CSA Week 11, 2024

CSA Week 11

This week you MAY have peppers, some kind of summer squash, caraflex cabbage (affectionately called coneheads), peaches, TOMATOES!!!! and some other stuff that seems to be a moving target this week…so be sure to message or email if you have questions or do not know what you have. There may be scallions, “mustard spinach”, broccoli…and I heard there may be BLACKBERRIES, courtesy of Still Life Farm! I will try to get a few pics of mustard in here before this gets published, so you know what you have. Based on the size I saw from the road, any of them would be wonderful quickly braised and served up near some protein. I really like mustards with pork or rice…or raw in salad

Get your order in now for bulk tomatoes, it’s time, don’t wait. Order by the 22/25 lb box ($40) for pick up at the farm or one of our market locations. Also it is bulk peach time! 20lb box for $50! It is really hard to organize bulk items for CSA pick up locations where we are not there-so if you want maters, please consider a trip to the farm or an area market – thanks! 

Tomato season is finally under way and it is such a joy to have a fat slice on a sandwich or just by itself. Caprese anyone?

Corn and Tomato Salad

• Corn kernels from 4 ears of corn
• 1+ lbs tomatoes, dices
• 1 cucumber diced (if you have it, this works without too)
• basil
• lime juice
• S & P

Toss all the ingredients together and enjoy this simple refreshing salad anytime.

Make anything with Caprese in the title this week
Salsa?
Refrigerator pickles

Summer Pasta

Tomato Pie

Enjoying our tomatoes in sandwiches, on burgers, BLT, etc this week

YES! You are still welcome to come to the farm – the New Braintree farm I have yet to update the map for this year…but it will happen. The good news is the raspberries, apples and blueberries don’t move around much Please feel free to park wisely in the barnyard or houseyard, or on street where/when safe. it is also advised to let someone know you are here so you don’t get kicked out Also: wear sensible shoes, pack snacks, pick snacks, avoid the temptation to step over the rows and accidentally damage our/your plants. Also resist the temptation to walk through any vining crops like melons and squashes. It takes more skill than you might think to tiptoe through without stepping on the vines – once crushed, there’s no fixing that once the damage is done. Having said all that, it is a great experience to roam the farm and harvest some extras for yourself…and it is one of the best perks having a CSA with us. There will be an official invite later in the season, MUCH LATER, when it is gleaning time (before the killing frost, likely after CSA is over). This date is typically late October, and we always hope it is at the very end of October or even November.

I gotta can tomatoes this week!

This is the time of year I reflect upon the wisdom of a dear friend. Stephanie, who lives just down the hill from us, will be 100 this year!!! She served in the Marines during WW II, met her husband of New Braintree while he also served. I cannot begin to tell her story, and if there was a woman or young woman looking for a pinnacle of strength to emulate, she’s it. When “putting by” season is upon me, I ALWAYS think of a couple stories that she shared with me about her mother-in-law. I will share one here that all my long-timers will recognize: Oh to complain about providing for the family! Think how easy we have it now with our food processors, electric or gas stoves, and freezers. (Even I was outside with my boiler on the sidecar of the grill processing dilly beans) Every year I think of our dear friend Stephanie and a story she told me about her Mother-in-law: It seems her Father-in-Law returned from market with 10 baskets of peaches (oh how I miss peaches) that were dead ripe…meaning the next day they would be spoiling. It was late in the day, but after supper, Mother started in on them. Stephanie, being large with child, went off to bed. In the morning, she woke to find all the peaches had been put up…it must have taken all night, and that was with a wood cookstove in August! I figure it would have been 150-200 quarts. Stephanie later told me she counted 2500 quart jars (of everything that had been put by) in the cellar that year. Plus I know there were crocks of meat and kraut. A tremendous achievement for anyone keeping the house and pantries stocked! What work ethic!

Normally, I would have begin filling the freezers and shelves with the winter supply of food – I HAVE NOT DONE A THING! No pickles, no  fermenting, no corn…What the heck man? Hoping to get the process underway this coming week and get lots done. Salsa is paramount and majorly time consuming. All the things I blanch and freeze are much faster and nothing is better than having stacks of snap beans, corn, baked eggplant rings, corn, prettily waiting for me when I “go shopping” in the cellar for supper. Now that there is a new batch of squashes, I will try to get my own stash of chocolate zucchini cake and other breads put by.

Also like clockwork, just when you think it is still high summer and can’t possibly be back-to-school time, the weather changes and you can smell Fall, apples, milkweed, second and third hay cutting……..

I did survive the drive to VA with Faith. The AC was not working, we were stuck in traffic on the Garden State Parkway, 95 degrees, windows down, listening to Dante’s Inferno, I figured we had arrived at some circle of Hell Dante had not conceived of. When I have a lot of time on my hands, I will come up with my own NJ highway memes, meanwhile:

     

I digress, now that I am back at the farm, it’s time to get going with Fall activities and the Fall schedule. We have arrived at week 11 for the regular CSA (except Thursday peeps who are on week 10), week 7 for Fruit CSA and week 6 or 7 for Tomato CSA. I really do not know where the summer went, but, it is still Summer for another month – so let’s enjoy it! And preserve it if you can :)!

Wildlife: The Barn Swallows are gathering to leave, right on time. Next is the Night Hawk migration. The Goldfinches, who nest late, are feeding their nestlings and the Red Tail family is out and about with at least one young’un at a time- I actually do not know how many chicks they had. Other years we have seen the parents bring out the young for flying lessons and you will see the adults flying with usually 2 or 3 young. It’s pretty cool. Oh, the Great Horned Owls have been very vocal, only to be competed with by the coyote families! It is a little bit of a ruckus out here at night once you add in the insects, amphibians, and other fauna not mentioned

Eat well,

Geneviève Stillman