Turtle Times
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Vol. 13, No. 18, Sept. 9, ‘08 7260 NW 58th St., Johnston 50131 278-4522 (577-9208)
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Rain: Sprinkles on several days—nothing measurable
In the Box . . .
Garlic ‘Spanish Roja’
Potatoes ‘French Fingerling’
Braising greens and radishes (maybe)
Tomatoes ‘Dona’, ‘Golden Boy’, ‘Big Beef’, ‘Celebrity’, ‘Sioux’, ‘Garden Peach’, ‘Amish paste’, ‘Arkansas Traveler’, ‘Nebraska Wedding’, ‘Italian Gold’, ‘Green zebra’, ‘Evergreen’, ‘Pineapple’
Cucumbers ‘Tokiwa’
Summer squash ‘Zephyr’, ‘Sunburst’, ‘Dark green’
Peppers ‘Islander’ (purple ones), ‘Romanian’ (light yellow ones), ‘Orion (green),’Ace’, ‘Lipstick’, ‘Jimmy Nardello’, ‘Tequila Sunrise’, ‘Frank’s’, ‘Tolli’s sweet’,
Green beans (haricot vert) ‘Maxibel’
Eggplant ‘Snowy’, ‘Black Beauty’, ‘Ping tung long’, ‘Rosa Bianca’, ‘Italian blush’
Raspberries and strawberries rotating sites
Swiss Chard (to anyone who requests it)
Ala Carte Herbs & Veggies ($1 ea): Lavender, parsley, tarragon, thyme, lemon basil, and collards ($3)
Free herbs to anyone who requests them: marjoram, sage and the basil buckets at each site or basil bouquets
Farm Update
Anyone who has cleaned garlic at the farm comes to be rather skilled in identifying the three types that we grow. The first one that you have already received was ‘Inchelium’, a soft neck (big clue there) with multiple rows of cloves. The two remaining varieties are stiff or hard necks, so more characteristics are needed to distinguish between them. The garlic that you will receive last, later this month will be the ‘German Extra Hardy’, which has a single circle of huge cloves and cleans up beautifully. The “Spanish Roja’ that comes your way this week, besides having smaller cloves (and I think the most easily peeled ones), has another distinct characteristic. The farm crew refers to that as “dirty bottoms”, which, if you look at a few of them, you can easily see why. They are the hardest to clean, and we don’t take the time to get them “totally clean”. The wet ground this year during garlic harvest time also stuck like glue to the roots. Removing that brick hard soil sometimes took all the roots with them. If you find some bulbs without roots, you might use them first in case that encourages bulb deterioration. If you receive some bulbs with few or no “papers” covering the cloves, it’s because the bulbs were in the ground too long and the papers started to deteriorate. These also might be candidates for use sooner than others although that’s only speculation.
Radishes and braising greens might make it into your box this week; it depends upon how much they have grown over the weekend. And the French Fingerling potato is the last potato of the regular season. Since it is a fingerling, it is more waxy and a better candidate for boiling or roasting—not mashing. These are the potatoes that a number of you helped us plant last spring.
Field Day Week
One last reminder--the field day at the farm will be this Saturday, September 13 at 4-6 pm. Some of the things that we will be showcasing besides a general farm tour will be greenhouse basil, winter squash under cover comparisons, dayneutral strawberries, and the research raspberry plots. Iowa State University personnel will be present to talk about the raspberry research plots (Gail Nonnecke, my ISU grad school advisor, and Dennis Portz, her assistant). We think we will have some watermelon ripe and ready to share with you, but if not, there will also be ice cream with elderberry sauce, so we’re hoping for a warmer day than we’ve had lately. Hope to see you there!
Photos Requested
A friend, Helen Gunderson, who is doing some PFI historical filming, some of it at Turtle Farm, has sent a request. “Could you ask your shareholders if they could take pictures (still photos) of them with their shares or doing something related to their shares that show who they are as people, their context of enjoying the food, perhaps preparing the food and eating it? I can see picking out perhaps 10 of the best photos and creating a video montage of them to go with a potential section of the video where you talk about your shareholders and the service/quality food that you provide them.” All you TF camera bugs get busy! Her e-mail is helen@gunderfriend.com.
Recipes
This recipe calls for sun-dried tomatoes, but I think one could use roasted tomatoes. Serve with breadsticks, crackers, or slices of raw fennel, carrots, radishes, and cucumbers.
Sun Dried Tomato & Chevre Spread (from the Moosewood Restaurant New Classics)
1/3 c. sun-dried tomatoes (not oil-packed)
1 c. soft chevre (or a combination of chevre and cream cheese)
1 T. fresh chopped thyme
2 tsp. freshly grated lemon peel
½ tsp. cracked peppercorns
3 to 4 T. milk
In a small heat-proof bowl, cover the sun-dried tomatoes with boiling water and set aside to soften for about 15 minutes. Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, combine the chevre, thyme, lemon peel, cracked peppercorns, and enough milk to make a smooth spread. Drain and chop the sun-dried tomatoes and mix them into the cheese. Serve immediately or refrigerate and bring to room temperature before serving (best if it has a half hour to a day for flavors to blend).