Thursday, September 8, 2011

Aquatic Edition

Regular Hours this week (we will send out an email if anything changes) 
Th 3-7
Fri 11-7
Sat 9-1

Hello from Soggy Acres,

We just finished up our first planting of rice in our newly formed rice paddy. :-)
Yesterday at 2:30 we poured out 4.5 inches of rain from the gauge, and upon arriving at work this morning, found an additional 5.5 inches from during the night and early morning.  So our very official Goodwill at Homefields weather station is reporting 10 inches total from this rain episode so far.

How are we faring?  The farm looks pretty good--some washed out areas, but no crop destruction. The water is for the most part, following the swales and waterways as intended.  It seems like the water capacity of this farm gets a little better each year.  Even with these incredible downpours the water is pretty clear and well-behaved.

Weather aside, we have pumpkins in the harvest this week!  A sign that fall is on the way.  Pumpkins and their seeds both can be eaten and enjoyed.  See the roasted seed recipe below.


Getting to the Vegetables is an Adventure!


 Getting to the vegetables is an adventure


Serving Suggestions for the Harvest:
Pumpkins: both the seeds and pumpkin itself may be eaten. You can even scrape a bunch of pumpkin pulp out for bread, cookies, soup and cakes, and then carve it for a jack o' lantern provided you leave enough "wall" for strength. See seed recipe below:
butternut squash:  these are great roasted, combined with apple, maple syrup, brown sugar.--it really is simple to roast squash whole with the skin on--voila soft squash--no lacerations, missing digits!
potatoes: these potatoes have great flavor: bake, boil, olive oil and parsley potato salad and much more.
sweet peppers:  these are fading away, enjoy.  so many shapes and colors when ripe.  They are easy to freeze, halve, core and freeze on a baking tray, then put into freezer bags.
eggplant: Italian or Asian type, they are the same in use and taste and come in stunning colors.  great on the grill with soy sauce and oil brushed on.
sweet onions: mild, yummy--salads, burgers, cuke and tomato salad, carmelized.
carrots:  we are nearing the end of the carrots, it's been a good harvest. eat fresh, roast in oven, boil and add maple syrup and butter.
garlic: great in everything--except cake and ice cream, and even then.... ;-)
scallions: use in salad, or anywhere onions are appreciated.
cilantro: excellent on a ham sandwich, salsa, salad, liverwurst sandwich and on and on.


Roasted Pumpkin Seeds:
I enjoyed these as a child and still do--they're even good for you :-)
  •  wash the seeds and pick out as much pulp as is practical 
  • place on baking tray and coat with your favorite oil and some salt 
  • bake at 325 for about 30 minutes, stirring at least after 10 minutes. 
  • Enjoy, store extras, (if any) when cool, in an airtight container. 



Hope all is well.  Looking forward to sunnier days ahead.

Your farmers  

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