Summary: Once you have fresh edamame you will feel bad for the beans they serve you in restaurants

Bell peppers -  the mini-apple pepper red variety and standard green [...]]]>

Don’t worry – you still have tomatoes but enjoy them while you can heading into September things can change really fast now!  Your share includes cherry tomatoes and a variety of tomatoes called Celebrity.  They store well and are good for slicing and preserving.

Bell peppers -  the mini-apple pepper red variety and standard green peppers  If you need a break from peppers, be sure to freeze a few whole for making stuffed peppers this winter.

Just a little bit more purple – we have included both more Black Beauty (the standard eggplant) and a few more smaller Fairytale eggplants.

A mix of green and purple beans – The green beans are the Kentucky Blue beans and the purple are the same as a few weeks ago.  We picked both varieties when small and tender this week.

Swiss chard – Many of you commented on how much you liked the swiss chard earlier this summer and now here’s more!  Again, don’t let it go to waste so if you can’t make it this week, blanch it and freeze it.  It will be a while before you get fresh swiss chard again.

Cabbage – Another head of cabbage is in each box.  These cabbage heads are slightly smaller but are the perfect size to make some cole slaw or our marinated slaw recipe for picnics this Labor Day weekend.

And finally, a new addition to your share are these hairy little beans called edamame.  Have you had edamame before?  It’s a Japanese delicacy - really just a special variety of soy bean!  It’s something available at sushi, or hibachi resaturants and it is great and easy to make!  Definitely don’t let this go to waste as these fresh ones are much more tender and sweeter than the frozen ones that make their way to restaurants. Check out our featured recipe this week to learn the best ways to prepare your edamame – all you need is 5 minutes boiling water and some salt!

What can you do with your share this week?
-Be sure to prepare your edamame as soon as possible using our featured recipe.

-Go back and check out the recipes from previous weeks for your eggplant, tomatoes, beans, swiss chard and cabbage  – find what you haven’t made yet – or check out our Facebook page for inspired cooking by a bunch of our fans!

Just can’t eat anymore veggies…  well then, read below about preserving by canning or freezing:

The past two weeks on the farm have included a lot of canning and freezing – to let nothing go to waste and to avoid having to buy non-local food later in the year.  You’d be surprised how easy it is to preserve your food and how nice it is to pull out fresh vegetables to enjoy when it is cold and snowy outside.  And freezing, for example, locks in the nutrients until you enjoy your vegetables.  There are many green bell peppers now that you can freeze whole or in pieces so there’s no need to have peppers shipped in from Mexico over the next several months!  And think of how great your chili or soups will be with fresh, preserved vegetables – and you know exactly where they came from!

During the past week, we have frozen green beans, corn, baked eggplant, whole peppers, roasted red peppers, pesto, whole tomatoes and tomato sauce.  We’ve also canned salsa, stewed tomatoes, green beans, pasta sauce (San Marzano!), and pickles (and even pickled peppers)!

Here is a great website to get started. http://pickyourown.org/allaboutcanning.htm You will see separate info listed for canning and also freezing with specifics for each type of food – with pictures!  We use the information on this site as our guide for a lot of our own canning and freezing and it’s always worked out well.

Got some questions – hit us up in the comments section on this page or on Facebook if you’d like some advice or thoughts on the best ways we’ve found to freeze (individually quick frozen vs. immediately bagged) or can (pressure canning vs. hot water method), or if you have questions about getting into canning your food in genreal!  We can also recommend the products we use including the vacuum sealer and the pressure canner.

Actually – here’s EXACTLY what we use:

Presto Pressure Canner and the FoodSaver vacuum sealer – we have had both for years and they work AWESOME!

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More Tomatoes!  Two different varieties of cherry tomatoes, Celebrity, New Girl and Big Boy.  Also you’ll find another Brandywine (pinkish-red).   Also try the sauce, plum-type tomatoes known as San Marzano.  Don’t miss out making sauce with these sought-after tomatoes!  Or freeze them for later.

Bell peppers–  the mini-apple pepper red variety and standard green peppers

More purple- [...]]]>

More Tomatoes!  Two different varieties of cherry tomatoes, Celebrity, New Girl and Big Boy.  Also you’ll find another Brandywine (pinkish-red).   Also try the sauce, plum-type tomatoes known as San Marzano.  Don’t miss out making sauce with these sought-after tomatoes!  Or freeze them for later.

Bell peppers–  the mini-apple pepper red variety and standard green peppers

More purple- we have included both more Black Beauty (the standard eggplant) and a few more smaller Fairytale eggplants.

Another green bean variety – This is a pole bean version of the Kentucky Blue beans.  This seemed to be a little sweeter than the other Kentucky blues.

Greens- It’s been a while since you’ve had some greens, so here’s some kale (same variety you had several weeks ago).  It goes great in soups and stews and is packed with vitamins!

Hot Hot Hot!  A variety of Hot Peppers are in the green container..  See the picture below to identify: (from left to right) Poblano, anaheim, jalapeno, cherry bomb (VERY hot) and banana pepper.

What can you do with your share this week?
-Go back and check out the recipes from last week – find what you haven’t made yet!

-Read this week’s feature about preserving by canning or freezing.

-Get inspired with this great article -100 Ways to Use a Tomato There’s some unique ideas!

Here’s a great way to start your morning breakfast… some tainted eggs. The article on CNN – here – talks about the potential of a salmonella outbreak in the Wright County egg line. Now – that sounds quaint… like a small time egg producer in Wright County had an [...]]]>

Image via Wikipedia

Here’s a great way to start your morning breakfast… some tainted eggs. The article on CNN – here – talks about the potential of a salmonella outbreak in the Wright County egg line. Now – that sounds quaint… like a small time egg producer in Wright County had an issue with some naturally occurring bacteria…

From the article : “Wright County Egg packages shell egg products under the following brand names: Lucerne, Albertson, Mountain Dairy, Ralph’s, Boomsma’s, Sunshine, Hillandale, Trafficanda, Farm Fresh, Shoreland, Lund, Dutch Farms and Kemps. The brands are distributed nationwide. The recall affects eggs packed in several different sized cartons, from a half dozen to 18-eggs.

The Egg Safety Center says recalled eggs are in cartons with a three-digit code ranging from 136 to 225 and plant numbers P-1026, P-1413, and P-1946. The numbers are on one end of the egg carton.”

Three digit codes… plant numbers that sound like cool weapon upgrades from a video game… On eggs sold under names like “Farm Fresh” and “Sunshine”. yeah.

Well – this fall our layers start laying and we expect to have more than enough eggs for everyone to get their local fix starting this spring. If all goes well and there is a steady demand we will likely increase the flock size next year to ensure you don’t have to worry about factory P-1984, egg lot X-221, chicken serial number 43384953, egg number 1,009,298 being an issue in your kitchen. Local food that comes from people you can look in the eyes and see their farms may not offer the 365 day availability of every culinary desire. But what matters more to you; those grapes from Peru in the middle of winter or safe food raised in a manner you trust because you can see it with your own two eyes?

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Summary: Baked or fried – this is yummy!

Lot of tomatoes!  Two different varieties of cherry tomatoes, Taxi, Celebrity, and Big Boy.  Also 3 different heirloom varieties are in this weeks share (1 of each – Black Krim (dark bottoms and almost green tops), Striped German (orangish-yellow) and Brandywine (pinkish-red)).  These are the peak season heirlooms and may cause fighting in the [...]]]>

Lot of tomatoes!  Two different varieties of cherry tomatoes, Taxi, Celebrity, and Big Boy.  Also 3 different heirloom varieties are in this weeks share (1 of each – Black Krim (dark bottoms and almost green tops), Striped German (orangish-yellow) and Brandywine (pinkish-red)).  These are the peak season heirlooms and may cause fighting in the household if there are several tomato lovers.

There’s some very tasty red peppers, the mini-apple pepper variety like last week. As well as some green peppers too!

In the purple category we have included both Black Beauty (a standard eggplant) and the smaller Fairytale eggplants as well.

You will also find more color in the bean department this week.  There are 2 types – Green beans (Blue Lake variety) and Purple beans.  The purple guys are a long named Italian heirloom.  The taste is certainly different than the Blue Lake beans…  and both change when you cook them…  keep an eye on the purple guys!

So with all this color – what to do with your share:

Try our featured eggplant Parmesan recipe – especially great with the fairytale eggplants and you can make your own sauce with your tomatoes. It can all be frozen too!

Check out what Martha does with tomatoes to get some ideas http://www.marthastewart.com/photogallery/tomatoes?xsc=outbrain#slide_5

Here are several recipes we plan to try this week:
1.  Green Bean,Yellow Bean and Cherry Tomato Salad (using green and purple beans)
2.  Eggplant, Tomato and Goat Cheese Sandwiches
3.  Cheesy Eggplant Bake
4.  Eggplant Snack sticks

And here’s some others to consider as well that may or may not be all seasonal in nature:

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Tomatoes, tomatoes, tomatoes!  This week you will find a sea of red goodness including a container of cherry tomatoes; a container of large tomatoes as in other weeks, and also a heaping pile of [...]]]>

We “share” what’s in each weeks “share”…  and this week expect your fair share (worst phrase ever) of awesome mid-summer veg!

Tomatoes, tomatoes, tomatoes!  This week you will find a sea of red goodness including a container of cherry tomatoes; a container of large tomatoes as in other weeks, and also a heaping pile of sauce tomatoes. There are two types of sauce tomatoes in this weeks share Roma and San Marzano.  These sauce tomatoes have few seeds, lots of flesh without water and are great for making marinara or salsa!  The San Marzano are the king of the sauce tomato prized for their flavor and characteristic.  But don’t take my word for it… a picture is worth 1000 words in this case (courtesy of the purveyors of food you are supposed to feel good about).

In the green bean category these are a different variety from last week. These are Masai green beans – thin, tender and a flavorful variety.

More awesome zucchini and yellow squash.  Getting creative with your summer squash yet?  Check out our feature recipe for zucchini marinara using your tomatoes and zucchini or a CSA member’s ideas on our Facebook page.

Several assorted peppers.  We are starting to harvest the various colors of peppers.  If you dig around in the super full box you will have some green peppers, some red peppers (a variety known as apple peppers because of their size), and some kaleidoscope peppers (creamy-colored).

Purple baby aliens? Maybe.  Or just eggplant – we finally started harvesting eggplant!  You will find several varieties in your box- larger, “standard” eggplants called Black Beauty and smaller eggplants known as Fairytale Eggplants.  They are more mild than a typical large eggplant so even those who think they don’t like eggplants should give them a try!  Eggplants are really a misunderstood vegetable and if you haven’t liked them before you should really give fresh ones a try!

Finally there’s a cucumber and some basil in here too.

What can you do with this week’s share?

Try our featured recipe for Zucchini Marinara

Make shish-kabobs on skewers or just grill  mixed veggies with the zucchini, yellow squash, eggplant, peppers and cherry tomatoes.

Make stuffed peppers using your peppers and sauce tomatoes.  You can stuff peppers with cheese, orzo, couscous or meat.  Find a recipe online!

Our favorite way to enjoy these green beans is to blanch them in boiling water for 2 minutes and then add a pat of butter.  Simple and delicious.  They are also great cut up in salads.

Use your fairytale eggplant in an asian dish.  Many of the asian stir fry recipes call for this type of eggplant.

This midsummer share focuses on the FRESH tomato.  There are a few different cherry tomatoes varieties of the mixed together.  We showed you how to identify the different standard [...]]]>

As the summer marches on the gardens are producing with what seems like more vigor every day.  So far this has been a terrific season of delicious bounty!

This midsummer share focuses on the FRESH tomato.  There are a few different cherry tomatoes varieties of the mixed together.  We showed you how to identify the different standard sized tomatoes in last weeks post – (Big Boy and New Girl). There’s also a yellow tomato in here (Taxi).  Finally, there’s also an heirloom to share.  Now – don’t think you have a roten tomato and throw this one away – it’s called Black Krim – and it’s supposed to look this way.  This fellow is ripe and ready to go.  The reason you don’t seem them in the stores is because they don’t keep well.  You should enjoy yours ASAP!

Green beans are starting now and you have a bunch of Burpee Special Green Beans.  Great taste with a little sweetness.

Zucchini and Yellow Squash – the same varieties that have been around for a few weeks now.

In the cucumber aisle there’s the standard green burpless cucumber we have given before and another variety known as a lemon cucumber.  It gets its name from it’s shape, size and color not from a lemon taste.  Give it a go!

Romaine lettuce is the green leafy treat of the week.  Enjoy because the heat of the summer has all but ended the green leafy for a time.

The dried thing – that’s the bottom half of those awesome garlic scapes from earlier this season – the garlic clove (f you examine the stalk you can find the cut).  This is a stiff neck garlic which means the stalk is really hard.  You will see a soft neck in a week or so.  This particular variety is “George”.  We call it that because it’s from some bulbs my dad gave us a few years back…  we then didn’t cut the scapes and planted some of the pollinated cloves…  so what you have here is a true local cultivar of a stiff neck garlic!

There’s a spring of fresh oregano in there too!

So what to do with all this goodness?

Check out this weeks recipes – but if they don’t do it for you here’s a bunch of other ideas.

If you haven’t already, be sure to make zucchini bread.  We follow a standard zucchini bread recipe (Betty Crocker cookbook) but often put the batter in muffin tins to make zucchini bread muffins.  We also add fresh blueberries and walnuts to our zucchini muffins.  Both the muffins and whole loaves freeze very well so consider making some to freeze for later this fall or winter!

-Sliced Cucumbers in Vinegar – many recipes out there – like this one http://www.cooks.com/rec/view/0,1710,148163-244204,00.html Andy loves these!

-Green beans -so many options.  Try a new recipe and share it with us.  Or blanch them and freeze them.

-Fresh beans, and the lemon cucumber slices are great for dipping in your favorite homemade or storebought dip.  There’s no other time of year that you can enjoy such fresh veggie snacking!  Something as simple as mayo with ketchup or balsamic vinegar or wassabi paste…  all EXCELLENT!