Anticipated Harvest
for September 11th
- Beans
- Chard
- Lettuce
- Peppers
- Red Onions
- Tomatoes
Dear CSA Members:
The Visiting Students Program is tucked amidst the larger
institutions of the Hawthorne Valley Farm and the Hawthorne
Valley School. Yet, the staff of this branch of our Association
sees over 500 children a year, either coming for one week at a
time with their class or as individual campers during the
summer. The young people coming through this program learn many
valuable lessons about farm life, living and caring for each
other and for the earth. Matt is the gardener for this program
and with good will and never ending patience leads these children
through their first experiences with the soil.
Rachel Schneider, CSA Coordinator
The big onion harvest will soon be upon us. All the onions
will be pulled out of the ground and spread out in the
greenhouses to cure. The curing process dries out the onion's
skin and gives them the ability to store well in your root cellar
for about four months to one year.
The farm grows a few types of common onion; red ones, yellow
ones, white ones, some round, some flat, and some torpedo-shaped.
All are good, but we each have our favorites. When I was young my
grandfather used to brag about the Walla Walla Sweets grown in
his home state of Washington. He claimed you could eat it like an
apple. I tried and was sorely disappointed that it did not taste
like an apple.
Harvesting onions can be fun, especially for the children who
visit the farm through our Visiting Students Program. The onions
are usually easy enough for them to pull out of the ground with a tug, they are not prickly like
cucumbers, and the children don't have to count them and bunch
them with rubber bands. It's a free for all and all the onions
come up. It is always fun to see who finds the biggest onion of
the day.
We are also nearing the time to harvest onion seeds. "Where on
the onion plant do I find the seed?" you might ask. An onion is a
biennial plant and takes two growing seasons to produce seeds.
First year onions are the onions we eat, the ones that are so fun
to harvest. They go from to seed to onion bulb in one year's
time.
In the summer, right around now, we harvest all the first year
onions and select about fifty of the very best of one variety,
say Bennie's Red, to use as our second-year onions. We might not
only select the biggest for their size, but also for the
variety's characteristic shape or color. One can also select from
plants that show resistance to certain types of diseases. Once
the onions have been selected they are stored in a root cellar
through the fall and winter until April of the next year.
Planting onion bulbs is a fun and easy early season job for
children in the garden. By the end of June the plants produce
white baseball-sized flowers on three-foot stalks, characteristic
of flowers in the Amaryllidaceae family.
When the flowers are fully opened many different types of
insects can be seen working the flowers foraging and pollinating.
A group of summer camp children and I observed six different
types of insect on one flower at the same time. Because the
onions are insect pollinated, not self-pollinated or wind
pollinated, it is important to maintain a distance of one mile
between different varieties of onions to avoid cross-pollination.
Because of this fact, we choose to only grow one variety of onion
for seed in a given year.
When the seed heads are fully mature, dry, and ready to be
harvested the children snip the whole flower heads from the plant
and carefully place them in a paper grocery sack. The seed heads
are brittle so we have to be careful they don't shatter and fall
to the ground. From there we crush the seed heads in our hands
into the bags and then use a winnowing process to separate the
seed from the chaff. In the end we hope to have thousands of
small black onion seeds that will be ready to plant in the
greenhouse early next spring.
By selecting our own onions and growing them for seed we hope
to get an onion that is well adapted to our own climate, soils,
and tastes here at Hawthorne Valley Farm. It is also a fun
project, in which the children who visit the farm can
participate. It is also nice that second-year onion plants are a
beautiful curiosity to many of the people who visit the
Children's Garden.
Matt Davis, Children's Gardening Coordinator
for the VSP
Thrill of the Grill The passing of Labor Day
weekend is no excuse to sign off on BBQ season. The buzz at the
pick-up sites is that adventurous CSA-ers are grilling
everything, including beets wrapped in foil, corn
in the husks, and kabobs threaded with chunks of peppers
and onions. Here’s something for fruit share
holders…
Grilled Nectarines with Cheese and Honey
6 nectarines, halved and pitted
Vegetable oil
blue cheese
Honey
Coarsely ground black pepper
Heat grill. Brush cut side of nectarines with oil and place on
caramelized. Turn over and grill for 1 to 2 minutes until almost
soft. Place nectarines on a platter, cut-side up and place a
dollop of cheese in the center of each nectarine, drizzle with
honey and ground fresh pepper.
From www.foodnetwork.com, and Bobby
Flay’s show, “Boy Meets Grill”
Salad DaysTurn a simple salad of lettuce,
tomatoes, cucumbers and onions into
something special with either of these two basil-based dressings.
They also are delicious drizzled over a plate of sliced tomatoes,
steamed green beans, or used as a dressing for
pasta or chicken salad.
Creamy Basil Dressing
In a blender or mini-chopper, combine until smooth:
1 cup loosely packed basil leaves
2 cloves garlic, chopped or 1 ½ Tbsp chopped
shallots
2 Tablespoons balsamic vinegar
¾ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 Tablespoons mayonnaise
6 Tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
Makes about ½ cup.
Non-Traditional Pesto
Most pesto recipes include cheese and nuts, but not this
version contributed by Elizabeth Levine Wandelmaier.
1 bunch basil
1 or more garlic cloves, peeled
juice of half a lemon (or more)
salt and freshly ground black pepper
olive oil
Chop garlic clove in food processor. Rinse basil, add the
leaves and fine stems to the processor and chop. Add lemon juice
and spices. Process briefly. Drizzle in a few tablespoons olive
oil and process. Add more oil if desired.
Swiss Chard Au Gratin
For rainy days when you can’t grill, try this Weight
Watchers recipe sent in by JoAnn from Riverdale. She says
regular cheese works just fine, especially Alpine cheese from
Hawthorne Valley Farm.
1 tsp salt
2 cups cut chard stalks (2" lengths)
4 ½ cups shredded chard leaves
1/3 cup shredded reduced-fat Jarlsberg cheese
1 Tbsp grated Parmesan cheese
1 garlic clove, minced
¼ tsp ground pepper
1- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Spray a 1 quart casserole
with non-stick cooking spray.
2 - In a large saucepan, bring the salt and 8 cups of water to a
boil; add the stalks. Boil 5 minutes, then add the leaves; cook
until tender, about 3 minutes. Drain.
3 - Place half the chard in the casserole; top with half the
cheese, garlic and pepper. Repeat, ending with pepper. Bake on
the top rack until the cheese is melted and bubbling, about 20
minutes.
As the seasons change, so does the harvest. Thanks to
all who have sent in recipes and tips for summer’s
bounty.
I eagerly await your ideas for cool weather cooking, as
well as your favorite recipes for root veggies and winter
squashes…