Greetings Everyone,
NOTE: We’re increasing the limit on Cherry Tomatoes! You may now order 2 of these popular tomatoes!
This is a friendly reminder to take your veggies out of the green biodegradable bags when you’re stashing your produce in the refrigerator! We are offering CSA Shareholders some of the Appalachian Grown plastic bags we’ve used in previous years so that you can keep some around and re-use those for food storage. Put in your order notes how many you want or email us what you’ll need for the next couple months. We’ll purchase more of those, so if you need more later in the season, please don’t hesitate to contact us. Read on for information on reusable bags that are popular with CSA shareholders!
At the end of the season we’ll conduct a survey to obtain feedback from you on using biodegradable bags and if it is something you all want to continue, or if you’d prefer that we go back to the ASAP clear plastic bags. This was our effort to reduce our use of plastic, yet it is more difficult for us on our part, and we know it is a little more hassle on your part.
Here is a link to the online store to place your order.
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! All orders are due by 8 AM on Tuesday. Pick-ups in Spring Creek are either Wednesday from 1pm – 8pm OR Friday from 8am – 8pm.
|
|
|
What is new or abundant this week! |
|
| We’re pretty excited for potatoes! The first we’ve dug are the Adirondack Red and Red Golds which are amazing simply chunked, tossed with olive oil, garlic salt and pepper, then roasted until tender. Early in the season we worked diligently to save the potatoes from a late frost, where we completely covered their foliage with soil, this first digging indicates that our diligence paid off. According to this website, potatoes are among the top “Nutrient Dense Foods”, which we believe because a single large potato is high in potassium, magnesium, iron, copper and manganese. It also contains vitamin C and most B vitamins (27). Above is the Adirondack Red with a lightly netted purplish-red skin and pink-red flesh; flavorful and moist. So tasty for roasting, for baked wedges and German potato salad! The Adirondack varieties are unusual because both the skin and the flesh are colored and have high levels of anti-oxidants. |
|
| We’re digging the first of our spring carrots! There’s no need to peel these carrots, just scrub them clean because they don’t have thick skins since they are freshly dug and haven’t been in storage! Some of the carrots will be smaller sized because strangely all our carrots don’t grow the exact same size. Carrots that are farm fresh, and organically grown, are sweet and delicious! These roots are rich in beta-carotene, which is converted into vitamin A in the liver. Vitamin A is transformed in the retina, to rhodopsin, a purple pigment necessary for night vision. We normally just cut them up and eat them in slaw, but we also enjoy them shredded in a french salad or roasted. While carrots are sweet enough for our taste buds, on occasion will have candied carrots or carrot muffins.. We have rocky fields, so don’t expect perfectly sized carrots in these bunches! Should you receive carrots with tops, you will need to remove them so your carrots keep in the refrigerator without going soft. Don’t throw your tops away, because here are recipes that use the tops. |
|
| You’ll find our stringless green beans in the online store! Green Beans that range in length from six to seven inches long and are harvested when the pods are the size of a pencil. They are stringless and especially tender so they only need to be sauteed for a few minutes. NO BOILING THESE FOR HOURS! A popular recipe for CSA Shareholders are these beans cooked with ginger and garlic. Another recipe that is loved by everyone is this maple roasted Green Beans.This simple recipe for vegan Szechuan Green Beans is our “go to†recipe for every day meals. Occasionally the beans may be tough due to hot weather, or if we are in the mood for a soup after our first garlic harvest, we love Green Bean and Garlic soup. In the summer when we have an abundance of beans and squash, these burritos are excellent! |
|
| The baby bell peppers are ripening from green to red and yellow! That means they’ve sweetened up so we’re now harvesting them. It also means that the Italian and large bell peppers will soon be ripening from green to red/yellow/orange. These adorable red and yellow (and sometimes green) baby bell sweet peppers are great for lunchbox snacks! They are excellent for appetizers roasted then stuffed either this way or this way for those who are veagan. Another option is to stuff them with goat cheese either this way or or this way |
|
|
This Weeks Farmer’s Choice! |
|
| Above is Best Gazpacho which we make with using the paste tomatoes for the best flavor and texture. Keep a jar in the refrigerator for a refreshing and easy meal. You may even wish to turn your gazpacho into Bloody Mary’s.
This week’s Farmer’s Choice Share includes: (share contents are subject to change based on our actual harvest.)
We’re offer both a Farmer’s Choice Veggie (FCV) and Farmers’ Choice Veggie & Meat (FCVM) 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. )
The following are included only in the veggie share:
The following are included only in the meat share
|
|
|
What’s happening on the farm! |
|
|
We’re grateful to all you CSA members who have been sharing with us bags that they’ve been using for years to offload their veggies into. Above is a photo of the bags that Frieda Probst uses to offload her produce into. She claims her lettuce when stored in these bags will keep in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks! She gifted us some of these bags and we’re very excited to try them.
|
|
|
|
Above are bags similar to what CSA member Eva Hericks-Barres uses. While they aren’t exact, they look as thought they’d hold up for a good long time. Please let us know what bags you love using and we’ll be happy to share.
|
|
|
|
Harmon loves lying in the freshly turned soil while digging potatoes! The soil underneath the surface is wet and cool, a nice reprive from the summer heat.
|
|
|
|
Above is a Tomato Hornworm munching on your tomatoes! We’ve found quite a few of these so we’re evicting them from the tomato crop.
|
|
|
|
|
