Category Archives: CSADist

Watercress

2016 CSA Fall November 5 Watercress

2016 CSA Fall November 5 Watercress

  • Hatch type peppers
  • Bell peppers
  • Eggplant
  • Sweet Potato
  • Fresh Ginger
  • Butternut Squash
  • Cucumber
  • Patty Pan Squash
  • Watercress
  • Baby Salad Mix
  • Chervil

Well, it looks like we might have the killing frost tonight (Friday night) so do consider storing your eggplant as a dried pasta replacement or maybe baba ganoush frozen for a later date.

A different herb for you to try this week: Chervil. “Chervil is used, particularly in France, to season poultry, seafood, vegetables soups, and sauces. More delicate than parsley, it has a faint taste of licorice or aniseed. Chervil is one of the four traditional French fines herbes, along with tarragon, chives, and parsley, which are essential to French cooking. Unlike the more pungent, robust herbs, thyme, rosemary, etc., which can take prolonged cooking, the fines herbes are added at the last minute, to salads, omelettes, and soups.” (partial quote from Wikipedia page)

Watercress is one of the world’s healthiest foods…from the way we grow the watercress to the way we cut and chill it, great care is given to create the most potentiality for taste and nutrition. Known for being a peppery, dark, leafy green that grows with a wet foot along creeks and ditches, we bring it up off the ground and grow it on benches…it cascades over the sides, looking for more footing.  This herb brought a happy smile to my face whilst i was hiking high in Western New Mexico…the excruciating altitude change had brought on a massive headache and i sought comfort in shaded wet rocks along a creek run. There, nestled calmly and absolutely was the watercress. What a relief to see such a welcome plant from home! I checked up stream and around about, found the land to be in use for cattle, probably a land management deal, and set about getting a clean cut. That cut was just magnificent. With time, water, watercress and rest, i was able to move onward. To your health and pleasure, always, love, leslie.  

bucket-load-squash

2016 CSA Fall October 29th Pumpkin

2016 CSA Fall October 29th Pumpkin

  • Big Pumpkin
  • Gourmet Cucumber
  • Sweet Potatoes
  • Jalapeno peppers
  • Serrano peppers
  • Bell Peppers
  • Eggplant
  • Butternut Squash
  • Baby Ginger
  • Tatsoi Greens
  • Patty Pan Squash
  • Field Arugula
  • Sage 10×10

There is a large bag of bulk cut sage for you in your share this week. It can be bundled and used as a smudge, hung up to dry, or chopped and frozen for later use. The way my grandmother would save it was to hang it to dry and then she would take the leaves between her hands and rub it into a puffy powder that would then go into a jar. Try scissor cutting some very finely over roasted pumpkin or butternut soup. “Sage has been held in high regard throughout history both for it culinary and medicinal properties. Its reputation as a panacea is even represented in its scientific name, Salvia officinalis, derived from the Latin word, salvere, which means “to be saved.” Increased intake of sage as a seasoning in food is recommended for persons with inflammatory conditions (like rheumatoid arthritis),as well as bronchial asthma, and atherosclerosis. The ability of sage to protect oils from oxidation has also led some companies to experiment with sage as a natural antioxidant additive to cooking oils that can extend shelf life and help avoid rancidity.” This quote is from whfoods.com on the page about sage. Please visit for more info and a brief look back in history for different cultures beliefs and usages regarding this important herb. There are also excellent scientific references and a nutritional chart. Make it a great week!

 

Oct 21_2016 sweet potatoes

2016 CSA Fall October 22nd Sweet Potatoes

2016 CSA Fall October 22nd

  • Gourmet Cucumber
  • Sweet Potatoes
  • Hatch peppers
  • Padron peppers
  • Bell Peppers
  • Eggplant
  • Butternut Squash
  • Baby Ginger
  • Tatsoi Greens
  • Patty Pan Squash
  • Baby Arugula

First Digging of sweet potatoes. High Moisture variations this year create the Cracking and splitting – but they are tasty!

Oct 21_2016 sweet potatoes

Oct 21_2016 sweet potatoes

Pictured at right is a view of the baby arugula growing on the bench in the greenhouse. And below, Mike is out in the lower field working in the raised beds. Being the engineer, he specially welded his own implement to lay and shape the compost enriched soil.

To answer a question posed by one of our members, “What do i do with this patty pan squash?” here are a few suggestions: roast slices in the oven, using olive oil or butter, for about 30 minutes until tender. It can also be grilled, stuffed, or  made into a soup. We rarely have the opportunity to spend a lot of time on dinner, so often it is either cut into slices and sautéed in the cast iron or it ends up in the crock pot. Be sure to use a wide, sharp knife when cutting for the best results; a dull knife can be dangerous.

In the microcosm of the farm, there is evidence of the great biodiversity that is the Blue Ridge. With the touch of rain yesterday, it is the perfect time to catch a peek of the most prolific time of year for fungi in these parts. Hope you get an opportunity to get a walk-about to perchance encounter a mycorrhizal relationship or other fungi. Some take longer to mature but most are growing in the first half of the day, reaching peak around noon. Often specimens encountered late in the day have already been decimated by bugs or other critters. These cooler overcast days are ideal for discovery! J At right, is a type of amanita.