{ Community Supported Agriculture Newsletter {

Looking Forward to

Next Week

Anticipated for Aug 18^th

§ Basil

§ Beans

§ Cucumbers

§ Fennel

§ Lettuce

§ Onions

§ Peppers

§ Potatoes

§ Tomatoes

§ Zucchini

Let’s Trade!

Do health conditions or other considerations limit your intake of particular vegetables? Or is there a limit to how adventurous your family will be at the dinner table when it comes to seasonal eating? Or maybe you are one of the people whose desire for certain share items wavers after the third or fourth consecutive week of it.

If you fall into any of these categories, check to see if your CSA site has a “trade” basket or table where you can swap items with other members. I took advantage of the one at my site and happily swapped my 6 peppers for one bunch of someone else’s basil.

Deborah, a Brooklyn-born apprentice, writes this week’s letter:

Dear CSA members:

I can remember speed walking, scissors pointed downwards, to my grandmother’s herb garden to snip off the tips of chives that she sprinkled over our grilled salmon dinner. I remember wishing that the purple puffed flowers from the alliums didn’t itch my nose like the smell of onions so that I could tuck one behind my ear before bringing my treasure back into the house.

As a little girl growing up in Brooklyn, NY, memories of food filtered through my life. I never really understood the significance or novelty of being able to know where at least some of my food came from until I went to college and I started working with young people from New York City and Poughkeepsie in urban farms and gardens. I was able to use food, something that everyone needs and enjoys, to talk with them about a wide breadth of issues from pollution to hunger and healthfulness to supporting local economies. One of the most exciting moments for me during these experiences was when one young man, who for the first week refused to step into the garden, not wanting to dirty his bright white Nike’s, rushed to pull carrots for a cake the group was learning how to bake. He called out “I’m going grocery shopping in the fields!” He was so proud of the carrots he had helped to grow and eat directly from the earth. It was then that I realized just how personally empowering it is to know that you can be more connected to the food you eat than many people are today.

Working as an apprentice at Hawthorne Valley Farm is helping me to learn more about growing so that I can better bring this to my work with young people in urban areas where understanding food is not such a way of life. Apprentices learn endless amounts from all of the staff on the farm. We also learn from each other as we hash over the day during dinner, and from the children who come through the farm each week asking new questions and making fresh observations.

This past spring, I found myself sitting on a splintery pallet in the greenhouse at Hawthorne Valley Farm on a rainy day, scissors in hand, a flat of seedlings on my lap, hundreds of little scallion spikes scattered on the ground giving the baby scallions a hair cut. I learned that by doing this, their energy could go into building strong roots, instead of leaves, which will help them when we transplant them into the field. A city girl on a farm is never finished learning.

Enjoy the Harvest!

Deborah

If you’re still wondering about FENNEL , here are some tips from Just Food:

All parts of the plant are edible. Cut off the stalks where they meet the bulb, then rinse bulb & stalks.

Bulb - a mild licorice flavor that decreases when cooked. Cut in quarters and remove the core if it seems tough. Serve bulb raw in salads (sprinkle with lemon juice to avoid discoloration) or try it grilled, sautéed, baked, braised, or steamed.

Stalks – Best suited for flavoring soups or making stews. Peel the stalk first, or strain it out later.

Leaves – Add raw to salads or use just like you would dill. Delicious with lemon & butter on baked or broiled fish. Dry fennel leaves as any other herb- hang a bunch upside down in a cool well-ventilated place, loosely covered with a paper bag to keep off the dust. When completely dry, store in a glass or plastic container with a tightly fitting lid.

Stuffed Peppers for Summer Swelter

Most stuffed pepper recipes are best saved for winter weekends when it is easier to contemplate leaving the oven on for an hour. However, there are ways to enjoy making this dish now, while peppers are in season.

Pre-cook the peppers:

Cut green, red, or yellow peppers in half lengthwise, through the stem, and remove ribs and seeds. Pre-cook the unstuffed pepper shells using one of these methods:

o Blanching: Drop into boiling water for 3 minutes.

o Baking: Season with salt and pepper. Bake in 425⁰oven for 8 minutes.

o Grilling: Place on oiled grill rack, skin sides up, and grill pepper shells until slightly charred, about 7 minutes.

Pre-cook the stuffing:

Skip using breadcrumbs or raw eggs in your stuffing, since they require baking time. Fully cooked ingredients stuffed into pre-cooked pepper shells only need to be reheated for about 15 minutes in the oven or for 5 minutes, covered, on the stove or grill.

o Vegetables: Use combinations of vegetables that can be quickly sautéed while the peppers are pre-cooking, like tomatoes, onions, garlic, and/or mushrooms. Or try warmed “zucchini pasta” (see recipe below) tossed with sauce. Chard or other greens prepared according to any of the recipes in back issues of this newsletter also can be used as stuffing.

o Rice, cous cous, grains: Pre-cook them before mixing with cooked greens or sautéed vegetables. Or fill pre-cooked pepper shells halfway with cooked rice, cover with cooked vegetables, and top with feta or other crumbled cheese. Heat and serve.

o Ground meat or bulk sausage: Cook and drain the meat before combining it with the cooked ingredients mentioned above.

Zucchini Houdini

Here’s a trick that will help you escape the kitchen on those days when you have to pull dinner out of a hat in two minutes flat or are so challenged you can’t even boil water:

Pesto Change-o!

Turn raw zucchini

into cooked “pasta”!

For a magic wand, use either a food processor with julienne attachment or a hand grater to shred the zucchini lengthwise into pasta-like strands. Toss zucchini “pasta” with pesto and sun-dried tomatoes or your favorite sauce. Warm gently until zucchini softens to the texture of al dente pasta.

For an encore, try magically reducing the baking time for lasagna by thinly slicing zucchini lengthwise and substituting it for the noodles. Adapted from the “raw foods” book, Angel Foods by Cheria Soria.