FALL CSA week 4

Pick List:

potatoes - long island cheese pumpkin - asian greens - onion - beets - turnips -

radishes - garlic - cilantro - brussels sprouts - eggs

KITCHEN LIST:

Preserves!! (jam or kimchi or hot sauce) & multigrain bread

It should come as no surprise to anyone that I am again, writing from a warm office on a very rainy Monday afternoon.  When it comes to doing any sort of office work, I typically put it off and off and feel unsettled at a computer… But this October, due to all the rain, bring it.  This weather is out of control. All we can do at this point, is hope for sunshine before Winter kicks in and the light levels drop incredibly low. As far as the fields are concerned, they are soaking wet with standing water here and there.  We are all pretty over it.

Our big goals for the upcoming week are to plant next year’s garlic crop, dig the rest of the carrots, and basque in whatever sort of sun that will hopefully shine.

Also, if any of you are interested in planting your own garlic now is the time!!  Singulate your garlic cloves and plant

in a sunny location with rich, well-drained soil. Set cloves - root side down 4-6" apart in rows 1-1/2 to 2' apart, and cover with 1-2" of soil.  Next, put down 6" of mulch for winter protection. Look for teeny tiny garlic shoots come late spring/early summer let the plant grow tall shooting out a scape, but trim back before the scape flowers.  Leave in the ground a few more weeks post garlic scape harvest to really size up. That all said, if you happen to lose this sheet of paper between now and Summer 2019- just follow us on instagram to figure out when we harvest scapes to harvesting bulbs.  And yes, you can use your garlic from CSA or any local farm to plant out.

And lastly, on the garlic front- plant your crop near your house to keep vampires at bay- Happy Halloween yall!

TIPS - TRICKS - RECIPES

Author Notes: This recipe will add much-needed spark to your winter diet (and your Thanksgiving spread). Adapted lightly from Momofuku by David Chang and Peter Meehan (Clarkson Potter, 2009) —Genius Recipes

Serves: 4 to 6, as a side  - Prep time: 20 min - Cook time: 35 min

Roasted Brussels Sprouts

2 tablespoons very thinly sliced cilantro stems, plus 1/2 cup leaves 3 tablespoons chopped mint

2 pounds brussels sprouts (smaller ones are better)

2 tablespoons grapeseed or other neutral oil (or 3 cups if frying instead of roasting)

 

Fish Sauce Vinaigrette

½ cup fish sauce (adjust to taste -- some fish sauce brands are saltier) ¼ cup water

2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar

2 tablespoons lime juice

¼ cup sugar

1 garlic clove, minced

2 red bird’s-eye chiles, thinly sliced, seeds intact

Roasted Brussels Sprouts

 Combine the vinaigrette (below), cilantro stems, and mint in a bowl, and set aside.

Peel away any loose or discolored outer leaves, trim the dry end of the stems with a knife, and cut the sprouts in half. Cut any especially large ones in quarters. Do not wash, especially if frying the sprouts. If roasting, and you must, dry very well.

 To roast the brussels sprouts (recommended): Heat the oven to 400 degrees F. Heat 2 tablespoons grapeseed oil (or just enough to evenly coat the bottom of the pan) in 2 oven-safe wide skillets (12 to 14 inches) over medium heat. When the oil slides easily from side to side of the pan, add the brussels sprouts cut side down. When the cut faces of the sprouts begin to brown, transfer the pan to the oven to finish cooking, about 15 minutes. Alternately, if you don't have 2 large skillets or are cooking more sprouts for a larger crowd, roast them in the oven: toss them with 1 tablespoon of oil per pound and spread them on a baking sheet, cut sides down. Roast in the oven, checking for browning every 10-15 minutes, tossing them around with a spatula only once they start to brown nicely.The sprouts are ready when they are tender but not soft, with nice, dark brown color.

To fry the brussels sprouts: Heat 1 1/2 inches of oil in a deep saucepan over medium-high heat until a deep-fry or instant-read thermometer registers 375°F. Line a plate with paper towels. Fry in batches that don’t crowd the pan -- be careful, these will pop and spatter. Brussels sprouts will take about 5 minutes: when the outer leaves begin to hint at going black around the edges—i.e., after the sprouts have sizzled, shrunk, popped, and browned but before they burn—remove them to a paper towel–lined plate or tray.

Serve warm or at room temperature. When ready to serve, divide the brussels sprouts among four bowls (or serve it all out of one big bowl), top with the dressing to taste and cilantro leaves, and toss once or twice to coat.

Fish Sauce Vinaigrette: Combine the fish sauce, water, vinegar, lime juice, sugar, garlic, and chiles in a jar. Taste; If too salty, add more water and/or lime juice. This vinaigrette will keep for up to a week in the refrigerator.

Yall, this recipe below, is an adaptation to one of my very favorite winter recipes that is found in Nigel Slater’s book, TENDER… Sadly, we did not grow lemongrass this year, so if you can get your hands on some please do so.  Otherwise, you should be set for the other ingredients.

Also noteworthy, The squash you are getting today is called, Long Island Cheese.  It is in fact the very best tasting winter squash on the planet. Roast, and use like crazy.  

AND LASTLY, the brussels recipe was sent to me by my best friend who happens to be one of the best cooks i know… enjoy!

FALL CSA week 3

Pick List:

potatoes - winter squash - spinach - leeks - tomatoes - carrots -

peppers - garlic - lettuce - parsley -  ginger - eggs

KITCHEN LIST:

RYE BREAD

COMPANATA

This week has been a complete challenge for me- I got sick then injured- I’M TOTALLY FINE, but I had to step away from so many things, and lean on so many people.  Weeks like this feel like they drag on forever and ever- and as a farmer, it’s pretty difficult to walk away from a harvest on those few beautiful sunny days we had scattered throughout the week.  However, weeks like this are also a strong reminder of how our farm community is so damn special. Ray and Allie led the crew in picking up my slack, and urged me to lay low until feeling top notch.  The support we give each other around here, at times, feels extraordinarily unique. For example, if anyone- and truly anyone - even if you were just hired yesterday and is completely green to the farm- gets a little something in their eye (dust, flies, etc..) Anne Sprague will insist you take a timeout, put your feet up and lay on her couch for 15 minutes while she flushes out the foreign object followed by another 15 minutes of rest.  

Like mother, like daughter, Sarah will drop everything to get people the medical attention they need.  In fact, she has been known to rush people to urgent care on multiple occasions or sit with them in the plant barn until they are feeling more lively.   Bottomline, we at Edgewater may look a little rough around the edges, but there is indeed, a lot of love and compassion.

In other news, there was a real deal frost last Wednesday and Thursday night.  Every year, I am absolutely amazed by how a frost seriously decimates a crop. It’s as if one day everything is happy and beautiful and healthy and the next day you wake up to see that the the angel of death paid a visit last night wiping out every bit of pepper, eggplant, tomatoes, flowers, etc.. along the way.  Thankfully, this year we were emotionally ready for the frost and the next phase of fall.

And so begins the annual Fall button up… this starts with removing all of the rebar, drip tape, trellis strings, etc from the fields and ends somewhere in November with a Pancake breakfast provided by Anne Sprague.  Again, a reminder of so much love and compassion that exists on River Road- pancake breakfast for the betterment of the humans, and drip tape removal for the betterment of the land.

TIPS - TRICKS - RECIPES

 This recipe yields 1 to 1 1/4 cups dressing.

• 1 large carrot, peeled and roughly chopped

• 1 small shallot, peeled and roughly chopped

• 2 tablespoons roughly chopped fresh ginger

• 2 tablespoons white miso

• 2 tablespoons rice vinegar

• 2 tablespoons toasted sesame seed oil

• 1/4 cup grape seed or another neutral oil

• 2 tablespoons water

Make the dressing: Whiz the carrots, shallot and ginger in a blender or food processor until finely chopped. Scrape down the sides, then add the miso, vinegar and sesame oil. While the machine running, slowly drizzle in the grape seed oil and the water.

Tortilla española 8 Servings

Here’s your chance to master one of Spain’s classics,: tortilla española. The key is to leave the eggs slightly undercooked; that’s what gives this a custardy (not bouncy) texture.

• 1 tablespoon plus 2 cups olive oil 1 medium yellow onion, thinly sliced

• Kosher salt 8 large eggs

• 2 medium waxy potatoes (about ¾ lb.), peeled, cut into ¾” pieces

• Heat 1 Tbsp. oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add onion, season with salt, and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened and dark brown, 35–40 minutes. Let cool slightly.

• Meanwhile, heat potatoes and remaining 2 cups oil in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat until oil around potatoes begins to bubble; reduce heat to medium and cook until potatoes are tender but have not taken on any color, 10–12 minutes. Drain potatoes, reserving oil. Season potatoes with salt and let cool slightly.

• Combine eggs, onion, potatoes, and ¼ cup reserved potato cooking oil in a large bowl and gently beat with a fork.

• Heat 3 Tbsp. reserved potato cooking oil in a 10” nonstick skillet over medium heat (reserve remaining oil for another use). Add egg mixture and cook, lifting at edge and tilting skillet to let uncooked egg run underneath, until bottom and edge of tortilla are set but center is still wet.

• Set a large plate on top of skillet. Swiftly invert tortilla onto plate, then slide back into skillet, cooked side up. Cook until center is just set, about 2 minutes longer. Cut into wedges.

Potato leek soup  Makes 8 first-course or 4 main-course Servings

• 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter

• 1 large leek (white and pale green parts only), thinly sliced

• 1 large garlic clove, minced

• 4 large potatoes (about 2 1/4 pounds), peeled, cut into 1/2-inch pieces

• 2 large carrots, peeled, cut into 1/2-inch pieces

• 4 cup low-salt chicken broth

• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill or 1 tablespoon dried

• 3/4 cup milk

• 4 ounces cream cheese

• 1 cup grated sharp cheddar cheese (about 3 ounces)

• Chopped fresh parsley (optional)

• Additional grated sharp cheddar cheese (optional)

• Melt butter in heavy large pot over medium heat. Add leek and garlic; sauté until tender but not brown, about 4 minutes. Add potatoes and carrots; sauté 5 minutes longer. Add chicken broth and dill; simmer uncovered until vegetables are tender, about 20 minutes. Remove from heat.

• Add milk to soup. Transfer half of soup to blender. Add cream cheese and blend until smooth. Return soup to pot. Add 1 cup grated sharp cheddar cheese and stir over low heat until melted. Season soup to taste with salt and pepper. DO AHEAD Can be made 1 day ahead. Chill. Bring to simmer before serving. Transfer to large serving bowl. Garnish soup with chopped fresh parsley and additional grated sharp cheddar cheese, if desired.

Here’s your chance to master one of Spain’s classics,: tortilla española. The key is to leave the eggs slightly undercooked; that’s what gives this a custardy (not bouncy) texture.

• 1 tablespoon plus 2 cups olive oil 1 medium yellow onion, thinly sliced

• Kosher salt 8 large eggs

• 2 medium waxy potatoes (about ¾ lb.), peeled, cut into ¾” pieces

• Heat 1 Tbsp. oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add onion, season with salt, and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened and dark brown, 35–40 minutes. Let cool slightly.

• Meanwhile, heat potatoes and remaining 2 cups oil in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat until oil around potatoes begins to bubble; reduce heat to medium and cook until potatoes are tender but have not taken on any color, 10–12 minutes. Drain potatoes, reserving oil. Season potatoes with salt and let cool slightly.

• Combine eggs, onion, potatoes, and ¼ cup reserved potato cooking oil in a large bowl and gently beat with a fork.

• Heat 3 Tbsp. reserved potato cooking oil in a 10” nonstick skillet over medium heat (reserve remaining oil for another use). Add egg mixture and cook, lifting at edge and tilting skillet to let uncooked egg run underneath, until bottom and edge of tortilla are set but center is still wet.

• Set a large plate on top of skillet. Swiftly invert tortilla onto plate, then slide back into skillet, cooked side up. Cook until center is just set, about 2 minutes longer. Cut into wedges.

Potato leek soup  

Makes 8 first-course or 4 main-course Servings

• 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter

• 1 large leek (white and pale green parts only), thinly sliced

• 1 large garlic clove, minced

• 4 large potatoes (about 2 1/4 pounds), peeled, cut into 1/2-inch pieces

• 2 large carrots, peeled, cut into 1/2-inch pieces

• 4 cup low-salt chicken broth

• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill or 1 tablespoon dried

• 3/4 cup milk

• 4 ounces cream cheese

• 1 cup grated sharp cheddar cheese (about 3 ounces)

• Chopped fresh parsley (optional)

• Additional grated sharp cheddar cheese (optional)

• Melt butter in heavy large pot over medium heat. Add leek and garlic; sauté until tender but not brown, about 4 minutes. Add potatoes and carrots; sauté 5 minutes longer. Add chicken broth and dill; simmer uncovered until vegetables are tender, about 20 minutes. Remove from heat.

• Add milk to soup. Transfer half of soup to blender. Add cream cheese and blend until smooth. Return soup to pot. Add 1 cup grated sharp cheddar cheese and stir over low heat until melted. Season soup to taste with salt and pepper. DO AHEAD Can be made 1 day ahead. Chill. Bring to simmer before serving. Transfer to large serving bowl. Garnish soup with chopped fresh parsley and additional grated sharp cheddar cheese, if desired.

CSA week 2

6 days late due to family wedding and so many shenanigans, my deepest apologies everyone!

Pick List:

sweet potatoes - kale - hot pepper - tomatoes - onion - garlic - brussel sprouts - corn -

pumpkin - ginger - eggs

KITCHEN LIST:

BIG BREAD

HOT PEPPER MUSTARD

forgo the fancy vegetable photoshoot this week due to lack of time, so instead i present you a photo of roy eating the freshest big bread from week 2’s pick up.

Here we go FALL CSA week 2!

Writing from a warm office on this very wet and dreary Monday.  I could be picking right now, but have chosen to look ahead to the next few days to harvest.  All I can say is, Thank goodness for Tuesday and the sun that will shine. We are expecting a hard frost this coming week- Thursday and Friday night the lows will dip into the high 20’s, potentially decimating our peppers and eggplants and field tomatoes… To be perfectly candid with you all, I’m not mad about it.  

There comes a time in the season when it finally feels good to walk away from a crop and say, “farewell dear friend, see you again next year”- that’s pretty much where I am at right now.  

That said, we still have so much in the ground that will not be affected negatively by the cold.  In fact many of the crops will sweeten up with the frost- broccoli, brussels, and all the other brassicas are among those vegetables that will thrive in the colder elements… to a point of course.

Also, our new pack shed is really proving itself.  As the potatoes, carrots, and beets, are dug and sorted, they are then stacked- three Bins high- in the cooler.  It’s pretty impressive. Currently, the forklift is one of the most valuable members of the crew. Bottomline, we welcome the frost as there is plenty of food in the field and coolers to feed us all well into January.  

TIPS - TRICKS - RECIPES

Fire Cider

½ cup grated fresh horseradish root

• ½ cup or more fresh chopped onions

• ¼ cup or more chopped garlic

• ¼ cup or more grated ginger

• Chopped fresh or dried cayenne pepper ‘to taste’. Can be whole or powdered.  ‘ To Taste’ means should be hot, but not so hot you can’t tolerate it. Better to make it a little milder than to hot; you can always add more pepper later if necessary.

• Optional ingredients; Turmeric, Echinacea, cinnamon, etc.

1. Place herbs in a half-gallon canning jar and cover with enough raw unpasteurized apple cider vinegar to cover the herbs by at least three to four inches.  Cover tightly with a tight fitting lid.

2. Place jar in a warm place and let for three to four weeks.  Best to shake every day to help in the maceration process.

3. After three to four weeks, strain out the herbs, and reserve the liquid.

4. Add honey ‘to taste’.  Warm the honey first so it mixes in well.  “To Taste’ means your Fire Cider should taste hot, spicy, and sweet.  “A little bit of honey helps the medicine go down……”

5. Rebottle and enjoy!  Fire Cider will keep for several months unrefrigerated if stored in a cool pantry.   But it’s better to store in the refrigerator if you’ve room.

A small shot glass daily serves as an excellent tonic Or take teaspoons if you feel a cold coming on.

Take it more frequently if necessary to help your immune system do battle.

serves: 3-4

notes: Use regular potatoes if you like and any kind of greens that strike your fancy. This soup is rather easy going.

1 tbsp grapeseed or coconut oil

1 small onion, diced

5-6 cloves of garlic, minced or pressed

1/3 cup french/brown lentils, rinsed + picked over

1 medium sweet potato, cut into 1/2-1 inch dice (peeling is optional)

5 cups vegetable stock (or 1 veggie bouillon cube + 5 cups water)

4-5 cups of roughly cut, sturdy greens (mustard greens, kale, cabbage, collards)

juice of 1/2 a lemon

salt + pepper

Heat the oil in a soup pot over medium heat. Add the onions and sauté until they are quite soft, about 4 minutes. Add the garlic and sauté until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add the lentils and diced sweet potato and stir them about to coat in the oil. Season with salt and pepper.

Add the stock to the pot and bring to a boil, stirring the pot here and there. Lower the heat to a simmer and cook until the sweet potatoes/lentils are just soft, about 15 minutes. Add the greens and give the pot a stir. Allow them to wilt just slightly. Add the lemon juice, taste for seasoning and serve the greens soup hot with chili flakes, drizzles of extra virgin olive oil and whatever else you like.

GINGER!!

I am completely and totally in love with this crop.  If you are not planning on using in the next 5 days, put it in a plastic freezer safe bag, and stick it in your freezer.  From there you can take it out and grate or chop into whatever meal/potion you are making. The beauty of this ginger is that it is tender enough to eat fresh.  I plan on making a ton of fire cider with it and perhaps another batch of kimchi. I’m also a big fan of cutting into slivers and throwing it in a broth. These days, we’ve been making weekly batches of chicken soup with big chunks of carrots, onions, garlic and ginger thrown in for the broth.  Other ideas for ginger include: juicing, boiled for tea, and one of my all time favorites: CARROT-GINGER-MISO DRESSING- Go ahead and give that a google, you will not be disappointed. Smittenkitchen.com has an excellent recipe for that.

FALL CSA: week 1

PICK-LIST

potatoes - carrots - green tomatoes - a radish bunch or a cucumber or a kol rabi -

shishito peppers - sweet pepper - cayenne pepper - napa cabbage -

bok choy - raspberry - watermelon - cilantro - eggs

KITCHEN LIST:

spicy zucchini bread - potato leek soup

BONUS LIST:  

B.Y.O .Bouquet

Leftover farmstand greens and herbs (first come first served)

HERE WE GO FALL CSA!!  

I am overjoyed by the start of the Fall CSA Season- bring on the roots, the cool crisp greens, those summer crops that keep hanging on (hello watermelon) and the 5 day work week!  BOOM!

Bottomline y’all, welcome and I do hope you dig the next 7 weeks.

That said, let’s move on to the more pressing information that will certainly affect your weekly share.  A few weeks ago, our chickens were attacked. While the majority of the hens made it, there were 30 casualties along the way.  So this week, we start you all off with a ½ dozen eggs. Perhaps as the weeks progress, there maybe a chance at a dozen as our supply starts to grow again. But, don’t count on it.  

I’m actually pretty blown away by this change of pick-list.  It’s a real first for us. The beauty behind a CSA is that the community invests in the farm up-front.  As a result, the CSAer has pretty low expectations of what the weekly share will look like, and ideally rolls with whatever the season supplies the farmers.  To put it bluntly, there is always a risk of crop failure and as a share-holder, you are aware of that risk. However, In all my years of running the CSA, we have never truly had a crop entirely fail.  Enter, the runaway dog that certainly affected one of my most beloved crops- the chickens. There is a real lesson in CSAmenship happening right here and I do hope you are ok rolling with the punches. To soften the blow, here is a pint of raspberries.

TIPS - TRICKS - RECIPES

Kimchi   (taken from Sandor Katz's Wild Fermentation)

Yall- i made this back in JULY, and i am still enjoying daily- not kidding here people… I hear a little lacto-fermented food a day keeps the doc away, so dig in!

Makes 1 quart

sea salt 1 pound chinese cabbage (napa or bak choi) a few radishes

1­-2 carrots 1­-2 onions, leeks, a few scallions, or shallots 3-­4 cloves of garlic

3-­4 hot red chilies, depending on how hot you like your food, or any form of hot pepper, fresh, dried, or in a sauce

3 tablspn fresh grated ginger root

Mix a brine of 4 cups water and 4 tablespoons of salt. The brine should taste good and salty. Coarsely chop the cabbage, slice the radish and carrots, and let the vegetables soak in the brine, covered by a plate or other weight to keep the vegetables submerged until soft. This can take a few hours or overnight is even better. Add other vegetables to the brine such as snow peas, seaweeds, Jerusalem artichokes, anything you like.

Prepare the spices: grate the ginger, chop the garlic an onion, remove seeds from the chilies and chop or crush, or throw them in whole. Kimchi can absorb a lot of spice. Mix spices into a paste. You can add fish sauce to the spice paste, just make sure it has no chemical preservatives which function to inhibit microorganisms.

Drain brine of vegetables after soaking. Reserve the brine. Taste the vegetables for saltiness. You want them salty but on unpleasantly so. If they are too salty, rinse them. If you cannot taste the salt, sprinkle a couple teaspoons and mix.

Mix the vegetables with the ginger-­chili­-onion­-garlic paste. Mix everything together and stuff it into a clean quart size jar. Pack it lightly, pressing down until brine rises. If necessary, add a little of the reserved, vegetable­ soaking brine to the submerged vegetables. Weigh them down with a small jar, or a zip­lock bag filled with some brine. If you remember, you can just push them down with your fingers. Cover the jar to keep our dust and flies. Ferment in your kitchen or other warm place. Taste it every day. After about a week, when it tastes ripe, move it to the refrigerator or cool storage space like a root cellar or a hole in the ground.

Serves 4-6

Although this salad can be made at the last minute, it doesn’t suffer from being dressed hours earlier, which makes it a good picnic salad. Add the peanuts just before serving so they’ll be nice and crunchy.

THE SALAD

½ cup skinned raw peanuts 1 teaspoon peanut oil 1 large carrot

4 cups thinly sliced Napa cabbage 2 cups slivered bok choy leaves

3 thin scallions, including some of the greens, finely sliced diagonally

¼ cup chopped cilantro 2 tablespoons chopped mint leaves

2 tablespoons torn basil leaves, Preferably Thai basil

THE DRESSING

½ cayenne chile, finely diced ¼ cup rice vinegar 1 teaspoon sugar

¼ teaspoon sea salt ¼ cup roasted peanut oil

1. Heat the peanuts in the oil over medium-low heat, shaking the pan occasionally, until lightly browned after a few minutes. Blot with paper towels and set aside.

2. Peel the carrot with a vegetable peeler and discard the skins. Then, with the vegetable peeler, continue removing long strips of the carrot until you’ve reached the core.

3. Combine the cabbage, bok choy,, and carrot with everything except the nuts.

4. Whisk the dressing ingredients together and toss with the greens. Add the peanuts just before serving.

CSA WEEK 17

Pick List:

Spicy greens mix - cilantro - red potatoes - beets - carrots - red kuri squash -

green beans - leeks - habanada peppers (not spicy!) - plum tomatoes

KITCHEN CSA:

polenta romesco casserole aka POLENTA REIMAGINED

Again as last week, writing from inside the farm office on this very wet and cold Tuesday afternoon.  First I want to mention that our Farmstand closes for the season on Monday October 8th at 5:30pm- Bottomline, you all have exactly 5 days to really get into the Fall spirit via pumpkins, 50# bags of potatoes, and out-of-sight hot sauce to warm you up on the chilliest of nights.  

That aside, HAPPY 17 WEEKS OF CSA DAY!!!!  Y’all we did it! All of us came together over the last 17 weeks in one way or another, to contribute to this ongoing, ever-changing, farm to face experiment.  Field crew and I picked, farmstand crew washed and bagged, Roy and I boxed and delivered, and you all cooked & ate!!! We began the season in June with strawberries and greens, and we end today in October with potatoes and Winter squash and more greens.  Sidenote:  So grateful for the return of the greens.  For many of you, this is your very last CSA day of the year, and i do hope you cherish your very last CSA winter squash and leeks as long as possible (luckily they have a long shelf life).  However, for the other many of you, next week begins the Fall CSA- Which i am eternally grateful for, as it keeps us pumped about the growing season well into the Fall and it involves fresh bread… and holy cow, Emily makes killer bread.  

As we wind down our Summer CSA I want to recognize all of you that showed up, picked up your share, ate our crops, fed your families and followed along with our growing season.  From the bottom of my heart, THANKYOU!!! As mentioned above, our CSA is an ever changing experiment. I typically begin every week carte blanche and then head to the fields to see what we have the most of.  I talk to Ray about our bigger bulk crops (tomatoes, strawberries, carrots, etc) and I talk Mike about the smaller things like greens and herbs, etc… From input received from the fields and conversation, I put together a sample box with the intention of combining foods that not only are easily harvested but also go together (think: tomato + basil, cucumbers + dill, potatoes + leeks, garlic + everything).  From then on, it’s a mystery to me whether or not y’all - our community - is digging the share. I can only hope that you are enjoying the week to week mystery as much as I am.

Regardless, you all are essential to my feeling of community during a season when our heads are typically to the ground and our hands are moving as fast as they can, picking and bunching and washing and packaging.  The summer moves too fast around here and there is never enough time to just hang out - BUT - this group of CSAers that return year after year, helps me feel connected to our greater Upper Valley. Again, a huge Thank you for eating our food, being a part of our community, and taking a risk in your Summer time eats.

Happy Fall to Winter to Spring everyone!

(and for those staying on for the fall CSA, see you next Wednesday at the farmstand 5-6 pm

TIPS - TRICKS - RECIPES:

Habanada Peppers

THE FOLLOWING IS COPY + PASTED FROM THE BAKER CREEK HEIRLOOM SEED CATALOGUE CUSTOMER FAVORITE! The world’s first truly heatless habenero! Bred by well known organic plant breeder Michael Mazourek. Habanada is the product of natural breeding techniques. This exceptional snacking pepper has all of the fruity and floral notes of the habenero without any spice (even the seeds are sweet and add to the flavor). These 2-3 inch tangerine fruits stole the show at the 2014 Culinary Breeding Network Variety Showcase, where the fruits were made into a stunning sherbert. This exotic new pepper is sure to be the darling of the culinary scene, making it an excellent choice for market farmers, chefs and foodies.

BOTTOMLINE, THESE ARE SWEET PEPPERS

serves: 4-5

notes: I steam the squash so that I can retain the clean shape of it, but you could make this with some leftover roasted squash if you have it on hand.

 dressing:

juice of 1 lemon (about 1/4 cup) 2 tbsp agave nectar

salt and pepper 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil

salad:

1 small butternut squash, peeled 1 cup green lentils, picked through and rinsed

5-6 handfuls spicy greens 1/4-1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese

salt and pepper

 Cook the lentils: combine the rinsed lentils with 3 cups of water and a pinch of salt in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Bring to a boil and simmer for 15 minutes or until lentils are just tender and most of the liquid is absorbed. Stir here and there while they’re cooking. Set aside when done.

Steam the squash: fill a large pot with an inch or two of water and bring to a boil. Cut the peeled squash in half lengthwise. Scoop out the seeds and slice both halves into 1/2 inch slices crosswise. Place slices on a steamer basket and drop into the pot of boiling water. Cover and steam for about 15-20 minutes or until squash is tender, but still has a little toothsome quality.

Make the dressing: combine all dressing ingredients in a blender and blend on high until combined. Set aside. You could whisk them all together too.

Assemble: toss the lentils and greens with 3/4 of the dressing. Season with salt and pepper.  Place this mixture onto your serving plate. Top with the cooked squash slices. Pour remaining dressing over top. Sprinkle the top with feta and serve.

3/4lb potatoes 3 cups cubed pumpernickel bread (or any old bread you like)

1/4 cup olive oil, divided 2 leeks, cut in half, cleaned and cut into 3/4 inch pieces

1.5 tbsp dijon mustard 2 tbsp white wine vinegar

juice of half a lemon 1/4 cup reserved cooking liquid from potatoes/leeks

salt and pepper 3-4 sprigs flat leaf parsley, leaves finely sliced

Make the croutons: heat oven to 350 degrees F. Toss croutons with 1 tbsp of the olive oil, salt and pepper. Arrange in one layer on a parchment lined baking sheet. Place in the oven. Stir croutons up periodically for even browning. They take about 15 minutes.

Start the potatoes: place the potatoes in a large pot and cover with cold water and a fat pinch of salt. Bring to a boil and keep at a lively simmer for about 15 minutes or until tender when pierced with a knife. Remove potatoes with a slotted spoon and set aside.

Bring the water back to a boil and place the leeks in. Simmer for about 10 minutes or until soft. Remove with a slotted spoon and place in a blender.

Make the dressing: to the cooked leeks, add dijon, white wine vinegar, lemon juice, 1/4 cup of potato/leek cooking water, remaining oil, salt and pepper. Blend until thoroughly pureed, being careful with the whole warm liquid blending thing. Pour into a small saucepan and keep on low while you cut the potatoes.

Cut potatoes into little wedges or dices (they should still be warm). Place in serving dish and drizzle warm dressing on top. Place croutons and chopped herbs on top and serve.

CSA WEEK 16

Pick List:

red onions - corn - spinach - brussel sprouts - green beans - cayenne peppers -

eggplant - tomatoes - heirloom tomatoes - russet potatoes - zinnias

KITCHEN CSA:

Raspberry Apple Sauce & FRESH BREAD

Writing from inside the farm office on this very wet and cold Tuesday afternoon (hoorah for finishing up with CSA pick in good season, this by the way is a rarity).  Anyhow, this week our region finally began to feel the first flirtations with Fall. As the leaves change, so to do the food we eat- we are heavy into soups at our house right now.  The past two weeks of soup are basically comprised of all the extra CSA veggies going into a pot, and cooking til boil- an easy meal to continually reheat at the day’s end.

This week was far less eventful then last week (thank goodness no bee stings).  Field crew is still working to keep up with cherry tomato ripening, raspberry picking, carrot and onion packing, etc… Mike and Ray are typically harvesting potatoes every night until about 8 pm... and I have been picking up chicken eggs, helping in the packhouse, picking your spinach, but mostly blurring the lines between parenting and farming.

About your veggies:  This week you get a special appearance by the brussels sprout!! Typically we wait until after the first frost to harvest the stalks as the cold frost really sweetens them up.  However our crop is showing signs of alternaria. Alternaria are parasites that can destroy a brassica crop.  Though the infection is mostly cosmetic, it can affect storage as the damage made by the parasites provide entry for secondary soft-rotting organisms.  So while we would love to leave these stalks in the field a while longer, picked after frost on an as needed basis, because of the infection we risk watching the entire crop turn yellow and eventually shrivel.  So, please do not be disappointed by your early picked brussels, just add more butter/oil/maple syrup.

And in case anyone is wondering about their yellowing eggplant (yes, some of you are lucky to get the golden eggplant) let it be known, the yellowing is from sun exposure and is perfectly suitable for eating.

LASTLY YALL, I NEED TO REMIND YOU ABOUT FALL CSA SIGN UP!!  

If you want to continue to eat with us throughout the Fall (and i hope you do), head to our website http://www.edgewaterfarm.com/fall for all the info and please email me with any questions.  Cheers!

TIPS - TRICKS - RECIPES:

Roasted Za’atar Eggplant Bowl https://goop.com/recipes/roasted-zaatar-eggplant-bowl/

We love the kick of za’atar with the creaminess of the cooked eggplant, onion and yogurt lemon dressing

1 eggplant, peeled and chopped into 1-inch cubes 1 large onion, peeled and thinly sliced

2 tablespoons za’atar (Middle Eastern spice that can be found in most spice aisles)

1 bay leaf 1/2 cup quinoa, cooked

1/2 cup brown rice, cooked olive oil

sea salt + black pepper

for the yogurt lemon dressing:

1 tablespoon Greek yogurt juice of 1 lemon

1 small clove of garlic 1/2 tablespoon tahini

3 tablespoons olive oil sea salt + pepper

1. Preheat oven to 375°F. Spread the eggplant on a baking sheet and sprinkle with za’atar until coated. Drizzle with olive oil (about two tablespoons). Cook for about 10 minutes, remove from oven and shake the baking sheet to move the eggplant around (for even cooking). Place back in oven for another 10 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, caramelize the onions: Coat a large pan with olive oil and place over medium heat. Sauté onions with bay leaf until soft and deeply caramelized, about 15 minutes, stirring every few minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

3. To make the dressing, finely grate the garlic into a mixing bowl. Add the yogurt, lemon juice and tahini. Mix. Slowly drizzle in olive oil while whisking to incorporate. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

4. Place equal amounts of quinoa and brown rice into two serving bowls or sealable food containers. Top with the eggplant and onion mixture. Drizzle the dressing over the bowls to your liking.

INGREDIENTS

• 1/2 cups apple cider vinegar 1 tablespoon sugar

• 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt 1 red onion, thinly sliced

• Whisk first 3 ingredients and 1 cup water in a small bowl until sugar and salt dissolve. Place onion in a jar; pour vinegar mixture over. Let sit at room temperature for 1 hour. DO AHEAD: Can be made 2 weeks ahead. Cover and chill. Drain onions before using.

• JENNY’S NOTES:  THIS IS ONE OF OUR FAVORITE PICKLED FOODS TO KEEP IN THE FRIDGE- OBVIOUSLY GOES GREAT WITH TACOS, BUT ALSO CAN TAKE A SALAD, A ROAST, SANDWICH OR EVEN EGGS TO THE NEXT LEVEL

CSA WEEK 15

Pick List:

 potatoes - jalapenos - carmen peppers - tomatoes - cherry tomatoes -

winter squash - onion - garlic - spinach - cilantro

KITCHEN CSA:

Sides of September: potatoes, delicata squash, green beans, and ENCHANTRESS DRESSING

Alright ya’ll, to be perfectly honest we are completely behind with most things around here.  Thankfully, the weather has tricked us into thinking we are still in August, but something tells me that as we go about our business over the next few days, with more seasonal weather weather surrounding us, we will be reminded of all the potatoes that need digging, the cherry tomatoes that need picking, the chickens that need moving, the winter squash that is begging to be picked up out of the field and stored, and so on and so forth.  

On the winter squash pumpkin harvest:  For those of you that keep up with local news, or even just go outside, you will notice or have read about this season’s acorn bumper crop and the Upper Valley squirrel population that is thriving.  The population of squirrels is on the rise and as a result, our crop of winter squash is on the low. They are literally demolishing every bit of butternut, delicata, acorn, spaghetti, buttercup, red kuri, that they can sink their grubby little teeth in to, leaving orange and green crumbs in their wake.  As a result, my hatred of squirrels in on the rise (sorry PETA and other small critter loving humans). And we are literally cheering on our dog with every squirrel she battles as she is our one form of pest control. Our goal, of course, is to pick the squash out of the field as fast as possible, but with everything else around the farm that needs tending to, it’s hard to prioritize.  So please, enjoy your winter squash this week, and over the next few weeks. And if you see a squirrel, feel free to give it the evil eye for me, or better call for Sugar (our dog).

In other (and way more important) news:  This week our dear friend and beloved tractor driver George, mowed a bit too close to the bees we keep on our farm for our neighboring apiarist, Troy Hall.  In no time he was swarmed and got stung hundreds of times. Y’all, at 87 years old, this man is an actual legend. He jumped off the mower and ran across the field trying to escape the swarm.  THANKFULLY, he survived and is now home with his wife, Margie recovering from last Friday’s events that landed him an overnight stay at the hospital due to severe swelling and anaphylactic shock.  This will certainly take him some time to recover, but I bet as soon as he gets his bearings he will be back to tractor work. Or maybe, just maybe he will take up golf and 3 o’clock gin & tonics, GET WELL SOON GEORGE!!  

TIPS - TRICKS - RECIPES: 

THE VERY SIMPLEST Pico de gallo RECIPE… BYO CHIPS

• 1 medium white onion, diced 4 cups diced tomatoes (DESEEDED)

• 1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro 2 tablespoon minced jalapeño (optional)

• Kosher salt lime to taste

Combine all ingredients in a bowl, mix, and devour with your chip/taco of choice… make ahead of time to let the flavors really shine here.  

 

ROASTED TOMATO SOUP WITH GOAT CHEESE  

From Lucid Food by Louisa Shafia  ...makes 4 servings 

Make sure you have enough liquid (about 3 inches or so, or enough to fully cover the head of the blender) before you start the immersion blender.  If the liquid is too shallow, the blender will fling it around your kitchen.  

12 ripe tomatoes 2 cloves garlic, peeled and smashed

1 yellow onion, coarsely chopped 1 tablespoon honey

2 springs fresh rosemary 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

4 tablespoons olive oil Salt and pepper

1 bay leaf 1/4 cup fresh goat cheese

Heat oven to 425 degrees F.

 Core and quarter tomatoes, and remove and reserve the seeds for the stock.  In a large bowl, toss the tomatoes with the garlic, onion, honey (if using) or pitted, halved plum, rosemary, 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar, 3 tablespoons of the olive oil, and a dash of salt.  Spread the mixture on a baking sheet and roast for 40 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove the rosemary .

 Combine the tomato seeds, bay leaf, and 1 cup water in a pot and bring to a boil over high heat.  Lower heat and simmer, uncovered, for 15 minutes. Strain the stock into a bowl. Rinse the pot and return the stock to it, and add the roasted tomatoes.  Bring to a boil over high heat, then lower heat and simmer, uncovered, for 5 minutes.

 Turn heat off and let soup cool a tiny bit.  Add goat cheese and remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil and blend 'til smooth with an immersion blender.  Or pour the soup carefully into a blender or food processor and blend 'til smooth. Season to taste with salt, and reheat a bit if necessary.

 Garnish each bowl with a few drops of balsamic vinegar, a few grinds of black pepper, and perhaps a little rosemary if you wish.

CSA WEEK 14

Pick List:

 plum tomatoes - cherry tomatoes - heirloom tomatoes -  carmen peppers - shishito peppers -

leeks - beets - buttercup squash - kale

KITCHEN CSA:

dilly relish & hot pepper sauce

Writing on a rainy Monday afternoon!  Thank you all for your rain dances and other forms of rain praise and wishes.  Currently the field crew is huddled in the office together, celebrating Jasper’s birthday, eating Chinese Food and ice-cream cake.  Let it be known that one of the HUGE perks of signing on to a season with Edgewater Farm field crew, are the killer birthday parties.  Despite all the good-grown food and bumping farmstand kitchen, we as a team resort to pizza or chinese food, and a very special price-chopper bought carvel ice-cream cake come birthdays.  This food, “locally sourced” in West Lebanon, somehow really hits the spot when working long hours, 6-7 days a week, and surrounded by fields of tomatoes, peppers, melons, berries, etc… because sometimes, you just want take-out.  

After the singing and candles and near food coma, the field-crew then piles on all the rain gear (in case you are ever in the market, go check out Grundens rain suits, field crew tested, heavy duty fishermen approved).  They are off to pick plum and cherry tomatoes for the rest of the afternoon because, September.

While I am emotionally far from saying goodbye to sun-filled, hot day, swim season- we are all completely welcoming this cooler weather.  For the CSAer, the cooled down temps mean more greens (hallelujah! How i’ve missed you so!). When figuring out the CSA shares week to week, I often consult the weather.  If it’s in the 80’s or 90’s during pick or delivery, any greens will melt in a heartbeat (aside from cabbage and bok choy). So i was pumped to see 60’s-70’s for Tuesday and wednesday, enter KALE!  However, you will all take issue with this kale. Though it is extremely fresh and delicious and beautiful, it’s got bugs. The aphids have taken over the kale crop and the lady bugs just can’t keep up (lady bugs eat aphids).  So, your solution? Wash the kale or eat the bugs.  

TIPS - TRICKS - RECIPES:

 This all happens in half an hour in the pan. It’s also a great way to use up leftover, cooked root vegetables, which would make it even quicker. If you are vegan, skip the cheese and eggs and use 3 1/2 ounces/100 g of soaked cashews blended with 1/3 cup/100 ml of cold water in place of the yogurt. 2 leeks

1 tablespoon coconut or olive oil 14 ounces/400 g new potatoes

1 buttercup squash A few fresh chives

A few sprigs of parsley 4 tablespoons crème fraîche or yogurt

1/2 lemon Sea salt and freshly ground pepper

A crumble of Lancashire or cheddar cheese (optional) 4 eggs (optional)

Directions

Fill and boil a kettle of water and get your ingredients together. Put a large nonstick pan over medium heat.

Wash the leeks, then finely shred them and add them to the pan with a little of the coconut oil. Stir every couple of minutes.

While the leeks are cooking, cut the potatoes into 1-cm pieces and put them into a large saucepan. Pour over boiling water from the kettle and bring to a boil, then turn down the heat and simmer for 5 minutes.

Seed the squash and cut into pieces about the same size as the potatoes. Once the potatoes have had 5 minutes, add the squash to the pan of boiling water for a final 3 minutes of cooking. Once the potatoes and squash have had their time and have softened a little, drain them and leave in the colander to steam-dry a little.

Spoon 3 tablespoons of the leeks into a deep bowl. Turn the heat up under the leek pan, add a little more oil if necessary, then add the potatoes and squash and fry, turning every couple of minutes, but not too often—you want to allow each side enough time to build up a bit of a golden crust.

Chop the herbs and add them to the reserved 3 tablespoons of leeks. Add the crème fraîche or yogurt, the juice of half a lemon, and some salt and pepper, and blend well, using a handheld blender.

Keep turning the hash in the pan until it’s all nicely golden. Now there are a couple of ways you can take it. Keep it like this—it’s delicious as it is. Or crumble a little cheese over and allow it to melt in. Then crack the eggs into the pan, pop a lid on top, and allow to cook for 3 to 5 minutes, until the whites are set but the yolks are still runny.

Serve the hash with the leek-and-herb dressing scattered over. Stir it through before you eat.

serves: 4  Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Beets:

4-5 beets chopped into chunks 1/2 cup balsamic vinegar

3 tbsp sugar 2 tbsp grape seed oil

salt and pepper

kale + salad:

1/2 cup quinoa, rinsed 1 bunch of kale, stems removed, leaves torn into bite-size pieces

2 tbsp grape seed oil 1 clove of garlic, peeled and finely sliced

1 tsp smoked paprika salt and pepper

handful of pecorino shavings (parm or grana padano would be great too)

Place the beets in a 2 inch deep ceramic or glass dish. Pour the balsamic vinegar and grape seed oil in. SPrinkle the sugar, salt and pepper around the beets. Cover dish with foil and roast for 30 minutes. Remove the foil, stir the beets up a bit and continue to roast, uncovered, for 20 more minutes. They should be quite tender. Remove from the oven and allow dish to cool.

In a small saucepan, place the rinsed quinoa and 1 cup of water. Add a pinch of salt. Place pot over medium heat and bring to a boil. Simmer for 15 minutes or until quinoa is mostly cooked and the little tails start to pop out. Remove from the heat and set aside.

In a large soup pot, heat the 2 tbsp of grapeseed oil over medium heat. Add the sliced garlic and smoked paprika. Stir around until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add the quinoa, a splash of water and half of the kale. Stir around until kale begins to wilt a bit. Add the remaining kale, season with salt and pepper and keep stirring. The kale should all be slightly wilted, but still firm. Take off the heat and transfer kale and quinoa mixture to your serving bowl.

Arrange roasted beets on top of the greens and quinoa. Drizzle salad with the balsamic cooking liquid in the pan (there should be about 1/4 cup of it left). Scatter  the pecorino shavings on top and serve.

CSA WEEK 13

Pick List:

 plum tomatoes - cherry tomatoes - savoy cabbage - onion - carmen peppers -

eggplant - raspberries - parsley - summer squash - ZINNIAS!

KITCHEN CSA:

Golden relish - hot pepper mustard - enchilada sauce

Holy September!  If I said it before, I really mean it now- we are DEEP into harvest season.  Our days no longer consist of picking in the morning, weeding/ planting in the afternoon.  Rather, it’s pick from Sun up to Sun down. This week we find ourselves swimming in a sea of raspberries and cherry tomatoes.  Our brand spanking new pack-shed, that once had SO MUCH ROOM is currently filled with stacks on stacks of cherry tomatoes making me question how we ever made do in the old barn.  Also noteworthy are the MASSIVE industrial size fans running on full boar at all hours of the day and night in an attempt to keep fruit flies at bay.

While there is something so insane about the hours spent picking strawberries in June- there is an equal level of insanity that goes into the September Harvest.  As September begins to cool off (believe it or not 70’s this weekend) we all feel the need to not only pick but also preserve and put up food for the winter. Seeing how the high today was in the 90’s it makes zero sense to mention the impending frost- but look out folks, she is sure to arrive.  So with that said, If you have any urge to get crops in bulk for your own winter eats- think sauces, salsas, chimichurri, roasted peppers, etc..- now would be the ideal time to start making your lists, and calling in special orders of bulk crops into the farmstand (603-298-5764) or email farmstand@edgewaterfarm.com .  We sell things like tomatoes, green-beans, peppers, onions, potatoes, carrots, beets, by the bushel or half bushel and berries by the flat.  If you want to speak to me further about thoughts on putting up the harvest you can email me any time- I will check it in between the picking and preserving.  This weekend’s activity: make then freeze a ton of babaganoush, because so-much-eggplant.

And lastly, please oh please do not judge your cabbage by its color!  While we are familiar with green curly leaves on the outer part of our savoy cabbage, you will find this cabbage more white than usual.  Do not be alarmed- your cabbage was peeled back leaf after leaf so you would not be discouraged by any scavenging invertebrate in your kitchen.  In other words, the bugs were hitting the cabbage pretty hard, so in an effort to clean them up, many outer leaves were lost- And while I am certain that there were some invertebrate casualties, the chickens were certainly pumped for supper.

TIPS - TRICKS - RECIPES:

 

[Moutabbal or Babaganoush] Adapted from David Lebovitz‘s My Paris Kitchen

Makes about 2 cups

2 medium eggplants (about 1 pound each)

2 tablespoons olive oil, divided 1 teaspoon coarse or kosher salt, or to taste

6 tablespoons tahini (sesame seed paste), well-stirred if a new container

2 garlic cloves, peeled and minced or pressed Juice of 1 lemon, plus more to taste, if desired

Pinch of cayenne or aleppo pepper Pinch or two of ground cumin

2 tablespoons well-chopped flat-leaf parsley, divided Toasted sesame seeds or za’atar for garnish

Heat oven to 375°F. Brush a baking sheet or roasting pan with 1 tablespoon olive oil, and sprinkle with 1 teaspoon salt. Prick eggplants a few times with a fork or tip of a knife. Over a gas flame, grill or under a broiler, evenly char the skin of your eggplants. I like mine quite smoky and like to leave no purple visible. Transfer to a cutting board, and when cool enough to handle, trim off stem and cut lengthwise. Place cut side down on prepared baking sheet and roast for 30 to 35 minutes, until very, very tender when pressed. Let cool to room temperature.

In a blender or food processor: Scrape eggplant flesh from skin and into the work bowl. Add tahini, lemon, cayenne, cumin and 1 tablespoon parsley. Blend in short bursts (pulses) until combined but still coarsely chopped.

By hand: Scrape eggplant flesh from skin and onto a cutting board. Finely chop the eggplant, leaving some bits closer to pea-sized. In a bowl, whisk together tahini, garlic, lemon, cayenne, cumin and half the parsley. Add chopped eggplant and stir to combine.

Both methods: Taste and adjust ingredients if needed. I usually need more salt and lemon.

To serve: Spoon into a bowl and drizzle with remaining tablespoon of olive oil. Scatter with second tablespoon of parsley, and some toasted sesame seeds or za’atar, if desired. Serve with pita wedges.

For a big delicious summer meal, you could serve this with a tomato-cucumber salad, ethereally smooth hummus and pita wedges. If you’d like to be fancy, grilled or pan-roasted lamb chops are wonderful here too.

FOR NEXT LEVEL CHERRY TOMATOES SEE THEN MAKE THE FOLLOWING:

 

• 2 pints cherry tomatoes

• A few sprigs thyme or rosemary

• 2 tablespoons olive oil

• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

RECIPE PREPARATION:  Preheat oven to 450°. Toss cherry tomatoes with thyme and oil on a rimmed baking sheet; season with salt and pepper. Roast, tossing once, until tomatoes are blistered and beginning to burst, 20–25 minutes. Let cool.

If you decide to put any cherry tomatoes up for later months, this is the simplest recipe to follow- if you have room in your freezer, then by all means, freeze! But if you do not, then can… and to can check out ball jar canning guide for step by step

CSA WEEK 12

Pick List:

corn - plum tomatoes - cherry tomatoes - garlic - watermelon - candy stripe pepper -

eggplant - hot pepper - carrots - ZINNIAS!

KITCHEN CSA:

Broccoli Cheddar Soup

Heading into Labor Day weekend with lots of laboring on our minds… so this week I’m drawing from Pooh Sprague’s latest blog post.  Also, for those that don’t know, Pooh you should get to know him. He and Anne started this farm back in 1974 and as a result, he is a wealth of knowledge.  Unfortunately he is hard to peg down- we’ve often thought about installing a gps tracking device in his arm as he is one to ride tractor all day, with his phone left behind on the kitchen table- it’s unclear if this move is actually an “oh whoops” moment or not.  Regardless, if you have farming on the brain or have questions about growing techniques or soil health- Talk to Pooh. For more insight on our farm from Pooh’s perspective check out the blog -Pooh's Corner- up on our website.

August 6th, 2018… he refers to lots of photos, see actual blog post for actual photos

Occasionally while racing around the farm I have to pull up and stop and stare at a vista. I refer to this phenomena as a “whoa” moment,  primarily because I get temporarily disoriented as to where I am chronologically in the seasons. This photo of the tomatoes is an example, because I took a picture of them last week and they were less than a foot high and we hadn’t staked them. “It seemed like only yesterday”, the old saying goes. But of course, it was not. Here we are in August, and we are now harvesting cherry tomatoes and the plums for canning are  ripening up.

The summer goes like that. This one seemingly more so. Alternately dragging on through the drought of the earlier part, we are faced with the struggle of balancing the harvest with the tail end of  a planting season that goes on into early September. Although the sun is back heading south in the sky, the work days are at their longest as we deal with picking fruit and vegetables and trying to find a home for them. This year we are shorthanded as 5 individuals who approached us for summer and fall employment and we hired, decided in the eleventh hour not to show up for the first day. That has put serious demands on the remaining crew and Ray’s ability to manage what takes place in the daily field activities. That said, we have a pretty good crew that seems to be working well and efficiently together, and they seem pretty happy. It would be nice to have the weeds under control and to be doing things in a timely fashion, but I will take a good working atmosphere any day.

Just want to take a minute  to recognize one of our long term employees. This relationship is so long because I first met him as a 5 year old in 1956. He had come to my Dad’s farm to work as a herdsman for the 40-50 cows that we were milking in Hillsboro. His name is George Cilley, he resides and in the house he grew up in in Bradford, NH. George commutes back and forth daily during the spring and summer and is our go-to guy for tractor and mowing work. He is one of those people for whom a good day of work and having something accomplished defines who he is. Although he is 87, he is patient, sharp, a self starter (if he breaks something, you don’t hear about it unless he can not fix it himself) and can still plow a cleaner, straighter furrow than Ray, myself or Mike. He can also fix old chairs, leaky faucets and happy to run to the Pioneer Valley for  plants or parts if need be. He has as much pride in the good works and efforts as Anne, Sarah, Jenny, Mike or Ray has he does in his own. We had another retiree much like him. Eugene “Pep “ Chabot showed up the day he retired from the Hanover road crew at 66. Put in another 26 years picking vegetables and berries for us, and it was a sad day when he said he had to quit because his eyesight was failing him. Where are these guys? What is the attraction about golf courses and the concept of formal retirement that they resist? Maybe we have just been ultra fortunate to have had the help and wisdom of these highly motivated oldsters.

In other news, The new storage and pack barn is so near completion that we are already occupying it. When the crew from Ag Structures showed up on March 1st, I had serious doubts that we would be in it by the first of July, especially when winter dragged on for extra innings.  But Jake and Jason made it happen and we are grateful. It has been a large project for us and at times a distraction from the demands of the seasonal work. When we first started on this farm in 1974, it was more about taking down collapsing sheds and buildings. It was strictly chainsaw carpentry:  a couple of guys with some old telephone poles, rough pine and no real carpentry skills When I see how much space we have occupied in the new expanse I am amazed how we were ever able to function in the other smaller barn. All this was driven by food safety mandates and the need to protect fall root crops and store them. But the efficiencies and improvement in ergonomics has definitely improved everyone's disposition. And even the little people are enjoying it as well …there are small Radio Flyers in there and you can refer to the lower photo of Admiral Hobbs, the U Boat commander, who seems to be enjoying his new ride. So far, all good….

So as we spin towards fall, we are just trying to stay in the groove. Hopefully the weather (which has been a rollercoaster of late) will not deal us any lethal blows and we can get the fall crops up and out of the field. There is some ancient machinery that needs to function to make that happen, and maybe with the help of a few extra bodies that may yet arrive, perhaps we can slide into Thanksgiving without getting spiked.  I am sure to awaken to a few more “Whoa” moments about the farm when I am caught off guard by the flight of time. At those times I often reminded of the words to a Talking Heads song……” same as it ever was, same as it ever was..”

TIPS - TRICKS - RECIPES:

Serves: 4

Adapted slightly from Ottolenghi's Plenty(Chronicle Books, 2011)

Yall, i think i hook you up with this recipe year after year because i am continually shocked by the power of corn here.  It really and truly breaks down into a delicious polenta and on top of everything else, it’s just so damn easy to make and as a result, you feel like a super-hero for making an Ottolenghi dish.  

Eggplant Sauce

⅔ cup vegetable oil 1 medium eggplant, cut into 3/4-inch dice

2 teaspoons tomato paste ¼ cup dry white wine

1 cup chopped peeled tomatoes (fresh or canned) 6 1/2tablespoons water

¼ teaspoon salt ¼ teaspoon sugar

1 tablespoon chopped oregano

1. Heat up the oil in a large saucepan and fry the eggplant on medium heat for about 15 minutes, or until nicely brown. Drain off as much oil as you can and discard it -- the safest way to do this is to scoop out the eggplant to a plate using a slotted spoon, then pour off the oil into a bowl before adding the eggplant back in. You can save the oil to fry lamb chops or eggs in tomorrow.

2. Add the tomato paste to the pan and stir with the eggplant. Cook for 2 minutes, then add the wine and cook for 1 minute. Add the chopped tomatoes, water, salt, sugar and oregano and cook for a further 5 minutes to get a deep-flavored sauce. Set aside; warm it up when needed.

Polenta

6 ears of corn 2 ¼ cups water

3 tablespoons butter, diced 7 ounces feta, crumbled

¼ teaspoon salt 1 pinch Black pepper

1. Remove the leaves and "silk" from each ear of corn, then chop off the pointed top and stalk. Use a sharp knife to shave off the kernels -- either stand each ear upright on its base and shave downward, or lay each ear on its side on a cutting board to slice off the kernels. You want to have 1 1/4 pounds kernels.

2. Place the kernels in a medium saucepan and barely cover them with the water. Cook for 12 minutes on a low simmer. Use a slotted spoon to lift the kernels from the water and into a food processor; reserve the cooking liquid.

3. Process them for quite a few minutes, to break as much of the kernel case as possible. Add some of the cooking liquid if the mixture becomes too dry to process.

4. Now return the corn paste to the pan with the cooking liquid and cook, while stirring, on low heat for 10 to 15 minutes, or until the mixture thickens to mashed potato consistency. (Be aware that if you have a lot of liquid left in the pan, it can take a while to cook down the polenta, and it will sputter. Consider holding back some or all of the liquid. Alternately, if you like the consistency after processing, you can skip to step 5.)

5. Fold in the butter, the feta, salt and some pepper and optionally cook for a further 2 minutes. Taste and add more salt if needed.

CSA WEEK 11

Pick List:

corn - tomatoes - cherry tomatoes with a sprinkle of husk cherries - cucumbers - red onion - watermelon - carmen peppers - yellow (wax) beans - parsley - ZINNIAS!

KITCHEN CSA:

Bread & Butter Pickles - Pesto

As this week progresses at Edgewater, we will see a very big drop in staffing.  Our field crew of 11 will go down to 7, and I’m never sure about farmstand numbers, but I believe we will start to see folks heading out this week as well.  Often, I am so swept up with the season and checking off lists and seeding and picking crops and weeding fields that I forget that to some here, this work is seasonal and it’s a Summer Job and there is college and travels to return to.  It always happens, same time every year- the Cornish Fair comes and goes, the temperature drops ever so slightly, and these wonderful people we’ve been around every single day since June head back to school.

The field crew this year felt particularly great.  We started the season short staffed, continued the season short staffed, and by the end of this week we will go back to really feeling short staffed BUT everyone showed up on time, ready to work, in good spirits, and there was zero drama.  That’s really all we can ask for. So for those lovely people we’ve been hanging out with since June: Jaarsma, Gus, Petey, and Sandra- THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR ALL YOUR WORK. Without you, the blueberries would still be sitting on the branches, the strawberries would have turned to jam in the fields, and we would have all gotten a lot less sleep at night.  

 In other news this week:  You know that feeling when you’re eyes are bigger than your plate?  Well, that is exactly what happened with the husk cherry harvest. Husk cherries or ground cherries, are these delightful little golden cherry tomatoes that are protected by a paper-lantern-looking-husk.  They are harvested once they have fallen to the ground. Bottomline, I LOVE HUSK CHERRIES. On Monday, during my weekly field walk I spied a quarter of a row dripping in lanterns! Forgetting how tiny and what a pain in the butt these things are to pick, i made a picklist for this week’s CSA including 2 bushels of husk cherries… , as you can see by the sprinkled husks on top of your cherry tomato pints, we only got ½ a bushel.  Unfortunately for me, Roy bet me an entire chicken bacon ranch pizza that we would not get 2 bushels… He won by a long shot… Please savor every bite of this whimsical little fruit.

 TIPS - TRICKS - RECIPES:

ISRAELI SALAD:

Growing up, this dish was a staple at my families kitchen table- and I’m always pumped for the week where we have ALL THE INGREDIENTS… Also noteworthy, it’s so damn easy to make, no wonder we had it every Friday night.  

1 lb cucumbers, diced 1 lb fresh ripe tomatoes, seeded and diced.

1/3 cup minced onion (optional) 1/2 cup minced fresh parsley.

3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil. 3 tbsp fresh lemon juice.

Salt to taste (I use about 1/2 tsp) optional (corn kernels!)

 Bottomline here, chop and combine all ingredients to taste- Also noteworthy, it’s even better tasting the next day.  For protein, this can be served with a hard boiled egg (1 per person) smashed into your own plate.

Smashed Cucumber Salad with Za'atar and Feta

 2 cucumbers Kosher salt

2 garlic cloves, lightly smashed 4 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil

2 Tbsp. za’atar or 1 Tbsp. dried mint and 1 Tbsp. sesame seeds

½ tsp. crushed red pepper flakes 2 Tbsp. fresh lime juice

Crumbled feta (for serving)

Gently smash cucumbers with a rolling pin or the back of a heavy knife just to break open. Tear into irregular 2" pieces and place in a medium bowl; season lightly with salt. Let sit at least 5 minutes and up to 1 hour.

Meanwhile, cook garlic and oil in a small saucepan or skillet over medium-low heat, turning garlic once, until golden brown and very fragrant, 5–7 minutes. Add za’atar and red pepper flakes and remove from heat. Let cool until just warm and stir in lime juice; season dressing with salt. Transfer to a medium bowl.

Drain cucumbers, discarding any liquid they have released. Add to bowl with dressing and toss several times to coat. Top with feta.

YOU HAVE 1# OF YELLOW BEANS, IF YOU CAN GET YOUR HANDS ON 2 MORE POUNDS (SAY AT YOUR FAVORITE FARMSTAND ON 12A), I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THESE PICKLES from the book, BATCH BY By Joel MacCharles, Dana Harrison

CSA WEEK 10

Pick List:

corn - plum tomatoes - cherry tomatoes - slicing cucumbers - red onion - melon -

eggplant - lime peppers - green peppers - hot peppers - bok choy - parsley - ZINNIAS!

KITCHEN CSA:

Tomato sauce & basil balls

YALL- OUR FALL CSA IS FAST APPROACHING, AND IF YOU’VE DONE THIS BEFORE YOU KNOW IT IS THE ACTUAL BEST.  READ ON FOR MORE INFO:

WHO:  this CSA is open to all seasonal food lovers

WHAT:  FALL CSA... our most beloved CSA.  

This year we intend to include fresh bread - fresh eggs - prepared foods (think pesto, salsa, soup, sauce, etc...) - a treat of local apples - along with our abundance of fall vegetables (root veggies, winter squash, etc..) - newsletter + recipes.

WHERE:  at our FARM STAND up on 12A.

WHEN:  Wednesdays, 5-6 p.m (and one Tuesday 5-6pm before Thanksgiving)

Beginning October 10- November 20

With a special end of season Holiday Pick up on TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 20th

HOW:  We harvest, and prep, and bake- you arrive at the farmstand with a box or bag to collect your share.

WHY:  Though the farmstand closes for business around Indigenous Peoples Day, we still have so much food in the fields- let's dig it, pick it, cook it, and eat it!

HOW TO SIGN UP

You can sign up for 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, or 6, or 7 weeks.

COST PER WEEK: $44      COST FOR 7 WEEKS: $285 (savings of $23)

Sign up at the stand- bring check or cash!

TIPS - TRICKS - RECIPES:

 serves: 4-6

notes: It’s pretty crucial to cook the eggplant until it’s way tender, like a solid 15 minute simmer. Also, there’s a lot of salty bits in the caponata so maybe taste the finished product before you season the whole thing.

caponata ingredients:

big glug of olive oil 1 large eggplant, chopped into big pieces

1 tsp dried oregano 1/2 small red onion, small dice

1 clove of garlic, rough chopped big splash of red wine vinegar

1 tbsp capers handful of green olives, pitted + rough chopped

2-ish cups diced fresh tomatoes salt and pepper

handful of chopped flat leaf parsley

panzanella ingredients:

4 cups torn up bread pieces olive oil

salt + pepper handful of small tomatoes, halved

more chopped parsley

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment and set aside.

Heat the olive oil in a large, heavy pot over medium heat. Add the pieces of eggplant and oregano. Stir the pieces around to coat them in the oil and herb. Stir the pot here and there until the eggplant is browned on all sides. Add the red onions and garlic to the pot. Stir it up a bit, adding a bit more olive oil if necessary to avoid sticking. Once the onions are soft and translucent, add the red wine vinegar. Scrape the bottom of the pan and stir the mix until the vinegar has evaporated. Add the capers, olives and tomatoes to the pot and stir. Allow the mixture to simmer for 15 minutes or so, until the eggplant is tender and the tomatoes have let out a bit of juice. Remove from the heat, stir in the parsley, season to taste, and set aside to cool.

Place the bread pieces on the parchment lined sheet. Drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Toss to coat. Slide the tray into the oven and bake until golden brown on all sides, about 12-15 minutes, flipping them halfway through. Set aside to cool.

Combine the caponata with the croutons, stirring gently until just combined. Garnish the salad with a healthy drizzle of more olive oil, the halved tomatoes and extra parsley. I also like to scatter the crouton crumb-y bits left on the pan over the top of the salad for more crunch.

THIS RECIPE IS SOOOO GOOD AND IF YOU ARE SKEPTIC ABOUT EGGPLANT IT WILL CONVERT YOU INTO A BELIEVER.......... serves: 2-4

notes: I think these would be equally good with a fat pinch of nutritional yeast stirred into the polenta mixture and a little warm marinara for dippin’, just an idea though! ;););)

1 large eggplant, cut into 1/2 inch batons/wedges 3-4 cups plant-based or reg. milk

1-2 cups organic, non-GMO corn grits/polenta a fat pinch of fine sea salt

olive oil flaky sea salt, such as Maldon

zest of 1 lime (once you have the zest, cut the lime into wedges)

runny honey or agave nectar if you’d like to keep these vegan

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and smear a bit of olive oil on it. Set aside.

Place the eggplant pieces in a large bowl and sprinkle with a bit of salt. Cover the pieces with the plant-based milk. Let the eggplant sit for an hour so that the bitterness can draw out.

Pour the corn grits/polenta into a shallow dish. Stir a good pinch of salt into the polenta. Arrange the soaked eggplant, dish of polenta, and lined baking sheet beside each other. Shake off excess milk from eggplant pieces and roll/press them in the polenta. Transfer coated pieces to the prepared baking sheet. Repeat with remaining eggplant. Drizzle the coated pieces with olive oil and slide the sheet into the oven.

Bake eggplant bites for 15-25 minutes, flipping them over once. Mine took the full 25 minutes, but I think this varies greatly on the actual eggplant and hotspots in your oven. Once done, remove from the oven and sprinkle bites with lemon zest, flaky sea salt, honey and lime juice. Serve hot!

CSA WEEK 9

Pick List:

corn - tomatoes - summer squash - pickling cucumbers - garlic - blueberries - carrots

eggplant (japanese & chinese) - lime peppers - shishito peppers - basil

Alright team CSA,  Pop-up PYO Blueberry “glean” is this Saturday Afternoon!  I put the glean in quotations, because it is not the end of the season by any means, and these berries are terrific- so it’s more like a PYO til your heart’s content (or until 6pm, whatever comes first).  Why are we doing this? Because, why not- yall are great and tis the season to harvest!

AND now, the details:

WHO:  Open to the entire Edgewater Farm C.S.A. community

WHERE:  if you are coming from the North End of River Road, go past the Greenhouses and McNamara Dairy- turn at the Cemetery.   

THE ADDRESS for all your googling: 355 River Road/ Plainfield, NH

WHEN: This Saturday Afternoon!!!, August 5th.. 3:30-6 ;  rain or shine though we will cancel in case of thunder and lightning

HOW: You pick!  Bring your own containers, we will have zero supplies for you to pick into.  FYI, if you have a used yogurt container and a shoelace, poke holes in the yog. container and make yourself a picking necklace- it’s fashion forward and an extremely efficient way to pick- very hip, all the kids are doing it.  

WHY: So many reasons, here are a few... because it's awesome, the berries are free and delicious, it's the beginning of August and this is what you do at the beginning of August pick and preserve!

OTHER NOTES: it is so hot- especially underneath the blueberry net- come prepared! Large brim hats and water bottles and sunscreen are strongly encouraged!!

email me if you have any questions at all (jenny@edgewaterfarm.com)

In other news, our Summer Squash harvest has been insanely abundant and at this moment feels never-ending.  I am trying so hard to remind myself how much I will miss summer squash in January and to appreciate it right now, while we pick bushels upon bushels of the yellow fruit out of the field… same goes for cucumbers (we have so much), but I’m a HUGE fan of pickling and that cold cucumber soup remains a staple in our house on these oh-so-hot days, so i’m not mad about it.  Anyhow, I reached out to my dear friend and extraordinary chef, Claire on how the heck to get through Summer Squash season and not feel overwhelmed…. See recipes for all her suggestions and notes!! Thank you CLAIRE!!

TIPS - TRICKS - RECIPES:

 (CLAIRE calls this recipe “BOMB PROOF”)

(Adapted From Chez Panisse Vegetables by Alice Waters, the original recipe calls for zucchini, however we turn to Summer Squash AND it works beautifully here!)

1 yellow onion

Olive oil Salt and pepper

1 branch fresh thyme

Fresh basil leaves

3 tomatoes

2 large yellow SUMMER SQUASH

Balsamic vinegar

Panko bread crumbs

Chop onion and sautee in olive oil until translucent. Season with salt and pepper, add thyme leaves and basil. Slice tomatoes and summer squash into rounds. Layer the onion mixture in a deep, buttered quiche pan. Add a layer of tomatoes in an overlapping, circular pattern. Season with salt and pepper and sprinkle with balsamic vinegar. Add a layer of summer squash and alternate with tomatoes until the dish is full. Finish with a layer of summer squash and sprinkle with Panko bread crumbs, season with salt and pepper and drizzle with olive oil. Bake in a 350 degree oven uncovered for about 30 to 45 minutes.

Another SUMMER SQUASH BY CLAIRE suggestion:

Truth be told: when I get a  s-ton of summer squash, I slice it up, toss with olive oil and salt, and grill it with a bunch of sausage, onions, and green peppers (if I have them). Then that is dinner. Nothing else!

now on to cukes... 

(this is my weekend plan, making half-sours with this recipe because they are o, so good!)

Excerpted from Wild Fermentation…

The strength of brine varies widely in different traditions and recipe books. Brine strength is most often expressed as weight of salt as a percentage of weight of solution, though sometimes as weight of salt as a percentage of volume of solution. Since in most home kitchens we are generally dealing with volumes rather than weights, the following guideline can help readers gauge brine strength: Added to 1 quart of water, each tablespoon of sea salt (weighing about .6 ounce) adds 1.8% brine. So 2 tablespoons of salt in 1 quart of water yields a 3.6% brine, 3 tablespoons yields 5.4%, and so on. In the metric system, each 15 milliliters of salt (weighing 17 grams) added to 1 liter of water yields 1.8% brine.

Some old-time recipes call for brines with enough salt to float an egg. This translates to about a 10% salt solution. This is enough salt to preserve pickles for quite some time, but they are too salty to consume without a long desalinating soak in fresh water first. Low-salt pickles, around 3.5% brine, are “half-sours” in delicatessen lingo. This recipe is for sour, fairly salty pickles, using around 5.4% brine. Experiment with brine strength. A general rule of thumb to consider in salting your ferments: more salt to slow microorganism action in summer heat; less salt in winter when microbial action slows.

Timeframe: 1-4 weeks

Special Equipment:

Ceramic crock or food-grade plastic bucket Plate that fits inside crock or bucket

1-gallon/4-liter jug filled with water, or other weight Cloth cover

Ingredients (for 1 gallon/4 liters):

• 3 to 4 pounds/1.5 to 2 kilograms unwaxed

• cucumbers (small to medium size)

• 3⁄8 cup (6 tablespoons)/90 milliliters sea salt

• 3 to 4 heads fresh flowering dill, or 3 to 4 (optional)

• tablespoons/45 to 60 milliliters of any form of

• dill (fresh or dried leaf or seeds)

• 2 to 3 heads garlic, peeled

• 1 handful fresh grape, cherry, oak, and/or

• horseradish leaves (if available)

• 1 pinch black peppercorns

Process:

1. Rinse cucumbers, taking care to not bruise them, and making sure their blossoms are removed. Scrape off any remains at the blossom end. If you’re using cucumbers that aren’t fresh off the vine that day, soak them for a couple of hours in very cold water to freshen them.

2. Dissolve sea salt in ½gallon (2 liters) of water to create brine solution. Stir until salt is thoroughly dissolved.

3. 3. Clean the crock, then place at the bottom of it dill, garlic, fresh grape leaves, and a pinch of black peppercorns.

4. Place cucumbers in the crock.

5. Pour brine over the cucumbers,place the (clean) plate over them, then weigh it down with a jug filled with water or a boiled rock. If the brine doesn’t cover the weighed-down plate, add more brine mixed at the same ratio of just under 1 tablespoon of salt to each cup of water.

6. Cover the crock with a cloth to keep out dust and flies and store it in a cool place.

7. Check the crock every day. Skim any mold from the surface, but don’t worry if you can’t get it all. If there’s mold, be sure to rinse the plate and weight. Taste the pickles after a few days.

8. Enjoy the pickles as they continue to ferment. Continue to check the crock every day.

9. Eventually, after one to four weeks (depending on the temperature), the pickles will be fully sour. Continue to enjoy them, moving them to the fridge to slow down fermentation.

SHISHITO PEPPERS:  

fry on stove or grill up until just slightly blistered- all they need is olive oil and salt and you will be in shishito pepper heaven, trust me on this one.

CSA WEEK 8

Pick List:

cabbage - blueberries - beets - basil - purple pepper - pickling cucumbers -

summer squash - zucchini - tomatoes - red onion - gold potatoes  

I want to reach out to you all about something weighing heavy on my mind these past few weeks… waste.  Recently we got a visit from our recycling guy (honestly, i never knew we had a recycling guy, but we do).  He opened our dumpster took a look, and right away I knew we were doing something wrong. He then educated us on plastics and what is, and what is not, recyclable… This got me thinking about our little world here farming in the Connecticut River Valley and how we as a farm contribute to the global trash/landfill/garbage island crisis (and yes, I recognize that far more terrible things are happening around the planet right now that deserve the word crisis- but the trash pile up we are producing as a farm and even more-so as a civilization is still an issue).  

While we currently use a ton of biodegradable plastics in our field crops for row cover and what not, we are still a farm that uses an abundance of harder-to-break-down plastic pots for our greenhouse retail business.  For years these pots were considered recyclable, and we would take pride in that… but the rules have changed. This winter one of my goals is to really hone in on using more biodegradable plastics in that area of our farm.  Please if anyone knows more about this subject, email me! jenny@edgewaterfarm.com

How you can help:  PLEASE OH PLEASE return your CSA boxes, empty quarts, and pints, egg cartons, etc…  We very obviously reuse these items during our CSA pack out. This absolutely helps us cut down on using alternative packaging (like plastics) and currently our used quart supply is running very LOW.  

That said we DO use plastics- think of how we divy up our leafy greens, green beans, etc… no we will not take those bags back, but consider giving them a new life somehow- so they won’t go out into this world as single use trash.

On the bright side, we as a farm really care about our environment- and while we are clearly not perfect, we are certainly going to try like hell to navigate our way around and through and ideally above his trash pile.  Ok, I’m going to hop off my soap-box now…

And on an extremely bright note, blueberries for all this week!!!

And even more exciting, we have an event this friday night!  Join us for our Culinary Medicine Feast Friday, August 3, 2018, 5:00 PM-7:00 PM for details, see our websites “event” page: http://www.edgewaterfarm.com/events/

TIPS - TRICKS - RECIPES:

NOTES: I could see this barbecue sauce pairing nicely with plenty of different proteins. You could make this on a meal prep day and store it in a sealed jar in the refrigerator for up to one week. I use metal skewers, but if you don’t have those, you’ll need to soak some wooden skewers ahead of time for this recipe.

BARBECUE SAUCE:

1 cup blueberries 1 small onion, grated with a box grater

1 clove garlic, finely minced 2-inch piece of ginger, peeled + finely minced

2 tablespoons pure maple syrup 1 tablespoon tomato paste

½ teaspoon gluten-free tamari soy sauce ¼ cup balsamic vinegar

sprinkle of chili flakes (optional) sea salt and ground black pepper, to taste

SKEWERS:

1 block of extra firm tofu (350 grams/12 ounces) 1 bell pepper, cut into 1-inch pieces

1 medium-large zucchini, cut into 1-inch pieces 1 small red onion, cut into 1-inch pieces

avocado or other heat-tolerant oil spray sea salt and ground black pepper

 Make the blueberry barbecue sauce: In a medium saucepan, combine the blueberries, grated onion, garlic, ginger, maple syrup, tomato paste, tamari, balsamic vinegar, chili flakes, salt, and pepper. Set the pot over medium heat and stir. Bring the sauce to a boil and then simmer until blueberries are broken down and sauce is slightly thickened, about 10-12 minutes. Set aside.

Preheat your grill to high.

Drain the tofu and cut it into 1-inch cubes. Thread the tofu cubes, bell pepper, zucchini, peach, and red onion onto your skewers. Don’t overload the skewers! Spray or drizzle the veg and tofu with oil on all sides and season with salt and pepper.

Grill the skewers until light char marks appear on all sides. Then, brush the skewers with about half of the blueberry barbecue sauce. Grill the sauced skewers for another minute or so. Remove the skewers and serve them hot with extra blueberry barbecue sauce on the side.

You can pretty much make linguini from most of the firmer vegetables such as zucchini, pumpkin, carrot, daikon radish and leek. I love zucchini best as it’s porous nature allows it to take on the wonderful flavours that you incorporate with it. Greens such as fresh parsley and basil are full of superfood goodness that is anti-inflammatory to the body. Garlic and black pepper are anti-inflammatory and can stimulate digestion.

ZUCCHINI LINGUINI

1kg zucchini 3 tablespoons basil pesto

 BASIL PESTO

1 bunches basil, roughly chopped 1 clove raw garlic

40 g roasted pine nuts 2 – 3 tablespoons lemon juice

Generous amount of ground black pepper Generous pinch of sea salt

15 g Parmesan, grated (optional) 4  tablespoons cold pressed olive oil

ZUCCHINI LINGUINI

1. Slice the zucchini into linguini using a mandoline.

2. Place into a large mixing bowl.

3. Add the pesto and lightly mix in making sure all the zucchini linguini is covered by the pesto. The zucchini will soften slightly and taste amazing.

4. Serve cold as a salad or continue with the next steps…

5. Sauté in a pan if you want to devour this warm.

6. Heat a large pan over a medium heat.

7. Add half the zucchini (smaller batches work better) and toss through lightly with the spinach until warmed through.

8. Serve topped with fine grated Parmesan and a few roasted pine nuts then enjoy.

9. Alternatively top with your choice of inspiration

BASIL PESTO

1. Combine the parsley, basil and garlic into a food processor or a high performance blender like a Vitamix. The dry jug works very well for this.Process until the herbs have been roughly chopped.

1. Add the pine nuts, lemon juice, salt, pepper, Parmesan and olive oil.

2. Process again until your mixture forms a lovely green chunky paste.

3. Store in a glass jar for up to 1 week in the fridge.

CSA WEEK 7

Pick List:

summer squash - zucchini - cucumbers - tomatoes - carrots - eggplant -

onions - cilantro - peppers - spicy greens mix

Hello late July, how in the world did we get here already?

This past week we’ve been hanging hard in the blueberry fields.  Field crew begins to pick right after lunch and continues to do so past dinner into evening- knocking off about 8pm.  Thank goodness for Mrs. T, an absolute angel/friend/neighbor who brings treats to the field- cheese, crackers, the occasional root beer float, etc... This typically brings us back from our collective blueberry-heat-stroke-choma.  All this said, this is certainly not our best blueberry year- far from it. While we do have blueberries, and they are delicious and arguably plentiful- the picking is less then hot.

It’s a total bummer.  Blueberries are one of our favorite crops to grow (and eat) however, this winter was too long and hard for the bushes.  Perhaps you can relate?

However, we DO have blueberries, and our crop is plentiful just not as abundant as it has been in past years.  Also, though we’ve been praying for rain all season long- picking blues in the rain really destroys the shelf life.  As a result, the picking is slower than usual this week and we can not divy them out to CSAers today. I am so bummed by this- my biggest apologies to all of you.

If you were wishing and hoping for blueberries, you can purchase them at our farmstand, all the coop food stores, and a handful of other spots around the Upper Valley- otherwise, let’s all cross our fingers and hope the picking speeds up and the rain gives us a little break for next week’s share.  

Also, side-note on the cilantro- please forgive us if your bunch is not what you are used to seeing in stores- we were playing beat the clock last night and it was picked at 8:30pm.  The cilantro you are getting comes from the very top of the plant once it has grown tall and begins to bush up. It is every bit as flavorful as what you are used to seeing and loves a good salsa recipe.  Enjoy!

TIPS - TRICKS - RECIPES:

SERVINGS: 2 LOAVES OR APPROXIMATELY 24 MUFFINS

TIME: 75 MINUTES

This makes two loaves; one should always make both and freeze one — future you thanks you. This is great on the first day but even better on the 2nd and downright exceptional on the third.

I suggest add-ins such as dried fruit, nuts or chocolate but absolutely never use them.

3 large eggs 1 cup (235 ml) olive, vegetable oil or melted butter (I use a mix)

1 1/3 to 1 3/4 cups granulated or turbinado sugar (the latter is the original amount)

2 teaspoons (10 ml) vanilla extract 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1/8 teasp. ground or freshly grated nutmeg 1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder 1 teaspoon fine sea or table salt

2 cups grated, packed zucchini, not wrung out (from about 10 ounces or 2 smallish zucchini and yes you can use summer squash for the bread as well!!!)

3 cups (390 grams) all-purpose flour 1/2 cup (55 grams) chopped walnuts or pecans (optional)

1 to 2 cups dried cranberries, raisins or chocolate chips or a combination thereof (optional)

 Heat your oven to 350°F. Generously grease and flour or (coat with a nonstick spray) two loaf pans (8×4 or 9×5; this doesn’t fill the pans so smaller is fine). Alternatively, you can grease 24 standard muffin cups or line them with paper liners.

Whisk eggs, oil or butter, sugar and vanilla in the bottom of a large bowl. Sprinkle cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda, baking powder and salt over wet ingredients and whisk them in well. Stir in zucchini. Gently stir in flour, mixing only until flour disappears. Stir in any add-ins, from nuts to chocolate.

Divide between prepared pans and bake for 55 to 65 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. [Muffins will bake far more quickly, approximately 20 to 25 minutes.] You can let them cool for 10 minutes on a rack before inverting and removing cakes from pans, or just let them cool completely in pans. Store it wrapped in foil at room temperature for up to 5 days.

GRILL MOSTLY EVERYTHING!!!!

Turn on your grill, lightly olive oil your veg and take your box share to the next level.  Crops that love a good outside grilling: eggplant, zucchini, summer squash, onion, peppers, carrots.  

 

 

• 4 ripe tomatoes, chopped

• 4 Persian cucumbers, chopped

• ½ small white onion, chopped

• 2 tablespoons chopped purple or green basil

• 1 tablespoon chopped cilantro

• ½ teaspoon dried mint

• ½ teaspoon crushed red chili powder(or ancho chile powder)

• ½ teaspoon salt

• 2 tablespoons lemon juice

• 1 tablespoon olive oil

PREPARATION

1. Combine all of the ingredients in a bowl; toss, and serve.

CSA WEEK 6

Pick List:

summer squash - new potatoes! - pickling cucumbers - tomatoes! - fennel - dill -

hakurai turnips - green beans - hungarian hot wax pepper - peppers

SPECIAL EVENT AT THE FARM COMING UP IN EARLY AUGUST!  I JUST RESERVED MY SPOT!

Culinary Medicine Feast

Friday, August 3, 2018

5:00 PM - 7:00 PM

cost: $35   CSA members: $30

Join us to learn strategies for healing yourself and staying healthy with food as medicine. We will cook seasonal recipes with farmstand produce and enjoy a meal together. You will leave with recipes, inspiration, and tools to use food as preventative care.

space is limited!!  reserve your spot soon!

sign up at the farmstand or email jenny@edgewaterfarm.com

Lisa Mase' will lead us through the feast! Lisa is a culinary medicine educator, folk herbalist and food justice activist homesteading with her husband and daughter and Central Vermont. Born and raised in Northern Italy, she is passionate about traditional nutritional philosophies. She supports individuals and groups to explore ancestral diets as a means for developing equity in the food system and learning which foods are ideal for individual constitutions. Learn more at HarmonizedCookery.com

 

TIPS - TRICKS - RECIPES:

(my bestie swears by this recipe!)  ...Makes 8 servings

This torte can easily be made ahead and reheated as you need it for guests. In fact, it’s even better reheated because there is something about potatoes that have been cooked twice–they getting browner at the edges and more tender inside, creating an excellent contrast.

New note, 5/31/12: Just wanted to let you know that I made this the other night with the season’s first summer squash as a single torte in a 10-inch cast iron skillet. I created 4 layers of potatoes and 3 of the squash and it was a bit tall going into the oven, almost overflowing, but it absolutely bakes down into a lovely height. I recommend lightly buttering or oiling your foil if you use this method, so that it doesn’t stick to the top layer of potatoes before they shrink down. It needed about 10 minutes more baking time to get tender. Just like the original, we liked it even more reheated on day two (and three). But I think I will make it this way for now on because it felt simpler and heartier. It’s been a side dish for us for three nights.

1 bunch green onions, thinly sliced 1 cup grated Parmesan cheese

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour 1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme leaves

1 1/2 teaspoons salt 3/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

2 pounds potatoes, peeled, cut into 1/8-inch-thick rounds

12 ounces yellow crookneck squash or regular yellow or green summer squash, cut into 1/8-inch-thick rounds

6 teaspoons olive oil

Preheat oven to 375°F. Butter two 8-inch-diameter cake pans. (Deb note: I had only a 9-inch pan around, so what you see in my pictures is slightly thinner.) Set aside 1/4 cup sliced green onions. Toss remaining green onions, cheese, flour, thyme, salt and pepper in medium bowl to blend.

Layer 1/6 of potatoes in concentric circles in bottom of 1 prepared pan, overlapping slightly. Layer 1/4 of squash in concentric circles atop potatoes. Drizzle with 1 teaspoon oil. Sprinkle with 1/6 of cheese mixture. Repeat with 1/6 of potatoes, then 1/4 of squash and 1 teaspoon oil. Sprinkle with 1/6 of cheese mixture. Top with 1/6 of potatoes. Drizzle with 1 teaspoon oil. Sprinkle with 1/6 of cheese mixture and press gently to flatten. Repeat procedure with second cake pan and remaining potatoes, squash, oil, and cheese mixture.

Cover pans with foil. Bake until potatoes are almost tender, about 40 minutes. Remove foil; bake uncovered until tortes begin to brown and potatoes are tender, about 25 minutes longer. (Can be made 6 hours ahead. Cool. Cover with foil and chill. Rewarm, covered with foil, in 350°F oven until heated through, about 30 minutes.)

Cut each torte into wedges. Sprinkle wedges with 1/4 cup green onions; serve.

 

Y’ALL, i’m obsessed with this summer recipe.  It’s a Summer staple in my house. Keeps for days, and gets better with age…. to a point

• 2 pounds Persian or English cucumbers, halved lengthwise, seeded and chopped

• 1/2 cup plain fat-free Greek yogurT

• 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

• 2 small garlic cloves

• 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for garnish

• 1 tablespoon chopped dill, plus sprigs for garnish

• Kosher salt and pepper

In a blender, puree the cucumbers, yogurt, lemon juice and garlic. With the machine on, gradually add the 1/2 cup of oil until incorporated. Transfer to a bowl, stir in the chopped dill and season with salt and pepper. Cover and refrigerate until chilled, 30 minutes. Ladle the soup into bowls and garnish with a drizzle of olive oil and dill sprigs.

Make Ahead… The soup can be refrigerated overnight.

Notes: The soup can also be served as a sauce for grilled meats or used as a salad dressing.

CSA WEEK 5

Pick List:

fresh garlic! - summer squash - kale - garlic - big bunch o’ basil - beets -

broccoli - english cucumber - pickling cucumber

POP-UP STRAWBERRY GLEANING

THIS THURSDAY AT OUR FIELDS IN CORNISH!!!

Strawberry Season comes to a close this evening,

BUT there is still a ton of Fruit in the field- I’m not kidding people!

so, let’s all go glean some berries!    

Join us Thursday afternoon for the annual CSA pop-up Strawberry Glean

Pick all you want, for free and enjoy this New England past-time.

WHO:  Open to the entire Edgewater Farm C.S.A. community

WHAT:  A Strawberry Gleaning takes place towards the end of a crop's productive season.  The purpose of the glean is to invite the C.S.A. community down to the farm to pick off any extra berries for their own kitchen.  The gleaning will take place rain or shine (preferably shine). The field is yours to pick through and whatever berries you can find are yours.  Bottomline, All-You-Can-Pick-FREE-Berries

WHERE:  at Edgewater South (the old Putnam Farm in Cornish, NH)

THE ADDRESS for all your googling: 949 NH Route 12A/ Cornish, NH

WHEN: This Thursday July 12th... 4 pm- 6:30pm

HOW: You pick.  Bring containers!!

WHY: Because it's awesome, and the berries are free and delicious and there is still some really nice fruit out there.

WARNING:  As it is the end of the season, you are likely to find rot... good luck and enjoy!    

SEE YALL THURSDAY!!!

    TIPS - TRICKS - RECIPES:

SERVINGS: 2 AS A MAIN, 4 AS A SIDE TIME: 15 MINUTES

This is a very loose recipe. Sure, I made it with zucchini ribbons, but there’s no reason you cannot use smaller or angled slices. Sure, I grilled it but if you don’t have a grill outside or an indoor grill pan, you could roast or broil it instead. It will taste essentially the same, which is to say, I hope, awesome. You could eat this with grilled bread for a light summer meal.

1 1/4 to 1 1/2 pounds zucchini, thinner longer ones are ideal here Olive oil

Coarse or kosher salt Freshly ground black pepper

1 3/4 cups (from 1 15-ounce can) white beans, drained (I used – Goya’s Great Northern beans)

1 lemon 1 garlic clove, peeled

A 2-ounce bundle of basil 1 to 2 tablespoons white wine vinegar

Coarsely grated parmesan, to taste

Prepare the zucchini: Trim ends and cut zucchini the long way into 1/4-inch strips. I use a mandoline for this (I have this one but will soon replace it with this) but a knife works too. Spread out strips on a large tray and brush lightly with olive oil and season well with salt and pepper.

On a grill (I use the full heat, but have a dinky, small grill; you might find a more moderate heat better here) or a grill pan, grill zucchini in a single layer until grill marks appear underneath, then flip over and repeat the same on the other side. Transfer zucchini back to platter and squeeze lemon juice over it.

Meanwhile, in a food processor or blender, combine basil and garlic with a few good pinches of salt and a few grinds of black pepper until chopped. Drizzle in olive oil until it blends smoothly; you’ll want about 4, sometimes 5, tablespoons. Add 1 tablespoon vinegar and blend until well-mixed; taste and add more vinegar, up to 1 more tablespoon, to taste. Season to taste.

Combine beans with about 2/3 of the dressing in a small bowl. In a larger bowl or serving platter, pour half of dressed beans in the bottom. Arrange grilled zucchini on top, twisting and turning it so that it looks extra ribbony. Spoon remaining beans in the spaces. Drizzle the remaining dressing over the platter, to taste.  Finish with a light blanket of parmesan and eat whenever you’re ready. As assembled, it keeps well at room temperature for an hour, giving you time to do everything else.

(recipe adapted from THUG KITCHEN, I only wish the internet allowed me to find the original recipe- check out the actual book for original content, you will not be disappointed).

3 medium beets, diced 1 onion, diced 1 tsp balsamic vinegar

2 tsp olive oil salt & pepper 2 cups water

1 cup quinoa 1-2 cups kale, chopped & stems removed

 Dressing:

1 tsp Dijon mustard 3 T balsamic vinegar

1/4 cup olive oil S & P

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Pour all dressing ingredients into a Mason jar, shake, & set aside.

In a medium bowl, toss beets together with vinegar, olive oil, and pinch of salt. Pour mixture onto a baking sheet & roast for 20 minutes, turning half way through.

While the beets roast, bring water to boil in a medium pot. Add the quinoa, cover, and adjust heat to low. Cook quinoa at a slow simmer for about 15 minutes. Fold the kale into the hot quinoa and then add the dressing. When the beets are done, fold them into the quinoa. Add salt & pepper to taste.

Serve salad at room temp or refrigerate until cold.

AND LASTLY, THAT BIG BEAUTIFUL BUNCH OF BASIL?  MAKE PESTO!! Throw basil leaves, fresh garlic, olive oil, lemon juice, parmesan, some nut of choice, s&p into a food processor and walla- you have pesto.  Add everything to taste, you CAN NOT MESS THIS ONE UP YALL! Freezes beautifully.

WEEK 4

Pick List:

Strawberries - Garlic Scapes - Basil - Napa Cabbage - Lettuce - Zucchini - Cucumbers - Broccoli

The heat wave is hitting our farm so hard right now.  Today we took a 10am ice-cream break because what else do you do when you’ve been picking berries since 5am and it’s already in the 90’s?  Don’t worry yall, another icecream break was taken at 1:30ish pm when we finished picking berries for the day and I expect one to follow as a post-work 6pm cool out.  That said, our ice-cream sandwich supply is beginning to dwindle and i expect food stress to follow… which is funny because we are a farm with plenty of food.

YES! PLENTY OF FOOD!!  Greens (salad) season, is just now starting to shift into grilling season (hoorah for the first zucchini!!) and as the week’s progress you will start to see more excellent grilling items to maximize your summer eating- speaking of, go slather the rest of your garlic scapes in olive oil, pinch of salt and throw them on the grill.

As for, this week on the farm… we are still picking strawberries.  Goodness gracious, the amount sometimes is overwhelming but we have such a positive crew!!  Everyone shows up at 5am, ready to pick and I swear by the 6th hour of straight picking, folks are still making jokes, poking fun, and getting some good laughs in.  We are so lucky to have such wonderful people on field crew this year. OK, It’s time for me to get up from this air-conditioned office and get to the green house for the next seedings of arugula, spinach, cilantro, dill, etc… It’s now 5pm, the sun is still high and it’s still hot, so I’ll just go ahead and pretend the greenhouse is a very fancy sauna and I’ll throw cucumber slices in my water to really get into character.  

Happy Heat-Wave Everyone!

TIPS - TRICKS - RECIPES:

because how else can we manage this heat wave?

• 6-8 fresh basil leaves plus more for garnish

• 1 lime half juiced and half cut into wedges

• English cucumber 1" thick slice cut in half plus 3 thin slices

• 1 TB. honey simple syrup *see below

• 1 shot white rum or vodka

• Soda water

1. In a sturdy glass or jar, add basil leaves, lime juice, lime wedges, thick slices of cucumber, honey simple syrup and rum. With a muddler or wooden spoon, work to combine flavors (until the basil leaves and cucumber start to break down).

2. Fill glass half way (or a bit more) with ice. Add the thin cucumber slices and top with soda water. Garnish with a basil leaf.

3. *For the honey simple syrup, combine equal parts honey and water (say 1/2 cup honey and 1/2 cup water) in a saucepan. Stir over medium heat until the honey dissolves. Remove from heat and let cool completely before using. Store in an airtight container or jar in the fridge. Works great for sweetening iced tea and other summer drinks too!

The dressing is a simple blend of buttermilk, apple cider vinegar, a touch of mayo, shallots, sugar, salt and pepper but the flavor is anything but. This is my new go-to creamy dressing. I am sure it would equally delicious with some crumbled blue cheese mixed in, if you’re into that kind of thing.

The dressing would be really great on an iceberg wedge or romaine hearts salad, or any kind of everything-but-the-kitchen-sink mega mixed bowl. Like your lunch tomorrow.

1/2 cup well-shaken buttermilk 2 tablespoons mayonnaise

2 tablespoons cider vinegar 2 tablespoons minced garlic scapes

1 tablespoon sugar 3 tablespoons finely chopped chives

1 pound Napa cabbage, cored and thinly sliced crosswise (4 cups)

6 radishes, diced (any leftovers?) 2 celery ribs, thinly sliced diagonally

Whisk together buttermilk, mayonnaise, vinegar, shallot, sugar, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper in a large bowl until sugar has dissolved, then whisk in chives.

Toss cabbage, radishes, and celery with dressing.

(trying so hard to mimic that broccoli YAMA appetizer… if anyone is wondering this dish, though very good, does not taste like YAMA, please email me immediately if anyone knows the secret cold broccoli side dish).

6 cups fresh broccoli florets 1 tablespoon rice vinegar 1 tablespoon honey

1 tablespoon sesame oil 1 tablespoon soy sauce(I use low sodium)

2 tablespoons fresh ginger (grated) 2 garlic cloves(minced) 2 tablespoons sesame seeds

In a dry skillet, toast sesame seeds at medium heat until golden brown.  Mix rice vinegar, sesame oil, soy sauce, ginger, garlic, and 1 tablespoon of the sesame seeds. Let stand.  Steam broccoli until tender-crisp. Mix dressing and steamed broccoli, and top with remaining sesame seeds.  Let stand at room temperature until served.

CSA WEEK 3

Pick List:

Strawberries - Garlic Scapes - Dill - Arugula- Lettuce -

Radishes - Fennel - Green Tomato - Cucumbers

Returning CSAers- this week’s newsletter is an absolute repeat to last-year-at-this-time’s newsletter, but it is still relevant, so forgive me….

Today I’d like to remember the old days of Edgewater Farm- The days when fruit at the grocery store was not available all year round.  Or if it was available it was incredibly expensive. Today we can go to almost any chain grocery store in January and buy a quart of California strawberries no matter the season.  

Forty years ago, there was no category of “locavore”, because everyone was a locavore.  No one looked too far from their region for food. Everyone picked their own strawberries because frozen or canned berries and stored apples were more or less, the Upper Valley’s only winter fruit.  

Now that we have the luxury of imported food items, PYO berries is not necessary to fulfill that need of winter fruit, however for those that prioritize shopping local or knowing your food down to the farmer that grows it, there is a need to head into the fields right now and Pick Your Own Berries by the pound while the picking is good.  

I farm to eat the food we grow all year long- I know it’s origin, it’s grown with a lot of heart- and that feels good.  I am forever ecstatic in January to open up the chest freezer and pull out the Summer’s harvest and remember that we grew and picked and processed these strawberries.  To the folks that leave our strawberry field with containers and containers filled of fruit to store throughout the winter, I see you, and I totally get you. I also thank you for choosing our farm to help you get through the colder darker months, making December- January- February- March- and even April a little sweeter and a little brighter.   

As for you- the CSAers- come winter you will be ecstatic about your freezer or pantry!  Like a strawberry, your weekly share is best enjoyed fresh, but for those of you that need a little pick-me-up-taste-of-summer during winter months, there are plenty of recipes headed your way for freezing, canning, fermenting and preserving (ahem, see Garlic Scape recipe from last week- when made in bulk, freezes beautifully).  

And for the CSAer that is inspired by the season to PYO and get in on the winter-berry challenge… (or if you just want to pick some quarts and call it good)  In your CSA share this week you will find a pass to pick 2#’s of berries out of our PYO patch in Cornish- you can OF COURSE pick more, but the first 2 pounds are on us. The picking right now is insanely good!  Head to the strawberry patch during picking hours: 7-noon, and again in the afternoon 4-7pm, for your own opportunity to pick and take part in one of New England’s best past times.

Address to pick: 949 NH Route 12A/ Cornish, NH

SEE WEBSITE’S PYO PAGE FOR MORE INFO:

http://www.edgewaterfarm.com/pyo-strawberries/

TIPS - TRICKS - RECIPES:

grilled/roasted fennel and quinoa salad

recipe serves: 4-6 

notes: I soak quinoa for about 15 minutes before I strain and cook it, just to get some of the bitterness off. Also, you’re just grilling the fennel to soften it up a bit and get some char happening. Roasting would achieve the same thing more or less.

 3/4 cup quinoa, soaked and strained (any colour)

1 small bulb of fennel, trimmed, cut in half + core removed (save some of the fronds for garnish)

4 radishes, halved and sliced thin 1 cucumber, diced small

3 sprigs of dill or 1/4 cup chopped 2 green onions, sliced thin

2 tsp dijon mustard juice of 1 lemon

3 tbsp olive oil + extra for grilling/roasting handful of chopped, toasted nuts/seeds (optional)

salt and pepper

 Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F if you’re roasting the fennel, and line a baking sheet with parchment and set aside. Preheat a gas grill to high if you’re grilling the fennel.

Cook the quinoa: combine quinoa with 1.5 cups of water and 1 teaspoon of salt in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Bring to a boil and simmer until all of the liquid is absorbed, about 10-15 minutes. Remove from the heat and set aside.

Grill the fennel: brush the fennel with 2 teaspoons of the olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Place onto a grill heated to high, cut side down. Grill until char marks are achieved on both sides and fennel feels a bit soft. Remove and cut into a rough small dice once cool. I do this by placing the flat side of the fennel down, cutting into lengthwise slices and then cutting those slices into smaller pieces.

Or roast the fennel: slice the halves of fennel and toss them in a bit of oil, salt, and pepper. Spread them out on the lined baking sheet and roast in the oven for about 15 minutes, or until soft and there are golden, caramelized edges.

Fluff the cooled quinoa with a fork and place into a large bowl. Add fennel, radishes, cucumber, dill and green onions. Add dijon, lemon juice and remaining olive oil on top. Season with salt and pepper and mix until thoroughly combined. Plate as you wish, garnished with the fennel fronds.

garlic scape dressing

makes about 1.5 cups of dressing

notes: I would only recommend doing this with the scapes if you’re making the dressing in a blender. Otherwise, stick with a finely minced clove of garlic. Depending on how long they’ve been around, garlic scapes can be quite fibrous so just use the more tender parts. Also, I use grapeseed oil here because its neutral flavour doesn’t overpower the scapes.

1/4 cup white wine vinegar

1/4 cup filtered water

1 tsp salt

ground black pepper to taste

1/2 tbsp dijon mustard

1/2 tbsp light agave (or honey)

2 garlic scapes, roughly chopped

3/4 – 1 cup grapeseed oil (I tend to like dressing more on the acidic side so I lean to the 3/4 cup measure)

 Combine the vinegar, water, salt and pepper in the blender pitcher. I like to add the salt with the vinegar so that it gets a head start on dissolving. Then, add the dijon, agave and garlic scapes. Blend the contents until the scapes are more or less pureed.

Put the blender on a low speed, remove the top feeding lid and slowly drizzle in the oil with the motor running until the dressing is thoroughly combined and creamy. Store in the fridge for up to 1 week.

CSA WEEK 2

Pick List:

Strawberries - Garlic Scapes - Rhubarb - Cilantro - Lettuce -

Hakurai Turnips - Nasturtium Starts - Scallions - Cucumbers

Truth be told I’ve been sitting at the computer for way too long thinking about what to write about this week… and honestly, my brain is fried.  While there is something so special about getting up day after day, at the literal 4:45am-crack-of-dawn to begin berry picking by 5, it is without a doubt starting to take a toll on my mental capacity to think deep thoughts, write this newsletter and have a conversation with literally anyone.  The coffee's never quite strong enough… So, I’m going to write in bullet points (because quite frankly, it’s the easiest form of communication) to give you all a breakdown of this week at Edgewater Farm...

1. It RAINED!!  

2. We are officially deep into strawberry season.  

3. The beloved though hastened rain, gave way for field plantings of lettuce, swiss chard, kale, and other greens

4. With the rain came the weeds.  We’ve all been doing our part cultivating - by hand and by tractor- so we don’t lose any crops this year to clover, purslane, lambsquarter, nettles or any other weeds that can really overtake a field… yes, i just named edible plants- no, we are not trying to grow them for food or profit.  If you love wild harvesting, please feel free to stop in at any time and pick all of them- BUT YOU MUST PICK ALL OF THEM FROM EVERY SINGLE FIELD.

5. PYO (pick your own) Strawberries begins today, Wednesday, June 20th!!  

The fields for picking are located at our satellite farm in Cornish NH.  

The address to google is: 949 NH Route 12A/ Cornish NH 03745

The hours are 7-noon, 4-7pm (this is to insure that no one passes out in the mid-day heat).

Picking prices:

Picked strawberries under 10#... 3.25/#

Picked strawberries Over 10#... 2.50/#

Picked strawberries Over 50#... 2.10/#  

Also noteworthy, it’s a cash or check only operation

and the most noteworthy mention of all, the berries are beautiful and sweet AND PLENTIFUL!

TIPS - TRICKS - RECIPES:

note about Garlic Scapes: Each individual scape is cut from the top of the garlic plant.  By Cutting the escape from the plant, the energy it takes to produce that scape (flower) goes back into the plant producing a bigger garlic bulb.  As a result, we get good size garlic come harvest time, as well as delicious garlic scapes to hold us over until then. They have a mild garlicky flavor.  Chop, saute and add them wherever you might add garlic. Also noteworthy, they make an excellent addition to an early season bouquet. For example, i keep my scapes in a vase with a bit of water on our kitchen table simply because it looks cool.  

But For REAL Meal magic, consider making the following:

GARLIC SCAPE PESTO!!  

I can not stress enough how insanely good this stuff is.  Make a ton! It freezes beautifully. I still have some leftover in my freezer from last season because I’ve been hoarding it for myself- it’s that precious.

Makes: about 1 1/2 cups

• 1 cup garlic scapes, sliced crosswise

• ¼ cup pine nuts

• ½ cup good olive oil

• ¼ cup Parmesan

• Salt and pepper, to taste

1. Add the scapes and pine nuts to the bowl of a food processor and pulse until everything is broken up a bit. Then turn the processor back on, and with it running, add the oil a little at a time until it's fully incorporated.

2. Add cheese, pulse, then season with salt and pepper to taste.

3. This won't brown like basil pesto will, so if you're not using immediately, just store in a container in the fridge. It will last a week.

 Your Hakurai Turnips

The internet is full of recipes on roasting these pearly whites in olive oil, or pickling- but honestly, they are SO GOOD on their own.  Great in a salad and even better sliced like chips and used as a vehicle to devour your garlic scape pesto.

Your Nasturtium Plant

Plant in FULL SUN.  If in a pot, water as needed- If in the ground, water daily for the first week and then pray for rain.  The plant produces edible flowers that are spicy and excellent additions to any Summer salads.