Weekly news from the farm!!!

Greetings Everyone,

Lately we’ve been thinking that we need to start publishing a weekly video rather than a newsletter. How many of you readers would rather watch a video rather than read our newsletter?  In the ever changing world of media formats, it seems that there is a preference for videos, rather than old style newsletters like ours.  We are a bit slow in adapting to the new technologies, as we have yet to publish a “story” on either Instagram or Snapchat, so we have a bit of catching up to do. While we’d prefer our stories stay around longer than a moment, because after all, this is our diary and these entries remind us of where we started, and the long road of adventures that have occurred on our journey through life.  This article is especially interesting to us, apparently the young farmers that are vlogging (video logging rather than blogging like what we do), are paid to have subscribers, because it is so important to have another income to reduce their risk from farming. Maybe this is our next “Get Rich off the Farm Scheme”?  While many of you are probably growing weary of these schemes, especially those of you who have been following our farming career over the past 20 some years, and are well aware that none of these schemes have yet to come to fruition.  We have a great mentor, Marshall McLaughlin is vlogging with his series Morning Skalk, and from what we can tell he has gone viral.  Hard Telling not knowing if we’ll find the time to get into Vlogging, but it is fun to dream.

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 Tuesday at 8 AM so that we will know what to harvest for your share! Please return your boxes because we re-use them.  Orders will be ready each Wednesday at 8 AM. 

Sweet Bell Peppers are ripening!!! We’re pretty excited to make a huge batch of stuffed peppers because they keep well for leftovers.  We’re also going to be freezing some stuffed peppers in individual packages because they reheat well for a quick meal.  These sweet bell peppers are mixed colors of red and yellow. Bell peppers are on the“Dirty Dozen”  list as contaminated from pesticides and herbicides in conventional agriculture so be thankful that we have carefully grown these organically so they are healthy for you. They are excellent sliced for snacks, a topping for sandwiches or salads. Try this Romesco Sauce that may be used as a dip or as a topping for a quiche! Roasting almost any pepper transforms the sweetness into an incredible snack so consider taking a little time to do this. We typically cut our bell peppers in half, de-seed them, then roast them in the oven to speed up their cooking time. Once peppers are roasted, this recipe is excellent!  If you’re in the mood for stuffing peppers, this recipe for vegetarian quinoa stuffed peppers, or if you need some meat seasoning, these meat stuffed peppers. Stuffing peppers has been popular since we can remember, so the NYTimes suggest these stuffing options. This recipe for red pepper sauce can be used on pizza, pasta, or your favorite grain such as quinoa.

Krimzon Lee is among our favorite variety of pepper!!! If either jalapeno or serrano peppers are too hot for your palate, try substituting with this Krimzon Lee pepper. This chile is a type of paprika, which is why it is both sweet and spicy, and also why it is among our favorite peppers. If your adventurous, you can make chile rellenos or this 4 pepper salsa. We always add chiles to pork chili or this vegetarian chili.  Believe it or not, they are excellent stuffed with potatoes.  During the summer, when tomatoes and tomatillos are in season,this salsa is a staple that we make weekly.  Another staple in our household is guacamole. This stewed tomatoes and peppers are a great dip for chips, pizza topping, spread for bread. During the summer, you might make this burger with chopped krimzon lee peppers and cook it on the grill!

You’ll find sweet corn in your share!!  We had to harvest it early so the crows wouldn’t eat it, so you may need to boil it for a couple minutes to bring out the sweetness. SPECIALS: Buy 12 and we’ll throw in an extra ear for a bakers dozen. 

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:  Summer Green Leaf!! This lettuce is Carl’s favorite for tomato sandwiches because of its crunchiness.
• Sweet Corn:  Summer candy!!. Please only boil for 2 – 3 minutes so that you don’t overcook this delicacy!!!  
• Slicing Tomatoes:  We’ve been eating tomato sandwiches for dinner each evening!!. We  love it when tomatoes are in season because a wrap with tomato, onions and cucumbers is so easy and delicious.
• Peppers: Rainbow Bell Peppers: Great for snacks or stuffed then grilled!!! The portion sizes for the veggie share will be larger!!!  
• Basil – Genovese: This is the standard “Pesto Basil”. Just last week this basil was BEAUTIFUL, but the rainy and cool weather brought in some mildew. THIS IS SAFE TO EAT.  Simply wash and use quickly!!!
• Garlic:  We love to include this herb for seasoning your meals!

The following are included only in the veggie share:

• Onions – Red Long of Tropea: Super sweet grilled and great for salsa and bruschetta! We’ve noticed some bad spots near the top of the onion, so cut away and discard. 
• Cabbage – Green – Small heads for perhaps a slaw with sweet bell peppers!!! We don’t have many of these because of our groundhog problem.
• Eggplant: Asian:   We hope you’re loving this versatile veggie as much as us!  On our menu this week while we dig potatoes is this Asian Indian dish because it can cook in the crockpot while we are busy at work.

The following are included only in the meat share

• Ground Beef (for burgers!!!):   Great for making the filling for stuff bell peppers! 

We’re feeling blessed to have the most awesome guests stay with us! 

This past week we were fully booked and loved that we were able to provide farm tours for our guests who were interested in what’s growing on this small highly diversified organic farm!  Above is the lovely family who stayed in the Swallow’s Nest, and we are certainly glad the accommodation provided space for them to cook farm fresh meals in between their many adventures in these beautiful mountains.  They are so inspiring to us because they are part of the movement to “Grow Food Not Lawns”.  At one point they turned their front lawn into vegetable gardens only to find out that wasn’t acceptable for their neighborhood. Then they turned their back yard into raised beds for vegetables, so we can only imagine over time that their neighbors will begin accepting vegetable gardens as a “norm”, eventually we can see all the front lawns in their neighborhood becoming vegetable and flower gardens.

We love that the family cooked all their meals while on vacation! 

Just look at this gorgeous kebab that the oldest, Erin, made with farm fresh ingredients?  Erin loves science and math, and she definitely has an artistic streak, so we can only imagine she will one day become an excellent engineer if she chooses. When we were in computer science, many of our co-workers were also very artistic, and it is our understanding that creative nature contributes to solving problems and developing unique solutions.

They made fajitas with farm fresh ingredients.  After seeing their meals, we’re thinking we need them to live on the farm with us so they can become our personal chefs. 

We love the layers in this bouquet that the Corbetts made from the flowers they picked on the farm.  It gives us so much pleasure to share everything that is growing on the farm with our guests.  

This sweet family stayed at the Thistle!!!

It was so much fun to give Virginia and her daughters Willa and Grace a farm tour because of their love for nature.  During the tour, we encountered our “live trap” to which they inquired what that we were using that for.  We asked them, if they were a farmer, and trapped a fox who ate all their chickens, what would they do with that fox?  They said they would definitely free it.  While on the farm tour, we saw spiders, so I asked them what they do when they find spiders in their house?  To which they replied, we catch them in a cup and take them outside.  Aren’t those beautiful flower bouquets they made with flowers they picked? We definitely feel like kindred spirits with this awesome family!!!

They picked ingredients for salsa

While on a farm tour, the girls picked ingredients for salsa.  They made the salsa during their stay at the farm, and even hiked down to the barn with salsa and chips to share with the farmers.  Right now we are feeling extremely fortunate and rich in love from the guests who stayed with us this past week.