In This Issue

What's In Your Share This Week

In the Farm Stand

Certified Organic from Picadilly Farm

Pick Your Own Crops This Week

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.

Additional storage and preparation tips plus many recipe ideas can be found on the LexFarm website.

Notes from the Field

The clouds are making up for lost time, with nearly four inches of rainfall here since last Wednesday. Can we finally tuck that irrigation pump back in the barn? Time will tell. Rain is welcome for all of the fall greens and roots, including our fall carrot crop which has been slow to fully size up. Everything will keep growing this week, with a long drink followed by warm sunshine. Of course, so much rain at once is certain to have casualties - the tomatoes are on the fast track to the finish line - with no complaints here, after an amazing, blight-free season. We hope you have enjoyed the chance to have so many tomatoes this season. Once the fields dry out a bit, we'll get more area planted down with cover crops seeds - our off-season soil-building, soil-stabilizing powerhouses. We'll clean up a few last beds that still have weeds. And we'll take a nice exhale before the fall harvests of potatoes, sweet potatoes and other root crops begin in earnest.

We hope you are enjoying the harvest!

- Jenny Wooster, Picadilly Farm

Featured Vegetable: Carrots

All About Carrots

Photo from http://www.carrotmuseum.co.uk/carrotcolours.html, which cites "Photo compliments of USDA Agricultural Research Service, where researchers have selectively bred carrots with pigments that reflect almost all colours of the rainbow. Photo by Stephen Ausmus, USDA."

SELECTING CARROTS
Carrots can be orange, red, purple, yellow, white, or black. Select carrots—of any color—with deep color and shine rather than with dulled color. The carrots should be firm, not pliable or pitted. If the greens are attached, their vibrancy, green color, and lack of wilting also indicate freshness.

Carrots picked when still young and tender plate beautifully but generally taste less sweet. As carrots spend more time in the ground, particularly in cold temperatures, they develop more sugar. Since they are also growing while in the ground, larger-diameter carrots tend to taste sweeter.

STORING CARROTS
Remove carrot tops immediately. The greens are edible but should be used quickly, as they are highly perishable. For brief storage of the greens keep them bagged separately from the carrots and refrigerated. Carrots are best stored at 33-50⁰F and with 90% humidity. For short-term storage, keep unwashed carrots in the fridge in a perforated plastic bag. Store away from fruits such as apples and pears that produce ethylene gas as they ripen.

For storage up to five or six months, unwashed carrots can be buried in sand and kept at 33-50⁰F.

PREPARING CARROTS
Cut away the stem end if it is green, and scrub the carrots. Peeling is unnecessary but may be preferred, especially if the carrots were not grown organically. Carrots are delicious raw or cooked through by virtually any method: steamed, boiled, roasted, grilled, sautéed, even fried (think of tempura or carrot fritters). They are an important component of mirepoix (chopped onions, carrots, and celery), which, when sautéed, is often the base for soups or stews. I just learned that Germany has its own version, Suppengrün, which translates as "soup greens," a mixture of carrots, celeriac, and leeks.

PUTTING UP CARROTS
Carrots can be prepared for long-term storage through blanching-and-freezing, pickling, fermenting, or canning. Recipes that include carrots as a cooked ingredient, such as stews or soups, can generally also be frozen.

Sources: The World Carrot Museum, Shared Harvest CSA, Sweetwater Organic.

- Jackie Starr

Recipe: Classic Carrot and Raisin Salad

I grew up on the classic carrot, raisin and mayo salad. It was a staple at backyard barbecues. For special occasions, my mom would toss in some walnuts. Now that was special!

This summer when my refrigerator was overflowing with sweet, crisp carrots, I searched the web and found this delightful collection of alternatives. I recommend giving my family recipe and some of these new variations a try. Your eyesight will be thankful!

3 - 4 cups grated carrots
1/2 - 1 cup raisins, golden or red
1 large apple, cored and chopped into small chunks
1/4 to 1/3 cup mayonnaise
A small dash of nutmeg, if desired.
Salt and pepper to taste

Gently combine all ingredients. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.

Linda Levin, a LexFarm member, CSA share holder and Board Member, has been trying to eat locally and seasonally for the past two years. Her household currently consists of just her and her husband as the four children are in their twenties and not at home so they split their CSA share with another LexFarm member. As she has discovered, eating locally throughout the year requires preserving some of the season’s bounty, to which she is new, and signing up for one of the many winter shares available in the area. The effort is worthwhile, however, as the tastes and smells of “real food” provide such joy in the kitchen!

More Ideas for Carrots

SOUPS
As the nights grow cooler, try this hearty soup that includes carrots, leeks and cabbage.

Use the tops along with roots, leeks, and rice in this carrot-top soup.

SALADS
Add to quinoa salad. Use the carrot tops to make pesto and toss with roasted carrots and avocado or grilled carrots and walnuts. Or skip the pesto and add roasted carrots and frizzled leeks.

Ginger-pickled carrots add zing to this colorful winter panzanella made with kale and roasted root vegetables.

This carrot salad is similar to Linda’s carrot raisin salad featured above but uses a tahini dressing and adds spiced chickpeas. This one adds kohlrabi.

Toss lettuce with the classic Japanese steakhouse carrot-ginger dressing.

Drizzle glazed or ginger-roasted carrots with a miso dressing. Or top roasted carrots with brown-butter vinaigrette.

PLATES
Simply simmer everything together in one pot for Turkish carrots and lentils with herbs.

Carrots figure prominently in the Turkish dish, Leeks in Olive Oil, which can be served at any temperature: warm, cold, or room temperature.

Grated carrots resemble cheddar cheese but add a healthier touch to mac-and-cheese.

Roast carrots and chickpeas with cumin then toss them with cooked wild rice. This is even prettier if you use rainbow carrots.

Hasselback carrots, thinly sliced, but not all the way through, offer a stunning presentation for roasted carrots.

This golden-crusted tart with an Indian flavor profile is filled with carrots and zucchini.

CONDIMENTS
Add a generous amount of grated carrots to cabbage for this golden sauerkraut.

There are many ways to enjoy these Asian-style pickled carrots: on sandwiches, rice bowls, salads, or just snacking. And these pickled carrot sticks, flavored with garlic and dill, are perfect for a picnic.

RECIPE ROUNDUPS
These collections from Rachael Ray, Martha Stewart, Cooking Light, and Bon Appetit provide more inspiration for preparing carrots.

The LexFarm website also has additional ideas for carrots.

Compiled by Jackie Starr & Betsy Pollack

Spaghetti Squash

Next week's newsletter will feature winter squash, but in the meantime the last two week's shares have included spaghetti squash. Spaghetti squash is similar to but also very different from most other winter squash varieties (for which storage and preparation notes can be found on the LexFarm website).

Spaghetti squash is so named because the flesh can be scraped with a fork and comes away in spaghetti-like strands. Despite this fun feature, I was disappointed the first time I ate spaghetti squash because I expected rich, sweet, winter squash texture and taste. Compared with most other cooked winter squash it seems watery and bland, and it doesn't feel like pasta, either.

Now that I know what I'm getting, however, I find spaghetti squash can make a perfect vehicle for enjoying sauce. And, dare I say it – it's gluten free and low carb. As with other winter squash, it can be cooked in the oven, steamed, or microwaved. As mentioned above, the strands are then easily removed with a fork.

Since this year's LexFarm CSA shares included spaghetti squash while end-of-summer harvest is in full swing, you can serve it with fresh tomato sauce or pesto, with the squash-loving flavors of brown butter, nuts, and sage, or with any other sauce you love. Huffington Post and The Kitchn provide more cooking details and recipes.

- Jackie Starr

Menu Planning

The contents of this week's share have gotten me excited about menu planning. September brings together the summer harvest—fresh tomatoes and peppers, for example—with the first of the fall harvest. Just as we think we could not eat another tomato, we get new ingredients that we haven't seen since last winter.

Now..... since I try to eat locally, I know I'll be eating winter squash nearly weekly within a few months. I also know I'll be serving these beauties with plenty of cooked tomatoes and roasted red peppers, whether put up at home or bought from a store or local purveyor. So for this special time of year I try to develop combinations I won't be able to make in a few months' time:

For the delicata, for example, I'll add it to a quinoa salad with a hot pepper and lime vinaigrette, and I'll make sure to add the red peppers we won't be seeing much longer, raw and diced.
I will definitely make a roasted hot pepper & tomatillo salsa, because with just one week of tomatillo harvest behind us my husband and I can't get enough of the stuff.
I will use a good portion of the fresh tomatoes to make a polenta-fresh corn-fresh tomato gratin, one of my favorite late summer dishes that is also specific to this season.
I'll sauté the collards, serving them in soft tacos with a cherry tomato or saladette-plus-scallion salsa, perhaps with black beans or blackened fish, tofu, or shrimp. The leaves can also be used raw in a salad or for wraps, e.g. with humus or sliced turkey, fresh tomatoes, and avocado.
I've been regularly harvesting a heat-tolerant broccoli from my own garden, and my new favorite recipe involves roasting it and dressing with toasted walnuts and a caesar-like dressing. If the anticipated warm weather is a deterrent to using your oven, some of the same flavors can be added to sautéed broccoli.

We'd love to hear your ideas for how you're using your share contents!

- Jackie Starr

Logistics

If your assigned pickup day is:	You can now pick up on:	You must arrange a swap to pickup on:
Wednesday	Wednesday OR Thursday	Friday or Saturday
Thursday	Wednesday OR Thursday	Friday or Saturday
Friday	Friday OR Saturday	Wednesday or Thursday
Saturday	Friday OR Saturday	Wednesday or Thursday

CSA Distribution Hours:
Wednesday, Thursday, Friday: 3 pm - 7 pm
Saturday: 9 am - 1 pm
Note that scheduled distribution hours are NOT the same as the farm stand hours on Saturdays

Use our Google group to arrange swaps. If you are unable to pick up your share on your assigned day, we have set up a Google group to help you find someone to swap with when you are planning ahead. So far, it seems like the group is working smoothly to arrange swaps. Keep in mind that there is no guarantee that you will find a swap. If you did not receive your invitation to the Google Group or are having trouble joining, send email to csa@lexfarm.org for assistance.

If you do not find a swap, you are always welcome to send someone else to pick up your share for you. This is a wonderful opportunity to introduce a neighbor, friend, or co-worker to the farm. If you don't pick up your share, the food will not go to waste. Our volunteer food access team will deliver unclaimed produce to area food pantries.

Have the swap or the friend check in under your name. If someone else is picking up your share, whether it's a shareholder swap or you're just sending someone in your stead, they should check in under your name. We don't update the weekly sign in sheets based on swaps or alternates, so you do not need to let us know.

If another member of your household wants to receive their own copy of the weekly newsletter, just let us know.

Pick Your Own Supplies

Scissors and Clippers: Please remember to return any borrowed cutters to the hoop house before you leave the farm so others may use them. If any scissors or clippers accidentally came home with you, please return them on your next visit. Also, if you have any extra scissors or clippers that you'd like to donate to LexFarm for PYO, you can leave them in the hoop house with the PYO supplies or give them to Jaclyn in the farm stand.

Cardboard Containers: Please bring back and reuse or return any half-pint-, pint-, or quart-sized cardboard containers that you might have laying around the house from previous weeks' pick-your owns!

Farm Stand Hours

We hope you're enjoying the new variety of locally produced foods at the farm stand. The farm stand is open to the public, so tell all your friends to stop by!

Farm Stand Hours:
Wednesdays-Fridays: 3-7 pm
Saturdays: 9 am - 4 pm
Sundays: 11 am - 4 pm

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.

Staff

Tim Hines
Farm Manager

Jaclyn Fishman
Farm Stand Manager

LexFarm Board of Directors

Allison Guerette, President

Carolyn Goldstein, Vice President
Ralph Clifford, Treasurer

Amanda Maltais, Clerk

Susan Amsel
Mark Gabrenya
Marcia Gens
Whitney Kakos
Linda Levin
Susan Schiffer
Mary Rose Scozzafava

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