Oct 22, 2012

Week 21, Oct 21-27, 2012

Available for you:
  • Jack-o-Lantern 
  • Green Acorn Squash - 1 
  • White Sweet Potatoes - 4 
  • Diakon Radish - 1 
  • Red/Red Potatoes - 1 quart 
  • Carrots - 1 bunch 
  • Beet Greens w/some baby beets - 1 bunch 
  • Celery - 1 bunch 
  • Peppers - 2 
  • Garlic - 1 bulb 
  • Tomatoes - green - 3 
deliveries are subject to change

Recipe of the week:
Sweet Potato with peach-cilantro salsa

A true yam is a starchy edible tuber that is generally imported from the Caribbean. It differs greatly from the sweet potato in taste, texture, appearance and family. Depending on the variety, sweet potato flesh can vary from white to orange and even purple. The orange-fleshed variety was introduced to the United States several decades ago. In order to distinguish it from the white variety everyone was accustomed to, producers and shippers chose the English form of the African word “nyami” and labeled them “yams.” Even though the USDA requires that orange-colored sweet potatoes always be labeled “sweet potato,” most people still think of sweet potatoes as yams regardless of their true identity. http://www.ncsweetpotatoes.com

Hello members!

If you missed it last week, remember All members and all their Children receive a jack-o-lantern pumpkin from our bedding plant greenhouse. Stop by at your convenience to help your children pick out a pumpkin. One for your family and one for every child. Due to the weight please come to the farm at your convenience.

Check out our new items this week. Red/Red potatoes make nice pink smashed potatoes skins and all. Sweet Potatoes, are delicious and taste as good as the classic orange sweet potatoes. They are delicious roasted/baked, skins on, cut into cubes with a little olive oil and a sprinkle of garlic salt and rosemary too, took just over an hour. They tasted like sweet potato fries, also one of my favorites. Did you know that sweet potatoes are recommended for diabetics. It is hard to believe that such a sweet tasting vegetable is so good for you. This weekend I used them roasted and even though the bottoms were blackended it was not a burnt flavor but more like a carmelized crunch that I just couldn't stop eating them... this is not good for the diet we are on.

We are having a little family competition. Ashley decided we are all a little or maybe more than a little overweight. The whole family and a few extended members are involved. You have to weigh-in every Monday. It has been going on for about 6 weeks. Currently, Joe is winning as he is down just over 20lbs. I know I've lost ten pounds but my weigh-in today is going to be bad, I had way too much bread and potatoes this weekend, as both are my favorites. I hate that our weigh-ins are on Mondays, bad timing for me, after a weekend in the kitchen cooking and nibbling. The winner has no liquor tab when we go on our winter Florida vacation. Florida is so warm compared to our northern chilly winters. We cannot vacation in the summer as we are way too busy. Jay bought a time share just outside of Disney and forces us to take a week off annually now. I often wonder how we didn't make time for this in the past as we look forward to our family gathering in the south.

I should have cut up some diakon radish, another new item this week. They are very juicy and sweet. A great snacker. They do not have the bitter burn of a typical red radish. The flavor is closer to the salad turnips we had this summer only the texture is more like a radish. They are very very juicy and have a nice little warm after finish with a radishy residual flavor. I have to say quite nice and a new treat to put out with your veggie platters right along side the carrots, celery, peppers, and cukes. They are quite big and store well in the refrigerator, so I just peel them up and then make 1/4 inch sticks. They were sampled last week by the guests on our local farm tour, people really enjoyed them and I think you will too.

Enjoy your vegetables!
Anne

Oct 15, 2012

Week 20, Oct 15-20, 2012

Available for you: 
  • Jack-o-Lantern 
  • Butternut Squash - 1 
  • Fingerling Potatoes - 1 quart 
  • Carrots - 1 bunch 
  • Red Chard - 1 bunch 
  • Beet Greens w/some baby beets - 1 bunch 
  • Celery - 1 bunch 
  • Cilantro - 1 bunch 
  • Peppers - 2 
  • Garlic - 1 bulb 
  • Tomatoes - green - 3 
deliveries are subject to change

Recipe of the week:
Fried Green Tomato BLT Sandwiches

Hello members!

If you missed it last week, remember All members and all their Children receive a jack-o-lantern pumpkin from our bedding plant greenhouse. Stop by at your convenience to help your children pick out a pumpkin. One for your family and one for every child. Due to the weight please come to the farm at your convenience.

Check out our new items this week. Green Tomatoes and Fingerling Potatoes. The potatoes are delicious roasted with a little olive oil and a sprinkle of garlic salt and rosemary too. Did you know that if you use fingerlings in soups or stews that they do not get mushy, but stay nice and firm. I like it when they do not turn into mush. This weekend I used them in a chili too, be careful as the potatoes tend to absorb the heat spiciness.

It has been getting chillier at night, so we have to say goodbye to a few veggies. Farewell to red tomatoes, cucumbers, beans and summer squashes, and field lettuce until next summer. Enjoy your garlic as this is the last season we will be growing it for some time. Valley Dream Farm will not be growing its own garlic next year due to severe crop losses over the last two years from a new soil pest. We will be getting 2013 garlic from "Knee Deep Farm". This is one of our employees who grows Organic garlic locally. I know I will miss all those garlic scapes so much we will have to buy those from him also. Beet greens and Red Swiss Chard are hanging in there, for now, but as the temperatures drop below 32 degrees. they will not be able to withstand too many freezing nights. Onward to the storage crops and greenhouse greens that are shooting up under the "Remay", which is a cover cloth, we use it in a double layer to help give us better frost protection.

Last week was our 32nd wedding anniversary. Joe and I went to a new restaurant in STOWE called "Crop Bistro"( Where the "Shed" used to be.) It seemed like the normal price range for Stowe. I had the best meal of my life. Cocktails: A Gin cocktail with earl grey tea and a lemon liquor ($9), A new local beer ($7) for Joe, followed by Appetizers: Fried pickles ($6) & maple glazed Brussels sprouts ($4), dinner : Seafood Stew ($25 for Joe) and I had Halibut ($23 the best ever). His had the assorted scallops, shrimp, fish, mussels as well as tomatoes, peppers, onions, potatoes and chorizo sausage - he said it was great!. My halibut was on a serving of delightfully tasty winter squash surrounded by some type of buttery sauce topped with bright green edamame (soy beans) and the fish was brown crusted on the top. with a few strings of sugared ginger on top. Desert was creme brulee ($6) and organic GMR coffee ($2). What a great meal with a great guy! Here's to 32 more years!

Enjoy your vegetables!
Anne

Oct 8, 2012

Week 19, Oct 8-12, 2012

Available for you:

Pie Pumpkins - 1
Russet Potatoes - 6
Cabbage - 1 head
Broccoli - 1 bunch
Brussels Sprouts - 1 quart
Celery - 1 bunch
Spinach - 1 large handful
Beet Greens w/some baby beets - 1 bunch
Sweet Peppers - 2, Hot optional
Tomatoes - 1

deliveries are subject to change

Recipes of the week:

Hello members!

All members receive a pie pumpkin this week. All Children of members also receive a jack-o-lantern pumpkin from our bedding plant greenhouse. Stop by at your convenience to help your children pick out a pumpkin one for your family and one for every child. Due to the weight please come to the farm at your convenience.

In the past we have struggled to grow russet potatoes. Well, this season, we have the best russet potatoes ever. I am happy to announce that we have nice size russet potatoes for you to enjoy this week. As organic CSA members you all know that organic vegetables do not have any chemical fertilizers added to their soils. Commercial growers add chemical fertilizers that can push the plants to grow enormously large potatoes. In this case Bigger (from chemicals) is not better. Potatoes tend to be a heavy fertilizer feeder with us trying a new foliage fertilizer so the nutrients can be taken up by the leaves of the plant has really helped. They are also a very thirsty crop, so all the irrigation we did during this summer's hot weather also has really paid off. We now have a potato consultant working with us. Jordan is from way upstate Maine. He is helping us to improve our organic crop of potatoes and our potato equipment. With all this rain we had to borrow the neighbors 4 wheel drive tractor to pull the potato harvester through the muddy fields and get those beautiful potatoes out and dried off for storage. The Harvest still continues. Yesterday, during this fall cold spell, it was so comforting to crank up the oven and have a delicious flaky baked russet potato. Especially one that was more than one bite in size.

We are pulling out the last of the sweet peppers from the greenhouse. They are mostly small and sweet and many are purple and green in color. There are a few hot peppers for those that would like them.

SURVEY WEEK! Please fill out your surveys and return them by next week. We always want to bring you the items you like in your shares. Please try and comment also; it really helps us know what we need to do. You can be anonymous if it helps!

Enjoy your vegetables! 
Anne

Oct 2, 2012

Week 18, Oct 2-5, 2012


Available for you: 

Watermelon - 1
Blue Potatoes - 1 quart,
Winter Squash - White Acorn - 1
Cucumbers EUROS 1+ additional field cuke
Carrots - 6
Spinach
Baby Beets with Greens - 1 bunch
Swiss chard, Red - 1 bunch
Tomatoes - 1
Herbs - 1 bunch

deliveries are subject to change

Recipes of the week:

Hello members!

Last week was a bit crazier than normal. First, it was the first week of fall shares... and there is always a glitch, no matter how hard I try each year to make sure no one is forgotten, someone is always missing from the "Packing list". So,...I checked the list twice (feeling a bit like Santa) yet a special new member named Tanya was not on my list. The list has now been updated (I think we finally got it!) and she is added to the list.

We would like to wish the best to our previous worker/delivery driver Heidi. She left us suddenly, the day before deliveries, last week, because a nursing career opportunity presented itself to her, due to an unexpected opening. So good luck and study hard, We'll miss you! And Please welcome our new driver, Kevin, who rescued us with such short notice. We would also like to offer a special apology to all you delivery members! We realized that you did not receive your tomatoes last week. Both drivers (one being myself) left the farm without the tomatoes, after we both discovered they were missing, we were both too far away to return. We will make it up to you with extra items this week.

We had a busy weekend trip, to the N.H. Coast, for a family wedding. I did all the flowers for the wedding party. Corsages and boutonnieres too. It was fun and beautiful all at the same time. Blue and green hydrangeas and bright green berries and even green roses filled the bouquets. We are back now and ready for another great week of fresh vegetables.

Just when you thought we were out of fruit....we have it again! Watermelons! YAY! So delicious. We have a later planting that just ripened up for a sweet ending to summer days. White Acorn Squash taste just like "Green Acorn" although Jay thinks it may be a bit sweeter. Beet Greens steam really quick for a flavor similar to spinach or use them raw and they will add a really robust pizzazz to your salad. Get ready, look what's BACK ! Our famous, BLUE potatoes. You can boil and mash them as they fade slightly when cooked into a beautiful shade of peri-winkle. I like them whipped up and then onto my dinner plate right next to bright orange carrots on one side and steamed red chard on the other. All with a little pat of butter. I can't wait to have them tonight. They taste great roasted too. Any way you prefer to cook your potatoes, I just know you will like these little blues. Enjoy your vegetables!

Anne