August 3rd – wk #8 2021 – Ever Green Farm CSA

Link to main directory : Vegetable Directory or click on the listed veggies above

For more information about your weekly veggies, you can find storage and usage tips on the Vegetable Directory. This can be found from the menu on the website or the link above. We also have Pinterest boards for all veggies.

Quick Tips & Recipe ideas: The field tomatoes are ripening! Tomato: Your tomatoes will sometimes go home not fully ripe. They will continue to ripen on the counter. Tomatoes ripen from the inside out. Please do not refrigerate unless absolutely necessary. If you must, please allow to adjust to room temp before eating. Refrigeration will effect the flavor and is not recommended. You will find 2 quarts with tomatoes this week: 1 from the hoophouse and 1 of field tomatoes. Varieties in the hoophouse we are growing: Carbon, Rose, Rose de Berne, Black Krim, Nepal, and Valencia. Heirlooms tend to have a more complex flavor than standard tomatoes and are more delicate to transport. Varieties in the field this week are: Tasti Lee (red), Marmalade (yellow/orange), Damsel (pink/red). The field tomatoes are not as pristine looking and have had to deal with all types of weather. The skin is a bit thicker but they are still delicious! Use your judgement on ripeness – will be tender to the touch. Over ripe tomatoes are tricky to slice but go great in the pan cooked with other veggies like squash, pepper, eggplant and basil. Tomatoes are great on sandwiches, in salads, roasted, and even chopped and tossed into a sauté or curry. Onions: today’s onions are not cured for storage; please use promptly, they can be stored on the counter. Parsley: chopped into salads, eggs, salsa; store cut side down in a glass of water in the fridge or counter and a baggie over the top to help maintain moisture; can also be frozen-clean, dry and place in freezer baggie, squeeze out air, pull of leaves as desired, will not be crisp after frozen Cucumber: raw in salads, quick refrigerator pickles, tomato & cucumber salad -so refreshing on a hot day; individually wrapped in a paper towel and then placed in a bag will help with storage; even better – eat them in wedges with salt an pepper or quick pickle ’em Scallions: thinly slice and freeze in a baggie, no blanching, super easy and you can grab a handful to add to mashed potato, frittatas, omelets, nachos or any other dish. Summer Squash: great on the grill; cubed or sliced or chunks in a quick sauté with thinly sliced basil at the end of cooking, quick pickle, shredded, baked goods, cut in 1/2 and oven baked with variety of fillings (ex. taco boats) Eggplant: very versatile vegetable; diced small or sliced on a mandolin; will absorb whatever flavors you would like to use; we like to add ours to stir-fry, curries, marinated and grilled, roasted; ratatouille, baba ghanoush, eggplant meatballs – see the directory for more ideas Basil: great addition sliced thin to a sauté, on pizza, with tomato, even in a jar of quick pickles; will turn black in cold temp; can be frozen if chopped and coated in oil or butter-freeze in cubes; Peppers: jalapeno and bell can be sliced or chopped and frozen -no blanching; jalapeno-salsa, quick pickles, add some heat to your curry, stir-fry, or sauté. Kale: raw or cooked, salads, pesto, stir-fry, curry, Greens and Beans is a staple here, we eat the stems too-just cook first until tender then add the chopped leaves. Garlic: has been drying to cure in the barn, add to salsa, everything you are cooking, roasted, added to quick pickles.

FARM UPDATE: There have been some serious storms pass through our area the past few weeks. So far, we have avoided any catastrophes. We have had a little bit of wash out but the soil is holding up great so far with no serious flooding and draining fairly quickly. There are a few spot here and there that have been a bit waterlogged but the plants are managing. We have seen a great presence of beneficial insects this season. Some of our favorites are: ladybugs, assassin bugs, soldier beetles, and praying mantis. With these natural predator insects, we can keep the nasty pests in check. We do not use any pesticides on our farm even approved botanicals. Most of these products are not pest specific and may harm our beneficial friends. (who wants to eat pesticides on their veggies anyway)

FARM EVENT:  More details to follow in the update next week!!
Potato Harvest - save the date!
Saturday, August 21st
10 am - 1 pm

Some of you have asked — and Yes! We do still have room in the CSA. If you have a friend or co-worker that would like to join. Send them to our website and have them complete a membership form.

Thank you for supporting our small farm!

Angus, Joseph, Marcus, Pearl, Joely, & Joe

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to ask. Feel free to email or text.

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