As farmers we will celebrate the upcoming Labor Day by laboring. But we'd also like to celebrate the farm and our collective labors with you all. On Monday September 6 we would like to invite you to gather and celebrate with us at the farm during CSA pickup time, 3 until whenever. For those who haven't been to the farm yet, it is located at the corner of Garrison and Dakota, behind Family Liquors. You can park along the street and the entrance to the farm is halfway down Dakota. Please invite anyone you think is interested in visiting the farm, and do let us know if you are thinking of coming so we can plan accordingly. We'll have food and drink but bring something to share. If your pickup day is on Monday you can grab your share from the cooler.
Our neighbor Astasia (that's a guess on spelling) came over to the farm a few days ago and needed help with a large branch that had cracked off a branch of her apple tree, which had stripped a large section of bark off the trunk and was hanging precariously. She offered that if we cut it down for her we should take the apples. So, this week we are happy to give out Astasia's apples. Each house along our street here has at least one giant old apple tree, remnants of when this area was filled with orchards and agricultural concerns. The property where farm headquarters sits was at one time a hog farm. This is a photograph of the Addenbrooke Farm headquarters, just a bit further down Garrison. Our current farm was a little corner of the Addenbrooke Farm, which covered hundreds of acres and was one of the first dairies in Denver.
Astasia brought a friend over to help us with tomato harvest. Farm dog Oyster did not like friend.
Harvest List: Canary melon Fingerling potatoes Poblano peppers Mustard greens Leeks Apples Sweet corn Summer squash or cucumbers Tomatoes Rainbow carrots Please note this list is dependent on weather and crop conditions, not guaranteed or comprehensive.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
It’s easy to forget that food has seasons. At the grocery store, everything is always in season. . . fruits and veggies are available year round because of the immense globalization of food. For many reasons it shouldn’t be this way, and certainly wasn’t always. Not all that long ago if you didn’t preserve each of your foods during its peak season, you didn’t survive. Running out of food in the winter wasn’t an option so food preservation was an everyday activity alongside food preparation. Early hunter-gatherers figured out how to grind, dry, smoke and cure the wild foods that they ate, keeping in mind that they had to keep their loads light across great distances while following wild game. They built earthen and stone caches to store dry goods, a precursor to root cellars. Then came the discovery or fermentation with the dawn of agriculture. Eventually people figured out canning, initially in lead cans (oops ...), ultimately to aluminum and glass, with technology to vacuum seal, becoming mainstream during the war-era, ration-inspired Victory Gardens movement in the 1940s. Any humans who lived prior to the 1900 would roll in their graves to know that we have the technology to preserve foods so easily in freezers at home. (Freezing is an ideal method of preservation because it stops most chemical and biological processes that slowly break down a vegetable’s nutrition once it is picked, so it preserves nutrients best. Also arguably the easiest method of preservation.) We also now have fancy dehydrators and air fryers, so we don’t have to wait for the sun and swat away flies like our ancestors did while our food dries. Even with our luxurious modern food preservation technology, it still feels like a lot of work to preserve food. It's a lot of work just to get in all that summer fun! While we can still survive without preserving all of our own food, every small amount of food that any given person is able to consume in the off-season by fishing it out of the freezer or pantry is contributing to positive change in the food system. Each tomato that doesn't travel from Chile this winter ... Hmm, guess we won’t order as many cases for our grocery store. There are a lot of ways to preserve this summer's haul with varying degrees of involvement. Some of us enjoy staying up all night sweating over the enamel canner full of farmers market peaches, others are more suited to blanching and freezing a handful of green beans in 30 seconds and being done with it until thawing it out for dinner on a chilly next February eve. If you just can’t eat another cucumber this week, but also just can't summon the energy to can them, make a little jar of quick fridge pickles. Drowning in leafy greens? Blanche, squeeze, chop and freeze, and boom! Elevate your scrambled eggs on snowy January morning. There is at least one way to preserve most every item that you’ll get in the CSA share. Here’s some ideas for how you can preserve part of your share: Basil: pesto! or just buzz it up and freeze in ice cube trays Beans: blanch for a minute and freeze, pickle or can Beets: pickle or can Broccoli/cauliflower: blanch and freeze Cabbage: ferment or root cellar storage Carrots: fridge/root cellar storage, blanch and freeze Corn (sweet): blanch, cut from ear and freeze or can Cucumber: pickle Eggplant: dehydrate or roast and freeze Greens: blanche/chop/freeze, (delicate salad greens don’t really hold their own in the freezer ... you’d best enjoy them while the getting’s good this season) Herbs: hang upside to dry, crumble into a jar for dry use Kale: dehydrate, blanche,squeeze and freeze Melons: freeze or dehydrate Okra: freeze or pickle Onions: caramelize and freeze, or store in a cool spot Peas: blanche and freeze Peppers: roast and freeze or pickle Potato: store in a cool place Radish: pickle Squash (summer): grate and freeze, pickle Squash (winter): store in a cool spot but roast, puree and freeze if you don't have space Tomato: roast and freeze (whole or sauce), can (whole, salsa or sauce), dehydrate Tomatillo: can or freeze salsa Any of these can accompany meal prep in a few simple steps. I always try to remember to label my bags going in the freezer and jars going in the pantry with what year it was frozen or canned but inevitably wind up with dusty jars of sauce or jam that have been hanging around in a corner for an unknown number of years. Matter of fact I think the jam I just had on my toast may have been from 2015. This is a quick overview and we're happy to provide guidance on any methods above. In the interest of space we are deferring discussion of fermentation for another day. Stay tuned.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Recipe:
Chile rellenos
Broil the poblano chiles in the oven until they are almost completely blackened on the outside, turning often, about 10 minutes. Place them directly into a tightly sealed jar to steam them for 10-15 minutes until the skins slip off easily under cold water.
Slice the peppers down the middle and remove the seeds. Stuff them with strips of cheese and fresh sweet corn. Sautee, deep fry or roast in olive oil until cheese is melted, about 5 minutes. Top with fresh diced tomatoes and cilantro.