September 4th, 2024
What’s in your share?
Carrots
Tomatoes
Salad Mix
Celery*
Yellow Storage Onions*
Basil*
Sweet Italian Frying Peppers*
Sweet Bell Peppers
Food is my only art skill.
*Basil - This is the last harvest we’re planning for CSA. The basil is absolutely gorgeous; usually this time of year it gets mildewy and eaten by beetles. Basil does not take well to being washed and then stored, so we didn’t rinse it. You may notice that there is a little dirt on the underside of the leaves. This is because we use overhead irrigation to water the basil, and sometimes the water droplets splash on the soil, which displaces tiny particles of silt that dry on the leaves. Wash it just before you use it and it should be all good. The best way to get the longest shelf life out of your basil is to take the twist tie off and store it in a jar of water, just like a bouquet of flowers.
Fall crops coming in nicely. Ali cultivating in the background. Get ready radicchio lovers (all 3 of you!)
*Yellow Onions - Storage onions have been through the curing process, allowing the several outer layers to dry, providing a barrier from outside pathogens that cause onions to expire. Yellow onions tend to have a higher water content, making them sweeter tasting and great for cooking, but results in a shorter shelf life. Red onions tend to be more pungent and less watery, making them great for eating raw or cooking, resulting in a longer shelf life than yellow onions.
STORAGE: Store out of the fridge in a cool dark place, away from potatoes
*Sweet Italian Frying Peppers - are a staple on our farm. Carmen (red) and Oranos (orange) are both Italian varieties. The flavor is extremely sweet, the walls thick and juicy. We use them in any way that we would use a bell pepper; grilled, roasted on a fire, sautéed with onions and mushrooms in fajitas, or cut into slices and dipped in hummus or baba ganoush.
Last basil for the season. We cut it while it was small and sexy, because these colder nights might take their toll. Just enough for some bruschetta, mini batch of pesto, or a caprese salad.
PEPPER STORAGE: We try not to overload our members with peppers, but if you find them piling up, we highly recommend taking a little time to cut them and freeze them. We never blanch or do anything fancy with our frozen veggies - we simply don’t have time in the height of the summer and the veggies maintain their quality through the winter.
Have you ever smelled this smell? Nothing better.
*Celery - is way harder to grow than you’d think - and its taken us a few seasons to get the hang of it. Admittedly, this season wasn’t as good as last. It requires a lot of water and nutrients, and though it got plenty of water this season, it may have gotten too much, because some of the crowns started to deteriorate. We know there are celery haters out there (Sam is one) but it has a place in lots of dishes. The “strings” can be a turn-off, but peeling the convex side will get rid of those fibers, leaving the creamy flesh. Here is a great tutorial for various ways of How to Cut Celery.
CELERY STORAGE: Celery can last for up to a month if stored properly. First, cut the greens off! These will be the first to expire, and could potentially compromise the life of the ribs. Wrapping your entire head of celery in tin foil WITHOUT THE GREENS may be the best way to store it. Don’t squeeze the foil so tight that it clenches around the celery - you want it to be able to breathe a little -but make sure its closed all the way. Keep it in the crisper drawer of the fridge and it should last for up to a month. More potatoes are coming your way in the next couple weeks, so don’t feel like you need to use up all the celery this week.
This Labor Day we had our 4th Annual Garlic Party, where we shared a meal with the workshares and cleaned the garlic for the season. Hands down best garlic season we've had and it was all from our own seed for the first time :)