Week 17 - Final Week!

Hi everyone,
Here we are at week 17! Thank you all so much for supporting Lucky Moon Farm- it's consumers like you who make the CSA possible, by putting your time and money into supporting local farmers and sustainable agriculture. We appreciate it!
We've had a set of beautiful fall days lately, and the color in the trees is reaching an absolute peak. Out at the farm today, the hillsides were simply glowing with color. Every time I looked up from pulling up beets and carrots, I was stunned. The trees really seem to emit their own light- if you have a chance to drive out Lincklaen Rd towards Chittenango, it's worth the time to see the leaves right now.

So you've got some nice heavy bags this week to wrap things up. We've loaded up some bags of carrots, potatoes and onions to help stretch your remaining veggies for a couple weeks.
Here's the list:

Mixed Onions and Shallots
Mixed Potatoes
Butternut squash
Cabbage
Carrots
Beets
Parsley root (looks vaguely like a white carrot)
Tomatoes
Collard Greens (best to do a quick double-check while rinsing these for little catepillars- they're everywhere right now and very hungry as they get ready for winter, and you want to avoid surprises :>)

For storing these vegetables, different ones prefer different conditions.
Most of us don't have root cellars, which provide ideal conditions for many storage vegetables, but you can keep produce quite a while even without one.

-The tomatoes will do best on your counter until you use them
-Onions and Potatoes like it dry and dark, in general
-Winter Squash likes it dry and moderately warm- (50s-60s) I often keep mine in a spare room that I don't heat or in my basement, which is warmed somewhat by the furnace.
-Carrots and Beets (and Parsley root) will keep a long time if you put them in the fridge in a plastic bag with a paper towel folded in half in with them to absorb excess moisture.
-Cabbage will keep a while if you give it the same treatment as carrots and beets
-Not that you plan on keeping the Collards very long, but leafy greens do best in the fridge in a plastic bag until you use them. And it's best to wash them right before using them, since if they're too wet in their bag, they're more likely to get slimy.

Hope that helps.

If you need more vegetables over the winter, Sue & Claude have vegetables, garlic braids and maple syrup for sale at the farm (calling ahead is a good idea to check on availability) and Sue will most likely be at the winter farmers' markets held in Poolville and at Circa Restaurant in Cazenovia. Feel free to call or email for more information.

Again, thanks so much for joining us for the 2011 season and we hope you will join us again next year! Spread the word to any friends or neighbors who you think might be interested in trying out the CSA in 2012.

All the best,
Sarah

16 down, 1 to go

Hi everyone
I'm a bit rushed tonight, so this will be brief.
Things are good at the farm. We had our first frost last night, but it didn't do much damage. The things that are still out in the fields actually don't mind chilly nights.
One more week to go- Thank you all so much for taking part in our CSA this year! The farm literally could not function without your support. Thanks for making the effort to support local, organic, sustainable farms and making the Lucky Moon Farm CSA possible. It is indeed Community Supported Agriculture.

Here's what's in your bags:

Salad Mix
Red Onions or Shallots
Green or Wax beans (some full shares have snow peas instead)
Red-skin potatoes
Garlic
Kale
Parsley
Celeriac (aka Celery root- great in soups or in root vegetable roasts)
Tomatoes
Cherry Tomatoes
Cooking Pumpkins (great for those pumpkin cookies, pumpkin pies, pumpkin breads, pumpkin pancakes.... I could go on :>)

If you're not sure about how to use your pumpkin, check out my post from last November (look in the archives). I went into some detail. But it's much easier than you think! Give it a try!

All the best,
Sarah

Week 15- Two more to go!

Hi everyone,
Hope you all are having a good week so far.
Things are really feeling like fall at the farm. The hills are starting to color up, apples, pears and black walnuts are ready, and the summer birds are leaving as the winter birds start showing up.
This year I've been paying a lot more attention to all the butterflies we have around here. Lucky Moon is a great place to find them because they love all the flowers and the diversity of plant life on the farm. Right now I've been watching all the monarch butterflies getting what nectar they can from the asters and zinnias before heading south on their epic journey. It's incredible that such a delicate insect could fly all the way to Mexico!

In other news, we got all the pumpkins in today. There are plenty of great pie pumpkins to distribute in the CSA and some nice Jack-O-Lantern pumpkins for sale at the farm, if you're interested. If you've never used a cooking pumpkin before, check out my post from last November titled "Late Fall and a Bountiful Harvest." Also, there are some beautiful garlic braids as well as Lucky Moon Maple Syrup for sale. They make great presents (especially for that person who already has everything... I have a few of those in my family) or are nice additions to your own pantry. The syrup comes in pints for $10 or quarts for $16 and the garlic comes in large braids (10 bulbs) for $17 or small braids (7 bulbs) for $10.50. If you're interested, let me know or feel free to stop by the farm.

(Sue's look nicer than this picture, but it was the best I could find online...)

Here's what's in the bags this week:
Spinach
Yellow Onion
Hot Peppers
Green & Yellow Beans
"Keuka Gold" Potatoes
Tomatoes
Acorn Squash

Here's a quick spinach recipe:

Sauteed Spinach w/ Roasted Garlic, Sun-dried Tomatoes and Feta
Spinach (~10 oz)
3 T. olive oil
3 cloves garlic, sliced
1/2 cup onions, chopped
1/2 cup sun-dried tomatoes
1/4 cup sherry (I read that apple juice can be used as a substitute)
1/4 cup lemon juice
5 Tbsp butter
1/2 cup feta
salt & pepper to taste
1) Over medium heat, saute garlic and onions in olive oil until golden brown, about 2 minutes.
2) Add sun dried tomatoes, then add sherry and lemon juice and reduce by a third (about 3 minutes)
3) Add butter, and toss until it melts, then add the spinach. Cover and stir occasionally until slightly wilted and warm (about 3 minutes). Add feta and cook until slightly melted. Add salt and pepper to taste.

And in case you still have that red cabbage from last week, here's a recipe from someone in the CSA that comes highly recommended!

Autumn Salad (serves 4)

4 tsp. olive oil

1 Tbsp. white wine vinegar

2 tsp. honey

1/4 tsp. salt

1/8 tsp. pepper

3 medium sweet-tart apples (Braeburn, Empire), quartered and thinly sliced crosswise

1 1/2 c. thinly sliced red cabbage

1/3 c. crumbled mild blue cheese

1/4 c. thinly sliced red onion

1/4 c. coarsely chopped toasted walnuts

Whisk oil, vinegar, honey, salt and pepper in large bowl. add remaining ingredients, tossing to combine.

(from Prevention, October 2010)

Week 14- Last Day of Summer

So it's a sad day... the last day of summer. Sigh...
But fall is a great time of the year, too. Apples, pies, leaves turning colors, pumpkins and winter squash and that wonderful nip in the air- all things I really like.

Here's what's in your bags this week:
Salad Mix
Red Cabbage
Shallots
Green & Wax Beans
Delicata Winter Squash
Russet Potatoes (great for baking)
Carrots
Tomatoes
Cherry Tomatoes

A few people have asked me about cooking winter squash, and the general method is the same for all of them, though there are plenty of other ways to cook them if you care to do some investigating. I typically cut the squash in half, scoop out the seeds and stringy parts and bake cut-side down in a greased baking dish at 350 until the rind can be pierced with a fork and the flesh is tender. Serving it with butter and salt is a great start, but feel free to look up some recipes for more ideas. Allrecipes.com is a very helpful website for finding more recipes than you could ever try.

It's very late, so I'm off to bed, but I'll try and get some recipes up this week, so check back in a day or so.
Thanks!
Sarah

Sep. 22nd
And here they are:
Balsamic Roasted Carrots
4-6 carrots, quartered lengthwise
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper

1) Preheat oven to 450
2)In a roasting pan, combine the carrots, oil, vinegar, salt and pepper. Toss to coat. Roast for 20-25 minutes, tossing occasionally, until lightly caramelized and tender but still firm.

Potato, Red Onion (or shallot) Arugula and Brie Pizza
These aren't all from this week, but you might have things left over from previous weeks, and this recipe looked really good:
Pizza Dough
3 Tbsp olive oil
2 cups sliced (red) onions
salt & pepper
12 ounces potatoes, thinly sliced
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
6 oz Brie, thinly sliced
1 cup loosely packed Arugula leaves
1 med. red pepper (sweet), charred, peeled and finely chopped (cut pepper in half, seed it, place cut-side down on a baking sheet, and broil until the skin is charred black. Once it cools, the skin should peel off very easily)

1) Prepare your pizza dough, however you please, and preheat the oven to 500.
2) Saute the onions with the olive oil until crisp-tender, about 3-5 minutes
3) In a medium saucepan, blanch the potatoes in lightly salted boiling water until crisp-tender. Cool in cold water (w/ ice, if possible) to stop the cooking, drain.
4) Sprinkle the Parmesan over the pizza dough, layer the potatoes evenly on top, followed by the onions and the slices of Brie. Season with salt & pepper.
5) Bake the pizza for 12-15 minutes on the top rack. Scatter the Arugula and red pepper on top and serve immediately.
YUM!

Week 13... hopefully that's not too ominous

Hi everyone,
Well, the veggies are still going pretty strong despite the advance of more fall-like weather! We just picked three buckets full of new green beans this evening and harvested the first of the winter squash.
Here's what's in the bags this week:
Salad mix (baby swiss chard, baby spinach, beet greens and lettuce)
Red Onion
Sweet Peppers
Tomatoes
Cherry Tomatoes
Broccoli
Radishes
Beets (red and golden)
"Satina" Potatoes (yellow)
Spaghetti Squash
Eggplant- for full shares this week

We're hoping to keep going with the distribution for another 4 weeks, but that will be somewhat dependent on the weather.

Now that fall is getting going, I'm really starting to crave apples! Here in New York, we are right in the thick of prime apple country, and there are lots of great local places to buy delicious varieties of apples or pick your own. I just heard yesterday from someone in the CSA that there is a new organic (soon to be certified) apple orchard that just opened up in Jamesville, NY. Apples are a very tricky crop to grow to market standards using organic methods, so I'm very excited and interested to hear that there's one starting up right in our backyard! The orchard is called Adam's Acres and it's located on 7047 Sevier Rd, Jamesville, NY. Their website is: www.adamsacres.net
I'm hoping to make it out there this weekend because they're picking Honeycrisps right now and that ranks pretty high on my list of favorite apples.

It's great to have organic options, and I try and go for those whenever possible because I believe farming practices that refuse to use synthetic pesticides, herbicides and fertilizers are better for the environment and better for the health of the people who grow and eat the food. I also try and buy as much of my food locally as I can, too. Sometimes you can get both in the same product (organically & locally grown) but often you have to choose between an organic option, a local option and a (typically) cheaper option that's neither local nor organic. I certainly shop on a tight budget, so price does come into consideration. What it comes down to, in my opinion, is a balancing act. I hope that over time, organic and locally grown produce will become more common and more affordable in our grocery stores. Farmers' Markets are great ways to find both local and organic items, but I don't always have time to get there. In fact I rarely do because I work during the hours of the market in our town. But when and where I can, I try to get organic and local, or at least one of the two. Whether one is more important than the other probably depends on your priorities, but I think if you can try to choose one or the other more often than the "mainstream" option, it helps make a better food system more possible for our country.

Enough soap-boxing... Enjoy your veggies!
Sarah

Week 12 - First week of September

Hi everyone,
So I'm feeling pretty soggy- how about you? We've gotten drenched the last few days, which hasn't been good timing for the veggies. Many of the crops are winding down now, and dry weather helps keep them from going bad in the field. But so far things are alright. I just hope this doesn't become a trend for September. We need a beautiful Indian Summer! Maybe if we all collectively hope for good weather, it will make an impact. You never know... :>)

So due to the rain on Wednesday, we had to alter the shares slightly from Tuesday to Thursday.

"ailsa craig" onion

But here's what's in your bags:
Summer Squash- this is probably the last of it, or close to it
Cucumbers
"Ailsa Craig" onion
Hot Peppers (Chilipeno & Hungarian Hotwax for the small shares, 1 poblano and 2 chilipenos for the large shares)
"Augusta" potatoes
Tomatoes
Cherry tomatoes
Edamame (aka Soy beans)- the easiest way to cook them is 1) rinse the pods 2) toss them in boiling water for a little less than 10 minutes, when the pods start to break open 3) shell, salt to taste, and serve! (you may want to reheat the beans after shelling them, in case they got cold)
-I'm new to Edamame, so if you have a prefered way of eating them, let me know!

Tuesday: Salad mix & Arugula
Thursday: Beet Greens (big bag)

edamame

I'll try to add some recipes to this later.
Hope you're all doing well and adjusting to your fall schedules!
Sarah VanNorstrand
for Lucky Moon Farm

Week 11 and the Sweetness of Summer

Hi everyone,
Hope you're all doing well. The days aren't quite as long and the nights are getting cooler. I always have mixed feelings this time of year- I love the beauty of fall and watching the seasons change, but it's sad to see summer fade. It rushes so quickly to its peak of growth and color and vitality, but no sooner does it get there, than it begins to fade away. At Lucky Moon, we took out a bunch of the broccoli and cauliflower plants today. All those plants that produced such beautiful heads of green or white now are old and decaying. It's over so quickly! But they all got chopped up and added to one of the compost piles which in turn will be added back to the fields to feed the soil for next year's crops. Cue the Elton John "The Circle of Life!" Are you hearing him belt out that chorus in your head? Perhaps a bit over the top for the compost pile...

Anyways, you have wonderful bags of veggies this week:
Sweet Corn
Summer Squash
Cucumbers
Swiss Chard
Yellow onion
Sweet Peppers
Broccoli
Cauliflower
Carrots (orange, white and purple: "Mokum, White Satin and Purple Haze")
Basil
Bronze fennel (the single frond)
Tomatoes
Cherry tomatoes

Pretty nice week, if you ask me :>)
Here are a couple recipes to try:

Swiss Chard with Chick Peas (aka Garbanzo beans) and Fresh Tomatoes from Allrecipes.com Serves 4
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 shallot or small onion, chopped
2 scallions, chopped
1/2 cup chickpeas, drained
salt and pepper to taste
1 bunch Swiss chard, rinsed and chopped
1 tomato, sliced
1/2 lemon, juiced

1) Heat olive oil in a large skillet. Stir in shallot/onion and scallions. Cook and stir for 3-5 minutes until soft and fragrant. Stir in garbanzo beans, season with salt and pepper, and heat through.
2) Place chopped chard in the skillet, and cook until wilted. Add tomato slices, squeeze lemon juice over greens and heat through. Serve immediately.

Zucchini & Carrots with Walnuts
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
2 medium zucchini (or any summer squash)
2 large carrots, peeled
1 Tbsp olive oil
1/8 tsp thyme
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp black pepper

1)Toast the walnuts in a large non-stick skillet over medium heat (or in the oven- check your basic cookbook) stirring often, 3-4 minutes, until lightly browned and fragrant. Tip out onto a plate and set aside. Wipe out the skillet.
2) Halve the zucchini lengthwise and cut the halves crosswise in two. Cut each piece into thin strips lengthwise. (I didn't write that- just copying from a recipe, I promise)
3) Use a vegetable peeler to cut long strips from the carrots (save the cores to use in another dish)
4) Heat the oil in the same skillet over medium heat. Add the carrots and sprinkle with the thyme, salt and pepper. Cook, tossing often, for 3 minutes or until nearly tender. Add the zucchini and cook, tossing, for another 3-4 minutes or until tender. Sprinkle with the walnuts.


I'd love love love to hear what you're doing with your vegetables! Don't worry about sending a whole recipe, just send me a note with a few things you've done that you particularly liked-
my email is luckymoonfm@gmail.com
Thanks and enjoy summer to the last drop!
Sarah, for Lucky Moon Farm

Week 10

Hello again,
Here's what is in your bags this week:

Sweet Corn!
Beets
Cucumbers
Summer Squash
an Ailsa Craig onion (sweet white onion)
garlic (little bulbs this week)
Hot peppers (a variety of types: Small shares have one Hungarian Hotwax and one Chilipeno, Large shares have 1 Poblano, 1 Chilipeno and 2 small Czech black peppers- remember to wear gloves when cutting them!)
Cherry tomatoes
Tomatoes
Red-skin potatoes ("Chieftan" variety)
Eggplant for some people
Cabbage for some people
-again, if you didn't get it this week, you'll be getting it soon!

If you're feeling a bit overwhelmed by cucumbers, check out these recipes. Refrigerator pickles are a great treat, and you don't have to worry about everything that goes into canning, in case you're a hesitant about trying that. You can cut this in half, or whatever fraction works out for the amount of cucumbers you have.

Refrigerator Pickles

7 cups sliced cucumbers

1 cup sliced onions

1 green or red pepper

2 cups sugar

1 cup white vinegar

1 Tablespoon salt

1 Teaspoon celery seed

1 teaspoon mustard seed

May add dill seed, garlic or hot peppers

Combine cucumbers, onions and peppers in a large bowl

And add sugar, vinegar, salt and seeds.

Mix well, cover and refrigerate for 24 hours before ready to eat.

May put in quart jars; keeps 3 months or longer in refrigerator.

Makes 2 quarts, double for a gallon

I posted this last week, but I did it a bit late, so perhaps you missed it:
Pineapple Cucumber Gazpacho serves 4-6
"Sweet-tart pineapple adds a nice balance to a classic gazpacho. A garnish of macadamia nuts lends body and richness to the fresh, cooling soup"

3 cups chopped pineapple
3 cups chopped, seeded and peeled cucumbers
1 1/2 cups pineapple juice
3 Tbsp olive oil
1 Tbsp lime juice
1 jalapeno, halved and seeded
salt to taste
1/2 cup thinly sliced onions (white parts only)
2 Tbsp finely chopped macadamia nuts (optional garnish)
2 Tbsp finely chopped cilantro (optional garnish)

1) Put pineapple. cucumber, pineapple juice, oil, lime juice, jalapeno and salt into a blender and puree until smooth. Add green onions, and puree until just combined.
2) Transfer soup to a bowl, cover and chill for at least 2 hours.
3) Ladle soup into bowls and garnish with macadamia nuts and cilantro

Happy cooking!

Sarah

PS: here's another recipe from one of our CSA members! Looks very very tasty:

Gallo Pinto

Ingredients (for 2 servings)

1 cup of cooked rice
1 cup of cooked black beans
1 chopped onion (small)
1 small chopped red pepper
2 cloves of garlic chopped
1 tbs oil
¼ cup chopped cilantro
4 Tbs. Salsa Lizano – (can substitute Worcestershire and Tabasco)
Salt and pepper, to taste

How to prepare
1. Fry onion, red pepper, garlic, cilantro in the vegetable oil, about 3 minutes.
2. Pour in the beans and add the sauce, and seasoning. Let it cook for a few minutes, but don’t let it dry out.
3. Pour in the cooked rice and mix it with the beans

Enjoy with:
Sour Cream
Platanos maduros - sliced plantains coated in sugar and fried
Eggs (fried or scrambled )

Week 9, August 2011

Hello again,
Hope you all are enjoying your summers! I sure am- along with all the special things that come with the season: tomatoes and peaches and melons and blueberries and sun and birds and flowers.... I could go on for a while. :>) But it's a great time of the year.

Your bags this week include:
Tomatoes
Cherry Tomatoes
Sweet Peppers- various colors and shapes
Broccoli or cauliflower (if you haven't gotten it yet, you will!)
Summer Squash- the bushes are starting to wind down their production... so enjoy it while it lasts-
Cucumbers
Salad Mix
Italian red onions (called "Rossa di Milano"- maybe Rose of Milan? they are a very pretty pinkish-red color)
Carrots
Fennel

If you missed last week's post, you might want to check it out because I added some interesting recipes that someone gave to Sue at the end of the week.

Here's one that uses up some of the cucumbers, and it's supposed to be really good!
Pineapple Cucumber Gazpacho serves 4-6
"Sweet-tart pineapple adds a nice balance to a classic gazpacho. A garnish of macadamia nuts lends body and richness to the fresh, cooling soup"

3 cups chopped pineapple
3 cups chopped, seeded and peeled cucumbers
1 1/2 cups pineapple juice
3 Tbsp olive oil
1 Tbsp lime juice
1 jalapeno, halved and seeded
salt to taste
1/2 cup thinly sliced onions (white parts only)
2 Tbsp finely chopped macadamia nuts (optional garnish)
2 Tbsp finely chopped cilantro (optional garnish)

1) Put pineapple. cucumber, pineapple juice, oil, lime juice, jalapeno and salt into a blender and puree until smooth. Add green onions, and puree until just combined.
2) Transfer soup to a bowl, cover and chill for at least 2 hours.
3) Ladle soup into bowls and garnish with macadamia nuts and cilantro



I've been canning and freezing and drying like crazy the past few weeks. I'm excited about it because I'm still learning how to do a lot of these things, and it's fun to experiment and see what works. So far I've made raspberry jam, peach preserves, bread & butter and dill pickles, canned a bunch of tomatoes, dried zucchini, frozen a bunch of summer squash in slices and shredded, frozen shell and snow peas, frozen blueberries, raspberries, black raspberries and strawberries, frozen corn, peppers and beans.

It's really fun to put food away for the winter. It's such a nice feeling to pull out some fruit or canned tomatoes in February when you feel like spring will never come. It's also nice to have some food security. I don't think we hardly ever buy anything from the produce section except some fruit once in a while. So just remember that if you're feeling overwhelmed with produce right now, try freezing a bit of it and putting it away for the time when the closest tomato is coming to you from the southern hemisphere :>)

Enjoy your week,
Sarah

Week 8 and sorry it's late...

Hi everyone,
Sorry I didn't get this up sooner. I'll fill in the details later, but here's the list of what's in the bags this week:
Salad Mix
Tomatoes
Cherry tomatoes
Beans
Basil
Summer squash
Cucumbers
White onions
Broccoli
Sweet Peppers for Large shares and Poblano peppers (medium spicy) for the small shares
Eggplant (long & skinny, fat and purple, or creamy white!)
Cauliflower

Note: Not enough of the eggplant ripened at once for everyone to get an eggplant this week, but we'll make sure you all get one soon. Same with the cauliflower- things ripen at different times, and rarely is there 75 eggplant or cauliflower that are ready to pick at the same time.

And if anyone is interested in making some pickles, we are having a bumper crop of cucumbers this year, and have extra for sale. Contact Sue if you're interested.

Here are some recipes that were given to me by someone in the CSA- they look very tasty! Some of them use ingredients from this week, and the ones that call for things you don't receive this week, you might want to stick it away in your recipe box to use later.

Here's another great way to eat summer squash:
Zucchini Parmesan
Several good-sized summer squash (zucchini, yellow, patty pan, etc)
2 beaten eggs
2-2 1/2 cups Italian style bread crumbs
Olive oil cooking spray
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
1 jar spaghetti sauce

1) Preheat oven to 425 and spray cookie sheets with cooking spray.
2) Slice squash into 1/4 inch thick rounds. Dip slices in the beaten eggs, then coat with the bread crumbs and place on the cookie sheets. Spray tops with oil
3) Bake for 10 minutes, flip the slices over and bake another 10 minutes
4) Spray a 9 x 13 inch pan with cooking spray and spoon a small amount of sauce into the pan.
5) Alternate layers of squash, mozzarella, Parmesan and sauce. For the last layer, just use sauce and top with Parmesan.
6) Cover with foil and bake at 375 for 20 minutes. Remove foil and bake fore 10 more minutes.

Swiss Chard with Chick Peas (aka Garbanzo beans) and Fresh Tomatoes from Allrecipes.com Serves 4
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 shallot or small onion, chopped
2 scallions, chopped
1/2 cup chickpeas, drained
salt and pepper to taste
1 bunch Swiss chard, rinsed and chopped
1 tomato, sliced
1/2 lemon, juiced

1) Heat olive oil in a large skillet. Stir in shallot/onion and scallions. Cook and stir for 3-5 minutes until soft and fragrant. Stir in garbanzo beans, season with salt and pepper, and heat through.
2) Place chopped chard in the skillet, and cook until wilted. Add tomato slices, squeeze lemon juice over greens and heat through. Serve immediately.

Green Beans & Tuna with Basil serves 4
1 lb green beans, trimmed and cut into 3-4 inch lengths
1 small red pepper, cut in half lengthwise, seeded and de-ribbed
salt & pepper
1/3 cup diced red onion
2 Tbsp finely chopped basil leaves
1 Tbsp fresh lemon juice, or to taste
3 Tbsp olive oil
1 can tuna, drained
1-2 Tbsp capers, depending on taste, rinsed and drained

1) Fill a large saucepan 3/4 full of water and bring to a rapid boil. Add the green beans, bell pepper halves, and 2 tsp salt. Return to a boil and cook uncovered until the beans are just tender but still firm, about 4-5 minutes. Drain well.
2) Place the beans in a large bowl. Cut the pepper halves lengthwise into strips 1/2 inch wide. Add to the beans, along with the red onion and 1 Tbsp of the basil. Sprinkle with 1 Tbsp lemon juice and a little salt and pepper to taste. Toss to coat the beans well with the lemon juice. Drizzle the 3 Tbsp of olive oil and toss again.
3) In a separate bowl, break the tuna into small chunks. Add the capers and the remaining 1 Tbsp of basil. Season to taste with lemon juice, olive oil, salt & pepper as needed. Toss gently to blend.
4) Arrange the beans on a serving platter or individual plates and mound the tuna mixture in the center. Serve at once.


Sarah

Week 7 and Happy August!

Hello-
It's already August! Where has the time gone? Full days fly by, I guess.
Your bags are nice and heavy this week and filled with summer goodies.

Here's the list:
Summer Squash
Cucumbers (some of them may be white or yellowy-brown... they're supposed to be that way, I promise :>)
Salad Mix
Arugula (small bag of spicy greens)
Green & Yellow Beans
A bunch of young red onions
Sweet Peppers (long wrinkly Italian fry peppers or regular blocky sweet peppers)
Tomatoes!
Cherry tomatoes
Herbs- Cilantro and Summer Savory. The cilantro has a strong pungent flavor, and it's excellent in many dishes, and the savory looks vaguely like rosemary, and is reported to be especially nice with beans.

Cilantro (above) & Savory (below)

If you're curious what varieties of tomatoes you're receiving, check out my post from last year to see pictures and descriptions of many of the kinds of tomatoes we grow. There are so many beautiful colors and such diverse flavors! Make sure you have a few of them on toast with a little mayonnaise and salt and pepper- nothing else quite sets off a tomato's natural flavor as well, in my humble opinion.

Also, I was thinking of trying to make Gazpacho sometime, and I was wondering if any of you had a recipe for it that you would recommend.... Sounds like a tasty dinner on some hot August night.

I was making some salad the other night and I realized how much I use my handy dandy salad spinner. Many people never invest in a salad spinner, but it's a great kitchen tool, especially when you're getting lots of greens through a CSA. On the CSA days (Tuesday & Thursday) Sue, Kelli and I cut all the lettuce, spinach, beet greens, baby swiss chard or asian greens that will be going into the Salad mix, and quickly rush the fragile greens to the shaded porch to get it out of the sun and heat. There are a couple sinks on the porch, and we soak all the greens in those sinks to cool them off, help them stay crisp and wash off any dirt that might have splashed up on them out in the field. Then we spin the greens to dry them in large industrial salad spinners that look like this:

Once they are relatively dry, we mix all the different greens together in large bins, then weigh and bag them, and rush them down to the cooler to keep them in pristine condition until it's time to pack them into peoples' bags. Anyways, what I'm leading up to is that although we wash them once at the farm, a second rinse might be necessary before putting them in the salad bowl to make sure nothing gritty is left on the leaves. And after washing them, to avoid having soggy salad, a home-sized spinner comes in handy. They are available at the hardware store, in many grocery stores, and places like Target. They often look like this:

Kelli Johnson gave me this recipe and raves about how tasty it is! It also uses many of this week's veggies if you want to give it a try:

Wegman's Arugula Peach Salad
Serves: 4
Active Time: 20 mins
Total Time: 20 mins
Ingredients

1 pkg (8 oz) sliced green beans
1 pkg (5 oz) Arugula
Cherry tomatoes, sliced in half
1 or 2 small red onions, peeled, thinly sliced
1 peach, wedged
Juice of one fresh lemon (2-3 Tbsp)
3 Tbsp Wegmans Basting Oil
3 Tbsp Wegmans Extra-Virgin Olive Oil
1/2 tsp salt
Directions

1. Steam or boil sliced green beans until tender-crisp. Transfer to bowl of ice water 2 min. Drain well.

2. Combine beans, arugula, tomatoes, onion, and peaches in large bowl.

3. Whisk together lemon juice, basting oil, olive oil, and salt in small bowl. Toss with salad.


And here's a dessert cake that uses some of the leftover zucchini (or any kind of summer squash)
Chocolate-Zucchini Snack Cake
1 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
2 eggs
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup vanilla yogurt
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups shredded zucchini
3 cups semi-sweet chocolate

1) Pre-heat the oven to 350. Grease a 11 x 8 baking pan.
2) Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a large bowl.
3) Whisk the eggs, sugar, yogurt, oil and vanilla in a medium bowl. Add the zucchini and 1 1/2 cups of the chocolate chips. Stir into the flour mixture until just blended. Spread in the pan and bake for 30 minutes or until lightly browned and a toothpick into the center comes out clean.
4) Remove from the oven and sprinkle the remaining 1 1/2 cups of chocolate chips over the cake. Spread with a spatula as they melt to form an icing, placing it back in the warm oven for about a minute to melt them completely.
Eat!

Week 6 and time is flying...

Hi everyone,

Week 6 is here, and we're already at the end of July! I can't really believe it... I feel like I've missed huge chunks of the summer, even though I've been working long days outside everyday since the beginning of May. You'd think the summer would seem longer than usual when so much gets crammed into every single day. But things are going well. The bags are nice and heavy this week as the full summer bounty is coming on now. Generally, most of the crops are producing very well.
Here's what you have:
Salad mix
Summer Squash
Green & Yellow Beans
Sugar Snap Peas
Carrots
Swiss Chard
Scallions
Tomatoes
Cucumbers

So the meal possibilities are pretty much endless at this point. Despite that, I've been mostly eating tomato sandwiches for lunch and dinner. Now that the tomatoes are finally here, I can't get enough of them! I can hardly imagine something more satisfying than a toasted slice of my molasses oat bread with mayonaise, a fat slice of a Striped German tomato (the rainbow-colored ones) and some salt and pepper on top. It's heavenly!

So feel free to email me or post to the blog any recipes that you'd like to share. And if you find you can't eat everything, try freezing some of it. Beans, Peas, and Summer Squash all freeze very well and can be a welcome addition to a winter meal in soups, pasta sauce, casseroles, whatever. A tip I learned last year to help me remember what I have in my freezer upstairs and my chest freezer in the basement, I keep a list on the fridge of what I have frozen and stashed away. Whenever I use something up, I cross it off the list. It's very handy if you're like me and if it's out of sight, it's out of mind.

Peas and Beans are usually better blanched (submerged in boiling water for a minute or so to help slow the enzymes that break food down and cause it to spoil). My cookbook says to blanch squash, too, but I find that it freezes very well without that extra step by just slicing it and freezing it on a cookie sheet and then putting the frozen slices in a zip-lock bag. I'm definitely still learning about how to preserve food (freezing, canning, drying) and if any of you have any tips or methods to share, I for one would love to hear them. Here are two links to a blog and a website about how to freeze vegetables and other preservation techniques:
http://annieskitchengarden.blogspot.com/2009/07/july-16-2009-blanching-and-freezing.html

http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/how/freeze.html

Hope you all are enjoying your summers to the fullest! They fly by too quickly...
All the best,
Sarah VanNostrand for Lucky Moon Farm

Week 5

Hello again,
Week 5 is here and summer is in full swing. Which means it's really really hot. But despite the hot weather, we were able to get a wonderful assortment of veggies together for you this week.

Here's what's in the bags:
Salad mix- talk about a perfect summer meal! No hot stove or oven, just nice cool crunchy lettuce...
Summer Squash
Snow peas & Sugar Snap peas (the first is flat, the second is fat)
Yellow & Green beans (some people call the yellow ones Wax beans, but they don't taste like wax... I promise)
A White Onion
Red Beets
... and (drum roll please) TOMATOES! Some people got cherry tomatoes and some got sandwich tomatoes, but don't worry- everyone will get the full spectrum before we're through.


I had many similar things on hand for my dinner this evening, so I put this together. It was super tasty:
Sarah's Summer Pasta
Ingredients:
Olive oil, diced onion, thinly sliced summer squash, chopped mushrooms, peas (I grow shell peas), basil, tomatoes, pasta
1) Heat about 2+ Tbsp olive oil (or vegetable oil; it's not a big deal) in a large skillet on medium heat. Dice one medium onion (or the equivalent) and add when the oil is heated. Saute for about 5 minutes until the onion begins to soften.
2) Add the summer squash (make sure the pieces are about the rough size of a quarter) and saute another 3 minutes or so
3) Add 2 Tbsp butter and add the chopped mushrooms. After a few minutes add the peas.
4) Boil water and cook the pasta of your choice until al dente, meanwhile turn the heat on the saute down to low.
5) While the pasta is cooking, roughly chop the basil and add it to the saute. Once it begins to wilt, turn off the heat. Cover if your pasta isn't close to being done.
6) Serve the pasta with the vegetable saute on top, add some diced fresh tomatoes (cherry or sandwich), drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and salt & pepper to taste.

Very yummy, and quite pretty, too (I wanted to take a picture, but my camera isn't working, so here's a stock photo to get you the idea...). And the beauty is you can experiment with whatever you have on hand. Sliced green beans would have worked really well instead of the peas, and mushrooms are optional (though delicious). Good food doesn't take a lot of dressing up.

I Also wanted to let you know that this Saturday, Madison County is organizing an Open Farm Day for lots of farms throughout the county. Lucky Moon will be taking part, and if you'd like to stop by, say hello, get a tour and see where your vegetables come from, we'd love to see you. The farms will be open from 10 AM to 4 PM. The address is 4976 Lincklaen Rd, Cazenovia, NY. Hope to see you there!

Week 4 in brief

Hi everyone,
So this is going to be short and sweet, because I can barely keep my eyes open...
But the contents of your bags this week include:
Arugula (smallest bag of greens, leaves are bright green with a peppery flavor)
Asian Greens (medium bag, different colored leaves in many different shapes- spicy and great in a stir-fry!)
Summer Squash (yellow, green, or in between, it's still summer squash)
Snow peas (flat pods)
Sugar Snap peas
Salad mix (biggest bag of greens)

Feel free to email me (luckymoonfm@gmail.com) with recipe ideas or post them as a comment to this blog post.

All the best,
Sarah
for Lucky Moon Farm


Thursday, July 14th
Here are two recipes from Lars that work with many of the veggies you're getting in your bags.

Arugula Pesto (from simplyrecipes):

INGREDIENTS

· 2 cups of packed arugula leaves, stems removed

1/2 cup of shelled walnuts

· 1/2 cup fresh Parmesan cheese

· 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

· 6 garlic cloves, unpeeled

· 1/2 garlic clove peeled and minced

· 1/2 teaspoon salt

METHOD

1 Brown 6 garlic cloves with their peels on in a skillet over medium high heat until the garlic is lightly browned in places, about 10 minutes. Remove the garlic from the pan, cool, and remove the skins.

2 Toast the nuts in a pan over medium heat until lightly brown, or heat in a microwave on high heat for a minute or two until you get that roasted flavor. In our microwave it takes 2 minutes.

3a Food processor method (the fast way): Combine the arugula, salt, walnuts, roasted and raw garlic into a food processor. Pulse while drizzling the olive oil into the processor. Remove the mixture from the processor and put it into a bowl. Stir in the Parmesan cheese.

3b Mortar and pestle method: Combine the nuts, salt and garlic in a mortar. With the pestle, grind until smooth. Add the cheese and olive oil, grind again until smooth. Finely chop the arugula and add it to the mortar. Grind up with the other ingredients until smooth.

Because the pesto is so dependent on the individual ingredients, and the strength of the ingredients depends on the season or variety, test it and add more of the ingredients to taste.

Serve with pasta, over freshly roasted potatoes, or as a sauce forpizza.

Yield: Makes 1 heaping cup.

-Note: Lars suggested using the hot peppers (if you still have any from last week) in the stir-fry. I also often add peas and sliced summer squash to stir-fries. Happy cooking!

Stir Fry (modified from food.com):

Ingredients

· 1 lb chicken breast, cut into 1 inch cubes

· 11-14 ounces mixed Chinese greens

· 3 tablespoons vegetable oil

· 1 tablespoon sesame oil

· 1/2 tablespoon thinly sliced ginger

· 1 clove garlic thinly sliced

· 4 scallions, finely shredded

· 2 tablespoons oyster sauce or hoisin sauce

· 1 tablespoon soy sauce

· 2 pinches of sugar

· juice of 1 lime

· salt and freshly ground black pepper

Directions

Put the oil, garlic and the ginger into a very large, hot wok or other suitable pan and cook for about 30 seconds. Add the chicken stirring constantly until the outside is cooked. Add the scallions and the rest of the ingredients apart from the greens and seasoning. Stir, then add the oyster sauce, hoisin sauce, lime juice and greens and toss so that everything is coated in sauce. The oyster and soy sauce will reduce, just coating the greens, which will begin to wilt. At this point season to taste with sugar, salt and pepper. Stir-fry for a further minute and serve immediately over steamed rice.

Week 3, July 2011

Hello again
Week three is here and so is the hot weather! Things are coming along very well for the most part, and your bags this week reflect the somewhat odd timing that we have this year. It's not typical to be giving out peppers with peas!
But there are plenty of tasty meals to be made with the veggies for this week:
Salad mix
Swiss Chard (think "quiche" !)
Lucky Moon Garlic
Snow Peas
Hungarian Hotwax Pepper (milder than a jalapeno)
raspberries

While I was helping to pack up the garlic, snow peas and pepper, I couldn't help but think what a tasty stir-fry that would make. And that made me hungry, so I made one myself that night with a few things I had on hand.

Besides a quiche, here's another interesting idea for using the Swiss Chard. The recipe calls for Ruby Chard, which is simply a kind of Chard with red stems and veining. The bag you have is a mix of Ruby Chard, Bright Lights Chard (rainbow colors) and some green and white veined chard. But it all works the same.

This is another recipe from the Moosewood's "Cooking for Health"
Pasta w/ Ruby Chard and Cherries
1/2 C dried cherries
16 oz chunky-shaped whole grain pasta
1 Bunch Ruby Chard
1/4 C olive oil
4 garlic cloves, minced or pressed
1 tsp salt
ground black pepper
pinch of red pepper flakes (optional for added spicyness)
1/4 C chopped toasted walnuts
grated parmesan or crumbled ricotta salata cheese (optional)

1) Bring a large covered pot of salted water to a boil. When the water comes to a rapid boil, ladle a few tablespoons of it into a bowl, add the dried cherries and set aside to soak. Cook the pasta until al dente and drain.

2)While the water is heating, rinse the chard and remove the bottom 1/2 inch or so of the stems. Cut any of the large ones in half again (to make them thinner). Chop the leaves. Set aside.

3)While the pasta cooks, warm the oil in a large skillet on high heat. Add the chard stems a saute for a minute. Add the garlic and chard leaves and cook uncovered, stirring often, until the chard is limp but the leaves are still bright green, about 5 minutes. Stir in the salt and a sprinkling of pepper and add the red pepper flakes, if you wish.

4) Toast the walnuts

5) Drain the soaked cherries.

6) Put the pasta into a serving bowl and top with the garlicky chard, plump hot cherries and toasted walnuts. Offer cheese at the table if you like.

Bon appetite!

Week 2, 2011 Season

Hello,
The Tuesday pick-up in Manlius just wrapped up and I wanted to write a quick post about the veggies for this week. In the bags is a beautiful mix of different greens. Now I know many of us (myself included) don't have a lot of experience with the different varieties of greens or have a lot of great ideas with how to use them, beyond making a salad. But part of the fun of joining a CSA is learning how to eat new things and discovering whole new recipes and methods to prepare truly tasty greens. And if your mother is anything like mine, then you know that dark, leafy greens are oh so good for you!

(arugula)

Week 2
Salad mix (every week the mix is different- enjoy the different colors!)
Arugula (light green leaves with a peppery flavor)
Asian Braising Greens (great in a stir-fry)
Swiss Chard or Spinach- oh, the possibilities!

Here are a few recipes and ideas to try:
Try making a pesto out of the Arugula and serving it with pasta. It's zippy flavor goes well with olive oil, parmesian cheese and walnuts or pinenuts, if you have them.

If you're looking for more cooking guidance, I can't recommend highly enough the collection of Moosewood Restaurant cookbooks that are out on the market. There are hundreds of excellent, delicious recipes that use normal ingredients, are quite healthy for you, and can help you learn to cook new or unfamiliar vegetables. I own and use constantly their Moosewood "Cooks at Home" and "Cooking for Health."

Spinach Salad w/ Strawberries & Pecans
-actually, this is more like a salad template. Spinach and strawberries go especially well together, especially with a poppy seed dressing, but adding different fruits, fresh or dried, nuts, cheese, meat or herbs are a great way to turn your side salad into a satisfying meal all on its own. I often use golden raisins, chopped up dried apricots, an apple, a pear, any kind of nut I have on hand, bits of cheese, a radish or a carrot- if it sounds good to you, give it a try!

Spinach Quesadillas (From the Moosewood Restaurant Cooking for Health cookbook)
- yields 4 quesadillas
1 Tablespoon olive oil
2 cups finely chopped onions
1 fresh chile, minced (or a sweet pepper, if you prefer)
~5 cups chopped fresh spinach (coarsly chopped with large stems removed)
pinch of dried oregano
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
4 whole wheat tortillas, or your favorite kind
1 cup grated cheese (such as Montery Jack)

1) In a large saucepan on medium-high heat, warm the oil and cook the onion and chilis for about 4-5 minutes, or until softened. Add the spinach, oregano, salt and pepper. Stir until the spinach had wilted, a minute or two. Remove from the heat and drain.
2) Place one of the tortillas in a dry skillet on medium heat. Sprinkle on 1/4 cup of the cheese. After about a minute, when the cheese has begun to melt, spread 1/4 of the drained spinach mixture over 1/2 the tortilla. Fold the tortilla over the spinach and cheese to make a 1/2 circle and cook for a minute. Turn the quesadilla over and cook until the cheese is thoroughly melted.
3) Remove tortilla, slice into wedges, and dip in your favorite salsa. Repeat with remaining tortillas.

If I have time, I'll try and add some more.

All the best!
Sarah

Week 1 of CSA

Hi everyone,
The CSA officially started this week and the veggies are getting distributed to our members. I had the first pick-up day at my house (the Manlius satellite location) yesterday and it was great to meet so many new people who are giving the CSA model a try as well as welcoming back members from last year. Things are really growing right along now, even though the strange weather this spring delayed many of the crops. The tomatoes in the greenhouse are growing like gangbusters! They'll be as tall as we are pretty soon. I can't wait for tomato sandwiches!

If you come out to the farm some time, you might notice that there are more hoop houses this year. These are move-able structures made of PVC pipe for the ribs of the house with special woven cloth to cover the frame that keeps bugs out, lets sun and water through, and generally creates a warmer environment for the plants. There are two for the peppers and eggplant and eventually we'll have four put up for the broccoli and cauliflower. It's exciting to have more and more of them, since they create a really perfect environment for growing a lot of different kinds of vegetables.

Summer is in full swing now, so things are incredibly busy, but it's all going well. For you members of the CSA, I hope you enjoy your vegetables and try out some new recipes this year. As always, I'd love to hear from any of you about how you're cooking up and eating your vegetables. I'll try and share some recipes that have worked well for me and other people in the CSA.

I hope you're all able to enjoy your summers to the fullest! Remember to spend time together, get outside as much as you can, and eat good food.

All the best,
Sarah VanNorstrand
for Lucky Moon Farm

Spring Has Sprung

Hello again,
It's May and the tulips and daffodils are blooming and the buds on the trees are swelling out with a brilliant shade of yellowy-green. The rain has been a bit incessant, but hopefully things will start drying out soon so planting can begin outside. Indoors, the tomatoes, peppers, eggplant and flower seedlings are growing well and will be ready to move outdoors when the weather cooperates in a few more weeks.
Lucky Moon Farm is still accepting people who would like to join the 2011 CSA. In case you're not familiar with how a CSA works or want to read more about the farm, please check out the previous post from March. If you're already a member, please spread the word to people you think might be interested in getting farm-fresh vegetables this summer.
Hope you all can get outside between the rain showers and enjoy this long-awaited Spring!
All the best,
Sarah VanNorstrand

Think Spring!

Hi everyone!
Well, it's been a long, cold winter, but the snow is shrinking slowly away and the ground is starting to wake up. I won't say it's here quite yet, but spring is definitely coming!

I wanted to let you all know that registration is officially open for Lucky Moon's 2011 CSA. Brochures are available if you're interested, or feel free to email me (Sarah- I work on the farm) for more information, but here's the general rundown:

Lucky Moon Farm on Lincklaen Road in the hills near Cazenovia, is run by "locally grown" farmers, Sue & Claude Braun. On the farm, they grow vegetables for the CSA, their farm stand and several winter farmers' markets. They also produce and sell maple syrup, cut flowers, garlic, eggs and hay.

Sue & Claude started in 1992 on 50 acres of worn-out farmland and have been rebuilding the soil using cover crops, compost, minerals, rock powders, and certified organic fertilizers with the knowledge that the best tasting vegetables are produced from healthy soils. Although Lucky Moon is not certified organic, Sue & Claude have used organic practices for 19 years and they annually sign the NOFA Farmers' Pledge. They offer small and large shares, depending on you're family's consumption as well as a delivery or pick-up option in Cazenovia or Manlius.

If you're new to the idea of CSAs, here's a description of how they work and what the benefits of participating in one can be for individuals and a community:

CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture, and is also called Subscription Farming. It's essentially a way for farmers and consumers to interact directly, without the produce having to go through all those middle men before it reaches your table. Members of the CSA sign up and pay for a share of the harvest at the beginning of the season, and then the farmer provides those members with a box or a bag of fresh produce once a week. By paying for the vegetables up front, the members ensure that the farmer has enough funds to purchase the seeds, tools and natural soil amendments that he or she needs to grow the crops. It also means that the CSA members and the farmer share the risk of a crop doing poorly due to weather, disease or insect problems. However, shortfalls are pretty rare and more often than not, members end up getting extra produce when a crop does better than expected.

I really like subscription farming for lots of reasons. My personal favorite is that as a member, you can see for yourself exactly how your food is grown. Eating real food, grown by someone you know in your own community, makes a big difference when you consider all the repercussions of our country's current method of growing and transporting produce. Whether you're concerned about ingesting chemicals from industrial herbicides or pesticides, or you are aware of the incredible amount of oil that goes into petroleum-based fertilizer, or the effect of the chemical run-off from industrial farms on surrounding ecosystems, the CSA system offers a sustainable alternative.

And even if none of those issues really influence your eating choices, you simply have to taste the difference when a tomato or a carrot or lettuce isn't shipped all the way across the country (or from a different hemisphere!) Eating produce grown a few miles away and harvested the day you pick it up is an experience that too few of us enjoy these days. The difference in flavor and texture is incredible!

So that's my spiel- Subscription farming offers a sensible (and tasty!) alternative to the produce section of the average chain grocery store, and it helps you and your family get reconnected with the land. Knowing where your food comes from and how it's produced is really important. We are eating this stuff, after all.

If you're interested in joining the CSA for next year, or want to find out more about Lucky Moon's program, please contact me by email or give Sue and Claude a call.