What to expect with this week's CSA share.

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52 Lowell Street, Lexington, MA
Wed – Fri: 2 pm – 7 pm; Sat: 9 am – 5 pm; Sun: 10 am – 4 pm

Week of August 6, 2014 (Week #9)

In This Issue

What's In Your Share This Week

In the Farm Stand

Bell peppers: we’ll start with purple Islander or creamy Chablis, both similar in taste to the more typical green peppers
Tomatoes: red and orange varieties
Kale: this will be our final harvest of our stalled spring planting; we’ll be topping entire plants in order to get the most out of them before we turn them under. Our fall planting should get be ready for picking by late August.
Walla Walla Onions: very sweet fresh eating onions
Cucumbers
Summer Squash
Zucchini
Carrots or Beets
Maybe Eggplant: the plants slowed down during the cooler nights, we’ll see how they look for this week’s pick.

Pick Your Own Crops This Week

Cherry Tomatoes
Plum Tomatoes
Basil
Parsley
Dill
Cilantro

We do our best to predict what will be available but the CSA newsletter hits the press before the week's harvest begins. That means that sometimes you'll see vegetables at the stand that aren't on the list, and sometimes vegetables on the list are not actually ready for harvest.

Notes from the Field

“Please don’t pick tomatoes when they’re wet” and other happy tales…

For many of you this week picking up your CSA share meant dealing with a bit of disappointment when greeted with the note “Cherry tomatoes closed for picking due to wet weather”. For this we apologize. It is likely that no one is more disappointed than us at having to wait out the wetness before we can get back into our various tomato plantings for picking and all of the maintenance we would like to be doing at this time of year. But we are taking the long view. We hope that you have been enjoying the first pick from our main crop and the ongoing pick from the cherries and plums and we want to pick tomatoes RIGHT NOW like everyone else, but we also want to be picking tomatoes three weeks from now…six weeks from now…?

The weather has been wet and/or very humid for prolonged periods of the last 10 days and has presented ideal conditions for promoting many of the most common fungal (and fungus-like) diseases of tomatoes. Though we have had fruit on the vine for picking we have periodically closed the plantings this week during rain and for a few hours after because walking around and picking in the tomatoes while wet is the best way to spread these fungal diseases from plant to plant. As we have said in the past, we are getting to know this property quickly and often in the form of difficult lessons learned. We now know that (as any property that has been in continuous vegetable production for 100 years) the populations of Septoria and Alternaria organisms in the soils here are extensive, both of which cause significant leaf damage that in turn decrease general plant health and vigor. We have seen symptoms early and some varieties have been hit hard. This combined with the now annual specter of Late Blight means that we need to be as cautious around our tomatoes as possible. We are working on strategies to deal with these issues in the future but for now we ask for your patience and understanding. Please come back at any point during the week during farm stand hours to complete your picking and help us to extend the life of our tomato crop this year.

Thank you again for all of the positive feedback we have been getting form all of the shareholders in the farmstand and out in the fields, it continues to be such a joy to see the smiles of you and your children around the farm picking up and picking your food as we near the midway point of the season.

Enjoy the harvest!
- Dan, Erinn and the crew

All About Cucumbers

Choosing: Select cucumbers that look fresh, are firm, and do not bend. Smaller ones are often firmer and have fewer seeds.

Storing: All sources (including UMN, Food52, and the kitchn) seem to agree that cucumbers should be stored away from fruit to avoid exposure to the ethylene produced by fruit such as tomatoes, apples, bananas, and melons. In researching these notes I learned that some experts are emphatic about storing cucumbers unrefrigerated, because they can apparently develop pitting and water soaked areas if chilled below 40°F or 50°F. Others emphatically urge us to store cukes in the fridge. If you do plan to store them in the fridge keep them in a warmer part of the fridge and away from fruit. Wherever they are stored, try to use them within a few days.

- Jackie Starr

Featured Vegetable: Cucumbers

Ranjan's Yogurt Raita

I learned this recipe from an amazing teacher of Indian Vegetarian Cooking, Ranjan Ravilaya, who teaches at Minuteman Tech Continuing Ed. My daughter Lydia and I took her classes a couple of years ago, and we became more adept with the cuisine (which is a shared favorite) than we had ever hoped to!

I highly recommend this class, which is called Masala Mixin' (Vegetarian Style). It's offered every fall and spring. Sign up for the next session this fall here. There's even an Intermediate class offered.

Here is Ranjan's Yogurt Raita, which is delicious alongside or on top of so many dishes, and I enjoy it with rice.

Serves 4

2 Cups plain low fat Greek style yogurt
1-2 cucumbers, skin and seeds removed, chopped
1/2 an onion, minced (optional)
1/2 a tomato, seeded and chopped (optional)
1 teaspoon roasted cumin
Salt to taste
1 tablespoon oil
2 teaspoons urad dal (split black moong beans)
Fresh cilantro

Mix yogurt, cucumbers, (onion, tomato) salt and roasted cumin powder in a mixing bowl. Heat the oil in a skillet and add the mustard seeds. Once they have popped add the urad dal and let it brown a little. Add this to the raita in the bowl, season to taste with salt and cilantro.

Nancy Gold is a Board Member of LexFarm, working to bring Farm Based Education Programs to the public. She is sad to see so many area farms lost to development pressures and is gratified that the community valued the Busa Farm enough to rally around it and ultimately save it!

More Ideas for Cucumbers

Cocktails and Mocktails
No juicer required: Make cucumber juice and shake up some cocktails. Puree one or two coarsely chopped cucumbers (unpeeled) and a handful of ice cubes in your blender and pour through a fine-meshed strainer, pressing to extract all the liquid (discard the solids). Use as a base for mojitos, gimlets, or margaritas.

For a refreshing non-alcoholic beverage, mix up a Mexican agua fresca.

Salads
Classic is a simple cucumber salad with dill. This one is sweet and sour, and this one creamy.

If you're not into dill, try this one

For an Asian twist, try the Japanese cucumber salad called sunomono or a version with seaweed flakes or miso.

Cucumbers along with more fresh vegetables add crunch to a farro salad or Israeli couscous salad.

Add peanuts and coconut for an Indian-inspired cucumber salad.

For something unusual, try this one with browned tofu, pine nuts, and avocado over rice or noodles or this one with poppy seeds and cilantro.

Add tomatoes for a Middle Eastern tomato and cucumber salad. Add more vegetables and feta for a Turkish Shepherd's Salad.

Fattoush is another Middle Eastern salad made with stale (or toasted) pita bread in addition to the fresh vegetables. Here's a Lebanese version with a dressing made sumac and pomegranate molasses (available at the Middle Eastern markets in Watertown). Here's a version from the cookbook Jerusalem, made with a homemade sort of buttermilk. And if you're short on time, you can always cheat and use pita chips from a bag.

Soup
Make a cold silky cucumber soup. Creaminess can come from yogurt, avocado, or, in this vegan version, silken tofu.

Cucumbers are the base for white gazpacho.

Add cucumbers to a tomato-based gazpacho or a cold borscht.

Miscellaneous
Make pickles: What about garlic dill pickles or sweet bread-and-butter pickles or Asian-flavored spicy quick cucumber pickles?

Roll in rice paper wrappers with carrots, avocado, and lettuce for summer rolls.

Tzatziki is a refreshing cucumber-yogurt sauce served with grilled meats like souvlaki or kebabs.

You can even have cucumbers for dessert, as popsicles. Start simple with cucumber lime mint popsicles. You also combine with watermelon or add some spicy chile.

Here are even more ideas from The Huffington Post, Martha Stewart, and Saveur.

Compiled by Jackie Starr & Betsy Pollack

Weekly Menu Planning Ideas

Periodically, CSA shareholder Jackie Starr will share her weekly menu ideas based on the week's share.

My four- and six-year-olds eschew bread crusts. We buy our bread at Great Harvest and save the crusts on the counter, using the food processor to make bread crumbs when the crusts have dried. Our current surplus of crumbs led to this week's menu involving two dishes with crumb coatings – eggplant parmesan and zucchini fries.

Day	Menu	Notes and other protein ideas
1	White beans and celery, serve with cucumbers, peppers, tomato, feta, olives	I bet you still have celery from last week, as I do. Steamed local mussels or clams would be very nice with the white beans and celery. If beans do not appeal, this celery soup looks delicious, as does this one that uses dill instead of fennel bulb.
2	Leftover zucchini soup, corn on the cob, salad	Simple grilled chicken could go on the salad. Or one could make a salad of corn, cucumber, and feta instead of corn on the cob. If you've made celery salt with your celery leaves consider using that to season and garnish the soup, perhaps along with some diced tomatoes and minced walla walla onion. Dill or basil would also taste good in this soup.
3	Eggplant parmesan or tomato tart with bread crumb crust; celery salad	The astringency of celery would nicely complement the richness of the eggplant; perhaps celery salad with toasted walnuts and nectarine or marinated beets. In case the cool nights preclude eggplant's making it into our shares this week, I'm also offering a tomato tart recipe that I've not yet made but features bread crumbs. Use walla wallas in place of green onion in the tart. Chopped basil might make a nice garnish for this tart.
4	Black beans, homemade corn tortillas, sauteed zucchini, onions, and peppers. Set some beans aside for beet burgers	Some people may prefer ground meat, turkey, or shrimp to make soft tacos. Use your cilantro as a garnish.
5	Leftover eggplant, beans, sauteed vegetables, cilantro
6	Beet burgers, zucchini fries, raspberry-marinated carrots	Can use black beans in place of lentils or use canned beans or lentils. I put beet burgers on a previous menu but I didn't make them and still have beets. If you did and are looking for something new, insert your favorite burger or other meal here. I haven't yet made zucchini fries and likely will adapt this recipe, which is vegan and has fewer steps.
7	Chard or kale sauteed with onions and garlic on pasta with brown butter, golden raisins, and walnuts	This may be my favorite way to enjoy swiss chard, and it's also delicious with kale. You can be much less fussy than indicated in the recipe; e.g. I pour the brown butter without filtering, being careful to leave the burned brown bits in the pan; and don't worry if you don't have currants or the exact color of raisings. Use the walla walla onions in place of red. Slice a cup or two of chard stems and saute with the onions. This dish would nicely accompany sausages.

Jackie Starr is a LexFarm founding member who has been a flexitarian home cook for 25 years. Her recipe selections and adaptations are informed by experiences living abroad, by having spent many years in the Bay Area and Seattle, and by a delight in local, seasonal bounty.

6-Week Flower Shares Available NOW!

Have you been admiring the flower fields when you come to pick up your share? Are you regretting that you didn't add a flower share to your produce share?

We are offering a 6-week PYO flower share (two bouquets per week) for $60, starting this week, August 6. Sign up online here.

Lexington Community Farm is a project of LexFarm in cooperation with Community Farms Outreach

If you have any questions, comments, suggestions, or to add another member of your household to the mailing list for this weekly CSA newsletter, send an email to csa@lexfarm.org.

Farm Managers
Community Farms Outreach

Dan Roberts, Farm Manager
Erinn Roberts, Farm Manager

Staff
LexFarm

Janet Kern,
Acting Executive Director

LexFarm Board of Directors

Ken Karnofsky, President

Derek Moody, Treasurer

Susan Amsel

Nancy Gold

Carolyn Goldstein

Linda Levin

Betsy Pollack

Charlie Radoslovich

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