Hi there lovely CSA Members!

Well, we made it through our first cold snap for the fall. We have been getting frosts in the morning down at my new place in Wasatch Cohousing in Glendale, and most of the last week has been cold and cloudy. Combine those conditions with the quickly shortening daylight length and golly, does that affect the ripening and growing of the plants! We seeded our microgreen bed the normal 8 days before harvest, and when we went to harvest them today after 9 days, they were barely popping out of the ground! You will notice that the microgreens are even more micro this week. But we have included our tester outdoor grown pea shoot, which are in the microgreen bag. They are quite tasty, add them to salads or put them on top of dinner like you would the other microgreens. Next year we are planning on growing pea shoots, sunflower shoots, and the radish microgreens to mix things up a bit more from this year, so we are testing those crops out for this season to see how we should best seed them and how long they will take.

We also decided to start clearing out our tomato plants, they got bitten by the cold weather and seem to be seriously slowing down in ripening. So we will be harvesting the green tomatoes and passing them along to all of you starting this week! We will probably be giving them out at least next week and maybe beyond. I will include a few green tomato recipes, there are lots of great things to do with them.  Here is an article from the Recipes for Health section of the New York Times talking a bit more about green tomatoes.

Also, the End-ish of Season Potluck is this Saturday, October 15 from 5:30-7:30 pm! I am super excited to see many of you there, and if you haven't done so, please RSVP so we have an idea of how many tables, etc we should put out. Also, remember it is also going to be a Grain School fundraiser, and there will be a silent auction table with some fun BUG Farms related items including restaurant gift certificates, a knitted CSA Share, and a Preserved Food Gift Basket (with food I preserved from this season's harvest). We are trying to raise $600 to cover the tuition for the course, and any support you can provide would help us in learning how to integrate small scale grain production into the BUG Farms operation for next season and beyond.

Ok, now onto the CSA Share details for this week!


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Week 20 (B) Share
 
1 bag Microgreens and Pea Shoots
1 bunch Beets
1 bunch Swiss Chard
1 bag Lettuce Mix
1 bunch Kale or Collard Greens
Peppers (Serrano(Hot) and Pepperoncini(great for pickling), or Beaver Dam or Anaheim)
Sweet Peppers or Eggplant or Tomatoes or Green Beans
Green Tomatoes




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Recipes




Green Tomato Cake

• 4 cups chopped green tomatoes
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 1/2 cup butter
• 2 cups white sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup raisins
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Directions

1. Place chopped tomatoes in a bowl and sprinkle with 1 tablespoon salt. Let stand 10 minutes. Place in a colander, rinse with cold water and drain.
2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour a 9x13 inch baking pan.
3. Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs and beat until creamy.
4. Sift together flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, soda and 1/4 teaspoon salt. Add raisins and nuts to dry mixture; add dry ingredients to creamed mixture. Dough will be very stiff. Mix well.
5. Add drained tomatoes and mix well. Pour into the prepared 9 x 13 inch pan.
6. Bake for 40 to 45 minutes in the preheated oven, or until toothpick inserted into cake comes out clean.

Green Tomato and Swiss Chard Gratin

1 bunch Swiss chard

1 pound green tomatoes, sliced a little less than 1/2 inch thick

Cornmeal for dredging (about 1/2 cup)

Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1 medium onion, chopped

2 garlic cloves, green shoots removed, minced

2 teaspoons fresh thyme leaves, chopped

3 large eggs, beaten

1/2 cup low-fat milk

3 ounces gruyere cheese, grated (1/2 cup, tightly packed)

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Oil a 2-quart baking dish or gratin with olive oil. Bring a large pot of generously salted water to a boil, and fill a bowl with ice water. Stem the chard and wash the leaves in two changes of water. Rinse the stems if wide and dice. Set them aside. When the water comes to a boil, add the chard leaves and blanch for about one minute. Transfer to the ice water, cool for a minute and drain. Squeeze out excess water and chop. Set aside.

2. Season the sliced tomatoes and the cornmeal lightly with salt and pepper. Dredge the tomatoes in the cornmeal. Heat 2 tablespoons of the olive oil in a heavy nonstick skillet over medium-high heat, and fry the sliced tomatoes for two to two minutes on each side, just until lightly colored. Remove from the heat and set aside.

3. Heat the remaining tablespoon of olive oil over medium heat in the skillet in which you cooked the tomatoes, and add the onion and the chopped chard stems. Cook, stirring, until tender, about five minutes. Add a generous pinch of salt and the garlic, and cook together for another minute, until the garlic is fragrant. Add the thyme and the chopped chard, and stir together for minute over medium heat. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

4. Beat the eggs in a large bowl with 1/2 teaspoon salt and freshly ground pepper to taste. Whisk in the milk. Stir in the cheese and the chard mixture. Transfer to the gratin dish. Layer the tomatoes over the top. Place in the oven, and bake 30 to 40 minutes, until set and beginning to brown.

Recipe from: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/27/health/nutrition/27recipehealth.html?ref=greentomatoes

Tangy Orange Beet Salad
(Courtesy of one our wonderful CSA members Jessica Love!)

3-4 beets, boiled 30 min, peeled, medium dice - about 2 cups
1 c diced orange, medium dice - approx 1 1/2 oranges
1/2 c red onion, small dice
1/4 c fresh parsley, chopped
1 T balsamic vinegar
1 T Frank's hot sauce
1 T orange juice
1 T olive oil
1 t ground black pepper
1 t salt

Mix all ingredients and allow to marinate for at least 30 minutes.  I don't bother to get the membrane off the orange sections, the beets are so sweet that the bitterness of the membrane doesn't come through.

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Well, we are coming down to the end of the season here. We are still deciding and waiting on the weather to tell exactly when we will end. We are thinking between 2 and 4 more weeks worth of deliveries. The determining factors include how cold and cloudy the weather will be, which determines how quickly our leafy fall crops can mature and bounce back after each harvest. We are thinking either 2 more weeks with a lot of the long storage crops(winter squash,  dry beans, potatoes), or 4 more weeks with the storage crops spread out if the weather is warmish and we get a lot of fast growth on the fall greens and root crops. We will certainly keep you posted, and let us know what you would prefer.

One more thing, I will be writing up a little online CSA survey to get a feel about how you all liked your deliveries this year so we can plan and change to make it even better for next year, so stay tuned for that in the next few weeks.

Hope to see you on Saturday!


Sharon