Today was a big day as we finished up our Fall planting (except for the garlic). All of the crops for the remainder of the season are in the ground, and so are the many cover crops we plant. Such days are milestones to us, as we can tick “planting” off our current to-do list.

Enjoying the fruits of the harvest is next on the list, with a kitchen counter full of potatoes, greens, radishes, onions, and many other goodies. We begin craving the late season harvest this time of year, with many of the vegetables harkening back to Spring. But thereally nice thing about this time of year is that there are also tomatoes, peppers and sweet potatoes around.

Greens
If you did not link to the Mark Bittman recipe I talked about last week I suggest you do now, as it could become a favorite for many I know. We have it on a regular basis, especially when there is broccoli raab around. A simple dish that starts with toasting bread crumbs in a pan, before sautéing some greens and garlic, and ends by adding some pasta and cheese and tossing it all in the pan.

Tomato Radish Pesto Sandwich
We often fix a quick sandwich at lunch, full of whatever is at hand. We especially like the crunchiness of a good radish and a homemade spread. For the spread we took some leftover pesto and mixed it with a little mayonnaise. Fresh sliced tomatoes, radishes, and a few leaves of arugula filled in the middle of some good bread, and we were ready to picnic.

Arugula Radish Salad
The arugula we are harvesting right now is as good a quality as we can get. It is growing big and green right now, with not too much spiciness. If you find it a little strong, be sure to dress it well, as tart flavors like vinegar mellow out it’s bite. To make a nice fresh salad simply clean and chop some arugula and put in a bowl. Add a generous amount of grated radish, add some creamy garlic dressing (or dressing of your choice), toss, and serve topped with pumpkin seeds or nuts.

The farm is reviving as the Autumn nears. Now is the opportunity to take advantage of extra greens, spicy radishes, hot peppers, and basil. Make and freeze some pesto now before the frosts come and the plants are gone.

We also highly recommend that those of you that like hot peppers think about making a big batch of Jalapeno en Escabeche. There is more info on this delicious recipe in our Week 10 blog. We make a quart on Sunday and it is already about gone.

Radishes: $2.50/bunch
Jalapenos: $2.50/pint
NuMex Anaheim hot peppers: $2.50/half lb
Poblano hot peppers: $2.50/half lb
Arugula: $2.50/bunch
Large basil bunch: $3.00/bunch Basil (pesto size bunch): $3.00/bunch
Kale/broccoli raab/mustard greens: $3.00/bunch

This week you will be able to feel Autumn approaching in air, as well as your share. A morning low of 48 degrees greeted us on Tuesday as we harvested. A welcome relief from the hot days of July and August. And the delicious crops of Fall also greets us now, with radish, arugula, greens, and sweet potatoes finding their way to the dinner table.

Fall is starting to make an appearance as the cool crops of autumn continue to try to beat the heat. Things are greening up in the field and we are starting to get our first taste. Collards and kale leaves are being plucked to fill your share and keep the plant producing. The radishes are sizing up and we don’t want to wait to pick them. Good in a salad, or better yet a sandwich.

Okra

This hot weather crop has been producing at a peak rate lately. As the plants get larger, the sideshoots of the plant also produce pods, increasing their harvest. Okra is very flavorful, extremely nutritious and good for your digestive system. It has high levels of fiber, as well as vitamins A, C and K.

As Jan Glauberman mentioned in last year’s week 15 blog, water is okra’s enemy, as it will make it slimy. Dry heat cooking, as described in her recipe Wok Fried Okra, gives it some crispness. We prepared it tonight using some ancho chili powder instead of Indian spices to flavor it. Any dry rub that you prefer will work well.

potato harvest

POTATOES (F/P) Desiree and Bintje varieties, both yellow-fleshed and great for steaming, frying and salad. Full shares get two shares worth this week, partial shares get the normal amount.

GARLIC (F/P) Is our garlic piling up on you? Try roasting a whole head for a change. Spread the roasted garlic on toast or add to your favorite recipe for a bump in flavor.

SWEET PEPPERS (F/P) The sweet pepper harvest is in a lull right now as a lot of the ripe fruit has been picked. There are a lot of green fruit on the plants however, and more still forming, so the harvest should have several more rounds going right up to the first frost.

OKRA OR HOT PEPPERS (F) The okra really kicked in this week. I hope you all have found that excellent and oh, so simple recipe from the blog from last year. No deep-frying needed and no slime neither!

SWEET POTATO GREENS (F/P) A novel idea in this part of the world, but in others sweet potato greens are the go-to-dish. They grow abundantly in hot weather and trimming the plant back a bit does nothing to diminish the production of the sweet roots. See Tom’s post for a quick recipe with another everyday food from the tropics, peanut sauce.

TOMATOES (?) We’re not quite sure what we are doing with the few tomatoes we have this week. There aren’t enough for everyone to even get one. We’ll know what we have to share once the cherry tomatoes are picked tomorrow.

HERB CHOICE (F/P) More luscious basil and aromatic summer savory

ALSO THIS WEEK: Bread of Life Bakery shares

NEXT WEEK: More sweet peppers, tomatoes, okra and hot peppers. I know I keep saying this, but maybe finally some beans. Carrots and onions.

FARM REPORT

Finally on Monday morning the farm received a good soaker of a rain and for that we are grateful. Summer is winding down and after the brutal summer we are happy to say, “Good riddance!” The crops are all responding to the cooler temperatures and beneficial moisture. You can almost see the plants growing new leaves and fresh fruit right before your eyes. The peppers, eggplant, tomatoes and beans have set a brand new batch of little green fruit. The okra is reaching for the sky and the sweet potatoes continue their quest to cover the field with their vines. We are keeping a close watch on the radishes, arugula, hakurei turnips and lettuces that we planted in the middle of the hot summer, watered and weeded until now. In another few weeks they will be returning to the shares and it can’t happen quick enough.

I don’t know that it has been noticed much in your households what with school starting and perhaps the last of the summer vacations, but the farmers are a bit nervous about how light the shares are right now. The full shares are getting an extra box of potatoes this week to compensate but still we would love to have more peppers, tomatoes, eggplant, and gosh a cucumber or a zucchini or some green beans would be really nice!

We attribute the lack of much to harvest right now to the after effects of a very hot and dry summer. We lost a lot of crops during the nasty weather, most regrettably the entire Cucurbitae family which seemed to fail due to healthy crop of heat-loving squash bugs than to the heat per se. Others have simply been shy about setting fruit until now.

We believe we will be through the worst of the lull in another couple of weeks once all these green fruit start ripening and the first of the fall crops start coming in. Until then, we hope you understand the difficulties that we face out here and know that we are doing our very best to feed your family well.

We are sorry that the pickin’s have gotten a little slim lately. The heat wave of July put many of the plants in the field into a somewhat dormant mode. For many fruiting plants, such as tomatoes, tomatillos and eggplants all the blossoms of July were burnt by the heat, keeping them from setting fruit for later (now!). Our later plantings of cucurbits were likewise affected and even with irrigation, the plants were severely stressed and then overrun by squash bugs. The beans have been totally confused, blossoming over three weeks ago but barely forming a bean. We hope that they may still produce.

For now though, we do have some delicious vegetables. The potatoes did well this year and we are handing out a double share to the fulls this week. The sweet potato plants are tropical by nature, and with a generous supply of irrigation water have thrived. We plan on digging some this week for inclusion in the shares soon.

This week we will be handing out the delicious and nutritious sweet potato greens. A regular staple in many parts of the world, they are a nice change from all of the fruits of summer. To spice them up we recommend that you mix the cooked greens with some tasty peanut sauce.

Sweet Potato Greens with Peanut Sauce

To cook the sweet potato greens simply cut off the lower half of the leaf stem and rinse the leaves. Put ¼ cup of water in a saucepan, add the greens and cook until tender. You can also add a tablespoon of red or white wine vinegar for flavor and a little salt. Mix or top the greens with peanut sauce.

Sauce Ingredients

2 tbsp peanut butter

1 tbsp soy sauce

1 tbsp sesame oil

1 tsp sugar

1 tbsp water

pinch of salt

Stir all of the ingredients together. I also recommend the Cooking with Amy blog. She gives a very good summary of how to make peanut sauce to suit your personal taste.

Carmen sweet peppers

TOMATOES (F/P) From now on we will be lucky to have one or two per share each week.

ROMA TOMATOES (F) Also called paste tomatoes for the thick sauce they make.

SWEET PEPPERS (F/P) The sweet peppers continue their late summer run.

CARROTS (F/P) From our cold storage, a sweet taste of spring.

OKRA, EGGPLANT, HOT PEPPERS OR BEETS (F/P) The last of the spring beets out of cold storage or choose from an assortment of summer fruits.

RED ONIONS (F/P) Read Tom’s post for more on our red onion varieties.

YELLOW ONIONS (F) The onions did well this year and we are sharing the bounty. These are our best keepers so you don’t need to use them right away.

HERB CHOICE (F) Basil, summer savory, dried herbs

ALSO THIS WEEK: Parker Farms shares

NEXT WEEK: More peppers, okra and eggplant. Potatoes and garlic. Maybe green beans?

FARM REPORT

It really does feel like late summer on the farm with the cooler weather and finally we are getting caught up on the rain. After a few years of paying attention to the seasons you start to recognize the signs that mark the shift from one season to the next. One evening taking Rocky for a walk there was a family of crows overhead. The crickets are noisy with their chirping now and the goldenrod is getting ready to bloom. Last week we were presented with a new way to mark the change of the seasons – our first fruit share from the Pierce family at Of the Earth Farm.

The first share included Gravenstein and Redfree apples, Asian pears and luscious peaches. Tom and I tend to not eat much fruit since vegetables are right at hand and free for the taking, so it feels luxurious to gorge ourselves on all their delicious fruits. With another share arriving tomorrow, we are starting to contemplate applesauce or pies in the near future.

I don’t know if everyone knows how lucky we are to have the Pierce’s join our little community. If you have ever looked for it, you would know that local, organic tree fruit is very hard to find around here. Our humid, buggy summers make it a real challenge to produce organic tree fruit that is edible, much less as beautiful and tasty as the Pierce’s. This is why we were so thrilled when the Pierce’s contacted us last winter with the idea to offer fruit shares to the membership. They recently transitioned their orchard to only using organic methods and we are so glad to have them join us. We sincerely appreciate their willingness to take the leap and congratulate them on their delicious success.

Some of this week’s harvest started over 3 weeks ago. The onions were pulled and set in the upper barn to cure. This year is a very good crop. These latest onions have cured well and are all unique. Below is a photo of the four varieties in the barn: Prince, Cabernet, Rosa di Milano, and Tropea.

As a storage onion, Prince is the strongest flavored by far. The Cabernet are very round and very juicy, with a nice sweetness and flavor. The Rosa di Milano have a top that flattens out. They are sweet, pungent and somewhat fine. They have many thin layers with a nice color. The Tropea onions are perhaps the mildest of the four, and are perfect for raw eating, while sweetening when cooked.

We are currently spend much time cultivating the fall planting. Knowing how the hours of sunlight is dwindling makes a farmer anxious. We are rooting for some very healthy looking fall crops to come out of the heat wave and grow for fall.

Last Thursday our good friend Liz Graznak brought her farm crew and helped us get a lot of work done. One was weeding leeks. To make sure their effort stuck we then mulched them with the help of the self-monikered “Team Awesome” on Saturday morning. The farm crew, including our pictured new apprentice Danni Hurst, finished them off on Tuesday.

beautiful basil

TOMATOES (F/P) Tomatoes are winding down now. We’ll have a few for a few more weeks thanks to a late planting of “heat setting” types that will set fruit even in hot temperatures.

FINGERLING POTATOES (F/P) See Tom’s post for more on these dainty delicacies.

GARLIC (F/P) no meal is complete without the lovely allium.

SALSA PACK (F/P) the tomatillos won’t be around much longer so enjoy them while you can or freeze your salsa to enjoy later.

SWEET PEPPERS (F/P) Should be more of these sweet babies for awhile.

OKRA OR HOT PEPPERS (F) Nothing says late summer like okra and peppers.

HERBS (F/P) The basil (see above) just keeps coming this year thanks to a heavy layer of mulch.

ALSO THIS WEEK: Bread of Life Bakery shares

NEXT WEEK: Tomatoes, sweet peppers, hot peppers and okra. Carrots and onions. Hopefully the beans will be back.

FARM REPORT

The break in the weather has cheered up farmer and plant alike at the farm. The cooler temperatures are so very appreciated after such a long stretch of nasty heat. Even changing our schedule to avoid the heat of the day just barely kept the farm crew from overheating. Most of the crops (if you don’t count the entire Cucurbitae family – cukes, squash, melons, pumpkins – all goners) survived the heat but just by the skin of their teeth. Now with those days behind us, all of us survivors hope to limp towards fall growing stronger as the days grow shorter.

While the temperatures have moderated, we still are very dry. The irrigation system continues to keep the plants alive and growing, but we could really use a good soaker. We’ve received perhaps an inch total these past two weeks from four different rain events that looked really promising but didn’t quite deliver. Here’s the scene from one morning last week when we thought we’d definitely get a good downpour.

During the boiling heat we were trying our darndest to get some lettuce seedlings started for the fall. Finally we made room indoors for our dear lettuce and sure enough the cooler temps. provided by our little window AC unit did the trick.

Today we saw the first sprouts pushing up through the potting soil so we quickly moved them to a sunnier location down at the shade house. If all goes well we should be eating lettuce by the end of September.

The shares are expected to enter a lull for a little while, as the summer crops recover from the heat wave, and the fall crops set down their roots. But there is still some delicious harvesting to be done, as we have over 4 beds of potatoes to dig yet.

This week Kipfel fingerling potatoes are in the share. As I write the blog we have not dug the bed, so I do not know how the harvest will be, but we did dig some the other day to try out.

The first two varieties of potatoes you received (Caribe and Kennebec) are mealy in texture and are good for baking and mashing. The Kipfel and remaining varieties this year are more of a waxy texture that makes them well suited for frying and boiling. The recipe below is a simple and delicious. The shape of the fingerlings make them easy to cut into bite-size rounds.

Fried Fingerling Potatoes

Ingredients

Fingerling potatoes

Olive oil

Summer savory (optional)

Salt and pepper

Method

1. Cut the potatoes cross-wise to form little rounds.

2. Add 1 tbsp olive oil to a heavy skillet. Add the potatoes. Let cook for a minute on high heat and then stir so that all of the potatoes are covered in oil. Turn heat down to medium, add salt, pepper and herbs and cook 2 more minutes.

3. Add some water, enough to cover the bottom of the pan. Cover and cook 10 minutes.

4. Uncover, stir, and cook another 3 to 5 minutes, until potatoes are cooked through and browned.