Yes, I think I can finally say the signs of a change in season are here. The heat wave from last week seems to have faded into a hot steamy memory. Mornings are starting to be a bit chillier and watching this morning's weather, the outlook is for even cooler temperatures this weekend. The cooler temperatures are always welcoming on farm, although as I have mentioned before, we still have some summer crops we are hoping will mature. Historically we get our first frost in September and with lows in the low to mid 40's predicted for this weekend, I am sure frost is not far behind. The first frost of the season is generally a light frost only effecting our most tender crops, but it in our minds, it still marks the end of the summer growing season.
On farm we are still getting our fields set for fall and winter production. Lots and lots of greens going into the ground over the next few weeks. Look for fewer and fewer summer crops to be available and shift back to an availability more heavy on greens. We will be harvesting our winter squash this week. These squash will be put in the sun in one of our greenhouses to cure. Delicata and Spaghetti squash require little or no curing, so these will be the first to be available. We will be harvesting our sweet potatoes shortly as well. This is our first season of what we hope are successful sweet potatoes. Those of you who are returning members know we always have lots of sweet potatoes available, but in the past we have purchased them from a friend of ours who runs a certified organic farm to our south. We will keep you posted on how our sweet potato harvest comes along.
One green we are harvesting right now is bok choy. Whenever I see bok choy being harvested two things come to mind. One is a youtube video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R1YNUqglW70) made by some farmers in New Paltz, NY. In this funny video, one of the farmers is absolutely in love with her bok choy; reading the baby bok choy bedtime stories and signing to the plants in the field. She even makes bok choy pizza for her csa customers. Farmer Don likes his Asian greens, but I don't think he has started signing to them yet! The other thing that comes to mind is our first year of growing and Farmer Don's first farm market cooking demonstration. He made a bok choy salad. I will post the recipe below, as it is still a favorite, not only to make, but also to hand out to people at market looking for a way to use bok choy.
In our kitchen, if we are not making bok choy salad, we routinely add bok choy to stir fries and soups. For soup, I would suggest a basic noodle soup (Japanese udon noodles work well) made with chicken (or vegetable) broth to which garlic and bok choy are added. For a special treat, top each bowl of soup with a poached egg. For stir fries we often us a recipe from Andre Chesman's "Serving up the Harvest". In this cookbook, Chesman gives instructions for a basic stir fry and suggests you alter the vegetables as crops become available. There are many stir fry recipes available with a simple google search. We find the secret to a stir fry is having all of your cutting and prep work done before you start cooking. We like to start any meat we are using to marinate first and then cut the veggies, grouping the veggies according to how long they take to cook. For bok choy this means separating the stems from the leaves, as the stems will require a bit more cooking time. Speaking of separating leaves from stems. If you find bok choy leaves a bit too bitter for your tastes, simply cut some of the upper leaf away and compost it.
This time of year our kitchen is a constant flurry of activity. This past weekend Farmer Don used 10 pounds of napa cabbage and bok choy to make a batch of kimchi. Over the past year he has been trying to perfect his recipe and he feels confident this batch will be his best. This latest batch is fermenting in crocks in our back bedroom and I can already smell the lacto fermentation process starting. We should know in a few weeks how it turns out, so stay tuned. On farm we have always done a lot of preserving, canning, pickling, fermenting and freezing, and we are currently working out the logistics and a business plan to offer these products to our customers. Stay tuned for more details on this as well.
It seems our buying clubs are generating some questions. I will try and offer a bit of a clarification. We offer 2 buying club options. The first is a buying club available only to our CSA members. This option allows CSA members to order additional produce, meats, seafood and value added products. The order is then delivered with your weekly CSA box. We do require a 50 dollar deposit to participate in this option, since we deliver the product with your box. The deposit amount declines as you make buying club purchases. The second buying club option we offer is what we call a Winter Buying Club. This option is open to everyone and does not require a deposit. We have not currently opened up option 2 for the season. With option 2, you will need to meet us at a designated time to pick up and pay for your order. We anticipate the winter buying club to start in about a month. Watch your email for announcements concerning the winter buying club and if you are a csa member and would like to order from the csa buying club, please contact the farm to sign up and make your deposit.
Time for market announcements. Farmer Don will again be on the Bloomsburg University campus Friday morning for a Farmers Market. On Saturday we will be at both Forks Farm Market in Orangeville and at the Back Mountain Memorial Library Farmers Market in Dallas. If you visit any of these markets, please remember to stop by our table and say hello.
Thanks again to each of you for your continued support of our farm and local agriculture. Have a great week, be safe, be well and enjoy those veggies.
BOK CHOY SALAD with CREAMY VINAIGRETTE (from Veggie Venture)
BOK CHOY SALAD
Bok choy, trimmed, chopped - 8 ounces
Fresh goat cheese - 1 ounce
Toasted walnuts - 1 ounce
Fresh fruit - 1/2 apple, a tangerine, etc.
Chopped green onion - 3 or 4
CREAMY VINAIGRETTE
2 tablespoons cream, whisked until pillowy (this takes a minute or two, it's also easier starting with more cream but since the dressing doesn't keep well, make only enough for the current meal)
1 tablespoon rice vinegar (or lemon juice or another vinegar)
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon good mustard
Combine just before serving.
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