Life on the Farm (Week 32)

The high tunnel tomatoes are just about to be “lowered and leaned”. As we harvest the lowest fruit, we strip all leaves up to the next fruit bundle and then lower the reels so the plants lean slightly to the side and their stems/trunks coil on the ground. Where they contact the ground, new roots will start providing more nutrition. The upper portion of the plant is then arm-reach height for pruning and trellising. The tricky part will be timing the completion of the season so we can “top” the plants and push all remaining fruit to completion. I am sure our novice high-tunnel status will have us too early or too late. If too late, fried green tomatoes for everyone!!

The fields are producing (weeds!) well; cover crops are just starting to germinate and green up. Deer are sprouting antlers— oh my, Fall is coming!

The Market is open for more summertime orders.

Ordering will be open from Sunday morning until Monday 8pm. Get your orders in now so harvesting can begin specific to your requests.

Deliveries will be made Wednesday per usual to your chosen Dropsite Location .

Recipes for your consideration

Italian Bean & Tomato Salad

Hearty, simple salad served with a nice crusty French bread.

Several leaves red or green leaf lettuce, shredded
4-5 cherry tomatoes, coarsely diced
2 ribs celery, diced
1 carrot, shredded
1 cup cooked/canned cannellini or other white beans
hearty pinch dried rosemary
4-5 leaves fresh basil, chopped
1 teaspoon sea salt
1/8 teaspoon cracked black pepper
4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

Gently combine shredded lettuce, tomatoes, celery, carrots and cooked beans. Whisk together vinegar, oil, herbs, salt and pepper. Mix into the salad until all ingredients are well-coated with the dressing. Serve at room temperature or chilled. Makes 2-3 servings.
(Adapted from Christinacooks.com)

Scrambled Tofu Florentine
An elegant version of the tofu scramble— works well for breakfast, lunch or dinner.
Scrambled Tofu Florentine
1 Tbsp olive oil
½ yellow onion, finely diced
sea salt
1 carrot, finely diced
2 stalks celery, finely diced
1 tablespoon mirin (substitute 1/8 tsp sugar + 1 Tbsp dry sherry)
1 pound extra firm tofu, coarsely crumbled
¼ teaspoon ground turmeric
½ bunch arugula, cut into bite-sized pieces
½ cup shredded soy or rice mozzarella (vegan)
2-3 sprigs fresh parsley, finely minced

Place a small amount of oil and onion in a deep skillet and turn heat to medium. When the onions begin to sizzle, add a pinch of salt and sauté for 1-2 minutes.
Stir in carrot and celery and cook, stirring, until shiny with oil.
Add mirin, crumbled tofu and turmeric and stir well, incorporating turmeric throughout the dish. Cover, reduce heat to low and cook for 3-4 minutes.
Stir in arugula and soy cheese, cover and cook for 1 minute. Turn off heat and allow to stand until cheese melts, about 2-3 minutes.
Stir well to combine and serve garnished with fresh parsley. Makes 3-4 servings.
(Adapted from Christinacooks.com)

Focaccia bread pizza

This is our favorite way to snack on leftover pizza; make sure to make enough to keep a Tupperware full of thin snack slices! I do the dough in the breadmaker to speed things up.

2 ¼ tsp active dry yeast
1 ½ tsp maple syrup, honey or sugar
1 cup lukewarm water
2 ½ cups unbleached, all purpose flour, divided
¼ cup nutritional yeast
1 Tbsp olive oil
¾ tsp sea salt
1 tsp each fresh oregano, basil and thyme (chopped)
1 sweet pepper, sliced paperthin
1 onion, sliced paperthin
1-3 tomatoes, sliced paperthin

Combine yeast, sweetener and water in the bowl of a stand mixer. Add ½ cup flour and mix well with spatula.

Cover and let stand 30min (“proofing” the yeast).

Add olive oil, salt and 1 cup flour and start mixing with dough hook until well incorporated. Gradually add remaining flour and nutritional yeast. Mix/knead until smooth and elastic but still sticky.

Remove from bowl, pat into a ball and place in oiled bowl. Cover and let stand in warm location for 1hr, or until doubled.

Turn out onto lightly floured surface and knead 4-5 times. Transfer to oiled baking sheet and stretch/press it into a large rectangle approximately 1/2" thick. Brush with oil and let rest 30min in warm location.

Press and stretch again to make approximately ¼" thick and poke indentations all over the surface. Brush with olive oil, sprinkle with fresh herbs (I put them under the veggies so they don’t burn), layer with sliced veggies, sprinkle with sea salt.

Bake 375F for 25min or until crust is browned and veggies are starting to caramelize. Remove and let rest 15min. Slice with pizza cutter into strips 2-3" wide.
(Adapted from Grit magazine)

Did You Know…

…Peppers freeze really well? No blanching, no treatment of any kind.

For small peppers, like jalapenos, just pop them in a ziplock baggie or air-lock them in bag or jar with a vacuum-sealer machine (great investment, by the way. Ask if you want some suggestions.) Label and freeze away!

For large peppers, like bells, slice or dice them depending on how you are likely to use them later. (I slice them and that leaves me with the option to dice later.) Bunch them according to, again, how you are likely to use them later— i.e. 1 pepper, ½ pepper, ¼ cup, etc. Bag or jar them in those amounts. Label and freeze away!

To use later— DO NOT thaw before cooking. To dice a bunch of slices or mince a whole jalapeno, just chop them while frozen (mind the oils/seeds for hot peppers— even frozen they keep their heat!) Toss in your stirfry, pasta sauce, tofu scramble, BBQ wheatmeat. Easier and fresher than “canned”, and closer to home than the Mexico/California imports.

Produce Subscription Highlights

Anticipated this week for the CSA produce subscription boxes:

Tomatoes
Carrots
Cucumber
Lettuce
Celery
Wax fillet beans
Sweet pepper (variety, more color and types on the way)
Summer squash and zucchini
Cabbage (green and Napa)
Leeks
Thyme
Oregano

Start your meal planning now!

We hope to feed you soon!

Roger and Lara

**If you’d like to stop receiving emails, just jump into your account on the website (farmwlig.locallygrown.net, My Account) and scroll to bottom; check appropriate box.