CSA Newsletter

Greetings from the Garden! This week's box has salad and braising greens like mizuna, Tokyo bekana, pea shoots , chard, mustard, and tomatoes, pepper, leeks, winter squash, carrots, celery, grapes, and apples.

Field Notes. It has been a GREAT fruit year. From strawberries to raspberries, to melons to grapes to apples - all did well. And in spite of several weather extremes - so much heat in June and July, record rain in the second half of July, and a very dry September, many crops have done well, and we are glad to have filled boxes each week.

Work continues on the mobile high tunnel. We have a crew coming Friday for the arch raising, and more people helping with the bracing on Saturday. After that the last task is to pull the plastic over the structure.

And soon we will be digging and storing roots. We have tried coolers, but find that harvesting and quickly burying the roots in sand keeps them best. When I dig them out of sand through the winter they appear to be freshly dug and keep their flavor.

From the Kitchen. We have been eating the tomatoes with blemishes. Ken pops them in boiling water, removes skins chops and places in a pan, brings to a boil, places them in a colander over a bowl. We use the tomatoes in sauces for pasta or in Spanish rice. Ken places the juice in the bowl under the colander in a two quart jar and we drink the clear juice and use the bottom in soups.

Mizuna and arugula and endive make great zippy salads. Try making a dressing with a bit of cream and minced garlic with a blend of herbs, a bit of honey, lemon juice, olive oil. If I have cheese I add it, Chopped walnuts are nice, too.

Leeks are the smoothest, creamiest members of the onion family. To clean a leek, cut lengthwise and rinse out any soil that has washed up in between the leaves. Leeks are great in cream soups and stews. I also have been sauteing leeks and adding peppers and various Asian greens bok choy, mizuna, or chard. Once wilted I add balsamic vinegar or some interesting dressing.

A recent cooking show featured endive sauteed with onions in butter and added to a pasta dish. Looked beautiful with the green and colorful red sauce. I think it would be great with any robust green.