csa share – week 17 {september 11}

Welcome to the 17th week of the Pitchfork & Crow CSA!

Here’s what’s in the share:

Summer Squash-
Green Beans
Sweet Corn – one last week of corn!
Sweet Red Peppers – 1 jimmy nardello and two other sweet reds including either lipstick or stocky red roaster!
Carrots
Lemon Cucumbers
Cabbage
Collards – the cooler weather has done these greens well!
Basil – is your freezer stocked with pesto for winter yet? Freeze batches in ice cube trays for easy portions!
Tomatoes – 4 mostly dark heirlooms this week for everyone! The varieties are Paul Robeson and Black From Tula
Melons – these delicious cantaloupes are from AMR Farms in Jefferson – not officially organic but not sprayed either. Want more? You can find them next door to our booth at the Salem Saturday Market!

Many thanks for the enthusiastic response to our trial winter CSA program. We’ve been compiling a list and we’ll be getting back to folks over the next week with official details including dates, pricing, and sign-up information. We’re excited to be taking you with us through the winter!

This week we felt the seasonal shift at the farm. The nights have been cooler and yesterday Jeff woke up to a rainy CSA harvest day. The darkness is setting in earlier too, shortening our outdoor works hours for better or for worse.

This has been a long season and I think we’re both ready for shorter days, but we keep finding ourselves trying to decide which project needs to be tackled first. We need to beat the rain and harvest the remaining onions and we hope to bring in storage apples, and pears and the plums are nearly ready too. Plus we need to harvest some more potatoes to make space for overwintering mustards in the field. However, these storage crops need a place to go, suggesting we should first finish up assembling our storage cooler. Some of you may also know that we’re trying to transition more of our belongings to the farm before we put our Salem house on the market, so our focus continually gets pulled in that direction too.

This is traditionally the harvest season, when crops that have taken all year to mature are brought in and enjoyed or stored for the days ahead. As we head into our third winter with this farm, and our first winter as farm owners knowing we’ll be still be on this ground next spring, we’re finding this to also be a season of settling in. We’re setting up our farm home, thinking about work spaces, and planning for the future work to be done here while also trying to keep up with the current season. We’re looking forward to finding more focus in our farming as we move through this transition and hope the next season at this time we’ll be able to fully embrace the harvest season.

Enjoy this week’s vegetables!

Your farmers,

Jeff Bramlett and Carri Heisler

Here are a few recipes to get you inspired:

These are all takes on recipes I heard about at the CSA pick-up today. Very inspiring!

Basil Lemonade

Basil Lemon Syrup

4 cups packed fresh basil sprigs (top 4 inches; from a 1/2-pound bunch)
4 cups water
2 cups sugar
9 (4- by 1-inch) strips lemon zest

Lemonade

2 cups basil lemon syrup (see above)
2 cups cold water
2 cups ice cubes
1 1/4 cups fresh lemon juice

Garnish: fresh basil sprigs; lemon zest strips

Bring all syrup ingredients to a boil in a medium saucepan, stirring until sugar is dissolved. Let stand at room temperature, covered, 1 hour, then transfer to an airtight container and chill until cold, about 1 hour. Strain syrup thorough a sieve into a bowl, pressing hard on and then discarding solids.

Stir together all lemonade ingredients in a large pitcher, then pour into tall glasses half filled with ice.

Cooks’ note: Syrup keeps, covered and chilled, 5 days.

From: Epicurious via Gourmet, http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Basil-Lemonade-238928

Zucchini and Summer Squash Risotto

4 cups water (vegetable stock could be used as well)
2 Tbsp olive oil
1/2 cup finely diced onion
1 cup arborio rice
1/2 cup dry white wine
1 medium zucchini, grated
1 medium summer squash, grated
1-2 Tbsp butter
Fresh lemon juice
A handful of grated Parmesan
Salt

Pour the water into a kettle and bring to a boil.

Set a medium-sized, heavy sauce pan over med-low heat. Add the oil and onions. Cook, stirring occasionally, until completely translucent and tender.

Turn up the heat to medium, add the rice, and cook, stirring constantly, for 2-4 minutes or until the grains are mostly translucent and only white in the center.

Pour in the wine and cook, stirring constantly, until the wine is absorbed.

Add enough water to cover the rice by 1/2 inch (about 2 cups), 1 tsp kosher salt (or 1/2 tsp table salt), and cook, stirring occasionally, until most of the water is absorbed. Add 1/2 cup water at a time to keep the rice lubricated and stirring as necessary. The less water you have in the pot, the more you have to stir.

After 15 minutes of cooking the rice with water, start tasting it. When it’s still a bit crunchy, but close to that perfect al dente stage, stir in zucchini & summer squash. Season with salt to taste, and continue cooking stirring constantly and adding water 1/2 cup at a time as necessary so that the rice doesn’t stick. Taste the rice every few minutes and as soon as it’s almost tender, but still toothsome, turn off the heat.

Add a bit more water if risotto looks stiff. Stir in the butter and a little cheese . Reserve the rest of the cheese to sprinkle on top during serving. Give it a good squeeze of lemon, taste and correct seasoning (you might need more lemon juice and/or salt). Cover and let rest 5 minutes. Serve sprinkled with cheese and drizzled with good olive oil.

From Shutterbean, http://www.shutterbean.com/2010/zucchini-summer-squash-risotto/

Cantaloupe Jam with Vanilla

2 1/2 cups chopped peeled cantaloupe (from about 2 pounds cantaloupe)
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1 vanilla bean, split and scraped
Grated zest of 1 lemon
1 teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 3-ounce packet liquid pectin

Instructions

Put the rack into a canning pot and put three half-pint jars on top. Fill the pot (and jars) with water to cover and bring to a boil. Place the lids in a small saucepan, cover them with water, and simmer over very low heat.

Meanwhile, in a nonreactive pot, combine the cantaloupe pulp, sugar and vanilla bean seeds. Bring to a boil over high heat and cook for 8 to 10 minutes.

Add the lemon zest, lemon juice and the packet of liquid pectin. Return to a vigorous boil. Cook for an additional 3 to 4 minutes, until the bubbles look thick.

Remove hot jars from the canning pot and drain.

Remove the jam pot from the heat and ladle the jam into the prepared jars. Wipe the rims, apply the lids and rings, and process in the boiling water bath for 10 minutes.

From The Oregonian via Food In Jars by Marisa McClellan, http://www.oregonlive.com/foodday/index.ssf/2008/06/recipe_detail.html?id=8320