“The quality of a person’s life is in direct proportion to their commitment to excellence.” ~Vince Lombardi
Week 11 crop list
- Sweet onions
- Potatoes
- Cucumbers
- Summer squash
- Sweet corn
- Bell peppers
- Hot wax peppers
- Italian Eggplant
- Japanese Eggplant
- Beans – full/half
- Kale – single/half
- Basil – single
- Chard – full
- Tomatoes – full
Farmer notes
***Pick your own beans, eggplant, or wax peppers for free over the next few days!!!
- Look for some worms in the tips of the corn, just cut it off as you shuck the ear
- Garlic still has a couple of weeks under fans to cure
- Make sure to keep the potatoes in a cool dark spot until you eat them
- Tomatoes have already run their course in this wet summer
- We are 7 inches above normal in precipitation for 2016
- We had three trees blown down by strong winds last week, most of the corn has now nearly righted itself
- No sugar snap peas this season due to rains and heavy winds
- Coming up next week: fennel, Jalapeños, Torpedo red onions
- Please wash all of your produce before you eat it
Black plastic
In early spring I purchased an old and well used plastic mulch layer from a farmer in Jackson. I had my neighbor do some welding to retrofit it for dropping drip line dead center beneath the 5 foot plastic. Basically, this implement attaches to the three point of the tractor, lays down drip line for irrigation and plastic, and covers one foot of the plastic on either side as you drive down the field. One pass leaves you with a nice tight 3-foot bed of very thin black plastic mulch. In previous years I had used a Jeri rigged system that left us with the edges to cover by hand and used it primarily for melons. Since we could cut down our labor by 80% this season we also planted tomatoes, eggplant and peppers into this plastic mulch. We were able to pot up the seedlings into larger pots in the green house in spring (large plants do not work with the mechanical transplanter) and then put them into the field plastic by hand in early June. This has resulted in a tremendously productive crop of peppers and eggplant this season. You will receive the bounty over the course of the next month until the plants are killed by a solid frost. We will have some eggplant recipes for you in this week’s newsletter. You can always dry or freeze peppers for use later on in the winter months.
We’ve heard amazing tales of ratatouille from some of you so we thought we’d encourage these things. Here is a recipe that can fit into a busy schedule and be ready as soon as you finish working.
Slow-Cooker Ratatouille
You’ll need a slow-cooker with 4-to-5½-quart capacity.
- 1 pound eggplant (unpeeled), cut into ¾-inch pieces
- 1½ teaspoons salt
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 2-3 slicing tomatoes, cut into medium dice
- 2 squash, cut into ¾-inch pieces
- 1 large bell pepper, seeded and cut into ¼-inch-thick slices
- 1 onion, sliced into half-moons
- 4 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme leaves (may substitute 1 teaspoon dried thyme)
- 1 bay leaf
- basil leaves for garnish
Place the eggplant in a colander in the sink, and toss with 1 teaspoon of the salt. Allow to sit and drain for 30 minutes, then rinse. Lay the eggplant on paper towels and pat with paper towels to remove as much water as possible.
Whisk together the oil, tomato paste, the remaining ½ teaspoon of salt and the black pepper in a medium bowl.
Combine the eggplant, tomatoes, zucchini and/or squash, bell pepper, onion, garlic and thyme in the slow-cooker. Add the oil-tomato paste mixture and stir. Add the bay leaf. Cover and cook on low for 4 hours or until vegetables are tender, then uncover and cook for 1 hour more to allow some liquid to evaporate and the vegetables to meld further. Discard the bay leaf.
If you have even an hour to play with, perhaps try stuffed eggplant! This recipe should easily adjust to fit any share size this week.
- 1 medium eggplant
- 1/2 cup chopped onion
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 1/2 cup chopped fresh mushrooms (optional)
- 1/2 cup chopped summer squash/zucchini
- 1/2 cup chopped bell pepper
- 3/4 cup chopped tomatoes
- Basil (leaves from 3-4 branches should do it, or substitute 1/2 tablespoon dried basil)
- 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme (optional)
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon pepper
- Dash crushed red pepper flakes
- Grated Parmesan cheese
- Olive oil
- Cut eggplant in half lengthwise; scoop out pulp, leaving a 1/4-1/2 inch-thick shell. Cube pulp; set shells and pulp aside.
- In a large skillet, sauté onion and garlic in olive oil until onion is tender. Add the mushrooms, squash/zucchini, bell pepper and eggplant pulp; sauté for 4-6 minutes or until vegetables are crisp-tender. Stir in the tomatoes, basil, thyme, salt, pepper and pepper flakes; cook for 1 minute.
- Divide mixture evenly between the eggplant shells; sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. Place on a baking sheet. Bake at 400° for 20-25 minutes or until shells are tender. Enjoy!
Also, we’re looking forward to keeping these wax peppers throughout the year with this fantastic recipe from http://jimlongsgarden.blogspot.com/2012/09/homemade-hot-sauce.html 🙂
Simple Basic Hot Sauce Recipe
1 – Put the following into a food processor:
- 3-5 fresh hot peppers, stems removed (leave seeds in)
- 3 or 4 garlic cloves, skins removed
- 1 medium onion, cut in chunks
- Pulse-blend until this is coarsely chopped
2 – Coat a medium saucepan with 1-2 tablespoons vegetable oil and empty the contents of the food processor into it. Sauté the mixture in the skilled for 5 to 7 minutes, stirring occasionally.
3 – Add 1 cup water and 1 cup of your favorite vinegar and continue cooking for 20 minutes. Add 1/2 teaspoon salt while mixture cooks.
4 – Remove from heat and let cool to room temperature. Pour the mixture into a blender (not the food processor) and blend for 4-5 minutes on high speed, or until everything is completely pulverized. The sauce will thicken slightly once it’s in the refrigerator, so if it seems too thick coming out of the blender, add another 1/4 or 1/2 cup vinegar to thin (don’t use water, remember, the acidity is what preserves this).
Your hot sauce is now ready for putting into jars and keeping in the refrigerator. This will keep for 2-3 months refrigerated. You can also freeze some of it in ice cube trays, then once frozen put in plastic bags in the freezer for later.
