BLUE GOOSE NEWS SEPTEMBER 12 - 14, 2017 – Week 15 From the Farmer… As you can imagine, I don’t get away from the farm much at this time of year, except to do my deliveries. Recently though, I was talking to another farmer who was complaining that it hasn’t been a good year for cabbage. He said that his crop was just not “heading up”, or developing the cabbage heads properly. The entire time he was talking I just could not believe it because of how well our cole crops have done this year. I don’t know what went wrong for him, but fortunately our cabbage has done very well for us. And actually the red cabbage heads that are in your boxes this week are some of the smaller ones that we have. I will have to apologize to you because under the “Next Week’s Best Guesses” I keep saying that you are going to have butternut squash. I’m not blowing smoke screens. I do have it. It is coming. Last week, it got bumped from the list because we had so many melons that we didn’t want to go to waste. This week, it got bumped from the list because of the spaghetti squash. The main reason for this is because we have a recipe in the newsletter that uses spaghetti squash and tomatoes. And when I was looking over the tomatoes, I realized that this may be the last week for them. All of the tomatoes that we do have are very ripe, and there are very few green ones left to ripen. Since I am uncertain as to whether we will have tomatoes after this week, we are trying to make the best of them for this week. We hope you’ll try the recipe. We are glad to have a reappearance this week of eggplant and beets. We haven’t seen eggplant in 5 weeks and beets since June! As you can see in the picture to the right, our eggplant plants are strong and still blooming, but not sure for how much longer. So like everything around here, we take what we get when we get it. Again, you’ll only be getting a few ears of corn. We know it’s not enough for a family meal, so we suggest cooking it and stripping the kernels from the cob. We highlight one of our members this week who shares a delicious potato soup recipe that can put good use to those corn kernels. This member also explains how when prepping the potatoes she may not always peel them if she’s “in a hurry”. In all honesty, brand new potatoes just dug out of the ground have the thinnest skins so there’s really no need to bother peeling them. Besides, it’s been said that the skins tend to hold quite a bit of nutrients anyway, so the way we see it we’re saving you time and benefitting your health! Finally, for anyone who knows someone struggling from the aftermath of Hurricanes Harvey or Irma, our thoughts and prayers are with them. Have a great week, Scott & Chrissy Farabaugh www.bluegoosefarmnicktown.com
IN THE BOX THIS WEEK
Beets Cabbage (red) Corn Eggplant Head Lettuce Potatoes Spaghetti Squash Tomatoes
NEXT WEEK’S BEST GUESSES
Broccoli Butternut Squash Carrots Celery Romanesco
Eggplant with New Blossoms
Red Cabbage
Spaghetti Squash
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IN THE KITCHEN A nice sweet complement to roasted red beets is the flavor of oranges. You can make a simple syrup of 1 C orange juice and 2 T sugar simmered in a pot and reduced by half. Or simply try adding several spoonfuls of orange marmalade to the beets. Either way, be sure to properly roasted your beets in the oven, remove skins, then cut them to your desired shape.
The Mock Family Members since 2008 I am a self-proclaimed BGF veggie nerd. I am a preschool teacher at The Rainbow Room in Westmont. There are five in my family plus my daughter's fiancé. As the kids get older they tend to scatter, so every week there is a different number of us! Most weeks there are only 3 of us at the dinner table during the summer, but sometimes there are 6. A good friend, Grace Oller, asked me if I would like to try BGF that first summer. I figured why not?! I loved the idea of the convenience of it since my 3 children were much younger then. Plus, the pick-up site was her driveway, so we had some nice weekly chats! Again, as the years passed and the number of mouths to feed varies, I agreed to share a box with someone. Interestingly enough, this is the 3rd year that I am sharing a box with someone who I've never met! We were put together by a mutual friend. We take turns picking up the box; we each get the box every other week. We have a really cool "email pen-pal" type of friendship. I feel like we know each other, even though we've never met face-to-face or even talked on the phone! This has worked out so well for us, and it's a great way to be sure nothing gets wasted. Having a modern-day pen-pal is a pretty neat friendship to have! The name "Farmer Scott" has become a household name and is mentioned at mealtime throughout the week. The CSA has meant a lot to our family over the years, most especially: convenience; delicious; safe, local produce; and opportunities to try some new foods.
POTATO & KIELBASA SOUP (by Jen Mock) 1 lb. kielbasa (or turkey kielbasa), sliced, quartered 1 T olive oil 4 T margarine 2 onions, chopped 5 C potatoes, diced and peeled (if I’m in a hurry I don’t peel!) ½ t salt ½ t pepper ¼ C parsley 4 C chicken broth 2-3 C milk or half & half 2-3 C corn (I use frozen or fresh off the cob) In a pan, brown the kielbasa in the olive oil; set aside. In a big pot, melt margarine, and sauté onion. Add potatoes, salt and pepper, parsley, and broth. Bring to boil, then simmer until potatoes are soft, about 10-15 minutes. Add milk, corn, and cooked kielbasa. Allow to simmer and warm up. Serve soup warm with fresh, hot bread! SPAGHETTI SQUASH with ROASTED TOMATOES AND HERBS 1 spaghetti squash, halved lengthwise, seeds removed 2 T olive oil, divided 1 T packed brown sugar Salt & pepper to taste 2-3 tomatoes, sliced into ¼-inch rounds ½ C Parmesan cheese, freshly grated is better ¼ C chopped fresh basil or 2 T dried ¼ C chopped fresh chives or 2 T dried ¼ C chopped pecans Preheat oven to 400F. Brush cut sides of squash with 1 T oil (more if necessary), sprinkle with brown sugar, salt, and pepper. Place squash, cut side down, on rimmed baking sheet lined with foil. Roast in center of oven until tender, 45 minutes. At the same time, on a separate baking sheet, roast the sliced tomatoes on a lower rack for same amount of time. The slices will shrink in size and may slightly burn, that’s OK. When squash is done, remove it and tomatoes and let sit on counter for 10 minutes before handling. Meanwhile, roasted pecans in oven for about 8 minutes. Scrape squash with fork tines to remove flesh in long strands (hence spaghetti name). Place squash in large bowl. Add 1 T oil, cut-up tomatoes, Parmesan, basil, chives, and pecans Toss, and serve immediately. Garnish with extra cheese, salt and pepper.
EAT WELL. EAT OFTEN. www.bluegoosefarmnicktown.com
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