Heirloom Harvest

Finding good help

Farmhand Trish Stefanko was visited by her son Travis (center, with backpack) recently for a day of harvesting and tomato tying at the farm. Travis graduated from boot camp last winter and is now a soldier with the 101st Airborne. He was home on leave from where he is currently stationed in Kentucky. Travis will ship out for his first tour of duty in Iraq this September.

Also pictured, Trish's nephew, Ian Foertsch, who is a farmhand this summer. Ian will be starting college at Sterling College in northeastern Vermont this fall. Sterling has a large organic farm on campus, complete with solar and wind-powered barns.

Tomatillo Chili

1 ½ TB canola oil
1 med onion chopped
2 garlic cloves – chopped
1 jalapeno (optional)
1 ¼ lbs tomatilloes- coarsely chopped
10 oz spinach –chopped
30 oz can white beans- rinsed and drained
1 cup vegetable broth
1 cup cilantro leaves- whole to measure, then chopped
Heat oil in dutch oven. 4 mins 1st 3 ingredients. Add everything else. Simmer until soft- 10- 15 mins. Add salt and pepper.

Variations – You can add cooked diced chicken. You can also substitute the spinach with a green provided that week, such as tatsoi.

(via the Matthews family)   

Another pesto recipe

From The Sustainable Harvest Cookbook
By Elizabeth Henderson and David Stern

2 cups fresh basil leaves, rinsed and relatively dry
4 garlic cloves, peeled and slightly mashed
1/4 to 1/3 cup pine nuts (or omit or substitute walnuts)
1/2 cup olive oil
Pinch of salt (to taste, allowing for saltiness of cheese)
1/3 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup freshly grated pecorino Romano cheese

Combine basil leaves, garlic and pine nuts, pinch salt and oil in food processor, and chop for 60 seconds to make a smooth paste. Stop every 20 seconds to scrape the mixture away from the sides of the bowl.

Add the cheeses and chop for 10 seconds longer. Pack into small straight-sided dish for keeping or stir into hot pasta, or perhaps even better, spread over slightly broken, steamy, freshly boiled red-skinned or gold potatoes.

Cookbooks available at Westborough pickup (and a bonus pesto recipe)

"From Asparagus to Zucchini: A Guide to Farm Fresh Seasonal Produce" should be available for sale Sunday at the Westborough pickup site. Here's a sample:

Pesto #1

3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 garlic clove
1 tablespoon pine nuts or walnut pieces
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
4 cups fresh basil leaves

Place all ingredients except basil leaves in a blender or food processor. Blend until smooth, then add basil, a handful at a time, blending until all the basil is incorporated and pesto is somewhat smooth. Makes about 1 cup.

[Editor's note: I used Marcella Hazan's recipe on Monday, which is very similar, with maybe twice the pine nuts. She also calls for some butter, and notes sternly that Romano should be included, which is fine if you have some, but I feel that in the kitchen, the perfect is the enemy of the good. She also suggests the cheese be folded in. I smear the results in an ice tray and then crack out a cube as I need it, about one cube per 6 ounces uncooked pasta.] 

Apple shares now on sale

This year we will again be offering our apple share program. The apples are provided by Autumn Hills Orchard in Groton, and delivered each week to the farmsite where members will be able to pick up their apples. Crystal Spring apple shares will be delivered with the regular CSA shares. Autumn Hills Orchard is not organic, but uses Integrated Pest Management techniques to ensure as little spraying and use of pesticides as possible.

The apple share program will run for nine weeks, beginning around the third week of August, and continuing until the end of the CSA season. Each week, shareholders will receive a half-peck bag of apples. Some varieties will be modern, some heirloom. Occassionally, other fruit is place in the bags, such as peaches or grapes.

The cost of the program is $62. Please pay be check made out to Heirloom Harvest, and I will forward the fee to the apple farmer. Be sure to add a notation on the check that it is for an apple share.
Crystal Spring members should send a check in the mail to:

Heirloom Harvest
P.O. 1031, Westborough, MA 01581

Shareholders who pickup at the farm site can send it to the same address, or give your check to the distribution coordinator.

Beans, Hill Of, Picking (and Eating)

Via member Jen Flaxman (thanks for the recipe! keep them coming!):

Following last Thursday's bounty of green beans and expecting a crowd of visitors over the weekend, I located this recipe, for Green bean Salad With Cilantro and Soy-Glazed Almonds that I thought other CSA members would enjoy. I discovered it on Epicurious.com and it was enjoyed by young and old alike.

I'll see you in the fields! (Editor's note: Below, pictured, are families in precisely those fields.)

The Flavor of Things To Come

Coming in the next few pickups will probably be some or all of the following: orange and red cherry tomatoes (don’t wait for the orange ones to turn red to pick them! They’re sweet now and won’t ever turn real red); eggplants, full-sized tomatoes, peppers and some fennel – bulbs and leaves.
Watch this spot for fennel recipes and others, and never hesitate to send your own recipes to the blog for featuring. This is particularly true in the case of unfamiliar veggies like tomatillos (which look like green tomatoes with husks), fennel and the like.
Also, in the next few weeks, we should see small watermelons. These watermelons are called “blacktail mountain,” and they’re about 10 pounds, small enough to squeeze in a fridge. They were bred to grow in North Idaho, where growing season days are at a premium.