{ Community Supported Agriculture Newsletter {

Dear CSA Members:

This week’s article comes from Sarah Shapiro, one of the quiet heroes of this year's CSA garden. She comes to us from several years with Jean Paul Courten's 700-member CSA at Roxbury Farm. Sarah brings her experience with her always in a supportive and helpful way whenever and wherever she can, often well beyond her stated working hours. In addition to helping Katy with weed control and harvesting, she is at the Union Square Market every Wednesday, running our Market stand with her partner, Ben. Sarah knows a great deal about large market gardens and is particularly helpful in deciding how much product to send down to the market from the farm. Sarah does all this work in a kind and gentle way so that one is always VERY glad to see her smiling face in the mornings. She is a precious gem of the garden... thank you, Sarah

Rachel Schneider, CSA Coordinator

Anticipated Harvest

for August 21^st

Beets
Braising Mix
Broccoli (for some)
Cukes/Zukes/Summer Squash
Corn
Lettuce
Peppers (for some)
Scallions
Tomatoes

Conrad's newsletter contribution last week brought to mind words from my favorite poet, G. M. Hopkins:

"What would the world be, once bereft
Of wet and of wilderness? Let them be left,
Oh let them be left, wilderness and wet;
Long live the weeds and the wilderness yet."
(from Inversnaid)

Though my focus on the farm is destruction of weeds, I see their beauty too, and am glad in the certainty that they will always persist in wild riots of color on the edges of the pastures and cow lanes, not to mention the edges (and sometimes, yes, the middles) of the vegetable fields. I feel lucky to have wild places nearby, to see yellow and black butterflies fueling up for their long migrations amidst the Purple Loosestrife and Queen Anne's Lace by the creek, and to watch the undulating flight of flocks of brilliant Goldfinches from fence post to fence post along the paths.

The weather has, as usual, been unusual. All the rain has made the weeds flourish. The recent humidity has been an exhausting companion, but on the whole it is more pleasant working weather than the heat waves from years past. This rain and more pleasant weather has, in turn, allowed us to share bountiful lettuce and greens harvests with you each week at your pickup sites.

August is a quite time, as the heat sets in. The fever pitch of activity that accompanies seeding and planting and transplanting begins to slacken in August. The momentum which, with nature's help, we created this spring seems to carry the plants forward almost of its own accord. Peppers bulge and tomatoes finally ripen in what will hopefully be a long, juicy torrent. Yet, there is still much work to be done this season: a great deal of harvesting mixed already with preparation and planning ahead for next spring -- crops that will over-winter, next year's garlic to plant, winter cover crops to seed.

There are still fingers crossed: Can we stay one step ahead in our constant battles against deer and woodchucks and weeds? Will all this wet weather cause fungus and disease to take root in our gorgeous (but oh so vulnerable) tomato crop? But the groundwork has been laid by the hard work of Katy (the garden's own inexhaustible, fearless leader!), me and a truly incredible team of apprentices.

Quietly, softly, just a little, we begin to exhale.

-Sarah

Zucchini Houdini Here’s a trick that will help you escape the kitchen on those days when you have to pull dinner out of a hat in two minutes flat or are so challenged you can’t even boil water:

Pesto Change-o!
Turn raw zucchini
into cooked “pasta”!

For a magic wand, use either a food processor with julienne attachment or a hand grater to shred the zucchini lengthwise into pasta-like strands. Toss zucchini “pasta” with pesto and sun-dried tomatoes or your favorite sauce. Warm gently until zucchini softens to the texture of al dente pasta.

For an encore, try magically reducing the baking time for lasagna by thinly slicing zucchini lengthwise and substituting it for the noodles. Adapted from the “raw foods” book, Angel Foods by Cheria Soria.

Stuffed Peppers for Summer Swelter

Most stuffed pepper recipes are best saved for winter weekends when it is easier to contemplate leaving the oven on for an hour. However, there are ways to enjoy making this dish now, while peppers are in season.

Pre-cook the peppers:

Cut green, red, or yellow peppers in half lengthwise, through the stem, and remove ribs and seeds. Pre-cook the unstuffed pepper shells using one of these methods:

Blanching: Drop into boiling water for 3 minutes. Drain.
Baking: Season with salt and pepper. Bake in 4250 oven for 8 minutes.
Grilling: Place on oiled grill rack, skin sides up, and grill pepper shells until slightly charred, about 7 minutes.

Pre-cook the stuffing:

Skip using breadcrumbs or raw eggs in your stuffing, since they require baking time. Fully cooked ingredients stuffed into pre-cooked pepper shells only need to be reheated for about 15 minutes in the oven or for 5 minutes, covered, on the stove or grill

Vegetables: Use combinations of vegetables that can be quickly sautéed while the peppers are pre-cooking, like tomatoes, onions, garlic, and/or mushrooms. Or try warmed “zucchini pasta” tossed with sauce. Chard or other greens prepared according to any of the recipes in back issues of this newsletter also can be used as stuffing.
Rice, cous cous, grains: Pre-cook them before mixing with cooked greens or sautéed vegetables. Or fill pre-cooked pepper shells halfway with cooked rice, cover with cooked vegetables, and top with feta or other crumbled cheese. Heat and serve.
Ground meat or bulk sausage: Cook and drain the meat before combining it with the cooked ingredients mentioned above.

Compost Corner

If you heard that “compost happens”, but stopped composting your fruit, vegetable and flower share trimmings because it happens too slowly, take heart. You can speed up the process and have compost in time for fall bulb planting.

The key is to adjust the conditions in your bin or pile so they attract the beneficial compost organisms that chemically and physically break down plant materials. Here’s how:

Mix in a variety of materials.

Compost critters need a variety of fresh, wet “greens” combined with plenty of dried “browns”. And forget the layers – a well-mixed pile composts quicker.

Out of “browns”? Dry out your garden trimmings or mix in some compost, soil, or shredded paper (recycled, with soy based inks).

If you’re new to compost lingo, “greens” are nitrogen- and moisture-rich plant, fruit and veggie scraps, and “browns” are carbon-rich dried materials like autumn leaves, wood chips, straw, or paper.

Keep the entire pile as damp as a wrung out sponge. Too dry and your worms will run away, too wet and you’ll run away (soggy piles are stinky piles).

Aerate the pile. Compost critters can suffocate in piles that are too densely compacted. Mix your materials so they are loose and fluffy.

Size matters. Create more surface area for the worms and other organisms to munch on by chopping or breaking your materials into smaller pieces.

For more info on composting, check out www.nyccompost.org, or call the New York Botanical Garden’s Compost Rotline at 718-817-8543 to request a free booklet.