CSA Wk 14, September 6

Well, I don't know about you, but I hope we never have to repeat a week of heat like last week. It was unbearable in my opinion, and in the tomatoes opinion too. A lot of them actually blistered in the heat...like the juices on the inside got too hot, and thinned the skin and enlarged. I suppose it will probably burst or scab over at some point, but they will not be pretty tomatoes at that point. But you just cut that part off, and they are still good for making sauce or salsa. I have frozen 25 quarts of sauce this past week! On to making salsa this week. I hope I am an inspiration that you too can store up for the winter as I've mentioned several times :-)

There are a couple new items this week. It's nice that just as the cool fall air hits us, we are greeted by cauliflower in the garden, as well as cantaloupe and turnips. Unfortunately, there is not enough cauliflower to go around, so full shares got that, but everyone got the other two items. We've started to harvest a small amount of mesculen, and we hope that we will have more of that soon. You never can tell with fall. The shorter days, cooler nights definitely have an effect on slowing down of crops, but some things do really well. We have put in lots more spinach and carrot and hope for another round of those.

You may have noticed that I have some large trees to the right of the farmstand. That is an old orchard that would have been used here on the farm, probably 100 years ago. The house is dated to be almost 200 years old, but the trees don't seem that old. Anyway, one of the biggest trees out there grows a pear that tastes like an Asian pear that I've seen in the markets. They are crunchy, have a different texture than a smooth pear, and are a little more tart. I've included a dozen in everyones share for you to try. They may not all be at their prime ripeness (the winds have blown them off the tree) but the ones that are a little hint of yellow are best. You can eat them plain, but can also use them in recipes like scones or muffins. I make a pear/crystallized ginger scone; that is an awesome combo, and I've made pear danish with pears out there too!

Here's to cooler weather!!!

1/2 size:
Garlic
Gillfeather Turnip
Gold Nugget Squash
Cantaloupe
Cucumbers
Beets
Cherry Tomatoes
Beans - either green string, purple string, or yellow romano
Squash - either a green zucchini, striped zucchini, round zucchini, or yellow summer squash
Broccoli or Romanesco Broccoli
Asian Pear
Rosemary

Full Size:
Garlic
Gillfeather Turnip
Golden Hubbard Squash
Cantaloupe
Cucumbers
Beets
Cherry Tomatoes
Beans - either green string, purple string, or yellow romano
Squash - either a green zucchini, striped zucchini, round zucchini, or yellow summer squash
Broccoli or Romanesco Broccoli
Mesculen Lettuce Mix
Tomatoes
Cheddar Cauliflower
Asian Pears
Rosemary

Happy Labor Day!

See you next week!