Week 18: Hi folks J Here we are the FINAL week of CSA this week! We did it – you and us! We all ate yummy, healthy food for 18 weeks. Thanks for believing in us and being part of our farm! In this week’s share you will have potatoes, acorn, butternut or buttercup squash, arugula, herb plant for your kitchen, carrots, and some surprises. We have had so much fun growing all this food and have loved the challenge of getting to know you all with masks on;) If you bump into me on the street and I don’t recognize you – its because of the mask and the copious amounts of hats, scarves and clothes we will all start wearing;) We will miss you all and hope you can come to the last two farmers markets of the season on Saturday in Grand Isle. We are also trying to figure out how to get food out to folks when markets close. The brocolli is not ready yet – You will receive an email when it is and we can arrange pickup – even at our delivery sites;) These severe cold snaps we have had at night are unusual for us “banana belt” dwellers. It’s just 2020, keeping us humble.
Anyways, thank you for an amazing season! Your support of our small organic diversified farm means the world to us. It takes a farm to feed a community and it takes a community to support the farm. Our hope is to keep our food as hyper local as possible and with the covid expansion of our CSA and farmers market season – we are doing that. We hope that you thought about where your food comes from and how its grown. We hope you got to experience the ups and downs of small scale farming with us. We don’t have to feed millions of folks – just our neighbor – our community – Because we are our sisters’ keeper and we are our brothers’ keeper – we all need to work together. This season the mantra was fish and loaves, fish and loaves – there will always be enough, there is always room at the table for another seat. We look forward to next season!
Thanks for being part of our farm and family. In Gratitude in peace and grace,
your farmers, Christine, Adam, Sadie, Delia, Norma, and Zoe!
Coffee and Veggies!
Christine Vaughan and her family are CSA members and deliver fresh, still warm coffee to us when they pick up their share on Mondays J So here are the details: Perky Planet is a Vermont owned Coffee roaster with a mission of employing individuals with disabilities. We proudly deliver mountain grown, 100% arabica bean coffee, sustainably sourced and fresh small-batch roasted to extract delicious coffee in every cup. On any given week, you might receive:
Ethiopian- Yirgacheffe Natural Processed, hints of Dark Chocolate, Caramel, Berry, Roasted Almond, Rose
Brazil – Salmo Plus Natural Processed, hints of Milk Chocolate, Peanut Butter, Raisin, Graham Cracker
Colombia USDA Organic hints of Caramel, Cherry, Herb-like, Orange
Guatemala Culbuco, hints of Chocolate, Almond, Apple, Orange
Coffee can be ordered whole bean or ground (drip grind), available at $12/per pound. Please contact Christine at
cvaughn@gisu.org.
RECIPES:
Winter Squash- Winter Squash Storage: store in a cool, dry place: nearly anywhere in your kitchen or pantry should work. If the winter squash doesn’t have nicks/fresh gashes it should last for months.
In case you’ve never tried to cook winter squash, it couldn’t be simpler: Cut in half with a big sharp knife. Remove seeds. (If you’ve ever carved a pumpkin, these two steps should be very familiar.) Put in a baking pan (I use glass, metal or ceramic would also work) cut side down, with a little water in the pan. Or rub the cut side with a little oil first. Bake in a medium oven (325, or 350, or 400, etc.) until it’s easily pierced with a fork. Remove, and eat. Possible toppings: many like maple syrup, I like salt and pepper. I’ve also added my cut, seeded halves of winter squash to the crockpot with some water, and let it cook that way for a few hours. This method works especially well when all you want is the cooked flesh to puree for a soup or other dish.
Leek Noodles
adapted from Ten Minute Cuisine by Green & Moine
In a wok, heat 2 tablespoons olive oil. Add 2 shredded leeks and 1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves. Add cooked noodles of any shape (about 1 pound when uncooked) and stir-fry until heated through. Season with salt and pepper.
Aromatic Leek and Potato Soup
from Almost Vegetarian by Diana Shaw
4 large boiling potatoes, peeled and quartered
2 large leeks, cut in half, cleaned, and sliced into long, thin strips
4 cups (1 quart) water
1 cup buttermilk, or 1 cup low fat or nonfat plain yogurt, whisked until light and thin
Garnish:
S & P to taste
1 cup minced fresh herbs: parsley, chives, cilantro, chervil, dill, or a mixture
In a large saucepan, combine the potatoes, leeks, and water. Bring to a boil over med-high heat, cover, and turn the heat down to med-low. Simmer until the potatoes are tender enough to cut with a spoon, and the leeks are equally soft. This should take about 40 minutes. In a blender or food processor (or julia’s favorite: with an immersion blender!), puree the vegetables in the cooking water, doing this in batches if necessary, then return to the saucepan if you’re not using an immersion blender. Add the buttermilk or yogurt, and heat hte soup slowly over low heat, uncovered, until just warmed through. Season with S & P, and serve warm, sprinkled with the fresh herbs. Or, chill the soup, covered, and serve it cold. Serves 4. Per serving: 260 calories using non fat yogurt, fat .7 grams, protein 6.2 grams. I don’t know the fiber.
MUSHROOM AND LEEK SOUP
| 2 med. 3/4 lb. 2 tbsp. 1/4 cup 1 can 1 tbsp. | leeks mushrooms unsalted butter dry white wine (14 1/2-ounce) chicken broth chopped fresh chives |
Cut leeks into 1/4-inch-thick rounds. In a large bowl of cold water wash leeks well and lift from water into a colander to drain. Thinly slice mushrooms. In a 3-quart saucepan heat butter over moderately high heat until foam subsides and saute leeks, stirring, 5 minutes. Add mushrooms and saute, stirring, until liquid mushrooms give off is evaporated and mushrooms begin to brown. Add wine and boil 1 minute. Add broth and salt and pepper to taste and simmer 2 minutes. Serve soup sprinkled with chives. Makes about 3 cups, serving 2. Gourmet, November 1998
CARROT CUMIN SOUP WITH TOASTED PECANS
For soup:
| 1 medium 2 tbsp. 2 to 3 lg. 1/2 tsp. 1/2 tsp. 2 cups | onion, chopped (about 3/4 cup) unsalted butter carrots, sliced thin (about 1 3/4 cups) ground cumin salt or to taste water |
For pecans
| 2 tbsp. 1 tsp. | pecans, chopped coarse unsalted butter |
Preheat oven to 350¡F.
Make soup:
In a saucepan cook onion in butter over moderate heat, stirring, until softened. Add carrots, cumin, and salt and cook, stirring, 1 minute. Add water and simmer mixture, covered, 25 minutes, or until carrots are very tender.
Prepare pecans while carrot soup is simmering. On a baking sheet toast pecans in middle of oven 8 minutes, or until fragrant and 1 shade darker. Toss pecans with butter a and salt to taste.
In a blender puree soup until smooth. Divide soup between 2 soup bowls and top with pecans.
Gourmet, January 1997
Chinese Noodle and Carrot Salad
4 servings
6 medium carrots
water
9oz linguine style pasta
3 tablespoons soya sauce
3 tablespoons sesame oil
2 tablespoons grated pared ginger root
2 tablespoons crushed garlic
2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons toasted sesame seeds
8oz water chestnuts (drained, sliced)
2 medium onions (sliced)
1 teaspoon hot chili oil
Trim and pare carrots, cut into thin, long diagonal slices. Add carrots to 2 pints of boiling water, return to boil and simmer for 5 minutes until tender. Drain and flush with warm water. Bring 2 further pints of water to boil in kettle. Cut bundle of noodles once or twice across to shorten. Slip noodles into boiling water and simmer for 2 minutes. Drain and rinse. In bottom of a salad bowl combine soya sauce, sesame oil, garlic, sugar and sesame seeds. Mix to blend then add carrots, noodles, water chestnuts and onion. Toss well and add chili oil to taste. Cover salad and chill at least 4 hours to let flavors develop.
Curried Carrot Dip
3oz finely grated fresh carrots
1 pint light sour cream
2 tbsp apricot preserves
1 tbsp dijon mustard
4 tsp curry powder
1/2 to l tsp bottled crumbled red chilli flakes
Carrot sticks, celery, red pepper sticks.
Mix sour cream, carrots, apricot preserves, mustard, curry powder and chilli flakes. Serve with vegetable dippers. Makes 1-2 pints.