* full share only

Edamame This will be the last week for edamame.  If you have had your fill, try freezing them.  It’s easy.  Blanch for one minute by putting the pods into boiling salted water.  Strain and rinse with cold water to stop the cooking process.  Dry in a single layer on paper towel, then bag up in a serving size ziplock to freeze.  When you’re hungry again for edamame, simply dump the contents of one bag into boiling water for 8 to 10, sprinkle with kosher salt, and serve.

Sweet potato We planted these back in late May.  The long dry spell did not help our sweet potato harvest–our yield was less that last years, but these still taste great.  Sweet potatoes are rich in complex carbohydrates, dietary fiber, naturally occurring sugars, protein, vitamins A and C, iron and calcium.  To bake, prick with a fork, then bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes to one hour, depending on size.

Salad mix

*Arugula This week we picked baby size arugula–a real treat!

Onion

Tomatoes This might be the last week for tomatoes.  They are ending sooner than normal due to the long dry spell.

Pepper

Habanero pepper The tiny golfball sized bright colored peppers are habaneros.  Very hot, so use in small amounts.  The seeds are especially hot.  These were a from the garden of Jonathan Graber, a CSA member.  THANKS JONATHAN!

Swiss chard or curly kale

Scarborough Fair herb pack “Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme…”  We planted an herb garden this Spring and have always wanted to do one of these packs.  Flavor your next pizza or a savory still fry dish.

A word about the fruit:

Most of the apples are Mollie Delicious.  Sweet, crisp, and juicy for fresh eating.  Also commonly used in pies and crisps.  One of all-time favorites.  Not to be confused with red delicious–Mollie Delicious has a more complex flavor and juicy crisp flesh.

Down on the Farm

We’re glad the weather is cooling off–should help get our fall crops germinated.  Ben planted all morning on Wednesday, so Wednesday afternoon’s rain was just perfect!  Some disappointments–our third and final planting of cucumbers and zucchini once again succumbed to downy mildew.  The downy mildew stumped us all year!  Because of our commitment to organic growing, we did not use some of the strong fungicides on the market, but we did spray regularly with organic alternative, to no avail.  We put a lot of work into these crops, and we really missed them!  Ben sent pictures of our diseased plants down to a plant pathologist he knows at Purdue University who will help us come up with a plan for next year.  The pathologist said we were not alone–a nasty strain of mildew swept across the Midwest this year.

Recipe of the Week

Try a sweet potato stir fry:

We frequently add unbaked sweet potatoes to our stir fries.  The trick is to slice them very thinly, 1/8″ thick.

First, fry onions and garlic in peanut oil (other oils work, but peanut is our favorite).  Then add sliced sweet potatoes and fry on high for 6 to 8 minutes or until just tender.  Then add other veges and fry to your liking.  We’ll sometimes simmer the stir fry in a can of coconut oil with a drizzle of fish sauce.  Serve over steamed rice.  Enjoy!

* full share only

Edamame These are from the same planting, so they just like last week’s, except maybe a little more plump.  Probably best to boil for 10 rather than 8 minutes.  After you pour off the water, try drizzling them with olive oil, in addition to your choice of Kosher salt, sea salt, and/or soy sauce.  We did this for lunch.  Remember, don’t eat the pods, just the beans.  But do savor the slaty juices on the pods–yum!

Salad mix

*Arugula

Onion

Tomatoes This week every box contains green zebra in addition to the field-ripened red toms.  Enjoy!

Cherry tomato mix

Green beans

Peppers Our peppers have been a fun surprise this year–they turned out great!

A word about the fruit:

Peaches?  Again?  Yep!  Another round.  One of the orchardists we’ve been working with, Dale Disterheft, has a few trees of  a late season peach that turned out better than he expected, so lucky for us…  This variety is called PF-23.  They have a very good texture and great taste, though they’re not as sweet as the Red Haven.  Good for fresh eating or baking.  Apples are from Dale, too.  These are the first of the fresh eating apples available this year.  Yellow ones are Ginger Gold, for fresh eating.  The pink-ish ones are Molly Delicious, to bake or eat fresh.  Enjoy!  Oh, there’s also another watermelon.

Down on the Farm

Another view of our fall crops. The green and red beds are salad mix, the tiny spots are head lettuces.

Recipe of the Week

Someone brought this a party we were at recently and it didn’t last long… It’s pretty simple.

Bacon and Green Beans

Ingredients:

couple slices bacon

2 T mushrooms

1/4 C onion

glove of garlic

bag of  Clay Bottom Farm green beans

1/4 C white wine

1/4 C parmesan cheese

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a Dutch oven or large saucepan, cook beans in boiling salted water only until about half-cooked; drain beans and set aside.
3. Cut the bacon in small pieces and brown in a large skillet over medium heat.
4. Remove bacon from skillet with slotted spoon and set aside.
5. Add onion, garlic and mushrooms to bacon fat and drippings in skillet; saute until tender-crisp.
6. In large mixing bowl, combine beans, bacon and sauteed vegetables with wine and cheese.
7. Place mixture in small casserole dish and bake for 30 minutes.

Enjoy!

* full share only

Edamame These are edible soybeans, very popular in Japan and one of our very favorite summer treats.  We grew enough this year so that you all could have them too.  See cooking instructions below…

Salad mix

*Arugula Great with feta cheese…

Onions

*Kale We picked smaller leaves and bagged them to try to keep them fresh in the heat.  Though we try to minimize packaging, bags do help preserve freshness when it’s hot.  Today for lunch Ben cut a bunch of kale in half (sideways, not legthways), braised it in butter, then added it to grilled cheese and ham sandwhiches.  Kale might be a candidate for the trade-in box: some love the stuff and want more, others aren’t able to use it all.

Garlic

Tomatoes

Cherry tomato mix They taste as yummy as they look!

Yellow wax beans or fortex green beans or blue lake green beans We trialed several varieties of beans on our new land, so you  might receive a different variety now and then.  If you received the long green beans: these are fortex pole beans, fun to grow and TWICE as long as normal green beans, so they are less labor to prep.

Melon More David Bontrager organic melons.  One thing our heavy clay will not grow (unfortunately) is melons, though we made a valient effort this year.  David’s melons are superb.

Peppers

*Banana peppers

A word about the fruit:

Peaches and blueberries are done!  The season started early and it’s unfortunately ending early for both of these local fruits.  There is a little bit a gap now before the fresh eating apples are ready.  So something a little different this week: Bartlett pears and Paula Red apples.  You can eat the pears as they are if you like them hard, or (our preference) line them out on newspaper and let them ripen until soft.  They are amazingly delicious this way.  Paula Red apples are baking apples.  Try an apple cobbler with them or make an apple-pear dessrt.  Both are from friends and fellow market vendors Dean and Vera Witmer.  The Witmers are from Goshen and are great orchardists.  We’ve planted both pears and apples in our own orchard, but it will be a few years before they’re ready.

Down on the Farm

Some of our "Prado Red" sunflowers in bloom.

We are busy planting our fall garden. Here we've seeded lettuce, arugula, turnips, carrots, beets, green beans, kale, mizuna, and tat soi.

Recipe of the Week

Boiled edamame

The United States Department of Agriculture calls edamame “a soybean that can be eaten fresh and are best known as a snack with a nutritional punch”.

They are rich in carbohydrates, protein, dietary fiber, omega fatty acids and micronutrients, particularly folic acid, manganese and vitamin K (table).

They’re commonly eaten in Japan, China, and Korea.  Sushi restaurants usually offer them.  They are also gaining popularity in bars.  In fact, the variety we grow is call “Beer Friend.”

Here’s how to cook them:

1. Pull off the edamame pods and rinse in the colander.

2. Put in a pot of water, covering the edamame with about 1 inch of water.  Bring to boil, and keep boiling for 8 to 10 minutes.

3. Pour off the water.  Sprinkle liberally with Kosher salt and/or soy sauce.  We do both.

4. To eat, pinch the beans out of the pod.  We usually like to do this while the pod is in our mouth, like eating raw peanuts.

Enjoy!

* full share only

Salad mix

Arugula This is a mildly spicy green.  Eat alone or spice up your salad mixes with it.  Ben loves arugula and could eat it all day…

Onions

Kale You could add both kale or chard to egg dishes–scrambled eggs, souffle, quiche, etc.

*Chard

Garlic

Tomatoes

Cherry tomato mix

Yellow wax beans

Melon Organic seedless watermelon! We have a partnership with David Bontrager at Ridge Lane Farm to provide these for you.  One thing our clay will not grow well is melon–it prefers sand.  David is a well-respected organic grower from Shipshewana.  He has been in the business for 30 years.

Peppers

Down on the Farm

The heat is challenging even our heat-loving vegetables.  We’ve talked with other local growers and they’re experiencing the same challenges, especially organic growers–leaves curling in, wilting, mildews and mold.  Cucumbers and zucchini are almost non-existant this year.  And since June was also hot, insects have had a long time to multiply their numbers.  But enough complaining!  We’ve having fun and hope you enjoy your boxers this week.

Recipe of the Week

Egg Souffle

8 large eggs
1/3 cup sour cream
1/2 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. black pepper
1 small pepper, diced
1/4 cup diced onion
2 tsp. butter

1/2 C. chopped chard or kale (optional)

Heat oven to 350°F.

In a large bowl, whisk together first 4 ingredients.

In a skillet over medium heat, cook peppers and onions and kale/chard in “butter” for 3 minutes. Add egg mix. Cook 2 minutes or until eggs thicken slightly, stirring often. Divide evenly among 4 (1 cup) ramekins.

Bake 25 minutes or until edges puff up and top is golden.

Intern Laura Schlabach picking cherry tomatoes. This is Laura's last week with us. She starts back at Goshen College this semester. Laura interned two days a week this summer. Thanks Laura!

* full share only

Salad mix We’ve added a label with information such as ingredients, packing date, weight.

*bunching onions Also called “green onions.”  You can use the whole onion, including the greens.

Sweet onions A mix of our reds and whites this week.  The red ones will last longer, so use the white ones first, though both will last several weeks if kept out of the sun in an airy place or in refrigerator.

Kale Try cutting up some of our garlic and red onion, frying in oil, then adding kale until it turns soft and dark green.  Add salt and pepper or soy sauce.  OR, use it to decorate: we will sometimes use it as a border around a bowl of cherry tomatoes or a tray of sliced fresh veges.

Garlic

Carrots The last of our spring planted carrots.  We have two other later plantings that are coming along.

Cucumbers

Zucchini A classic curry/stir fry ingredient

Tomatoes

Melon It’s another melon week–everyone gets 1 melon, even the vegetable  customers.  Watermelons are still ripening but should be ready soon!

Peppers Fresh picked this a.m.

A word about the fruits:

Peaches are fresh red haven.  Blueberries are blue crop.  Apples are Earligold–for eating, cooking, sauce, or pie.  For eating they are tart.  We like these apples.  They stay freshest in the the refrigerator.

Down on the Farm

August marks the beginning of our “second Spring,” during which we re-sow many Spring vegetables.  So this week we seeded salad crops, spinach, Hakurei turnips, carrots, and head lettuce.

Recipe of the Week

Try a fresh garden salsa:

Simply dice and mix together:

1 or 2 tomatoes

1 or 2 peppers

1/2 onion (red or white)

1 or 2 cloves garlic

Great with chips!  We often have fresh salsa on standby in the fridge.  Enjoy!

* full share only

Salad mix Our July salad really took a beating with the heat. The heat tends to wilt the lettuces and it brings on the bugs. So we have been experimenting with different techniques for our mid-summer salad–a combination of shade clothes and special white reflective row covers.   This week’s mix is probably the nicest we’ve grown in the heat of summer. It includes tatsoi, arugula, mizuna, red russian kale, red salad bowl lettuce, green salad bowl lettuce, red romaine lettuce.  Enjoy!

Here is a picture of a "salad field" showing the row covers and shade cloth.

Arugula Our stand of arugula was particularly nice this week so we included a bag of plain arugula.  Somewhat spicy.  You can eat it separately or add it to the mix.

*Swiss chard Here’s a link to a Simply Recipes swiss chard recipe that you could use–a braising recipe: http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/swiss_chard/.  You could easily add the arugula.  We picked the chard Friday morning.

Red potatoes These are fresh dug and excellent with onions and garlic and butter and parsley.

Parsley We’re including a small bag of parsley you can use to garnish the red potatoes.

Green/colored peppers These are the peppers in the greenhouse pictures on our website.  We try to wait to harvest them until they start to turn their color–yellow or red.  Peppers are slow growers–we planted the seeds for these in February!

Tomatoes We will try to mix up our tomato items so that you get a variety.  This week full shares received heirlooms.  Heirlooms have a superior taste compared to standard red tomatoes, but they usually don’t last as long.  There is no such thing as a perfect heirloom–they come in all kinds of funky shapes and colors.  We grow green zebras, brandywine yellow, and cherokee purple.  The green zebras are ripe even though they’re green.  Half shares received cherry tomatoes and red tomatoes.  As with all of our vegetable, they are soil grown (not chemically-fed hydroponic) and organic.

Garlic Use with the potatoes or in your stir-frys.

*Carrots Fresh dug today.

Sweet onions

Flowers As an added bonus we included some zinnias/strawflowers.

A word about the fruit…

There are peaches and plums and blueberries this week.  The peaches and plums are from Orchard Hill Farm, a small orchard in Kendallville.  The peaches are “Rising Star.”  They are cling peaches, which means they cling to the pit.  These could be used for fresh eating or baking.  The first cling-free (or “freestone”) peach in our area is the Red Haven.  They should be ready by next week.  The plums are also an early plum and are best baked rather than for fresh eating.  Here is a plum recipe from Simply in Season that we like.  The crust part of the recipe is very simple and fast and we use it constantly for almost all our fruits.

Plum Tart

Shortbread Tart Crust (see below)

1 T tapioca

Sprinkle tapioca on the unbaked crust.

Small plums, halved and pitted

Arrange in the crust, cut side up, making slightly overlapping concentric circles starting at the outside.  Pit as many plums into the pan as possible.

3/4 C sugar

2 t ground cinnamon

Mix and pour over the plums.  Bake in preheated oven at 350F until plums are soft and filling is boiling, about 45 minutes.  Cool on a wire rack.  Serve with whipped cream.

Shortbread tart crust

1 C flour

1/3 C butter

2 T powdered sugar

In a  mixing bowl, mix together until crumbly, wth no pieces bigger than a pea.  Press into a 9-inch pie pan or tart pan.  Bake in preheated oven at 425F until golden, 10-12 minutes.  Cool.  Fill with favorite fruit filling.

Down on the farm

Enjoy our new photo album of pictures.  Most were taken this week.

Recipe of the week

Instead of a recipe, here’s a menu for a great meal.  We had this meal on Thursday.

Grilled steaks or your favorite grilled meats, on a bed of arugula.  Be sure to use garlic in your marinade.

Fresh salad mix

Fresh carrots

Boiled new potatoes with garlic and butter

Sliced tomatoes or cherry tomatoes

Find a wine to match your meat and try a fruit tart for dessert.  Enjoy!

Sweet corn Like everything else, the corn is early this year.  This is a sweet yellow variety.  We don’t have room to grow sweet corn, so we work with other local growers to provide this.  We make sure it is fresh-picked.  We had some for lunch today and it is yummy!

Fresh onions More of the “superstar” variety.

Cantaloupe The cantaloupe is also early this year.  Like the corn, we don’t have room to grow the large cantaloupe (though we are growing smaller late-season French varieties).  This is fresh-picked and local and very good quality.

Fresh garlic

Tomatoes

Carrots These are the carrots we were digging in the Elkhart Truth article…

Cucumber

Beans

Down on the farm…

Last week Ben and Zach, a summer intern, went on a field trip to Horse Progress Days in Topeka for a produce equipment demonstration.  While we farm with tractors, many of our implements are the same as those used by horse farmers.  In fact, horse farmers sometimes innovate tools and equipment that we tractor farmers later pick up on and use!

In this first picture, a horse walks up a treadmill which powers an ice cream maker!

Zach looks small next to this oxen. They're both hard workers, though.

Recipe of the week…

This week, some sweet corn tips:

The most popular way to cook fresh sweet corn on the cob is boiling it.  Some people like to start with a large pot of cold water, add the corn and bring to a boil. When the water comes to a rapid boil, the corn is done.

We start by boiling the water first and then add the corn and cook for about 5-10 minutes, until the kernals are bright.

Don’t add salt to the water. It the corn when it cooks.

Don’t cool off hot corn by running under cold water. It will make the corn soggy.

Don’t overcook or the kernels will get hard and the corn will loose some of its sweet flavor.

History

There are more than 200 varieties of sweet corn!  Newer breeds are sweeter and sweeter every year.  While field corn (for animals and cooking/baking) has been around for centuries, sweet corn for fresh eating is relatively new, dating back to the 1600s.  It is said to have been cultivated by Iroquois Indians.

*Full Share only

Salad mix

Sweet onions More of the fresh “Superstars”

Kale This week’s kale is Winterbor, or “Curly” kale.  It’s the hardiest kale we know of–grows in the heat of summer and can be harvested in the dead of winter.

Potatoes

Fresh garlic

Red “express” cabbage One of the most beautiful vegetables we grow.  Slice it in half and admire the layers.  Make good slaw.

Carrots! We are so surprised at this variety–”Hercules.”  Carrots are supposedly hard/impossible to grow in clay like we have, but these tough guys did great.  These have a crisp, carrot-y flavor.

Tomatoes

Flowering lemon basil This basil is aromatic and potent.  A great way to spice up many dishes.  Or use with cut flowers in a vase.

Flowers As a mid-summer “bonus,” we are including some fresh cut flowers–zinnias and/or strawflowers.  We planted these close to tomatoes and peppers to encourage the bees to pollinate those crops.

Down on the Farm

It’s hot!  This has slowed down our cool-season salad crops and sped our heat loving tomatoes, sweet potatoes, and cucumbers.  We are also irrigating regularly using our “drip tape,” which supply a small amount of water right at the roots of our crops, where it’s needed most.  This saves water and is good for the crops.

A view some of the crops we harvested today.

Recipe of the Week

SKILLET HAM, POTATOES, AND CABBAGE

Ingredients

1. 2 tablespoons butter
2. 1 onion, chopped
3. 1 small head cabbage, coarsely chopped
4. 1/4 cup water
5. 3 large potatoes, scrubbed and sliced
6. 1 dash seasoning salt
7. 1 dash paprika
8. 2 cups cubed cooked ham

Directions

1. In a large skillet over medium heat, saute onions in the butter. When tender add cabbage and stir. Pour water over, cover and simmer gently on medium low for ten minutes.
2. Add potatoes and mix. Cover again and allow to simmer for ten more minutes. Additional water may be needed. Sprinkle seasoning salt and paprika over cabbage and potatoes. Allow to simmer covered for an additional 5 to 10 minutes until cabbage is soft and potatoes are nearly cooked. Mix ham in and finish cooking until ham is hot and potatoes are done.

*Full Share only

Salad mix

Sweet onion These are a variety called “Superstar”

New potatoes

*Beets

Garlic Fresh garlic!  We love this stuff.  It’s got better flavor and texture than cured garlic.  We planted this last September–it’s the first CSA 2010 item that we planted.

Cucumbers Cucumber salad is a staple at our house this time of year.  It is the perfect complement to curry.

Zucchini

Tomatoes We try to give you a mix of ready-to-eat red tomatoes and some that will need a couple days to ripen.

Beans There are lot of uses for green beans.  (See the curry recipe below.)  For a quick dish, simply boil in water with some diced Superstar onions.

A word about the fruits….

Peach season is just starting in our area, so this week we provide you with a sample of what’s to come.  Cherry season ended early this year because of the very hot weather, so today’s tart cherries could be the last cherries.  They were picked today!  Blueberries are loving the heat and rain!

Down on the Farm

Ben, Sam, and Zach bring in the garlic harvest. We harvested more than 1000 garlic bulbs today and yesterday!

Recipe of the Week

This week we offer a cherry cobbler recipe for the fruit share customers and a curry recipe for the vegetable customers….

Cherry Cobbler

1 (16 oz.) can cherries, packed in water
1/2 c. sugar
1 tbsp. cornstarch
2 tsp. butter
1 tsp. lemon juice
3 drops food coloring
1 recipe cobbler topping

Drain cherries, reserving 3/4 cup juice. Mix together sugar, cornstarch, and juice. Bring to a boil and boil 1 minute over medium heat. Stir in butter, lemon juice and food coloring. Remove from heat and add cherries. Pour into a 10 x 6 x 1 3/4 inch baking dish. Top with cobbler topping. Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes.

Cobbler topping:

1 c. unbleached flour

1 tbsp. sugar

2 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 c. oil
1/3 c. skim milk

Curry Vegetables

*full share only

Salad mix

Bunching onions

Candy onions These are sweet onions, and juicy!  Best onion for a July 4 burger.

*Curly kale This is nice if you saute with onions, then top with balsamic vinaigrette and sesame seeds.

New potatoes A great 4th of the July tradition–potato salad.  These are the first potatoes.  ”New” means they have soft skins that you can eat.

*Cabbage Great for cole slaws

Zucchini

Tomatoes

Down on the Farm

Craig Hartenburger, a friend of ours visiting from Missouri, is helping us out by building a wood kiln/pizza oven. We can already taste the fresh vegetable pizzas!

Recipe of the Week

4th of July Potato Salad

Cooked new potatoes (see below for cooking instructions)
6 hard-boiled eggs, diced
3/4 cup finely chopped celery
1 medium sweet onion, minced
1 large dill pickle, diced (claussen)
1/2 teaspoon celery seed
2 tablespoons dill pickle juice
1/4 teaspoon dry mustard
1 tablespoon chopped pimento
yellow mustard
1 cup mayonnaise
paprika
salt and pepper

In a medium size bowl, mix 1 cup mayonnaise with enough yellow mustard to make it a soft yellow, add pickle juice, dry mustard, celery seed, potatoes, eggs, celery, onion, diced pickle and chopped pimento, combine all, salt and pepper to taste.

Cooking Potatoes: To use fresh potatoes for this recipe, boil 5 large potatoes in 2 quarts of water with 1/2 tablespoon salt. When fork tender, cool remove skins when cool enough to handle. Alternately, scrub red or new potatoes well and leave skin on. Cut into 1 inch cubes. Proceed as above with remaining recipe.