It’s the Last Summer Share, But Good Food Keeps Growing
How quickly we find ourselves harvesting
your last share of the summer season! We know you enjoyed a lot of wholesome
organic food this year, despite an extremely challenging growing season.
Through your share and our weekly newsletter, we hope you gained some knowledge
about the value of organic food for you, for your farmers, for the environment,
and for the larger public good. By now you know that eating seasonally does not
have to end this week. We have fall and winter shares available and the farmers
markets are far from over, in fact the Lexington Farmers Market runs year-round
on Saturdays in the Pavilion, even all winter.
Early October used to be the end of the
growing season for us, and the end of the farmers markets. We gleaned what we
could find for ourselves well up into winter and of course there were the
stored potatoes, sweet potatoes, and winter squash waiting for us in the
pantry. As we began extending the season somewhat, we figured others might want
access to local organic veggies as well, so we planted specifically for fall
production, and customer response was very encouraging. Now we offer Fall CSA
Farm shares, customer attendance at the markets remains strong, and we even
extend production and product availability into the winter months as well.
As summer season shareholders, you no
doubt have experimented with some new recipes, and learned to preserve some
items you could not eat while fresh. Some of you may have enjoyed something
this season you never would have tried, were it not in your share. We thank
those of you who asked your friends or family to pick up your share this summer
when you were away. They often become new customers at the farmers market and
some even sign up for their own share the following season, after the “small
taste” they experienced. We appreciate your referral of Elmwood’s CSA farm
share program as we continue to spread the word of eating local and eating
organic.
The weather made for some tough farming this
year, with the unprecedented wetness early and droughty conditions of late, and
we did the best we could to pack generous shares. The nature of the business is
to share the bounty when available, and spread around all that is available
when items are less than plentiful. Our first commitment is always to our farm
share members, and the partnership with you means a great deal to us.
As we learn more and more about “crop
inputs”, another name for highly toxic pesticides and fertilizers, and genetic
manipulation of edible plants, we recognize how wrong it is to use those tools
to produce food. We will continue to educate and share information through
these posts, otherwise we are all intelligent but uninformed. It does boggle
the mind to witness people making such poor decisions about food choices, and
one has to assume they just don’t know what they are doing to their health. We
reference professional journals in acquiring our own knowledge, and we
continually analyze our own experiences dealing with plants, insects, microbes,
and livestock. As any biologist will affirm, the more diverse an ecosystem (a
tenant of organic production), the more stable it is. The idea that a food
farmer can eliminate all pestilence with chemicals with no downside is preposterous.
We think you need to know about these things, and hope that you share with your
friends and family because they need to know as well to make informed choices.
As the work slows down on the farm later
this fall and we settle in for winter chores, we have time to give
presentations to groups that may be interested in how their food is raised.
With the advent of cell phone cameras, we are blessed to have the opportunity
to capture some really special images: a beneficial insect eating a pest, or a
calf licking our fingers out in the middle of a field, or something as simple
as a sunrise. Mac has put together a powerful power point program that will wow
and amaze you. He has presented to statewide dietician conferences, farmer
production meetings, environmental educators, non-profit groups, and faith
based groups. Please contact us if you would like us to give a program in the
circle you are in, whether a big or small group. Mac’s information can be
tailored to fit the audience; otherwise the whole story would take days to
tell.
Already we have to be making plans for
next season, in fact onions are already planted, and garlic and strawberries
will go out this week. Fall harvest is just getting started, the turkeys are
sizing up nicely, the cattle and sheep have had plenty of grazing this year,
and we love what we do. All we need is you!
So, if you are not signed up for a Fall
Share, right now is a good time to do so. As you have already learned this
season, if a particular crop is in short supply, shareholders come first over
farmers markets. The plan is to have plenty for everybody at the market too,
but sometimes things work better than other times. We do hear some folks say
they are ready for a break from having all those veggies every week. Others say
that when they go back to supermarket shopping, they are so disappointed in the
quality, or lack of local impact, of the items in the stores they are sure to
sign up for Fall. You egg customers especially know what we mean.
We appreciate your partnership with
Elmwood Stock Farm this past summer. We continue to work towards improving our
CSA Farm Share program and we’ll be sending you a request for your feedback
later in the week. Rumor has it that there will be a lot of families looking to
source a Certified Organic CSA Farm Share in the next year or two as employers
offer financial incentives to encourage healthier eating and lifestyle changes.
We’ll let you know when next summer’s signup is ready to go and encourage you
to renew your membership early. We value your commitment to eating local,
eating organic, and eating well – we’ll keep on doing all we can to make it as
enjoyable, convenient, and delicious as possible.
In Your Share :
Green Beans
Eggplant
Okra
Sweet Pepper
Hot Pepper
Summer Squash
Sweet Potatoes
Tomatoes
Garlic
Lettuce
Recipes:
Roasted Eggplant and Yogurt Spread with Onions and
Olives, thanks to a CSA member for sharing
this easy recipe. She adapted it from an
original found online.
1 medium to large eggplant
6 T Kalamata olives, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, minced or finely
chopped
1 ½ T fresh basil, de-stemmed and coarsely
chopped
½ small onion, finely chopped
½ tsp favorite seasoning mixture
8-12 oz Greek yogurt
Roast eggplant whole on a baking sheet in the oven for
about 50 minutes to 1 hour at 400°F. Meanwhile, prepare and mix the olives,
garlic, basil, onion and seasonings together in a bowl. When the eggplant has
cooled enough to handle, cut off the stem end, slit the skin and scoop out all
of the eggplant pulp. Mix the pulp in
with the other ingredients. Start adding
the yogurt and stirring it in until you have a spreadable consistency.
Refrigerate several hours or overnight to allow flavors to meld. Serve on flatbread or with favorite crackers
or bread as a dip.
Sweet Potato Apple Bake from Simple Spoonful
3-4
medium-large sweet potatoes
3-4
medium apples
juice
from 1 large orange
cinnamon
freshly
grated nutmeg
salt
2
T butter
Preheat the oven to 375°F. Scrub the sweet potatoes well, and feel free
to leave the skins on. Slice the sweet potatoes into rounds about 1/4″
thick. Then, cut the apples in half and remove the core and seeds.
Slice the apple halves into shapes as close to rounds as you can get.
Layer the slices in a 13×9 pan, alternating sweet potatoes with apples until
you run out of space.
Then, whisk
your orange juice with cinnamon and nutmeg, add a tiny pinch of salt, pour the
mixture over the whole dish, and then strategically add a few pats of butter to
the top. Cover tightly with foil, pop it
in the oven, and cook for about 45 minutes. Once the sweet potatoes and
apples are soft and smelling-oh-so-good, take the foil off the dish and put it
back into the oven for about 5 minutes or so. Basically, you want the
water in the orange juice to evaporate so that there is very little liquid left
in the dish and everything is sweet and warm and spicy and orangey and
wonderful. Serve this as a side dish, or
add a scoop of ice cream to it for a healthier dessert alternative.
Quick Moussaka, a Martha Stewart
recipe using feta and ricotta rather than the traditional white
flour-butter-milk sauce.
Butter, for baking
dish
1 large eggplant (2
1/2 pounds), peeled and cut into 1-inch chunks
7 tablespoons olive
oil
Salt and pepper
2 onions, chopped
2 cloves garlic,
minced
1 pound ground beef
or lamb
1 can (28 oz.) whole
tomatoes, drained OR equivalent fresh
2 teaspoons tomato
paste
1/3 cup chopped fresh
flat-leaf parsley
2 teaspoons dried
oregano
1 teaspoon ground
cinnamon
1 cup (9 ounces)
ricotta cheese, room temperature
3/4 cup (4 ounces)
feta cheese, room temperature
1 large egg, room
temperature
Preheat oven to 450
degrees. Butter a 4-quart ovenproof dish. On a baking sheet, toss eggplant with
6 tablespoons oil and 1/2 teaspoon each salt and pepper. Spread in a single
layer, and roast in the oven until soft and golden, 20 to 30 minutes. Transfer
eggplant to prepared dish, spreading in an even layer. In a large saucepan,
warm remaining tablespoon oil over medium heat. Add onions, garlic, and ground
meat; cook, stirring to prevent sticking, until meat is browned, 5 to 7
minutes. Stir in drained tomatoes, tomato paste, parsley, oregano, cinnamon,
and 1/4 teaspoon each salt and pepper. Simmer, crushing tomatoes with the edge
of a spoon, 15 minutes. Spread the mixture evenly over the eggplant. Heat
broiler. In a small bowl, mix ricotta, feta, egg, 1/8 teaspoon pepper, and a
pinch of salt. Pour mixture over the casserole, and spread evenly to the edges.
Broil until topping is browned in spots, 5 to 10 minutes. Serve hot.
Grilled Fingerling
Sweet Potatoes Our thanks to Chef Jacob of Cookin’ Up KY
for this delicious recipe.
1 lb fingerling sweet
potatoes
1 T chopped fresh
rosemary
1 T chopped fresh
thyme
2 cloves minced
garlic
¼ C extra virgin
olive oil
salt & pepper to
taste
Slice fingerlings in
half length-wise & place in bowl. Mix in herbs, garlic, olive oil, and salt
and pepper with sliced sweet potatoes.
Toss thoroughly. Place on hot grill, skin side up. Cook for 2-3 minutes
until nice, dark-brown grill marks appear. Flip sweet potatoes and repeat. Your
finished product will vary according to consistency (thickness) of
fingerlings. This recipe also works well
in an oven: 425° for 10 minutes, skin side up.
