Floods damage area and local roads

Damage on the roads--- the dirt roads as well as restricted travel on some of the main roads. Has forced us to cancel CSA pickup for Monday August 29. CSA members who pick up at the farm, please check your emails regularly for update about your pick up. We are aiming for Wed but may organize a drop-off in south royalton village.

forcast of hurricane cancels open house

Hi All,

I think we will officially cancel our open house. Perhaps it will be a perfect day to spend in the kitchen making tomato sause, salsa and eggplant dishes..... we will try again in September. Everyone enjoy a quiet day (?) at home. Best to stay off our long and hilly dirt roads...

We did just put shingles on the pizza oven house roof with Steve Hoffman today.... lets see if the job was good enough!

Hot Peppers 1

To help our CSA members identify the hot peppers they got in the shares this week here are these photos. In general, the larger varieties of hot pepper are the mildest. Thus, Anaheim and Pablano are fairly mild peppers. Hungarian Hot Wax and Jalapeno are in the middle range and Serranos and the Long Cayennes are hotter. I actually think the Nippon Taka chili's may not actually be very hot even though other chilis that look like that are typically pretty hot. I am a bit of a whimp myself when it comes to hot peppers so I haven't just tried one....

Here are two hot pepper recipes. You might like to make the hot pepper sauce if you don't know what to do with a quantity of hot peppers all at once. This sauce keeps well in the refrigerator and you can spread your hits of hot pepper over a very long period of time. This sauce also makes a good gift if you know someone else who would take more pleasure in the hot peppers then you would.

HOT PEPPER SAUCES:

Hot Pepper Sauce from Epicurian

Habanero peppers
Jalapeno peppers
Cayenne peppers
Hot chili peppers

really any type of hot pepper you want
Approximately 2 cups, total (of the peppers)

1 head unpeeled garlic
1 cup red wine vinegar
1 T. sugar

Directions:

The exact proportions of the various types of peppers above can be varied depending on your personal tastes and what you have available. For a milder sauce, milder varieties such as Hot Wax, Banana, Pimento, or Bell peppers can be substituted for a portion of the hot varieties listed above.

Using rubber gloves, clean and de-seed approximately 2 cups of peppers. In a saucepan, combine the peppers, garlic, and vinegar and cook, covered, over low heat for approximately one hour. Keep an eye on the liquid and reduce heat and add more vinegar if it seems to be boiling away quickly. Press through a sieve or a food mill, add the sugar, and return to low heat for approximately 30 minutes or until slightly thickened. Pour into a jar or bottle which can be sealed and refrigerate. Will keep in refrigerator for several months.

Great on pork or chicken!

HOT PEPPER PICKLE

Ingredients:

4 qts long red, green, or yellow peppers
1 1/2 cups salt
4 qts water
1/4 cup sugar
2 tbls prepared horseradish
2 cloves garlic
10 cups vinegar
2 cups water

Directions:

Wear rubber gloves to prevent burning hands. Cut 2 small slits in each pepper. Dissolve salt in 4 qts water. Pour over peppers and let stand 12-18 hours in a cool place. Drain; rinse and drain thoroughly. Combine remaining ingredients; simmer 15 minutes. Remove garlic. Pack peppers in hot jars, leaving 1/4 inch head space. Heat brine to boiling. Pour hot over peppers, leaving 1/4 inch head space. Remove air bubbles. Adjust caps. Process 1/2 pints and pints 10 minutes in boiling water bath.

Yield: about 8 pints.

AUGUST OPEN HOUSE

The last Sunday of the month and we want to do it again.

We are having another Pizza Oven and open house Sunday August 28.

Let us know if you would like to bring kids and their ages and we will have some fun kids activities if we have a critical mass... or maybe we will just plan some other optional fun activities that all can participate in.

Anyway, here is the scoop

3pm- 4:30 or 5----- Farm tours and activities (one of which may be chopping veggies for the pizzas!

4:30 or 5 Pizzas start coming out of the oven.

We may also have an open traditional/folky jam from pizza time on if any of you would like to join in with instruments, voices, clapping or just listening.....

Feel free to bring a little snack or something to share or even some cheese or topping for the pizza but don't feel obligated.

You are also welcomed to bring beer or wine. We will have water and apple juice.

If you can RSVP that helps us plan for bread dough and activities..
email us lunableufarm@myfairpoint.net or call 802-763-7981

Thanks

Hope to see you at the farm!

If you need directions, go to our June post. The detour is still in effect. You can always call or email for directions too.

EGGPLANT! a bumper crop!

Get out those favorite eggplant recipes. Lots of eggplant in the CSA shares and at farmer's market. I think I will freeze a bunch for eggplant parm this winter.

Here are some of our favorite recipes.


Baba Ganouj-- a Middle Eastern eggplant dip. Makes a wonderful light summer meal surrounded with lots of fresh vegetables and bread to dip into it.

One large or two med-small eggplant 1 tsp. salt (to taste)

juice of one lemon plenty of black pepper

1/2 cup tahini 1 Tbs. black olive oil

3 crushed cloves of garlic 1/2 cup minced parsley

1/4 cup minces scallion or red onion

Preheat oven to 400. Cut off eggplant stems. Prick eggplant with fork here and there. Place directly on oven rack and roast until completely saggy soft (about 45 mins to 1 hour). Let cool enough so you can scoop out the insides and mash (or put into food processor) and mix with other ingredients. Chill completely.

Thai Eggplant Dip-- From Asparagus to Zucchini: a guide to Farm-Fresh Seasonal Produce

Prepare eggplant as you do for Baba Ganouj above but mash or blend with the following:

3-4 cloves Garlic 1 TBS minced fresh ginger

2 TBS soy or tamari sauce 2 TBS rice vinegar

1TBS sesame oil 1 TBS minced fresh cilantro

1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes salt to taste.

Serve with Warm PITA BREAD triangles. makes about 2 1/2 cups.

Ratatouille-- the Moosewood Cookbook

Now is the time for this Mediterranean vegetable stew! Also freezes well for a taste of summer when there is snow on the ground! Try grilling some or all the vegetables before combining in stew for a rich grilled flavor!

1 med onion, chopped

2 bell pepper, in stripes or cubed

1 or 2 summer squash or zucchini, cubed

1 small or med eggplant, cubed

4 cloves garlic, crushed

2 med tomatoes in chunks

bay leaf

1 tsp: basil, marjoram

1/2 tsp oregano

dash of rosemary

3 TBS of dry red wine

1/2 cup tomato juice

2 TBS tomato paste

2 tsp (about) salt

black pepper

1/4 c olive oil

some parsley, chopped

Sauté onion, garlic and bay leaf in olive oil until onion turns transparent. Add eggplant, wine and tomato juice. Add herbs, mix well and simmer 10 minutes. Add salt pepper, tomatoes and tomato paste. Mix well , Simmer until tender. Serve with fresh parsley on a bed of rice or in a bowl along with some good hearty bread.. also good with grated cheese on top!

Family Day at the Farm

Mark your Calendars! Sunday July 31 beginning at 2pm

Come out to the farm for an afternoon of family fun. Some of our farm crew are planning some fun kids activities but I bet folks of all ages will want to participate! We will also be happy to take folks on a general farm tour. Lots to see in the fields and pastures.

Of course we will fire up the pizza oven too so there should be at least a slice or two for everyone to enjoy beginning at about 5pm.

If we can get any of local jammin' musicians to stop by, maybe we will even have some music fun with the pizza.

If you are inspired, bring some grated cheese for the pizza or some other tid bit or desserty thing to share. We will certainly have good cool water and probably some juice but feel free to bring anything in that department as well.....

Hope you can come! An RSVP to our email will help us to know how much pizza dough to make.... lunableufarm@myfairpoint.net

Sweet Peppers and Fennel

Late July CSA Share
In the CSA shares this week you will find Fennel, pictured on the right. We have some tips for using fennel in a post from last year but here is another recipe to try. This is slightly adapted from the MACSAC cookbook that many of you have purchased.

Orange and Fennel Salad with Mixed Greens

1 bulb of fennel, cut in 1/2 and remove core
2-3 blood oranges or 4-6 tangerines
salt & pepper
1/4 cup of extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup dry sherry (optional)
4-5 cups mixed greens ( to divide on 4 plates)

Slice fennel as thin as possible (use a food slicer or mandolin if available).
Cut one of the oranges (two tangerines perhaps) in half and squeeze out the juice and pulp. into the bowl. Peel & section the remaining oranges. Poke the sections with a sharp fork so they will absorb the dressing.
Mix sliced fennel, juice & oranges with olive oil and sherry- season with salt & pepper.
Let stand for 10 minutes then serve over a bed of greens on individual plates.


No hot peppers in the share.... Those long green peppers may look like a hot pepper but they are not. The dark long green ones (on the left in the photo above) are "Carmens", an italian bull-horn type pepper. It is one of my favorites. They yellow one on the right is similar. We call it a cubanelle or italian sweet pepper. For some reason, most info about this pepper says it is often fried but we often just eat it raw like the other sweet peppers.
If we ever put hot peppers in your share ( and we hope to later in the season), we will put them in their own bag and label them so you will know.

Mixed spicy greens. In the shares you will often get a choice of a type of green that you can cook. Kale, Chard and mixed spicy greens are the most common in the middle of the summer. The bag of mixed greens are often a little on the spicy side. You can sautee them just like you would other cooking greens but you could also mix them with lettuce to spice up your salad.
Don't be afraid of cooking greens. Just try not to over cook. I usually start by sauteing some garlic and onion in butter or olive oil. Once they are translucent, I just toss in my greens (ususally chopped a bit and if necessary, I will seperate the stem from the rest of the leaf and cook that a little first since it is a little longer) Once the leafy stuff goes in, just cook for a little bit until the color gets bright and shiny then get it right off of that heat! drizzle a little lemon juice, vinegar or tamari over them. Serve as a side or on rice or pasta. Experiment and have fun!