Hi folks. Adam here. Well, we have been working hard to bring you both variety and substance this season, which it seems has been panning out well for the most part. We have a fine crop of beans on the horizon, as well as cherry and slicing tomatoes on the way. If anybody wants a gross but exciting night adventure, come over and pick off some tomato hornworms with us! They are the larvae of a Sphynx moth species that devours tomato plants and gets as big around as your thumb. They’re creepy. They are easiest to see and pick off using a blacklight in the dark. In the daylight, they blend in with some serious tomato leaf camo!
We have had a few setbacks that are simply the hazards of being at the whim of mother nature. The recent excessive, prolonged heat and lack of adequate rain zapped our cukes, zukes, and squash. We’re hoping they bounce back, but the negative effects were stark. It was sad to watch such a vibrant crop go yellow. We do have the ability to irrigate, but it’s kind of a band-aid system-works great when we get some rain now and then, but lately, the soil was drying out faster than I have been able to water it. The same hot/dry weather is responsible for curdling our 2nd lettuce planting, and deer just wiped out our third planting over the last few nights. We feel bad that we can’t provide this to you for a while now, but that’s just the harsh reality of working with Mother Nature. We may have the good fortune to strike a deal with local organic growers we know who have had better luck with their lettuce. We have helped out some of these organic growers with cukes and zukes early in the season, they may be able to help us with lettuce 😉 we are all in this together and we all try to help each other out. We’ll see. We do have a second planting of cukes, zukes, and summer squash we started in the greenhouse that we will be transplanting out soon for the end of August harvest. Thanks for all your support! -Adam
Hi everyone! Christine hereJ Adam likes to be a guest writer every once in a while and I love hearing his voice and perspective on the farm to all of you. A few years ago – we asked our CSA then members if it was ok that we stopped growing sweet corn. Sweet corn is a lot of work on a small scale, takes up a lot of space (you only get one ear per plant), is a nutrition hog – loves nitrogen, we have to transplant it out because the crows follow us when we plant seed, we have conventional field corn grown next door and we would have to make sure they tassled out at different times so there wouldn’t be cross contamination, and to make it work we would have to plant a lot of it at the detriment of other (more nutritious) crops. Those then members said that they would rather fall brocolli and other crops and were okay with us buying in sweet corn. We buy ours from Pomykala Farm on the east shore of Grand Isle. They have a conventional, much bigger farm than ours and have been farming for over 40 plus years. The variety of corn we buy is not sprayed with pesticides. They order in beneficial wasps that are parasites to the corn borer. These parasitic wasps lay their eggs in the corn borer and in their eggs and then the wasps larvae eat and destroy the corn borer. Woah – right?! We have seen different kind of wasps lay their eggs on hornworms and eat them – I love when that happens. Fun Fact: corn borer used to be called the hemp borer. When North America was growing more hemp in the 1700 and 1800 – the borer would affect the hemp plants that homesteaders and farmers were growing for feed, cloth, and medicine. When hemp became outlawed in the 1900s, the hemp borer found the miles and miles of field and sweet corn across north america – and is now called the corn borer. Thanks to Jane, Bob and Ben and their crew for the delicious sweet corn J
The green Cabbage last week – what did you think? Delicious?! Juicy, sweet, crisp…Those green beans adam is talking about go up past my knees and are loaded. We are thankful for our Monday morning crew for helping weed the cilantro and beets! Also, we went a little over board with veggies last week – close to $40 worth for individual share and full share…anyways we were excited to share with all the varieties that are coming in. So sorry if it was overwhelming last week- and your veggies from last week will be still good this weekJ We just wanted to shareJ We can not wait for those heirloom tomatoes…
We are still looking for volunteers on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday mornings from 9-12, Monday and thursday nights 4-630. also the farmers market on Saturday in Grand Isle is looking for volunteers for help with parking and welcoming.
One last thing – If you would like to order coffee starting next week to pick up with your share – on farm or delivery Thursday – we have partnered with Perky Planet in Burlington. Our crew has been drinking it the last few weeks and oh my word! It is so yummy. 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 Coffee and Veggies!
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.
Ok, well we better go. See you all soon. Thanks for reading.
Thanks for being part of our farm. We look forward to farming with you this season.
Peace, your farmers, Christine, Adam, Sadie, Delia, Claire and Norma
PS Sorry for any run on sentences, misspellings, or sentence fragments… I try to re-read these and catch them – but again – it’s July;)
What’s in the share this week:
This list is what is in a full share this week. Things may change between Monday and Thursday and Individual and Salad share will get differing amounts and may not get everything on the list., zucchini, summer squash, slicing cucumbers, cabbage, cilantro, shishito peppers (hopefully for thursday since you didn’t get them last week), new red potatoes, Rainbow cherry tomatoes, and sweet corn from our friends at Pomykala Farm
RAW Jersey Milk for Sale: 1/2 gal jars available of Sandy and Skye’s Milk – cream is so creamy and they love all this spring grass. $5 a jar and if you don’t have a half gal jar to swap $3 deposit. Available at on farm pickup on Mondays and Thursdays.
RECIPES:
Ultimate Zucchini Bread
SERVINGS: 8 TO 10 https://smittenkitchen.com/2019/08/ultimate-zucchini-bread/
TIME: 1 HOUR 20 MINUTES, PLUS OVERNIGHT COOLING
SOURCE: SMITTEN KITCHEN
2 cups (13 ounces or 370 grams) grated, packed zucchini, not wrung out, grated on the large holes of a box grater
2 large eggs
2/3 cup (160 ml) of a neutral oil (I use safflower), olive oil, or melted unsalted butter
1/2 cup (95 grams) packed dark brown sugar
1/2 cup (100 grams) granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon fine sea or table salt
1 1/4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground or freshly grated nutmeg
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
2 cups (260 grams) all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons (25 grams) raw or turbinado sugar
Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly coat a 6-cup or 9×5-inch loaf pan with nonstick spray. Place grated zucchini in a large bowl and add oil, eggs, sugars, vanilla, and salt. Use a fork to mix until combined. Sprinkle cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda, and baking powder over surface of batter and mix until combined — and then, for extra security that the ingredients are well-dispersed, give it 10 extra stirs. Add flour and mix until just combined. Pour into prepared loaf pan and smooth the top. Sprinkle with the raw or turbinado sugar — don’t skimp. Bake for 55 to 60 minutes, until a toothpick or tester inserted into the middle cake but also into the top of the cake, closer to the dome, comes out batter-free.
Let cool completely in the pan. Leave in pan, unwrapped, overnight or 24 hours, until removing (carefully, so not to ruin flaky lid) and serving in slices. Zucchini bread keeps for 4 to 5 days at room temperature. I wrap only the cut end of the cake in foil, and return it to the baking pan, leaving the top exposed so that it stays crunchy.
Summer Squash Pizza https://smittenkitchen.com/2016/08/summer-squash-pizza/
SERVINGS: 4 TO 8, MAKES 1 HALF-SHEET OR 2 QUART-SHEET PIZZAS
Adapted from Jim Lahey at the Sullivan Street Bakery
1 tablespoon olive oil, plus more for fingertips
1 recipe pizza dough (below) or about a 2/3 volume of my lazy fitted-to-your-schedule favorite or your favorite, whichever it may be
2 1/2 pounds (about 5 small-medium or 3 large) zucchini or other summer squash, trimmed
1 1/2 teaspoons fine sea salt
2 cups (8 ounces) coarsely grated gruyere cheese
2 to 3 tablespoons plain breadcrumbs
Heat your oven to 500°F with a rack in the center. Brush either 1 13×18-inch rimmed half-sheet pan or 2 9×13-inch quarter-sheet pans (as I do) with olive oil. Divide your dough in half and use oiled fingertips to pull, stretch, nudge and press the dough across the bottom of the pan. The dough will be thin and imperfect; just try to get it even. If holes form, just pinch them together.
Use a food processor with a grater attachment or the large holes of a box grater to grate the zucchini. In a large bowl, toss together the zucchini and salt. Let stand for 20 to 30 minutes (more, if you have the time), until the zucchini has wilted and released its water. Drain the zucchini in a colander and then use your hands to squeeze out as much water as possible, a fistful at a time. Back in the large bowl (wiped out if still wet), toss the zucchini with the gruyere shreds, being sure to break up any clumps of zucchini. Taste the mixture; it should be seasoned enough from the salt, but you can add more, plus ground pepper or pepper flakes if desired.
Spread the zucchini mixture over the dough(s), going all the way to the edges of the pan and piling it a bit thicker at the edges, where it will brown first. Sprinkle messily with the bread crumbs.
Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until the topping is golden. Remove from oven, cut into squares and dig in.
Jim Lahey’s Basic Pizza Dough
This is halved and modified a bit
2 cups minus 1 tablespoon (250 grams) all-purpose or bread flour
1 1/4 teaspoons (5 grams) instant or active dry yeast
A heaped 1/4 teaspoon fine sea or table salt
2/3 cups (150 grams) room temperature water
In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, yeast and salt. Add the water and, using a wooden spoon or your hand, mix until well blended, about 30 seconds. Cover the bowl and let sit at room temperature until the dough has more than doubled in volume, about 2 hours. Continue using instructions above.
Zucchini, Rice and Cheese Gratin (Tian de Courgettes au Riz) https://smittenkitchen.com/2015/09/zucchini-rice-cheese-gratin/
SERVINGS: 6
TIME: 60 TO 90 MINUTES, DEPENDING ON VERSION
From Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Volume II
A big update! Several people asked very logical questions after this was published such as: If you drained 2 1/2 cups liquid from the zucchini and need to add 2 1/2 cups liquid back, is that salting and draining process necessary? Related to this, it sounds like many people who did not get 2 1/2 cups liquid from their zucchini and thus added some back found the end results soupy? Also asked: Is the flour absolutely necessary? And does the rice have to be parboiled, can’t you just bake the gratin longer?
And so I retested this several ways and found that you could skip the flour, skip the salting and draining and even skip the parboiling and it all worked out! Note: It takes much longer to cook the gratin this way, even if you parboil the rice (thus I’m advising you don’t even bother because it doesn’t save enough time) mostly because it seems to take a long time for the zucchini shreds to release enough liquid to cook the rice. You’ll want to give yourself at least 90 minutes including prep time. This may or may not make it worth it, so I left the original instructions as a second set below. Finally, you’ll need to add 1/2 cup liquid to the uncooked rice to make up for what it would have absorbed in parboiling.
Butter for dish
2 1/2 pounds (about 1 1/8 kg) zucchini
2 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt (I use Diamond brand, use 1 1/2 of other brands)
1/2 cup (90 grams) plain, uncooked white rice
1 medium onion, minced (about 1 cup)
5 tablespoons (75 ml) olive oil, divided
2 large cloves garlic, mashed or finely minced
2 tablespoons (15 grams) all-purpose flour (optional)
1/2 cup milk, as needed, although water or broth of your choice would work just fine [1/2 cup needed for streamlined directions, less for original]
2/3 cup (55 grams) grated Parmesan cheese, divided
Salt and pepper
NEW, SIMPLIFIED DIRECTIONS:
Heat oven to 325 degrees F. Oil or butter a 2-quart baking dish, or 2 smaller 1-quart dishes (as I did, with the intention of freezing one).
Prepare zucchini: Wash zucchini and trim ends. Halve lengthwise, and if seeds are particularly large, core them out. Coarsely grate and place in a large bowl.
Prepare remaining ingredients: In a large frying pan, cook the onions slowly in 3 tablespoons oil for 8 to 10 minutes until tender and translucent. Raise heat slightly and stir several minutes until very lightly browned. Stir in garlic and cook another minute. Add uncooked rice and sauté for another two minutes. Season generously with salt and pepper.
Assemble gratin: Transfer to bowl with zucchini and stir together with 1/2 cup liquid of your choice and all but 2 tablespoons cheese. Taste and adjust seasoning if needed. Transfer to prepared baking dish.
Bake gratin: Cover tightly with foil and bake for 50 to 60 minutes, until rice within is cooked but not mush. Increase oven temperature to 450 degrees. Remove foil, drizzle top with remaining olive oil (or dot with butter), sprinkle on remaining cheese and bake uncovered until browned and crisp on top, about another 10 to 15 minutes. For extra color, you can run it under the broiler for one minute at the end.
DIRECTIONS AS ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED HERE:
Prepare zucchini: Wash zucchini and trim ends. Halve lengthwise, and if seeds are particularly large, core them out. Coarsely grate and place in a colander set over a bowl. Toss with kosher salt. Let drain for 5 minutes, says Julia Child, but more like 20 or, if you’ve got the time, up to 30 minutes.
Save drained liquid and squeeze a handful of the zucchini and taste. If it’s very salty, rinse and drain it again (not saving liquid this time). Squeeze all of the zucchini in handfuls, gently, collecting any juices in the bowl of drained liquid. Blot dry on paper towels.
Prepare rice: Boil for exactly 5 minutes in salted water. Drain and set aside. [In comments I’ve read about this recipe online, many people say that they skip this step and it all works out in the oven. But I didn’t this time.]
Prepare remaining ingredients: In a large frying pan, cook the onions slowly in 3 tablespoons oil for 8 to 10 minutes until tender and translucent. Raise heat slightly and stir several minutes until very lightly browned. Stir in the grated and dried zucchini and garlic; season with salt and pepper. Toss and turn for 5 to 6 minutes until the zucchini is almost tender. Sprinkle in the flour, stir over moderate heat for 2 minutes, and remove from heat.
Assemble dish: Measure the drained liquid from the zucchini. If you have less than 2 1/2 cups, add milk to bring the level up to it. (I became sidetracked and mine drained for an hour; I ended up with the full 2 1/2 cups and needed no milk.) Stir into zucchini-onion mixture, return pan to stove over medium-high heat and bring to a simmer, stirring. Remove from heat again, stir in par-cooked rice and all but 2 tablespoons cheese. Taste and adjust seasoning if needed.
Turn into a 2-quart baking dish, or 2 smaller 1-quart dishes (as I did, with the intention of freezing one). Sprinkle with reserved cheese and remaining olive oil, although I apparently used butter instead, because: butter
You can cook it right away, or let it sit until 30 minutes before you want to serve it.
30 minutes before serving: Heat oven to 425 degrees. Bake in upper third of oven until bubbling and browned on top, about 25 to 30 minutes. (If yours begins to brown too quickly, you can cover it with foil until the last 5 minutes.) The rice should absorb all the liquid. Serve immediately.