20 Oct Tue 2009
Boulder Belt Farm Share Initiative Week 28
We are firmly into autumn. The trees are turning, the summer birds have either left or are now leaving (though, for some reason, the red winged black birds are back after leaving in September). We have had our first frost warning which came to nothing but did cause us to work 12 hours this past Saturday (see http://boulderbelt.blogspot.com/2009/10/frost-warning.html for my take on that). I do not know why I still believe the weather people when they predict anything. They get things wrong far more often than they get things right. Still it is always a good idea this time of year to get one's market garden buttoned up for the cold weather and now we are ready so when the next frost warning comes we are ready.
This means we have really shifted away from summer fare. You will continue to see peppers in your share, hopefully, through the end of this month and into the first couple of pick-ups for the winter share. You may even see some ripening tomatoes in your shares through mid November. Like the peppers we had to pull a lot of green tomatoes off the plants so they would not freeze and get ruined. We found out years ago that tomatoes ripened off the vine do not suffer in the flavor realm. Good flavor is caused by good soils rich in clay and loam. Florida, Arizona and California, where most of the tasteless red orbs come from all have sandy soils, not good for great tomato flavor. That said, because these maters matured in September/October they will not have the flavor of a mater that matured in July/August but they will have far better flavor than grocery store maters. And you will not see tomatoes this week.
One thing you will see are melons. We had watermelon plants set a second round of fruit back in August. We have never had this happen before so we let the fruits stay on and mature to see what we would get. And what we now have are small melons with decent flavor. They need 14 hours of daylight and heat to get great flavor. In the fall they get under 12 hours and down right chilly conditions. So we get small melons. Not all of you will see water melons (I believe we have a total of 9 and there are 11 members), some of you will get charantais melons/cantaloupes that did the same thing-set fruit a second time. Cantaloupes will do this second setting thing much more commonly than watermelon. And cantaloupes are more forgiving of low light and colder conditions. Thus the loupes are pretty darned good tasting, even if they are small. And if you are doing the winter share expect to see melons the first couple of pick-ups as we are growing them in a hoop house and they have set fruit which gets bigger daily. So barring an attack from the local mice and vole population (which, unfortunately, is likely, even with traps all over the place) we should have a late crop of melons in early November.
The fall crops are doing decently. The fall planted broccoli is beginning to make heads. The fall planted cabbage got attacked by green caterpillars and most of the heads are not forming well at all so we may not get a fall crop at all. The fall rutabagas are looking fabulous. The 'bagas, because they will store for months, would have traditionally been a very important crop to our ancestors. These would have been one of the few veggies available come Feb. (along with leeks and a few other things). The fall carrots are also very nice-sweet, on the large side and pretty much free of maggot damage (which we get a lot of in the summer crop). We have a lot of spring mix planted. The mix I am currently cutting is not growing well. But we had a nice rain the end of last week that seemed to help it a lot. But because it is not growing well you won't see it this week but should next week and on into winter. Strangely the arugula bed that is just a few feet from the spring mix is doing well (and the spring mix beds do have arugula in them that is only so so). I dunno if we have a soil problem that is very localized (we have noticed this phenomena on our farm-little areas of either great soil or horrible soil that snake through the top and bottom areas). We have several other later plantings that are coming along well so far. but they will not be ready to cut for several more weeks at the earliest.
The parsnips are looking great. We dug a few last Friday to see how they are and they are nicer than last year ( they were spectacular last year). I expect that parsnips will start showing up in your shares in the next couple of weeks and will be a staple of the winter shares. If you have never had a parsnip you are missing out. They look like a white carrot (they are a relative) and are quite sweet. Not many people grow them because they take about 7 months to grow and must be planted in late winter or very early spring because the seeds need cold soils to germinate. We plant them in March for October/November harvests.
We can use any and all clean plastic or paper shopping bags you no longer need. In a week we can go through several hundred. pick up is after 4pm-if you come earlier you may have to wait. of course that is a wonderful excuse to wander around the farm. Remember access to the farm is one of the unique perks of being a Boulder belt FSI member. We may not be having an October potluck/farm tour but you can still walk about the farm. And there really is no better time of year to do so. It is pretty much drop dead gorgeous out here right now. You really should take advantage before the weather gets nasty and the prettiness goes away.
Recipe
Oven fries
A pound or so of taters, julienned
salt
olive oil
You will need a roasting pan with a lid or cover with aluminum foil. take the julianned taters and cover them lightly with oil (do not use too much) and than salt lightly. put into a preheated 350F oven and cook for about 15 minutes. Take out and stir (some will stick, that is all right) and put back into over this time with cover off. Stir again in another 10 minutes and cook another 5 to 10 minutes after that until the fries are nice and crispy. If you like your fries less crispy than cook for less time
What's in this Week's Share
Radishes-a nice bunch of mixed D'Avignon (long red and white) and Easter Egg (round purple, white and red/pink)
Winter squash-either one largish squash or a couple of small ones. This will be either butternut, delicata or Acorn (or some of each)
Chard-This past weekend we got had a message left on our answering machine from a long time very dedicated customer raving about the beauty of our chard. She went on for at least 2 minutes about how wonderful the chard is. I have no idea if she got past the beauty of the chard in order to cook and eat it. For those of you who may be new to chard, we grow a mix called Bright Lights which has 5 to 7 different colors and can be quite spectacular looking. this is easy to cook-wash, chop and steam in about 1 to 2 inches of water. the left over water will turn purple and is tasty and full of nutrients.
Arugula-this is usually used as a salad green though Italians love to put this on pizza (it is not cooked with the 'za, but rather, put on right before eating). We grow some of the best Arugula in the USA according to people who would know so enjoy.
Cilantro or parsley-I plan on putting a nice bunch of Cilantro in every share but frankly I do not know if I have enough. If I don't you will get parsley. If you have a preference (I know some hate cilantro) let me know before 11 today/Thursday so you can get your choice
Peppers-a couple of ripe peppers and perhaps a green or purple one as well
Garlic-2 corms of garlic
Carrots-you will get a 1 pound bag of either orange carrots or our rainbow mix of red/purple, yellow and orange carrots
Celery-we grow celery, it is not like grocery store celery in that it is smaller and stronger. Very good for cooking, not so great, IMO, for raw munching
Shallots-shallots for fancy cooking (okay for ANY cooking)
Melon-as mentioned either a watermelon or cantaloupe-our choice
Potatoes-I do not know what kind of taters you will get this week but they will be new potatoes. FYI new potatoes has nothing to do with size. What most people think of as new potatoes are actually "B" potatoes meaning they are small in size. A true new potato is one that is freshly dug. It can be any size and any color/variety. You find such taters have brighter flavor and are crisp as they are full of moisture. The "new" taters you find at the store have been cured which changes everything and that means they are certainly not "new". You may have noticed this over the months we have put taters in shares as I don't believe you guys have gotten potatoes that had been allowed to cure for more than a couple of days (taters need about a month to cure properly). So really, all your potatoes have been new.
Lucy Goodman
Boulder Belt Eco-Farm
Eaton, OH
http://boulderbelt.blogspot.com
This means we have really shifted away from summer fare. You will continue to see peppers in your share, hopefully, through the end of this month and into the first couple of pick-ups for the winter share. You may even see some ripening tomatoes in your shares through mid November. Like the peppers we had to pull a lot of green tomatoes off the plants so they would not freeze and get ruined. We found out years ago that tomatoes ripened off the vine do not suffer in the flavor realm. Good flavor is caused by good soils rich in clay and loam. Florida, Arizona and California, where most of the tasteless red orbs come from all have sandy soils, not good for great tomato flavor. That said, because these maters matured in September/October they will not have the flavor of a mater that matured in July/August but they will have far better flavor than grocery store maters. And you will not see tomatoes this week.
One thing you will see are melons. We had watermelon plants set a second round of fruit back in August. We have never had this happen before so we let the fruits stay on and mature to see what we would get. And what we now have are small melons with decent flavor. They need 14 hours of daylight and heat to get great flavor. In the fall they get under 12 hours and down right chilly conditions. So we get small melons. Not all of you will see water melons (I believe we have a total of 9 and there are 11 members), some of you will get charantais melons/cantaloupes that did the same thing-set fruit a second time. Cantaloupes will do this second setting thing much more commonly than watermelon. And cantaloupes are more forgiving of low light and colder conditions. Thus the loupes are pretty darned good tasting, even if they are small. And if you are doing the winter share expect to see melons the first couple of pick-ups as we are growing them in a hoop house and they have set fruit which gets bigger daily. So barring an attack from the local mice and vole population (which, unfortunately, is likely, even with traps all over the place) we should have a late crop of melons in early November.
The fall crops are doing decently. The fall planted broccoli is beginning to make heads. The fall planted cabbage got attacked by green caterpillars and most of the heads are not forming well at all so we may not get a fall crop at all. The fall rutabagas are looking fabulous. The 'bagas, because they will store for months, would have traditionally been a very important crop to our ancestors. These would have been one of the few veggies available come Feb. (along with leeks and a few other things). The fall carrots are also very nice-sweet, on the large side and pretty much free of maggot damage (which we get a lot of in the summer crop). We have a lot of spring mix planted. The mix I am currently cutting is not growing well. But we had a nice rain the end of last week that seemed to help it a lot. But because it is not growing well you won't see it this week but should next week and on into winter. Strangely the arugula bed that is just a few feet from the spring mix is doing well (and the spring mix beds do have arugula in them that is only so so). I dunno if we have a soil problem that is very localized (we have noticed this phenomena on our farm-little areas of either great soil or horrible soil that snake through the top and bottom areas). We have several other later plantings that are coming along well so far. but they will not be ready to cut for several more weeks at the earliest.
The parsnips are looking great. We dug a few last Friday to see how they are and they are nicer than last year ( they were spectacular last year). I expect that parsnips will start showing up in your shares in the next couple of weeks and will be a staple of the winter shares. If you have never had a parsnip you are missing out. They look like a white carrot (they are a relative) and are quite sweet. Not many people grow them because they take about 7 months to grow and must be planted in late winter or very early spring because the seeds need cold soils to germinate. We plant them in March for October/November harvests.
We can use any and all clean plastic or paper shopping bags you no longer need. In a week we can go through several hundred. pick up is after 4pm-if you come earlier you may have to wait. of course that is a wonderful excuse to wander around the farm. Remember access to the farm is one of the unique perks of being a Boulder belt FSI member. We may not be having an October potluck/farm tour but you can still walk about the farm. And there really is no better time of year to do so. It is pretty much drop dead gorgeous out here right now. You really should take advantage before the weather gets nasty and the prettiness goes away.
Recipe
Oven fries
A pound or so of taters, julienned
salt
olive oil
You will need a roasting pan with a lid or cover with aluminum foil. take the julianned taters and cover them lightly with oil (do not use too much) and than salt lightly. put into a preheated 350F oven and cook for about 15 minutes. Take out and stir (some will stick, that is all right) and put back into over this time with cover off. Stir again in another 10 minutes and cook another 5 to 10 minutes after that until the fries are nice and crispy. If you like your fries less crispy than cook for less time
What's in this Week's Share
Radishes-a nice bunch of mixed D'Avignon (long red and white) and Easter Egg (round purple, white and red/pink)
Winter squash-either one largish squash or a couple of small ones. This will be either butternut, delicata or Acorn (or some of each)
Chard-This past weekend we got had a message left on our answering machine from a long time very dedicated customer raving about the beauty of our chard. She went on for at least 2 minutes about how wonderful the chard is. I have no idea if she got past the beauty of the chard in order to cook and eat it. For those of you who may be new to chard, we grow a mix called Bright Lights which has 5 to 7 different colors and can be quite spectacular looking. this is easy to cook-wash, chop and steam in about 1 to 2 inches of water. the left over water will turn purple and is tasty and full of nutrients.
Arugula-this is usually used as a salad green though Italians love to put this on pizza (it is not cooked with the 'za, but rather, put on right before eating). We grow some of the best Arugula in the USA according to people who would know so enjoy.
Cilantro or parsley-I plan on putting a nice bunch of Cilantro in every share but frankly I do not know if I have enough. If I don't you will get parsley. If you have a preference (I know some hate cilantro) let me know before 11 today/Thursday so you can get your choice
Peppers-a couple of ripe peppers and perhaps a green or purple one as well
Garlic-2 corms of garlic
Carrots-you will get a 1 pound bag of either orange carrots or our rainbow mix of red/purple, yellow and orange carrots
Celery-we grow celery, it is not like grocery store celery in that it is smaller and stronger. Very good for cooking, not so great, IMO, for raw munching
Shallots-shallots for fancy cooking (okay for ANY cooking)
Melon-as mentioned either a watermelon or cantaloupe-our choice
Potatoes-I do not know what kind of taters you will get this week but they will be new potatoes. FYI new potatoes has nothing to do with size. What most people think of as new potatoes are actually "B" potatoes meaning they are small in size. A true new potato is one that is freshly dug. It can be any size and any color/variety. You find such taters have brighter flavor and are crisp as they are full of moisture. The "new" taters you find at the store have been cured which changes everything and that means they are certainly not "new". You may have noticed this over the months we have put taters in shares as I don't believe you guys have gotten potatoes that had been allowed to cure for more than a couple of days (taters need about a month to cure properly). So really, all your potatoes have been new.
Lucy Goodman
Boulder Belt Eco-Farm
Eaton, OH
http://boulderbelt.blogspot.com
Lucy
07:13 AM EDT