canning

preserving the bounty!

summer’s nearly over, but the food is still coming!

Sometimes it seems hard for my small family to keep up with the bounty from the CSA (though goodness knows, it’s a fun struggle to have!).  But when we’re feeling overwhelmed with beans or tomatoes, or whathaveyou, we end up prepping the veggies with a quick dip (1-2 min tops) in boiling salted water, cooling them in an ice bath, and then popping them into labeled and dated freezer bags and into the freezer.  Needless to say, I love having my stash come January!

We’re lucky enough to have enough freezer space for this blanching/freezing method.  But if you don’t, look into canning and preserving.  Supermarkets, hardware stores, craft stores, and of course, the internet, all carry the supplies you need to start canning.  And check out Food in Jars is a great site to get some killer inspiration!

Farm News \ Farm News \ weekly update

Farm update #15, week 13, Sept 8 delivery

Hi Folks,

The dry weather this past week has finally allowed me to plant many of
the fall root and greens crops that I have been trying to sow for
weeks. Now of course a little rain would be appreciated to get them
sprouted and growing.  We have also been busy transplanting lettuces
and brassicas for late season harvest.

As previously mentioned a planting of summer squash is beginning to
produce, unfortunately they are already showing signs of disease. At
present I am unable to predict whether there will be sufficient
quantities to deliver in the shares this week. I expect to be able to
ship zucchini to some groups this week and to others next week.

The tomato harvest seems to be just about over for this season,
whatever fruit we are able to harvest breaks down very quickly. The
rattlesnake beans have also slowed way down in their production, due
primarily to a bad infestation of Mexican bean beetles. This is a
consequence of not being able to spray to control this pest on the
early planting of bush beans. Left uncontrolled the populations grow
rapidly and spread to successive plantings. Some of you may have
encountered a few of the yellow larva in your beans and I apologize
for that. We try to remove them as we harvest, but inevitably some
escape detection.  I have one last planting of beans that should begin
in another 2 or 3 weeks and I will be spraying them this week to try
to control this plague.

I will be sending various items as extras this week, such as turnips,
kohlrabi, tomatillos, and hot peppers. These are products that we
don’t have in large quantities and which are not universally popular.
This serves the dual purpose of supplementing a slightly light
delivery this week and allowing me to make space in my cooler. I hope
everyone can find something they can use among this assortment. I will
also be sending sweet corn this week. It will be freshly picked,
locally grown corn but not organic.

The share for this week will be: Red lettuce. Carrots, peppers,
eggplant, fingerling potatoes, yellow onions, ground cherries,
conventional sweet corn, and choice of an herb.
The fruit share for this week will be peaches and Ginger gold
apples.

Enjoy!
Farmer John