Weekly News from the farm!

Greetings Everyone,

Over the years we’ve been collecting recipes from you, so if you peruse our recipes you may see your name on a few!!!  The recipes we’ve accumulated over the years are also from meals we’ve created for our farm lunches based on what we’re harvesting at any given time. Our “cookbook” is special to us because it features recipes for produce/meat grown/raised on the farm.  An article appeared in our news feed, about a database containing 5,000 historical cookbooks, created by Barbara Ketcham Wheaton,who is an honorary curator at Harvard University.  While we won’t find our cookbook on that website, we look forward to perusing this database during the winter months!!! 

Another interesting read this week was this article titled, “You have pesticides in your body. But an organic diet can reduce them by 70%” , which should make you feel good about eating food grown/raised at MHO since we follow organic production practices!!! In addition, just imagine all the pollinators that are killed with the pesticides, so not only do you have a reduction of pesticides in your body from eating MHO’s organic food, but you’re also buying into the farming practices that support biodiversity.

You’ll notice that your produce is bagged in the Appalachian Grown bags that we’ve use in the past because we ran out of the green biobags. We won’t be re-ordering those until we’ve conducted a survey to get your feedback on using these bags.

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. 

We finally found the time to take garlic down from the curing racks and process it for your shares!!! We are definitely in love with the juicy and spicy flavor of hardneck garlic and hope you are too.  This type of garlic is known for having a strong and robust flavor. Typically the standard garlic sold in the supermarket is a softneck, which contains many cloves; however, hardneck varieties have fewer but larger cloves. The garlic we sell is juicy and easy to remove the peels. A little goes a long way in terms of flavor!!!

We’re starting to harvest winter squash!  We’ll be including winter squash in your shares in the upcoming weeks.  Winter squash will store at room temperature for a couple months, some varieties such as butternut will store longer, but PLEASE DON’T STORE IN YOUR REFRIGERATOR.  The varieties first being offered don’t need any curing.  This squash is a winter squash so it has a hard skin. Acorn is excellent baked with fruit in it, a family recipe tradition that we acquired from Carl’s mother. This squash is excellent as a main entree when stuffed with wild rice, with kale and sausage, or with tomatoes, peppers and corn.  An easy “go to” side that works for almost all of our winter squash varieties is by either roasting or grilling them. 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.

Large Sunshine Squash with a lot of pulp!  This week you’re receiving a discount because the squash is large – weighing in at 4 pounds – but we’re selling maxing out the weight at 3 pounds!!! These will store at room temperature for a period of time.  This is a winter squash so it has a hard skin. Sunshine is especially sweet with a much dryer pulp compared to other varieties we grow. (Our Buttercup winter squash has a texture that is a bit dryer.)  The bright orange pulp is especially delicious roasted, and among our favorite varieties pureed for soups and pies.  When we roast this squash, we leave the seeds and membranes in while baking, then scrape them out once the squash comes out of he oven. We feel the seeds add flavor!  An easy “go to” side that works for almost all of our winter squash varieties is by either roasting or grilling them. This curry roasted squash, is easy and delicious, but you may only need olive oil, garlic salt and pepper for your seasoning because the squash is so flavorful.  Squash pairs well with kale in this salad that is sure to satisfy your squash craving!

Large Sunshine Squash with a lot of pulp!  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.

Above is grilled winter squash.  If you aren’t grilling out this week, the squash can easily be broiled.  We baste the squash with salt, pepper, garlic and olive oil.  It is extremely delicious! 

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. )

• Tomatoes:  Mixed slicing and paste. The FCV share will have a larger portion size than the FCVM Share!  These tomatoes are perfect for the above salad because they have a great flavor but not too juicy.
• Scallions:  These are amazing grilled!
• Carrots  Great for a salad! 
• Peppers: Fresh Italian Roasting:   This pepper is great stuffed with mashed potatoes!!! It is also amazing in a slaw salad.
• Potatoes: Satina:   Check out all our recipes for frozen peppers listed in the online store. Fabulous with the char removed and eaten as a snack!   
• Winter Squash: Acorn:   Great for breakfast.  listed in the online store. Fabulous with the char removed and eaten as a snack!   
• Basil:  Thai which is great for soups, salads and spring rolls.
• Garlic:  Great for seasoning your meals!!! 

The following are included only in the veggie share:

• Peppers: Shishito: Such an amazing side dish!!!
• Cabbage: Green: A new variety for us so tell us what you think of it! The old variety we’ve been growing for about 15 years no longer performs well for us.  We wonder if it is the warming of our soil temperatures combined with rain, so we’re adapting by trying new varities.

The following are included only in the meat share

• Beef: Ground (Hamburgers) Great for stuffing peppers!