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Goldfinch Farm CSA
Goldfinch Farm Newsletters
| For Beth's Ramblings and Rants click here. |
Issue No. 3: Wks of July 6 & 13
GOLDFINCH FARM CSA NEWS
Farmers: Jon & Beth Weaver-Kreider * 252-3894
www.goldfinchfarm.com * screechowl@paonline.com
Notes from the Field by Farmer Jon
Our farm crews have been hard at work doing all the tasks necessary to keep us supplied with veggies throughout the summer and well
into the fall. We’ll be busy planting crops until early September.
Many of our crops require multiple plantings in order to have a supply of them over the course of the long season. We do 3 plantings of
tomatoes, 5 plantings of summer squash and cucumbers, 6 plantings of beans, about 10 plantings of lettuce, and so on.
Right now our first summer squash planting is slowing down, our second planting is maturing under a protective fabric row cover and the
third planting is just coming up in the greenhouse and will be transplanted out in about 3 weeks. You’ll see evidence of this cycle of waxing
and waning squash patches as the number of them in your share varies from week to week. You’ll notice this with other crops as well.
The tomato tide is rising and will soon inundate our harvest bins.
The tomato plants are growing quickly now and require almost weekly trellising. We are in the midst of transplanting broccoli, cauliflower
and cabbage plants for the fall. As the early season crops finish up we will till under the residue and plant cover crops to nourish the soil
for next year’s crops. So goes our labor as we follow the arc of the seasons.
Garlic Scapes
We plant our garlic in the fall, and put it to sleep under a bed of warm straw mulch. In the early spring, it begins to grow long spiky leaves.
By mid-June, the flower bud is beginning to form on a stem curling out of the top of the plant. We clip off this stem, which signals the plant
that it has work to do elsewhere; other than putting its energies into the reproductive work of developing its flower, it focuses on growing a
bigger bulb until it is harvested in mid-July.
We win twice with this arrangement. We can look forward to bigger garlic in the late summer, and for the early part of the season, we can
still get good garlic flavor by using the flower tops (or scapes). Really, the garlic wins, too, because we save the biggest cloves each year
to plant for next year’s crop, so it is still propagating itself, only with a little human help.
Mince the whole scape, from stem through flower to spiky tip and use it anywhere you would use garlic cloves. I wouldn’t put it into the pan
with the oil right away--it does get brown a lot more quickly than the cloves. Get your other veggies cooking happily in the pan and then tip
the garlic scapes in at the end, stir them around with the other veggies for a couple minutes to get them to release their flavor, and then
serve. They’re good in salads, too.
Pesto
Now is the time to begin cranking out the pesto. I fill my little food processor with as many basil leaves as I can, pour in about a third cup of
olive oil, add a garlic scape or two, toss in some toasted nuts--I like walnuts (we’re trying it with pecans right now), but lots of people use
pine nuts. Add about a third of a cup of grated Parmesan cheese, and chop it all up in the food processor.
Lots of people freeze pesto, either laid out in plastic bags, or in ice cube trays. Some people omit the oil until they reconstitute it when it
thaws, but we’ve never had trouble with the oil.
Summer Squash
The summer squashes, which include yellow and patty pan squash as well as the zucchinis, are some of the most versatile veggies. Try
them in breads and brownies, in soups and stews, in quiches, in casseroles, in stir fries and sautés, added to spaghetti sauce, grilled,
stuffed, and raw with dip. Check out the Warners’ blog at www.theweeklyshare.com for some delicious-looking squash recipes, including
Martian Cookies!
Zucchini Casserole
You can do this with or without meat. If you want to use ground beef or turkey, brown that first, and set it aside.
Sauté some chopped onions and green peppers in butter or olive oil. Add a few sliced mushrooms if you have some available. Then add
some minced garlic scapes and stir for a few moments.
Chop a couple of tomatoes and slice up about 2 c. worth of summer squash (yellow and/or zucchini). You can stop here, or go a little
crazy, adding whatever you like. Chop up greens like spinach or chard, and add them to the pan. Slice the kernels off a couple ears of corn
(which you can get down Ducktown Rd. at Flinchbaugh’s or at Dietz’s stand on 462 between Hellam and Wrightsville). Grate or thinly slice
some carrots. Boil and chop some potatoes and then add them to the pan.
Give it all a good stir together over the heat, add the meat back in if you’re using it, then stir in some of your favorite herbs. Chop up basil,
parsley, cilantro, oregano, thyme. Add salt and pepper to taste.
Dump it all into a greased casserole dish or two (freeze one for later). Toast up a couple slices of good bread, butter them, chop them
finely, and sprinkle them over the casserole/s. Finish it off with a couple cups of grated cheddar cheese and bake at 350 for about half an
hour to forty minutes.
Veggie “Crab” Cakes
(This is based on a recipe from farm crew member Kim Klein)
2 c. grated summer squash
1 c. bread crumbs
2 Tbsp. grated onion
2 Tbsp. mayonnaise
2 eggs
2 tsp. Old Bay seasoning
½ tsp. salt
1 Tbsp. chopped parsley
(Kim suggests using seasoned bread crumbs and omitting the Old Bay seasoning entirely.)
Drop by spoonfuls onto griddle and cook until golden on each side.
Veggie Bread Ring
(based on recipe in Simply in Season)
Prepare a batch of whole wheat bread dough, enough for one loaf.
Combine in a large mixing bowl:
1-2 minced garlic scapes
2 c. minced or shredded fresh vegetables:
sweet peppers, green onions, summer
squash, greens, shredded carrots,
shredded cabbage, finely chopped potato
1 c. large curd cottage cheese (well drained
through a sieve)
2 c. shredded cheese
2-3 Tbsp. chopped fresh herbs
½ tsp. salt
½ tsp. ground red pepper
½ lb. finely diced tofu (optional)
¼ c. sunflower seeds (optional)
After dough’s first rising, punch down and roll out on a floured surface to an 18 x 24-inch rectangle. Cover with veggie/cheese mixture,
pressing down lightly. Roll dough into a log and press to seal, then bring ends of log together into a ring and pinch shut. Place ring on
greased baking sheet. Slice ring at 1-inch intervals, going about three-fourths of the way into the log. Twist each section slightly, so the
rolls fan out from the center of the ring.
Cover with a damp cloth and let rise in a warm place for 25 minutes. Bake in a preheated oven at 350 for about 20 minutes. Eat
immediately or cool on a wire rack and store in
fridge.