Seedy sweet-talk

FFF Photo a Day - Day 37 

Today was spent doing inventory of saved and leftover seeds and pouring over seed catalogues. After much debate surrounding what we will grow this year, we managed to come up with a complete list of varieties and quantities and finished our seed orders! Whew! 

Looking forward to trying a few new things such as collards, Armenian cucumber and Honeynut Squash. Of course we have way too many varieties of tomatoes (if that's possible) and are also trying a few some yellow and red carrot varieties. 

Week #5 - 2014 FFF CSA - What's in the Box - Cucumbers are Cool (on the inside)

Our cucumbers are exploding with fruit (yes, they are a fruit) so I thought I would share with you some thoughts on what to do with them over the next few weeks. Did you know that cucumbers are in the same family as watermelons and cantaloupe? Another cool fact (no pun intended) is that the inside of a cucumber can be up to 20 degrees cooler than the outside temperature... now you know where the phrase "cool as a cucumber" came from! 

There are generally two kinds of cucumbers, pickling and slicers. In your box you will only find slicing cucumbers. Pickling cucumbers as the name suggests are used to make pickles! Slicers can be eaten in many different ways. Our returning customers will know that our favorite is making tzatziki - a greek yogurt based dip made with cucumbers, garlic and dill. Recipe here!

For more info about cucumbers and their nutritional value, recipes, etc. follow this link.

So... What else is in the Box this week?

• Mixed Lettuce with Spinach
• Cucumber - New
• Beets
• Broccoli or Cauliflower
• Turnip for the full shares
• Beans - yellow and green - New
• Kale
• Peppers - New (gave everyone a taste of the peppers as they ripen up - this week, there is a mix of sweet green peppers, purple "musto gusto", jalapeno, & yellow hungarian wax)
• Potatoes
• Peas
• Basil
• Parsley
• Chives
• Oregano
• Dill
• Cilantro for the full shares
• Swiss Chard for the full shares

We pick the vegetables within 24 hours of the box being delivered. We do rinse the produce but it would be prudent to wash all vegetables when you get them home. Keeping the herbs (ends) in a cup of clean water will keep them fresh longer.

Please return your empty box along with all re-usable containers (ice cream pails, plastic containers, etc) so that we can reuse them all over again. 

Follow us on Facebook or on Twitter at @FenezFollies

Week #8 - FFF CSA Update - What is a "peck" anyway?

We all know that Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers. You may not know that a peck a dry measure that equals about a 1/4 of a bushel.



Sweet Bell Peppers
 

Serrano Chiles

While you won't find that many peppers in your CSA box this week, there is a variety of peppers that are flourishing in our fields and thus have or will make their way to you over the next few weeks!
I thought it might help to walk through some of them to help you decipher the sweet from the hot (an important distinction for most of us).  Throughout this blog update you will find pictures of the different kinds of peppers we are growing this year.
 


Jalapeno

Sweet Bell Peppers: (we grow green, red, purple, orange and yellow)


Habenero

Serrano Chiles: long green chile (light green)
Jalapeno: short, dark green chile
Habenero: green to orange - pepper looks like its been crumpled - very hot
Red Chiles: - long, thin chiles - can be eaten either fresh or dried.





Medusa Peppers

Red Chiles

A couple of other items of interest related to this week's box.... bitter cucumbers? I have been researching this topic as it was driving me crazy and I thought I would pass along what I found. Every once in a while we would come across a bitter cucumber from the garden and I was trying to figure out whether the bitter ones are smaller? Larger? Less green? How can you pick them out?

Well what I found out was that the bitterness is caused by a actual chemical that is found in the stem, leaves and skin of the cucumber. Every once in a while the bitterness leaches into the flesh of the cucumber. Not a lot is known concretely about why this happens to one cucumber but not to others. However, when you are cutting a cucumber and discover that the stem end may be a tad bitter... keep cutting and you will likely get past the bitter part as it rarely affects the whole "fruit". You can also just peel a larger part of the skin and outer flesh off as the bitterness often is only around the outside.

Ground Cherries - each of you have a small sample of ground cherries in your boxes this week. These little nuggets of goodness come wrapped in their own paper husk. This berry grows on a bush and is in the nightshade family (same as tomatoes, peppers and tomatillos). You know they are ripe when they fall off the plant, the husk gets brown and papery and the berry is a deep yellow. Hope you enjoy!

What's in this week's box? Thanks for asking...
 Kale
Peppers - assorted - both sweet and hot!
Potatoes
Cucumbers
Carrots
Zucchini
Swiss Chard
Herbs (Basil, Cilantro, Chives, Parsley, Oregano)
Broccoli - for the half shares
Cauliflower - for the full shares
Ground cherries - a little taste for everyone!
Spring onions
Squash - assorted (spaghetti squash, sunshine, scallop and acorn)
Tomatoes - while most are red... you will find some purple and yellow tucked in!

Hope you enjoy your treats this week!
 

Week #5 - FFF CSA - As cool as a Cucumber!

Did you ever wonder where the saying - "as cool as a cucumber" comes from? Did you know that the inside of a cucumber can be up to 20 degrees cooler than the outside temperature? Cucumbers while commonly referred to as a vegetable are actually fruit and are related to zucchinis, squashes and pumpkins.

Our cucumber plants have begun to explode with fruit and experience tells me that we will all soon have an over abundance of these green torpedoes! While you can't beat a fresh garden cucumber simply sliced and gobbled up from the cutting board... eventually we all need to think of other uses.  Tzatziki is a great way to use cucumber! Made from shredded cucumber, yogurt, garlic, and herbs, tzatziki is a greek sauce great for dipping with pita or other vegetables. Tzatziki is the
traditional sauce found in gyros or served with soulvaki. We prefer our tzatziki a little thicker than most so use a recipe with some sour cream:

http://greekfood.about.com/od/dipsspreadspures1/r/Tzatziki.htm

You can use mint or parsley instead of dill as well depending upon your preference.

So what you really want to know is...

What's in this week's (Week #5) CSA box
Lettuce (mixed greens)
Kale
Herbs (Parsley, Basil, Chives, Cilantro, Oregano)
Carrots
Zucchini
New Potatoes
Beans (yellow, green, purple)
Beets

New this week!
Broccoli (for full shares only this week)....don't worry there will be some for everyone...
Turnip
Cucumber

We have started milking this week so days begin with the routine of milking five goats and hopefully one cow. Grace - our cow is new to milking and we are still working out a routine that is going to work for all of us. I'm looking forward to making cheese and soap again!

Again a reminder that we need all pails and cups back so we can wash and re-use. Also if you have extra large containers that you are going to recycle... give them to us and we will use to keep your veggies fresh! Thanks!