Our Daily Tasks: Covering and Uncovering

Our Daily Tasks: Covering and Uncovering

The winter wonderland where we grow your veggies.

The winter wonderland where we grow your veggies.
Photo credit: Emily Hammon
Want to join and receive your own share of delicious veggies each week? If you are interested in signing up, please email us at greededgegardens@gmail.com. For more information or to download our Enrollment brochure, visit our website at www.greenedgegardens.com/CSA.

We love sharing our wonderful produce with you! We started this blog so that we can keep you up to date with all that is happening on the farm. It is also an opportunity for all of us to get to know one another better. One of the strengths of a CSA is the direct relationship between the farmer's experience and your experience receiving fresh vegetables weekly.

We want to hear from you, so please feel free to share recipes, thoughts and ideas-just click on the COMMENT below each post to add to our CSA community.

September 30, 2008

Update on this week's share...

Unfortunately, we weren't able to include the Swiss Chard in the share this week--instead we included more tomatoes, mushrooms & salad mix. Definitely expect to see the Swiss Chard in your share over the next few weeks. We apologize for any inconvenience. Have a great week!

--Claudia
ATHENS HILLS SUMMER CSA:
WEEK FIFTEEN

Hello Everyone!

With the change in seasons I am brought back to one of my favorite reads of this year, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life. I love the recipes that are included in this interesting exploration of eating locally. I’m sure many of you have read it and so I won’t go on too much about its contents. I will say however that if you haven’t had a chance to read it yet, it is an inspiring book to pick up and read over the colder months—it gets my creative gardening instincts going anyway in anticipation of spring and planting a whole new slue of veggies & fruits! The recipes I’ve included from the book can also be found on the website that accompanies the work—www.animalvegetabemiracle.com.

Most of our summer produce is winding down and the fall crops are coming along nicely, some of which you will get to taste in this week’s share. The Swiss Chard is particularly gorgeous this week and the potatoes and mushrooms certainly make it taste like fall. The tomatoes are still plugging along, but oh so slowly these days. We will be saying goodbye to them soon, until next year anyway. This is the case with the eggplant as well, so enjoy these last delectable bites of summer. Have a great week & enjoy the veggies!

Best Wishes,
Claudia

PS: In the next few weeks, keep an eye out for our Winter CSA brochure in your share. If you can’t wait until then, you can get a copy of it online at our website as well. We hope you’ll take a look and dream of the culinary adventures that await you with next season’s veggies! Be sure to contact us with any questions you may have about the WINTER 2009 CSA.


FEATURED VEGGIES

Salad Mix (The salad mix is doing well and we’ll soon be getting the plantings for the houses started, which means that the salad will continue, hopefully uninterrupted into the winter. It is truly wonderful to have these greens fresh throughout the year!)

Mushrooms (You all know these oyster and shiitake mushrooms well by now and this week you get a taste of both. Don’t forget that you can dry them for later use in soups, etc. by baking them on a cookie sheet at the lowest temperature and checking them until they are dry.)

Tomatoes (It is Heirloom & Cherry Tomato central this week in your share. The tomatoes are starting to wind down for the season as the shorter days and cooler nights begin to set in. Soon we will be saying a sad goodbye to these wonderful embodiments of summer. I’m making sure to get my fill before they’re done J .)

Eggplant (This may be the last time these appear in your shares this season. I’ve included a recipe here that highlights this veggie’s special flavor. I hope you enjoy.)

Red Potatoes (Who doesn’t love these? This week I’ve included a couple of seasonal variations on a summer favorite—potato salad. I hope this helps you see these gems & this dish in a new light!)

Garlic (Yes, this delicious little bulb of spicy flavor is here and will add enjoyment to many recipes including the ones this week.)

Recipe: EGGPLANT PAPOUTZAKIA

2 lb. eggplant
Olive oil
2 medium onions,
garlic to taste
2 large tomatoes,
diced
2 tsp. nutmeg
salt and pepper to
taste
6 oz. grated
mozzarella

Slice eggplant lengthwise and sauté lightly in olive oil. Remove from skillet and arrange in a baking dish.


Chop onions and garlic and sauté in olive oil. Add diced tomato and spices and mix thoroughly. Spread mixture over the eggplants and sprinkle an even layer of cheese over top. Bake at 350 for 20 minutes, until golden on top.


(Recipe courtesy of Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life, 2007.)

Recipe: SUMMER POTATO SALAD

2 lbs red or golden new potatoes
cut in 1 inch chunks
3 tbsp olive oil
coarse salt
2 bell peppers cut in chunks
2 cups green beans (stringed and
broken in 1-inch lengths)
1-2 ears sweet corn on cob
2 cups tomatoes cut in wedges
½ cup fresh basil
¼ cup olive oil whipped together
with 1 tbsp balsamic or
other mellow vinegar

Toss potatoes with salt and oil and spread on baking sheet. Roast in 450° oven until tender (20-30 minutes). Place ears of corn, lightly oiled, with the potatoes. Add peppers and green beans to roast for last 10 minutes. When done, loosen the vegetables with a spatula, cut corn kernels off cob, and combine in a large, shallow bowl.

Toss tomatoes, basil and dressing with roasted vegetables, salt to taste.


FALL POTATO SALAD

2 lbs potatoes (any variety)
seasonal vegetables
4 tbsp dried basil
¼ cup olive oil whipped with 1
tbsp balsamic vinegar

Prepare roasted potatoes as in “Summer” recipe, combining with late-season peppers and green beans, shelly beans, or limas, roasted along with the potatoes. Toss with fresh tomato wedges, basil and the dressing. As the season progresses and different things become available, you can mix and match other vegetables with the potatoes to your heart’s content, keeping proportions roughly the same. Cubed winter squash and sweet potatoes are wonderful in this roasted dish, requiring about the same amount of time in the oven. Don’t hesitate to combine sweet and regular potatoes – they are unrelated, and marry well!

(Recipe courtesy of Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life, 2007)


Let us know what your favorite recipes are for any of our veggies by commenting on this week’s newsletter blog entry, or via email. We love to hear from you!

September 26, 2008

WHAT TO EXPECT IN YOUR SHARE: WEEK FIFTEEN

SALAD MIX
MUSHROOMS
EGGPLANT
CHERRY TOMATOES
HEIRLOOM TOMATOES
SWISS CHARD
RED POTATOES
GARLIC

September 23, 2008

ATHENS HILLS SUMMER CSA:
WEEK FOURTEEN

Hello Everyone!

Happy autumn to all! I am excited for my favorite season of the year and I hope you are as well. The nights are becoming cooler and the days shorter, and our veggies are responding accordingly. All of the fall plantings are doing great and so many of our summer veggies are slowing down. I love watching, smelling and tasting the change of season here at the farm. Even though summer’s bounty is wonderful for the belly and the soul, so is the cornucopia that autumn promises.

It also promises quite a bit of hard work that goes into getting the houses ready for winter plantings and the fields ready for the cover crops. As many of you may know, the transition times can be overwhelming, but also exciting as we start to imagine what veggies are to come with all the changes. One change that we are not looking forward to is losing our wonderful intern Amanda. She is heading on to exciting and different things at the end of this week. I would like to thank her on behalf of everyone here for her hard work, persistence, good humor and playful jabs—she fit right in from the start! We will miss you Amanda!

I hope you all have a great week and have a chance to glance at the leaves on the trees and the birds in the sky as autumn blooms all around us. Be sure to let us know some of your favorite fall recipes and we’ll be happy to share them in the newsletter. Thanks!

Best Wishes,
Claudia


FEATURED VEGGIES

Salad Mix (The salad mix is doing well and we’ll soon be getting the plantings for the houses started, which means that the salad will continue, hopefully uninterrupted into the winter. It is truly wonderful to have these greens fresh throughout the year!)

Kale (Our first of the fall plantings are ready and very tasty. It is always exciting to see these gorgeous greens after a long hot summer. I hope you enjoy the first tastes of autumn this week.)

Mushrooms (You all know these oyster and shiitake mushrooms well by now and this week you get a taste of both. Don’t forget that you can dry them for later use in soups, etc. by baking them on a cookie sheet at the lowest temperature and checking them until they are dry.)

Tomatoes (It is Heirloom central this week in your share. The tomatoes are starting to wind down for the season as the shorter days and cooler nights begin to set in. Soon we will be saying a sad goodbye to these wonderful embodiments of summer. I’m making sure to get my fill before they’re done .)


Long Beans or Green Beans (Tasty and crunchy still. We have been lucky to have such a bountiful season of both. Add these to the second recipe to give it a bit more crunch—just steam with the other veggies and enjoy.)

Beets (Sweet & tasty—I hope that you enjoy every bite. For easy peeling, just boil whole root, minus the leaves, for about 10 minutes, drain, rinse and rub the peel right off.)

Sweet Basil OR Parsley (Fall is certainly herb season here at the farm. We hope that you will enjoy the one that you received this week—they’re both so tasty & versatile.)

Recipe: Beet Relish (Makes 5 ½ lbs. or 11 medium glasses)

3 C. finely chopped beets
1 C. cider vinegar
6 ½ C. sugar
2 tsp. horse-radish
¼ tsp. each cinnamon,
cloves, and
allspice
1 bottle liquid fruit
pectin

Remove leaves from beets and place in a pot covered with water. Bring to a boil over high heat and boil for 10 minutes. Drain, rinse with cold water and rub off the peel while rinsing. Let cool.

Once the beets have cooled to the touch, finely chop and put into a very large pan. Add vinegar, sugar, horse-radish, and spices. Mix well.

Bring the mixture to a full rolling boil over high heat and boil hard for one minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and at once stir in liquid pectin. Skim off foam with metal spoon. Then alternately stir and skim for 5 minutes to cool slightly and to prevent any floating. Ladle quickly into glasses. Cover at once with 1/8 inch paraffin. Another option would be to allow the relish to cool and then place in storage containers for refrigerating.

(Recipe courtesy of The General Foods Kitchens Cookbook, 1959.)


Recipe: Cottage Pie (Serves 5 to 6)

4 large, 6 medium, or 8 small
potatoes
1 ½ C. Brussels sprouts halved,
with outer leaves removed
2 medium carrots, sliced
1 medium parsnip, chopped
2 sticks celery, sliced
1 small beet, chopped with leaves
2 C. shredded greens
1 bell pepper, chopped
½ C. fresh parsley OR basil, finely
chopped
½ C. cheddar cheese, grated
1 tsp. thyme
1 tsp. ground coriander seed
salt and pepper to taste
a little milk, butter, yogurt, sour
cream or buttermilk

Scrub and cut the potatoes and put them into a large pot with a lid. Cover with cold water, bring to a boil, and boil the potatoes until soft.

Put the rest of the vegetables in a large colander or vegetable steamer, and place this over the potatoes. Put the lid on the pot and steam the vegetables until tender while the potatoes boil. Transfer the vegetables (not the potatoes) to a large oiled casserole dish and mix in the parsley/basil and grated cheese. Sprinkle with thyme, coriander, salt and pepper, and set aside.

When the potatoes are soft, drain and cool them and then peel them by hand (or simply prod with a fork while still hot and peel off the scarred or rough areas of skin and leave the rest). Mash the potatoes with a little milk and butter (or use sour cream, yogurt, or buttermilk) and add salt and pepper. Cover the vegetables in the casserole dish with the mashed potatoes and bake at 200F for 20 to 30 minutes to brown the surface a little.

(Recipe courtesy of Vegetarian Food For All, 1996.)


Let us know what your favorite recipes are for any of our veggies by commenting on this week’s newsletter blog entry, or via email. We love to hear from you!

September 19, 2008

VEGGIE LIST FOR WEEK 14

SALAD MIX

MUSHROOMS

HEIRLOOM TOMATOES

PEPPERS

BEANS

BASIL/PARSLEY

BEETS

KALE

September 15, 2008

ATHENS HILLS SUMMER CSA:
WEEK THIRTEEN

Hello Everyone!

I hope everyone survived the crazy wind storm that swept through our fair state this past weekend. This weather has been something else over the last couple of days with the heat & humidity on Saturday, the wind and clouds Sunday, and the cool, autumn-like rain and gray of today. Now is the time to dress in layers since you never know what will happen five minutes in the future!

I do know that this week is a busy one here at the farm. We’ve got plenty of weeding and thinning to do out in the fields as the fall roots continue to grow and grow, and the salad mix plantings thrive in this cooler, slightly wetter weather. We will begin out greenhouse transitioning this week as well, beginning with the Hot House. This house had our very first Basil plantings in it this spring and will soon become the fall & winter home of the Salad Mix. We get to pull all those Basil plants out so that we can switch the soil, clean out the raised beds and greenhouse floor and start anew. Pretty soon we’ll be moving on to the other houses to transition them as well. As we make room for the greens that we’ll plant there for the next two seasons, we’ll be saying goodbye to the tomatoes. But that isn’t for a few more weeks at least, so enjoy those beautiful tomatoes while the sun is still warm & close enough to create that wonderful taste we’re so fond of! Have a great week!

Best Wishes,
Claudia


FEATURED VEGGIES

Salad Mix (The salad mix is doing well and we’ll soon be getting the plantings for the houses started, which means that the salad will continue, hopefully uninterrupted into the winter. It is truly wonderful to have these greens fresh throughout the year!)

Kale or Collard Greens (Our first of the fall plantings are ready and very tasty. It is always exciting to see both of these greens after a long hot summer. I hope you enjoy these first tastes of autumn this week.)

Mushrooms (You all know these oyster or shiitake mushrooms well by now and are hopefully enjoying them. Don’t forget that you can dry them for later use in soups, etc. by baking them on a cookie sheet at the lowest temperature and checking them until they are dry.)

Tomatoes (This week it’s our picker’s choice between the Heirlooms and Slicers. By now you are familiar with all of these and can enjoy them as autumn approaches. An easy way to store all of these for later is to dry them on a cookie sheet in your oven. Try drying the Slicers in quarter slices or halves for a sweet treat during the blahs of winter.)

Eggplant (Just so you know, this might be the last of these bold and beautiful purple delights for the season. Bake them whole and scoop out the deliciousness to enjoy in the recipe I’ve included.)

Beets (Sweet & tasty—I hope that you enjoy every bite. For easy peeling, just boil whole root, minus the leaves, for about 10 minutes, drain, rinse and rub the peel right off.)

Potatoes (What can I say about these perfect staple veggies? I hope you enjoy them in all the ways potatoes can be enjoyed!)

Recipe: Guacamole Salad
(Serves 6)

3 medium tomatoes, chopped

1 yellow bell pepper, seeded and ½ inch diced
1 (15-ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained
1/2 cup small diced red onion
2 tablespoons minced jalapeno peppers, seeded (2 peppers)
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated lime zest
1/4 cup freshly squeezed lime juice (2 limes)
1/4 cup good olive oil
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
1/4 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
2 ripe Hass avocados, seeded, peeled, and 1/2-inch diced

Place the tomatoes, yellow pepper, black beans, red onion, jalapeno peppers, and lime zest in a large bowl.

Whisk together the lime juice, olive oil, salt, black pepper, garlic, and cayenne pepper and pour over the vegetables. Toss well.

Just before you're ready to serve the salad, fold the avocados into the salad. Check the seasoning and serve at room temperature.


(Recipe courtesy of The Barefoot Contessa at Home & The Food Network, 2006.)

Recipe: Eggplant Patties with Cheddar Cheese (Serves 4)

Eggplant is cooked then mashed and shaped with cracker crumbs, cheese, eggs, garlic and green onion, then the patties are deep fried.

1 medium eggplant, peeled and cubed
1 1/4 cups cracker crumbs (about 20 butter crackers)
1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
2 eggs, slightly beaten
1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley, or
1 teaspoon dried parsley flakes
1 clove garlic, finely minced
3 tablespoons thinly sliced green onion, with greens
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
2 tablespoons vegetable oil

In a covered saucepan, cook eggplant in boiling water until tender, about 5 minutes. Drain well, place in a bowl, and mash. Stir in cracker crumbs, shredded cheese, eggs, parsley, garlic, green onion, salt, and pepper. Shape mixture into 8 patties about 3 inches in diameter. Heat oil in a large skillet; cook patties, turning to brown each side, until golden brown.


(Recipe courtesy of Diana Rattray & southernfood.about.com, 2008.)

Recipe: Quick Mushroom Soup
(Serves 2)

6 to 8 Button mushrooms
2 tsp Tomato paste
1 tsp Butter
2 tsp. corn flour
2 cups vegetable stock
salt to taste
1/2 onion
1 clove garlic
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
pepper powder to taste

Chop onion and garlic finely. Slice mushrooms vertically. Grind cumin seeds coarsely.
Melt butter in a pan. Put garlic. Fry till golden brown. Add onions. Fry till it is soft. Add mushrooms and sauté for 30 seconds. Add tomato paste and mix. Pour vegetable stock. Add cumin seeds. Bring it to boil for 3 minutes.

Make corn flour slurry by adding a little water to it. Add the slurry to the soup. Boil for 2 minutes and turn off the flame. Add salt and pepper to taste. Serve hot.

(Recipe courtesy of Anis Fathima & khanakhazana.com, 2008.)

September 12, 2008

WHAT TO EXPECT IN YOUR SHARE: WEEK THIRTEEN

SALAD MIX
MUSHROOMS
TOMATOES
POTATOES
BEETS
EGGPLANT
KALE OR COLLARD GREENS

September 8, 2008

ATHENS HILLS SUMMER CSA:
WEEK TWELVE

Hello Everyone!

This week I would like to welcome the newest member to our Green Edge extended family! Rob and his wife Skye welcomed their little girl into the world this past Sunday, and we are so excited to have another little one around! It has been baby mania here this year at the farm. Cale and his wife Melanie had a little boy in March. Dan and his wife Mary had their little girl this past May, Princess the cat had her litter of cute kittens early this summer, and now Rob and Skye have their baby girl. There must be something in the veggies!

To celebrate our mushroom guru’s new arrival, I’ve dedicated this newsletter to our shiitakes and oysters. The recipes you’ll find here will be sure to whet your appetite, and will hopefully give you a new idea or two for your dinner menus this week.

I am also excited to let you know that this week you can find our Winter CSA brochure online at the blog. We will also have it available on our website at the end of this week or sometime next week. Be sure to check it out, call us with any questions, and sign up early—it’s first come, first served, and you as members get to have an early heads up.

Have a wonderful week, enjoy your tomatoes and other summer veggies while they are still going strong, and think of autumn & winter’s bounties that lie ahead. Sweet daydreams!

Best Wishes,
Claudia


FEATURED VEGGIES

Salad Mix (I’m so glad to see this back in your shares! The greens have recovered and now you can get back to all that salad eating you’ve been missingJ.)

Bell Peppers (These beauties are doing great this year! If you can enjoy them right away, think about slicing or chopping them, placing them in a Ziploc and storing them in your freezer for later.)

Mushrooms (You all know these oyster or shiitake mushrooms well by now and are hopefully enjoying them. Don’t forget that you can dry them for later use in soups, etc. by baking them on a cookie sheet at the lowest temperature and checking them until they are dry.)

Tomatoes (This week it’s our picker’s choice between the Heirlooms and Slicers. By now you are familiar with all of these and can enjoy them as autumn approaches. An easy way to store all of these for later is to dry them on a cookie sheet in your oven. Try drying the Slicers in quarter slices or halves for a sweet treat during the blahs of winter.)

Long Beans (These Asian beauties are sweet and crunchy and can be used just as you would our green beans. Store in the fridge crisper, and if you want to preserve them for later, can them or freeze them as you would green beans too. Try sautéing them whole with some garlic or shallots, sesame oil and soy sauce—delicious!)

Beets (Sweet & tasty—I hope that you enjoy every bite. For easy peeling, just boil whole root, minus the leaves, for about 10 minutes, drain, rinse and rub the peel right off.)

Potatoes (What can I say about these per

fect staple veggies? I hope you enjoy them in all the ways potatoes can be!)

Recipe: Paul & Dusty’s Killer Shiitake Recipe (Serves 2-4)

1 Tbs. olive oil
2 Tbs. sesame oil
1 Tbs. tamari or soy
sauce
2-3 Tbs. white wine
pinch of black pepper
1 to 2 cloves of crushed
garlic
1 lb. whole, fresh
shiitake
mushrooms

Mix the oils, tamari, wine and spices in a small bowl. Stir vigorously as the ingredients tend to separate. Set aside.

Cut the mushroom stems from the caps. Place gills facing up. Do not slice mushrooms! (The stems can be dried and sued for a soup base or discarded.) Baste the sauce onto the gills of the mushrooms, making sure the gills become saturated with the sauce.

In 350F oven, bake mushrooms uncovered for 30-40 minutes. Or you can barbecue on an open grill. The smoky flavor makes it even better. Serve hot with seafood, rice, pasta, or whatever. Unbelievably good. Yum!

(Recipe courtesy of Growing Gourmet and Medicinal Mushrooms, 2000.)


Recipe: Scott & Alinde Moore’s Cheese-Mushroom Quiche (Serves 2-4)

1 ready-made pie crust
1 ½ C. grated Swiss cheese
1 Tbs. butter
1 medium onion, chopped
¼ lb. mushrooms, chopped
dash of salt, pepper & thyme
¼ tsp. salt
1 ½ C. milk
¼ tsp. dry mustard
4 eggs
3 Tbs. flour
paprika

Cover the bottom of the pie crust with grated Swiss cheese. Meanwhile, sauté butter, onions, mushrooms, salt, pepper, and thyme. Add the sautéed ingredients to the pie crust. Beat together the remaining five ingredients and pour over mushroom layer in piecrust. Sprinkle with paprika. Bake at 375F for 40-45 minutes, or until center is firm. Enjoy!

(Recipe courtesy of Growing Gourmet and Medicinal Mushrooms, 2000.)



Recipe: Jack Czarnecki’s Chicken with Oyster Mushrooms (Serves 2)

1 ½ C. heavy cream
1 tsp. crushed fresh garlic
1 Tbs. finely chopped onion
½ lb. Oyster mushrooms cut into
2-inch strips
salt & pepper to taste
1 Tbs. cream sherry
1 Tbs. prosciutto
12 oz. cooked chicken or turkey meat
from breast, sliced into 2-inch
strips
½ C. chicken stock
2 Tbs. cornstarch mixed with 1/3 C.
water

Combine all the ingredients except the cornstarch mixture in a heavy skillet. You may also want to save the salting until the dish is slightly heated. Heat until simmering over a medium flame, then continue simmering over a low flame for 5 minutes. Thicken with the cornstarch and water mixture, and adjust for salt as necessary. Enjoy!


( Recipe courtesy of Growing Gourmet and Medicinal Mushrooms, 2000.)


Let us know what your favorite mushroom recipes are by commenting on this week’s newsletter blog entry, or via email. We love to hear from you!

September 5, 2008

WHAT TO EXPECT IN YOUR SHARE: WEEK TWELVE

SALAD MIX
MUSHROOMS
SWEET PEPPERS (GREEN &/COLORED)
LONG BEANS
TOMATOES
POTATOES
BEETS

September 2, 2008

Rob Kaminski's Blog

Greetings Folks,
I began growing the mushrooms here in June, after being a long-time customer of Green Edge at the Athens Farmers Market. My wife Skye and I are expecting our first baby at the end of September, which amazingly, is almost here. We live just a few miles the-way-the-crow-flies from the farm. We have four dogs and a cat, but I've been told raising a baby will be a little different. I came to Athens for Ohio University, where I studied English Literature and Environmental Studies. Skye and I fell in love with the unique community here and are excited to begin our family in the Athens area. Skye teaches the sixth grade at the Plains Elementary.

This will be a fairly typical week of duties in the mushroom house for me. There are the daily routines of picking and misting the mushrooms, and weekly activities such as rotating new mushroom blocks in place of the older ones. And of course there is cleaning, which is essential for the mushroom grow room constantly. Last week I had a neat experience while picking Shiitake mushrooms at 4am (early start on Thursdays for deliveries to Columbus). The local radio station was playing a themed hour of songs and interviews having to do with the chaotic political conventions of 1968. It was one of the more enjoyable 4-5am slots I've experienced.

I hope you folks are enjoying the array of Oyster and Shiitake mushrooms that have been a regular part of the CSA this season. Claudia and I are going to try and get some creative mushroom recipes up on the blog for you to enjoy. Thanks for supporting our farm!

WEEK 11


FEATURED VEGGIES

Salad Mix (I’m so glad to see this back in your shares! The greens have recovered and now you can get back to all that salad eating you’ve been missingJ.)

Green Bell Peppers (These beauties are doing great this year! If you can't enjoy them right away, think about slicing or chopping them, placing them in a Ziploc and storing them in your freezer for later.)

Mushrooms (You all know these oyster or shiitake mushrooms well by now and are hopefully enjoying them. Don’t forget that you can dry them for later use in soups, etc. by baking them on a cookie sheet at the lowest temperature and checking them until they are dry.)

Slicer Tomatoes (Ah, the round red tomato that we all know so well. Great for everything a tomato is great for, including canning. Unfortunately, these taste so good that they never last that long in my kitchen!)

Cherry Tomatoes (You all know our Sun Golds and Super Sweet 100s well by now.)

Green Beans (Crunchy wonderful green beans, what can I say about these? If you want to freeze these beauties, don’t forget to blanch them first and allow to cool before placing in a freezer bag—they don’t freeze too well if you don’t cook them just a little first.)

Beets (Sweet & tasty—I hope that you enjoy every bite. For easy peeling, just boil whole root, minus the leaves, for about 10 minutes, drain, rinse and rub the peel right off.)

Red Potatoes - Try these with butter and parsley. Mmmm

ATHENS HILLS SUMMER CSA:

WEEK ELEVEN

Greetings to all!

While the radio tells us that it's fall now, the proof is in the gardens. The bounty just keeps coming. We hope you are enjoying the mix. I'm filling in for Claudia today while she and Andy move into their very own house! Congratulations to them.

Maybe you remember a mention a while back about canning tomatoes. It looks like that may be happening at the end of this week. Please let us know if you are interested in learning, helping, etc. You will take home a case of tomatoes for the winter for your efforts.

And speaking of the Winter 2009 season, we are receiving many inquiries already. We will be putting the brochure online at the website in a .pdf file. This is scheduled for the end of this week, so give a look when you get a chance. The prices for winter have increased from last season. With our expenses (utilities and labor) rising, we had to adjust.

We are harvesting potatoes, and sowing cover crops, preparing new fields to incorporate into next year's production, planting the gardens for the fall harvests. It's hard to fathom, I know. It's actually busier now that in the spring!

Let me once again say a huge thanks to all for returning your boxes. You have done a truly great job! Keep up the good work!

For Claudia and the rest of the crew,

Becky


I'm a push-over for new cookbooks, and my newest one is an oldie from the 1950's, Betty Crocker's Picture Cook Book.

Stuffed Green Peppers

The Peppers

Cut a thin slice from the stem end of each pepper. Wash outside inside. Remove all seeds and membrane. Place peppers in a kettle with salted water. (1 cup water and 1 ½ tsp. salt for 6 peppers. Cover, and boil for 5 min. Drain, reserving liquid. Lightly fill peppers with desired stuffing. Bake 20 min.in mod. oven.

Ham-and-Corn Stuffing

Combine 1 Cup medium White Sauce, 1 cup cooked whole kernal corn, 2 cups ground cooked ham, and ¼ tsp. dry mustard. Fill loosely 6 parboiled green peppers Sprinkle

With ½ cup buttered bread or cracker crumbs. Bake 20 minutes in moderate oven.

Medium white sauce -

2-3 T. butter

2-3 T flour

¼ tsp salt

1/8 tsp pepper

1 C. milk

Melt butter over low heat in a heavy saucepan. Blend in flour and seasonings. Cook over low heat, stirring until mixture is smooth, bubbly. Remove from heat. Stir in milk. Bring to boil; boil 1 min, stirring constantly. Cook until thickened (for best flavor cook 10 minutes.)


CREOLE BEANS

Cook in 2 Tbs. fat (oil, ed.) until tender....

1 C thinly sliced onion

2/3 C. chopped green pepper

2/3 C. celery

Mix in......

2 C. diced ofresh or canned tomatoes

2 C. cut-up cooked or uncooked green

beans

1 ½ tsp salt

¼ tsp pepper

Cook until cooked beans are heated through or until

uncooked beans are tender.

AMOUNT: 6 servings

Have a wonderful week and don’t forget you can contact us at:

(740) 448-4021

greenedgegardens@verizon.net

Or visit us at our blog…

www.greenedgegardens.blogspot.com



September 1, 2008

Week 11 Share List
Salad Mix
Mushrooms
Tomatoes (Slicers )
Cherry Tomatoes
Beets
Beans
Green Peppers
Red Potatoes