• Ripe Papaya
• Field Arugula 10×10
• Rosemary
• Thyme
• Sage
• Yellow Squash
• Gold Zucchini
• Tomatoes *from set
• Cucumber
• Green Bell Peppers
• Anaheim Peppers
• Red Ribbed Sorrel

Papaya pie! Yeah, a little different, but i wanted to share my results: skinned, deseeded and chopped papaya was tossed with juice from 2 limes, !approximately ¾ cup of brown sugar, 2 tbs of honey, 1 ½  tbs of corn starch, plus healthy dashes of cinnamon and vanilla. This was poured into a prepared pie shell and baked on a jelly roll pan at 350F for 30 minutes. I thought it looked a little runny at end time so i dusted the top with some more corn starch, used a spoon to  gently fold that into the papaya filling and baked it for at least another 20 minutes. See the results in the photos and please overlook the tell-tale dusting trail…we thought it turned out very yummy! Maybe you will try it?

Papaya also makes a wonderful chutney for table condiments especially when enjoying a curry or rice pilaf.

Tomatoes are not encased in the box this week, they are “pick from set” and we will be encouraging you to consider canning a few pounds Rosemary, thyme and sage included to enhance sauce making.

To your health and pleasure, always, leslie

• Micro Celery
• Micro Color Mix
• Watercress
• Arugula 10×10
• Yellow Squash
• Gold Bar Zucchini
• Tomatoes
• Oregano
• Sage
• Rosemary
• Thai Basil
• Cucumbers
• Green Bell Pepper
• Anaheim Peppers

Micro Celery is great for potato salad, chicken salad sandwiches, as a garnish for any dish that calls for celery (easy flavor replacement and no chopping!), like gumbo, etouffee, jambalaya… Le Bon Temps Roule!

Micro Color Mix is a crisp fresh take on a fancy roll up: spring rolls! Add a few edible flowers, a sprinkle of micros, a pinch of baby salad mix, slivers of veggies like your Gold Bar zucchini, even fruit can be used to enhance and sweeten a spring roll. If you eat meat, some chicken, fish, crab, shrimp, eel, pork or steak will all work well tucked into the center of your roll. Think of sweet, tangy, salty ingredients for your dipping sauce. Since I was in a crunch and didn’t have plum or mustard sauce, I whipped up some honey, black vinegar, barbeque sauce & soy sauce into a dish for dip and garnish.

Stretch the meal! and serve your spring rolls on a bed of rice pilaf. If you have any of your fig leaves left, use them to infuse flavor as your steam your rice by just laying one on top before covering. I used cashews, black sesame seeds, grated ginger and turmeric, black pepper, and half a can of coconut milk to flavor the rice. With the fig leaf laid on top and cooked. Cinch a nice presentation of your colorful spring rolls!

• Baby Carrots
• Ginger & Turmeric
• Calamondin Oranges
• Thai Basil Cuttings
• Potatoes
• Yellow Summer Squash
• Bell Pepper
• Baby Salad Mix
• Watercress
• Tomatoes
• Cucumber

Just a peak at a few of the creatures that visit the farm… the second photo at right was being shared around: accessible food brings new friends The deer and the groundhogs have been the worst for us, taking out broccoli, kale and a few others. We have replanted but hard to wait.. our sweet potatoes have been getting hit and we have been vigilant, transplanting from greenhouse kept cuttings. But squash is finally going fast, hence the plethora in your share. The thai basil cuttings include a few flowers and quite possibly some seed, if you would like to sprinkle it in a pot nearby your kitchen. Thanks for helping me out with the carrots: a section of plantings of carrots, spinach, etc, got overrun by weeds and grasses. Since this section needs to be dealt with, i wanted you to at least enjoy the delicacy of baby carrots and fresh tops before it all gets turned over. The greens are edible, can be run thru the juicer, be made into pesto, soup or dressing.

The photo of the juvenile constrictor, the black snake as we know them, against the blue background is to introduce you to a local friend that is sometimes mistaken for a venomous snake because of its markings. These snakes are a sigh of relief…less fear of stumbling across a copperhead. Only once have i seen a copperhead here, and nowhere near the busy cultivated areas of the farm. Now the black snake on the other hand…see ‘em all the time.

• Squash Blossoms
• Pineapple Sage
• Thai Basil Flowers
• Chervil
• Cucumber
• Micro Color Mix
• Field Salad Mix
• Field Arugula
• Pea Shoots
• Tomatoes

New season for CSA farm shares starts next week! Sign up is possible in person at either our Tuesday or Saturday market, online via CSA form, or form mailed direct. Now a look into the interesting ways your squash blossoms can be utilized: A friend of mine from Mexico uses a simple egg batter to dip them in and then pan fries them to a light brown.  We like to eat them as a desert, stuffed with a sweet cream.  One recipe that came to the forefront was where ricotta and parmesan cheese with herbs was used as stuffing and the batter was simple, of flour and soda water. Emily Ho, on thekitchn.com, compiled these recipe ideas: (Thank you!)

Fried: From Mexico to Italy, frying is one of the most popular ways to prepare squash blossoms. Simply batter and fry them or stuff them first. Cheeses (ricotta, fresh mozzarella, goat cheese) and herbs (basil, thyme, and parsley) make good fillings. Try adding lemon zest to the cheese or season the crispy fried blossoms with a squeeze of lemon juice and sprinkling of coarse salt.
• Recipe inspiration: Fried Squash Blossoms, from The Kitchen

Baked: If deep frying turns you off, or you just want to try something different, you could stuff the blossoms with cheese – savory or sweet – and then bake them in the oven. Steaming is another healthy option.
• Recipe inspiration: Waldy Malouf’s Baked Squash Blossoms with Ricotta and Honey, from New York magazine

Pasta: We sometimes gently tear or make a chiffonade of squash blossoms to serve over pasta, risotto, or salad. The blossoms can also be cooked into a pasta sauce. This is one of our favorite recipes.
• Recipe inspiration: Pappardelle with Zucchini Blossom Sauce, from Orangette

Quesadilla: Squash blossoms are abundant in Mexico, where they are known as flores de calabaza. There’s something very satisfying about the combination of the mildly sweet, squash-y blossoms with creamy cheese.
• Recipe inspiration: Squash Blossom Quesadillas, from Homesick Texan

Soup: How about a fresh, summery soup with squash blossoms?
• Recipe inspiration: Golden Squash Blossom Crema, from Rick Bayless

• Baby Salad Mix
• Field Arugula
• Baby Sorrel
• Baby Kale
• Dill
• Chervil
• Bulk Oregano
• Oregano Flowers
• Spearmint
• 2 Cucumbers
• Jalapeno Peppers

Welcome to our newest members! I’m going to let you know a bit about Mike: Michael Clark has been farming in central Virginia since 1975 ( 42 years), working with both field grown and greenhouse grown herbs and vegetables. Although he has an Engineering degree from UVA and has worked at GE, Sperry Marine, Nimbus Records, and Avcomm, Mike farms fulltime now. His love for the earth and nature plus his vision of a looming collapse of the corporate and financial security that the previous generation was so accustomed to, led him to decide to leave that kind of industry and farm full time, beginning in 1990. He has faithfully been a vendor at the Charlottesville City Market for more than 33 years, rain or shine or wind or snow. His farm has won the “Chesapeake Bay Friendly” Clean Water Award from the Governor. His produce and culinary specialties have been served to dignitaries and film stars, making it to the table of the President of the United States and winning awards for Chefs as far away as Europe. Besides the technical nature of his farming work, his experience ranges from eggs, pesto, hot sauces, jellies and jams to distillation of essential oils and hydrosols from the high quality botanicals produced. Mike worked with The VABF Organic Certification Committee and was a participant in the creation of the original language that brought organic certification to Virginia in 1990. He is the host of “Meet The Farmer TV” at watch.MeetTheFarmer.tv on local cable and Free Speech TV satellite nationwide.

• Pea Shoots
• Baby Arugula
• Field Mix
• Field Tatsoi
• Sage
• Chervil
• Chives
• Tomatoes
• Cucumber

Big topic for us this week as well as an intense job: Michael has just completed his first solar panel installation! Yet another opportunity to strike while the iron is hot, so to speak! I am really excited about this chance to harvest sunlight and produce electricity… many of us are very familiar with the history of mountain top removal, sludge spills and pollution that plague our unending need for consumption of energy: it has been many decades that I have wanted to contribute to the move towards a more sustainable community, and must voice my gratitude for all of the hard work accomplished to make that happen.    

Notice in the top picture Michael has loaded his MIG welding equipment into the bucket of the tractor in order to access hard to reach sites.

In the middle picture, he was climbing the welded frame to balance up top as he fastened the panels one by one.

And lastly, the finished 10.1 kW array! Thank you, to you all for the support over the years …you have helped make this happen! Much love!

Ground Mount Solar Array

• 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.  

• Bell Peppers
• Eggplant Medley
• Yukon Gold Potatoes
• Baby Ginger
• Butternut Squash
• Tomatoes (pick from set)
• Cucumber
• Patty Pan Squash
• Baby Arugula 8×8
• Hatch type green chilies

2016 CSA Fall October 8:

Ginger-  Make a wonderful cold weather tea with baby ginger leaf steeped in almost boiling water sweetened with honey.

Butternut

Winter Squash- Butternut squash 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  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!

2016 CSA    Summer September 24

• Bell Peppers
• Eggplant Mix
• Okra
• Tatsoi 10×10
• Yukon Gold Potatoes
• Fresh dug Baby Ginger
• Tomatoes (pick from set)
• Gourmet Cucumber
• Farm Fresh Eggs
• Baby Arugula 8×8
• “Hatch” peppers

There are several eggplant varieties for you this week to try. Let us know which one you like best because your vote counts! There are many ways to enjoy eggplant and to save some for after frost, consider making baba ghanoush and popping it into the freezer to savor later. Baba ghanoush is easy to make, as it is essentially cooked eggplant pureed into a dip. A basic core recipe for it is 1 eggplant, 1 lemon, garlic, tahini, and salt. There is a nice recipe at http://minimalistbaker.com/simple-baba-ganoush/.

We have a LOT of fresh eggs right now so we included a dozen in your CSA share this week. If you already get eggs as part of your share, your case will include 2 dozen. We also included a couple of Hatch peppers this week for a spike of flavor classic to the southwest. All of our pepper seed comes certified from the Chile Pepper Institute and none of their seeds are genetically modified. Our farm has taken the Safe Seed Pledge so you can rest assured that none of our products contain gmo material. Although no longer certified, we maintain the original organic growing methods that Mike helped to spearhead decades ago. The tomato house was the very first certified organic greenhouse in the state of Virginia.

Don’t forget that this is the last week of this season’s CSA program and now is the time to sign up for next season. Fill out the back and return to us or go online to sign up today. Delicata coming soon!               To your health & pleasure, always, love, leslie.

• First Harvest Baby Ginger
• Bell Peppers
• Eggplant
• Okra
• Yellow Squash
• Gold Bar Zucchini
• Tomatoes
• Gourmet Cucumber
• Patty Pan Squash
• Sorrel bunch
• Beet tops bunch
• Dill
• Baby Salad Mix

Woot! It’s the first harvest of the season for our baby ginger! You will find that this ginger is unlike any kind you have bought at a store. It is very aromatic, tender, almost buttery, without the stringyness or toughness that is found in commercial ginger. Keep your ginger wrapped in the refrigerator until ready to use. Yes, we leave the stalks and the leaves on because the whole plant can be utilized in the kitchen. One chef that uses it skewers it into his roast so that as it is cut, little round medalions are embedded throughout. The leaves can be laid out in aluminum foil, glass baking dish or the like and used as a wrap to infuse your meat or veggies. Ginger is a phenomenal digestive aid, anti-microbial, and great tonic for the body. Try cutting some, including rounds of the inner stalk, into stir-fry for a punch of flavor and to enhance wellbeing. We like to brew it into tea and we also grind it with honey, making it easy to add a dollop to hot water for that cup. To your health and your pleasure!

Ginger Harvest

2016 Ginger Harvest