given to this food by European colonizers of North America, who first discovered it in the 1500-1600's and then transported it back to Europe. The original name for this food in Spanish was pimiento.

Bell peppers can be grown in a variety of climates and have become popular in many types of cuisine. They can be found on farms in Europe, Africa, the Middle east, parts of Asia, and North, South, and Central America.

China has become by far the largest producers of bell peppers, producing 14 million metric tons in 2007. Mexico is the second largest commercial producer with about 2 million metric tons, followed by the United States with about 1 million metric tons. California and Florida are the two largest bell pepper-producing states while New Mexico produces the most chili peppers. The average adult in the U.S. consumes about 16 pounds of peppers a year, with almost 9.5 pounds of them being bell peppers.

Nutritional Benefit: Vitamins A, B6, C, K; anthocyanin antioxidants (red and purple varieties), lutein and zeaxanthin antioxidants (green and yellow varieties), fiber

Serving Suggestions: Add raw sweet peppers to vegetable platters or salads. Saute peppers with other vegetables. Stuff whole sweet bell peppers.

Storage and handling: Refrigerate 3-4 days in plastic bag. Green peppers keep longer than ripe ones.

Preparation: First wash. Then cut around the stem then pull on it to remove the core with the seeds attached. Cut the pepper in half and remove any remaining membrane.

Saute: sliced or chopped peppers in olive oil or butter for 3-10 minutes.

Fried: Tastes great battered and deep fried.

Roasted: Rub with olive oil. Roast for 10 minutes or until skin begins to brown on 350+

Recipe: Grilled Rainbow Pepper

Ingredients:

3 bell peppers
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1/2 cup crumbled goat cheese
1/2 cup loosely packed torn fresh herb (basil, dill, or cilantro)
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Preparation:

Preheat grill to 350° to 400° (medium-high) heat. Quarter bell peppers; lightly coat with oil. Grill peppers, covered with grill lid, 5 minutes on each side or until tender; arrange, cut sides up, on a serving platter. Whisk together olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and brown sugar; drizzle over peppers. Sprinkle with goat cheese, herbs, and salt and freshly ground pepper to taste.