2010 Summer Newsletter 10
The Veggie Voice Village Acres Farm Summer CSA • July 20, 2010 • Distribution 10 of 28 address: 229 Cuba Mills Rd., Mifflintown, PA 17059 phone: 717-436-9477
email: [email protected] website: www.villageacresfarm.com
“Tell me what you eat, and I will tell you what you are.” -Anthelme Brillat-Savarin 1780 Farm Note • a word from the Village Acres Crew: Roy told me I should write about my conversion experience in relation to last night’s activities. As you might expect, a lot of people pursuing work on organic vegetable farms are vegetarians, myself included. My vegetarian diet lasted for about 3 months while working at Village Acres- my downfall being a combination of the potlucks we host for everyone’s birthdays (when I was the only one bringing vegetarian dishes, my plate was either very boring, or loaded with desserts) and, surprisingly enough, lard. We had huge 5 gallon buckets of lard. Apparently a lot of people who buy our pork shares in the fall have some ingrained prejudice that lard is a “bad fat,” and they choose not to take that part of their pork share- and I would not be a good Mennonite if I let that fat go to waste. Lard is a fantastic fat. It makes the best pie crusts, adds flavor to sautés, and is one of the cheapest quality fats. I tried using it in everything- soups, cookies, even a batch of savory croissants. From there, it was easy to justify eating the chickens we raise, then the turkey and the pork, and then I quickly moved on to eating Julie’s meat from Blue Rooster Farm. Yesterday, Roy called the game commission to ask about shooting deer that were eating our crops. There’s some farm exclusion for hunting season that allows for this, apparently. We alerted the neighbors of our seemingly illicit activities and staked out on the hill to watch for deer. Dan shot one 5 minutes before we were going to go home to sleep. He is an expert hunter. I know this because his shot was perfect (through the heart and lungs) and he cleanly gutted the deer in about 3 minutes. I helped skin the deer, and I felt a sense of ownership in this death- something new to me. Roy likes to tease me about all the improvements I’ve made in the past year. He found my vegetarian diet absolutely ridiculous, and I think he takes my meat-eating conversion as a point of pride. Really, after 8 years of not eating meat, I guess he should. ~Anna
Produce and Cooking Notes
In the Box
Head Lettuce: We seem to have hit a little gap in lettuce production, between hot Head Lettuce* Chard weather and groundhog damage, so we just have heads for full shares today. Don’t Cucumbers worry – I think there are lots of fun new vegetables in the box this week, and the Zucchini lettuce I have in mind for next week is sizing up nicely. Hot Peppers Chard: This is a variety called Bright Lights, a mixture of colors to bring you joy! Tomatoes Make sure you wash it – it got some mud splashed on it during our Friday rainstorm. Sungolds Cucumbers: You may recall that we tried trellising our greenhouse cucumbers this Blueberries or year on a piece of sturdy ire fencing, so that they wouldn’t sprawl out all over the Cantaloupe greenhouse. It worked – but they’re so big now that Brosi and Adam spent a few Corn hours last week hanging another piece of fence above the first, off of the pipes that Basil (*=only in full shares) support the greenhouse ceiling. It’s a rickety-looking contraption but we’re hoping it helps us harvest cucumbers for weeks to come. Zucchini: Since the zucchini may not diminish for many more weeks, what new ways are you finding to use it? Donna suggested adding it to smoothies- it’s delicious! Hot Peppers: If you want to limit the spiciness of a pepper, try to get the seeds out of it before using it in a recipe. I’m not sure what Anna will pick for you today, so remember that the biggest ones are the least spicy. We used two of our tiny tiny Thai peppers in a skillet full of hash browns recently and it was about the right amount for our medium-adventurous crew. Tomatoes: A little bit of a grab bag today as the plants slide into production. Everyone should be getting at least one standard tomato – your regular round red slicer – and then you may also get Romas (pointier oval tomatoes, good for sauce), heirloom tomatoes of various sorts, and maybe some of the odd little tiny red ones
that showed up unexpectedly this year. Sungolds: A pint for everyone today! Corn: The first of the sweet corn is here! We’re pleased with Dave’s work in worm damage prevention! It’s very painstaking to do organically. Fruit Choice: Cantaloupe or Blueberries: Cantaloupe are kind of a pain to manage for the CSA, since it’s rare to have 200 of them ripen at the same time, and making them a choice with a vegetable, even a tasty new one like corn or tomatoes, seems unfair. Hopefully another sweet fruit – the very last of the blueberries – will be tempting enough to stand up to them. Blue Rooster Farm – On special for Tuesday, July 27, Rib Steaks for $13/lb. Rib steaks are basically delmonicos or ribeyes that are left on the bone. Sign up on our mailing list at www.blueroosterfarm.com. Thanks, Julie
Recipes Zucchini Pizza with Cherry Tomatoes and Goat Cheese From Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone 8 ounces pizza dough 3 small-to-medium zucchini, thinly sliced Olive oil for sautéing and dressing Salt and fresh pepper 4 ounces cherry tomatoes 1 garlic clove, finely chopped 4 basil leaves, torn or sliced thinly 2 ounces mozzarella, thinly sliced or torn 2 ounces goat cheese or feta, crumbled Preheat the oven to 500° Roll or stretch the dough into a 10-inch circle, set on a floured peel or pizza pan, and let it rest for 10 minutes. Sauté the zucchini in olive oil in a skillet over medium heat until tender and beginning to color, about 4 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Slice the tomatoes into halves or quarters and toss them with the garlic, a little olive oil, some pepper, and half the basil. Distribute the mozzarella and zucchini over the dough, then add the tomatoes. Bake on a stone or in the pan for 5 minutes, then add the goat cheese and bake for 3 minutes more. Remove, drizzle with a little extra virgin olive oil, and sprinkle on the remaining basil leaves. The Veggie Voice is sponsored in part by:
State College, Pa 814.231.3927 www.envinity.com
Eggplant Rounds with Cheese and Red Wine Tomato Sauce From Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone ♦ 2 eggplant rounds per person, each ½ to ¾
inches thick. ♦ ¾ cup grated or sliced mozzarella ♦ ½ cup crumbled Gorgonzola, goat cheese, or
grated Fontina ♦ Chopped parsley or basil ♦ Red Wine Tomato sauce (recipe follows)
Salt the eggplant rounds for half an hour, then blot dry. Place on a sheet pan and cover with cheeses, bake at 375° until the cheese melts. Serve with 2 or 3 spoonfuls of sauce on each serving and garnish with the parsley. Red Wine Tomato Sauce From Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone; you might have to halve it with our small tomato supply! ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦
2 tablespoons olive oil 2 small onions, finely minced 2 small bay leaves 6 thyme sprigs or ½ tsp dried 1 teaspoon dried oregano 1 teaspoon dried savory Pinch red pepper flakes 3 large garlic cloves, minced 1 cup dry red wine 28 oz crushed tomatoes or chopped fresh Salt and fresh pepper Heat the oil in a wide skillet. Add the onion, herbs, and pepper flakes and cook over medium heat, stirring frequently, for 15 minutes. Add the garlic during the last few minutes. Raise the heat, add the wine and ½ cup water, and simmer until reduced by half, 12 to 15 minutes. Add the tomatoes and ½ teaspoon salt. Simmer until the sauce has thickened, about 35 minutes. Taste for salt and season with pepper.
Edited by Dave Ruggiero and Anna Mast Village Acres Farm is owned and operated by Roy & Hope Brubaker
email: [email protected] website: www.villageacresfarm.com
“Tell me what you eat, and I will tell you what you are.” -Anthelme Brillat-Savarin 1780 Farm Note • a word from the Village Acres Crew: Roy told me I should write about my conversion experience in relation to last night’s activities. As you might expect, a lot of people pursuing work on organic vegetable farms are vegetarians, myself included. My vegetarian diet lasted for about 3 months while working at Village Acres- my downfall being a combination of the potlucks we host for everyone’s birthdays (when I was the only one bringing vegetarian dishes, my plate was either very boring, or loaded with desserts) and, surprisingly enough, lard. We had huge 5 gallon buckets of lard. Apparently a lot of people who buy our pork shares in the fall have some ingrained prejudice that lard is a “bad fat,” and they choose not to take that part of their pork share- and I would not be a good Mennonite if I let that fat go to waste. Lard is a fantastic fat. It makes the best pie crusts, adds flavor to sautés, and is one of the cheapest quality fats. I tried using it in everything- soups, cookies, even a batch of savory croissants. From there, it was easy to justify eating the chickens we raise, then the turkey and the pork, and then I quickly moved on to eating Julie’s meat from Blue Rooster Farm. Yesterday, Roy called the game commission to ask about shooting deer that were eating our crops. There’s some farm exclusion for hunting season that allows for this, apparently. We alerted the neighbors of our seemingly illicit activities and staked out on the hill to watch for deer. Dan shot one 5 minutes before we were going to go home to sleep. He is an expert hunter. I know this because his shot was perfect (through the heart and lungs) and he cleanly gutted the deer in about 3 minutes. I helped skin the deer, and I felt a sense of ownership in this death- something new to me. Roy likes to tease me about all the improvements I’ve made in the past year. He found my vegetarian diet absolutely ridiculous, and I think he takes my meat-eating conversion as a point of pride. Really, after 8 years of not eating meat, I guess he should. ~Anna
Produce and Cooking Notes
In the Box
Head Lettuce: We seem to have hit a little gap in lettuce production, between hot Head Lettuce* Chard weather and groundhog damage, so we just have heads for full shares today. Don’t Cucumbers worry – I think there are lots of fun new vegetables in the box this week, and the Zucchini lettuce I have in mind for next week is sizing up nicely. Hot Peppers Chard: This is a variety called Bright Lights, a mixture of colors to bring you joy! Tomatoes Make sure you wash it – it got some mud splashed on it during our Friday rainstorm. Sungolds Cucumbers: You may recall that we tried trellising our greenhouse cucumbers this Blueberries or year on a piece of sturdy ire fencing, so that they wouldn’t sprawl out all over the Cantaloupe greenhouse. It worked – but they’re so big now that Brosi and Adam spent a few Corn hours last week hanging another piece of fence above the first, off of the pipes that Basil (*=only in full shares) support the greenhouse ceiling. It’s a rickety-looking contraption but we’re hoping it helps us harvest cucumbers for weeks to come. Zucchini: Since the zucchini may not diminish for many more weeks, what new ways are you finding to use it? Donna suggested adding it to smoothies- it’s delicious! Hot Peppers: If you want to limit the spiciness of a pepper, try to get the seeds out of it before using it in a recipe. I’m not sure what Anna will pick for you today, so remember that the biggest ones are the least spicy. We used two of our tiny tiny Thai peppers in a skillet full of hash browns recently and it was about the right amount for our medium-adventurous crew. Tomatoes: A little bit of a grab bag today as the plants slide into production. Everyone should be getting at least one standard tomato – your regular round red slicer – and then you may also get Romas (pointier oval tomatoes, good for sauce), heirloom tomatoes of various sorts, and maybe some of the odd little tiny red ones
that showed up unexpectedly this year. Sungolds: A pint for everyone today! Corn: The first of the sweet corn is here! We’re pleased with Dave’s work in worm damage prevention! It’s very painstaking to do organically. Fruit Choice: Cantaloupe or Blueberries: Cantaloupe are kind of a pain to manage for the CSA, since it’s rare to have 200 of them ripen at the same time, and making them a choice with a vegetable, even a tasty new one like corn or tomatoes, seems unfair. Hopefully another sweet fruit – the very last of the blueberries – will be tempting enough to stand up to them. Blue Rooster Farm – On special for Tuesday, July 27, Rib Steaks for $13/lb. Rib steaks are basically delmonicos or ribeyes that are left on the bone. Sign up on our mailing list at www.blueroosterfarm.com. Thanks, Julie
Recipes Zucchini Pizza with Cherry Tomatoes and Goat Cheese From Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone 8 ounces pizza dough 3 small-to-medium zucchini, thinly sliced Olive oil for sautéing and dressing Salt and fresh pepper 4 ounces cherry tomatoes 1 garlic clove, finely chopped 4 basil leaves, torn or sliced thinly 2 ounces mozzarella, thinly sliced or torn 2 ounces goat cheese or feta, crumbled Preheat the oven to 500° Roll or stretch the dough into a 10-inch circle, set on a floured peel or pizza pan, and let it rest for 10 minutes. Sauté the zucchini in olive oil in a skillet over medium heat until tender and beginning to color, about 4 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Slice the tomatoes into halves or quarters and toss them with the garlic, a little olive oil, some pepper, and half the basil. Distribute the mozzarella and zucchini over the dough, then add the tomatoes. Bake on a stone or in the pan for 5 minutes, then add the goat cheese and bake for 3 minutes more. Remove, drizzle with a little extra virgin olive oil, and sprinkle on the remaining basil leaves. The Veggie Voice is sponsored in part by:
State College, Pa 814.231.3927 www.envinity.com
Eggplant Rounds with Cheese and Red Wine Tomato Sauce From Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone ♦ 2 eggplant rounds per person, each ½ to ¾
inches thick. ♦ ¾ cup grated or sliced mozzarella ♦ ½ cup crumbled Gorgonzola, goat cheese, or
grated Fontina ♦ Chopped parsley or basil ♦ Red Wine Tomato sauce (recipe follows)
Salt the eggplant rounds for half an hour, then blot dry. Place on a sheet pan and cover with cheeses, bake at 375° until the cheese melts. Serve with 2 or 3 spoonfuls of sauce on each serving and garnish with the parsley. Red Wine Tomato Sauce From Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone; you might have to halve it with our small tomato supply! ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦
2 tablespoons olive oil 2 small onions, finely minced 2 small bay leaves 6 thyme sprigs or ½ tsp dried 1 teaspoon dried oregano 1 teaspoon dried savory Pinch red pepper flakes 3 large garlic cloves, minced 1 cup dry red wine 28 oz crushed tomatoes or chopped fresh Salt and fresh pepper Heat the oil in a wide skillet. Add the onion, herbs, and pepper flakes and cook over medium heat, stirring frequently, for 15 minutes. Add the garlic during the last few minutes. Raise the heat, add the wine and ½ cup water, and simmer until reduced by half, 12 to 15 minutes. Add the tomatoes and ½ teaspoon salt. Simmer until the sauce has thickened, about 35 minutes. Taste for salt and season with pepper.
Edited by Dave Ruggiero and Anna Mast Village Acres Farm is owned and operated by Roy & Hope Brubaker
