Watershed Farm CSA - 25 September 2012 - Delivery #15

Hi everyone!

It would appear that the rainy season has arrived in Nova Scotia.  It would have been nice to have some of this in the sweltering drought this summer, but we are glad nonetheless!  Along with the rain, we've also noticed the days getting shorter and the nights getting cooler.  Now that the night temperature is getting down, we've had to start closing the greenhouse and caterpillar tunnels to keep the rest of our tomatoes growing as long into the fall as we can.  The shorter days also mean we are "reluctantly" forced to have shorter work days as well.  It won't be long before we're lighting fires in our stoves and dreaming about starting vegetables for next season's CSA.  But, we still have a few weeks left and now we'll keep dreaming about what will be in next week's CSA basket that will feed and excite you.

As promised, the second chance for you to come and see where your food is grown will be next Sunday, the 30th of September.  This will be our second Open Farm CSA Day, and we'd love it if you could make it sometime between 12-4.  There will be snacks and refreshments as well as guided tours for those interested, and of course the animals will be meeting and greeting all day.  If you know of someone who is interested in joining our CSA next season, feel free to bring them along, too.

 
Joe puts the finishing touches on the new growing space
We've been working on a new greenhouse here on the farm for a little while now, it is just about ready to have the plastic put on, and you can see it yourself on Sunday!

What's in your basket this week:

Beets
I've had a couple of customers at the farmer's markets telling me about making a stacked beet salad with goat cheese out of our beautiful tri-coloured beets.  I had to scour the internet, but I found this very descriptive step-by-step recipe (Click on the photo or the title to visit the website):

Stacked Beet Salad
Ingredients
6 large beets
1/2 cup goat cheese at room temperature
1/2 teaspoon balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon olive oil
pepper, to taste

Directions
1.  Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
2.  Cut beet greens off beets.  Peel beets and cut ends off.  Slice beets into 1/2 inch layers (don't slice the beets too thinly).
3.  Brush olive oil on beet slices and lay onto baking sheets.  Roast beet slices for approximately 45 minutes-1 hour until edges are caramelized and beets are cooked through (my oven cooks hot and it takes my oven 45 minutes).  Let beet slices cool.
4.  Mix goat cheese with balsamic vinegar.  Season with pepper (I do not season with salt because the goat cheese usually has a salty flavor).
5.  Spread 1/2 teaspoon goat cheese mixture onto one side of a large beet slice.  Layer with a slightly smaller beet slice and spread 1/2 teaspoon goat cheese mixture on top of second beet slices.  Continue layering.  I build my stacks to 8 layers because, after that, they become unwieldy to eat but you could certainly stack higher.  Do not spread goat cheese on last layer.  Continue building stacks.
6.  Carefully cut stacks into quarters, making sure not to press too hard onto the beet stacks.  I find that the easiest way to cut them is to very gently hold one stack and slice through it halfway and then lay the half-stack on its side to cut into quarters.
7.  Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.  If you leave the beet stacks in the refrigerator longer, the red beet color will seep into the goat cheese.  I prefer the flavor when the beet stacks have been refrigerated for 4 hours or more but they certainly look prettier when they have been refrigerated for only 30 minutes.
8.  To serve, layer beet stacks on spinach leaves and sprinkle with balsamic vinegar.
(*Note: this would also be great with additions such as: walnuts, citrus, avocado, fresh dill!)


Sunchokes/Jerusalem Artichokes
This photo is of our remaining Jerusalem Artichokes still in the field, which turned out to be a very nice hedge at the side of our salad mix patch.  If you've never used them before, you're in for a treat and something really truly different.  They are, as they look, in the sunflower family, and they have a fantastic crunch and a nutty sunflower flavour.  Since these ones are so fresh, you need not peel them, just scrub them to get the dirt off (which should come as a relief as most of them are pretty gnarly!).
In my previous job, I often recommended Sunchokes as an alternative to potatoes for those watching their blood sugar levels or on restrictive diets or clenses.  Sunchokes contain the carbohydrate inulin instead of starch, which is a type of dietary fibre known as fructan that the human body has a limited ability to process.  Unlike potatoes-- which are considered high on the glycemic index-- the inulin in sunchokes does not cause an insulin response in the body or raise triglycerides (Of course, please do your own research to see if it is right for you if you are on a restricted diet). 
Regardless of all this, they are delicious little nuggets and I hope you find a way to enjoy them!  The first time I had them I over-roasted them, which was a big mistake: They get bitter and have a soggy textured when overcooked.  Once I was ready to attempt cooking them again I used a recipe and had much better luck.  I have heard that they can be hard on the stomach for some, who recommend fully cooking them (like in the soup recipe below).  I am including a recipe that is basically how I most often prepare them, as well as links to a few others that I think look interesting:

RECIPE: Sauteed Sunchokes
Ingredients:
1 lb sunchokes/jerusalem artichoke
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons butter
2 large garlic cloves, finely chopped
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
3 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

Directions:
1 Scrub or peel artichokes.
2 Slice each artichoke to 1/4 inch thick slices.
3 In a Wok or frying pan, heat olive oil and butter on medium-high heat.
4 Add sliced artichokes, garlic, salt, pepper and parsley; stir well to coat artichokes.
5 Stir-fry for about 4 minutes, stirring often.
6 Do not overcook artichokes, they should be slightly crunchy.
7 Serve immediately.

Check out a couple of other recipes that might inspire you:
Cream of Sunchoke Soup (We tried this one the other night with much success; I highly recommend it!)
Sunny Sunchoke Salad

Kohlrabi or Turnips
In my scouring of the internet this week, I found a great blog with a detailed post about kohlrabi:  Just in case you need some more instruction to be able to deal with yours.  Also, because of this website (and because they're beautiful!), we are including the leaves on your kohlrabi this week, which you can choose to eat or not (but mind the advice that they are to be treated as a hearty green like kale or collards).  If you're not in the mood for experimental cooking, you can simply peel and slice your kohlrabi to enjoy it raw, roasted, sauteed or steamed.  It's mild cabbage/turnip flavour goes well with your stir-fry greens, cauliflower or broccoli, et cetera.  If you have any great successes, please email me your recipe!
If it's a turnip you happen to find in your bag (there were not quite enough kohlrabi for everyone), they are delicious enjoyed most of the same ways you would enjoy your kohlrabi- raw, roasted, sauteed, steamed, or even cooked and mashed with potatoes to give them an extra kick. 

Dill
Dill and beets are a great combination.  At this time of year it can be hard to find baby dill, and I always take advantage of it when I'm able to get it and freeze some for winter.  Just chop it up and put it in an airtight container- it does turn black but it retains it's flavour far better than drying.

Brassica Mix


Again, "brassica" is farm code for a few things that you will find in your bag: broccoli (heads and florets), cauliflower (green and white), cabbage, and romanesco broccoflower (pointy green alien that looks kind of like cauliflower...  only pointy!). 

Kale
I get the same amount of "too much kale!" pleas as I get "more kale!" requests.  This will please you if you are the latter!  For those of you who haven't found a love for this phenomenally healthy and tasty green, I beg of you: don't leave it rotting in your fridge or send it next door, make this:

RECIPE: Massaged Kale Salad
Ingredients
1 bunch kale, stalks removed and discarded, leaves thinly sliced
1 lemon, juiced
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil, plus extra for drizzling
Kosher salt
2 teaspoons honey
Freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup sunflower seeds
1/2 cup pumpkin seeds

Directions
In large serving bowl, add the kale, half of lemon juice, a drizzle of oil and a little kosher salt. Massage until the kale starts to soften and wilt, 2 to 3 minutes. Set aside while you make the dressing.
In a small bowl, whisk remaining lemon juice with the honey and lots of freshly ground black pepper. Stream in the 1/4 cup of oil while whisking until a dressing forms, and you like how it tastes.
Pour the dressing over the kale, and add the seeds. Toss and serve.

If you love kale but just can't fit it into your schedule this week, then chop it up and throw it straight in the freezer.  It goes great in soups, stews, and smoothies and prevents winter scurvy!

Leeks
To add a little onion flavour to your life. 

Full-size shares also get:
Potatoes
Potatoes do not contain inulin and are chock-full of starchy goodness!  I made some mashed potatoes this week to go with some venison steaks a friend shared with us, and they were top-notch.  I used to love russets the best, and if you love the traditional very dry mashed potatoes, these are your ticket.  With some butter and sour cream they taste just like the inside of a baked potato (or save yourself the peeling and just make a baked potato!).

Stir-fry Mix
In the stir-fry mix this week we have: Bull's Blood beet tops, red mustard, red mizuna, mizuna, tatsoi, ruby streaks, chard, and nasturtium flowers (which are also edible). 


Our helpers after a long, tiring day getting the CSA bags ready!
(I believe I'll do the same myself as soon as possible!)

Have a great week!

--
Teri Dillon

Watershed Farm
768 Allen Frausel Road
Baker Settlement, Nova Scotia
B4V 7H8
c. 902.212.2301 | p. 902.685.3901

WatershedFarm.org
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Watershed Farm CSA - 18 September 2012 - Delivery #14

Hi everyone!

Yesterday we hosted about 150 people from far and wide for NSFA Open Farm Day.  It was a great day that just flew by, as we sold snacks and refreshments and gave guided tours of the farm.  Our turkeys were good sports and even showed off for the company- puffing up and "being turkeys", which they rarely do for us.  The sheep and chickens were somewhat less gregarious, but I suppose "being a sheep" and "being a chicken" is a little less entertaining than "being a turkey".  The ducks were shy as ever and the bunnies were happy for the few children that found them and fed them some grass.  Even a few CSA members managed to make it out, and we were glad to see you!

Jon giving a tour to one of many groups yesterday at Open Farm Day.

There's a bit of a bottleneck happening with our bags, so if you have any extra CSA bags lying around that you keep forgetting to return, I would love it if you did!  It's my job every week to sort out the bags, which is always a daunting task that never quite gets fully completed until Monday.  And for those of you who faithfully return your bags every single week without hiccup- THANK YOU!  Believe me, I do notice!

In your basket this week:

Getting ready to pack bags a few weeks ago.  We have a very fool-proof system for making sure no one gets missed and there is no mis-counting!

Carrots
The carrots are arriving in a bag this week, as they are getting larger and harder to bunch.  That being said, the longer they go the sweeter they get, and I think they just keep getting better and better each week.  The white ones were truly stars this year, with the purple and red being fun to look at, and the orange being a solid staple.

Tomatoes
The cooler weather has really slowed down the tomatoes, but there are still lots on the vine to ripen slowly this fall.  Eventually we'll take the frost warning seriously and have to go pick them all, which means you may look forward to green tomatoes for something that I have just recently heard of: chow chow.  Not sure if this is a Maritime thing, or if I am just sheltered, but we've had a few people buying green tomatoes from us for just this purpose the last few weeks.  Anyhow, you're getting vine-ripened ones, picked this morning, and there may not be too many in the future, so enjoy every last flavourful bite!

Butternut Squash:
We are thrilled to have enough butternuts that everyone is getting one!  This is my favourite squash, even though I know there are so many different and interesting ones that could be my favourite.  I just find butternut super easy to deal with (it just has the one pocket of seeds in the rump) and a really sweet flavour.  These were just picked today, and you can eat them now if you want, but if you want to store them, make sure you do so in a warm place.  In order to cure properly, squash prefers a room-temperature or warmer climate: so don't leave him rattling around in your root cellar!
You can make a truly stellar soup by roasting your butternut and pureeing it with 1 can of coconut milk and 2-4 cups chicken broth (depending on the size of your squash and how thick you like your soup).  Season to taste, and serve!  This soup is really simple and free of dairy and gluten, and it comes out a really beautiful colour.

Celeriac:
This is the one thing in your bag that you may not have seen before.  Celeriac, also known as celery root, is actually not the root of a celery plant, though they are in the same family.  If you're lucky to get one whose tops are still on, make sure you use that to flavour your next soup pot.  The veggie you're after is the round-ish, light brown root at the bottom.  This can be peeled and chopped and added to beets and carrots for a great roasted vegetable medley, or put in soup or stew, stir-fry, or even eaten raw.  It has a mild celery flavour with earthy undertones.  My favourite way to enjoy it is to boil it along with my potatoes for a bit of a different flavour in my mashed potatoes.

Cilantro
For those of you who are not fans of cilantro, we hope your friends or neighbours will enjoy it for you.  For the rest of you: why not try making some salsa fresca?  That's fancy-speak for fresh salsa, which you can add all sorts of things to, especially your tomatoes and garlic.  I first found a place in my life for cilantro by making fresh salsa out of heirloom tomatoes, and you can too!

Chard
Lisa's mother sent her this recipe for Swiss Chard Rolls, which we are going to try this week.  Judy is inarguably our biggest fan and reads our blog and facebook page regularly.  Anyway, she's awesome and here's her equally awesome recipe:
"rolled /stuffed these blanched Swiss chard leaves with cooked brown rice, mushrooms, garlic, thyme, olive oil, and a lot of garlic. Sliced tomatoes on the bottom.
Poured tomato juice over too, baked 35 min
Served with ricotta on top"


Garlic
This is really just a ploy to get you to come to our Stinking Rose Garlic Festival on October 27th:

This is a great day where you can learn all about garlic, and I really hope you can make it.
If you've never made roasted garlic, you haven't lived.  What I do is wrap the entire head in tinfoil with a little oil inside and bake at 350 for about half an hour.  The cloves turn to mush and you can squeeze the contents out once it cools.  It's a very different flavour than raw garlic, and it would go great in the butternut soup recipe from above, or in a tomato sauce, or anything that would benefit from some roasted garlic goodness.

Full-size shares also get:
Beans
Though I wasn't this morning picking them, I'm so glad for the late planting of beans that has just come on.  They are stunning and remind me of when the very first beans were ready in early summer.  At the markets, beans have ceased being a hot item, but I'm not tired of them and you shouldn't be, either!

Brassica Mix
I was about to change this to "broccoli-cauliflower mix", but then decided that you should know the family name of some vegetables you see all the time.  The "brassica" family includes broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, asian greens, arugula, kohlrabi, turnips, radishes, kale, and many others- and in your bag this week you'll find a very nice head of broccoli, cauliflower, or romanesco broccoflower. 
Here's something that came up from Open Farm Day that I thought you might be interested in:  The brassica family is the favourite snack of the flea beetle and the cabbage looper, which is why they spend the entirety of their lives under a very light white fabric known as floating row cover.  The fabric is held down with sand bags and the edges kept taut to keep unwanted visitors out.  It does block some of the light, but in the peak of summer plants receive over three times the amount of sunlight they need, so it doesn't do them any harm.  The heavier version of this actually offers frost protection to the plants by being a physical barrier to frost settling on the leaves.  Row cover is a very common tool used by organic growers and growers looking to cut down their use of pesticides.  It's not always necessary in the home garden, but if you have problems with any of these pests it may be a good solution for you!

Peppers
Jon made tacos a few weeks ago, so I can speak from authority that some of these peppers are wickedly hot!  Some of you may also get some bell peppers, or a mixture of a few peppers.  Very unofficially, I smell them to tell how hot they are.  I'm sure there's a better way to tell, but if they're burn your nostrils, chances are they'll burn your mouth too!



And finally, here's a photo of a young gentleman I had to escort off the farm this morning.  He and a friend have been getting into our chicken yard at night and making unwanted deposits on the roof of their shelter, as well as eating a poor chicken on Saturday night.  If you see him or any of his friends, let them know that I have a live trap and I'm not afraid to use it!


Have a great week,

--
Teri Dillon

Watershed Farm
768 Allen Frausel Road
Baker Settlement, Nova Scotia
B4V 7H8
c. 902.212.2301 | p. 902.685.3901

WatershedFarm.org
Follow us on Facebook
Check out the new Watershed Farm blog!

Watershed Farm CSA - 11 September 2012 - Delivery #13

Hello everyone!

Yesterday was a whirlwind of a day here on the farm.  We hosted a Season Extension Workshop with David Cohlmeyer, who just flew in from Toronto.  Over 30 farmers, gardeners, consultants and garden enthusiasts attended, and it was a great day, despite the downpour (which let up enough so that we could have a tour).  In the workshop we covered winter greenhouses, root cellars, and crop choices for extending your harvest into the winter months, and also had a delicious lunch thanks to Camelia's hard work the past few days in the kitchen! 

David Cohlmeyer in front of a caterpillar tunnel at our Season Extension Workshop this past Sunday
In the morning when Lisa went to water the sheep, their shelter had blown over their fence and they were gone.  We spent most of the morning looking for them, to no avail.  They finally turned up halfway through the workshop, when a neighbour drove up and let us know they were in the middle of the road.  We herded them back on the road at least a kilometer, and they were happy to be home.
Apparently all the animals were set on escaping, as I went to change out of my wet clothes and saw a fat, cute little black bunny with floppy ears cross my path- My bunny!  Luckily Jon was around and I was able to corner her and grab her.

This Sunday we'll have another busy day at the farm, when we take part in NSFA Open Farm Day.  If you're a CSA member you can skip the crowds and come later in the month when we have another CSA Day, but you're welcome to come to our farm (or many others!) this Sunday, too.  Here's a poster, so you can share it with friends and family that might be interested to see where all that good food you've been eating is coming from!


The rain these past few days has been great for the fields and though we don't prefer to harvest in the rain, we're happy for it nonetheless.

What's in your basket this week:
Beets
After bunching the beets, they just looked so darn good we had to eat some for supper.  Lisa sliced them and roasted them in the oven with a little olive oil and some lemon juice.  After they were cooked, she topped with fresh garlic butter and some dill.  They are so beautiful-- all the different colours-- and delicious, too!
I was reading a calendar that appeared on our kitchen table and found this recipe for beets.  I've had nothing but good experiences adding vegetables to baking, so it would follow that these are probably delicious:

Above, in the glare: "icing sugar" next line "butter at room temperature" next line "vanilla" next line "beetroot water"

Tomatoes
Marry your tomatoes to your basil and you've got an instant hit! 

Basil
I got a great tip at the Farmer's Market this Saturday for preserving basil.  In the past I have always just thrown it in the freezer and not worried about it turning black, but it's obviously not optimal.  A woman told me that she blanches hers (throws into boiling water until it boils again), and then mixes it with enough olive oil in the food processor to make a paste.  Then she freezes it flat in freezer bags and it stays bright green!

Stir-Fry Mix
In your stir-fry mix is chard, kale, arugula, and some spicy mustards.  Make sure you wash it, as we got a lot of rain this weekend which usually does the opposite of washing our greens.  Jon picked out a recipe for a thai peanut sauce that you might try with your greens this week.  Just add rice, and you've got a meal!
RECIPE: Thai Peanut Sauce
2 tablespoons creamy peanut butter
2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/8 teaspoon ground ginger
cayenne pepper
Directions:
1 Combine above ingredients and stir until creamy. (It helps to soften the peanut butter first).
2 Add sauce to the stir-fry during the last minute of cooking, stirring to coat food evenly.

Edamame
Edamame is the term for immature soybeans.  You may have had them in Japanese restaurants before, and I highly recommend that you serve them the same way: Steam or boil them in salt water until they turn bright green and the beans are cooked, sprinkle with sea salt, and serve!  Your family or guests remove the beans inside by putting the whole pod in their mouth and pulling the beans out with their teeth (don't eat the pod).  Or, you can shell them and add them to a stir-fry or soup.
Soybeans are one of a list of crops that you should always make sure to buy organic (and that includes tofu), as commercially they are often GMO and sprayed with chemicals you wouldn't want to eat.  Fortunately, ours are Round-Up-free!

Potatoes
This week we are sending you some russet potatoes, which are in bags unwashed so they can keep longer.  Russets make the best baked potatoes!  A little tip from yesterday's workshop if you are going to keep them: if you put them in the fridge, the cold causes the starch to convert to sugar and it actually makes them un-fry-able, as the sugars will burn before the potato cooks.  They're just fine if you don't plan on frying them, but if you want them to stay as-is, keep them in a dark, ventilated cupboard rather than the fridge. 

Poppy Seeds
We had an army of volunteer poppies all over the gardens this year, so Camelia and Addie patiently collected the seeds and we're sharing them with you!  These are a beautiful mauve poppy if you want to save them to plant next year, or you can eat them, too.  My favourite is a simple poppyseed dressing:
RECIPE: Poppyseed Dressing
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
3/4 cup white vinegar or apple cider vinegar
1 1/2 cups oil
1/2 cup sugar
1 tablespoon poppy seed
1 teaspoon dry mustard

Mix the dressing ingredients together and refrigerate overnight. Very important! 
Note: this makes a lot, but you can cut it in half if you like.

Full-size shares also get:
Melon
The melons are a crop that loved the heat this year, and there's no comparison to a farm-fresh melon!  There are a few different varieties that you may get: Charentais (bluish skin with dark orange flesh), Galia (russeted yellow skin, light green flesh), Cantaloupe (ribbed, russeted skin with orange flesh), Muskmelon (russeted skin with orange flesh).  I'm pretty certain this won't make it to the fridge, as one bite is all it takes to end up eating the whole thing!  Jon and I picked a whole bunch on Saturday and sat in the late afernoon sun, covered in dirt from digging potatoes and dripping melon juice as we devoured all the different kinds.  Perks of the job!

Broccoli & Cauliflower
We wanted you to have enough broccoli and cauliflower to have a whole side-dish.  My favourite thing to do with cauliflower and broccoflower (the green, pointy cauliflower), is to cut off the florets, toss in olive oil, salt and pepper, and roast at 400 degrees until it starts to brown.  Then it's really delicious as is, or with a lemon juice and dijon mustard sauce added on top.

And finally, just because I'm so impressed that I caught the Kodak Moment:

Kitty Yawn!

Have a fantastic week!

--
Teri Dillon

Watershed Farm
768 Allen Frausel Road
Baker Settlement, Nova Scotia
B4V 7H8
c. 902.212.2301 | p. 902.685.3901

WatershedFarm.org
Follow us on Facebook
Check out the new Watershed Farm blog!

Watershed Farm CSA - 04 September 2012 - Delivery #12

Hi everyone!

Well, it's unbelieveably September already: We who spend entire days from dawn to dusk outdoors notice the crispness of the mornings and the slight chill in the air mid-day.  Some of the leaves have already dropped and the days are noticeably shorter.  There's always something wistful about fall, that makes one think about all the things that didn't get done in the summer.  Other years I have found myself wishing I had spent more time outside, or paid more attention to my garden, but of course not this year.  We've even managed to get to the beach enough that I'm not regretful about that.  I suppose wistfulness naturally precedes the monotony of winter, and just knowing that it is coming is enough to make one long for summer again.

I asked our friend and most excellent WWOOFer James to be our official CSA photographer this week, so you'd get a fresh perspective on the farm.  If you'd like to get a personal perspective on our farm and many others, I recommend you look into Nova Scotia Federation of Agriculture's 2012 Open Farm Day.  It's happening Sunday, September 16, and we're among many farms that you can come and visit that day.  They have a great website, so check out the link above if you are interested!

I promised a second CSA Open Farm Day, and we've decided that it will be Saturday, September 30th.  It's very near the end of the CSA season, which means we'll have more time to meet you (and hopefully it won't be as beastly hot as last time!).  If you came to the last one, you're welcome to come again, and we'd love to see as many of you as possible that day!  Pencil it in on your calendar, and I will be sure to remind you plenty of times before then!


One of our new honeybees returning to the hive.

Last chance for more eggs!  If you would like to sign on for a fast and furious delivery of 5 dozen eggs (1 dozen a week until the end of the season) there is just enough time.  Email me and pay via paypal on the website or by cheque in your bag return ($25).  If you're unsure as to how many dozen you have left in your share, or if your share is over, just email me to find out!

One last thing: for all of you who attend the Lunenburg Market regularly, make sure you say Happy Birthday to Lisa if you pass by the Watershed Farm stall this Thursday!

What's in your basket this week:

CSA bag looking ultra-glamorous!
Carrots
I asked our work share Susan today if she had any ideas for carrots, and she mentioned the attached recipe, carrot greens with sesame dressing.  She says: "This recipe is taken from a cookbook called 'Good Food from a Japanese Temple'. A vegetarian cookbook ....it is 'shojin ryori' ....the food actually prepared and eaten by monks and nuns in Buddhist temples. This recipe (and the others in this cookbook) came from a Zen Buddhist nunnery in Kyoto, Japan."

Tomatoes
I never find enough time to preserve food when it's seasonal and abundant.  If you're finding yourself with a surfeit of tomatoes, and like me, you don't have time nor inclination to can them, try freezing them!  Wash them, throw them in a freezer bag, and throw them in the freezer.  When they emerge, you can remove the skins so easily by just running under cold water.  You can use them all winter long and save yourself the time of canning them. 

Leeks
The cold edge to the air really makes me long for hot soup, and leeks are a great base for a really delicious one.  Also great in a stuffed squash recipe!

Parsley
An excellent, if under-appreciated herb, to season all the delicious flavours in your bag this week!

Turnips
I always get a lot of "I got radishes, not turnips" feedback right after we ship out turnips.  I assure you, we do not even have any radishes ready for harvest, and these really, truly are turnips!  The white are called Hakurei, the purple and white are the more recognizable Purple Top, and the red ones are called Scarlet Queen.  These turnips are a favourite of chef Rob Bruce of The Rum Runner Restaurant in Lunenburg, who has been including our turnips on his menu since he first tasted them in early spring.  He serves his hot, steamed in a consomme broth, with other seasonal vegetables like patty pan squash.




Orange pumpkins peeking out in the ever-chaotic-looking squash patch.

Winter Squash
I LOVE winter squash, and I feel I could never get sick of it.  In my experience, some people are a little afraid and feel they don't know what to do with it: So, I have attached to this email a handy squash chart that shows photos and descriptions of some of the more common varieties.  In general, you'll want to slice it length-wise (from the stem to the end) and scoop out the seeds.  From there you can:
-roast it (in the oven about an hour at 350, either face up with butter and sugar/spices inside, or face down with some water in the pan)
-boil it (remove the peel and boil the flesh until cooked)
-steam it (remove the peel, dice, and steam until cooked)
-fry it (remove the peel, dice, fry in oil until thoroughly cooked)
(*"cooked" means soft, the texture of a cooked potato or softer, depending on how you prefer it)
-stuff it (cook face-up in the oven and stuff with rice, sausage, herbs, leek, garlic, tomatoes, et cetera- your imagination is the limit!)
Whenever I ask Jon what he wants for supper, he invariably answers "stuffed squash".  I don't follow a recipe, but here's an outline of what I do:
Stuffed Squash:
Cut squash in half and remove seeds.  In the cavity left behind, stab all over with a fork (not all the way through the skin), and add about a tablespoon of butter, a tablespoon of brown sugar, and a pinch of salt.  Roast face up in a 350 degree oven for about half an hour.  In the meantime, saute leeks or onions, sausage, garlic, tomatoes, mushrooms, zucchini (et cetera) until cooked.  Mix with leftover rice or cubed fresh bread and an egg, and place inside both sides of the squash.  Cook for at least another half hour, or until squash is very soft.
This is a great way to use up some leftovers and create a simple one-dish meal that you can cater to your ingredients.
If you got a spaghetti squash in your bag this week (oblong and orange), it's the only squash that is really different than all the others.  When cooked, the flesh of spaghetti squash turns into translucent strands, almost like real spaghetti.  It's great just roasted and then pulled away from the skin with a fork and served with a great tomato sauce.
(Other than the spaghetti squash) You should eat the skin of your squash, too: We do! 

Full-size shares also get:
Zucchini
I love eating seasonally: Zucchini and tomatoes go so well together.  Here's a recipe for a quick side dish that uses both:
1 medium zucchini
1 clove garlic, minced
4 medium tomatoes, chopped
2 T finely sliced fresh basil
1 T olive tapenade (or finely chopped olives)
Salt and pepper to taste
Saute the zucchini and garlic in a little olive oil over medium heat until lightly browned (5-10 minutes).  Toss together with the remaining ingredients and serve.

Arugula
Arugula, also known as "rocket" or "roquette", is a zesty green that is great for fresh salads and stir-fries.  I like it best chopped and put on top of dishes after they're cooked, like pizza, pasta, and soups.  It can have quite a spicy flavour, so beware! 

Kale
Kale is what they call a "superfood", and here's why:
"Kale is very high in beta carotene, vitamin K, vitamin C, lutein, zeaxanthin, and reasonably rich in calcium. Kale, as with broccoli and other brassicas, contains sulforaphane (particularly when chopped or minced), a chemical with potent anti-cancer properties. Boiling decreases the level of sulforaphane; however, steaming or stir frying do not result in significant loss. Along with other brassica vegetables, kale is also a source of indole-3-carbinol, a chemical which boosts DNA repair in cells and appears to block the growth of cancer cells. Kale is also a good source of carotenoids." Wiki

Here's a photo of a cute kitty to say goodbye for this week!

Have a great one,

--
Teri Dillon

Watershed Farm
768 Allen Frausel Road
Baker Settlement, Nova Scotia
B4V 7H8
c. 902.212.2301 | p. 902.685.3901

WatershedFarm.org
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