Lucky Moon CSA Week 13

Hello again,
 August is drawing to a close- the days are getting shorter, the asters and goldenrod are blooming, and for many of you, the school season is staring up again. Best of luck!
But the season is far from over at the farm. We picked a whopping 500 pounds of tomatoes this week- we don't have enough table space for them all! And the eggplant keep producing like there's no tomorrow. The squash and cucumbers are doing well and the beans are becoming more productive with the hotter weather. And we're getting the first broccoli, too. The veggies are far from being done!

In your bags this week:
Summer squash
Tomatoes
Cherry tomatoes
Broccoli
Salad mix
Cilantro (Tuesday folks- Thursday folks had it last week)
Beans
Cucumbers
Red onions
Eggplant

One of the CSA members told Sue about an eggplant 'meat'ball recipe she's tried a few times and really enjoys. I was immediately intrigued because I love eggplant, but I don't have enough recipes for it and I love meatballs, but I'm mostly a vegetarian. I don't have her exact recipe yet (though I'm hoping to get it) but here are some recipes I found online for "Polpette di Melanzane" (sounds better than eggplant meatballs- two rather unflattering compound words- not very appetizing)
Recipe 1
Recipe 2

And another CSA member told me about a new gadget he and his wife just bought that they've been enjoying. Here's what he says:
"Here's a link to the spiral cutter I told you about. We are loving it so far! We put spicy thai peanut sauce over cucumber noodles, indian potatoes over squash noodles, and chinese letovers over squash/zucc noodles."

 

So I guess if you really can't figure out what to do with that zucchini, you can make noodles for your eggplant meatballs :>)


Hope you all have a good week- happy eating!

Sarah

Lucky Moon CSA Week 12!

 

It's Gladiolus time at the farm

 

Hi everyone,
Sorry again for a late-ish post. I'm trying to get a bunch of salsa canned, and of course, it's taking longer than I thought it would... but it smells really delicious!

Things are going pretty well at the farm- the weather's been a bit hotter lately, which some of the crops have been appreciating, and then we got a decent rain this evening, which will help everything along at this point. Somehow, despite the less-than-ideal weather this summer and some disease pressure, the tomatoes are doing splendidly! We picked yesterday, and between the greenhouse tomatoes and the ones outdoors, we harvested 340 pounds of tomatoes! And about 50 quarts of cherry tomatoes, too. And we got it all done before lunch :>)
That was definitely a record for us.
We're starting to harvest some potatoes, and those are looking better than expected as well. The corn is all tasseled out, so it won't be too long before sweet corn. That is if we can keep the racoons out of it. They always seem to know exactly when it's ready.

Oh, and we've been seeing these around the farm this week:

 

Giant Swallowtail Butterflies

They're huge!

In your bags this week:
Summer Squash
Salad Mix (with baby Kale! One of my favorite salad additions)
Carrots
Yellow Onion
Purple-skinned Potatoes (named Purple Sun)
Cucumbers
Beets
Cherry Tomatoes (quite an assortment of colors- and yes, the green ones are supposed to be green)
Regular Tomatoes
Sweet Pepper (some of the regular shares have long, skinny, wrinkly red ones- they look like they should be spicy, but they're actually an Italian heirloom called Jimmy Nardello, and they are an excellent fry pepper)
Cilantro (Thursday shares only this week- Tuesday shares will get it next week)

Lots of lots of options for meals this week!
If you haven't tried it before, put your beets in a roasting pan with a lid in the oven (covered up to keep them moist and tender) and roast for an hour or so (could be shorter or longer depending on the size of your beets). You can skin them and chop them up before that, or just roast them whole with their tops and bottoms cut off. They'll slip right out of their skins once they're cooked. They are so delicious like that! If you'd like more detailed instructions than that (and I admit, those are pretty vague), here's a website with some good directions.

I would love to know how you've been consuming your vegetables. Any recipes that you'd care to share? If so, feel free to email me at sarah_ziegi at yahoo dot com. Or you can post them as a comment on this blog.

Enjoy the summer!

Best,
Sarah VanNorstrand
for Lucky Moon Farm

Lucky Moon CSA Week 11

Hi everyone,
Sorry for the late post- I was making another batch of pickles and it took me a bit longer than I thought it would... a common occurrence when I'm canning :>)

Anyways, your vegetables this week:
Red-skin potatoes
Eggplant
Mixed Beans
Summer Squash
Mixed Basil
White Onion
Cherry Tomatoes
Regular Tomatoes
Salad Mix

Things are going pretty well at the farm. Sue's peach trees are loaded and we started picking some of them yesterday. I believe we'll have some for sale at the farm if you're interested in getting some peaches. They're not as big as Georgia peaches, but they're not too shabby for upstate NY!

Here's a nice looking pasta recipe with roasted eggplant, basil and tomatoes (it calls for canned, but fresh would work too). You could also easily add zucchini to this or broiled cherry tomato halves. 

Linguine with Eggplant Ragout

And here's an interesting summer soup to try- the reviews were very good.
Zucchini Soup 

Remember to check back on previous blogs for other recipe ideas. Happy cooking!

Best,
Sarah VanNorstrand
for Lucky Moon Farm

CSA Week 10

Hi everyone,
Another week, another bag! A cooler start to August than I was expecting, but it's made for pleasant working weather.

Here's the list for this week:
Salad Mix
Swiss Chard
Scallions (aka Green Onions)
Cherry Tomatoes
Tomatoes
Summer Squash
Beans (mixed colors) for some
Cilantro
Hot Peppers (the dark green ones are Poblanos and the pointy yellow/orange ones are Hungarian Hotwax- both are medium spicy)

You probably already saw this in the email we sent out or on the slip of paper in your bags, but please make sure to wash your tomatoes before eating them. The weather conditions are ripe for outbreaks of Late Blight (the disease that killed all the potatoes in the Irish Potato Famine- a really nasty fungus) and we're using an organix spray to try and protect our tomatoes, which are particularly susceptible. It's a copper fungicide and is permitted for use in organic farming, but it's probably a good idea to rinse off any residue.
We always want to let you know whenever we use anything out of the ordinary because that transparency is an important part of our relationship with our CSA members. And it's one of the main advantages of small farms being directly in contact with their consumers- this way you can know all the details about how your food is produced and what if any sprays or fertilizers are being put on your vegetables.

Tomatoes with Late Blight- yuck!

Not too much else to report from the farm. A little rain and some warmer weather would be good right about now- and I think we're at least going to get the precipitation.

Also, I wanted to let you know about the new Sidehill Farmers Butcher Shop in Manlius. I'm not personally a big meat eater, but I have to admire the stuff they have in there. The meat is locally raised and cut to order, and they have prepared meals cooked daily and ready to pick up at the shop.

Also, they bring in some produce from local farms as well as milk, eggs, yogurt, cheese and flour all produced locally. And then they have some unique things like lard and natural pet food.

It's really cool! This is the way to buy and consume meat- you know where the animals were raised, the butcher is right in the shop and cuts the meat to your specifications and you can walk away feeling really good about the whole exchange. I still don't think I'm going to be a big meat eater, but if I do decide to buy some, this is where I want to purchase it. You should stop in sometime- it's in the plaza behind Sno-top in Manlius, right next to the Subway shop. 

CSA Week 9!

Hi everyone,
Week 9 already... it's hard to believe. And July's already come and gone! The summer really flies by.
We've had pleasant weather for farming recently and most everything is doing pretty well. The only exceptions are the plants outside that really love the heat (beans, tomatoes, squash). They're producing, but not at their usual rate. But there's still plenty to give out- and the greenhouse tomatoes and eggplant are really stellar this year.

Here's what's in your bags:
Salad Mix
Eggplant
White Onion
A Tomato or two
Cherry Tomatoes
Summer Squash
Beans or Sugar Snap Peas
Mixed Basil (cinnamon, Thai, lemon, sweet and purple basils- a truly incredible aroma! they can all be used together as you would regular basil)
Arugula for some
Carrots

The eggplant is just incredible; it's really going all out, and we handed out some real beauties this week- some classic dark purple, some white, and some a gorgeous shade of purple-pink. 

  

A few words about the veggies:

• Be careful with the eggplant stems- they have little spiny thorns, and they're quite sharp!
• We have a variety of summer squash: some green zucchini, a bright, orangey-yellow zucchini, a plain yellow crookneck summer squash, and a yellow summer squash with a green bottom. You can use all of them the same way, and they have subtly different flavors.
• The tomatoes will come out to you in various stages of ripeness. The best check on how ripe they are is a good sniff (should smell nice and tomato-y when ripe) and a very gentle squeeze to see if they're still quite firm, or if they have a little "give." But remember, be gentle! Our tomatoes are not like the ones in the grocery store- these are mostly heirloom varieties that don't travel well because they can be easily bruised or squished, but they have an incredible flavor!

We dug 180 lbs of carrots this week! And they were beautiful, too- very long and straight, for the most part.

Just the other night, I tried out a recipe Sue gave me. Actually, it's more like a cooking method, and it uses the veggies you received this week. It's sort of like a ratatouille (rat-ah-too-ee, I think) but super quick and simple. And it's really really delicious. I spooned ours on top of rice, but feel free to experiment. I bet it'd be delicious on polenta, or maybe even pasta.

Lucky Moon Ratatouille
Prepare a deep roasting pan or oven-safe casserole dish by coating the bottom with olive oil.

Preheat the oven to 450, and chop up some garlic (3-4 cloves is nice). Put the garlic in the pan, and place in the oven as it's preheating. Let the garlic cook for a few minutes until golden brown, but check it so it doesn't burn.

Remove the pan from the oven, and shake some bread crumbs to coat the bottom. Toss in some chopped onion, then place a layer of eggplant, cut into 1/2 inch -1/4 inch rounds, across the bottom of the roasting pan. Drizzle with some olive oil and shake on some more bread crumbs.

Cut zucchini into rounds (about the same thickness) and layer on top of the eggplant/breadcrumbs. Repeat the olive oil and breadcrumbs. Cut thick slices of tomato and layer on top, adding some more bread crumbs on top (and maybe some cheese? Mozzarella? Parmesan?)

Bake in the oven about 45 minutes, covered, until all the layers are soft.