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!