It is actually week 14!

News from the Farm

Welcome to Week 14. We have reached another transitional time in the season as we shift from fruiting crops to more fall crops. While this will start next week as beets, potatoes and the first winter squash appear in the box we will hopefully have several more frost free weeks to provide more beans, tomatoes, peppers etc. Our late fall greens are all germinated and we are planting the final hoophouse crops later this week. We are also in the midst of assembling our new hoophouse. It will be the biggest thus far and should provide some great additional space for next year’s early crops and even more importantly space to allow for a good crop rotation. There are several farm events coming up this month – Friday September 18th we will be doing a tasting panel for vegetable varieties with some researchers at UW Madison during pizza night (and the next day at the farmers market). We hope to get good feedback on many vegetable varieties so we will know what to plant and trial for next season. The 19th we are also cohosting a yoga retreat on the farm - http://5koshasyoga.com/special-events/yoga-seasonal-harvest-preparation-with-community-meal-at-stoney-acres-family-farm/. There will be a full page feature next week. Also, mark your calender for the pumpkin pick, pizza and pie event which is for CSA folks only and will feature pumpkin (pie and large carving) picking, all you can eat fall themed pizzas and an array of pies, fresh cider and general fall fun.

In Your Box

Red Onions

Tomatillos

Sweet peppers

Hot peppers

Celery

Kale

Beefsteak, Heirloom Tomatoes

Rainbow Cherry tomatoes– Note many of these are so ripe they split after we pick them. Refrigerate/ use right away.

Red Snap Beans (smalls only)-use like other snap beans.

Winecap Mushrooms (smalls only)-

Edamame (fulls only) – see last week’s recipes for description and ideas

Broccoli or Cauliflower (fulls only)- The newest planting is wonderful

Eggplant (fulls only)

Winecap mushrooms: Great for any dish with a soft mushroom including curry, creamed soups, wine braised meats or veggies. We love these cooked fast (3 minutes max) with caramelized onions and a tablespoon of redwine or sweet vinegar. Use to top any starch or meat!

· Celery, tomato and onion salad- 4-5 plum tomatoes, 2 slicers or the equivalent in halved cherry tomatoes, ½ medium onion, thinly sliced into ribbons, 2 stalks farm celery thinly sliced with 1/8 cup leaves included. Dressing ¼ cup olive oil, 3 Tbs balsamic vinegar or sweet vinegar), 2 tbs heavy cream. Wisk dressing, put on salt adjust with salt and pepper to taste. Great with crust bread and cheese!

Roasted summer veggie casserole – we had this 3 times this week and no one was upset J The key is the preroasting which makes it a bit more labor intensive but also better. In a large bowl toss 4 cups of mixed vegetables including onion, minced garlic, thinly sliced eggplant and/or peppers, summer squash and/or plum/cherry tomatoes and mushrooms. Add 3 Tbs olive oil and roast in the oven at 350 for 25-30 minutes on 2 sheets. Remove from oven and transfer to deeper roasting/cake pan, add 2 tbs fresh herbs (cilantro or basil) or 1 tbs dried herbs (Italian seasoning, basil, oregano all work well), an 1 tsp mixed salt and pepper, add ½ cup crumbled feta cheese, toss and bake for 40 minutes until cheese starts to brown. You can use mozz or probably many other cheeses, add seasoned ground pork, beef or lamb, or make without cheese or meat with chickpeas added. All our versions tasted great!

Another kale salad! Both the curly and lacinato (dino) kale this week are perfect for salads. Enjoy with Kalamata or black olives and tomatoes topped with lemon juice, olive oil, pepper and parmesan cheese.