Maplewood Organics

We spent a better part of the last two days making sauerkraut. We managed to make about 370 pounds of it, less than I had planned on. Some of our heads of cabbage were a bit smaller than they should have been. We'll move our barrels to the shop close to the corn stove to ferment for about 6 weeks. Then we'll put the barrels in Eric's parents' basement for storage. We'll pack the jars as we need them from there!

We've been having computer problems more and more with our five-year-old computer. We really need to get a new one that's faster and has more storage. Until then, please bear with us as we attempt to get our newsletters and blog postings up on time. Sometimes it just won't work out!

Winter

CSA Newsletter

Volume 2

Issue 1

October 22, 2009

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Week 1

Welcome to our second fall/winter CSA! Thank you so much for joining us in extending the local food eating season. This year we doubled our shares offered and still sold out and have a waiting list. Next year we’re going to maintain the number of shares but go even further and add two more pick-ups of mostly storage crops in January. We would love to be able to offer year-round produce to our members some day. We’re on our way! We’d love to hear your suggestions along the way.

Local Harvest website blog (

http://www.localharvest.org/farms/M13345): Go here and click on "Read Our Blog" to view our posts and past newsletters with recipes.

Garden Progress

Our late crops are doing well in the field. We are having trouble with voles eating our beets and Swiss chard roots. I’m looking into what to do about it. We have a number of barn cats that hunt around the gardens, but they obviously aren’t completely taking care of the problem.

We’ve been working bit by bit on clearing out the debris in the garden by the house. Last weekend, Eric, the farmer, spread manure in 2/3 of the big field and plowed it in. We’ll apply compost next and topsoil in the low areas.

This weekend, Brian and Eric will be harvesting 200 heads of green cabbage for use in our 2009 batch of sauerkraut. We plan to spend Monday and Tuesday processing the cabbage.

I just applied for and was given a grant to conduct on-farm research in season extension. I’ll be starting this project in November. This preliminary research will make our farm eligible for more in depth research projects with better funds in the future. I’ll keep you up to date on this year’s project and the results.

Bulk Beef Packages

We offer a variety of bulk beef packages, starting with our 12 pound sampler at $120 with a 10% savings right up to our 180-pound Family package at $1500 with a 15% savings and a few sizes in between. You can also have your beef custom cut by purchasing it from us by the hanging weight ($4.50 per pound). This means that you would work directly with the butcher of your choice to have the beef cut and packaged the way you want and pay the cutting and wrapping fee directly to the butcher.

We also sell our beef by the cut right at the farm. You may preorder from us any time, and we’ll make sure your meat is ready for you to take along with your vegetables right when you pick up your Winter CSA share. Just give a call or send an email to check availability! We hope you’ll try our beef. We don’t think you’ll switch back after you’ve had a taste of ours!

Box Contents

Beet greens, leeks, carrots, lettuce, kale, onions, acorn squash, cabbage, potatoes, Swiss chard, parsnips.

New Next Week

Butternut squash and sauerkraut.

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Recipes of the Week

K’s Potato Leek Soup (from pinchmysalt.com)

3 tablespoons butter
3 leeks, thinly sliced*
1 medium or large onion, chopped
6 – 8 russet potatoes, thinly sliced**
3 1/2 cups chicken broth (or enough to barely cover potatoes)
1 cup heavy cream
salt to taste
fresh ground black pepper to taste

1) Melt butter in a large saucepan over medium heat then add onions and leeks. Cook, stirring, until onions are limp and just slightly brown.

2) Add sliced potatoes to saucepan then pour in enough chicken broth to just barely cover the potatoes. Continue cooking over medium heat until potatoes are tender. Using a potato masher, mash and stir potatoes until desired consistency is reached. As you mash the potatoes and the soup thickens, turn down heat and stir frequently with a large spoon to prevent scorching on the bottom.

3) Add one cup of heavy cream (or more if you desire) and salt and black pepper to taste. Cook 15 minutes more over low heat, stirring frequently, then remove from heat and serve.

Notes: *Make sure to

clean leeks thoroughly and slice only the white and light green part of the leeks. **You don’t need to peel the potatoes as the peels add to the rustic texture of the soup. But make sure to scrub them thoroughly and remove any obvious blemishes before slicing. Although we always make it with chicken broth, this can easily become a vegetarian soup by simply using vegetable broth instead.

Kale And Parsnips

www.justvegetablerecipes.com)

Cheesy Cabbage Casserole

•1/4 cup butter

•1 small white onion, chopped

•1 head cabbage, chopped

•3 tart apples, thinly sliced

•1/2 teaspoon salt

•1/2 teaspoon pepper

•1/4 cup milk

•1 1/2-2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

1.In a large deep skillet over medium-high heat, melt butter. Add onion, cabbage, apples, salt and pepper and sautee for about10 minutes until crisp-tender.

2.Add milk and cheese and combine well. You maybe tempted to add more milk, BUT, there will be more moisture after it has baked.

3.Pour into at least a 2 quart casserole dish. Cover and bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes. Uncover and bake additional 10-15 minutes.

1 c Onions, halved & sliced
1 c Parsnips, halved & sliced
1 tb Corn oil
1 c Water
2 tb Ginger, minced
1 qt Kale, veins removed & cut into bite-sized pieces

Saute the onions and parsnips in oil for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally to prevent burning. Add the water and ginger. Cover and simer for 4 to 5 minutes. Add the kale and continue cooking 4 to 5 minutes longer. Stir occasionally but keep the saucepan covered otherwise. Serve hot.

(from

CSA Newsletter

Volume 5

Issue 18- Farm

October 15, 2009

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Week 18

Here it i

Local Harvest website blog (http://www.localharvest.org/farms/M13345): Go here and click on "Read Our Blog" to view our posts and past newsletters with recipes.

Garden Progress

Everything is gearing down of course. Now that we’ve had a hard frost crops that weren’t producing much anymore are really done. Soon we’ll be bringing in all the sauerkraut cabbage and plowing under the big field. Some of the winter CSA crops benefit from the frost and will taste really great now. Another frost or two and they’ll be about perfect. I haven’t looked under the row cover yet, but it should have kept the frost off the more tender crops.

We’ll still be applying compost and seeding down empty beds with winter rye as late as we can. After this week, we shift to the winter CSA with only one harvest and delivery day a week. I must say we’re ready for the slow down. It’s getting awfully cold washing vegetables in the milk room. Our fingers are pretty numb and stiff by the time we’re done preparing your carrots and beet greens. Maybe someday we’ll look into heating the milk room for this time of year!

Farm News

Our most exciting news this week is that Eric and I bought our first tracotr. It’s a Farmall A Cultivision. It was built in 1947, pre-chemical farming era. Most tractors built for the kind of farming we do without chemical herbicides we made in the 1950s and before. We got a really great deal on the tractor, plows and harrows. We are now starting to look around for cultivators to buy and build. This is a very exciting acquisition. It means that we won’t have to rent or lease a tractor for our garden anymore!

Repeat for some of you:

Thank you to everyone who has filled out our survey. There’s still time to fill it out if you haven’t had a chance yet. Or if you feel comfortable doing it, you can send me an email or give me a call with your feedback. The great thing about the online survey is you can be totally anonymous. It very helpful to know what everyone wants. We’re in the process of compiling the data to see what crops are most and least desirable. There are of course different people who want more and less of the same vegetable! For instance, many of you want lettuce for salads every week. Others want more potatoes. Some of you were overwhelmed by the lettuce and potatoes. We did a better job this year than ever before of planting crops multiple times to be able to offer them week after week. The best examples are peas, beans, yellow squash, and lettuce. We’ll keep at it and keep improving next year. We plan to get closer to having lettuce at least as a choice every week. We’ll plant our broccoli and bok choy in multiple plantings. We’ll also be returning all of our melons to the greenhouse. We had such great success for two years, followed by two years of disappointing results in the field. Back to the greenhouse we go!!!

Recipes of the Week

Maple Baked Butternut Squash

3 tablespoons unsalted butter

3 tablespoons apple butter
3/4 cup maple syrup, plus more as needed for basting
1/4 cup apple cider
2-3# (1 large) butternut squash, peeled, halved lengthwise, seeded and cut crosswise into 1/4-inch thick slices
3 medium-sized tart apples, peeled, halved, cored and cut into 1/4-inch pieces
2 tablespoons dried cranberries

1. Preheat oven to 400?. Oil a medium-sized (13"X9") baking dish.
2. Combine butter, apple butter, 3/4 cup of maple syrup and apple cider in a saucepan over medium-low heat until mixture melts, stirring. Increase heat and boil until mixture is slightly reduced, about 5 minutes.
3. Arrange 1/3 of squash slices in prepared baking dish. Top with half of apple slices, then 1/3 squash slices. Arrange remaining slices of squash and apple on top, alternating squash and apple slices. Season top with freshly ground pepper. If using unsalted butter, lightly season with sea salt.
4. Pour maple syrup mixture over casserole and cover tightly with foil. Bake casserole until squash in just fork-tender, about 45 minutes. Turn broiler on and broil an additional 1-2 minutes until top is golden brown.
5. Sprinkle with cranberries and serve, spooning juices over vegetables.

Garden Medley from

http://danazia.wordpress.com – with a few small modifications

1 bunch of baby carrots

1 bunch of baby beets and their greens

1 bunch of kale (or any other greens – Swiss chard, turnip greens, bok choy…)

3 to 4 cloves of garlic, minced

1 spring onion, sliced (or any other small onion or green onion)

1 to 2 tablespoons of olive oil

1 -2 tablespoons of your favorite vinegar

¼ cup of feta cheese

Salt and Pepper to taste

2 tablespoons of fresh garden herbs of your choice (or 2 tsps. dry herbs)

Hand full of nuts

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Cut the carrot and beet tops off and scrub them till nice and shiny. Save your beet greens and put them in a jar of water like a beautiful bouquet, while they wait. (This will get them all perky.) Put your roots in a small baking dish and toss them in one tablespoon of olive oil and bake till you can poke a knife through them, about 45 minutes or so. When they cool, cut them into halves. Some people like to remove the skins of the beets, but I like them and they provide more nutrients.

Wash the greens and chop them up into bite size pieces. Now, heat the remaining olive oil to medium high in a skillet that has a lid. Throw in the garlic and onion and sauté for a minute or two till they become translucent and aromatic. Then add the greens and herbs and sauté with the onions and garlic for a few minutes. Add a tablespoon of vinegar and put the lid on and simmer, stirring here and there for about 8 to 10 minutes, adding a bit more vinegar when needed. When the greens are done, add a bit of salt and pepper, place them in a pretty bowl and artfully put the carrots and beets in the dish. Sprinkle the snow white feta cheese and nuts on the top and serve with pride. This dish is saving America’s farms.

s, the last CSA pick-up of our regular season (the winter CSA starts next Thursday). Thank you all so much for being members of our CSA this year and for trying some of our other products! We hope you’ll join us again next year as we continue to improve our shares. I will continue to blog throughout the winter. I’ll try to post something at least every other week if not more, so please check in for updates. I think you may be able to sign up for emails when I do post something. Check it out below.

Potatoes

Butternut squash/acorn squash

parsnips

Maybe flowers (depending on frost)

LOTS of choices!!!

You will be adding 4-5 items to your share of your choice. You many request your share to be boxed with your choices if you wish. Just let us know by the night before your delivery/pick-up. We will do our best to fill everyone's requests. Please rank your choices in case we need to make any substitutions.

Lettuce

Baby carrots

green cabbage

eggplant

celery

extra potatoes

Swiss chard

kale

beet greens

tomatillos

small green peppers

small yellow squash

CSA Newsletter

Volume 5

Issue 17- Farm

October 8, 2009

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Week 17

Only one weeks left to our regular season CSA!

If you haven’t taken our 2009 CSA Survey yet, please go to this link and take 5-10 minutes to complete our brief survey. It really helps us meet your needs better and improve from year to year. We want you to be happy with your share from week to week. We work hard to provide you with the freshest food possible and to grow a wide enough variety to make everyone happy.

We’re ending the season with lots of choices for you. As the weather gets cooler, the crops slow down in production…so there’s less of certain foods. This just means that you get to make more choices about what goes into your share. Let us know how you like this!

Local Harvest website blog (

http://www.localharvest.org/farms/M13345): Go here and click on "Read Our Blog" to view your CSA contents for the upcoming week and past newsletter with recipes.

Garden Progress

Lots of new crops are under cover. We use floating row cover to protect our early and late season crops from frost, but also to raise the temperature just a bit on cool and warm days to make everything grow a bit faster. Floating row cover can also protect against insect damage when set up at planting time. If taken care of well, the same row cover can be used for years. Every year I buy a few more rolls so I can cover a bit more in the spring and fall. A farmer friend of mine buys very wide rolls so he can cover many rows at once. I’d like to try some next year.

This week, We’re planting a small patch of spinach to see if we can get it started and over-winter it. Other than that, planting is done for the season. We move on to garden clean up and some winter rye cover crop. We plan to plow our big garden this fall and apply compost and manure. We’re going to build up some of the low, wetter areas with topsoil first. Then in the spring, we’re going to hire a rock crusher, then seed the whole field down in oats and clover to smother the weeds. We’ll mow the oats when the clover has a good hold and leave the clover as our paths all season. All of our earliest crops will go in the smaller garden behind the house.

Farm News

Thank you to everyone who has filled out our survey. It very helpful to know what everyone wants. We’re in the process of compiling the data to see what crops are most and least desirable. There are of course different people who want more and less of the same vegetable! For instance, many of you want lettuce for salads every week. Some of you were overwhelmed by the lettuce. We did a better job this year than ever before of planting crops multiple times to be able to offer them week after week. The best examples are peas, beans, yellow squash, and lettuce. We’ll keep at it and keep improving next year. We plan to get closer to having lettuce at least as a choice every week. We’ll plant our broccoli and bok choy in multiple plantings. We’ll also be returning all of our melons to the greenhouse. We had such great success for two years, followed by two years of disappointing results in the field. Back to the greenhouse we go!!!

Recipes of the Week

Potato Parsnip Latkes

8-10 ounces of potatoes

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
2 medium parsnips (1 lb total), peeled and coarsely grated (1 Maplewood bunch)
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
3 tablespoons finely chopped fresh chives
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
3/4 cup vegetable oil

Preheat oven to 250°F.

Peel potato and coarsely grate into a bowl. Add lemon juice and toss to combine. Place potato on towel, then gather up corners to form a sack and twist tightly to wring out as much liquid as possible. Stir potato together with parsnips, flour, eggs, chives, salt, and pepper until combined well.

Heat oil in a 12-inch nonstick skillet over moderate heat until hot but not smoking. Fill a 1/4-cup measure three-fourths full with latke mixture and carefully spoon it into skillet, then flatten to 3 inches in diameter with a slotted spatula. Form 3 more latkes in skillet, then cook until golden, about 1 1/2 minutes on each side. Transfer latkes with spatula to paper towels to drain. Keep warm on a rack set in a shallow baking pan in oven. Make more latkes in same manner, in batches of 4, with remaining mixture.

Accompaniment: applesauce and/or sour cream

Special equipment: a thin (fine-weave) kitchen towel

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BAKED ACORN SQUASH WITH APPLE STUFFING from COOKS.COM

1 med. acorn squash

2 sm. apples, unpeeled, diced

2 tbsp. diced celery

2 tsp. minced onion

2 tsp. butter, melted

2 tbsp. water

Dash of salt

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Cut squash in half. Remove seeds. Place cut side down on baking sheet sprayed with vegetable pan spray.

Combine apples, celery, and onion. Add butter and water. Put in small baking dish. Cover.

Bake squash and apple stuffing for 45 minutes or until tender. Remove from oven.

Salt squash. Fill with apple mixture.

Serves 2.

I know it’s not really possible to make everyone happy, but let us know what you liked and didn’t like about your share this year, and consider joining again next year and growing with us on this journey to grow and eat healthy local foods! " rel="nofollow">http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=Al_2bta50KpalXzARqfW8WMg_3d_3d">

Winter squash

Parsnips

Potatoes

Eggplant

You will have more choice items. You'll be able to choose 3-4 items. We'll make sure that there are extras, so everyone will have choices even at the end: lettuce, baby carrots, yellow squash, green cabbage, beans, broccoli, peppers, celery, Swiss chard, tomatillos, beet greens, extra potatoes, and more!

CSA Newsletter

Volume 5

Issue 16- Farm

October 1, 2009

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Week 16

Only two weeks left to our regular season CSA! It’s hard to believe so many weeks have passed already. If you haven’t taken our 2009 CSA Survey yet, please go to this link and take 5-10 minutes to complete our brief survey. It really helps us meet your needs better and improve from year to year. We want you to be happy with your share from week to week. We work hard to provide you with the freshest food possible and to grow a wide enough variety to make everyone happy.

We DID get a light frost, but not too many crops were damaged. We’re ending the season with lots of choices for you. As the weather gets cooler, the crops slow down in production…so there’s less of certain foods. This just means that you get to make more choices about what goes into your share. Let us know how you like this!

Local Harvest website blog (

http://www.localharvest.org/farms/M13345): Go here and click on "Read Our Blog" to view your CSA contents for the upcoming week and past newsletter with recipes.

Garden Progress

Eric and Brian are planting our garlic today! I love when it’s time to plant garlic. We’re doubling what we planted last year, putting in 12 75 foot rows. This is the second year we’ve saved enough of our own garlic to plant and not have to buy in seed garlic. It makes for a huge savings. Plus it’s really fun to take a crop full circle like that. They’re also planting more radishes for our winter share and will put row cover on more of our new crops. It’s amazing the difference row cover made in our new planting of Swiss chard in just a week! The leaves are huge and beautiful.

Squash update: I found two farmers who will barter with us for winter squash! I’ll have it available for everyone the last two weeks of our CSA.

Farm News

This is a repeat for some of you…

Maplewood Organics ~ A Noël Family Farm Since 1972

Conserved in 1995 with the Vermont Land Trust, this 300-acre certified organic farm in Highgate, Vermont, is home to Hannah and Eric Noël’s beef and vegetable CSA operation. Hannah, a graduate of Smith College, is a certified teacher, who has always had her hands in the soil having started her first garden in her sandbox as a little girl. Eric, aka the "organic mechanic", has a passion for both farming and race cars. He grew up on the farm and received his training in automotive repair from Vermont Technical College. After working as a race car mechanic in the IndyCar Series, Eric returned to the farm with plans to diversify and continue his parents’ land stewardship. He was trained in Holistic Management Planned Grazing by his local farm mentor and certified instructor, Abe Collins of Cimarron Farm in St Albans, Vermont. Eric and Hannah were married on the farm and home-birthed both of their children, Madeleine and Calvin.

Recipes of the Week

Roasted Root Vegetables from www.drweil.com

2 pounds root vegetables (use potatoes, carrots, radishes, beets), peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces
1 medium onion (2 of your small onions), peeled and cut into 1/3-inch wedges
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
Salt to taste
1 head garlic, separated into cloves and peeled
Chopped fresh herbs like rosemary or balsamic vinegar (optional)

1. Heat oven to 400 degrees. Place the root vegetables and onion in a roasting pan.

2. Toss the vegetables with the olive oil and salt to taste. Do not crowd the vegetables.

3. Roast the mixture for a total of 45-50 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes. After 30 minutes, scatter the garlic cloves in with the vegetables. Continue stirring every 15 minutes until the vegetables are tender and evenly browned.

4. Before serving, add a sprinkling of fresh chopped herbs or balsamic vinegar, if you like for additional flavor.

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OVEN FRIED EGGPLANT from COOKS.COM

1/2 c. seasoned crumbs
1 tsp. salt
1 sm. eggplant (about 1 lb.), pared
1 egg, slightly beaten

Heat oven to 375 degrees. Grease jelly roll pan (15 1/2 x 10 1/2 x 1 inch). Mix seasoned crumbs and salt. Cut eggplant into 1/2 - 1 inch slices. Dip slices into egg, then coat with crumbs. Arrange in pan. Bake uncovered 15 minutes. Turn and bake 15 minute longer. (4 servings)

Substitution: For seasoned crumbs: 1/2 cup dry bread crumbs and 1/4 tsp. pepper, or herbs of your choice (garlic and onion powder, parlsey, paprika, basil all go well with eggplant)

This is also great with parmesan and mozzarella cheese melted over the top.

Here is another excerpt from our upcoming brochure, our story:

I know it’s not really possible to make everyone happy, but let us know what you liked and didn’t like about your share this year, and consider joining again next year and growing with us on this journey to grow and eat healthy local foods! " rel="nofollow">http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=Al_2bta50KpalXzARqfW8WMg_3d_3d">

Please click the link below to view photos from Friday's Farmers' Market in Westford.

http://www1.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=1486574015/a=1529132_1529132/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish/

With a frost expected, our offerings will be limited over the next three weeks. We will be bringing in winter squash for the last two weeks of the CSA so you'll  have more of those soon.

Beets/beet greens

Potatoes

Onions

Carrots/baby carrots

Eggplant

You will have more choice items. You'll be able to choose 3-4 items. We'll make sure that there are extras, so everyone will have choices even at the end: yellow squash, green cabbage, red cabbage, winter squash, beans, broccoli, peppers, celery, Swiss chard, and more!

CSA Newsletter

Volume 5

Issue 15- Farm

September 24, 2009

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Week 15

We’re starting to do some of our fall clean up work with weeds and crops. Eric and Brian harvested ¾ of our onions and laid them out in the greenhouse to dry on Friday. They’ve also been working at clearing out rows and weeding our newly planted crops.

This week you see a return of celery and carrots. We’ve returned to flower bouquets so everyone can enjoy them while we have them! They’ll be gone with the first killing frost which could happen any time now.

Local Harvest website blog (

http://www.localharvest.org/farms/M13345): Go here and click on "Read Our Blog" to view your CSA contents for the upcoming week and past newsletter with recipes.

Garden Progress

This is a repeat for some of you:

With all the rain we had early in the season, we do have some crops that are not producing well, including our winter squash and pie pumpkins. I’m trying to work out trades with other farmers to get more winter squash for you. We will not be buying in corn this year. The farmer we usually buy from has a shortage this year. He lost his whole first crop and has had low production in his subsequent plantings. We’ve tried unsuccessfully to include sweet corn for two years now. I think in the future we will buy some in at wholesale price to have available for sale to anyone who wants to buy corn at a discount.

Update: I found two farmers who will barter with us for winter squash! I’ll have it available for everyone the last two weeks of our CSA.

Farm News

Eric brought home a new bull last Thursday. His name is Harvey. He’s a thirteen-month-old Belted Galloway. He’s a good-looking animal! He went out with our herd Friday and has been making friends/butting heads with the others, finding his place in the order of things. Brian researched the Belted Galloways and found that the bulls do pass on the belt, so we should know next spring or summer if Harvey sired any calves! Exciting!

Here is another excerpt from our upcoming brochure, our story:

Maplewood Organics ~ A Noël Family Farm Since 1972

Conserved in 1995 with the Vermont Land Trust, this 300-acre certified organic farm in Highgate, Vermont, is home to Hannah and Eric Noël’s beef and vegetable CSA operation. Hannah, a graduate of Smith College, is a certified teacher, who has always had her hands in the soil having started her first garden in her sandbox as a little girl. Eric, aka the "organic mechanic", has a passion for both farming and race cars. He grew up on the farm and received his training in automotive repair from Vermont Technical College. After working as a race car mechanic in the IndyCar Series, Eric returned to the farm with plans to diversify and continue his parents’ land stewardship. He was trained in Holistic Management Planned Grazing by his local farm mentor and certified instructor, Abe Collins of Cimarron Farm in St Albans, Vermont. Eric and Hannah were married on the farm and home-birthed both of their children, Madeleine and Calvin.

Winter CSA – SOLD OUT

You may place your name on a waiting list for our winter CSA, which runs October through December. If someone cancels, you have a chance at a share in the order that you signed on. (The total cost to you is $140.)

Recipes of the Week

Cabbage Patch Soup Recipe 2¼ hours | 45 min prep SERVES 10

2 lbs ground beef

1 cup chopped onion

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 cup chopped green pepper

1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste

3 medium tomatoes, chopped

2 tablespoons chili powder

1 teaspoon oregano

1 tablespoon minced parsley

1 (15 ounce) can kidney beans, drained and rinsed

3 beef bouillon cubes*

1 head cabbage, chopped

8-11 cups water*

salt and pepper

In a large soup kettle, brown beef with onion, garlic and green pepper.

Add tomato paste, tomatoes, chili powder, oregano, parsley, kidney beans and salt and pepper to taste.

Stir well.

Dissolve bouillon in 1 cup water and add to soup along with cabbage.

Slowly add desired amount of remaining water.

Bring to boil.

Reduce heat and simmer for 1 hour.

*In place of the bouillon with 1 cup water and the 8-11 cups water, use season beef broth or beef stock that you season to taste yourself (or vegetable broth with no meat for vegetarians!). You can also add carrots, celery, and other veggies to this soup.

© 2009 Recipezaar. All Rights Reserved. http://www.recipezaar.com

Eggplant Elegante (from www.eggplantrecipes.net)

Eggplant casserole combines eggplant, sauteed onion and green pepper, bacon, and chopped tomatoes. Breadcrumbs and melted butter top off this elegant dish before baking.

1 large Eggplant, peeled and diced

1/2 teaspoon Salt

8 slices Bacon, fried and crumbled

1 medium Green Bell Pepper, diced

1 medium Onion, diced

1 (15 ounces) can Chopped or Diced Tomatoes

Salt and Pepper, to taste

Breadcrumbs

1/4 cup melted Butter or Margarine

1. Preheat oven to 325 F.

2. Add eggplant to saucepan. Cover with water and ½ teaspoon salt. Bring to boil over medium high heat. Boil 10 minutes.

3. Drain eggplant thoroughly.

4. Saute onion and green pepper in small skillet. Add bacon and diced tomatoes.

5. Add eggplant. Toss to combine.

6. Spoon mixture into casserole dish. Sprinkle breadcrumbs over top of eggplant.

7. Drizzle breadcrumbs with melted butter.

8. Bake 45 minutes.

Click here to take our survey please!

" rel="nofollow">http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=Al_2bta50KpalXzARqfW8WMg_3d_3d">

Some items will not be included if we get frost! We can't cover everything.

Blue potatoes

Yukon gold or red potatoes

Celery

Carrots

Onions, red and yellow

Peppers

Eggplant

Sungold or cherry tomatoes

Paste tomatoes

Yellow squash

Choice of herbs

Trades will include: radishes, beans, zucchini, cucumbers, and more!

You may order Swiss chard, and any herbs (sage, basil, parsley, oregano, thyme) by calling or emailing by 8:00am the day of your pick up. The earlier the better!!!

CSA Newsletter

Volume 5

Issue 14- Farm

September 17, 2009

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Week 14

We finally got a bit of rain Sunday during our morning harvest. We only got 1/10 of an inch…better than nothing. We hope to get more at the end of the week.

We’ve included some blue potatoes for you to try this week. It’ll be fun to mix them with your Yukon Golds.

Remember to go to our Local Harvest website blog (

http://www.localharvest.org/farms/M13345) to view your CSA contents for the upcoming week. You can also find our newsletters posted to that blog. If you want to look back at recipes, you can look there!

Garden Progress

The sungold tomatoes are still coming on strong! Our green cabbage looks amazing! We have to schedule our sauerkraut production days soon. I’ll let you know when they are so you can come help if you want to. We’ll just ask you to bring along your food processor to speed things up!

We’re getting to that time of year when frost is more and more likely. Our first hard frost will reduce the amount of veggies we’ll have to distribute in our shares. We have enough row cover to cover some crops, but not all.

We should have a new batch of radishes within the next week or two to include in your shares. We have more carrots coming along. With all the rain we had early in the season, we do have some crops that are not producing well, including our winter squash and pie pumpkins. I’m trying to work out trades with other farmers to get more winter squash for you. We will not be buying in corn this year. The farmer we usually buy from has a shortage this year. He lost his whole first crop and has had low production in his subsequent plantings. We’ve tried unsuccessfully to include sweet corn for two years now. I think in the future we will buy some in at wholesale price to have available for sale to anyone who wants to buy corn at a discount.

Farm News

Sadly, our bull, Junior, injured himself last week beyond repair. We had a veterinarian visit on Friday. After examining Junior, she delivered the bad news. His lacerations are too severe to fix. Eric and Richard and the interns are butchering him tomorrow before he gets an infection. We’re having him custom cut to feed our families. We have already started the search for another bull. We want to continue breeding our own herd, so this is our necessary next step. We very sorry to see Junior, our easy-going, easy-to-handle bull go.

Here is another excerpt from our upcoming brochure that explains how we graze our cattle graze our pastures:

"

High-density planned grazing or mob grazing is a form of foraging that follows nature. By increasing the amount of animals per acre and decreasing the time spent in any one area, animal and pasture performance are greatly enhanced. Improved pasture forage volume, soil structure, nutrient content, and water-holding capacity all lead to healthier pasture land and result in healthier, fast-gaining, high-quality beef. In addition, planned grazing eliminates soil erosion and greatly reduces run off."

High-Density Holistic Planned Grazing

Winter CSA – SOLD OUT

You may place your name on a waiting list for our winter CSA, which runs October through December. If someone cancels, you have a chance at a share in the order that you signed on. (The total cost to you is $140.)

Recipes of the Week

Grilled Red and Green Cabbage Slaw Bon Appétit | July 2008 Yield: Makes 6 servings

Coleslaw on the grill? Absolutely. It makes the cabbage and green onions tender and adds just a bit of smoky flavor.

Nonstick vegetable oil spray

1/2 cup tarragon vinegar

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup vegetable oil plus additional for brushing

2 tablespoons Dijon mustard

1 tablespoon chopped fresh tarragon

1 medium head of red cabbage (about 1 3/4 pounds), quartered through core

1 medium head of green cabbage (about 13/4 pounds), quartered through core

1 bunch green onions (about 6), trimmed

Spray grill rack with nonstick spray. Prepare barbecue (medium-high heat). Whisk vinegar, sugar, 1/2 cup oil, mustard, and tarragon in medium bowl. Season dressing with salt and pepper.

Brush cabbages and green onions with oil; sprinkle with salt and pepper. Grill cabbages until dark grill marks form, 3 to 4 minutes per side. Grill green onions until charred on 1 side, 2 to 3 minutes. Transfer vegetables to work surface.

Chop green onions and cabbages; place in large bowl, discarding cores. Add dressing; toss to coat. Season slaw to taste with salt and pepper.

Eggplant Bruschette Gourmet | March 2006 Yield: Makes 4 (hors d'oeuvre) servings

1 baguette

4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

1 1/2 garlic cloves, whole clove left unpeeled

1 small eggplant (1/2 lb)

1/2 teaspoon finely chopped fresh thyme

1/4 teaspoon finely chopped fresh rosemary

1/4 teaspoon finely chopped fresh oregano

1/4 teaspoon coarse gray sea salt

1/8 teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper

1 tablespoon chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

2 tablespoons finely grated Parmigiano-Reggiano

Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 375°F.

Cut off and discard 1 end of baguette, then cut 12 (1/4-inch-thick) crosswise slices from baguette (reserve remainder for another use). Lightly brush 1 side of each slice with some oil (about 1 tablespoon total) and arrange, oiled sides up, on a baking sheet. Toast until golden, 8 to 10 minutes. While toasts are still warm, rub oiled sides with cut side of garlic clove half, then transfer to a rack to cool. Reduce oven temperature to 350°F.

Halve eggplant lengthwise and make shallow 1/2-inch-long incisions all over cut sides with tip of a paring knife. Arrange eggplant, cut sides up (without crowding), in a shallow baking dish and add unpeeled garlic clove. Sprinkle thyme, rosemary, oregano, sea salt, and pepper over eggplant, then drizzle eggplant and garlic with 2 tablespoons oil.

Bake until garlic is very tender, 30 to 35 minutes, then transfer garlic to a cutting board and continue to bake eggplant until very tender, 20 to 25 minutes more. When garlic is cool enough to handle, squeeze flesh from peel onto cutting board.

Transfer eggplant to cutting board and let stand until cool enough to handle, about 15 minutes. Scrape out flesh with a spoon onto cutting board, discarding peel. Finely chop eggplant and garlic together and transfer to a bowl. Add parsley and remaining tablespoon oil, then stir until combined well. Season with sea salt and pepper to taste.

Top toasts with eggplant mixture and sprinkle with cheese.

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Blue potatoes

Yukon Gold potatoes

cherry/sungold tomatoes

paste tomatoes

onions, red and yellow

beans

eggplant

green peppers

green cabbage

yellow squash

tomatillos

parsley

basil

flowers

Extras include winter squash, cucumber, zucchini, potatoes

If you want Swiss chard, cilantro, sage, thyme, or mint please let us know by 8:00am the morning of your delivery by emailing maplewoodorganics@yahoo.com or calling 868-5083.