We got a new internet service provider and now our connection is five times faster than before. I no longer have an excuse for not getting the newsletter out on time. Plus you should be able to read it five times faster. Think of the time you’ll save!
We’re still planning on planting garlic on Saturday October 4th from 1:00 until done. Let me know if you can help! Most of the work involves standing around talking with fellow members while you break garlic bulbs into individual garlic cloves. Is there a better way to spend a Saturday afternoon? I think not!
Still taking back pint size clam shell containers.
We’ll start recruiting for next season possibly next week. Just have to find a time to update our online store.
What will we have this week?
We have pie pumpkins, carnival squash, shallots, garlic, peppers, radishes, potatoes, some tomatoes, some cherry tomatoes, some tomatillos, some kale, some arugula, some okra, some eggplants and some other things.
It is an EggShare, FruitShare and FlowerShare week. Depending on how well the flowers do, we may have to give out flowers on Tuesday only this week and Thursday only next week.
Farm News
This past Sunday night we had a lot of rain — unpredicted rain I must say. Sure there was a slight chance of rain but they did not predict the 2.5″ we got. Luckily the precipitation came in liquid form. I hear some of you weren’t so lucky.
Anyway, on Monday I did my usual walk about and noticed a few peculiar things. The first thing that stuck out is the flowers are blooming again! I don’t recall in the past this happening but then again I don’t recall the past for a lot of things that obviously happened. So we are planning on making bouquets again! You might even say Make Bouquets Beautiful Again!
Next up was the eggplant. Now we have seen this before where we get a big flush of eggplants during the summer and if the plants survive long enough we get another flush in late September/early October. We just need the weather to continue like it is and not get a cold snap to kill the plants. I don’t know what all of you think but I would guess there are both cheers and jeers on having more eggplant (though we haven’t — in my opinion — had all that much eggplant this season).
Next I was walking through the beans. We have been giving out beans from the third planting the last two weeks or so. This third planting is one we probably wouldn’t plant if we were not a CSA. One benefit of being a CSA is we can take risks that we may not otherwise take. In this case the risk is if we plant the beans and we get an early frost we wind up with no beans. This year the risk paid off. But that isn’t the surprising part. After I left the third planting of beans I walked past the second planting of beans and notice one variety is looking really nice and has many flowers on it! I don’t recall seeing this before. It seems like the plants usually die after we pick all the beans. Or maybe in past seasons I just got around to tilling them under earlier. Nonetheless, if we continue to get nice weather we might (and it is a big might) get more beans.
Another interesting thing is the cherry tomatoes keep going. With having such a wet season I thought they would be dead long ago. But they are also much taller than usual. So I think this year the plants are keep pace with the disease. With the cooler weather and reduced daylight I don’t expect we’ll get a ton of cherry tomatoes but we’ll continue to get some as long as there is no frost.
Other than these things the farm is proceeding as expected -though much wetter than desired.
Recipe of the Week
Soup in a Pumpkin
Ingredients
- 1 pie pumpkin
- 4 T butter
- 1 c leeks or onions chopped
- ½ c carrots chopped
- 4 c beef broth
- 1 c tomatoes peeled and chopped
- ¼ c cooked rice
- fresh ground pepper
- salt
- sour cream
Instructions
Prepare pumpkin
- Cut a lid from the pumpkin leaving the stem on as a handle.
- Clean out pumpkin.
- Melt a tablespoon of butter and brush it on the pumpkin interior.
- Sprinkle with salt and pepper.
- Replace lid and place pumpkin on a sheet pan.
- Bake in a preheated oven at 400 degrees for 20 minutes.
Prepare soup
- Chop leeks/onions and carrots into bite size pieces.
- Sauté chopped vegetables in 2 tablespoons of butter until wilted, 5-10 minutes.
- Add broth and heat to boiling.
- Add tomatoes and season to taste.
- Heat to boiling.
- Once pumpkin has cooked for 20 minutes, remove from oven and place boiling broth and vegetable mixture in pumpkin leaving room for cooked rice; set aside any extra.
- Add cooked rice.
- Replace pumpkin lid and bake for 45-60 minutes, or until pumpkin is tender but not soft.
To Serve
- Ladle out the soup, scraping out a portion of pumpkin flesh with each serving.
- Dollop with sour cream if desired.
Notes
Joke of the Week
How do you fix a broken tomato?
Tomato paste.
As always, send in your questions, comments, suggestions, ideas, jokes, and anything else you think would be interesting, funny or helpful!