This is the first time we’ve ever given three fruits in one
offering. The seasons are changing and
with it the produce is too. Excitedly, I
have watched each morning for a blackberry to ripen, and now I watch as our
tomatoes put on more and more fruit.
We’ll soon be changing from leafy greens to tomatoes,
peppers, eggplants, and beans. Hopefully
the watermelons, cantaloupe, and summer squash will continue to grow at their
current rate and not get devoured by the bugs like last year.
As far as herbs go, the time for dill and cilantro is over,
and the garlic is harvested and drying, basil of abundant flavors are popping up
everywhere. Thyme, rosemary, and
pineapple sage continue throughout the season, while we’ll also be adding
Italian parsley, marjoram, and tarragon, as well as, various flavors of mints,
including chocolate.
If you are ever stumped for how to use the various herbs I
would advise using the internet. Just
type in ‘recipes using marjoram’, and then find one you like. You’ll be surprised how many recipes were
created because someone was offered a new veggie or fruit from a local family
farm and didn’t have a clue how to use it.
I’ve been reading about the food movement and how various
things like the building of the interstate and capitalizing chemical companies
that made weapons for world wars changed their focus to pesticides, and how
these events affected the produce that has come to be the ‘norm’ in our
country.
Transportability across long distances became the key trait
that the food industry was looking for.
Can I ship it? Will it get
bruised? So this is how the skins on
tomatoes got so thick and the flavor diminished to almost nothing. I could toss peaches into that category too. Eventually, we Americans weren’t satisfied
with our growing season, although California
has a great one, and we started having countries in the southern hemisphere
grow our food for us too. That way we
could have tomatoes in December and apples all year round. Back as early as the 60’s, grocery stores
didn’t stock produce if they couldn’t find it growing locally or within the
borders of our own country. Imagine not
having access to the amount and variety of produce that we currently have year
round?
Variety, that leads to the next topic. Did you know that eggplant comes in red,
green, orange, white, brown, and striped?
And the size varies from the shape of a small egg, to as big as a cantaloupe? How come we only have purple tear-drop shaped
ones available to us now? That is
another story…
I realize that some of the produce we offer stretches
your norm, it does for us to. How does
one use a kohlrabi anyway? So I want to
use this letter as a way to thank you for supporting us – the new family farm
on the block. Thanks for expanding what
you’ll try. Thanks for not giving up on
us just because we don’t look exactly like what is offered in the grocery
store.
As for this weeks offering, I’d recommend peeling and chopping
the parsnips, kohlrabi, and beets, toss them with olive oil and salt and roast
them in the oven at 350 for 20 minutes.
Toss these veggies over a bed of greens and perhaps if you can sacrifice
one, put a peach in with it, and enjoy.
Or sauté the same veggies together in a stir fry.
On a side note, I’d like to get away from paper and put
future thoughts and recipes on our blog, so you can look us up at anotefromthefarm.blogspot.com. That way when you receive kale for the fifth
week in a row you can look to us for some creative help on how to use it.
And if you’d like to contribute with your own successes, just
leave them in the comment section for the weekly recipe.
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