09' CSA Journal Basket #14; Volume 2
Posted 8/19/2009 3:57pm by Matthew and Allison Mills Neal.
CSA Journal Basket #14; Volume 2
August 19th
What Genus Specie Varieties your basket contains:
1.)Petit Gris de Rennes Sweet Melons
2.)Crimson Sweet Watermelon
3.)Mix of French Sorrel, Red Opal Basil, and Water Mint
4.)Sugar Dumpling Large Teacup Winter Squash
5.)Summer Squash and Zucchini: Golden Scallopini, Benning's Green Tint Scallopini, Reve
Scallopini, Cocozelle Italian Striped Zucchini, and/or Ronde de Nice Zucchini
6.)Cucumbers: Lemon, Crystal Apple, Poona Kheera, Green Finger and/or Marketmore
Hello to everyone on this great basket day of sweet summer melons!
I am sure you all had your melon from last week eaten up in a day or so, as melons are very easy to eat a lot of in the summer, especially if they are coming straight out of the field!
There are really all kinds of great things to do with melons...
you can eat them plain by just slicing them up(oh so very good and simple);
you can make a delicious orange fleshed melon salad by tossing some chopped
sorrel, red opal basil, diced lemon cucumber (seeds scooped out, just leaving the
flesh and crunchy golden skin), olive oil, golden balsamic vinegar, walnuts, blue
veined cheese, and pepper;
try making a cool melon and cucumber soup with olives and mint,
...and as you can see the options are endless, as is the same with
all vegetables and fruits.
All of our winter squashes have really done well this year and are lookin pretty great laying out in the fields as the vines have started dying back. In the next month, they will all be harvested and put up for storage and used slowly for your CSA baskets for the rest of the season. The Sugar Dumpling Large Teacups were the first to be harvested and are a sure treat to have baked. The size of these allow for perfect individual servings; meaning they can just be rinsed, cut in half, seeds scooped out (try saving the seeds that then can be dried out and roasted with your favorite seasonings), rub with olive oil (both inside and out), and then bake with yellow flesh faced upwards at 400 for about 35-40 minutes, only covering for the end 10 minutes or so. After they are baked, you can serve them up on the dinner plate to be eaten and I find that the skin can be eaten too if desired. Of course you can top with herbs, spices, honey, and cheese before serving. The other night we had blue veined cheese, honey, cinnamon, summer savory, and pepper on ours, and oh it was very very good.
All winter squashes can also be stored and used at a later time, that is if kept in a darker spot at room temperature and preferably in a non-damp area. You can expect to see more of these sugar dumplings, plus Butternut Squashes, Delicata Squashes, Acorn Squashes, Spaghetti Squashes, and a Beautiful Fall French Pumpkin that can even be eaten raw...how about that?
Over the last couple of weeks here at the farm we have gotten almost all of our fall crops direct seeded in the ground, which is a great relief as it has been slightly difficult with all the rain. As we are just barely over half way through the season the end half always is our favorite, as I love Fall the most. The Summer and Fall crops always combine to be great baskets. The tomatoes have started to ripen, but only a handful so hopefully next week there will be enough to include in your basket. Then for the rest of the season there will be more summer crops like sweet melons, lots of peppers, eggplant, summer squash, snap beans, and dry beans and then there will start being the wonderful greens again, root vegatables like beets, carrots, and sweet potatoes, and in finale the star of the fall scene the brassica crops of broccoli, cauliflower, cabbages, and rutabagas. So as you can see with all these coming together the end half really is looking full.
Thanks for being apart and Please Enjoy,
Allison and Matthew
August 19th
What Genus Specie Varieties your basket contains:
1.)Petit Gris de Rennes Sweet Melons
2.)Crimson Sweet Watermelon
3.)Mix of French Sorrel, Red Opal Basil, and Water Mint
4.)Sugar Dumpling Large Teacup Winter Squash
5.)Summer Squash and Zucchini: Golden Scallopini, Benning's Green Tint Scallopini, Reve
Scallopini, Cocozelle Italian Striped Zucchini, and/or Ronde de Nice Zucchini
6.)Cucumbers: Lemon, Crystal Apple, Poona Kheera, Green Finger and/or Marketmore
Hello to everyone on this great basket day of sweet summer melons!
I am sure you all had your melon from last week eaten up in a day or so, as melons are very easy to eat a lot of in the summer, especially if they are coming straight out of the field!
There are really all kinds of great things to do with melons...
you can eat them plain by just slicing them up(oh so very good and simple);
you can make a delicious orange fleshed melon salad by tossing some chopped
sorrel, red opal basil, diced lemon cucumber (seeds scooped out, just leaving the
flesh and crunchy golden skin), olive oil, golden balsamic vinegar, walnuts, blue
veined cheese, and pepper;
try making a cool melon and cucumber soup with olives and mint,
...and as you can see the options are endless, as is the same with
all vegetables and fruits.
All of our winter squashes have really done well this year and are lookin pretty great laying out in the fields as the vines have started dying back. In the next month, they will all be harvested and put up for storage and used slowly for your CSA baskets for the rest of the season. The Sugar Dumpling Large Teacups were the first to be harvested and are a sure treat to have baked. The size of these allow for perfect individual servings; meaning they can just be rinsed, cut in half, seeds scooped out (try saving the seeds that then can be dried out and roasted with your favorite seasonings), rub with olive oil (both inside and out), and then bake with yellow flesh faced upwards at 400 for about 35-40 minutes, only covering for the end 10 minutes or so. After they are baked, you can serve them up on the dinner plate to be eaten and I find that the skin can be eaten too if desired. Of course you can top with herbs, spices, honey, and cheese before serving. The other night we had blue veined cheese, honey, cinnamon, summer savory, and pepper on ours, and oh it was very very good.
All winter squashes can also be stored and used at a later time, that is if kept in a darker spot at room temperature and preferably in a non-damp area. You can expect to see more of these sugar dumplings, plus Butternut Squashes, Delicata Squashes, Acorn Squashes, Spaghetti Squashes, and a Beautiful Fall French Pumpkin that can even be eaten raw...how about that?
Over the last couple of weeks here at the farm we have gotten almost all of our fall crops direct seeded in the ground, which is a great relief as it has been slightly difficult with all the rain. As we are just barely over half way through the season the end half always is our favorite, as I love Fall the most. The Summer and Fall crops always combine to be great baskets. The tomatoes have started to ripen, but only a handful so hopefully next week there will be enough to include in your basket. Then for the rest of the season there will be more summer crops like sweet melons, lots of peppers, eggplant, summer squash, snap beans, and dry beans and then there will start being the wonderful greens again, root vegatables like beets, carrots, and sweet potatoes, and in finale the star of the fall scene the brassica crops of broccoli, cauliflower, cabbages, and rutabagas. So as you can see with all these coming together the end half really is looking full.
Thanks for being apart and Please Enjoy,
Allison and Matthew