What’s in Upic?……
Thyme Chives Basil
Parsley Cilantro Beans
All Flowers
A nip in the air and things start to perk up around here. Fall is arriving this week and the produce, animals and farmers are responding. You’ll find three new things in your share this week; watermelon, potatoes and shallots are ready for distribution. Both are good-looking crops with the melon nice and sweet (a lovely side effect of the hot dry August we had), the red potatoes creamy and smooth and the shallots big enough to choke Julia Child. In other timely events for the season, the pigs went to the butcher last evening and looked to be just the right size and very healthy (now we can focus on getting the barns cleaned out and manure spread on the fields to distribute our unexpected bumper crop, the flies). Thanks to all of you who ordered pork for the winter. The cold evenings and perfect days have added a new vigor to the farm crew as we move into the big harvest season. Pulling heavy crops like the rest of the potatoes, pumpkins and winter squash, and melons, all of which will total many tons, marks this time of year as we are reminded of all of the work behind us by the sheer volume of food we pull from the ground.
Potato Alert! It should be noted that while we do have many potatoes (more than we thought given the severity of the blight) the keeping quality is not expected to be very good. My suggestion is to try and use your share of spuds each week and keep them in the fridge before use. From what we have been able to learn about the blight this year (the worst in living memory), it will infect stored potatoes if they are kept at warmer temps (out of the fridge). There is nothing wrong with the tubers as far as their being edible –they will just rot quickly if the spores are given a chance to germinate in the warmer temps most of us typically keep them at in the garage, basement or that cool closet.
Shallots? What are they? Well in short they are the best qualities of garlic and onions combined in one vegetable. Sweeter than onions but with the same aromatic rich qualities, shallots can be used for anything that calls for onions but without the worry of overpowering the dish. Our favorite uses for them are diced and added to our own salad dressings or roasted whole with olive oil and eaten along side any dish. They keep relatively well –but rarely stay around long in our house as they get used for everything. Here’s a link to a simple recipe for potatoes and shallots http://crystalspringcsa.com/archives/category/recipes/shallots
CSA sign-up for 2010 underway. Get on board early and beat the spring rush for CSA shares. Sign up now with a deposit and get on the easy winter payment plan. A $100 deposit will hold your share with payments in February, April and June of next year. Thanks to all of you who signed up last week, it’s great to have your support in this year of less than outstanding yields in the fields. We are very proud to be your farmers.
Organic apples arrive for sale this week from our friends at Willow Pond Farm in Sabattus. The variety we will be starting with is Red Free. This is a high quality fresh eating and sauce variety that is certified organic. Available for sale singly and in 5lb. bags. More varieties and their stellar cider will be available in the coming weeks.
Race for Space this weekend. The Brunswick-Topsham Land Trust will put on it’s annual run and fun walk to save open space in our community. For more info go to www.btlt.org.
Crystal Spring whole and half lambs for sale starting this week…see us at pick-up for all the details.