Lucky Moon CSA Week 16

Hi everyone-
It really feels like fall now- I've been apple picking, I'm making loads of applesauce, and my living room is filling up with onions that need cleaning and garlic to be braided (and soon baskets of dry beans and crates of winter squash). It gets pretty crowded :>)

Here's what you have this week:
Tomatoes (starting to slow down a bit)
Cherry Tomatoes
Yellow Onion
Salad Mix
Cilantro
Baby Bok Choy
Beans
Sweet Peppers (even the long red wrinkly ones- they're an Italian heirloom frying pepper)
Summer Squash for some (we'll be doling it out as it comes in)

The bok choy and peppers would be nice in a stir fry together-

I stopped by Adam's Acres last weekend- it's a local organic apple orchard, and they have some really nice looking apples! They're located between Pompey and Jamesville off of Sweet Road.
Here's their website with better directions: Adam's Acres

An organic apple orchard is a real rarity these days, so if you get the chance, stop by and pick a peck! They need our support to stay open and operating.

Have a great week!
Sarah
for Lucky Moon Farm

Lucky Moon CSA Week 15!

 

 

Hi everyone,
Wow, Week 15 already! I've had a few people ask me how long the CSA will run, and we plan on a total of 22 weeks, so plenty more to come-

The summer squash and cucumbers are winding down, so there will only be a trickle of them from here on, but the tomatoes, peppers and beans are still doing great. And then all the heavy end-of-season stuff is still on it's way. Potatoes, onions, winter squash, cabbage, broccoli and cauliflower, kale and leeks... lots of great things to look forward to.

This week you have:

Carrots
Summer Squash
Cucumbers
Mixed Basil
Salad Mix (making sure you wash the lettuce is especially a good idea this time of year- the caterpillars are out in force. They seem to know cooler temperatures are coming and they're in a race against time)
Beans
Onions- variety: Ailsa Craig- as close to a Vidalia as we can grow here!
Tomatoes
Cherry Tomatoes
Green Cabbage (an early small-ish variety called Gonzales)
Sweet Corn

If you have a lot of cucumbers piling up, why not try making refrigerator pickles? You can make them in very small batches, and you don't have to worry about any water-bath canner or making sure they seal properly. It's really quite simple and not very time-consuming. Here's a recipe and instructions for a small batch of Dill Pickles (any of the cucumbers you've received in the CSA will work fine). And here's a nice one for Bread and Butter Pickles (my personal favorite :>)

I don't eat a lot of meat, but this recipe caught my eye as a tasty way to use cabbage and carrots:
Beef and Cabbage Stir-Fry with Peanut Sauce

And here's a tasty looking recipe for green beans, copied from The Pioneer Woman blog. If you like, she includes a lot more pictures, descriptions and commentary on her page-

Fresh Green Beans, One Way

Prep Time: 15 Minutes

Cook Time: 30 Minutes

Difficulty: Easy

Servings: 6

 

Ingredients

• 1 pound Green Beans
• 2 Tablespoons Bacon Grease (can Substitute 1 Tablespoon Butter And 1 Tablespoon Olive Oil)
• 2 cloves Garlic
• 1 cup Chopped Onion
• 1 cup Chicken Broth
• 1/2 cup Chopped Red Bell Pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon (to 1 Teaspoon) Kosher Salt (can Substitute Regular Table Salt; Use 1/4 To 1/2 Teaspoon)
• Ground Black Pepper To Taste

Preparation Instructions

Snap the stem ends of the green beans, or cut them off in a big bunch with a knife if you’d like. Just don’t tell Granny.

Melt bacon grease in a skillet over medium low heat. Add garlic and onions and cook for a minute. Then add green beans and cook for a minute until beans turn bright green.

Add the chicken broth, chopped red pepper, salt and black pepper. Turn heat to low and cover with a lid, leaving lid cracked to allow steam to escape. Cook for 20 to 30 minutes or until liquid evaporates and beans are fairly soft, yet still a bit crisp.

You can add more chicken broth during the cooking process, but don’t be afraid to let it all cook away so the onions and peppers can caramelize.

Have a wooden spoon handy to protect your fair share.

CSA Week 14

Hi everyone,
This has to be really quick because I'm off to teach my little sister how to make pie (an important life skill!) I'll try to post a few recipes on this entry tomorrow.
But here's a quick post to tell you what's in your bags:
Salad Mix
Summer Squash
Cucumbers (think cucumber salad or refrigerator pickles!)
White Onion
Garlic
Tomatoes
Cherry Tomatoes
1 Black Bell Pepper (treat it like a green pepper- it's just a more dramatic color)
A few hot peppers- either blocky dark green poblanos, long skinny red/orange/yellow Hotwax or short little red Jalapeno-type peppers
Russet Potatoes
Beans

So many options! Have fun trying new recipes!

Best,
Sarah VanNorstrand
for Lucky Moon Farm

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