Month: August 2015

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Farm Share Week 13: Aug 26-28

Hello again from the farm! This week we have a box filled with lots of goodies for you to enjoy.  Here is some news from Jenny this week:

Well two of summers most-awaited and juiciest offerings are in your boxes this week: watermelon and tomatoes.
The melon of the week (more on the way) are yellow dolls, which as the name suggest are yellow inside when ripe with a pretty dark green striated ‎rind. We have been looking for yellow spots and knocking them to hear the hollowness inside in hopes that they will all be wonderfully sweet inside (all my test melons so far passed with flying colours), but if you get an unripe melon let me know and I will gladly replace it. I wish I had one of my son’s super heros’ x-ray vision for this task!

Also, we have beefsteak (the normal red ones) and heirloom tomatoes. I mixed them in together so if you see an orange, yellow or multicolored tomato that feels tender to the touch you received an heirloom variety, which I wholeheartedly believe are the tastiest! Being thin-skinned and full-on juicy, they do tend to split, so I picked the more attractive specimens and put them in a clamshell to try to offer them safe passage to your house. If any don’t make the grade after their journey, again let me know. These are too tasty to hog all to myself!

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‎This week I took part in a video shoot for a short video that will bring awareness to farming in the region of Durham. Working with Paul Stiles and his crew was a breeze, and I’m eager to see the results of his work. I actually enjoyed the process.

Ted (founder of Zephyr Organics) and I also went to the Meet Your Farmer Uxbridge Event this past Thursday. It was a blast and full of great people and I couldn’t believe the abundance of produce and local products we had!

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Enjoy these last few weeks of summer, and if your melon’s too big, then share, share, share 🙂
Jennifer
Here are what you can expect to see in this weeks shares:

Half

-romaine or green leaf lettuce

-tomatillos
-yellow doll melon
-carrots
-green peppers
-zucchini
-tomatoes (beefsteak and heirloom)
-saladette tomatoes
-spinach or black kale‎ (if you end up with black kale I will try to make sure you get spinach next week)
-russet potatoes
Whole
-cilantantro
-eggplant
-dandelion greens
-Boston lettuce (light green buttery beauty!)
-ground cherries
-red swiss chard
-chinese cabbage
Since we got more tomatillo and we also have cilantro in this weeks share I would share this tomatillo salasa verde recipe.
Enjoy!
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Farm Share Week 12: Aug 19-22, 2015

Hello from the farm! This is Stephanie again-Jenny was kind enough to take over the blog for a few weeks while I got to spend time bonding with my family upon the birth of our second son, Daniel. I apologize for not having a picture of the farm share box this week-I’ll get one up for the next blog 🙂
Every year I have a hard time figuring out what to do with the tomatillos that come in the farm share box, we don’t eat a lot of salsas which seem to be the primary use for them.  I did however find a unique recipe I’m hoping to try this weekend that actually fries them and you eat them with a dipping sauce.  I figure this recipe would be great for an alternative-if anyone has any great recipes for them please email us with a recipe!
Here is what you can look forward to in this weeks box contents:
Half
-tomatilllos
-grape tomatoes
-celery
-gr pepper
-cucumber
-zucchini
-carrots
-lettuce
-baby bok choy
-ground cherries
Whole
-savoy cabbage
-parsley
-tomatoes
-fennel
-eggplant
-red leaf lettuce
-red swiss chard
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Farm Share Week 11

Sweet little ground cherries in their adorable paper wrappers. Pack 'em as is for a snack!
Sweet little ground cherries in their adorable paper wrappers. Pack ’em as is for a snack!
Tomatillos in there cute paper husks make one lean green salsa or addition to almost any Mexican food.
Tomatillos in there cute paper husks make one lean green salsa or addition to almost any Mexican food.

Hello from the farm! I am loving August, as I stepped out into the field and these 2 beauties (ground cherries and tomatillos) surprised me with how fast they literally were exploding from their skins. These are both from the tomato family and grow on vines. The tomatillos are green and ready when then burst their husks. The ground cherries turn an orangey colour and have a fruity flavour. Finally, here’s the link that shows us how tomatoes are a fruit!

The other item that has me totally stoked is the potatoes. We sent you 2 lbs as we figured most of you could make those tasty tubers disappear pretty fast. Here’s an item where I really do taste the organic difference.

Half
-carrots
-zucchini
-eggplant
-green peppers
-potatoes (cucumbers or tomatillos)
-green or red leaf lettuce
-black kale
-grape tomatoes
-ground cherries
-tomatillos (add to chili, quesadillas or make the classic salsa verde: Click here for Salsa Verde Recipe
Whole
-cauliflower or broccoli
-roma tomatoes or saladette
-fennel
-romaine lettuce
-cucumbers
-raddichio
Hope you’re squeezing all the memories you can into summer. There’s so much to savour.
Jennifer
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Farm Share Week 10: Aug 5-7, 2015

Hi everyone!

We’ve had an adventuresome week on the farm because of (you guessed it), that fierce and fast storm on Sunday. It passed through in only about 20 minutes but there was no mistaking where it had been. We got off lightly in the damage department with a couple greenhouses having their plastic damaged. Our power however, was interrupted for just over a day, and both work and life go on on the farm barring serious tragedy, so my backyard at home became a radish-washing station and my living room became the Zephyr Organics office headquarters. Such a crazy start to the week but all that needed to be done was done.

I am very excited about this week’s and next week’s variety. Cauliflower and broccoli are two items I wish we had way more of but are difficult for us to grow organically, so we have some this week for most people and those that don’t get it this week will get it next week (and some celery in the mean time). Grape tomatoes are on in a bigger way- and they’re just like candy if you ask me. Cucumbers are back and savoy cabbage is here (same as regular with those pretty frilly leaves).

This week instead of a recipe I would like to furnish you with some veggie storage know-how in a sweet little chart, so here goes (in with your list)…

Item Storage Location Storage Tips Uses
Cabbage (savoy) Fridge in crisper drawer Stir fries, soups, slaws, cabbage rolls
Carrots Fridge in crisper drawer or bag Remove tops before storing and discard tops Stir fries, soups, roasted, braised, boiled, sautéed.
Cauliflower, broccoli or celery Fridge in crisper drawer Stir fries, roasted, use in veggie tray
Cucumber Fridge in crisper drawer Use in veggie tray or salad
Kale (green) Fridge in crisper Drawer Great in produce bag so it does not lose moisture, loves ice Smoothies, salad, pasta, stir fries, soup
Lettuce (red leaf) Fridge in crisper drawer Great in produce bag so it does not lose moisture Salads, sandwiches, tacos
Lettuce (romaine) Fridge in crisper drawer Great in produce bag so it does not lose moisture Salads, sandwiches, tacos
Peppers (green) Fridge (can be kept at room temp. for short periods) Veggie trays, stuffed peppers, fajitas, pastas, stir fries
Tomatoes (grape) Counter (room temp. for best flavour) Veggie trays, salads, pastas
Zucchini Fridge in crisper drawer Use as noodles, in stir fries, soups, pastas, sauces
Celery Fridge in crisper drawer Veggie trays, alone with dip or cooked to add flavour to soups, casseroles
Eggplant Counter (room temp. to prevent brown spots). Roast, use in eggplant parmesan, in soup, as meat substitute, roast and puree as dip (baba ghanouj)
Ground Cherries Counter Peel back the cute wrappers and eat as fruit, use as cupcake garnish or add to salads
Radish (red) Fridge in crisper drawer Remove tops to preserve freshness of radishes. Use tops as salad if desired Toss or potato salads, to add crunch to sandwiches, or roasted or braised if milder flavour desired
Swiss Chard (rainbow or red) Fridge in crisper drawer Great in produce bag so it does not lose moisture Pastas, salads, sauces, omelettes, smoothies, pizza
Tomatoes (roma) Counter (room temp. for best flavour) Placing in sun will ripen them further Pastas, salads, roasted, soups

*Items that lose their crispness can usually be perked up in a bath of cold water. Most veggies become wilty because of moisture loss.

 First ten items on list Half and Whole Shares
 Last 6 items on list Whole Shares Only

Here are some pretty pictures from lettuce cutting today. Have an awesome august!

lettuce pics aug 2015