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Citrus from GH6

2015 CSA Fall November 7th

2015 CSA Fall November 7th

Field Mix 10×10 bag
Arugula 10×10 bag
Collards
Watercress
Sweet Potatoes
Lemongrass
Dill
Bay Laurel
Tarragon
Cilantro
Thai Basil
Butternut Squash
Baby Ginger

This week most of the citrus harvest is in your clamshell with the pineapple sage blossoms. Don’t go home without this bonus pack! The mandarins’ skin is not only loose, making for easy peeling, but it is also delicious raw, added to smoothies, shaved into cooked dishes, and makes for a very easy candy-ing of the rind. Personally, i eat the rind of the mandarin and the calmondin, which is the “micro-orange” variety which is also included. Making a jam, pesto, and freezing are all options to help extend your experience of this year’s citrus. We like to make orange crème pops, balsamic vinegrette, yogurt dressing, chutney, marmalade, and infusion of drinking water from a pesto, if you will, a paste that we grind in the food processor. Using honey and the fruits, it is chopped until it is a thick paste, adjusting with honey when needed to process to useful consistancy. The pineapple sage blossoms will do best if you lay out the stems and dry them. The plant is reputed for lowering blood pressure, and is in the salvia family of flavorful and healthy herbs. This cardinal colored flower is very popular with pollenators and hummingbirds alike. When in flower, i eat a stalk of flowers everyday. I have recently been around really ill persons, including C-diff, and wondered how soon i could get back to eat some more flowers! Add some ginger into that tea cup, a few of the flowers, and one of the calmondin oranges, and you will be enjoying a full-flavored energizing tonic . Try twisting a micro orange into your water bottle for all day flavoring from the rind of the calmondin. Thank you for letting us share what we love with you! Enjoy

2015CSA_Fall_Oct_17

2015 CSA Fall October 17

2015 CSA Fall Oct 17

field mix
chard
arugula
pepper medley
lemonverbena
lemongrass
rose geranium
poultry herbs
thai basil
butternut squash
gold variety zucchini
squash blossoms
baby ginger
the best green beans

Make a wonderful cold weather tea with baby ginger grated and lemonverbena leaf steeped in almost boiling water sweetened with honey.
Butternut squash again this week! In the same family as pumpkin, is often times used in recipes in its place. So if you have recipes you like that call for pumpkin, try this as a substitute. My favorite “pumpkin pie” is made with butternut instead. Butternut squash lends itself delicious for both sweet and savory dishes. Used as an ingredient in homemade pasta, for stuffing, or cubed to be roasted, in soups, muffins and breads. If a savory soup or roast is on your mind, consider using your Poultry herbs chopped finely in your dish. It is easy to cut in half, scoop out the seeds and roast in a bit of water for half an hour… then you can flip it over and dress with pumpkin spices, some fresh grated baby ginger, butter and brown sugar for a decadent treat. Or stuff with savory greens, herbs, cheese or rice blend and bake the halves for about ½ an hour at 400f. For a delicious pie, use 1 ½ cups of cooked/pureed squash, 1 cup of sugar/light brown sugar, 3 eggs, ¾ cup evaporated milk or half and half, dash each of cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger (insert some fresh grated baby ginger), salt, 2 tbs flour, 1 tbs of melted butter, 1 tsp vanilla combined and poured into a 9” pie crust, and if you like, garnish with pecans (i also like to add crushed pecans into the crust). Bake @350 for 45-50 minutes (or until the top of the pie is set) and allow to cool before cutting. Yum! Just a quick note on the baby ginger, since you are getting some every week: We wanted to suggest that if it is more than you can use fresh, store it in the freezer and just grate it into your teacup or recipe frozen, it will taste just like it is fresh!

2015CSA_Fall_Oct_17

2015CSA_Fall_Oct_17

2015 CSA Fall October 10th

2015 CSA Fall October 10th

2015 CSA Fall October 10th

eggplant medley
field mix
chard
arugula
pepper medley
potatoes
lemongrass
rose geranium
poultry herbs
thai basil
butternut squash
gold variety zucchini
squash blossoms
dozen eggs
baby ginger

Happy Autumnal Greetings! We had a few cool, moist evenings this week and with all the squash varieties we have, i was thinking soup, soup, soup! So many ways to treat these, and generally we just halve them, roast in water and then dress, whether with bits of sage, cheese, nutmeg or with cinnamon, brown sugar, butter or with ginger and garlic… we also like to incorporate toasted nuts like pecans or using the toasted seeds for garnish. The seeds can also add a dimension of flavor if they have been toasted, dressed in any of the combinations mentioned or your own invention..i go savory or sweet..the spicy can go with either of those, just toast up your peppers on cookie sheets, roast in barbeque, etc, dry and crumble into mix, such as salt base or sweet base. Just a touch of salt and butter is also a nice toss for the seeds. The herbs in the Poultry Herb blend can be divided up and used for different dishes of the CSA items, referencing sage here for the squash…either a soup of the “creamed” roasted flesh, or scissor chopped dash topping on a “boat” or half, or chunked cuts dressed. Yes, i like to treat any of these harder, bigger squashes pretty much the same… roasted, served like cut potatoes, roasted halves, creamed into a soup, or baked into morning “pies” with eggs, cheese, sour cream, half and half, etc. For those of you who may not have seen images of our farm or toured on Meet Yer Eats Labor Day outing, you can check out some of the first handfuls of Meet the Farmer TV episodes online as they were filmed at our farm. Photo below by Michael from the top of the barn. Make it a great week!