We would like to invite all of our CSA members to come visit the farm on September 26th for a potluck lunch from 11am-3pm!  This is your chance to get out of town and take a Sunday drive to the country.  Bring your family and friends and come touch the earth your food was grown in and shake the hands of the people who work so hard to bring it to you!

The Madison CSA Coalition (MACSAC) is planning a weekend trip that will visit Shady Blue Acres, Keewaydin, and Harmony Valley.  It will start on September 25th with a campout and breakfast at Shady Blue Acres, lunch at Keewaydin on the 26th, and in the evening a pumpkin pick at Harmony Valley.  They will be renting vans to car pool and will be taking signups from CSA members from these three farms.  When I receive all the details for the weekend trip I will pass them along to you.

Salad Mix

Radishes

Cucumber

Dill

Yellow Onion

Purple Cabbage

Garlic

Tomatoes- Green tomatoes will ripen on the counter.  They will ripen faster if placed near apples!

Ingredients:

• 1 medium eggplant
• 2 teaspoons salt, divided
• 1 cup flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 2 teaspoons Italian seasoning*
• 1 teaspoon onion powder
• dash ground cayenne pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 2/3 cup milk
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• vegetable oil for frying

Preparation:

Directions for fried eggplant
Peel eggplant; cut in strips about 1/2-inch wide and 3 inches in length. Place eggplant strips in a large bowl, cover with water and sprinkle with 1 teaspoon salt. Let soak 1 hour; drain and pat dry with paper towels.

Combine flour, salt, baking powder, Italian seasoning, onion powder, cayenne, and garlic powder in a mixing bowl. Add beaten eggs, milk, and 1 tablespoon vegetable oil. Beat until smooth. Heat oil over medium heat until hot. If deep-frying, heat to about 365°. Dip dry eggplant strips in batter, let excess batter drip off; fry eggplant strips in batches in hot oil until fried eggplant is golden brown. Fried eggplant strips serve 4 to 6.

*You may substitute equal parts dried crumbled oregano, basil, marjoram, and rosemary for the Italian seasoning in the fried eggplant batter.

southernfood.about.com

Ingredients

7-8 tomatillos
7-8 homegrown tomatoes
1 yellow onion, diced (sweet)
2 ribs celery, thinly sliced
4 jalapeno peppers, finely diced (or 5 tablespoons pickled)
7 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 cup cilantro, minced
1 tablespoon cumin
1 tablespoon honey
2 teaspoons salt
4 tablespoons red wine vinegar
4 tablespoons lime juice, fresh squeezed

Boil a large pot of hot water.  Drop tomatoes in gently, boil for one minute. Transfer to a bowl of cold water w/ ice in it. This stops the cooking process and will allow you to easily peel the tomatoes.

Drop tomatillos into same water, set timer for 10 minutes. Peel tomatoes while tomatillos boil.  After 10 minutes, transfer tomatillos to cold ice water bath. Peel and crush tomatillos.

Add all ingredients into a large bowl and season to taste.  Let sit overnight or put into containers to freeze.

faithfulprovisions.com

Green Pepper

Eggplant – are varied in shape and color!

Rosemarie or Thyme

Dill

Scallions

Radishes (Long ones are extra spicy!)

Salad Mix

Tomato mix- This will probably be the last of the tomatoes as our plants got late blight.

Tomatillo – mix it in with a batch of fresh salsa!

Onion

Kale

Salad Mix

Radishes

Cucumber

Tomatoes

Tomatillos

Sweet Corn

Basil

Green Beans

Scallions

Well here we are entering the dog days of summer and boy has it been steamy out here.  Yesterday we finished picking veggies early which is good because temperatures where in the mid nineties.  It is heat like that which calls for some down time at our local pool.  On the flip side we have actually had several days without rain and it appears our fields are drying out more then they have in the last two months.  Just in time to get a bunch of things planted for the end of the season.

Star is off on a trip with a group of girlfriends to the boundary waters in Northern Minnesota for the week so it is just the girls (Karma and Aurora) and I holding down the fort.  Star was excited for a much needed vacation and I know she is having a blast.  I’m sure she will write about it next week when she is back in the saddle.  With her gone I am going to keep this post short and sweet, lots of beets to pick today before the heat drives us from the fields again.

Green Beans

Sweet Corn

Summer Squash

Green Onions

Tomatoes

Jalapeno Peppers

Green Peppers

Swiss Chard