This week’s share:
broccoli
cauliflower
cucumber
wax, purple & green beans
musk melon
red onion
summer squash
tomatoes
This Past Week…
Our vacation to South Dakota was very memorable, and we sincerely THANK YOU for your flexibility. We cannot thank you enough!
This week’s share includes a mix of tomatoes in various stages of ripeness. The green tomatoes will ripen in a few days if you let them sit on your counter.
The ripening of the cauliflower doesn’t seem to happen when we need it to happen. For today, the cauliflower heads have been cut and portioned out so that everyone gets some. You’ll need to refrigerate it promptly.
The musk melon is here! And it is super sweet when ripe. It is likely that yours is not ripe right now. All you will need to do is put it in a brown paper bag on your counter over night, or maybe two nights. Enjoy!
There will be some containers of extra food - cucumbers, squash, and sweet corn. Take as much as you can use or give away. The sweet corn was given to us with instructions that “it must be eaten or frozen by Tuesday.”
The peppers have been appearing, as are the eggplant, and we hope to have some for next week’s share. The watermelon is huge, but are not showing any signs of ripeness yet.
Not to put a damper on things, but signs of fall are also showing up. The pumpkins are huge, and some are turning colors already. The acorn squash have magically appeared while on vacation, and the corn is starting to turn brown.
Speaking of corn, the popcorn is ripe! It will be picked this week and left to dry out so that it will be ready for you to pop this fall. The sweet corn is almost ready, but the ears seem small to me. That doesn’t seem to matter to the raccoons, who have been snacking on it.
As we head toward fall, we have been making plans for next year. One thing we would like to add is a worker-share program. If you have any experience or knowledge of worker share programs, we would love to hear from you. Specifically, what worked well and what did not work so well. Kathy is looking forward to having some help next year!
Cucumber Freezer Pickles
Submitted by Mary Jo, CSA Member
3 ½ cups unpeeled, thinly sliced cucumbers
2 T. sea salt
Salt cucumbers and set aside for 2 hours
Rinse off salt
Add 1 medium onion slice
½ green pepper – sliced or chopped
Add brine to cucumber, onion, and pepper. Mix well and put in freezer containers.
Brine
1 cup sugar
½ cup cider vinegar
¼ tsp celery salt
1/3 tsp mustard seed
Mix all ingredients until sugar is dissolved
Fried Green Tomatoes
From equinoxcommunityfarm.com
4 large green tomatoes
2 eggs
½ cup milk
1 cup all purpose flour
½ c cornmeal
½ cup bread crumbs
2 tsp course kosher salt
¼ tsp ground black pepper
1 quart vegetable oil for frying
Slice tomatoes ½ inch think, discard the ends. Whisk eggs and milk together in a medium-size bowl. Scoop flour onto a plate. Mix cornmeal, bread crumbs, and salt and pepper on another plate.
Dip tomatoes into flour to coat. Then dip the tomatoes into milk and egg mixture. Dredge in breadcrumbs to completely coat. In a large skillet, pour vegetable oil (enough so that there is ½ inch of oil in the pan) and heat over a medium heat. Place tomatoes into the frying pan in batches of 4 or 5, depending on the size of your skillet. Do not crowd the tomatoes – they should not touch each other. When the tomatoes are browned, flip and fry them on the other side. Drain on paper towels.
