CSA Weekly Report: Lancaster Farm Fresh

Thursday, September 06, 2007

In this week’s Lancaster Farm Fresh share:

3 red bell peppers grown by Meadow Valley Organics 6 heirloom tomatoes grown by Riverview Organics 1 pt grape tomatoes grown by Farmdale Organics 3 lbs Russet potatoes grown by Green Valley Organics 6 ears sweet corn grown by Countryside Organics 1 pound onions grown by Scarecrow Hill Farm 2 butternut squash grown by Hillside Organics 1 bunch basil grown by E. Zook 1 bunch Swiss chard grown by Meadow Valley Organics

It’s a relief to see the butternut squash, and the other Winter squash we’ve been getting over the last few weeks.  I hope that as September rolls on, we see many different vegetables.  I love tomatoes, corn, and peppers as much as anyone else, but I’m overrun.  I’m sick to death of looking at them.  I’m pulling a dozen huge tomatoes out of my own garden every week, let alone getting inundated every week through my CSA share.  I’m going to start smelling like tomatoes soon.  Not that it’s a bad thing necessarily, but I fear for my sanity.

And so I will do what I have done for the last many weeks with the corn, peppers, and tomatoes.  The peppers will get roasted and frozen for a rainy day.  I’ll cook the corn, remove the kernels, and freeze them…and I will have a huge abundance of corn over the Winter for corn chowder, corn fritters, and creamed corn.  In addition to my oven-dried tomatoes, roasted tomatoes, canned tomatoes, frozen tomatoes, salsa, bruschetta, tomato sauce, etc., I will seek out yet another way to preserve tomatoes.  I will be the Pvt. Benjamin Buford ‘Bubba’ Blue of corn and tomatoes, able to tell you every imaginable way to serve corn and every imaginable way to preserve tomatoes.  People will run from me.

I shouldn’t complain - it will be wonderful in the middle of Winter to have so much locally grown food in my pantry. 

CSA Weekly Report: Red Earth Farm

Today’s Red Earth Share contained

1 quart of Yukon Gold potatoes
1 quart of green snap beans
1/2 pint of cherry and grape tomatoes mixed
quart of mixed bell peppers
4 heads of garlic
1 bunch of swiss chard
1 head of red summer crisp lettuce

and from the buying club

1 block of Oak Shade cheddar
1 block of Oak Shade smoked cheddar

My friend Jen, who I was splitting the share with, became overwhelmed by all of the produce once she started grad school and suggested that instead of splitting the share equally I take 7 items and she take 3. I thought about making it seem like a hardship just to give her a hard time, but I’m actually thrilled. This means less to buy at the farmer’s market each week. It also means I need to stop slacking and start cooking more. I’ve still got a bunch of leeks left over from last week as well as four poblano peppers. I bought a quart of potatoes from the farmer’s market last week without remembering I’d be getting more today and haven’t used those yet either.

Any suggestions for something to do with the leeks that isn’t leek and potato soup? How about any good Chiles Rellenos recipes to use up the poblanos?

CSA Weekly Report:  Blooming Glen Farm

Tuesday, September 04, 2007

“No more flowers :( ” says Tricia.

Please advise!  Anyone have any idea what to do with that funky sunshine winter squash? 

CSA Weekly Report: Red Earth Farm

This week’s haul:
Nectarines (from Buying Club)
Green Zebra tomatoes—new variety for me. A bit tart, but juicy.
A colorful assortment of bell peppers
Garlic
Italian Basil
Radishes

CSA Weekly Report: Lancaster Farm Fresh

Thursday, August 30, 2007

Upon hearing that another dozen ears of corn would be present in the CSA share from Lancaster Farm Fresh today, I immediately set out to Williams-Sonoma to get my hands on their corn zipper gadget.  For the last few weeks I’ve been using a knife to cut the kernels off cobs of corn, but the corn goes all over the place.  After cutting kernels off of a dozen cobs, my kitchen is positively littered with corn.  And while my dog certainly loves to perform her clean up duty, I hate to lose all that corn.  Alas, Williams-Sonoma was out of the zipper, but had something better: the Good Grips corn stripper.  It’s sound like a rural burlesque show or something, but the stripper has a container that catches the corn as it’s removed from the cob.  I fully expect to be blissfully happy as I process this corn tonight.

That was a little off the subject, but yes, there were a dozen ears of sweet corn grown by Green Acres Organics in today’s Lancaster Farm Fresh share.  Additionally, there was:

• 3 red bell peppers grown by Meadow Valley Organics
• 6 red slicing tomatoes grown by Countryside Organics
• 2 heirloom tomatoes grown by Riverview Organics
• 1 spaghetti squash grown by Elm Tree Organics
• 1 pound onions grown by Scarecrow Hill Farm
• 2 delicata squash grown by Green Valley Organics
• 3 pound bag potatoes grown by Busy Bee Acres or Elm Tree Organics
• One of the following items: 1 bunch escarole grown by Scarecrow Hill Farm, 2 eggplant grown by Riverview Organics, or 1 bunch parsley grown by the Back 40 Ranch (I was lucky enough to get the eggplant)

I am particularly excited to see the spaghetti squash, which I plan to bake and combine with cheese (because everything is better with cheese!).

Coincidentally, I’m told by our site manager that there were supposed to be extra vegetables in the share this week to make up for being shorted a watermelon two weeks ago.  Alas, nothing extra.

CSA Weekly Report:  Blooming Glen Farm

Wednesday, August 29, 2007

Whew.  After our Rhode Island vacation, it seems we’re finally getting back into the swing of things over here.  Readjusting to schedules and responsibilities is always a little slow moving, especially after spending two weeks in a tent at the beach.  We’ve been…  resistant, I’ll say.  I’m happy to report, the vibrant colors at Blooming Glen really softened the CSA pick-up duties this week.

The peppers are out of this world, and I’m quite excited to have received garlic this year.  Pictured is a German White variety, next to some yellow onions.  As one might imagine, we’ve been making some mean stir fries in Souderton lately. 

If you haven’t seen it yet, be sure to check out this great newspaper article, “New crop of farmers comes with college degrees, no farming past” (The Intelligencer, Aug. 25), which features the Blooming Glen farmers, Tricia and Tom.

CSA Weekly Report: Red Earth Farm

Tuesday, August 28, 2007

This week’s CSA share:

Arugula—2 bags. One bag was a substitution for an item I had requested that was unavailable. Perhaps I’ll use one bag for a salad, and one bag for a saute.
Spaghetti Squash
Swiss Chard
Slicing Tomatoes—both red and yellow.
Cucumbers—thinking of making my mom’s wakame and cucumber salad with these.
Peaches (from the buying club)—probably the last of the season.
Oak Shade Cheese Horseradish Cheddar (from the buying club)—made from a dairy farm near the CSA. Has a nice zing of horseradish to it.

Local produce report, 28 August

I basically skipped my usual farmers’ market shopping last week—I picked up some apples and asian pears (asian pears!  in August!), but then I left town for the weekend—so I got this week’s supply of local produce at my neighborhood food co-op instead.  Going clockwise from the top left, I picked up a watermelon, some hormone-free skim milk, two kinds of tofu (one atop the other), red peppers, white mushrooms, zucchini, scallions, and chickpea flour in the center.  Everything except the milk is organic.

Much as I enjoy going to the farmers’ market and speaking to the farmers, it’s wonderful to have more consistent access to local foods.

CSA Weekly Report: Lancaster Farm Fresh

Thursday, August 23, 2007

In yesterday’s Lancaster Farm Fresh CSA share, Autumn snuck in!  That’s right, the first of the Winter Squash!  Having been under a deluge of peppers and tomatoes for the last few weeks (this week included), it’s sort of a relief to be seeing some new vegetables.

The full share list:

3 red bell peppers grown by Meadow Valley Organics 3 Cubanella Peppers grown by Green Valley Organics 1 bunch radishes grown by Elm Tree Organics 4 slicing tomatoes grown by Scarecrow Hill Farm 2 heirloom tomatoes grown by Riverview Organics 8 Roma tomatoes grown by Countryside Organics 6 ears sweet corn grown by Green Acres Organics 2 delicata squash grown by Green Valley Organics 1 blue Hubbard squash grown by Farmdale Organics 1 bag hot Hungarian peppers grown by Farmdale Organics

All those tomatoes and peppers, combined with the large quantity of tomatoes I’ve been pulling out of the garden, guarantee another go-round with the pressure canner.  More sauce?  Sofrito?  Hmmm.

It all comes back to the squash, though.  Since finding out that they were coming my way, I’ve been trying to figure out how I want to use them.  Ideas?  Suggestions?

CSA Weekly Report: Red Earth Farm

I’d completely forgotten about what I’d ordered last week so this week’s share was a surprise.

I ended up with a bunch of leeks, a head of summer crisp lettuce, a bunch of curly kale, a quart of green beans and tomatoes. Lots of beautiful, stripy, red, green, orange, yellow and purple tomatoes.

I’m not a tomato person, but these tomatoes are just so pretty I want to eat them and like them anyway.

We ran out of fruit this morning and since it’s not a fruit share week I stopped at the farmer’s market in Fairmount on my way home from the gym. It was my first time at the Fairmount farmer’s market this year. Unlike the Roxborough farmer’s market there are a couple of different stands. One vendor seemed to be selling meat as well as fruits and vegetables but I didn’t ask any questions. Another vendor ( I wish I’d picked up their flyer) was selling cheese and Bobbi’s Hummus, whose garlic hummus may be the best I’ve ever eaten. The Amish stand, like the stand near my house, was also selling canned and baked goods. 

I appreciated the variety, but compared to my local farmer’s market the prices are outrageous. Corn was selling for 60 cents an ear at one stand and 80 cents an ear at the other. I bought corn for 25 cents an ear last week after complaining that 50 cents an ear was too much at Linvilla Orchards. I did not buy any corn but I did spend just over $20 on fruit. The amount seems exorbitant to me, but then again it’s fruit and it’s only in season for a short time so I may as well enjoy it while I can. 

I bought a quart of apples, a quart of pears, a pint of raspberries, a watermelon, a quart of peaches and a pint of grapes. The pears are ripening in a paper bag, the raspberries were a bit disappointing though Sam will eat them anyway, and I haven’t yet tried the peaches. The watermelon may end up being a vodka depository because my teacher husband goes back to work on Monday and might need a treat. The apples are fantastic. I’m not positive, but I think the farmer told me they were called Sansa. I asked if they were best for cooking or eating. He told me that they’re eating apples and he wasn’t kidding. They are sweet and crisp and my son ate two of them this afternoon.

The grapes are also amazing. I’m so used to eating supermarket grapes that when I bit into a truly grape tasting grape I wondered for a second if it was artificially flavored. These grapes are so good I called my husband from the car on my way back home and told him they were the best grapes I’ve ever eaten.  They’re so good I don’t want to eat them because I don’t want to lose them.  They’re so good I’m saving all of the seeds in the hopes I’ll somehow learn how to plant grapevines in my backyard next year.

I love farmer’s markets.

CSA Weekly Report: Red Earth Farm

Tuesday, August 21, 2007

This week’s share:

Lemon basil- new to me. Smells strongly like lemon balm, tastes lemony and peppery. I haven’t decided what to do with this yet.(Update 8/23: it makes for a lemony but tasty pesto)
Lettuce- normally, I shun lettuce, as I find it boring. For some reason, I found myself in a salad mood when I ordered this.
Sungold cherry tomatoes- intended for the salad, but again, I ate a lot of them on my way home from the pickup.
Slicing tomatoes- love the tomatoes, but I think I should quit while I’m ahead. I admit that I love their full flavor—I cannot eat grocery-store tomatoes anymore.
Perpetual spinach- it’s really a chard. It’s called “perpetual” as its growing season is longer than spinach’s. Mild-tasting, good sauteed, just like spinach.
Pattypan squash- yum.

Farmer’s Market

Monday, August 20, 2007

This week’s Red Earth Farm CSA share contained

1 quart of red slicing tomatoes
1 head of escarole
4 Walla Walla onions
1 pint of tomatillos
1 bunch of perpetual spinach
peaches and nectarines

Feeling like the share just wasn’t enough, I headed to my local neighborhood Farmer’s Market on Friday and picked up

1 red pepper
1 yellow pepper
1 zucchini
1 cantaloupe
6 ears of corn

For dinner last night I made Grilled Vegetable Tostadas with Two Salsas. All of the vegetables for the tostada and the sauces were local, including hot peppers and eggplant from my garden, and I topped the tostadas with local Amish Cheese.

I love that Farm to City facilitates my CSA and ensures that every Friday from June through October a nice Amish family will sell fresh fruits and vegetables (as well as canned goods, baked goods, and crafts) just a few blocks from my house.  For a full list of farmer’s markets check out the Farm to City website. There’s a farmer’s market in different areas of the city and suburbs Monday through Saturday.

CSA Weekly Report: Lancaster Farm Fresh

Thursday, August 16, 2007

I’m told Lancaster Farm Fresh recently changed to a new packing system.  Unfortunately, things don’t seem to be going well - this is the third week in a row I’ve gotten shorted on something.  Last week it was a tomato and a pepper, this week it’s a tomato and a watermelon.  Well…at least most of the produce received looks really good! 

Here’s what was in today’s share (well, supposed to be in today’s share):

3 green bell peppers grown by Meadow Valley Organics
1 bunch basil grown by Scarecrow Hill Farm
3 lbs. potatoes grown by Busy Bee Acres or Hillside Organics
1 watermelon grown by Green Acres and Misty Meadow Organics
4 slicing tomatoes grown by Countryside Organics and Green Valley Organics
3 heirloom tomatoes grown by Riverview Organics and Green Valley Organics
1 pint grape tomatoes grown by Farmdale Organics and Laughing Creek
1 dozen sweet corn grown by Countryside, Green Acres and Elm Tree Organics

I now have about 15 pounds of potatoes lurking in my kitchen from various CSA shares, and I’m wondering what I can do with them.  I’m thinking about using some of them to make a gigantic vat of potato gnocchi.  I also have about three pints of cherry tomatoes from the last few week’s shares and have been contemplating making them into tomato sauce.

CSA Weekly Report: Red Earth Farm

Tuesday, August 14, 2007

This week’s share:
zucchini (for salad, or maybe muffins)
eggplant (to make with a sweet miso sauce)
onions (just to have)
Yukon Gold potatoes (I have potatoes of every color now)
swiss chard (need some greens)
frying peppers (stir-fry is in their future)

CSA Weekly Report: Red Earth Farm

Thursday, August 09, 2007

This week’s share included

1 quart of slicing tomatoes
1 quart of Yukon Gold potatoes
1 quart of green snap beans
2 large zucchini
4 Walla Walla onions

I asked for blue potatoes, but they substituted the Yukon Golds. Not pictured is the jar of honey I picked up from the buying club and the half of the share that went to my friend. 

When I first signed up for the CSA I wasn’t sure just how much produce I’d get each week. I was afraid that if I got a full share I wouldn’t use it all. Unfortunately, almost immediately after receiving our first box back in June I realized that splitting a full share with another person just wasn’t enough for my family. Now I know for next year that a full share is a necessity. I think that this week since I’m going to have to go to the farmer’s market to get more produce anyway, I’m going to roast and freeze the tomatoes for sauce and grate and freeze the zucchini for latkes and bread in the winter.