Farm
to Folk Newsletter July 8, 2008
Update on our distribution site: We
will have our deliveries at the Unitarian Fellowship of Ames for July
8. The remodelling project at UCC is nearly complete and we hope
to have our deliveries there on July 15--but watch your email for
confirmation of this. How to use the sharing table: You may have noticed a table with a sign "sharing table". This is the place to put produce that you receive in your share that you aren't able to use. As you go down the veggie share table(s) please take everything that is included in your share as you pick up and then place items you don't want on the sharing table. Items on the sharing table are then available for members that can use the extra items.
Meet the Members
This week, we would like to introduce you to Jayne Misra. Jayne is another long-time member of Farm to Folk with a generous spirit and great folk wisdom to share. Her family originally joined Farm to Folk about 12 years ago when it was Magic Beanstalk. One of the highlights participation affords her family is the access it provides to a variety of foods they don't ordinarily eat. Another benefit is the time spent with people who are similarly interested in environmental issues and providing "the best" food for their families. Jayne also likes to swap recipes and food preparation ideas with other members. "I got a [preventive] cold recipe from another member who told me to squeeze 3 whole lemons, and mix the juice with 3 cups of water and half a cup of sugar. The person getting the cold drinks the entire recipe and then you make another batch for the rest of the family, which cuts the cold in half. The severity is lessened and the cold doesn't last as long."
Jayne is also known to generously share her goods with others. I remember one day last year when she bought a loaf of quick bread from Grains of Wisdom. She proceeded to slice it through the middle and give me half in response to an off-handed comment I had made about never having tried that product of Bill's before (this was when Bill was on site instead of Mary Beth). I barely knew her at the time and was both humbled and touched by her gesture. I still don't know her very well now, but I will always remember that day when she gave up something she enjoyed so much to someone she barely knew so I could share in the enjoyment too. Such largesse is an aspiration for the rest of us and one of many fond moments that make Farm to Folk what it is today.
Berry Patch Farm
This week finds Berry Patch Farm in a transitional period--the end of the strawberry season, with a few berries still available for a la carte ordering, and the beginning of the tart cherries and nearing the raspberry season. Your fruit share will include tart cherries this week. Judy Henry suggests using a large paper clip to pit your cherries. Just insert the loop of the paper clip in the stem end of the cherry and pull out the pit.Iowa Fresh Produce
Happy 4th everyone!Hard to believe from the looks of the garden that its July already! We've been busy watering......seems those last plants we've set out just can't get enough. Hopefully their roots will become established soon and they won't need as much TLC.
During all the rainy weather we also had our mainstay tractor down so not only did the weather hamper the planting but we couldn't even mow our yard. As a result we've had an array of animals in and around the buildings that we usually just see more on the periphery. Rabbits had taken up building several nests in the yard as well as a hen pheasant beginning a clutch of eggs by a greenhouse that has been a project for some time now. Add the nightly aroma of wandering skunks and a badger out by the carrot patch and life should be complete, but yesterday we had a new addition..... I'd noticed a deer has been leaving telltale hoof prints all through the garden.... which is somewhat normal as the garden is a deli oasis between their foraging at a nearby dredge ditch and their bedding grounds in a nearby grove...... she seemed awfully persistent in her hanging around and yesterday while rummaging through a junk pile IE my treasure trove of indispensable implement parts and scraps I saw why....... she'd had a fawn just yards from the house. Toads and frogs seem to have flourished this year as well- no doubt because of all the water and now mosquito larvae...... I hope they pig out!
We will soon be transitioning into the more traditional Summer time veggies... or at least hopefully. They still appear pitifully small and it seems there are few bees about this season. I haven't noticed any bumble bees yet and the couple of hives that I had were lost last year. They were new hives and looked good going into the Fall but come Spring when I tapped on the sides of the hives I couldn't hear the distinctive humming coming from inside. Upon opening the hives up I was surprised to find no activity and not the typical inch or so of bees at the base when a hive has froze out. There was still honey and dead brood so I can only assume they were infected with that disease whereby they die when they can't navigate their way back to the hive. Hopefully their wild kin will pick up that important task of pollinating.
This week you will receive:
sugar snap peas
lettuce
beets
onions
This will be the last of the sugar snaps coming off of another 4 rows of waterlogged or submersed plants. The onions we've decided to begin pulling where they were in the wettest area as well so they will be small.
Enjoy the holiday weekend safely
Bruce
Small Potatoes Farm
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Deliveries
We will be delivering carrots, arugula and new potatoes. If we still have
some peas, we hope to bring those too.
We've been getting rave reviews about the mint. I hope you used it to
mint sugar or enjoyed a nice cup of evening tea with it. Corry at the
distribution site said no one would want mint. For the life of me I wouldn't
know why. It is completely fresh, easy to use and in season. Tea is a common
drink that many people enjoy. If, however, she is right, please let me know and
I won't bring any in the future.
Remember, at delivery, there is a sharing table to leave those items you
can't use. If for some reason you can't utilize a certain food, please leave it
on the sharing table so others who can, will.
Happenings
We've been
busy weeding and planting. The winter squash field, only a week ago a giant
carpet of grass, is now tamed and orderly. It took us about 25 hours of weeding
and tilling, but it looks like most plants that survived the wet weather will
make it. We started replanting short season 'delicata' to fill in the gaps
yesterday and I should finish that by mid-afternoon.
Our annual
onions are pulling through. At least one variety stood up to the water well. One
had a 90% mortality, but was a smaller planting. Garlic will be ready to pull
(as soon as we get organized to do it). After that we'll dry it for 3-4 weeks
and start sending it out. We hope to mulch and trellis about 100 of our tomatoes
today... perhaps ambitious. At any rate, I'd like to have them all done by
Sunday evening. Our final summer beds of carrots are up that I planted last
week.
I've planted more cilantro, beet greens and will do turnips in the next
few days. Summer squash is up from the replanting and will be thinned today or
tomorrow and then covered with row covers. We have a bed of arugula that looks
great and should be delivered next week. Cucumbers and melons are replanted and
watered in. We have 225 ft of green beans growing well and are about 6 inches
high.
You'll have to wait until next week for the next installment of Stacy's
mother's antics. As a teaser, I can say she attempted to visit on Sunday, and
eventually made it, but called with the proclamation that Interstate 80 did not
exist as she was traveling toward Kansas City on I35.
What RICK is Doing in the Kitchen
I made a cherry/June berry pie this week. Our neighbors had the cherries
to pick and the church in town had an unutilized June berry tree in its front
yard. sugar, flour, salt, corn starch, berries and butter. And, yes, I did make
a lattice top for it. It was super. Look around, there is a lot of food around
you.
Community Award
Finally, if you would like to nominate a member of the CSA for
exemplifying the word 'community' in Community Supported Agriculture, send me a
nomination along with a brief reason why. The wild black raspberries are
starting to mature and I will deliver a box of them to the winner.
Rick, Stacy and
Matilda
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Recipes
This isn't really a recipe, but thought I'd tell how I make mint tea. I place a few stems of fresh mint in my tea pot and pour about a quart of not quite boiling water over the mint. Let steep for 15-20 minutes and then pour into a mason jar and let cool. I then put it in the refrigerator for a refreshing mint tea. ~marilynRhubarb Custard Pie
Mix 1-1/2 cups sugar with 1/4 cup all-purpose flour, 1/4 t ground nutmeg and a dash of salt. Add to 3 beaten eggs; beat smooth. Stir in 4 cups of 1-inch slices of rhubarb. Place in prepared pie shell, dot with 2 T butter and cover with lattice top crust. Bake at 400 F for 50 minutes.
The above recipe is from the Better Homes and Gardens cookbook and is delicious and easy.
Sweet and Tangy Borscht
1 t olive oil
2/3 c chopped onion
4 c water
2 c peeled, diced fresh beets
2 c diced red potatoes
1 T brown sugar
1 t fesh dill weed, chopped
1/2 t salt
1/4 t coarsely ground pepper
2 T red wine vinegar
1-1/2 c low fat buttermilk
1/2 c plain nonfat yogurt
Coat a large sauce pan with cooking oil spray and add olive oil. Heat on med-low till hot and add onion. Cook till tender. Add 4 cups water and the next 7 ingredients. Stir well and bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat and simmer until beets are tender. Let cool and then place about a third of the mixture in the blender and process till smooth. Repeat with the rest of the soup. Stir in buttermilk. Cover and chill. To serve, ladle into individual soup bowls and top with a dollop of yogurt.
This is from Endless Harvest by Betty Levine.