Fourth week of September

Snake season again!

This weekend there is a lot going on....Of Course there is a chance to come on up to the farm for our peirogi making day and tomato tasting time. That will take place on sunday, there is also a fund raising dance for a local low income CSA program taking place on saturday night, details on both below.

Pierogis are basically dough rounds made of sour cream and flour that are then filled with potatoes and/or cheese, cabbage, or other fillings. They are tasty treats of polish origin. All attendees will go home with pierogis to freeze (or eat fresh). All attendees are asked to bring one or more pierogi fillings, and a sense of adventure. (Don’t have a recipe, check your older cook books, or a quick Internet search will net you plenty.)

Once all together here, we form the pierogis, fill them with the various fillings, mix them up so every one gets some of every kind, cook them, and put them into freezer bags. In the past we have had fillings made with blue, yellow, red, and sweet potatoes, as well as cheese fillings, cabbage and mushroom fillings, and samosa fillings. It is quite fun to cut into the little pockets and see what is inside as you eat them at a later date! An RSVP is essential to attend this event so we know how many to shop for and how much dough to make. The event will take place Sunday September 28th at 2 PM. People have asked for a tomato tasting event and alas, we can not fit an official taste test in this year, but we will make sure to have our remaining types of tomatoes (some have begun to peeter out) cut up for sampling at the pierogi event. Email or call to rsvp by Friday evening please.

Also going on....

The 4th Annual Farmers Ball will kick off at 6 p.m. Saturday. Sept. 27 at the Ithaca Farmers Market Pavilion. The dish-to-pass dinner starts at 6 p.m., followed by old time dance tunes with Steve Selin, Ritchie Stearns and friends. Special guest Nancy Spero will call dances. Come show off your local food dishes, enjoy what other people have to share, socialize and dance. Please bring a place setting. This event is free and open to the public and will take place rain or shine.

Donations will be accepted to benefit Healthy Food For All which served local low-income families with 60 subsidized CSA shares this year. The Farmers Ball is put on by the Tompkins Area Community Supported Agriculture Coalition. For more information contact: Katie Church, coordiantor Full Plate Farm Collective342-7632 and info@fullplatefarms.org. (suggested donation is $5.)


This week's share:
Tomatoes
Potatoes
apples
Leeks
peppers
carrots
radishes
lettuce



PYO green beans and cherry tomatoes



Seasonal recipes:
Potato Soup with Apple:
1 Tb butter
1Cup sliced leeks
1 cup celery, celery root or fennel chopped
½ cup tart apple, chopped
3 cups broth
1 cup potatoes, chopped
¼ tsp dried tarragon (opt)
¼ tsp pepper
Salt to taste


Sauté the first four ingredients for 3-5 minutes. Add the broth and bring to a boil. Add the potatoes, reduce heat and simmer until the potatoes are soft. Add herbs and puree. Soup should be rich and creamy.

Potato Leek Soup:
½ tsp Salt
1 pound Potatoes, cubed (about 3 cups)
1 pound Leeks, thinly sliced
¼ cup fresh parsley, optional
1 Tablespoon Butter, optional

Bring 8 cups water to a boil in a pot. Add salt potatoes and leeks; cover and reduce heat
Cook until potatoes are soft, about 30 minutes. Set aside to cool slightly. Transfer to a food processor or blender and puree. Do not over-blend or potatoes will become sticky. Return to pot, stir in parsley and butter and reheat. Six servings. Recipe from the Vegetarian Gourmet

Eat well, see you sunday! liz and matthew

Third week of september

Picking all those tomatoes has finally made us flip!
But, this is one of the coolest tomatoes we picked this year!

There is a chance of frost on Thursday night. If that were to happen, it would be the shortest frost-free growing season that we have had since we started farming. This spring we had our latest frost ever --and if it were to freeze tomorrow night, then in addition it would be our earliest frost ever! Neither event is outside of our traditional first and last freeze dates, its just unusual have an late freeze and an early one in the same season. We'll see what happens.

Even if it doesn't freeze, the summer crops are fading away gradually. The cool nights and short days are not what the warm season crops like, and we've noticed them, too. We are inside a little earlier each day, (and are eating dinner a little earlier each night, too!) but as we come in, I've been noticing more clothing on the back of the chair where i tend to dispose of my farming clothes at the end of the day. There also tends to be a trail of warm layers laying around the edge of the fields where we shed them as the day warms and don't always remember them at the end of the day. Soon enough we'll need them in the evenings, too and all our laundry will be where it is meant to be.

Peirogi making day is coming up fast, don’t miss the fun! Join us on the 28th to make and take some peirogies home with you. You bring a filling and we’ll make them and fill them here.

This week’s share:
Tomatoes
Potatoes
Garlic
Onions
Apples
Lettuce
Chard or Kale
Basil
Pick your own Cherry tomatoes and Green Beans!

Mixed Greens Frittata
from Moosewood Restaurant New Classics cookbook
2 cups chopped

1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley

1/4 cup chopped basil

1 1/2 teaspoon olive oil

4 eggs, lightly beaten

1/4 cup water

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup grated feta, parm, or cheddar cheese

In a 10 inch ovenproof skillet, stir fry the greens, parsley, and basil in 1 teaspoon of the oil until wilted and tender. Transfer the greens to a bowl. Rinse the skillet and set aside. In separate bowl, whisk together the eggs, water and salt and stir in 1/4 cup of the cheese. Lightly oil the skillet with the remaining oil and place it on medium-high heat. Stir the egg/cheese mix into the greens and pour into the hot skillet. Sprinkle the top with the rest of the cheese. Lower the heat to medium-low and cook, without stirring, until the edges are firm and pulling away from the sides of the pan, about 5 minutes. The frittata should be mostly cooked, but with the top still slightly undercooked. Place the skillet under the broiler for 3-5 minutes, until the top is firm and beginning to turn golden brown. Cut into wedges and serve.

Make your own applesauce with those ugly apples!:
1 quart Apples cut into chunks, peeled or not
1 cup Water
1/2 cup Sugar
1 tsp. Lemon Juice
Cinnamon (optional)

Put all the ingredients in a sauce pan and cook until tender, about 20 minutes. Mash the mixture using a potato masher or an electric mixer until it is smooth. Top with cinnamon, enjoy!

have a nice week, folks!
liz and matthew

second week of september

starting to be this time of year....

This week the weather has started to seem even more fall-like. The air has become drier, the few trees are still turning red and the golden rod has come into full flower. And for us, the smell of honey as we walk out into the field is intense. It seems like if we walked out with a piece of buttered toast, it would be sweetened by the time we got out to the tomatoes, that is sure sign of fall's coming into swing. And of course, the winter squash are starting to make demands on us that they haven't up to this point, they are getting ready to be picked!

No news yet on Matthew's ticker. Thanks to all for the expressions of concern.

Don't forget this month's CSA event! September 28th we will be making perogies! Please RSVP by Friday the 26th so that we can buy what we need in advance. I'd like a volunteer or two to help mix up the dough an hour or so before the event. An email will go out closer to the event with full details. It will be an afternoon event.

This week's share:

Squash

tomatoes

tomatillos

leeks!

Peppers

carrots

lettuce

apples

Pick your own Green Beans and Cherry Tomatoes

Grilled Tomatillo Salsa:

fresh tomatillos

garlic clove, unpeeled

1/2 cup fresh cilantro (can be skipped)
onion, coarsely chopped

lemon or lime juice
Hot Pepper

2 teaspoons coarse salt

Preheat broiler. Broil chile, garlic, and tomatillos on rack of a broiler pan 1 to 2 inches from heat, turning once, until tomatillos are softened and slightly charred, about 7 minutes (or can be rolled around covered in a dry cast iron skillet on the stove top). Peel garlic and tomatillos pull off tops of chiles. Purée all ingredients in a blender. • Salsa can be made 1 day ahead and chilled, covered. Makes about 3 cups. Freezes well.

Have a great week, sorry this is a late posting again, its been a busy week! liz and matthew

First week of September

This week has not been the best week in the life of muddy fingers farm. Not only has it been a busy week of harvesting, planting, and weeding, but Matthew has also have been having trouble with his heart, so there have been some doctor's appointments, some times when it has been beating a little crazy and some worry on both of our parts about what it could mean for us and for our farm business. On Tuesday he is scheduled for a visit with the Cardiologist and so far all we know is that he has a murmur, which apparently is very common.

It will be good to get in to the specialist as soon as possible, but it makes for a crazy day for me, since I'll be doing market again as well as the delivery on Tuesday. So, sorry folks, i may be a few minutes late again, if at all possible, plan to pick up after 4:15, since it is quite difficult to get packed up from the market and off to Elmira in good time.

A change to announce, the CSA event scheduled for the 27th will be held on the 28th instead. We just learned of a concert by one of our very favorite local musicians will be held on the 27th at Valley Folk and its an event that we don't want to miss! I hope that this doesn't mess people up too much who have put the date on the schedule, if nothing else, you are now free to go to the concert yourself!

This week's share:

Potatoes

Tomatoes

garlic

cilantro

basil

celery

Lettuce mix

Edamame soy beans

Pick your own, green beans and cherry tomatoes!

Have a good week!

liz and matthew

last week of August

The seasons are starting to change, we can feel it in the nippiness creeping into the mornings and the evenings, the way that the days have become shorter, the occasional glimpse of a maple that has turned prematurely red. We've moved our meals into the house from the bistro table on the front porch, partly to accomodate our busy olympic viewing schedule in the last two weeks, but also in an attempt to keep the toes of little margot warm as we eat. We can also tell that the summer season is moving towards autumn because this is the time of year when we are starting to get tired and worn out. Its easy in June when the mornings are still so light to hop out of bed and harvest for an hour or two before market, but once late august hits, and the mornings are getting light later and they are cooler, it takes more effort to get the feet on the floor and get going.

What better way to refresh than to take a vacation, but what, you say, farmer's can't take a vacation in the summer!? True enough, it is almost impossible, but thanks to Mark and Pat, Harold, and Sarah, we were able to get away! Thanks so much for the help in allowing us to have our first 2 consecutive days off of work since March! With the help of the above mentioned crew and a birthday gift to matthew, we were able to enjoy a day on the beach in Ocean City, NJ as well as a chance to see matthew's parents and grandfather. It was amazing to have a whole day with nothing to do but sit on the beach, bodysurf in the waves, walk the boardwalk, and read in the shade of the pier. WOW!

Of course the down fall of taking time off is playing catchup, so we returned and jumped right in again, harvesting beans and cherry tomatoes until dark on monday, harvesting all day on Tuesday until the share delivery, and setting aside all day wednedsday for harvesting as well. Matthew had a friend named Matt who was visiting as well on monday night and tuesday, so he was sucked right into the harvesting fray as well. If you read this matt, thanks to you, too!

your farmers as you haven't seen them before!

Its a bittersweet week for us as well, as i write this we have just returned from putting Sarah and Margot on a bus back to Asheville, NC. The great news is that they are moving here and will be returning with the other third of their family in a few days. The sad news is that we have become so used to having the two of them around that we will miss seeing their lovely faces each and every day. Sarah was a huge help to us and we can't thank her enough for all the beans she picked, dishes she washed, and meals she cooked for us. Margot put lots of smiles on our faces and when she stood in front of our booth munching on a cucumber, we knew they'd sell like crazy. I know we'll miss having them right here, but their new spot in Mecklenberg will be way closer than the old one in North Carolina, so that took the ache off of our hearts as we watched them pull away on the bus.

For anyone who still has edamame from last week, sorry we never got the cooking directions posted, just in case, take pods off of stalks, boil whole pods for 7 minutes. Salt and squeeze beans into mouth, discard the pods. ENJOY all the health benefits of soy beans and a delicious taste, too!

Don't forget to add the 27th of september to your calendars for a CSA cooking event!

This week's share:
Tomatoes
peppers
squash
onions
lettuce
Kale

PYO beans, and cherry tomatoes

next week's expected:
potatoes, garlic, edamame

Ginger Kale:
I bunch kale, cut into strips
2 T oil
1 T butter
2 large cloves garlic, minced
1 medium onion, chopped
1 T minced fresh ginger root or 1 tsp dried ginger
Lime juice from one fresh lime/bottled equivalent
Freshly ground pepper
Steam kale until slightly wilted, heat oil and butter in skillet, add garlic, onions and ginger, sauté until onion is soft. Toss in kale, cover and cook on low until kale is tender. Toss in lime juice and pepper to taste.
From from asparagus to zucchini

Parmesan Zucchini Sticks with Smoky Roasted Romesco Sauce from cooking light

Crunchy breaded zucchini spears are delicious dipped in a summery sauce of roasted red peppers. The sauce is a zesty embellishment for grilled meats, too.

Sauce:3 medium red bell peppers

2 plum tomatoes, halved lengthwise

1/2 cup (1/2-inch) cubed French bread baguette, crusts removed

1 1/2 tablespoons smoked almonds

1 tablespoon extravirgin olive oil

1 tablespoon sherry vinegar or red wine vinegar

1/4 teaspoon Spanish smoked paprika

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

1/8 teaspoon ground red pepper

1 large garlic clove

Zucchini:

3 large zucchini (about 1 1/2 pounds)

1 cup dry breadcrumbs

1/2 cup panko (Japanese breadcrumbs)

1/4 cup (1 ounce) grated fresh Parmesan cheese

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1/2 cup egg substitute

Cooking spray

1. Preheat broiler.
2. To prepare sauce, cut bell peppers in half lengthwise; discard seeds and membranes. Place bell pepper halves and tomatoes, skin sides up, on a foil-lined baking sheet; flatten bell peppers with hand. Broil 10 minutes or until blackened. Place in a zip-top plastic bag; seal. Let stand 15 minutes. Peel and coarsely chop, reserving any liquid.
3. Combine bell peppers, reserved liquid, tomatoes, and next 8 ingredients (through garlic) in a blender or food processor; process until smooth.
4. Preheat oven to 400°.
5. To prepare zucchini, cut 1 zucchini in half crosswise; cut each half lengthwise into 8 wedges. Repeat procedure with remaining zucchini. Combine breadcrumbs, panko, cheese, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and black pepper in a shallow dish. Dip zucchini in egg substitute; dredge in breadcrumb mixture. Place zucchini on a wire rack coated with cooking spray. Lightly coat zucchini with cooking spray. Bake at 400° for 25 minutes or until golden brown. Serve immediately with sauce.

Yield: 8 servings (serving size: 6 zucchini sticks and 1/4 cup sauce)CALORIES 170 (30% from fat); FAT 5.6g (sat 1.3g,mono 2.5g,poly 1.3g); IRON 1.9mg; CHOLESTEROL 3mg; CALCIUM 107mg; CARBOHYDRATE 23.4g; SODIUM 434mg; PROTEIN 8.4g; FIBER 3.9g Cooking Light, JULY 2008

have a great week! Liz and Matthew

Fourth week of August

The morning crew of stargazers Those are some long beans!

What a great week its been! Not only is it nice to come in at the end of the day and be able to enjoy the spirit and excitement of the Olympics. But right here in our own backyard this weekend we experienced exitement and the spirit of people coming together during our annual stargazing event! What a great turnout we had for the pot luck with four tables full of people eating good food and talking good talk! It was nice to sit back and listen to the din of people getting to know each other and catching up with old friends. We had a great clear night to lay out and have a campfire. Many people mentioned that it was their first time ever sleeping out under the stars with no tent above them. The bane of the tentless camper is dew, which can soak blankets and people in them, but between pieces of plastic, tarps, shower curtains, table cloths, a few tents, and a bivy sack, we all managed to have a nice night out. The moon was quite bright, but regardless, a few shooting stars were glimpsed. The campfire was small and cheery and s'mores were enjoyed around it as well as some late night "notdogs" and quite a few songs -- ranging from Kumbaya to Brittany Spears. Our youngest attendees went on a bug hunt and proved that little eyes are sharp by spotting lots of insects even in the darkness. I feel safe in saying that a great time was had by all! Thanks to all who made it out to the event, we really enjoyed having you all up to the farm!

Septembers event is looking like it will be held on the 27th, so put that into your calendar's now. We will have a cooking event since we haven't yet had one this year. Maybe a peirogi making day which has been a hit in the past, or perhaps depending on the basil supply at that time, we could make pesto to send home and freeze. The details are not finalized, but we wanted to get it into those busy schedules now. If there is a cooking idea you'd like to explore, please let us know, we'll through it into the consideration pot.

The tomatoes have finally started picking up a little, but boy has it been an especially long wait this year! The plants had been looking so great and disease free for a long time, but this week, after all the moist days we'd been having, they are beginning to look less hale and healthy. They still should last longer than in the past, but to see them is not as inspiring a sight as it was two weeks ago when it was five and a half feet of pure green leaves with fruits in between. Now, the bottoms of most plants has yellowed leaves with brown spots. Next year we will have to manage the plants a little differently in order to try to avoid the two dreaded diseases that we always seem to come up with-septoria and early blight.

This week's veggies:
Squash
potatoes
garlic
tomatoes
edamame
cabbage
chard/kale
lettuce
dill
PYO beans
PYO cherry tomatoes

Seasonal Recipes: Thanks to Laurie for this great new squash recipes this week, another one will be up next week!

Zucchini Patties (like potato pancakes, with zucchini instead)

2 cups grated zucchini

2 eggs, beaten

1/4 cup chopped onion

1/2 cup all purpose flour (whole wheat works)

1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese

1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

salt to taste

2 T canola or vegetable oil

in a medium bowl, combine all but the oil together. Stir to distribute evenly

heat oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Drop zucchini mixture by heaping Tablespoonfuls and cook a few minutes on each side, until golden.

from allrecipes.com

Quick Savoy Cabbage and Celery

2 t extra virgin olive oil

3 small cloves garlic, smashed and peeled

2 celery stalks, thinly sliced and cut on the diagonal

6 cups shredded cabbage

pinch of salt

umeboshi vinegar

heat oil in wok or skillet, cook garlic for 5 seconds, and celery and stir-fry vigorously for 30 seconds ( i dont' know either how you stir fry vigorously, What is it like to stir fry without vigor?)

add cabbage, mix with celery and cook for about 1 minute, sprinkle on salt, cover and cook for 2 minutes, check to see if burning after 1 minute and adjust heat as needed

test cabbage, it should be light, bright green and slightly crunchy, serve hot with a splash of umeboshi vinegar.

from greens glorious greens serves 3-4

i guess that's it for this week, happy eating!

liz and matthew

3rd week of August

garlic drying in the green barn tall tomatoes in our new cages
sarah and margot in one of the "tomato tunnels"

good bye cucumbers...

Today was one of those days where we were outside harvesting until 9:00. That was even with Sarah offering her help. It was nice to have a dry afternoon to pick beans and tomatoes, since it was too wet to pick them on friday and too busy throughout much of the weekend (we try avoid picking those plants when the leaves are wet since diseases spread much more quickly on wet leaf surfaces). Since we had missed a harvest on our beans, there were LOTS to pick and it made it tough to get it all of the harvesting done. We got some tomatoes for the shares but with this cool, rainy weather most of the tomatoes really just seem like they would rather stay green. This weather has been so strange, what a cool, wet august! I seem to remember having warmer day back in March than we have had this month.

Any way not totally related to the weather, but the cucumbers are dying and dying fast. I have included a photo and the damage is somewhat evident, but they are going to be all dead much sooner than i would have imagined.

That's not to say that there are no crops that love all the rain we have been getting. One thing that we grow that really enjoyed all the rain is our garlic. All of it has now been harvested and is hanging now. They grew much bigger than we've gotten them to before - especially the German Red.

One product of all this rain is plenty of mushrooms. We have been enjoying taking a couple walks through the woods with Margot and inspecting (though not touching!) all the wild mushrooms that are popping up. They come in pretty much every color: purple, yellow, orange, red, white, black, brown. We took a walk through the Finger Lakes National Forest and saw mushrooms practically every step of the way. If you get to take a walk through some nice hardwoods, make sure you look down occasionally to avoid walking past or on top of these beautiful specimens.

Speaking of the Finger Lakes National Forest, if you are coming up to the farm for the next CSA event, an overnight on Saturday the 16th, stop by the national forest for an all day acoustic music celebration of New York State's only national forest's 25th anniversary.

This weeks Vegetables:

Sweet Onions- great raw fine or cooked, too

Beets

Summer Squash

Lettuce

Tomatoes

Basil

Parsley

Peppers

Cucumbers

PYO Beans

PYO Cherry Tomatoes

Next Week's (Expected) Vegetables:

Potatoes

Carrots

Summer Squash

Lettuce

Tomatoes

Celery

Garlic

PYO Beans

PYO Cherry Tomatoes

Green Goddess Dressing:

1/2 cup sour cream

1/4 cup cottage cheese

1/4 cup buttermilk (you can sour milk with 1 tablespoon lemon juice per cup of milk)

1/2 cup canola oil

2 T. fresh lemon juice

3 T chopped scallions (sweet onions would work)

2 T water

1/2 t salt

1 t chopped garlic

1/4 tsp black pepper

1/4 cup fresh parsley

pinch of ground cardamom

Blend all ingredients together, shake and enjoy on salads, cucumbers, or sandwiches.

Oh NO, Not more Beets!:
1 T butter

2 beets, grated

1 carrot, grated

3 cloves of garlic

175ml orange juice (2 T?)

seasoning of your choice

Sauté the garlic in the melted butter for a few minutes.Add the rest of the ingredients and cook stirring over a medium heat for 5-8 minutes. Serve Immediately
From Riverford organic vegetables website

We wanted to welcome our newest CSA member who arrived just this week, Phoebe was born on 8-8-08, congrats Sarah, Harris, and Theo!

Have a great week! Liz and matthew