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Fresh Fork Market 2012 Summer CSA–week 12

Aug 242012

We stopped by Mayfield to pick up our bag today. It worked well in our schedule this week. I love the flexibility of the different pick up locations.

It’s still tough to get a large in one photo. This one is missing the cherry tomatoes, but they wouldn’t have fit anyway.

Here’s what we were expecting to receive this week:

1 bag of oats, 1.5 lbs.
1 bunch red Russian kale
Either 1 bag (approx. 1 lb.) mixed sweet and hot baby peppers or 2 ct. zucchini/squash
1 lb. beans
1 bunch French Breakfast radishes
1 pint blackberries or 1 cantaloupe
1-2 Candy onions, depending on size
2 green peppers
1 pint cherry tomatoes
1 package (1.25 lbs.) green onion bratwursts, made from Berkshire pork
1 piece grass-fed Swiss cheese from Heritage Grass Farms (12 oz.)
2.5 lbs. San Marzano Roma tomatoes
1 bunch carrots with tops
1-2 cucumbers depending on size

I’m probably going to make some sort of kale sausage ragout from the newsletter with the leek, brats, zucchini, garlic, kale and tomatoes. Some of these ingredients we just picked up and others I have left in my fridge. I have some beans ready to go in the freezer and will pull them out tonight.

Carrots and beans will make good side dishes to go with our brats. I’ll probably pickle the radishes.

I’m going to chop and freeze some peppers and dehydrate some of the others. The plums were a nice surprise, I’m sure they’ll disappear quickly.

The cherry tomatoes will be weekend snacking for Stephen and Nick.

I will probably use the cheese with a quiche. I have some eggs to use soon. We eat oats everyday for breakfast, so these will disappear quickly.

I’ll probably make a few more pickles with the cucumbers since we are short on lettuce.

The photo doesn’t do the cantaloupe justice. It’s the size of a watermelon!

All in all, it’s another great week with Fresh Fork. We love not going to the grocery store much. Our list for our last trip to Heinen’s was yellow bananas, buns for brats and a cookie treat for the kids. I can’t wait to see what’s in the bag next week!

Geauga Family Farms CSA–summer week 12

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Aug 212012

Is local melon season really over already? The share seemed so light this week without a tasty watermelon. Maybe we’ll get lucky and see one more next week. The week’s share is full of tasty looking items.

Peppers, green beans

Zucchini, onions

Cherry tomatoes, slicing tomatoes

Sweet corn, green pepper

Lettuce

I took a dehydrating class last night. I’m hoping to try out my new skills with the peppers and slicing tomatoes. We’ll have the corn and beans for dinner. This lettuce will go into salads for Stephen. It’s not my favorite variety (leathery romaine), but it won’t go to waste. I’ll pair it with some feta and cherry tomatoes an add a bit of basil balsamic vinaigrette. I currently have a mound of onions that need chopped and froze so these will get added to that project. I was hoping for zucchini since I found a recipe for cornbread that uses it. I think I’ll be making it this week.

I’m glad I get a small share early in the week. It tends to pair well with my large share that I get on Fridays. It’s hard to believe that summer is almost over.

Fresh Fork Market 2012 Summer CSA–week 11

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Aug 172012

This marks week 11 of our Fresh Fork Market CSA. It’s hard to believe that we are 1/2 way through the season.

Since I was in Utah earlier in the week, I opted to take a vacation week this week. Occasionally, I take a vacation week when we are having busy week or if I feel behind on veggies even if I am actually in town on pick up day.. Then, I usually hold my breath and hope that Trevor doesn’t send out the “best bag of the season” list two days later since vacation requests are due on Saturday and the list usually comes out on Monday.

Here’s what folks received in their bags this week:

3# bag red Norland potatoes
1/2 dozen sweet corn
1 bunch leeks (may be 1 leek depending on size)
1 bulb fennel
Approx. 1.5 lbs. heirloom tomatoes
2 oz basil
Approx. 2 lbs. slicing tomatoes
1 lb. grass-fed ground beef
Approx. 2 lbs. peaches
1-2 eggplant, depending on size
2 zucchini or squash
1-2 onions
2-3 “Italian frier” peppers (red sweet stuffing peppers)
1 melon – choice of cantaloupe or watermelon
1/2 lb. Swiss chard
1 bulb garlic
1 piece Havarti cheese

I’ve been hearing from other people who do CSAs that they have too much food or are too busy to get it all used. I can’t say that we are perfect in our house, but we are pretty good at blanching, chopping and freezing items to make sure we don’t waste food when we are particular busy or have an over abundance.

Almost all of the above items could be froze with little effort. I love pulling items out of the freezer in the middle of winter and getting a taste of fresh local food.

I think every bag is outstanding, but this is a bag that has lots of items that we get on a fairly regular basis. I am happy with my decision to be on vacation. With a little luck, I’ll get a photo of a large share tomorrow and add a photo to my post.

Geauga Family Farms CSA-summer week 11

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Aug 142012

Hi, everyone! Husband Stephen here with a guest post. Tomato season is upon us, we’re still in melon and corn season (yum!), and there’s pretty much produce everywhere this time of year. It’s great!

Here is what we received in this week’s Geauga Family Farms CSA small share.

First up are the tomatoes, in regular size and cherry. In fact, some of these cherry tomatoes are so small that they may count as the “grape” variety.

Next, some onions and a bell pepper. The onions are strong. I could smell them as soon as I opened the bag.

Corn and cabbage…

And finally, a head of lettuce and a medium watermelon.

The forecast is for a break from this unusually cool August now that these peppers have arrived to heat things up…

I love this time of year!

Fresh Fork Market 2012 Summer CSA–week 10

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Aug 102012

We picked up our bag at Mayfield this week. It was the heaviest bag ever. I had to split it into two bags to carry it to the car.

Here’s what we were expecting to receive this week:

1 dz. eggs
1 piece gouda cheese
A handful of hot Hungarian peppers
Approx. 2 to 3 green peppers, depending on size
1 head cabbage (most will be green)
Either 1 pint mixed color cherry tomatoes or about 1.5 lbs. heirloom tomatoes
1 lb. green filet beans
2 ct. cucumbers
1 pint blackberries or approx. 1.5 lbs. peaches
1.5 lbs. spelt berries
1 bunch beets
1 lb. chorizo
1 head broccoli
2 ct. patty pan squash
6 ears sweet corn

I’m going to be preserving peppers and squash tonight. We have enough of both to can or freeze. I’m also going to make a small batch of pickles with my cucumbers since I have a few.

We ate the sweet corn for dinner. This is one of the weeks when dinner was determined bulkiness.

We’ll be having beans with lunch tomorrow. I’m not sure about the tomatoes, but they might just get pureed and frozen for later.

The cheese will keep a few days. The peaches won’t be ready to eat for a couple of days, but will go great in our oatmeal.

The carrots will make a side dish for dinner tomorrow. These peppers are hot and that is my least favorite Fresh Fork item. I’ll probably just freeze them for chili this winter.

We have an abundance of eggs and I’m going to make some custard tomorrow. I’m also going to hard boil some to have for snacks. The chorizo was partially thawed, so it will become part of lunch tomorrow.

The spelt berries are in the pantry. The beets will get used tomorrow. I’ll probably make Harvard beets again. It’s a household favorite.

The cauliflower was dinner. I made it “mac and cheese” style. I used the cauliflower (received instead of broccoli) as the pasta and made a white cheese sauce that used Mayfield Road creamery Smoked Gouda. It was delicious. I don’t have plans for the cabbage yet.

I’m leaving town on Sunday and will be back late on Wednesday. I should have taken a vacation week with Fresh Fork, but I wasn’t really thinking. I’m going to prepare and preserve as much as possible before I leave. My goal is for Stephen to have food for while the kids and I are gone, but not be overwhelmed when he tries to find something in the fridge. I did sign up for vacation next week. That will give me a few days of recovery when I get back. Our freezer is pretty full right now. I just need a couple of days to make some jam and get a bit organized. I’m hoping to make time for that next weekend.

Wholesome Valley Farm: Foraging for Eggs, Produce Picking and More Fun for the Kids.

Adventures with Nick and Sally, CSA No Responses »

Aug 082012

Here’s the last installment from our day at Wholesome Valley Farm. First, here’s an overview photo of the barn, parking and main area. If you look closely, you can see the bounce house. Our kids had lots of fun in it, but I never took any photos of them jumping.

One of the first thing that the kids did was this cart ride. They loved it. It’s a bit strange to send your 2 and 4 year olds off with kids that aren’t all that much older, but they were never totally out of sight and had a blast!

In addition to the bounce house, the kids loved the corn box. Here’s Sally sitting in the corn. She spent lots of time in the box. The next photo is of the chicken house. The chickens can come and go as they please. It was fun to check them out.

Two of the Amish boys help us gather eggs. The kids (and I) thought it was great. One of the eggs was still warm. Eggs don’t get any fresher.

After gathering eggs, the kids got to check out the 2 day old chicks. The expressions were hard to capture, but were priceless.

Last up was produce picking. It was super fun for Nick and Sally to pick a few items from the fields. They ended up with patty pan squash, onions, carrots, and tomatoes. The produce picking came with a ride in the golf cart which was also fun for the kids.

It was such a fun day and the weather was great. The kids are still talking about it. Thanks to the 2 Amish boys especially. They were super nice to Nick and Sally and really made them feel special.

Geauga Family Farms CSA–summer week 10

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Aug 072012

My day started by leaving at 6AM to take the kids to Niagara Falls. My mom came with us and we met up with friends. It was a great day. My pick up for the CSA was smooth, but 2 1/2 hours later than normal. My photos are a bit dark and I’m glad that I found a bit of time for this post tonight.

Here’s what we picked up today:

cantaloupe, watermelon

bell pepper, corn

onions, banana peppers

tomatoes, cherry tomatoes

lettuce

We love local melon season. We will be cutting these melons up as soon as possible so we can enjoy them. I also have a recipe from Jane Snow for cantaloupe gelatin that I am excited to try. If it works out, I’ll share more about it soon.

Our green pepper, lettuce and tomatoes will go into salad. The rest of the tomatoes will be snacks or frozen. I found a recipe for tomato jelly that I’m going to try soon. The onion and banana peppers will be chopped and frozen. We’ll have the sweet corn with dinner tomorrow.

This is a pretty easy week. It’s a good thing for us, since it’s a super busy week in our household.

Wholesome Valley Farm: Workshops, Lacto-Fermentation and Bread

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Aug 062012

Here’s the third installment from our day at Wholesome Valley Farm. After a wonderful lunch, we had the opportunity to take in a couple of workshops. Stephen offered to hang out in the shaded tent outside so the kids could play.

I attended the Lacto-Fermentation class. I had never really thought about making fermented foods before. I was so excited that it was easy.

Karen Geiser was our instructors. She really knows her stuff. She started out showing us how to make pickles.

She used a special Ferment-O Jar. It was super easy and only took about 5 minutes to prep.

Next up was sauerkraut. It was also super easy. She even showed us how to use a regular canning jar for it. No special equipment is required.

Karen also talked about resources and was so excited to see a copy of this new book. She’s 11th on the list for it at the library, not wanting to buy it before she saw it. I think she’ll probably buy it now.

The problem that I have with lacto-fermentation is that you need to keep items in the fridge once the initial fermenting is complete. I don’t have extra fridge space to dedicate to sauerkraut.

After a short break, I brought Nick in and we attended the bread workshop by Tina. We were told it was ok to take photos of the Amish people, but that we should take any close up photos or portraits. So, I don’t have much to show of her.

She explained to us the importance of grinding flour right before it’s made into bread. She then demonstrated her process and talked a lot about using high quality ingredients.

She passed out white flour vs. wheat flour for us to taste and see the difference. Nick loved the brown flour and decided the white flour was icky. Then, he really enjoyed watching the big mixer. This recipe makes 4 loaves of bread!

In between steps, we hears about Dutch Country Grains, their equipment and saw a demonstration of rolling oats. At the end of the day, we each received a sample.

There was a third class at some point, but I never even saw it going on. I’m not sure if it was during or after the two classes I attended, but one can only do so much. After the bread making demo, I headed out with the family to finish up our adventures. Wednesday, I’ll tell you about them in my fourth and final installment about the farm.

Wholesome Valley Farm: Threshing

Adventures with Nick and Sally, CSA No Responses »

Aug 052012

After we learned about the reaper-binder equipment and process, our tour continue at the threshing. We came upon the field and saw the men working. They were tossing sheaves onto a belt. The sheaves went into the machine. Oats come out one shoot and straw came out the other.

When we first arrived, the thresher was being powered by this old steam tractor with really long belts. It was very cool to see.

But, the steam engine wasn’t able to move the belt fast enough to make the thresher work correctly.

They cleaned out the machine a couple of times.

Eventually, they hooked up this 1930’s gas powered Huber tractor.

Our wait while they were fixing the thresher made Sally really tired. She relaxed with Stephen and eventually napped on my shoulder. She was really sound asleep despite the noise from the threshing. She was even snoring.

After sitting on the wagon for about an hour and a half, we headed into the barn for an awesome Amish style meal. We were served family style. The menu consisted of chicken, mashed potatoes, stuffing, green beans, pie and ice cream. The meal was prepared by the Amish women and used many ingredients from the farm. Our day continued with workshops. I’ll be back tomorrow to tell you about them.

Wholesome Valley Farm: Reaper–Binder

Adventures with Nick and Sally, CSA No Responses »

Aug 042012

Our Fresh Fork CSA had an event at Wholesome Valley Farm today. It was the 1st Annual Threshing Day and was a family friendly event. We left Mayfield Heights just after 8AM, stopped for gas, and arrived at the farm right about 9:30AM. The event was to start at 10AM sharp.

Trevor was all set up when we arrived. He had his sign out and cold water available as we checked in and received a schedule.

First up was a tractor ride out to the fields. We past bee hives, pastured Berkshire hogs, and soon arrived at the field of oats that was ready to be processed.

Joel was uncovering the reaper-binder and starting telling us about the process. Trevor was asking lots of questions on our behalf. It was quite informative.

Soon the equipment was up and running. The reaping part of the machine is what cuts down the grain. In this case, feed oats were being processed. The binder uses twine to tie the cut stalks into sheaves.