CSA, Weekly Farm News

Weekly farm news and we’ve progressed into the 21st Century!

Posted on by mhoadmin

 

Greetings  Everyone,

We’ve come into the 21st Century and now have a large screen TV with a satellite dish and reception for stations.  We installed this in the Swallow’s Nest Barn Loft because that space hadn’t been renting very frequently.  So last Friday, while Alice McVey was here, we consulted our Farm Manager (Remember the Magic Eight Ball) and it’s answer was that a large TV with satellite reception would help rent that space.  Life may not get much better than Air Conditioning and TV!!!  Another advantage of having a TV, one time when we broke a piece of equipment we asked Alvin what we did wrong to which he replied, “That’s because you weren’t sitting on the couch watching TV!”.  Maybe this investment in TV will be extending the life of our farm equipment?

Last Friday, our guest wanted to hike along the AT, having only 1 vehicle because the van is not running, we didn’t have a way to drop him off because that is the day we deliver to Ashevlle.  Alice McVey was kind enough to drop him off at Max Patch on her way back to her place.  THANKS ALICE!!! The crazy situation, he got altitude sickness and got off the trail at Lemon Gap, where he met a young woman who was able to bring him back to the farm.  The Young Woman, Stephanie, happens to have grown up with Townes Moser who is the founder of Lenny Boy Brewery, the brewery who hopes to use MHO for growing many of the the adjuncts needed for their operation.  It’s a small world isn’t it?

You will probably need to white list our email to receive correspondence from us because we have changed our email from farmer@MountainHarvestOrganic.com to Farmer@MountainHarvestOrganics.com (our email is organics plural).

Your Farmers (and cleaning staff),
Carl and Julie

NOTE: Your’re receiving this eNewsletter because you’ve either been a subscriber to MHO in the past OR if you’ve registered for our newsletters from our website.   Feel free to unsubscribe if you no longer wish to receive this eNewsletter!

CSA Shareholders: You can access our online store using this link, if using a desktop you will log in by clicking the icon of the person in the top right hand side of the web page, if you are using a phone click on the menu icon and choose the login option. All orders need to be placed by Thursday at 8 AM so that we will know what to harvest for your share! Please return your boxes because we re-use them. All orders need to be placed by Thursday at 8 AM so that we will know what to harvest for your share!   Please return your boxes because we re-use them.

What is new and abundant this week!

ARUGULA IS HERE!!! This tender green has a tangy flavor. It is included in many Mesclun mixes, but we package it separately so that you can add flavor your salads, or perhaps substitute it for lettuce as a wrap or on sandwiches. It is mentioned by several classical Mediterranean authors as an aphrodisiac. Arugula is also a good source of Vitamin C and Potassium.  Besides just eating this wonderful green in a salad, other favorites include Arugula Fig Pizza, or Arugula Pesto, or as a green wrapped in these Corn Crepes.  We stumbled upon this article from the NY Times that a study claims when people were repeatedly exposed to bitter compounds, their saliva changed to produce proteins that rendered those flavors more palatable. So if you aren’t in love with Arugula, and always wanted to enjoy this wonderful green, you should probably eat it often until it becomes tasty.

RADISHES!!!  Theses radishes tend to stay mild even when temperatures fluctuate during Spring and Fall. We mostly eat these on salads, but they are also fabulous roasted with other roots, roasted with their tops, or you might be interested in trying them in a slaw . The Splended Table suggests radish butter as a spread. These radishes and bread hors d’hoeuvres are easy, healthy and tasty.  Another favorite of ours is Spring Rolls where most any vegetable can go into these delicious wraps. They can be mashed with potatoes for a gratin which can be made vegan in substituting New Balance or oil for butter and nutritional yeast for the cheese.  If you haven’t yet pickled radishes, be sure to give it a try because it is great as a topping on tacos! Occasionally these radishes are sold without the tops.

 

CAPONATA is DELICIOUS!!!  Thank goodness that Nina suggested this topping that can be used as a filling in lettuce wraps or a dip for veggies and breads.  It is especially great with Annie’s Bakery Rustic Sourwheat toasted to perfection.  We used our paste tomatoes, which worked perfectly, because they are meaty and extremely sweet when cooked down.   

This Weeks Farmer’s Choice Veggie Share

Above is celery and paste tomatoes washed and ready to be cooked down into caponata.  The paste tomatoes work especially well for this dish.

This week’s Farmer’s Choice Share includes: (share contents are subject to change based on our actual harvest.)

We’re offering both a Farmer’s Choice Veggie and Farmers’ Choice Veggie & Meat Share.  Items common in both shares are listed first, followed by items specific to the veggie share the finally the veggie/meat share. The Farmer’s Choice Veggie & Meat share normally has smaller portions of vegetables. )

  • Lettuce:  Tropicana Lettuce! Packed full of nutrients and great for wraps!!!
  • Beans:  Mixed French Filet These beans are great simply sauteed and we’re thankful the groundhog hasn’t yet discovered them.
  • Tomatoes: Slicing.  The slicing tomatoes are perfect for sandwiches, burgers, or for eating sliced with a little salt!  We’ll be harvesting some heirloom tomatoes and are hopeful to have enough for your shares!!!  They won’t be pretty but they will be flavorful.
  • Radishes: Red Round.  Perfect sliced for salads or buttered for a snack.
  • Onions: Mix of candy and red bulb onions for your salads.  These onions have just been gathered from the curing racks so are extremely sweet so you may want to eat these like an apple!  We may provide you with some without skins so store in your refrigerator until you use them.
  • Potatoes: Mixed fingerlings of Magic Molly, Austrian Crescents and French Fingerlings.  Fresh potatoes may take a little longer to roast than those that have been stored.
  • Basil: Tuscany Italian.  We’re providing a small bunch just for seasoning your meals.

The following are included only in the veggie share:

The following are included only in the meat share

What’s Happening on the Farm

See that dish HD truck parked in front of the barn?

After having the big screen TV and Dish Network installed, we couldn’t help but think how life doesn’t get any better than sitting in air conditioning watching TV.  After all, we don’t have air conditioning in our trailer, so it is definitely a luxury having that feature in the barn apartment.

Just this week, raccoons discovered your sweet corn and ate the entire succession that was ready to harvest.  It is heartbreaking for the farmer to go out and harvest sweet corn only to discover all the stalks have been trampled down and the ears eaten.  We harvested a dozen ears, luckily our guest Christopher was able to taste corn right from the field, and he couldn’t believe how sweet and tender it is. We certainly hope the raccoons felt the same way.

We were especially sad after the groundhogs ate EVERY SINGLE ONE of our sunshine kabocha and delicata squash.  These have always been a great storage crop for us that we can enjoy well into the winter months.  Apparently the groundhog didn’t think we were worthy of these for this upcoming winter.

Each week we are hopeful that the groundhogs will get their fill of sweet bell peppers, but that hasn’t yet happened.  We won’t have many of these delicious peppers available this week, but we are hopeful that you CSA shareholders have had enough to satisfy your sweet tooth this season!!! 

As you can imagine, the farmers feel they could spend their time watching TV as opposed to planting and tending to crops, yet have the same yield.  Although we’ve experienced a insurmountable loss of crops from disease and pests, yet it doesn’t seem at devastating compared to previous seasons, because we are extremely thankful to have guests stay with us.  It is our hope that we will figure out how to market the barn apartment this fall just because we won’t have the projected sales in crops.  


 

mhoadmin

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