Denison Farms

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Denison Farms Harvest Box 2011: Week 26
This is the final box. Thank you!
In this box: 1 celery, 1 bunch Beets*, 2 Leeks, 1/2 # Jimmy Nardelo peppers, 1 bunch Kale, 2 Delicata Squash*, 1.5# baby Sweet Potatoes, 2# Butterball Potatoes*, 2# Braeburn Apples (from LaMancha Ranch & Orchard). (weights are approx.)
* indicates transitional produce.

THANK YOU
     We sincerely appreciate that you chose us to be your farmers this year. Thank you for your commitment to eat local, organic, in-season produce. It is with mixed feelings that we write this final newsletter of the season, and pack your final box. We are definitely looking forward to a few months of a lighter work schedule, but we're going to miss the weekly connections with you, and the good feeling we get knowing that our food is sustaining your families.
     The good news is that you can still find our produce every Saturday at the McMinnville Public Market, every Saturday starting in Mid-January at the Corvallis Indoor Winter Market, and a few items from our farm are available every day at the First Alternative co-op grocery in Corvallis:
Eat Local through the Winter!
Corvallis Indoor Winter Market starts January 14
Every Saturday (Jan 14 - April 7) from 9am -1pm
at the Benton County Fairgrounds.
We will be there with a full display of salad mix, spinach, sweet potatoes, potatoes, winter squash, onions, cabbage, Brussels sprouts, and other winter produce,

McMinnville Public Market
From 10am - 3pm every Saturday--All Year Round
In the Granary District, at 5th & Lafayette in McMinnville
Indoor Market with produce, eggs, cheese, bread, and artisans.

Sweet Potatoes
     Our sweet potato harvest this year gave us a range of tuber sizes, from enormous 6-pound roots to these little ones, which we affectionately call "baby bakers". These small sweet potatoes have the same sweet flavor as larger ones, and (since they are Organic) they don't need to be peeled! We like to scrub them, coat with a little olive oil, and roast until they are very soft (about 45 minutes at 350 degrees). This might be a good week to roast a variety of roots: place cut-up potatoes, beets, sweet potatoes, and delicata squash in a roasting pan. Coat with olive oil. Bake at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes.
     Or, for a sweet side dish, breakfast treat, or dessert, cut up sweet potatoes and apple (I used 1 apple, and a similar amount of sweet potato). Place in a casserole dish. Sprinkle with cinnamon, dot generously with butter. Bake (uncovered) at 350 degrees for 45 minutes. This was an absolute hit in our house, and very simple!

Beets
     Beets (especially fresh-picked organic beets) don't need to be peeled. Just scrub well, and either grate to use raw, or leave whole for steaming, or roasting. Serve sliced, steamed beets tossed in olive oil with a dash of vinegar, salt & pepper. To roast, scrub and trim roots. Cut large roots in half or quarters, leave small roots whole. Coat with olive oil and roast in a 350 or 375 degree oven until tender. Beet greens can be cooked as a substitute for chard in any recipe.

Kale
     This variety of kale is sweeter and more tender than the traditional curly-leafed varieties. We enjoy it lightly steamed (3-5 minutes). Top with a dash of tamari or balsamic vinegar for an interesting flair.

Leek Pie
     If you're looking for something easy and elegant for this year's Thanksgiving dinner, check on our website, last year's newsletters, Week 25 for Leek Pie.


Denison Farms Harvest Box 2011: Week 25
Our Harvest Box season is 26 weeks long. There is 1 more week

In this box: 1 Cabbage*, ¾# Broccoli* (Corvallis) OR 1 bu Collards (Alb./Salem), 1# Tomatoes, 1 bunch Cliantro*,  1 Onion, 2 Bell Peppers, 2# Sweet Potatoes, 2# Red Potatoes*, 2# LIberty Apples (from LaMancha Ranch & Orchard)  (weights are approx.)* indicates transitional produce.

Peppers
     Most peppers start out green and then (like a tomato) ripen to red, or sometimes yellow or orange if left on the plant long enough.  Like tomatoes, peppers get sweeter, better tasting, and more nutritious when they ripen.  Some kinds of peppers start out pale green and ripen pale yellow, yellow, orange, then red, but in our region those types don’t usually taste as good as the ones that start out dark green.  When Tom started farming in Corvallis in 1978 he grew bell peppers and let as many as possible turn red ripe.  Since red peppers were not common in stores in those days, he spent a lot of time trying to convince people to try a sample of red pepper.  Many were afraid that they would be hot, but those who tried them for the first time were often converted for life to prefer ripe peppers. 
     Sweet red peppers are now widely available. Our farm sells literally tons of them, and people still eat lots of green ones as well.  What most people don’t see unless they are gardeners is what the peppers look like between green and ripe.  It takes maybe a month for a green bell to ripen to fully red, yellow or orange.  During this stage red peppers often develop areas that are chocolate colored, then the chocolate areas gradually turn red as adjacent areas turn from green to red.  Eventually the entire pepper will reach its mature color.  While this happens the sugars, vitamins A and C, and antioxidants are also gradually increasing, while some of the bitter green pepper flavors are decreasing.  Peppers, like tomatoes and pears will continue to ripen off the plant provided they are kept above 60 degrees.  The peppers in your box today are somewhere between the green and full ripe stage, and could be red, yellow, or orange.  They can be eaten today, or left on the counter to ripen and achieve full color. You can eat them, or cook with them, at any stage.

Cabbage
     Cabbage that matures in the fall tends to be sweeter than cabbage that grows in the full heat of the summer. One of my favorite ways to use cabbage in this season is to slow-sauté it with onion until it is completely soft. Here’s how: place shredded cabbage and sliced onion in a large sauté pan with 1 Tbs. olive oil and 1 Tbs. butter. Sauté over medium heat for at least 20 minutes, adding more oil or a little broth if it starts to stick, and turning down the heat or adding a lid if it is browning. Continue cooking, stirring occasionally, until the cabbage and onions are totally soft.

Cilantro and the last local Tomatoes of the season
     My family never tires of fresh salsa. My recipe for simple salsa is to chop tomatoes, cilantro, and sweet onion. Then serve with corn chips, or beans and rice, or tacos. Cilantro also makes a lovely garnish for almost any soup.
     Speaking of onions, the varieties we grow and harvest in the summer are called “sweet onions”, whereas the onion in the box today is a “cooking onion”. It’s not that cooking onions aren’t sweet—in reality they may have a higher sugar content than “sweet onions”, but “sweet onions” are much more mild when raw. “Cooking onions” are hotter when raw. They are much more likely to cause your eyes to tear when you’re chopping them. But that hotness mellows with cooking. Then the sweetness of the “cooking onions” is more apparent. You can make salsa with a cooking onion, but I suggest you chop it as finely as possible, and use much less onion than if you still have a sweet onion in your pantry.

Collards
    If you’re looking for ideas to use collards, go to our web site, Last Year’s Newsletters, Week 25, for my all-time favorite collard recipe.

Vacation Credits
   Your vacation credit coupons expire next Wednesday (November 23). The Corvallis Farmers Markets are open on Wednesday and Saturday through November 23—the day before Thanksgiving. 

Next Week’s box will be the final Harvest Box of this season. Please plan to bring ALL your empty boxes, and bring some extra bags to transfer your produce so you can leave the last empty box at your pick-up site.
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Denison Farms Harvest Box 2011: Week 24
Our Harvest Box season is 26 weeks long. There are 2 more weeks!

In this box:  1 bunch Radishes, 1 bunch Carrots*, 1 head Celery, 1 head Cauliflower*, 3/4# Broccoli*, 1# Sweet girl tomatoes, 1 Delicata Squash*, 3 heads Garlic, 1 basket STRAWBERRIES, 2# Johnagold Apples (from  LaMancha Ranch & Orchard),    Jonagold apples are nice  sautéed in butter with a touch  of cinnamon. (weights are approx.) * indicates transitional produce.

Roasted Garlic
     There are hundreds of different varieties of garlic in the world.  Some varieties have "soft necks" where the neck of the dried garlic is formed from the leaves, while the "hard neck" varieties have a hard stalk in the center of the head.  Soft neck garlic is common in stores because they are easier to grow, and softneck varieties are used to make lovely garlic braids because the dried leaves are flexible.  Hardneck varieties are often preferred by people who love to eat garlic because of their superior flavor.  Our main variety, German Porcelain has a hard neck.  We love this variety not only because of its intense flavor, but also because the cloves are large and easy to peel. German Porcelain is an excellent variety for making roasted garlic. Roasting mellows the hotness of garlic, and the cloves develop a creamy texture that can be spread on toasted bread or mashed with potatoes.
     Many recipes for roasting garlic call for cutting the top off the head, and placing the cut side down in a pool of olive oil in a roasting pan. This doesn't work well for hardneck garlics (unless you want to cut through stem with pruning shears)-because the stem is so hard. As an alternative, cut the very tip off the cloves in a ring around the stem, leaving the stem intact. Then place the whole head of garlic on a square of aluminum foil. Drizzle about 1 Tbs. olive oil over the cut surfaces, fold the foil to make a sealed package, place the package in a small pan (in case of leaks), and bake in a 350-degree oven for 45 minutes. Cool enough to handle, and squeeze each clove out of the skin onto a piece of bread or cracker. Store any extra in a sealed container in the refrigerator.
     Not sure what to do with your radishes? You can toss radish roots in a roasting pan, coat them with olive oil, and roast them in the same oven as the garlic.

Mirepoix
     In this season of autumn, my inspirations in the kitchen often take the form of hearty soups. Now that it's dark outside by the time we sit down to dinner, it seems fitting to shape our evening meal around a huge pot of steamy soup-not to mention the advantage of having leftovers for the next night. Mirepoix is a fun French word for a finely diced combination of onions, carrots, and celery used as a base for many European-inspired soups, and as a seasoning for roasting meats. Here is a (slightly modified) German Barley Soup recipe from the November 2011 issue of Saveur Magazine:
Graupensuppe (German Barley Soup)
4 Tbs. butter                   
1 medium onion, finely chopped           
1 cup pearl barley               
8 cups vegetable stock               
1/2 cup finely chopped carrot           
1/2 cup finely chopped celery            
1/2 cup finely chopped broccoli stem         
1 tsp. dried marjoram                 
2 German sausages (like bratwurst)       
freshly grated nutmeg, to taste
salt and pepper, to taste
1/4 cup thinly sliced flat-leaf parsley
   Heat butter in a large soup pot over medium heat; add onion and cook, stirring, until soft, about 5 minutes. Add barley, and cook, stirring, until lightly toasted, about 5 more minutes. Add stock, chopped vegetables, marjoram, and sausages. Cook, stirring occasionally, until sausages are tender, about 35 minutes. Remove sausages from saucepan. Thinly slice sausages and return to soup pot. Season with nutmeg, salt, and pepper. To serve, ladle soup into serving bowls, and garnish with parsley.
   The November 2011 issue of Saveur Magazine (issue Number 142) also has a recipe for Paprika-Spiced Cauliflower Soup, and Orange and Honey Glazed Carrots. So many recipes...... so little time.....
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Denison Farms Harvest Box 2011: Week 23 
Our season is 26 weeks long. There are 3 more boxes.
In this box: 1 Lettuce, 1 bunch Carrots*, 1 bunch Arugula*, 1 basket Grape Tomatoes, 2# Sweet Potatoes, 2# Nicola Potatoes, 1 Butternut Squash*, 3/4#  Jimmy Nardelo Peppers, 2# Liberty Apples (from LaMancha Ranch & Orchard) (weights are approx.)  * indicates transitional produce.

Arugula
     In the early 80's Tom used to harvest wild mushrooms in the mountains and ship them to chefs in New York, Boston, Washington DC, and other East Coast cities. This was winter work for him to help finance his young farm, and also filled his need to spend time in wild places. One chef from NY City was always asking him to grow Roquette, which we now know as arugula and said he could pay unbelievable prices for it, but in Tom's collection of dozens of seed catalogs, there was no mention of roquette. (Today, every seed catalog has arugula or roquette seed available). At that same time, Tom was getting to know a man who had grown up on a farm in Iran, and was living in Corvallis while his two sons studied engineering at OSU. This man planted a garden in September, which Tom expected to fail, but it provided fresh flavorful greens, (parsley, cress, green onions, a culinary clover, and arugula) throughout the cold dark winter. The flavor of the arugula was unfamiliar and intense at first, so that he only enjoyed it cooked.  Soon however he was looking forward to that intense flavor to liven up salads and sandwiches because fresh garden flavors eclipsed the taste of all shipped-in winter produce. 
     Arugula has a peppery flavor when raw, but this spiciness mellows quickly when the greens are wilted. If you like the peppery sharpness, try arugula on a sandwich instead of lettuce. If you want a milder flavor, pour vinaigrette dressing over warm steamed potatoes, and fold in a generous handful of arugula until the arugula wilts. You can also substitute arugula for basil in any standard pesto recipe.

Jimmy Nardelo Peppers
    Jimmy Nardelo's grandmother brought seeds for this pepper from Sicily to Massachusetts many years ago. This variety has enjoyed an increasing following as people discover their intense sweet flavor. Delicious raw, they traditionally were dried and then fried in olive oil during the winter. We usually eat them fresh (rather than dried), and love them in a sauté. 

Butternut Squash
     Great for soup!  Peel and cube 1 medium Butternut squash. Cook for 25 minutes in 5 cups of stock or water. Sauté 1 large chopped onion and 1 tsp dried thyme in 2 Tbs oil. Add to squash. Cool and purée the squash and onions. Melt 4 Tbs butter. Stir in 1/4 cup flour and cook 2 minutes. Add 3/4 cup cream (or non-dairy milk). Add flour & cream mixture to soup. Add 1 tsp salt, and 1/2 tsp tamari. Simmer 15 minutes, stirring to prevent sticking. Garnish with 1/2 cup sliced and toasted almonds and pepper to taste.

Sweet Potatoes/ Yams
     This popular vegetable is getting a lot of good press these days because it is so rich in phytonutrients and is delicious enough to please even fussy eaters.  Native to the tropics, it thrives in much of the world, and is a major food source for many populations.  Sweet potatoes are difficult to grow in Corvallis because of our short season and cool nights, but we think it's worth the extra effort because our family enjoys them so much. 
Don't put sweet potatoes in the fridge, as these tubers loose quality rapidly at temperatures below 50.  The simplest way to cook these is to bake whole at 350 for about an hour until very tender and soft.  They are great plain or mashed with butter. 
     To a botanist everything in the grocery store labeled sweet potato or yam is a sweet potato.  True yams are a starchy tropical root that can only occasionally be seen in specialty food stores. The grocer however, calls the moist dark fleshed sweet potatos yams, and the dryer fleshed ones sweet potatoes.  Whatever you want to call them we love them baked, fried, steamed, or in soups, stews, and curries.

Perspectives on eating from the past:  Grow Food/Cook Food/Share Food
     Three free public lectures at OSU. All lectures are in the OSU Memorial Union, Room 109.
Grow Food: Tuesday, Nov 8 at 4pm.
Cook Food: Thursday, Nov 10 at 4 pm.
Share Food: Friday, Nov 11 at noon.
     Presented by OSU Horning Visiting Scholar Series. A three-lecture series about the historical development of three crucial components of human nourishment and their disjuncture in the industrial era.
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Denison Farms Harvest Box 2011: Week 22  Our season is 26 weeks long. There are 4 more boxes.
In this box: 1 Lettuce, 1.5# Sweet Girl Tomatoes, 1 head Cauliflower*, 1 1/4# Broccoli*, 1 Delicata squash*, 1 bunch Kale, 1 head Garlic, 1 bunch Fresh Ginger, 1# Grapes (Reynolds Farm) OR 2# Jonagold Apples (from La  Mancha Ranch & Orchard)  One source on the internet  suggests Jonagold apples are  particularly nice sautéed in a  little butter with a touch of  cinnamon. (weights are approx.) * indicates transitional produce.

These things happen
     Each season in late August we check in with our friends at Gala Springs and La Mancha ranch to see how their pear and apple crops are looking.  By this time they know how much fruit set during bloom, how free the crop is from scab, or mildew, and whether the crop is early or late compared to a "normal" growing season.  They will let us know which varieties they expect to have in enough quantity that we can get some for our harvest box, and when they expect peak ripeness.  With that information we make a tentative plan for including a different tree fruit in the box each week in the fall. 
     It helps us to have a plan for what is coming, and it helps our friends to know that they have a committed market for some of their fruit.  These plans are always made with the knowledge that things could change.  We know what stage the fruit is at in August, but a if the weather is warmer or cooler than expected in September and October that will change ripening dates.  The crop may be beautiful in August but could still be damaged by insects, disease, wind, hail, sunburn, etc..  All farmers must have a certain amount of flexibility because there is always something that could happen.
     This week something happened.  Shane at Gala Springs was planning to bring us Concord pears for this week's box.  When he went to start packing them for us he found that his cooler had malfunctioned, and the pears had gotten much too warm.  They were riper than they should be for packing and transport.  Some were beautiful, some were too soft, some were over ripe.  He sorted through about 4000 pounds of fruit and used the best ones for our 800-pound order.  When we received the fruit Saturday, he told us what happened and said that if the pears didn't work out he would bring us some apples.  Tom thought the pears looked nice, and would hold fine in our cooler until Tuesday, but when our crew started to prepare bags of pears Monday afternoon they found that too many of them had become bruised or overripe.  We called Shane, but by this point there was not enough time to pack apples and get them to us.  We checked our neighbor's grapes but they only had enough for about half our boxes.  Fortunately La Mancha ranch had some Jonagold apples that were already packed in their cooler, and could get them to us in time.
     I don't think of it each time I eat a piece of great fruit, but am aware that for each successful crop there have been failures.  When this happens, the grower may have pruned, watered, thinned, and cared for his crop for nearly a year before losing the production (and income). 

FRESH GINGER    
    We're very excited that our ginger plants grew well enough this year to give all our members a taste of fresh, young ginger. Young ginger lacks the tough skin and stringy bits that you find in mature ginger. Therefore, you don't have to peel the root, and you can just chop it finely before adding to your favorite stir-fry (perhaps with this week's kale, in the Hot and Sour Greens recipe from Week 3 newsletter). The green leaves make a lovely ginger-flavored tea or soup stock. The leaf portion lacks the sharpness of the root, but definitely tastes like ginger. Enjoy!

Cauliflower    
    Fresh-picked cauliflower is very tender, and can fall apart if overcooked. If you are planning to steam your cauliflower, keep a close eye on it and remove from the heat as soon as it is tender. Or try roasting your cauliflower (and broccoli) for an extra-special flavor and delightful texture. Coat cauli/broccoli florets with olive oil & a touch of salt. Place in a pan, and roast in a 375-degree oven until tender when pierced with a sharp knife. When roasted, the outside remains firm as the inside of each floret becomes tender. The timing (and oven temp) is somewhat forgiving, but I usually figure about 30 minutes at 375 degrees. Many other recipes roast at a higher temperature (400 to 450 degrees) for a shorter time (10-20 minutes), but in my kitchen, the extra flexibility allowed by the lower temperature means less burned vegetables when I get called away from watching the oven at that critical moment.
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Denison Farms Harvest Box 2011: Week 21
    Our season is 26 weeks long. There are 5 more boxes.

In this box: 1 Lettuce, 2# Sweet Girl Tomatoes OR 1.5# Heirloom Tomatoes, 1 bu. French Breakfast Radish*, 2# Carrots*, 1 Leek, 1 1/4# Broccoli*, 2# Red Potatoes* (good boiled  with butter!), 1 Sunshine Squash*, 4 Sweet Italian Peppers (these are excellent in a sauté),  2# Liberty Apples (from La  Mancha Ranch & Orchard) (weights are approx.)
* indicates transitional produce.

Storage note: Do not refrigerate Winter Squash or peppers. They keep best at room temp.

Leeks
     There was a tiny bit of frost on the wetland below the farm this morning, and the flocks of geese overhead remind us that winter is on the way.  Since our goal is to grow food for our local community 12 months of the year, we grow many of our heat-loving crops under the protection of passive solar greenhouses.  Other crops we harvest in fall and store in the barn, or our coolers.  Some hardy vegetables grow through the winter without any protection from the cold and rain.  Leeks are in this resilient group, which is part of the reason they have long been popular in Northern climates.  Before the days of global produce shipping, even before refrigeration, people could rely on leeks to provide fresh, nutritious food throughout severe northern winters.  In climates where it often goes below zero leeks can survive the winter under a protective cover of snow. In more than 30 years of farming near Corvallis, Tom has never seen it go below zero, but sometimes we can get a week of 5 degree nights that wither even the hardy kales and collards.  However, we have never had a crop of leeks completely freeze out. The outer leaves may be killed by the cold dry winds if the leek is frozen solid, but when it thaws out, it will slowly start to grow again. peeling off the damaged outer leaves will reveal a healthy, fresh tasting leek at a time when a lot of the produce in the stores tastes like the floor of the refrigerated truck in which it has traveled so far.
     In the best selling book French Women Don't Get Fat (subtitled The secret of eating for pleasure) author Mireille Guiliano coaxes American eaters towards a healthier diet.  She suggests readers keep a supply of leek broth in the refrigerator while they are trying to kick the fast food habit.  According to her, sipping on leek broth will help tame the cravings for junk food while the body is adjusting to better eating habits.
     After surviving the winter, leeks that have not been harvested will produce gorgeous purple flower heads the size of softballs the following summer, on a stalk that can be 5 feet tall.  These flowers are loved by a variety of beneficial insects who will assure good pollination.  By fall each flower will have matured a handful of hard, black seeds that are ready to start the next generation.  We usually start our leeks in greenhouse flats in the early spring, where they will grow for 2 months to achieve the size of a stalk of grass.  From there they get transplanted to the field where they may be tended for 5 or 6 months before they are full-grown.  Often the last leeks we harvest in the spring have been growing for over a year.

Sunshine Squash   
    This orange kabocha-type squash has sweet, dark orange flesh. It can be steamed or baked. The skin is edible.
To steam: cut in half, scoop out the seeds, then cut in to smile-shaped pieces and steam until tender. Serve plain, or with a touch or butter or tamari soy sauce.
To bake: cut in half, scoop out the seeds, and place cut-side down in a baking dish with 1/4 -inch of water. Bake at 350 degrees for 45-60 minutes until soft. Then mash with butter or (for a real treat) half a can of coconut milk, or use cooked mashed squash in place of canned pumpkin for pumpkin pie.

Liberty Apples are firm, juicy, and have a sweet-tart flavor. They are good for fresh eating or cooking. You can visit LaMancha's market booth at the Corvallis Saturday Farmers Market to see and taste their many other varieties of organic apples and stock up on your winter supply of local, organic cider!
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Denison Farms Harvest Box 2011: Week 20
In this box: 1 Radicchio, 2# Sweet Girl Tomatoes, 2# Carrots*, 1 bunch Beets* (beet greens are edible, too. Cook like you would spinach or chard), 1# red or yellow onions, 2# Sierra Rose Potatoes*, 1 Delicata Squash*, 2 Sweet Italian Peppers, 1# Canadice Grapes (from Reynolds Farm), 2# Winter Banana Apples (from Gala Springs Farm) (weights are approx.)
* indicates transitional produce.

Winter Squash
     Winter squash season is here! Delicata squash is one of the most popular winter squashes. They can be cooked in a variety of ways. To prepare, sharpen your largest knife, and slice the squash in half lengthwise. Scoop out the seeds, and decide whether you will bake the halves (either stuffed, or solo), or choose a quicker stove-top cooking method. For fastest cooking, slice each half into thin "smiles". These smile-shaped pieces can be steamed, stir-fried, or added to soup. Stir-frying takes about 10 minutes, and steaming takes about 15 minutes (but takes less oversight than stir-frying). To bake winter squash, place squash cut-side down in a baking dish in 1/4-inch water. Bake in a 350 - 375 degree oven for 45 - 60 minutes, or until the squash can be pierced easily with a knife. Because the skins are edible, delicata squash don't need to be peeled (in fact, most winter squash skins are edible-which is good news to those of us who remember skinned knuckles from peeling winter squash as a kid).

Winter Banana Apples
     Here is another example of the tens of thousands of apple varieties in the world.  This apple that originated in 1876 in Cass County Indiana got its name because it has a slight aroma of bananas. The flavor of Winter Banana is a nice combination of sweet and tart and they have a very dense and crisp texture. They can be eaten fresh, paired with cheese or spread with nut butter. Winter banana apples are also an excellent cooking apple.
     Here's how to make fresh applesauce:  Peel and core apples. Cut into small chunks. Place in a pot with a little water (use only enough to keep the apples from scorching. Too much water will dilute the apple flavor). Bring to a boil, then turn down the heat, cover, and simmer for 5 minutes, or longer if your chunks of apple are larger. Mash with a potato masher, and viola, applesauce. This is a fun activity for kids, because they can see fresh apples turned into warm applesauce in less than 15 minutes.

Canadice Grapes
     Reynolds Farm is our neighbor to the north. On their diversified farm, they grow grass seed, wheat, cottonwood trees, native wetlands, green beans for the cannery, and organic grapes.  Ken and Heidi's son Luke is the same age as our older son Carson.  Luke is the sixth generation of his family to farm that land.  His great, great, great grandfather homesteaded here in 1849.  Their small vineyard has a number of varieties of table grapes.  Tom loves the Canadice because this spicy sweet grape is grown around Ithaca NY where he was born and then returned to study agriculture. Did we mention that Canadice grapes are seedless?

Radicchio
     This relative of endive is far more popular in Europe, but is gaining an increasing following in this country.  It must be one of the most beautiful vegetables. Whole inner leaves topped with hummus or guacamole make an elegant presentation.  It's slightly bitter taste takes some getting used to.  At one time I did not care for it but it has become one of my favorite vegetables. We use whole leaves to scoop up hummus, or use in salads, but many of the chefs who buy it from us grill or braise it. 
      For radicchio salad, I like to include some rich avocado chunks or crumbles of goat cheese to balance the bitter notes, then draw the flavors together with a citrus (orange or grapefruit) vinaigrette. See newsletter week 8 for one recipe. Today's farm lunch was leftover shrimp fried rice on a bed of radicchio.

Our Harvest Box season is 26 weeks long. There are 6 more weeks!
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Denison Farms Harvest Box 2011: Week 19
In this box: 1/2# Spinach, 1 pint Cherry Tomatoes or 1.5# Heirloom Tomatoes, 1 1/4# Broccoli*, 2# White Rose Potatoes*, 1 Acorn Squash*, 3-4 Ripe Bell Peppers, 1 head Garlic, 1 Melon* (picked ripe and ready to eat) , 1 basket French Petite Plums,  2# Rome Apples (from Gala Springs Farm)  (weights are approx.) * indicates transitional produce.

Fall Rains
     Mud boots have regained the prime location outside our front door, replacing my summertime flip flops. We no longer have to irrigate our winter greens every day. Winter squash is appearing in your Harvest Boxes. It feels like fall.
     Last week there was a special kind of tension on the farm because our weather forecaster suspected we were in for a couple of wet weeks, and this time of year that could mean the soil will not be dry enough to work again until spring.  Each hour becomes priceless as we race to complete as much as possible before it's too late.  Garlic, onions, spinach, fava beans, and cover crops get planted in the fall and must have their beds amended and tilled while the soil is still dry.  Young lettuce and chard seedlings need to get planted if we are to have greens for our Winter Markets. And we are anxious to harvest our potatoes and winter squash before the rains, because they store better and are easier to wash if they are not coated in mud.  
     Our farm crew, already tired from a long season, feels an extra urgency to push a little harder while the good weather holds.  Patience gets thin, and tempers short.  A bearing failed on our rototiller causing a chain to leave its sprocket a tear a hole in the side of the gearbox.  It can be repaired, but parts must be ordered and they won't get here before the rains do.  Tom tries to buy another one from our allies at Linn Benton Tractor but the model we need is not in stock.  There is one in British Columbia, but it could take over a week to get here.  That is too late.  Stress builds.  We could use a different size tiller, but everything we do is set up for beds that are 5 feet wide.  Any change will cause immeasurable future grief.  Then Jerry from Linn Benton calls. He found a tiller at another dealer that will probably work.  It's only a couple inches different than what we have been using, and it can be delivered tomorrow.  Thank you, yes we want it, thank you, what time tomorrow?  Now we just have to cut the drive shaft to the correct length for our tractor, check the lubricants, and fit the bed shaping wings from the old tiller onto the new one.  Yes!  It works!  It's not quite what we're used to, it's not perfect, but under the circumstances it's Beautiful!
     Now the rain is actually here, the mood shifts again to some mixture of relief, accomplishment, and surrender.  The pace is slower. We didn't get everything done, but we did what we could, and it will be enough.  The potatoes and most of the squash are in storage.  The beds are ready for the garlic and fava beans.  Lettuce is in the ground. There are still peppers to pick, markets to go to, and harvest boxes to prepare, but that can all happen while it rains.  And we might get a little more dry weather later and get the cover crops seeded.

Spinach
    Here are some ideas to help you use this versatile green: add spinach to quiche, sauté with garlic and fold into an omelet, use raw or lightly cooked spinach with beans in a burrito, toss cooked or raw spinach with hot pasta, wilt a spinach salad with warmed garlic, olive oil, and lemon juice (or vinegar) dressing, add to soup, layer into lasagna, or try the flavors of Northern India with Saag: Fry 1/4 tsp cumin seeds in a heavy bottomed pan in a bit of oil and butter until just starting to brown. Add 1 large onion (optional), chopped and fry until it too starts to brown. Add 2 large potatoes, diced. Add 1 minced garlic clove, 1 tsp tumeric, 1 tsp fresh ginger, and 1 tsp garam masala. Fry until the potatoes are tender, adding water if necessary to keep from sticking. Add 1/2 pound spinach, and cook until spinach collapses over the potato. Salt to taste. (From www.food.com)
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Denison Farms Harvest Box 2011: Week 18
In this box: 1/2 # Spinach, 1 pint Cherry Tomatoes or 1.5# Heirloom Tomatoes, 1# Romano Green Beans, 2 Sweet Italian Peppers (somewhat less juicy than bell peppers, Sweet Italian peppers are at their best sliced in rings and fried in olive oil until almost scorched to develop their unique sweet flavor), 8 ears Corn*, 2# Nicola Potatoes*, 1 Watermelon*, 1 basket French Petite Plums, 2# Gala Apples (from Gala Springs Farm) (weights are approx.) * indicates transitional produce.

Food from the Americas
     When the Old World discovered the New World, the Europeans set about plundering the riches they sought--gold & silver, but the real treasures of the Americas may have been the many products of Native American plant breeders-- potatoes, corn, beans, squash, peppers, and tomatoes. These crops were all unknown in Europe until explorers found Native American cultures growing them in North, central, and South America. Now, I can't imagine a world without them in my kitchen.
    
Nicola Potatoes
     Potatoes are native to the Andes Mountains, where they have been cultivated for 5000 years. The average annual consumption of potatoes in the U.S. is 75 pounds per person. Unfortunately, most potatoes are consumed in the high-fat, high-sodium forms of French fries and potato chips. If you can avoid the deep fat fried forms, potatoes can be an important part of a healthful diet-they are high in complex carbohydrates, and potassium, and a good source of vegetable protein.
    The Nicola variety is a great all-around potato. When cooked, they have a firm texture, suitable for boiling, roasting, or potato salad. I think the flavor of Nicola is quite nice-mild and sweet. And (as an extra benefit), sources on the Internet claim that Nicola has a lower glycemic index than most other potatoes. Now that our oldest son is a teenager, we greet him with a pan of roasted potatoes nearly every day as an after-school snack.
     Here is a recipe for home fries: Place shredded or thinly sliced potatoes in a sauté pan over low heat with butter or olive oil. Cover, and cook for 10 minutes (or until tender). Increase the heat, remove cover, and flip potatoes until brown and crispy. Add a handful of fresh herbs if you have some in the kitchen: parsley, oregano, or thyme all work well. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, and serve warm.

Romano Green Beans
     My kids' favorite recipe with these green beans is Asian-style blistered green beans: Coat a large skillet or wok with vegetable oil that is stable at high heat. Sauté beans in a large skillet over medium-high heat until skin is blistered (and partially browned), and beans are tender.

Corn
     This has been a good year for our corn! If you are having difficulty keeping up with the weekly corn allotment, you can freeze some for the winter. Corn freezes well: Husk corn and blanch in boiling water for 3 minutes. Then plunge ears into a large bowl of ice water to cool quickly. Drain well. Hold each ear of corn upright in the center of a pie plate to catch the kernels, and slice kernels off the cob with a sharp paring knife. Freeze in a zip-top bag. Use all winter for chowder, stew, corn bread, pancake batter, salads, fried rice, or many other dishes.
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Denison Farms Harvest Box 2011: Week 17
In this box:**  1/2# Spinach, 2 Cucumbers*, 1 bunch Carrots, 2# Sweet Girl Tomatoes or 1.5# Heirloom Tomatoes,
8 ears Corn*, 2# White Rose Potatoes*, 1 Watermelon*, 2# Abate Fatel Pears (from Gala Springs Farm)
(weights are approx.) *indicates transitional produce.

** This week's "in the box" list is tentative, as the newsletter was published to the web site on Sunday, but we have not yet picked or packed boxes. Check your printed copy of the newsletter for any updates.

Abate Fetel pears
    Abate Fetel (named after the French monk who developed this variety in the 15th century) is reported to be Italy's favorite pear. Somewhat banana-shaped, Abate Fetel pears are noted for their sweet, fruity flavor. The flesh is white and aromatic.
    Like all pears, Abate Fetel pears need to ripen off the tree before they are ready to eat. Unlike Bartlett pears, which need to be eaten the day they are perfect, or D'Anjou pears that are astringent until soft, Abate Fetel pears have a wider window of prime eating quality. We cut one up to put in our hot oatmeal on Sunday morning. Although it was quite firm (almost crispy), the flavor was pleasant. However, the flavor will sweeten, aroma will develop, and texture will soften with a few additional days on your kitchen counter.
    Pears are not just for dessert. Because this variety is sweet and somewhat crisp, Abate Fetel pears would make a nice salad or main dish for dinner. Do you remember Waldorf salad? I grew up in the 1960's, and Waldorf salad was a very common dinner salad. However, it seems to have fallen out of favor, as I had to look in several cookbooks before I found a recipe in my classic (1975 edition) Joy of Cooking. The basic recipe is chopped celery, apples, & walnuts tossed with a mayonnaise dressing. Crisp pears (especially if they're not too juicy) are a great substitution for the apples in this recipe. In the 1980's yogurt moved into more common usage, so contemporary recipes combine yogurt with mayonnaise to make a slightly lighter, tangier dressing.
One of our favorite quick dinners is a modification of the classic Waldorf salad. We always use pears rather than apples for this dish. Cut pears, walnuts, and cooked chicken into bite-sized chunks. Toss with a light coating of mayonnaise and a touch of curry powder. Serve on a bed of lettuce, or wrap in lettuce leaves like a burrito.

Corn
     Our favorite fun way to cook corn is on the grill. Preheat your grill to high. Trim the very tip off the corn-leave the husks on, and place on the grill surface. Cook for 20 minutes, turning over half way through. Grilling imparts a lovely, smoky flavor to the corn.

Carrot Soup
     As soon as I have a couple pounds of large carrots in the house, and the weather turns cooler, I start thinking of my favorite carrot soup recipe. I love the original Moosewood Cookbook recipe (by Mollie Katzen):
Bring to a boil: 2 pounds carrots, scrubbed and chopped; 4 cups water or stock; 1 1/2 tsp. salt; optional: 1 medium potato, chopped (for heartier soup)    Cover and simmer 12-15 minutes. Let cool to room temperature.   
Sauté in 3-4 Tbs. butter with a little salt until onions are clear.: 1 cup chopped onion; 1-2 small cloves crushed garlic;  1/3 cup chopped cashews or almonds.           
      Purée everything together in a blender until smooth. Return the purée to a kettle or double-boiler and whisk in one of the following: 1 cup milk, or 1 cup yogurt, or 1/2 pint heavy cream, or 3/4 cup sour cream (it even works with non-dairy rice milk, though you lose some of the richness). Heat very slowly.
     Season with 1 tsp. fresh-grated ginger root and a dash of sherry, or 2 pinches nutmeg and a dash of cinnamon. Garnish with toasted nuts or yogurt or sour cream.

Canning Tomatoes and "Seconds " Peppers available now
    Send email to the farm to let us know what you want, and at which market you want to pick them up. Please include your phone number, so we can call if there are questions.
Canning tomatoes ("seconds") $20/20 pound box
Roma  tomatoes $30/20 pounds Bell Peppers $25/20 pounds -Specify Red bell or Gold bell or Mixed colors.
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Denison Farms Harvest Box 2011: Week 16
In this box:  1 # Spinach, 2 Cucumbers*, 1 bunch Carrots, 1 basket Cherry Tomatoes, 2# Sweet Girl Tomatoes, 8 ears Corn*, 1# Romano Beans, 1 Melon*. 2# Gala Apples (from Gala Springs Farm) (weights are approx.)* indicates transitional produce. Please refrigerate or eat your berries as soon as possible.
   
Snapshots of the farm
     If I had a way to put photos in the newsletter, I might make this week's newsletter a slide show.... But since I don't have a blog, and my camera isn't talking to my computer this week, your tour of the farm will be in words.
     The field by the road, where our potatoes were recently harvested has been rototilled and planted to carrots. Yesterday the field was smooth, finely tilled brown dirt. Today there is a haze of green over the whole field as the tender carrot tops have emerged. This field of carrots will likely be ready for harvest in the winter months.
     The next field has recently transplanted cabbages. The fragile young seedlings are irrigated every day so they don't dry out and die as their roots grow deeper and take a firm hold. We're happy the weather has turned slightly cooler, as it gives the young seedlings a better chance of survival.
     Across the driveway, where our garlic grew in early summer, young kale plants that have been in the ground for a month now completely cover the ground with their frilled greenish-purple leaves. Soon it will be fall, and hearty greens and winter squash will appear in your box.
     But today is still late summer. When the sun is out and the air is warm, my senses are filled with the aromas of late summer..... the sweet cider smell of fallen apples when I walk to the mailbox, the heady aroma of ripe blackberries floats to my nose when the air is still and I pass by the bramble hedge.  And on hot, dry afternoons, the slightly musty smell of dried leaves lets me know fall is not too far off.   
     Our packing shed is a flurry of activity late into the evening on Monday as our crew works late to wash each box and lid that we will pack for you on Tuesday. Speaking of tubs, we seem to be running short on our supply. If you have any Harvest Box tubs that are accumulating at your house, please return them when you pick up your next box. And we really appreciate if they are rinsed out before they are returned. Thank you!

Melons
    All boxes should have a melon this week. But we don't have enough of any one kind for all the boxes. Some of you will have a watermelon (either yellow or red inside). Other boxes will have French Cantaloupe, Green Honeydew, or Margarita Melon (bright yellow outside, pale green inside). All our melons are picked ripe, so they should be eaten or refrigerated as soon as possible.

Canning Tomatoes available now
     For those of you who want to get some summer produce put up for the winter, boxes of canning tomatoes are available for $20/20 pound box. Due to lack of space on our Tuesday delivery trucks, we prefer to send special orders to the Farmers Market. Please email the farm with your request, and specify which market and which date you want to pick up one or more boxes of tomatoes. This is a great way to use up any vacation coupons you have.
   Not into canning? Did you know tomatoes are really easy to freeze for the winter? When I'm short on time, I just dip whole tomatoes in boiling water, slip off the skins, cut out the core, and freeze them whole in zip-top bags. In the winter, when I have more time, I take a bag out of the freezer in the morning, put the frozen tomatoes in a big pot, and simmer them all day, adding a cube of frozen pesto or a handful of dried herbs as the tomatoes simmer.

Next Week
    I will be gone next week (Sunday 9/18 until Friday 9/23). Our ability to reply to emails or process vacation credits will be limited during that time. 
    All requests for changes in box pick-up, or orders for canning tomatoes will need to be received in the office by Saturday (9/17) in order to be processed next week.
    And next week's newsletter will not get posted to the web site until after I return to the farm.
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Denison Farms Harvest Box 2011: Week 15
In this box: 1 Lettuce, 2 Cucumbers*, 1 basket Grape Tomatoes, 2# Sweet Girl Tomatoes, 8 ears Corn*, 1.5# summer squash*  OR 1# Romano Beans & 1 Red Onion , 1 basket Blackberries, 1 basket Strawberries OR 1 Melon*, 2# Gala Apples (from Gala Springs Farm)  (weights are approx.)* indicates transitional produce. Please refrigerate or eat your berries as soon as possible.

The Sweet Days of Summer
     I had forgotten how much fun it is to have sweet corn on the farm. As I mentioned in last week's newsletter, it takes a lot of land to grow enough corn for our Harvest Box membership. For the past several years, we have been cramped for enough space to grow all the crops we wanted. But this year, we're farming a new piece of land (20 acres) that we bought in 2009-and we suddenly feel like we have the space for corn.
    Because the sugars in sweet corn start turning to starch as soon as it is picked, sweet corn is at its best when cooked as soon as possible. My mother believes the cooking water needs to be boiling before you go out to pick the corn. You might want to cook your corn today and eat as much as you can for dinner tonight. Save any leftover cooked ears in the refrigerator for later in the week. Corn goes well in a lunchbox, or you can cut the kernels off and add them to pancake batter, muffin batter, soup, bean salad, or a pasta salad. Yesterday, I took ears of sweet corn as a snack for our boys on a hike, and this morning's corn pancakes disappeared very quickly!
     Fresh-picked sweet corn doesn't take long to cook. We suggest boiling or steaming the shucked ears for about 5 minutes, or place unshucked ears on the grill for 20 minutes, turning them over after 10 minutes.

Apples
     And if sweet corn doesn't satisfy your sweet tooth, your box today also has Gala apples. These apples are from our friend Shane Baker and his farm, Gala Springs. Tom sees Shane every week at the Beaverton Saturday Market, where Gala Springs Farm is also a vendor. If your farm name is Gala Springs, you can expect a good climate for growing Gala apples. Shane's farm is east of The Dalles, where the climate is dry and warm in the summer, and they grow a lot of different varieties of apples and pears-which you will see over the next few months. One of the earliest varities to ripen, Gala apples are juicy, sweet, and crisp. They are an excellent apple for fresh eating.

Cucumbers
     One of my favorite accompaniments for fresh summer produce is hummus. It makes a healthy and nutritious dip for cucumbers, apples, grape tomatoes, lettuce, radicchio, and summer squash sticks. Years ago I got this recipe for hummus from a friend of mine. It is very easy (if you have a food processor), and you can substitute rice vinegar (or cider vinegar) for part or all of the lemon juice if you don't have any lemons on hand. We have also substituted pumpkin seed butter for the tahini with excellent results. If you like garlic, you can increase the amount to 2 cloves.
Hummus
Juice of 1 lemon (1/3 cup)
2 cups cooked garbanzo beans
1 clove garlic
1/3 cup tahini (from raw or toasted sesame seeds)
1/4 cup olive oil
1 1/2 tsp. salt
     Place all ingredients into a food processor, and blend until very smooth (about a minute). Store in the refrigerator, and use within a week. You can vary the amount of lemon juice, tahini, and olive oil to suit your personal taste.

    We're just past the mid-point of our Harvest Box season. Your membership for our weekly box continues until Thanksgiving week (late November).
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Denison Farms Harvest Box 2011: Week 14
In this box: 1 Lettuce, 1 Cucumber*, 1 basket Grape Tomatoes, 1# Sweet Girl Tomatoes, 4 ears Corn*, 1.5# summer squash* OR 1# Romano Beans & 1 Red Onion, 1 head Garlic, 1 basket Blackberries, 1 basket Strawberries OR 1 Melon*  (weights are approx.) * indicates transitional produce. Please refrigerate or eat your berries as soon as possible.

Corn
     One of Tom's first farming jobs was working for a farmer in Ithaca, New York while he attended Cornell University. Alfred Eddy had a produce stand, and grew a LOT of corn. Tom remembers picking corn every morning for the produce stand during August and September. Starting slightly before dawn, he picked 500 dozen (!) ears of corn every morning. Apparently you can fit about 250 dozen ears into the back of a pick-up truck. Then Tom would drive the truck to the farm stand, unload, and go back for a second load. Tom picked a lot of corn during the year he worked for Alfred.
    Corn is a great crop if you like to think about math word problems.... Let's say we want to put corn into our Harvest Boxes for 4 weeks during September. How many seeds do we need to plant, and how much land do we need to till and fertilize to have enough corn to put 4 - 6 ears of corn in each of 400 boxes? Corn plants typically have one good-sized ear per plant. Some plants may eaten by birds, or ears will get eaten by raccoons, or an irrigation leak may wash out a part of the field, or seeds may not germinate, so we typically plant twice as many seeds than we think we will need. Since we want to put 4-6 ears into each Harvest Box for 4 weeks, we want at least 9,600 plants. To be on the safe side, we will more than double that number, and plant 20 thousand seeds. To simplify our management, we planted 4 different varieties of corn-each with a different number of days to maturity. That way we can plant the corn once, and (hopefully) harvest for 4 weeks, with a different variety maturing each week. How much land do we need? We plant our corn seeds 6-inches apart, with 2 rows on a bed. That gives us 4 corn plants per bed-foot (if they all grow), and potentially 4 ears of corn per bed-foot (if each plant matures one good ear). At a minimum, we need to prepare a 5000-foot long bed to plant corn. But corn grows better in solid blocks, rather than one long row. So we planted 25 rows, each 200 feet long. Wow, that's a lot of math. And that's just one of our dozens of different crops.
     For the boxes this week, we picked all the ears that were ready, and each box gets 4 ears. Hopefully, the weather will cooperate, and our later varieties will ripen so that you will see corn several times over the next several weeks.

Here's a great recipe for Romano Beans. If you have summer squash in your box this week, save this recipe for next week when we should have Romano Beans and a red onion for you.
Green Beans with Red Onion and Mustard Seed Vinaigrette
1. Heat 1 Tbs. olive oil in a heavy skillet over moderate heat until hot but not smoking. Cook 1 Tbs. mustard seeds, stirring, until they pop and are 1 shade darker, about 2 minutes. Transfer to a bowl.
2. Heat 2 Tbs. olive oil in a cleaned skillet over moderately high heat until hot but not smoking, then cook 1 red onion (thinly sliced) stirring, until golden brown (8-10 minutes). Remove from heat and stir in 1/4 cup red-wine vinegar, then add to mustard seed and oil in large bowl.
3. Have ready a large bowl of ice and cold water. Cook 1 lb. green beans in a pot of boiling salted water until crisp-tender, about 5 minutes. Drain and plunge into ice water, then drain well.
4. Toss beans with vinaigrette and salt and pepper to taste. Cover and chill 12-24 hours in refrigerator. Serve at room temperature or chilled. Serves 8.        (slightly modified from Gourmet, August 2001)

MELONS or STRAWBERRIES We hoped to harvest enough melons for all the boxes, but our melons struggled with the cool weather this summer, and they are ripening slowly. We will pick more next week, so if you have strawberries in your box this week, you should have a melon next week!
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Denison Farms Harvest Box 2011: Week 13
In this box: 1 Lettuce, 1 Cucumber*, 1 bunch Carrots*, 1 basket Grape Tomatoes, 1# Sweet Girl Tomatoes, 2# Red Potatoes*, 1 Sweet Onion, 1# summer squash*, 1 basket Blackberries, 1 basket Strawberries(weights are approx.)* indicates transitional produce. Please refrigerate or eat your berries as soon as possible

Cucumbers are back!
     You may remember seeing cucumbers frequently in the early weeks of this year's Harvest Box. But those plants got tired, and stopped producing cucumbers. Those plants have been pulled out. The ground was tilled and fertilized, grew a crop of radishes after the cucumbers, and has now been replanted with chard for the winter. The cucumber in today's box is from a new planting that has just started fruiting (botanically, cucumbers are a fruit). We have been enjoying various versions of Greek Salad this week. In my mind, Greek Salad should have thinly sliced cucumber, sweet onion, tomatoes, olives, parsley, and feta cheese; dressed with a light olive oil & vinegar dressing. I often use rice vinegar, but red wine vinegar works just as well, and I would use lemon juice if I had some on hand. Parsley and cheese are optional, but you can use other fresh herbs if that's what you have handy (cilantro, basil, mint, or oregano). I use approximately 2 parts olive oil to 1 part vinegar for the dressing.
     What's up with the skin? We have noticed that some of our cucumbers have rather scarred skin. This happens because we have trellised the vines to keep the cucumber off the ground, but the rows run from north to south in the field. Our strong summer afternoon winds come out of the west, which blows the plants and drags the young cucumbers across the trellis strings. These abrasion scars should only affect the skin, and can be easily removed by peeling thinly. If the scars don't bother you, feel free to eat the skins-this is a burpless cucumber variety, and (unlike store-bought cucumbers), no wax or preservatives have been added.

Summer Squash recipes for the week
Grilled Zucchini sandwiches (From Sunset Magazine, September 2001)
Brush zucchini and onion slices with olive oil, then grill. Lay between split ciabatta rolls with sliced provolone cheese and fresh oregano or basil leaves. Grill again until the bread is toasted.

Perfect Zucchini (from Organic Kitchen Garden 2011 calendar, August)
1 Tbs. fruity olive oil
1 clove garlic, chopped
1 organic lemon, juiced, rind grated
4 zucchini, 4-5 inches, quartered lengthwise
1 Tbs. Italian parsley, chopped
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
   In a wide, shallow pan, heat oil, garlic and lemon rind over medium-high heat to the fragrance point (about 1 minute). Add zucchini, sprinkle with parsley, salt and pepper and cook quickly, turning often, until barely tender (3-4 minutes). Add 2-3 teaspoons lemon juice to the pan and serve zucchini hot, drizzled with pan juices. Serves 4.

Potato Salad
     Red potatoes are excellent for potato salad. My favorite recipe (Simple Potato Salad) was printed in this year's Week 2 newsletter (available on the web site). You can also check Week 11 for a couple of variations on Papas Bravas if you didn't yet get to try them (or if you tried them, and need more!)
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Denison Farms Harvest Box 2011: Week 12

In this box: 1 bunch Carrots*,  1 basket Grape Tomatoes, 2# Sweet Girl Tomatoes,  2# French Fingerling Potatoes*, 1 head Garlic, 1 bunch Basil, 1# summer squash, 1 basket Blackberries, 1 basket Strawberries (weights are approx.) * indicates transitional produce. Please refrigerate or eat your berries as soon as possible.

Pesto
     One of my favorite food magazines is Saveur (available online at saveur.com). More than just a collection of recipes, Saveur magazine articles are always interesting to read-introducing me to the culture around food. I was excited to see the new issue (Number 140) of Saveur magazine. The cover story is about Pesto. The author goes to Luguria, a region in northwestern Italy, where pesto is "more than a sauce, it's an icon of cultural identity." As early as 1618, people in this region were serving macaroni with an oil-based sauce of garlic, basil, and cheese combined in a mortar and pestle.
     The most traditional pesto recipes consist of nothing more than basil, garlic, nuts, olive oil, and cheese. However, there are countless variations on the basic recipe. Pine nuts are traditionally used in pesto, but you can substitute walnuts, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, almonds or cashews. Try toasting your nuts first for an extra rich flavor. Our family avoids dairy, so I make pesto without cheese. To make up for this omission, I add a little extra salt, and use toasted nuts for extra flavor.
     In the Ligurian region of Italy, pesto is used to flavor a minestrone soup. Make a vegetable soup with potatoes, beans, and any other vegetables you have on hand (like carrots, onion, and summer squash). Cook until it's thick and creamy. Shortly before serving, toss in a bit of pasta and a generous spoonful of pesto.
     Or, roast a variety of vegetables (such as potatoes, summer squash, and carrots), and toss with pesto for a summer salad. There are many more mouthwatering recipe ideas at the saveur.com web site.

Roasted Summer Tomatoes
    One of the recipes I saw at the saveur.com web site is for roasted tomatoes. Here's my version-which is just lovely with sweet girl tomatoes. Cooking tomatoes in the oven changes their flavor in a remarkable way. It concentrates and deepens the flavor. After roasting, you can make quick tomato sauce in a food processor, or add cut-up chunks of roasted tomatoes to a pesto & pasta dinner. Here's a  recipe that I have modified from the original Oregonian column written years ago by Corvallis author Jan Roberts-Dominguez: Cut tomatoes in half (crosswise) and place cut-side down in a single layer in a baking dish. You can crowd them, but don't go beyond a single layer. Preheat oven to 350-375 degrees. Drizzle about 2 Tbs. of good olive oil over the tomatoes. Place pan in the oven for about an hour.  Remove the pan when the tomatoes look slumped, and perhaps a little browned on the top, but while there is still juice bubbling in the bottom of the pan (I overcooked mine once, and the juices burned to the bottom of the pan-it made for a messy clean-up).  After the tomatoes have cooled, scrape everything into a food processor, and pulse until nearly smooth. Use for pasta sauce or dipping sauce, or freeze for later.
We've been doing some research on roasted tomato recipes, and have found that you can successfully roast at any temperature between 250 degrees and 375 degrees. At lower temperatures, the tomatoes take longer to cook, and are less likely to char so you can roast them for several hours until all the liquid is gone. After roasting at a low temperature, you get more of a dried tomato texture, which is great in a pesto-pasta salad, or on an antipasto plate You can also tuck herbs or garlic cloves in between the tomato halves before roasting to infuse the roasted tomatoes with additional flavor.

French Fingerling Potatoes
    A Corvallis market customer shared her favorite French Fingerling cooking method. Now it's our favorite way also. Cut potatoes into small bite-sized pieces. Place in a sauté pan with 1 Tbs butter and 1 Tbs olive oil. Cover, and cook over medium heat for 15 minutes. Uncover, stir, recover, and continue cooking until potatoes are tender. Then uncover, increase the heat slightly, and sauté until they look slightly browned on the edges.
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Denison Farms Harvest Box 2011: Week 11

In this box: 1 Lettuce (green leaf), 1 bunch Carrots*, 1 basket Cherry Tomatoes, 2# Sweet Girl Tomatoes, 2# Red Potatoes*, 1 head Garlic, 1 bunch Cilantro, 1 basket Blackberries, 1 basket Strawberries (weights are approx.)
       * indicates transitional produce. Please refrigerate or eat your berries immediately.
   
If you need ideas about using cilantro, check our web site, last year's newsletters, week 7.
   
Carrots are back!!
     I have been watching our carrot field closely, and waiting (and waiting) for them to grow..... They are still a little on the small side, but I just couldn't wait any longer. Please remember that carrots will keep best if you remove their greens, and scrub them before storing them in a plastic bag in the refrigerator.

Potatoes
    Potatoes are a versatile and nutritious food (as long as you don't always eat them in the French fried or potato chip form). Unfortunately, potatoes got a bad reputation a few years ago with popular "lo-carb" diet books. However, that low point in potato popularity has turned, as many people are now embracing the diet philosophy that emphasizes fresh fruits and vegetables. If you want to pick up one good book this year, check out Michael Pollan's Food Rules.
    Tom and I got a rare chance to go out for dinner recently, and we decided to go to the Big River Restaurant on the riverfront in Corvallis because the executive chef shops at our Farmers Market booth twice a week, and we wanted to see what he's doing with our produce. We were delighted, especially by his version of Papas Bravas  which was made with our red potatoes. I did a web search and looked through my cookbook library and found quite a variety of recipes, some of which were way too complex for my kitchen, or used ingredients I didn't have on hand. Basically, Papas Bravas are roasted or fried potatoes that are tossed in a creamy, slightly spicy paprika dressing. You can go to Big River and taste their recipe, which is fantastic. But in the meantime, here are two options for making something tasty with this week's potatoes.
Paprika Roasted Potatoes: Scrub 2# red potatoes, and cut into 1-inch cubes. Coat with olive oil, and roast in a 375-degree oven, stirring occasionally, until tender (about 30 minutes). When potatoes are tender, and somewhat browned, remove from oven and toss gently with paprika sauce or Chipotle vinaigrette.
Paprika Sauce: Combine in a small bowl: 1 tsp. paprika, 1/2 tsp. chili powder, 1 tsp. vinegar, 1/2 tsp. salt, and 1 Tbs. olive oil. Toss gently with roasted potatoes.
Chipotle Vinaigrette (from Fields of Greens by Annie Somerville)
1 Tbs Champagne vinegar
2 Tbs fresh lime juice
1/2 tsp Dijon mustard
1 tsp Chipotle purée (Purée a can of chipotles in adobo sauce in blender, and store puree in refrigerator or freezer, using a little at a time as needed. Caution, it's spicy!)
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
1/2 tsp salt
5 Tbs light olive oil.
     Combine vinegar and lime juice in a small bowl. Whisk in the Dijon mustard, chipotle purée, garlic, and salt. Slowly whisk in the oil to emulsify.
    If you like to eat out, here are some of the other restaurants that support local growers and regularly shop at our Farmers Market booth: In Corvallis: Block 15, Luc, Del Alma, & Cloud 9 and in Salem: La Capitale, DaVinci's, and Gamberetti's.

Second Payment was Due Aug. 1st
  Thank you to everyone who has sent in the second payment for your Harvest Box membership. We're still waiting for a few checks, and will mail invoices to those members if we don't see a check by next week.
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Denison Farms Harvest Box 2011: Week 10
In this box: 1 Lettuce (green leaf), 1 Red Bottle Onion (caution: these are NOT as mild as our white onions that you have been getting), 2# Tomatoes,  4 ears Corn (from Groundwork Organics), 2# Summer Squash, 3# Yukon Gold Potatoes, 1 basket Blackberries or Strawberries, 1 basket Strawberries (weights are approx.) Please refrigerate or eat your berries immediately.

Snapshots from the farm
     It is Sunday afternoon, the last day of July. I have a pot of tomato sauce simmering on the stove. As I was walking around the farm this morning, I wished I had a camera to capture images of the farm in the height of summer: A barn swallow is taking a bath in a shallow puddle near a leaking hose.... Our neighbor is combining  his grass seed field, making a pattern of gold stripes across the ground.... Some of our grape vines have escaped from the hoop house, and are climbing skywards above the roof.... Next to the road, where our earliest potatoes have been harvested, neat rows of corn have just been cultivated-our corn is still about a month away from harvest, but our friends at Groundwork Organics planted theirs earlier....The crew has just finished weeding a new carrot patch, and tender young carrot leaves are gingerly  reaching toward the sun....A flock of noisy birds has descended on our blueberry orchard, and they are stripping the bushes of all ripe fruits....And my footsteps raise little clouds of dust as I walk the roadways on the farm.... It is definitely summer.

Simple Summer Squash Soup
     I couldn't find my old recipe for summer squash soup, so I had to recreate it from memory. I like this new version better: Coarsely chop 2# summer squash, 1/2 onion, and 2 cloves garlic. Add a potato or two if you want a thicker soup. Simmer in 6 cups chicken or vegetable stock for 20 minutes. Purée or mash with a potato masher. Garnish with whatever fresh herbs you have on hand (basil, mint, cilantro, oregano,....). You can also add a spoonful of unflavored yogurt or sour cream to each bowl just before serving. Serve warm or chilled. 

New twist on an old favorite: Tomato Garlic Bread
    Here's a great idea from The Organic Kitchen Garden 2011 Calendar (by Ann Lovejoy). Slice 1 large rustic loaf of Sourdough Bread in half lengthwise, leaving a hinge.  Combine 2 Tbs olive oil with 2 cloves minced garlic. Spread garlic oil onto both cut sides of the bread. Layer thin tomato slices on top of the oil & garlic. Top with 1/4 cup grated Parmesan or Romano cheese (optional). Close bread. Wrap in foil, and heat in a 225-degree oven for 20-25 minutes. Serve warm.

Tom's on Youtube!
   The Beaverton Farmers Market manager visited our farm a few weeks ago (to certify that we are actually growing what we sell at the Market), and she created a video that is now posted on Youtube. You can search for Meet Denison Farms, or go directly to http://youtu.be/nBVO1v3x9GY.
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Denison Farms Harvest Box 2011: Week 9
In this box: 1 Lettuce (red leaf), 1/2# Spinach, 2# Tomatoes, 1 basket Grape Tomatoes, 1# Summer Squash, 1 bunch Basil, 1 head Garlic, 1 bunch Radish, 1 basket Blackberries or Raspberries (weights are approx.) Please refrigerate or eat your berries as soon as possible.

Summer Squash
     I have been waiting for the perfect week to give this recipe. This week, with basil, summer squash, and grape tomatoes in the box, you have nearly everything you need. If you want to be bold, you can also add your radishes to the sauté pan. Sautéed radishes are quite lovely.   
Sautéed Zucchini, Basil, Cherry Tomatoes, and Olives
2 Tbs extra-virgin olive oil
1 pound (or more if you have it) zucchini, cut into 1/2 -inch thick slices
2 large garlic cloves, sliced
Salt & pepper to taste
1 1/2 teaspoons chopped fresh rosemary or oregano
2 cups small cherry tomatoes, halved
1/3 cup halved pitted Kalamata olives
1/4 cup thinly sliced fresh basil
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

Heat oil in large skillet over medium-high heat. Add zucchini, garlic, and rosemary. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Sauté until zucchini is just tender, about 5 minutes. Add tomatoes and olives. Sauté until tomatoes just begin to soften, about 2 minutes. Mix in basil and vinegar. Season vegetables to taste with salt and pepper. Transferto a bowl. Makes 6 servings. From Bon Appetit, September 2007.

Universal Summer Salad Dressing
     Here's a summer salad dressing that is a perfect marinade for steamed or sautéed vegetables, pasta salads, or green salads: Whisk together 1/4 cup olive oil, 2 Tbs lemon juice, 2 Tbs. minced fresh herbs (parsley, basil, oregano, thyme, or chive), 1 tsp. salt, 1/2 tsp. black pepper. You can adjust the amount of lemon juice, salt, pepper, and herbs to taste.

Do you want to be notified of Specials?
     We were thrilled with the response we got to our email announcing a "raspberry deal" a few weeks ago. However, we are cautious about not overwhelming your email inbox with special messages and notices from the farm, and we don't have email addresses for everyone. We would like to send our special notices only to people who want to hear about special deals that we might offer.
    So, we will be creating new email lists, and you can request which notices you would like to receive. To get on the list(s), send email to us at denisont@peak.org and tell us which list(s) you want to be on: Berries, Canning Tomatoes, Basil, Peppers, or All Produce Lists; and at which Farmers Market you could pick up an order. We will email you in advance of special prices on flats of berries or canning/freezing quantities of other produce that you can pick up at the Farmers Market.
    Also, if you would like to be notified when there are opportunities to communicate with our political leaders about issues affecting small, organic farms, request to be on our Political Action list as well.
In the body of your email, please specify which Farmers Market: Beaverton, Salem, or Corvallis; and also specify which list(s) you want to be on: Berries, Canning Tomatoes, Basil, Peppers, All Produce lists, and/or Political Action list.
(We will never share our email list, and you can ask to be removed from the list at any time)
    And please tell all your friends about our Special Lists. You don't need to be a Harvest Box Member to receive notice of and benefit from our special deals! Our Special Deal email lists are open to all.

Second Payment Due August 1st
   If you joined the Harvest Box by paying half of the membership fee in the spring, your second payment is due August 1st.
   The first half of the season ends with the 13th box (August 23). If you plan to cancel your membership at the end of the first half, please let us know by the 13th week, and continue picking up your box until then.
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<>Denison Farms Harvest Box 2011: Week 8

In this box: 1 Radicchio, 1/2# Spinach, 1 Sweet Onion, 1# Tomatoes, 1# Summer Squash, 3# French Fingerling Potatoes, 1 basket Raspberries, 1 basket Cherries (weights are approx.) Please refrigerate or eat your berries as soon as possible.

Radicchio
     Continuing with our Mediterranean theme from last week, we have Radicchio for you this week. Radicchio is very popular in Italy, and is becoming more widely known in this country. Radicchio is related to chicory and Belgian endive-the more bitter members of the lettuce family. Bitterness is a bit of an acquired taste in vegetables-particularly in America where sugar is added to everything from bread to canned vegetables.
     Radicchio can be enjoyed as a salad or a cooked vegetable. My favorite way to use radicchio is to use whole leaves as a dipper for hummus. If you're less taken with bitter greens, try it in a salad with a citrus dressing and add tangy feta or goat cheese to balance the flavors:
Citrus vinaigrette: 1/2 tsp orange zest, 1 Tbs orange or grapefruit juice concentrate, 1 Tbs rice vinegar or wine vinegar, 1/4 tsp. salt, 4 Tbs olive oil.
       I also spent some time on my favorite recipe web site this morning (epicurious.com), and found several promising recipes, including Penne with Radicchio, Spinach, and Bacon-which I haven't yet had a chance to try.

Spinach
    I have been noticing a number of recipes in the past few years calling for "baby spinach". This is a result of a very successful marketing campaign by the large-scale organic farms in California. Our spinach leaves may be larger than what is sold in bags as "baby" spinach, but it is young, and tender, and fresh. Any recipe that calls for baby spinach will work with our spinach, though you may want to cut it into pieces.
    Our spinach is harvested by hand, one leaf at a time. "Baby" spinach is grown mostly on large farms in California, planted in 6-foot wide beds and harvested young by a mowing machine with a 6-foot bandsaw-like blade across the front.  With this machinery, 60 acres of spinach (and whatever else gets in the way of the mower) can be harvested in a few hours. That's larger than our entire farm. Then it is trucked to a plant that washes and mixes it with spinach from other from other fields, bags it, and sends it all over the globe.  Earthbound farms is perhaps the largest grower of baby spinach, they ship half a million pounds of it daily.
    It's hard for us to imagine farming on that kind of scale. We love having a small enough farm that we can walk the entire farm every day. We have made a conscious choice to remain small and diverse, and to market the vast majority of our produce to our local community. We love meeting you, watching your children (and grandchildren) grow, knowing that our food is in your kitchen, trading recipes with you, and helping to make our corner of the world a little healthier.

Tomatoes
    We do sell a few crops through a produce wholesale company headquartered in Eugene, but even those wholesale crops are sold mostly in Oregon. Our tomatoes are now for sale in the New Seasons Markets in Portland. If you have friends in Portland, you can tell them they might run into our produce at New Seasons. 
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Denison Farms Harvest Box 2011: Week 7

In this box: 1 lettuce , 1 bunch French Breakfast radishes, 1 cucumber, 1 basket Sungold or  Red Cherry tomatoes, 1# vine ripe tomatoes, 2# Honeypod Fava Beans, 1# Romano Beans (cook these just like a regular green bean-steam, sauté, or marinate), 1 basket Strawberries, 1 basket red or gold Raspberries (weights are approx.) Please refrigerate or eat your berries as soon as possible.

Honeypod Favas
    Just when you thought you knew aboutfava beans, we're offering a NEW fava experience!! Tom has been doing research for the past several years, looking for the best tasting fava bean. His research led him to a variety called Honeypod where the whole bean-pod and all, can be eaten like a green bean, or you can shell the beans and use just the inner bean like traditional favas.
If you have been troubled by the waste and work of shelling and peeling fava beans, this variety may change your mind about favas.  The whole thing except for the stem and a string that runs down each side of the bean is pleasantly edible. (I even enjoy them raw).  My favorite way to cook Honeypod favas is to slice the pods into 1/8" rings (after pulling the strings off the sides), then sauté with fresh tomatoes (and onions, garlic, fresh herbs, or red wine for flavoring) until the tomatoes melt and create a sauce for everything. Serve over rice or pasta, and you can imagine you are on the whitewashed balcony of a restaurant overlooking the Mediterranean on the coast of Italy or Greece.
Honeypod favas  can also be marinate and grilled in the pod (go to www.foodandwine.com/recipes and search for grilled fava bean pods), or steamed whole just like a green bean.  If you grill or steam whole favas in the pod, you will need to remove the tough string that runs down the sides of the bean before eating. It's a little easier to remove the strings after they are cooked. However, removing the string from a cooked bean is messy.  Oh well, sweet corn, artichokes and lobsters are messy too but that doesn't keep people from enjoying them.  We eat Honeypod favas with our fingers, leave the strings on the plate and wash our hands when we are through. 
    For those of you who have recently joined our membership, and are unfamiliar with Fava Beans, check out Newsletter from Week 4 (this year) on our web site for general Fava instructions, and several cooking ideas.

French Breakfast Radishes
    These beautiful radishes have a somewhat milder flavor than traditional red radishes. If I'm in the mood for a radish & butter sandwich, this is the variety I choose.  This week, you could even make a radish, cucumber, and cream cheese sandwich, unless your cucumber is already destined for a Greek Salad with some tomatoes and the rest of last week's red onion.
A recent Bon Apetit magazine (April 2011) included a recipe for
Sliced Baguette with Radishes and Anchovy Butter
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter at room temperature
2-3 anchovy fillets, finely chopped
2 Tbs chopped fresh chives, plus a bit more for garnish
Coarse kosher salt
16 1/2" thick diagonal slices baguette
1 bunch French Breakfast radises, trimmed, thinly sliced on diagonal
Mix butter, 2 chopped anchovy fillets, and 2 Tbs chives in a small bowl, adding 1 more chopped anchovy fillet to taste, if desired. Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Spread anchovy butter over 1 side of each baguette slice. Top each baguette slice with radish slices, overlapping slightly to cover bread. Garnish with additional chopped chives and serve.
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Denison Farms Harvest Box 2011: Week 6

In this box: 1 lettuce, 1 bunch radishes, 1 bunch salad turnips, 1 head garlic, 1 cucumber, 1 red onion, 2# German butterball potatoes transitional, sungold or sweet girl tomatoes, 3/4# zucchini, 1 basket Strawberries, 1 basket red or gold Raspberries  (weights are approx.)

    This is Tom.  Elizabeth and the boys are visiting her folks in Ohio this week so I get to create the newsletter.  Each year when they go back there, I am reminded how much she gets done around here.

Tomatoes
    Some of you will get sungold which is an orange cherry tomato.  Some will get sweet girl which is a small red tomato.  The cool spring has delayed our tomato production, but by giving one variety to some of you and another to the rest, we have enough for everybody to get some kind of tomatoes.

    The sunshine we are finally getting is making the tomatoes very happy.  It's also great for us organic farmers who don't use herbicides, because it's much easier to kill weeds by cultivation when the sun shines.  If it rains after hoeing or cultivating, the weeds just think they have been transplanted and keep on growing.   It feels good to be getting caught up (mostly) on the weeding because the weeds like this sunshine too and can destroy a crop if they get out of control.

Raspberries
    Like the tomatoes, we have enough golden raspberries for some of you and red raspberries for the rest.  The taste of gold raspberries is a rare treat because they are too perishable to ship. Please eat or refrigerate them as soon as you can.  We will switch in some future week so everybody can try them.

German Butterball potatoes
    This heirloom potato is delicious roasted, mashed, or fried.  It is starchy enough that it almost mashes itself when boiled, so it's not great for that use unless you want them mashed.  They hold together better steamed, if you want potato salad.  If we get any weather this week cool enough that you want to turn on your oven, these would be great roasted together with the onion and radishes or turnips.  Cut everything into similar size chunks toss with olive oil and salt, and roast in oven at 350 for an hour or so until everything is soft inside and a little crispy on the outside.

Thank you
    This season we have been getting an unusually high number of new members each week.  People tell us they learned about the box from existing members (we don't advertise), so thanks for your favorable reviews.  And thanks for choosing our box.  It is a huge help to us to be able to provide you with food directly from our farm.  We do sell some produce wholesale but a farm our size would have a hard time surviving by just selling wholesale.
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Denison Farms Harvest Box 2011: Week 5

In this box: 1 Red lettuce, 1 bunch Celery (from Groundwork Organics), 1# Oregon Spring  Tomatoes (Salem/Alb) OR 1 basket Grape Tomatoes (Corvallis),  2 cucumbers, 1# Zucchinim 3/4# Romano Green Beans, 1 basket Cherries, 1 basket Raspberries (weights are approx.)Please note: our fruit has not been treated with fungicides.Refrigerate (or eat) your berries and cherries as soon as possible.

Tomatoes
    Tomatoes are finally ripening on our farm (despite the cool, rainy weather). We should have tomatoes in your boxes every week from here on. Over the course of the season, you will get to taste a wide variety of tomatoes. This week you have either a bag of Oregon Spring, or a basket of Grape tomatoes. Oregon Spring is a variety developed at Oregon State University (Go Beavs!) a number of years ago. It is one of the earliest tomatoes to ripen, and has a sweet & tangy flavor. Oregon Spring is great as a salad tomato, or for making salsa or gazpacho. However, they are delicate, and need to be handled very gently or they will become mushy. If you're slicing them for a salad, make sure you have a very sharp knife. 
    Grape tomatoes come in a variety of shapes and colors. Similar to cherry tomatoes in size, grape tomatoes tend to be meatier and less juicy than cherry tomatoes. They can be eaten straight, or halved and tossed into a sauté pan for a quick pasta sauce.

Italian Romano Green Beans
If this is your first year of membership with our Harvest Box, you may not recognize the Romano green beans in your box. The long, flat, green beans in your box can be cooked any way you would cook a green bean. My only caution is don't overcook them. We like to steam them for about 3 minutes, then melt a little butter over the warm beans.

Raspberries
    The taste of a fresh raspberry takes me right back to childhood summer vacations at my grandmother's house in central Vermont. I would slip out of the side door, run up the hill to the raspberry patch, and eat handfuls of warm sweet-tart fruits. Now my son's do the same.... slipping out of the house quietly to reappear later with red juice under their fingernails, sweet berry breath, and a smile on their faces.
    We hope to have a long and fruitful raspberry season this year. We are growing several different varieties of raspberries, and the vines look healthy, so we hope you will see raspberries fairly regularly throughout the course of the season.

Zucchini
    In the early days of the farm Zucchini was our most important crop. It takes a lot of labor to pick, because it needs to be picked every day, so it is a good crop for a young farmer without many assets except his own labor. It also rarely fails to produce a crop, regardless of the weather. Zucchini is a versatile vegetable in the kitchen that can be steamed, fried, baked. It's good in soups, curries, stir fried, or baked into zucchini bread.  This time of year many people like to cook on an outdoor grill and zucchini is great that way. If you don't have a grill, you can get a very similar effect from roasting in a hot (475 degree) oven.
    Grilled Zucchini: slice small zucchinis in half lengthwise. Coat with 3 Tbs. olive oil. (optional, add 1 clove minced or pressed garlic). I like to put everything in a large zip-top bag and shake to coat zucchini with the olive oil. Grill zucchini on a hot grill for about 5 minutes per side until browned on the surface, and just tender in the middle.
    You can serve grilled zucchini whole, or cut them into bite-sized chunks when they are cool enough to handle, and toss with fresh herbs (basil, thyme, oregano, or parsley) before serving.

Please Note:
     I will be in Ohio this week, celebrating my father's 81st birthday, and my parents 57th anniversary. I return next Wednesday.
     All requests for vacation credit for next week (July 5) must be received by Wednesday, June 29th. We cannot accommodate short notice vacation credits this week, as we have already counted the number of boxes going to each pick-up site next week.
     Also, next week's newsletter will NOT be posted to the web site until after I return. If you're in the habit of reading the newsletter online, Week 6 Newsletter will not be available until after Wednesday of next week.
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Denison Farms Harvest Box 2011: Week 4

In this box: 1 Oak Leaf lettuce , 1# Oregon Spring Tomatoes (Corvallis) OR 1 basket Red Grape Tomatoes (Alb./Salem), 1 cucumber, 1 Red Onion, 2# Fava Beans, 2# transitional Potatoes, 1 basket Cherries, 1 basket Strawberries (weights are approx.)

Please note: our fruit has not been treated with fungicides. Refrigerate (or eat) your berries and cherries as soon as possible.

Cherries
These Early Burlat Cherries are an heirloom French variety, prized in the days before food was jet-freighted around the globe, because they are the earliest good-tasting cherry to ripen. Tom and his brother planted our 100 cherry trees in 1992, shortly after we moved to this farm. It is a treat to share the fruits with you.
   
French Fingerling Potatoes
    This is truly a gourmet potato, with a distinctively sweet, nutty flavor. To enjoy the unique flavor, just cut into bite-size pieces and boil for about 10 minutes in salted water. Serve buttered. French Fingerling also make great roasted or fried potatoes, or potato salad.
 
Fava Beans have been a staple of Mediterranean and European cuisine for centuries. In England, they are called Broad Beans. They have recently become a fashionable vegetable in this country. Many of the fancier restaurants feature favas on their seasonal menus, and you may have seen articles about fava beans in cooking magazines and even the Oregonian.
Preparing Fava Beans
    First, you need to get the beans out of the pods. You can do this either by scoring the length of the pod with a paring knife, or by snapping the pod at each bean and popping the bean out.
    Next, blanch the beans. Lower into boiling water for 3 minutes, then plunge into ice water to chill quickly.
    Then, pop the bright green inner bean out of its skin. This is called "peeling" the inner bean. Once you have the tender, inner beans, you can use them in a sauté, a soup, or a salad.
To peel or not to peel? The inner skin is edible, but rather fibrous and not very flavorful. Some people prefer not to peel the beans before eating-it saves time and generates less for the compost pile. This is really a matter of personal preference. We generally don't peel the beans when they are younger and smaller, and peel them when the beans are larger and the skins are tougher. You can taste a bean or two after blanching and see if you want to take the extra effort to pop off the outer skins.  If you do peel them, you get a milder flavor and more tender bean, if you leave the peels on, the beans hold their shape better in the final dish.  Here are some ideas for using your blanched fava beans:
Edamame style
    Serve blanched fava beans in a small dish, with a touch of salt. Take one bean at a time, and pop it out of the skin directly into your mouth. This presentation is especially popular with our youngest son.
Pasta Salad
    Cook your favorite short pasta (we like corkscrew shape for pasta salad). When done, mix gently with blanched, peeled fava beans, cut up tomatoes, finely diced sweet onion, a little diced cucumber, and a handful of fresh herbs (I still had some basil on the counter from last week's box). Dress with olive oil and red wine vinegar-use a little more than twice as much olive oil as vinegar. Add salt & pepper to taste.
Fava Beans with Yogurt and Lemon
    Inspired by Deborah Madison's Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone, this recipe has been modified to suit the ingredients in your box today. If you're in a hurry, just toss blanched, peeled beans with the yogurt and dressing, and serve.
1. Heat 2 Tbs olive oil over moderate heat in a frypan until the oil shimmers.
2. Add 2 cups blanched, peeled fava beans and 1 clove garlic, sliced. Sauté for 3 minutes.
3. Then add 1/2 red onion, thinly sliced. Sauté for 3 more minutes.
4. Prepare dressing: whisk together 1 Tbs olive oil, zest and juice from 1/2 lemon, and a pinch of salt.
5. Toss sautéed favas with lemon dressing and cool for 5 minutes.
6. Gently fold in 1/4 cup yogurt. Eat immediately, or serve chilled. It's great both ways!

Recycling plastic containers
    We totally support efforts to reduce-reuse-recycle. However, we are also very concerned that your produce get to your kitchen in good condition. We use plastic clam containers for fruit, because it keeps them from spilling and getting crushed by more robust vegetables in your box—like potatoes. Unfortunately, we have no way to sanitize them, so we cannot reuse these containers. Our Salem members are fortunate. Marion County will accept the plastic clams in your curbside mixed recycling bins. In Corvallis and Albany, these containers can NOT be put in your curbside bin, but they ARE recyclable at the First Alternative’s Recycling Depot on South 3rd Street in Corvallis. We encourage you to take them there.
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Denison Farms Harvest Box 2011: Week 3
In this box: 1 Red lettuce (Groundwork Organics), 1 cucumber (Albany &  Salem boxes), OR 1# zucchini (Corvallis), 1 bunch White Turnips, 1 head Cabbage, 1 Sweet Onion, 1 bunch Basil, 1 garlic, 2# transitional Potatoes, 1 basket Strawberries (weights are approx.)

Cabbage
    Cabbage is one of our family's favorite vegetables. Depending on my mood, and what else is happening for dinner, we enjoy it either raw as a salad or cooked (mostly in a stir-fry, though I keep thinking of making cabbage rolls some day when I have the time.....).
    For a salad, you can cut cabbage into chunks, or shred it finely. Dress your cabbage salad with whatever favorite salad dressing you have on hand-anything from a vinaigrette to a mayonnaise- or yogurt-based dressing.
    Our kids, who tend to prefer crunchy vegetables, like chunks of cabbage and a little bowl of salad dressing for dipping at the table.
    If you have the oven on to roast potatoes, try cutting wedges of cabbage, and adding them to the roasting pan with the potatoes and chunks of onion.
   
Nicola Potatoes
    Try this week's potatoes baked, roasted, boiled, fried, or mashed (pretty much any way you would cook potatoes). Here's how we make roasted potatoes: Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Cut potatoes into bite-sized chunks and drizzle with olive oil. Place in a roasting pan or cast iron skillet. Sprinkle with salt. Cook in hot oven for about 30 minutes, then turn pieces over with a spatula and continue to roast until crispy on the outside and tender inside when pierced with a knife. For a complete meal, toss warm roasted potatoes with a generous dollop of pesto.
   
White Salad Turnips
    Some people fondly call Salad Turnips "two vegetables in one" because you can eat both the roots and the greens, either together or separately. We generally eat the roots raw in a salad (as you would a radish). Salad turnips are a very mild-flavored turnip. Sometimes you get a hint of hotness just under the skin, which you can remove by peeling. If you want to cook the turnip roots, slice and add to a soup, or sauté with the greens in the Hot & Sour Greens recipe (see below).
    The greens can be shredded and used as a salad, warmed in a brothy soup (add just before serving, as the greens don't need much cooking), or follow the recipe below for Hot & Sour greens.

Hot & Sour Greens (from Andrew Weil, 8 Weeks to Optimum Health). This recipe wins the contest for my all time favorite recipe. The cooking technique is simple, and very forgiving. I have been using it for years, and sometimes vary the flavors by using balsamic vinegar in place of the mustard/rice vinegar/soy sauce/brown sugar. Then your dinner takes on a Tuscan rather than an Asian flair.

1 bunch greens (turnip greens, chard, collards, kale, bok choy, or shredded cabbage)
(optional: white turnip roots or radish roots)
2 tsp. olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
dash of red pepper flakes
1/4 tsp. dry mustard
2 Tbs. rice vinegar
1 tsp. soy sauce
1 tsp. brown sugar (optional)
    Rinse and slice greens in 1/2 inch shreds. Heat oil, stir-fry garlic and pepper flakes 1 minute. (Add and sauté sliced roots for 2 minutes if you are using them). Add greens and mustard powder. Stir to coat greens with garlic and oil. Combine rice vinegar, soy sauce, and (optional) sugar. Add to skillet. Cook, covered, over medium heat for about 5 minutes.
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Denison Farms Harvest Box 2011: Week 2

In this box: 1/2# Salad Mix, 1# Carrots, 1 Bok Choy (from Groundwork Organics), 2# transitional Purple Viking Potaotes, 1 Cucumber (Corvallis boxes) or 1# Zucchini (Albany & Salem Boxes), 1 bunch Garlic Tops, 3/4# Sugar Snap Peas, 1 basket Strawberries

Annual Members Day on the Farm
    This Sunday, June 12 from 2-6 PM
    Farm Tour at 2:30, Potluck at 4:30
We hope you can join us this year for our annual farm tour to see what's growing, to share a meal with other Harvest Box members, and to spend an afternoon on the farm. We will provide sun tea and several gluten-free dishes. You are invited to bring a dish to share, a blanket or lawn chair, comfortable walking shoes, and your own plates and cutlery.

Summer Crops are coming! (but not quite fast enough)
    Cool spring weather continues to hang on, with only a few sunny days here and there. Some years, the snow is gone from Mary's Peak by mid-May-but this year, snow is still visible (when the clouds lift so we can see the top!). This unseasonable weather has delayed some of our summer crops 3-4 weeks compared with past years.  Heat-loving cucumbers and summer squash have been growing slowly, so this week we don't have quite enough of either one for all our boxes. Therefore, Corvallis members will get a cucumber, and Salem/Albany boxes will get summer squash. You can expect to see the other item in your box next week.

Purple Viking Potatoes
    This is my favorite variety of potato for potato salad. The snowy white flesh is very moist, and cooked pieces won't fall apart when gently mixed with your favorite potato salad dressing. Purple Vikings also make the creamiest mashed potatoes.
    Do you still have a little onion from last week? This quick and easy recipe reminds me of my German grandmother's potato salad.
Easy Potato Salad:
1. Finely chop 1/2 a mild onion, place in bowl.
2. Cover with good olive oil and rice vinegar (use about twice as much olive oil as vinegar), and a dash of black pepper.
3. Cut 2 lbs. new potatoes into bite-sized chunks.
4. Cover potatoes with water, add 1 tsp. salt. Boil for 10 minutes or until soft.
5. Drain potatoes and add to marinating onions. Stir gently. Cool 10 minutes. Serve warm or cool. Adjust salt & pepper to taste. Garnish with whatever fresh herbs you have on hand.

Garlic Tops.... are a tasty treat only available in the late spring. Cook them like asparagus-steam them whole until the stems are tender, or cut them into a stir-fry for a very gentle hint of garlic flavor, and succulent texture not unlike asparagus. Steamed garlic tops are excellent dipped into Hummus!

Bok Choy
     This mild-flavored member of the broccoli & cabbage family can be enjoyed either raw or cooked. The juicy stems can be used in place of celery in a salad or soup. For stir-fry, separate the stems from the leaves. Chop and cook the stems for a few minutes before adding the sliced leaves. Season with garlic, ginger, soy sauce, and rice vinegar for a traditional Asian flavor. For a marinated salad, steam bok choy (again, cook the stems a few minutes longer than the leaves) and toss with a light coating of sesame oil, soy sauce, and rice vinegar.

Photos of the farm
   This year, we were invited to be the feature farm in the Corvallis First Alternative's monthly newspaper. Emily Stimac, who has a background in photo-journalism is visiting our farm every month this year, taking pictures, and writing a column in the Co-op Thymes showcasing our farm through the seasons. You can find photos and articles from February and March at farmbeat.blogspot.com, or find even more photos on the First Alternative's Facebook page (www.facebook.com/FirstAlternative). Once you're at the Facebook page, choose photos, and look for Farm Beat.  Future months' photos will be displayed on the Facebook page, rather than the blog.
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Denison Farms Harvest Box 2011: Week 1

In this box: 1 red leaf lettuce (from Groundwork Farm), 1 bunch carrots, 1 bunch basil, 1 head fresh garlic, 1 sweet white onion, 1 red onion, 2# red potatoes, 1/2# zucchini, 1 basket strawberries

    Welcome to all our returning and new members. We hope you enjoy this first box of the season. It's exciting to be starting the harvest box season again. Thanks for choosing to be part of our farm!
       
Getting the most from your Harvest Box: As this is the first box, many of you may be so excited that you will eat the entire contents in a day or two. However, if you already had some produce in your refrigerator, or you already had a dinner plan for tonight, here are some general suggestions about how to deal with your produce so you can get the most enjoyment from the box.
1) Eat your berries as soon as possible. If you really can't eat your strawberries tonight, get them into a cold refrigerator AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.  And don't wash them until right before you plan to eat them, or they will become waterlogged.
2) Rinse greens, drain well, and store in cold refrigerator. Gently dunk lettuce, salad mixes, or other greens in a large bowl of cold water several times to remove any debris from between the leaves. Then drain well before storing in the refrigerator in a plastic bag or sealed tub. Salad mixes should be eaten within 2 days, whereas a head of lettuce will keep longer. Leave heads of lettuce intact until you're ready to make salad. Once the leaves are separated from each other, lettuces don't keep as well.
3) Basil: Do not refrigerate basil. Basil will turn black if it gets too cold. The best way to keep basil is to turn it into pesto (my basic pesto recipe can be found at www.denisonfarms.com.  Go to last year's newsletters, week 4). Otherwise, treat basil like cut flowers. Place the bottom of the stems in a jar of fresh water, place a plastic bag loosely over the top (to allow some ventilation, but prevent wilting), and leave on the kitchen counter for up to a week. Try a few basil leaves instead of lettuce in a cheese sandwich.
4) Roots: Take the tops off your carrots and scrub the roots before putting them in the refrigerator. That way they will be ready-to-eat when you want them. Most root vegetables keep better without their tops. The greens will continue to lose moisture after they are picked, so your roots will be most crisp and sweet if you remove the tops before storing them in a cold part of the refrigerator (this is true for beets and turnips also).
5) Potatoes: Always store potatoes in the dark. They will turn green when exposed to light, and the green parts are not good to eat.  Potatoes will keep best in the refrigerator, especially early in the season when the skins are still tender. I like to label a brown paper bag with the date and kind of potato, then store in the fridge.

New Red Potatoes
    Today's red potatoes are excellent just steamed or boiled and served warm with butter, or made into your favorite potato salad, or sautéed with sweet onion and zucchini. Since they are new potatoes (the skins are thin), you should put a little salt in the water before boiling or steaming. (I cut my potatoes into chunks, barely covered the potatoes with water, added 1/2 tsp salt, then simmered for 10 minutes). If you leave out the salt, much of the flavor will seep into the water, and your potatoes will taste bland.

Fresh Garlic: This garlic has just been dug, so it is still quite moist. It will mold if it is stored in plastic. I suggest leaving it on the counter where it can breathe.

Fresh Sweet Onions: Garnish a brothy soup with finely chopped onion; use in a potato salad; season sautéed onion slices with a touch of balsamic vinegar; or (our kids' favorite) drizzle quartered onions with a little olive oil, sprinkle with salt, and roast in a 375 degree oven for about an hour until the onions are very soft, and slightly browned on the edges. This makes them very sweet! The greens are edible, too. If you want to eat them raw, the white onion is slightly milder than the red.

Groundwork Organics: The lettuce in your box this week was grown by our friends Gabe and Sophie at Groundwork Organic Farm (in Junction City). Gabe worked on our farm for several years before he and Sophie purchased their own land a few miles north of Eugene, just off River Road. After Gabe started his own farm, we have continued to cooperate with each other-purchasing supplies together often gets us a better deal, and we frequently get things from each other for our CSA boxes. Our lettuce is growing, but it is still too small to pick.
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