Weekly news from the farm!!!

Greetings Everyone,

This week we were happy to see NPR take up the conversation about Regenerative Agriculture.  We feel that NPR is a trusted news source, yet in their article they only compare the carbon footprint for two production systems for raising animals: (1) CAFO (Concentrated Animal Feed Lot) and (2) Animals raised on pasture their entire life.  This issue is very complicated, and we at MHO see a third system that we think can be scaled up to help feed the masses and that is a system that raises both animals and vegetables.  Most certainly the third system would mean that all of us would need to eat less meat, but it is also means having a production system where animals would be pasture raised and the manure collected or spread naturally over vegetable fields to help with soil fertility. We feel it is ridiculous for all of us to talk about eating a plant based diet without talking about soil fertility and we haven’t seen news articles in the press about how soil fertility is maintained for a plant based diet other than using petrochemicals.  Perhaps because it is too complicated for everyone to understand and just like renewable energy, there is not just one answer.

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 after 8 AM. 

French Filet Beans are available!!! We’re thankful to have saved this crop of beans from the groundhog. You’ll find a mix of yellow, purple and green haricot beans that range from four to seven inches long and are harvested when the pods are very small. They are especially tender and have a well-developed bean flavor with a French flair. Haricot is the French term for one of the long, slender green beans. The purple beans will turn green when cooked. A popular recipe for CSA members are these beans cooked with ginger and garlic.This rustic Italian salad is one we are excited for when beans, tomatoes and potatoes are available. This simple yet delicious salad is one we frequently have for a main meal. This simple recipe for vegan Szechuan Green Beans is our “go to” recipe for every day meals. This popular recipe for these beans is easy and delicious!

Some critter decided we needed to share the sweet corn with it!! We’ve been setting a live trap in the corn patch, but this critter decided the sweet corn is much tastier than the cat food in the live trap. Above is a photo of a corn stalk taken down and the ear shucked and eaten.  So that we can share the harvest, we’re rationing corn just so every CSA member is able to enjoy a couple of ears. The Sweet Corn product in the online store will contain 2 ears and we are limiting this product so that you may only order one of it. We have another crop of corn that should be maturing in the next couple weeks so we keep setting the live trap with the hopes of relocating the critter who loves our corn.

Spaghetti Squash is available!!! We’ll start including winter squash in the Farmer’s Choice shares next week because this week we have an abundance of yellow squash to share. This squash is a winter squash so it has a hard skin. Spaghetti squash has been known as “vegetable spaghetti” because, once baked or cooked, the flesh is removed from the skin like strands of noodles.  Do yourself a favor and try it with basil and tomatoes or perhaps this simple recipe with it tossed in garlic and parmesan. It is especially great for breakfast, or used for making pad thai. It is so versatile that it can be prepared like our other winter squashes and it is great sliced and roasted or stuffed. This squash is excellent as a main entree when stuffed with wild rice, with kale and sausage, in a southwestern style with beans, peppers, corn and tomatoes or even stuffed into burrito bowls.  This squash is tasty simply baked, and while many recipes suggest using sugar for basting the squash pulp, we feel winter squash is sweet enough that we normally baste with olive oil, garlic, salt and pepper. You might be interested in this simple recipe for slice and roasted squash rings because it highlights the flavor of the squash.

We’re roasting peppers again this week!!!  Be careful placing your order for peppers, if you’re ordering roasted peppers they’ll have the word “roasted” in the product description, while you’ll find the word “fresh” included in the product description of those peppers that are not roasted.  The photo above is of roasted Poblano peppers.  These peppers have such a great flavor, and besides our roasted Italians, these are the #1 favorite pepper for pizza toppings when we host design your on pizza nights at the farm. We use these peppers for seasoning almost any of our meals.  If either jalapeno or serrano peppers are too hot for your palate, try substituting with a Poblano pepper.  We love the poblano/spinach cream sauce used in these enchiladas and occasionally use this sauce as a pizza sauce or for tostadas.  This chile is known as “ancho” when dried, and is famous for it’s use in chile rellenos. These vegan stuffed peppers or these chili stuffed peppers are easier than frying and packed full of flavor. If your adventurous, you can make 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.  This stewed tomatoes and peppers are a great dip for chips, pizza topping, spread for bread. 

This list is among our favorite recipes for using roasted Peppers: In salsa, romesco sauce, in pasta , on burgers, in hummus, with eggs, , with potatoes, roasted pepper sauce, guacamole, chili, creamy pepper dip, red pepper dip, roasted poblano enchiladas.

Stuffed peppers with mashed potatoes and onions!!!

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:  Oak Leaf Bunches! This lettuce is a great summer green because it is know as one of the most nutritious cultivars of lettuce.
• Sweet Corn:  Only 2 ears per share!!!. You may need to include these in a salad to stretch them. 
• Slicing Tomatoes:  Pruden’s Purple Heirlooms!!!. We  love it when tomatoes are in season because a wrap with tomato, onions and cucumbers is so easy and delicious.
• French Filet Beans:  We’re loving these briefly steamed!!. 
• Baby Bell Peppers:  We’ve been eating these every day!!. We mix up red and yellow/orange peppers for a colorful meal. 
• Summer Squash: Zephyr:  Great grilled!!.  We’re thankful for this crop because they are so much more productive than our zucchini. 
• Cucumbers: Slicing  A new crop so they are tasty, crunchy and pretty bug free!!.  
• Parsley: Italian Large Leaf:   We substituted this for celery in our potato salad for an awesome flavor and eating it as a salad, a topping for bread, or tossed in pasta for our main meal!
• Garlic: We can’t live without this and add it to every meal!!!
• Hot Peppers:  A serrano and also a jalapeno for seasoning your meals!!!

The following are included only in the veggie share:

• Onions: Onions: Mixed Yellow Candy and Red bulbs.  We’re starting to take our onions down from the curing racks!
• Potatoes: Satina, our favorite potato for roasting and storage.

The following are included only in the meat share

• Ground Beef (for burgers!!!):   We’re cooking burgers for the 4th and thought you might enjoy doing so as well!! 

We’re starting to harvest winter squash and are pleased that the groundhog didn’t eat most of it like it did last year.  Above are our harvest bins full of the first squash harvested and to become available in the online store.  These varieties have a short storage period (2 – 3 months) but they also don’t take a long time to cure.  Such varieites include Spaghetti, Acorn, Delicata and Jester.  We’ll be profiling a squash each week in the newsletter just so you can become familiar with them.  

The second batch of squash to be harvested is mostly the butternut and buttercup.  Buttercup needs to cure for about 1 – 1/2 months, while butternut should cure for 2 months.  The curing process allows excess moisture to evaporate, and once that is done, the squash will become much sweeter.  We’ll be holding these for a month just to assure they achieve some sweetness before they’re available in the online store.

We’re thrilled that the dahlia tubers we saved are in peak bloom!!!

While this flower isn’t our largest dahlia, we sure like it’s color!!!

It’s all about this flowers center!