This week you’ll find in your share:
• Tomatoes
• Cherry Tomatoes
• Garlic
• Onions
• Sweet Peppers
• Head Lettuce
• Swiss Chard
• Boc Choi Mix
• Basil

Next week you might find in your share:

• Cherry Tomatoes
• Chard or Collard
• Onions
• Potatoes
• Peppers
• Garlic
• Herb or Cut Flower

From Your Farmers…
We had a great dinner last Tuesday featuring peppers stuffed with veggies and chicken sausage, a tomato and basil salad, and red velvet brownies featuring natural food from…our very own beets! Delicious. If you didn’t make it, be sure to join us next time. Mark your calendar for August 22.

The taste of summer is here, and your shares are full of it. Seemingly out of season, we have fresh, sweet lettuce to offer. We’d been craving cold things in the heat of the day, and with the cucumbers out to lunch, we’re glad we can offer these refreshing leaves.

To those of you who have returned your surveys, thank you. If you don’t recall finding one in your share, PLEASE let us know, and we’ll get one to you.

We will REUSE the cherry tomato boxes. Please return them with your share bags.

Food For Thought…

Yesterday Randy, Whitney, and I toured Three Rivers Community Farm in Elsah, Illinois for a refresher on production farming, and learned a great deal. Three Rivers has endured many of the same challenges we have here at SOHF, including serious weeds, bacterial and blight issues, and mosaic in the squash, but is thriving nonetheless.

We learned many lessons that will help our operation along, and will help us to fulfill our mission of increasing access. For me, it was a lesson in people, and the fortune I’ve encountered by being a farmer.

Three Rivers’ head farmer, Amy Cloud, was very welcoming, treated us to lunch in her home, and shared any and all we asked about her farm, her methods, and her overall view about farming for a livelihood. Meeting folks like her, basically small scale farmers, again and again is quite inspiring, as they freely help each other along, rather than hold onto their secrets for a leg up in the business world.

Recipes of the Week: Summer Made Easy
First suggestion: take one of your big red, juicy tomatoes, slice, salt, enjoy.
Or, slice a tomato, top with a couple basil leaves and cheese, broil until cheese is melted.
And another:

Fry up two slices of bacon per person.
Pour some bleu cheese into a dish, add a bit of water to slightly thin. Stir water and bleu cheese.

Make a bed of lettuce and the boc choi mix, add some sweet peppers, sliced tomatoes (or sungold cherry tomatoes) and when the bacon’s done, crumble and sprinkle over salad. Maybe add thinly sliced onion. Drizzle the bleu cheese, add salt and pepper to taste. Yum.

Upcoming Events:
Saturday, August 10 Whitney will be hosting our second Open House. Come have a tour of the farm, help your food along, and have some delicious farm fresh goods before you go. The Open House is very casual, just come when you can, leave when you need to- know previous experience is necessary. This month’s theme: reclaim. RSVP to me at 566.8643 or Whitney at WSewell@caastlc.org.

This week you’ll find in your share:

• Potatoes
• Garlic
• Cucumber
• Swiss Chard
• Carrots
• Collards
• Boc Choi Mix
• Beets
• Green Tomatoes*

Next week you might find in your share:

• Cherry Tomatoes
• Chard
• Beets?
• Onions
• Potatoes
• Peppers
• Garlic
• Herb

From Your Farmers…

All Members: Second installment payments for sponsor members are due TODAY, Friday, July 19.

Big thanks to everyone who joined us last Saturday for the tour and volunteer day. We really had a great time, great farm food prepared by Whitney, and got some vital field work done. We got our okra in great shape through weeding and mulching, and harvested oads of potatoes out of the ground. The next open house will be Saturday, August 10. The atmosphere is very casual and informal. No experience is needed, and if you can’t arrive at 9 that’s fine, just come when you can.

Tomatoes are so close!! Some are here, just not enough to go around, but that should change for next week. Monday night’s rain split a good number of our cherry tomatoes we’d planned for this week’s share. If the rains hold off next week, they’ll be coming your way.

Baby boc choi and yukina savoy (type of tatsoi) are in your share this week. How? We grew these tender greens under shade cloth to give you some nice salad greens to enjoy despite the summer heat. Just tear them into a large bowl, add some shredded beets and carrots, a vinaigrette, and you’ve got a nice midday meal.

Food For Thought… Few guarantees
Two weeks ago I noticed some of the leaves of our squash plants mottling, turning purple and yellow. Turned out to be a mosaic virus, that starts in a seed and is spread by pests that go from plant to plant, taking a bite of each.

The squash that was just really starting to produce had to be pulled from the field. As a buffer, we had to full beds of zucchini ready to go, and it too was starting to produce, and the plants looked beautiful under the cover last week. This Wednesday I lifted that row cover to find more plants infected by the mosaic, and quickly learned that we won’t likely see a yield from this planting. Our next round of squash and zucchini just went into the ground, and won’t produce for about 5 weeks.

Upcoming Events:
Join us Saturday, July 20 for Family Fun at the Farm, from 9 AM to 2 PM. We will have activity stations featuring vegetable face painting, making bird feeders, learning about bees, how they make honey and contribute to the farm, and harvesting cherry tomatoes, attendees will receive a potted herb to take home. And more!

CSA farm dinner next Tuesday the 23rd will be led by Melissa Mobley of OFS. Join us for some delicious farm food and a hands on cooking class.

Recipes of the Week: *My tomatoes are green..you might be thinking. Yes they are…for now.
We’ve been long awaiting our red ripe tomatoes, and some are here…just not enough to give to everyone. But while trellising our tomatoes we found lots of green ones just touching the ground that would end up being food for the squirrels, or likely rotting on the ground. So, we picked some to get you an extra share goody, and help the plants put their energy into the other fruits hanging on the vine. Below are two recipes Randy put together for us last year.
Everyone loves fried green tomatoes. Here’s a favorite Southern preparation:
Slice the green toms into 1/4 inch slices. Season with salt and pepper. Coat in plain coarse cornmeal (or breadcrumbs). Shallow fry in bacon fat (or vegetable oil) for a few minutes on each side until golden brown.

The book Joy of Pickling has a quick pickle recipe I’ve adapted:

Ingredients
1 and 1/4 pounds green tomatoes, sliced 3/16 inch thick (about 1 quart tomato slices)
3/4 pound white or yellow onions
3/4 teaspoon mustard seeds
1 tablespoon pickling salt
1/4 cup sugar
1 cup cider vinegar

Directions
1. In a large bowl or crock, combine the tomatoes, onions, and mustard seeds. Add the salt, and mix gently. Let the mixture stand for 8 to 12 hours.
2. Combine the sugar and vinegar, and stir until the sugar has dissolved. Salt will have drawn the moisture from the vegetables so drain the vegetables well and pack them into a 1 quart jar. Pour the sugar-vinegar solution over them. Cap the jar tightly. Let the pickles stand for 24 hours or more before serving it.
3. Keep in the refrigerator.

And here is a recipe from moderncomfortfood.com

2 pounds firm, green tomatoes, cored and quartered
1 medium-sized yellow onion, peeled and coarsely chopped
1 fresh green Anaheim (or other large, mildly-flavored) chili pepper, stem and seeds removed, quartered
3-4 green jalapeño chilies (for a medium-hot salsa) or serrano chilies (for a hotter salsa), stems removed, quartered
3 garlic cloves, peeled and coarsely chopped
1 teaspoon sea salt
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
1 tablespoon olive oil
3 tablespoons water
1/2 teaspoon fresh lemon zest
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon honey or sugar
1/3 cup loosely packed cilantro leaves (coriander greens, dhania, etc.), coarsely chopped

Combine the green tomatoes, onion, chili peppers, garlic, salt, cumin, olive oil, and water in a stock pot. Bring to a boil and cook covered on a medium-low heat burner for approximately ten minutes, stirring occasionally. Add more water only if needed to maintain the most minimal broth.

Stir in and simmer for an additional five minutes the lemon zest, lemon juice, honey (or sugar), and cilantro. Taste the mixture and adjust the seasoning, if needed, by adding more lemon juice, honey, and/or salt, to taste.

Spoon the mixture (in batches if necessary) into the container of a food processor or blender and pulse until the salsa reaches the consistency you prefer, either chunky or a smooth puree. Makes approximately one quart of salsa, which should be stored in the refrigerator or freezer. This recipe may be doubled or tripled.

This week you’ll find in your share:

•Potatoes*
•Onions*
•Garlic*
•Cabbage or Squash
•Cucumber
•Swiss Chard
•Carrots
•Kale or Mustard Greens
•Beets
•***Green Beans
•Basil

Next week you might find in your share:

• Cucumbers?
• Cherry Tomatoes
• Chard
• Beets?
• Onions
• Potatoes
• Peppers
• Garlic
• Herb

From Your Farmers…

Week A Members: Included in your share this week is a nutritional survey. This information helps us learn how to better serve you, to gauge the impact of our program, and to continue growing food in our neighborhood . Please return the survey in your bag with your next pick-up.
All Members: Second installment payments for sponsor members are due by next Friday, July 19.
Potatoes, garlic, and onions are all fresh from the ground and therefore uncured.

*Potatoes will still have some dirt on them…that’s because the varieties we’ve chosen have thin skins, and if we wash them for you, they won’t last. If you find that a little green on a potato slipped by us, please cut it off, as it contains solanine, and can cause a bit of a tummy ache. Store your potatoes out of the light to keep the green from developing.
*Onions are uncured, and are just developing skins. I’d suggest refrigeration, and using them quickly.
*Yes the garlic is a little dirty. At this stage we don’t peel because it will easily bruise. The garlic will be fine left on the counter and handled gently. Refrigerating the garlic can cause it to sprout. Keep in mind that the smallest bulbs are the most potent.

Food For Thought… We know that love creates and attracts love, hate with hate, disease with disease, and life creates and attracts life.
A couple of weeks ago I wrote about finding an occasional hole or even a little critter in produce. That this never happens in food at the supermarket and should give us warning. Perhaps these supermarket foods are nearly sterile. In our American ways, we think of sterile as being clean and safe. On the other hand, sterile means no life. This effect begins taking place long before the supermarket shelf- such as bare-soiled fields.
Finding a few holes in your food or even a little critter from your farm share that snuck by doesn’t imply a lack of care, rather, its assurance that we are creating and attracting life. More simply put, food from this farm is safe to eat and full of life.

Upcoming Events: Starting July 13 from 9am -Noon, we will be hosting a monthly open house at the farm the second Saturday of each month. Each event will feature a tour, farm fresh food, and the opportunity to take part in the growing of your food. The amount of satisfaction received from jumping in is quite surprising, in a really good way. We are inviting you, our members, neighbors, and anyone who is interested in getting to know our farm, how it works, how to grow their own food, or who just wants to lend a hand or spend a morning under the golden sun in a beautiful setting.

Join us Saturday, July 20 for Family Fun at the Farm, from 9 AM to 2 PM. We will have activity stations featuring vegetable face painting, making bird feeders, learning about bees, how they make honey and contribute to the farm, and harvesting cherry tomatoes, attendees will receive a potted herb to take home. And more!

Recipes of the Week: Balsamic-Glazed Beets and Basil Pesto -from epicurious.com
This first recipe can help ‘beet’ the heat- because it’s delicious hot or cold.

Ingredients
-1 lb beets (the amount in your share)
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
2 tsp pure maple syrup or honey
1 tsp olive oil
½ tsp minced fresh thyme leaves

In a large saucepan cover beets with salted water by 1 inch. Simmer beets, covered, 35 to 45 minutes, or until tender, and drain in a colander. Cool beets until they can be handled and slip off skins and stems. Cut beets lengthwise into wedges. Beets may be prepared up to this point 2 days ahead and chilled, covered. Bring beets to room temperature before proceeding.

In a large skillet stir together vinegar, syrup or honey, and oil and add beets. Cook beet mixture with salt and pepper to taste over moderate heat, stirring, until heated through and coated well. Sprinkle about half of thyme over beets and toss gently.

Serve beets sprinkled with remaining thyme.

Basil Pesto: Pestos are basically pestos- the types of nuts can be mixed and matched- like walnuts, almonds, and pine nuts are all interchangeable. So are the leaves- basil, radish leaves, and my favorite, surprisingly to me, is spinach. You can mix them as well- like using some chard greens in place of some of the basil to tame its power. Notice that the recipe below IS our radish leaf pesto adapted to basil. If making larger batches, not that about three packed cups of leaves makes about one packed cup of pesto.

2 large handfuls of good-looking radish basil leaves, stems removed
1 ounce hard cheese, such as pecorino or parmesan, grated or shaved using a vegetable peeler
1 ounce nuts, such as pistachios, almonds, or pinenuts
1 clove garlic, chopped
A short ribbon of lemon zest or a tiny splash of lemon juice
2 tablespoons olive oil, use more to get the consistency you like
To taste: salt, pepper, ground chili pepper

Put all the ingredients in a food processor or blender or mini-chopper, and process in short pulses until smooth. You can also get old school and use a knife or mortar and pestle (great for the arms) if preferred. Scrape down the sides of the bowl once or twice to make sure all bits are in the mix. This produces a thick pesto; add more oil and pulse again to get the consistency you prefer.

Taste, adjust the seasoning, and pack into an airtight container like a recycled glass jar. Adding a thin layer of oil on the surface will help it to last longer. Store in the refrigerator and use within a few days or in the freezer for a wintertime treat.