Week 15 and The Case of "what did we just microwave?"

Hey Everybody,

Week 15 finds the winter squash way ahead of schedule and the tomatoes beginning their slow down that will end soon with no more of those delicious fruits! More lettuces were planted today for fresh salads this Fall.

Spaghetti Squash is in your crates this week and we had never tried it before, so before we let you all crack into one I went out into the staging area (the garage) where all the veggies are brought in and sorted etc. and grabbed a spaghetti squash to try out. You can cut them up or cook them whole. You can bake or microwave. For the sake of speed and not really goodness, we decided to stick it in the microwave whole. I punctured it a few times so it wouldn't build up pressure and explode, set the timer for 12 minutes and off we went. When the timer dinged that it was done, we pulled the squash out of the microwave and let it sit for the prescribed 5 minutes to let the inside steam. When it was done steaming we took a knife, hacked the squash in half, and prepared to take the seed core out and test our spaghetti squash. Well, when we looked inside the squash was very watery in the middle and there was a greenish color all around the edges of the squash. Vicky looked at me and said,"Honey, I don't think we'll be giving out spaghetti squash, it looks horrible." I wasn't ready to throw in the towel. I examined the weird looking squash. I tasted the hot horrible tasting squash, and determined then and there that we had just microwaved..... a honeydew melon.

When we later cooked an actual spaghetti squash it was very good. Hope you enjoy them.

In your crates this week:

Spaghetti Squash
Summer Squash Variety
Tomatoes
Basil
Sweet Peppers
Young Swiss Chard
String Beans
Onions
Cucumbers

Steve and Vicky

Week 14

Hi Everyone,

Week 14 finds many items in the crates. We are including a basket of Big Mama and San Marzano tomatoes, along with the regular Heirlooms and Beefsteaks. The mamas and marzanos are great for bruschetta and salsa. Just a reminder, for you sauce makers out there, we have crates of the Big Mamas and San Marzanos for $15 for 30+ pounds.

This will be the last week for the Cantaloupes. Last year we didn't have much luck with the melons and this year they came on like crazy. Next year we will stagger the planting to get them more throughout the season.

The Patty Pan squash (flying saucer) is cooked like any other squash, you don't have to skin it.

For you Sweet Potato fans...I dug into them yesterday to see how they were doing and found them to be massive and beautiful. They should cure for a couple of weeks after they're dug, so you'll see them coming to a crate near you soon!

Many of the Fall crops have been planted in the last week including, radishes, broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, turnips, kale, a variety of lettuces, kohlrabi, snap and sugar peas, and beets.

In the crates this week:

Tomatoes
White Potatoes
Hot Peppers-the redder the hotter
Squash
Garlic
Eggplant
String Beans
Onions
Basil
Cantaloupe

Steve and Vicky

Week 13

Hi Everyone,

Week 13 finds us relaxed after a nice rain and a day today, 8/13, that was in the 70's with a breeze...how refreshing after a Summer that has been consistently 90 or above everyday. We know we promised a break from the squash, however, a couple of new varieties are coming in a bit quicker than we thought and at least one will be in your crate this week. The yellow and green squash is called zephyr and is a hybrid of summer squash and zucchini. So now you can have all in one! Also, to cut down on the squash onslaught a bit, you will have a few squash blossoms. The female blossom makes the fruit and may have a little tiny squash on the end of it, and the male blossom does not have the fruit on it, but as everyone knows, plays a very important role in making the fruit happen. Without the very important male blossom there would be no fruit at all, none, not a thing. The female would just be hanging there and that would be about it. (excuse me for a moment...what Vicky.....that's enough about the important role the male blossom plays?...okay..sorry....where was I) Oh yeah, the squash blossoms, anyway, they are very edible and if you Google squash blossoms and then click on the seasonal chef site that pops up you'll find a bunch of recipes. We'll post some of those as well. I hesitantly ate one today and found it very tender and for me, it finished with a slight vanilla taste....very nice.

This week we celebrate the beginning of the Ravens season with a pint of purple potatoes...enjoy.

Week 13

Squash blossoms
Rosemary
Corn
Potatoes
Green Beans with a few purple ravens beans mixed in..don't worry they turn green when you cook them
Tomatoes
Beets
Carrots
Squash
Sweet peppers
Cantaloupe


Have a great week!

Steve and Vicky

Week 12

Hi all,

Week twelve, we're halfway through the CSA season! The farm received a
much needed inch of rain yesterday. Many of the crops seemed to just stop growing, but I'm sure with this little kick in the butt things will
get back to business. This will probably be the last week for awhile
that you'll be getting summer squash and zucchini.....whoa...what was that...a group cheer, that's not nice. Green beans and beets make a comeback this week. The new chickens are here and in the coolers. Well, we wanted them smaller and guess what, they are. No more giants in this bunch. Most are the size of your typical rotisserie or broiler chicken four to five pound range and a few that we actually classified as Cornish game hens. In your crates this week will be:

Summer Squash
Cantaloupe
Green Beans
Beets
Swiss Chard
Eggplant
Cucumbers
Basil
Tomatoes

Good eating to one and all!

Steve and Vicky