“This makes absolute sense; it matches everything I know about good medical practice. You take care of the terrain, and the plant will be better able to fight and protect itself against pests.”
- Pierre Fabre, French organic wine pioneer and retired physician , expounding on the practice of farming organically

What’s in the box this week: (stuff that’s in one size share that’s not in the other is at the top of its respective list so you can easily see the difference. Remember, small shares will generally have smaller quantities of the duplicate items. – Debbie)

Family Share:
Beets
Eggplant
Spinach
Strawberries
---------------------
Carrots
Corn (maybe)
Chard or kale
Green beans
Leeks
Lettuce
Peppers – hot and sweet
Potatoes
Tomatoes

Small Share:
Carrots
Corn (maybe)
Chard or kale
Green beans
Leeks
Lettuce
Peppers – hot and sweet
Potatoes
Tomatoes

Extra Fruit Option:
Strawberries, plus rasp-berries or melons or a bag of apples and pears (depending on your pick-up site)

CALENDAR

Sat. Sept. 17 Permaculture workshop #2 - Water mgmt; swale design/construction

Sat. Sept. 24
Fall Equinox Celebration
3-9 pm
with the Banana Slug String Band!

Sat. Oct 22
Halloween Pumpkin Pallooza

Sat. Nov 5
Permaculture workshop #3 - Polycultures & agroforestry; food forest design and installation

Now it’s my turn to fill in for Tom as he is on his way back from France as we speak! I talked to him by phone last night and he has been really enjoying the break; it has been nice for him to be able to spend time with his family, uninterrupted by daily farm activities. I’m sure next week he’ll talk to you about his experience at the open air market (I was surprised to hear that there was not much or-ganic to be had!). Fortunately for everyone (and much to Tom’s relief) there were no crises or problems on the farm while he was away, so he should be coming back rested, relaxed and ready to rock-n-roll for the rest of the season!

Rambling through the Internet, I happened upon a student doing research on CSAs in Minnesota. I liked her story, so I thought I’d share it with you:

"My name is Martha Steenberg. As a student of Environmental Studies at St. Olaf College I have spent a good deal of time thinking about sustainability and the myriad of environmental problems facing the citizens of the world today… As I began to think about a topic for my senior research, I knew I wanted to study farming. I have spent the last two years studying fish--specifically Chinook salmon decline in the Columbia Basin. As I began to research salmon I not only saw what a quagmire it had all become; I saw that agriculture played a huge role in salmon decline. My junior year at St. Olaf I read a couple of books on the current agricultural crisis and was horrified. And so I wanted my senior research to embody something hopeful, an alternative to the industrial agricultural model that has played such a large role in ecological decay and salmon decline. Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) is positive environmentalism.

"… Community Supported Agriculture is an agricultural paradigm that offers an alternative to industrialized agriculture. If industrial agriculture is 'the process by which agricultural production becomes less a way of life and more a commercial activity (Groh 1997)' then the CSA movement is an attempt to reverse that trend. The CSA movement seeks to combat the destruction of land and people inherent in the industrial model by disengaging from it and building on a set of principles that are environmentally stable, socially equitable and economically viable."

To read more of Martha's research, put the name "Martha Steenberg" into Google and then click on "Community Supported Agriculture." Thanks, Martha. – Debbie

Field Notes from Farmer Tom (via long-distance calls to Juan and Debbie!)
Corn may or may not be in your shares this week; it all depends on the weather. The last few weeks have been relatively cold and foggy most of the time, and so it has been growing rather slowly, but it warmed up the last couple days so we’ll see how they shape up this week. (Tom claims they’re just growing slowly because he’s away!) It really seems like fall is coming early this year; leaves on trees are already starting to turn, and there is that nip in the air.

And a reminder about the pears: as you may have noticed by now (for those of you who have received them) some of them are still hard. They will need to be left on the counter for 5 to 7 days in order to ripen (pears do not ripen on the trees). Try putting them in a brown paper bag with other fruit, like an apple, and this will help speed up the process.

(scroll down for recipes)

Notes from Debbie’s Kitchen . . . . . . . . Have a recipe you’d like to share? Contact Debbie.
It is so great to have carrots back in the shares again. Aren’t they beautiful?? Long, slender and vibrant with thick, lush greens – them there are real carrots! Who needs a recipe for ‘em? They’re so great just a la carte. The green beans have been just gorgeous too; big and juicy and crisp. Let’s start with a recipe sent me last week by member Kai Parker that sounds easy and good. - Debbie

Turkish Green Beans
from Kai Parker

Kai says, “This [recipe] is from my housemate's friend, who is Turkish. Apparently it's a very common dish. I don't have any exact measurements, but you get the idea. I made it with the green beans and tomatoes from this last week. It was delicious.”

an onion
green beans (I used the whole bag from a week's share)
three tomatoes (medium-sized)
olive oil
salt
pepper

Slice the onion into rings and distribute across the bottom of a large frying pan. Rinse and snap the ends off the green beans and put beans on top of the onions. Grate the tomatoes over the beans. This allows you to easily separate and discard the skin. Sprinkle salt and pepper to taste and drizzle with olive oil. Cook on low heat for about half and hour. Yum!

Tarragon Carrots
from “Recipes from America’s Small Farms”

4 C carrots peeled and cut into 3” pieces
¼ C tarragon vinegar
2 tbsp. sugar
2 tbsp. chopped fresh parsley
2 tbsp. chopped green onion
1 tsp. chopped fresh tarragon
½ tsp. salt
Freshly milled black pepper
Cook carrots in salted boiling water to cover in a medium saucepan until they are just tender, about 8 minutes; drain. Com-bine vinegar, sugar, parsley, green onion, tarragon, ½ tsp. salt and pepper to taste and pour it over the drained, cooked carrots while they are still warm. Cover mixture and refrigerate overnight. Drain carrots well and pack them in a container with a tight-fitting lid. [So these sound kind of like carrot pickles! – Debbie]

I’ve been loving getting the beautiful poblano chilies in the bags of peppers. For those of you who aren’t familiar, they’re the ones that are almost black-green and really glossy. Here’s a recipe for poblanos stuffed with something other than the usual cheese:

Roasted Poblano Chilies stuffed with Coriander Rice
from “The Dean & DeLuca Cookbook” (edited slightly). Serves 4.

4 fresh poblano chilies, roasted and peeled (see below)
¼ tsp. whole coriander seeds
¼ tsp whole cumin seeds
pinch of whole anise seeds
1/3 C long grain rice
1 tbsp. canola oil
1 tbsp. toasted pumpkin seeds, chopped
1 tbsp. chopped fresh cilantro
1 tsp. fresh lime juice
¼ tsp. ground ancho chili powder (or more, to taste)
1 C salsa fresca or pico de gallo

Roast whole chilies over a hot fire (gas or charcoal grill, gas burner, broiler), turning until charred on all sides. Remove from heat and place in a paper or plastic bag to ‘steam’ for 15 minutes. This separates the charred skin from the flesh. Remove peppers from bag and slide charred skin off with your fingers. DO NOT WASH off charred skin or you lose much of the oils and flavor! Better to have a bit of black than a lack of flavor.

Make a lengthwise slit in each chili, leaving the stems intact. Carefully remove and discard the seeds. Pat the chilies dry.

Toast coriander and cumin seeds in a small dry skillet over moderately high heat until very aromatic but not burned, 1 to 2 minutes. Transfer seeds to a bowl and cool completely. Grind toasted seeds with the anise seeds to a fine powder in a mor-tar and pestle or coffee/spice grinder.

Cook the rice in a large saucepan of boiling salted water for about 16 minutes, or until al dente. Drain in a sieve, refresh with cold water to stop the cooking, and spread the rice out to dry thoroughly on a plate lined with paper towels.

Stir together rice, ground spices, oil, pumpkin seeds, cilantro, lime juice and ancho powder in a small bowl until combined well. Divide rice mixture into 4 por-tions and gently place one inside each chile. Serve at room temperature with salsa spooned over the stuffed chilies.

And lastly, for those tasty melons, here is a recipe made up by the interns we had at the farm in 2003. I tried it when they made it back then, and have kept this info ever since. It is so unbelievably easy, and in-credibly wonderful, especially on a hot summer day.

The Girls’ Melon Salad
Cut up melons (jewel, cantaloupe -- whatever) into bite-sized pieces and toss with minced fresh cilantro and mint, and diced fresh celery. Voila!
Delicate, delicious!

*Click Here* for a link to a comprehensive listing of recipes from Live Earth Farm's newsletters going back as far as our 1998 season! You can search for recipes by key ingredient. Recipe site is updated weekly during the season.