Week 12

Hello CSA members! It seems every day of late we look at each other once a day and say, "Can you believe this weather?!" Unseasonable cool and mild. We'll take it. We got a half inch of rain Monday. This is perfect for us seeing as how we sowed a cover crop of sudan grass last week. It was a much needed rain (and we got to take a much needed nap!), and now we can get in and till to get everything ready for this fall. We have started kale, collards, cauliflower, lettuce mix, and carrots so far. Sometime in early August (if there is a cool spell) we will sow radishes and turnips in hopes to have them sometime in Sept. We hope to have some cool season items in your last boxes so that everyone gets a sense of the cycles we go through with crops.
Another crop we have that is almost ready for you all is edamame (the Japanese word for soybeans). They are a delicious and nutritious snack or appetizer and are very easy to cook. We are hoping to have them next week, but they may come in for box 14 seeing how cool it looks to be this week.
IMPORTANT REMINDER: We would like to again apologize to our Falconbridge members who did not receive their flowers due to an oversight on our part. This week their will be a bucket of oriental lily bouquets that will be labeled EXTRA FLOWER BOUQUETS for the members who didn't get them last week. Please take one of these in addition to the other bouquets made up for you all. Thanks for your understanding and patience!

In your boxes this week
half shares
2 lbs heirloom tomatoes
eggplant
2 green peppers (all taste like green bell)
cherry tomatoes
salad mix

full shares
extra heirloom tomatoes
extra eggplant
basil
Recipes
Seeing as this is peak tomato season right now, we think a couple tomato recipes are appropriate here. We just got the new Gourmet in the mail, and there are some great recipes in it; we hope they look enticing to you all as well. This soup looks really good; we plan on making it this weekend.
Roasted Tomato Soup with Parmesan Wafers (from Gourmet, August 2009)
Garlic Tomato Sauce (also from Gourmet, August 2009) If you have any garlic around from the former boxes, this recipe calls for two whole heads! I think putting the green peppers in (maybe just one of them) would make it even more delicious.

For the more adventurous, also from the new Gourmet......Vodka Spiked Cherry Tomatoes with Pepper and Salt
remember that you have two pints of cherries, so you won't need as much vodka.
Simple Sauteed Eggplant We hope you all have tried and enjoyed the eggplant by now. These small eggplant you're getting in the boxes are very easy to cook. We don't bother with peeling or salting them as they are small and non-bitter. That is why we grow these small varieties--to make things easier on the cooks in the kitchen.
Cut eggplant into rounds or thin slices going from stem to end (remove stems of course)
Heat 2 tbsp olive oil over medium high heat in a saute pan
(you could add optional garlic, 2-3 cloves, and we usually add 1 tbsp of butter to add some depth of flavor as well)
Add eggplant, sprinkle with around 1 tsp salt
Saute until eggplant has softened (around 10 minutes)
Eat and enjoy!

FLOWER SHARES
This week you will receive celosia bouquets. This is a heat loving flower whose word origin comes from the Greek word 'kelos' which means something along the lines of 'burning' or 'to burn'. A lot of people call it the brain flower as it looks like a brain when it gets big; it also can look like coral. We may mix it with some other flowers in an arranged bouquet. We hope you enjoy it!



Thanks everyone, and if you have any questions or comments, please let us know. Have a great week!!!