First week of October, (and last day of september)

Well how could i have forgotten to say it last week? Happy first day of autumn! It is looking like and beginning to feel like fall, too. We have been noticing how early it is getting dark, and the amount of clothing we leave the house wearing in the morning and how much we come in wearing at night. The maples and locusts lately have been putting on a lovely show and i've noticed the burning bushes beginning to burn. We have begun to talk about when our first fire of the year will be, but i don't think it will be very soon. In the last week, we've started to see the veese of geese heading south following the lake.



Lately lots of people have been asking when the last week of the CSA is, what are people getting tired of us already? But really, it is a good question. The CSA runs until the end of October, so there will be four more pickups after this week's, with the last saturday pickup (and the last pickup of the year) actually on november first.



We hosted a dinner this week to say thank you to our three working share groups, and we wanted to publicly thank them as well, if it were not for their hard work and generous help we would not have been able to manage everything this season. It was uplifting to see smiles on their faces even when picking beans and tomatoes for what seemed like hours at a time. The cheerful and very helpful mood each friday morning made it one of our very best days of the week. Our deepest gratitude to Harold, Mark and Pat, Terri, Lydia, and Reeder--thanks guys!



If you are interested in becoming an extremely appreciated person next year, please think about it over the fall and winter and let us know next spring. We will certainly want at least three working shares for harvesting on friday's next year, we will also be looking for someone to help us set up our thursday market in Corning, and may be looking for someone to help us setup at one other market of the week as well. The ideal candidates seem to be self employed, retired, parenting children, or teachers. If you have free time during the week or know someone else who does and may be interested in a working share, spread the word for the 2009 season.



The pierogi making day was a great success and quite fun, too! Pierogies were made and filled and eaten. Folks took walks out to the gorge and sat and appreciated the pond. It is always so meaningful to us to see other people appreciate our land and take time to sit and absorb what is going on here, from the swimming of fish, to the calls of the turkeys in the woods, it makes us glad to see other people have a chance to watch the large and small of our little ecosystem go by. And it made me especially glad to see the ecosytem of our kitchen return to equilibrium before the last guest left, as it is daunting to have 20 some guests in the kitchen, and my heartfelt thanks go out to those who did the dishes and scraped the dough off of our counters. What a nice event! For those who missed it, and for those who didn't- below is the "Classic pierogi" recipe that i have always used. Several other people brought other doughs, as for filling variations, the possibilities are almost endless, we had lots of types of fillings ranging from mushroom, to potatoes, to sweet potato, to grape. I'd be glad to post the dough and filling recipes too, just send the recipes along in an email and they'll go up here for all to see.

This week's share:
Winter squash
cabbage
spinach/lettuce
garlic
onions
Kale/chard
Parsley
apples

next week's share:
broccoli, potatoes, garlic, leeks, celeriac?

Recipes:
Classic pierogi
Dough: combine
3 cups all purpose flour
2 eggs slightly beaten
1 cup sour cream
1/2 tsp salt
dash of pepper

let stand 20 minutes, roll out thinly (1/8-1/4 inch thick) on a floured board. Cut with a biscuit cutter or the top of a large mug. Place a rounded teaspoon of filling in center, fold edges over and pinch to seal them completely (a little water may help). Boil 3-5 minutes, may be browned in a little butter and then served.

Potato Filling:
combine 3 cups mashed potatoes with 1/2 cup finely shredded cheddar cheese.

cabbage filling:
finely chop cabbage, cook in boiling salted water about 10 minutes, saute one onion in butter and then add cabbage, toss with salt and pepper.

Let your imagination run wild with ideas for fillings. Samosa or ravioli fillings work just fine.


rolling the dough and boiling the pierogies

filling the pierogies Butternut squash soup (works with other squash, too.):
1 large squash
6 cloves
2 Cinnamon sticks
6 allspice berries
1/4 cup maple syrup
ground Cinnamon
ground nutmeg

Peel, seed, and cube squash, cover with water and boil, tie non ground spices in a cheese cloth and add to pot, boil and simmer over low for 40 minutes. Remove spices, drain squash and keep liquid, return to pot and mash (puree for smoother soup), add maple syrup, and ground up spices if desired, thin with liquid if needed.

OR cut squash in half and scoop out seeds (save them and bake them at 200 degrees for 10-15 minutes, salt and enjoy a delicious snack), put face down in a tray with a little water, bake at 350 until very tender (about 40 minutes), allow to cool and scoop the flesh out of the skin, mash and add cooking water as needed to make desired consistency, add spices as desired.

have a tremendous week, and eat lots of soup! Liz and Matthew