CSA Newsletter

Greetings form the Garden! This week's box has lettuce, salad and braising greens, mustard, tatsoi, bok choy, celery, tomatoes, onions, winter squash, cucumbers, apples, and grapes.

Field Notes. As the trees turn color, and the mornings are cooler, I think of Ken harvesting roots and me root cellaring. Ken is juggling putting up the mobile high tunnel and harvesting. He reports that this is the first week the volume of tomatoes has dropped. And he has been picking apples and grapes. He assesses which to pick based on keeping ability. We grow several types of apples, and summer apples do not keep. Later season, firm textured apples like Haralsons are the best keepers. This has been one of our best years for fruit - remarkable really.

Sunday a friend came out and helped Ken start laying the track for the mobile high tunnel. Once that is set he will start constructing the arches and components that then will be lifted into place and secured together. Like farming, building is a process. And also like farming, the care taken on the base whether it is the soil or the track is time well spent. No one wants to grow vegetables in poor, weedy soil, and no one put a building on a tipsy foundation! Our photo this week is of the heavy equipment that leveled the new field and dug an irrigation pond.

From the kitchen. Ken has been bringing in squash that has cracked or lost its stem or may be unripe. On these cool mornings it feels good to light the oven. I wash the squash, cut a jack - o - lantern top, scoop the seeds, replace the top and bake. The next meal I place some butter in a skillet and reheat the squash in the butter. Then Ken made some squash soup with sauteed onions, celery, and peppers. He put the squash in the blender with soup stock and added to the sauteed vegetables.

I have been using the cutting lettuce 50/50 with other lettuces and using a creamy garlicky dressing. It is also nice cooked - braised or grilled. Mustard is good in salad, but I prefer it braised or added to soups. Tatsoi is one of the most versatile greens we grow. Its dark green leaves and white stems add nice color contrast to a salad, and it is a bright, beautiful addition to soups or stir fry. Bok choy is great in a stir fry with onions, and either carrots or tomatoes for color. Traditionally bok choy was used in chop suey. I prefer it cooked, but many people eat it raw as well.

I dry the celery leaves and use them in winter soups and stews. And ken has been adding celery to breakfast soups. Cream of celery soup is nice served cold or hot. Saute and onion and some celery with any herbs you like - we like thyme and savory. Run through a blender with stock. Return to pan, heat, add salt and pepper to taste, and add cream, milk, or yogurt just before serving.

This week's apples are a russeted variety with good firm texture and nice flavor. We have been eating them raw as snacks and we often quarter core, and stew with apple or combinations of apple and grape or apple and raspberry juice, a cinnamon stick and a couple allspice berries for breakfast.