This Week's Share: Potatoes, Radishes, and Turnips (Plus Tomato Tasting Pics)

Hey hey, it's Wednesday!

This week's lead photo comes from Karen, who attended the tomato tasting and kindly emailed a bunch of photos. We've published them all in a Facebook album -- check them out! If you're a tomato fan and want to dig deeper into the results of the taste test, Carrie has provided a spreadsheet of all the results:  Download Tomato taste test results 2013. 

 

Save the Date:

Fall Festival at the Farm -- Saturday, October 19! More details coming. During the pick-up (roughly from 2-4 pm) we'll have hayrides, music and an all-ages scavenger hunt. After the pick-up, farm staff will be hanging out and having a little potluck around 5P. Members can bring food and join! More on that as the date approaches. 

 

What's in this week's share: 

• 3 3/4 pound total combination bok choy + hakurei turnips + Easter Egg radishes + watermelon radishes + potatoes.The hakurei turnips are especially good right now -- big, crunchy and sweet. If you're not a turnip fan, give these a try. They may just change your mind. 

• 1 1/2 pound tomatoes + eggplant + okra + chiles +garlic. 

• 3/4 pound greens (kale, arugula, spicy mix, ruby streaks and mizuna) + peppers + lemongrass

 

What's on U-Pick: 

• new: Greens, including arugula, Ruby streaks and Mizuna
• new: Daikon radish
• Tomatoes! Still on u-pick, still dwindling. Still lots of small tomatoes. 
• Peppers. There are lots of ripe and unripe peppers. Be warned: the field is a far walk or you need a high clearance vehicle. 
• Basil
• Herbs: parsley, sorrel, mint, lemon balm, sage, onion chives, garlic chives, lavender (no flowers), marjoram, stevia, thyme, Thai basil, anise hissop, cilantro, coriander, dill leaf, Mexican sour cucumbers.  
• Husk cherries (also called ground cherries). Pick them when the husk is yellow or brown.  The fruit inside should be yellow and sweet.
• Flowers (Gladiolas, zinnias and more) - sunflowers are beginning to bloom. 
• Tomatillos.  Pick them when the fruit fills out the husk.  The fruit inside should be green and taste like a tart, unripe tomato. 
• Chile peppers (we have ancho poblano, black Hungarian jalapeno, Hungarian Hot Wax, Big Jim Anaheim, Joe's Long Cayenne, Chinese Five Color, Maya Red habanero). This week, we have the most poblano, and the least habanero. 
• Cooking celery

 

Questions? Comments? Let us know here on the blog! 

 Have a good week, everyone!

This Week's Share: Radishes, Turnips and Winter Squash Ideas

Thanks to Karen for this shot of the gardens on the night of the recent tomato tasting. More photos from that coming soon!

Happy Tuesday. Let's get to it! 

What's in this week's share: 

• 6 pounds total combination potatoes + radishes + turnips + winter squash (recipe idea below)

• 3 pounds total combination tomatoes  + eggplant + peppers

• 3/4 pound total combination greens (arugula, spicy mix, ruby streaks and mizuna) + hot chile peppers + tomatillos + okra

• 1 head garlic 

 

A preview of next week:

• More potatoes, radishes and turnips
• No winter squash  
• Very few tomatoes, eggplants and peppers
• Maybe bok choy next week

 

What's on U-Pick: 

• Tomatoes! Still on u-pick, though they're dwindling
• Peppers. There are lots of ripe and unripe peppers. Be warned: the field is a far walk or you need a high clearance vehicle. 
• Basil
• Herbs: parsley, sorrel, mint, lemon balm, sage, onion chives, garlic chives, lavender (no flowers), marjoram, stevia, thyme, Thai basil, anise hissop, cilantro, coriander, dill leaf, Mexican sour cucumbers.  
• Husk cherries (also called ground cherries). Pick them when the husk is yellow or brown.  The fruit inside should be yellow and sweet.
• Flowers (Gladiolas, zinnias and more) - sunflowers are beginning to bloom. 
• Swiss chard
• Tomatillos.  Pick them when the fruit fills out the husk.  The fruit inside should be green and taste like a tart, unripe tomato. 
• Chile peppers (we have ancho poblano, black Hungarian jalapeno, Hungarian Hot Wax, Big Jim Anaheim, Joe's Long Cayenne, Chinese Five Color, Maya Red habanero). This week, we have the most poblano, and the least habanero. 
• New: Cooking celery

 

Acorn Squash Ideas!

Eileen submitted a recipe for her favorite recipe for Roasted Acorn Squash Soup. Download the recipe for Roasted Acorn Squash soup! 

Have a recipe or photo to share? Email it to us! 

 

Questions? Comments? Let us know here on the blog! 

 Have a good week, everyone!

 

This Week's Share Plus an Update on Monday's Tomato Tasting

Fred snapped this great photo of Genevieve at last week's farm pick-up (thanks Fred!). Submit your own photos when you snap them and we'll feature them here!

Monday's Tomato Tasting Results! 

We had a beautiful dinner and tomato tasting at the farm on Monday. It was a full event and a beautiful night. If you attended and snapped some photos, please share them! We'd love to put them up on the blog. 

We thought you might like to hear the results of the tomato tasting. In all, we had 21 varieties of raw tomatoes to taste. Here are the results! 

• First place: Sungold
• 2nd: Black cherry
• 3rd: Juliets (a little variety of Roma)

All three of these are small varieties and not in the share, but all are in the u-pick fields - come pick them!

In last place: Ethiopian Black  tomatoes.  (These are also in the u-pick field. Don't give up on them yet -- keep reading!)

In the sauce tasting: 

• First place: Ethiopian Black tomatoes (the least popular raw, but the most popular in sauce!)
• Second place: A mix of Sungold, Black cherry and Juliets
• Third place: Sunkist
• Fourth place: Roma 

We also tasted six varieties of peppers, both unripe and ripe. Oranos won for both ripe and unripe! Least popular ripe was Jupiter. Least popular unripe was Lipstick. 

All this tasting was followed by a great dinner, wine and dessert. A beautiful night and one we hope to repeat next year! 

 

New Items For Sale at the Pickup! 

As we announced last week, we have new items for sale at the pick-up locations. There's Garlic  for $5 a pound and Honey ($10 per one pound jar).  

 

What's in this week's share: 

• 2 3/4 pounds combination peppers + acorn squash

• 7 pounds total combination potatoes + tomatoes

• 1 pound total combination eggplant + radishes + okra + chiles + garlic

• 1/2 pound greens (options are arugula, spicy mix, ruby streaks, mizuna, Siberian kale, Red Russian kale)

 

What's on U-Pick: 

• Tomatoes! All the tomatoes fair game all week. 
• New: Peppers. There are lots of ripe and unripe peppers. Be warned: the field is a far walk or you need a high clearance vehicle. 
• New: Okra. If you come to pick it, check in with the farm staff to find out where they've most recently picked. 
• Basil
• Updated: Herbs: parsley, sorrel, mint, lemon balm, sage, onion chives, garlic chives, lavender (no flowers), marjoram, stevia, thyme, Thai basil, anise hissop, cilantro, coriander, dill leaf, Mexican sour cucumbers.  
• Husk cherries (also called ground cherries). Pick them when the husk is yellow or brown.  The fruit inside should be yellow and sweet.
• Flowers (Gladiolas, zinnias and more) - sunflowers are beginning to bloom. 
• Swiss chard
• Tomatillos.  Pick them when the fruit fills out the husk.  The fruit inside should be green and taste like a tart, unripe tomato. 
• Chile peppers (we have ancho poblano, black Hungarian jalapeno, Hungarian Hot Wax, Big Jim Anaheim, Joe's Long Cayenne, Chinese Five Color, Maya Red habanero). This week, we have the most poblano, and the least habanero. 

Questions? Comments? Let us know here on the blog! 

 Have a good week, everyone!

This Week's Share: Winter Squash Enter the Share

Fred shared this photo of a recent pick-up at the wash station -- thanks Fred!  Submit your own photos when you snap them and we'll feature them here!

 

Come to dinner on Monday! Before we get to this week's share info, we wanted to let you know that tickets are still available to the farm dinner hosted by Clagett next Monday night, September 9. All the details are available on the blog. There are a limited number of seats available - we hope you can make it!

New Items For Sale at the Pickup: Starting this week, we have new items for sale at the pick-up locations. There's Garlic  for $5 a pound and Honey ($10 per one pound jar).  

And now, here's this week's share info. 

What's in the share: 

• 4 pounds of winter squash (acorn, butternut, spaghetti squash, golden nugget [it's described as pink/orange, small, and developed as a replacement for sweet potatoes in the north), and a small selection of edible pumpkins)

• 3 1/2 pounds potatoes

• 1 head of garlic

• 1 pound combination eggplant + okra

• 6 pounds tomatoes + peppers

 

Tips of the week:

• Winter squash will keep for a long time if left unrefrigerated and kept in a cool dark place.

• If you find yourself with too many peppers, they freeze really well. Just chop them up nto whatever size you most frequently cut with, and freeze them in resealable freezer bags.   

 

What's on U-Pick: 

• Tomatoes! All the tomatoes fair game all week. 
• New: Peppers. There are lots of ripe and unripe peppers. Be warned: the field is a far walk or you need a high clearance vehicle. 
• New: Okra. If you come to pick it, check in with the farm staff to find out where they've most recently picked. 
• Basil
• Updated: Herbs: parsley, sorrel, mint, lemon balm, sage, onion chives, garlic chives, lavender (no flowers), marjoram, stevia, thyme, Thai basil, anise hissop, cilantro, coriander, dill leaf, Mexican sour cucumbers.  
• Husk cherries (also called ground cherries). Pick them when the husk is yellow or brown.  The fruit inside should be yellow and sweet.
• Flowers (Gladiolas, zinnias and more) - sunflowers are beginning to bloom. 
• Swiss chard
• Tomatillos.  Pick them when the fruit fills out the husk.  The fruit inside should be green and taste like a tart, unripe tomato. 
• Chile peppers (we have ancho poblano, black Hungarian jalapeno, Hungarian Hot Wax, Big Jim Anaheim, Joe's Long Cayenne, Chinese Five Color, Maya Red habanero). This week, we have the most poblano, and the least habanero. 
• Updated: Beans are still on the list. Two caveats: they've gotten a bit tough and they are a far walk at the back of the farm. 

Questions? Comments? Let us know here on the blog! 

 Have a good week, everyone!