2016: Week 19, October 2-8

Tantre Farm CSA Newsletter
WEEK #19
Oct 2.-8, 2016

If needed, please contact Richard Andres & Deb Lentz at 2510 Hayes Rd. Chelsea, MI 48118 e-mail: tantrefarm@hotmail.com phone: 734-475-4323 website: www.tantrefarm.com.

In our newsletter, we try to give you an accurate listing of the produce in your box; however, since the newsletter is published often before the harvest, we may sometimes substitute some vegetables for others.

We try to keep the printed newsletter to a 2-page maximum, which means that we won’t list all the share items’ descriptions every week, but refer you to previous newsletters for information on items that have already appeared in your shares.

THIS WEEK’S SHARE

ARUGULA: an aromatic, bright green, salad green with a peppery mustard flavor; rich in iron and vitamins A and C. See Week 1 newsletter for usage and storage information.

BROCCOLI: emerald green, tiny buds that are clustered on top of stout, edible stems. See Week 5 for usage and storage information.

CARROTS (Mokum): a very sweet, slender, “pencil carrot” with edible green leaves. Greens are delicious in soups and also salads. See Week 5 for usage and storage information.

CAULIFLOWER, ROMANESCO: lime green, spiraled heads with pointed, spiraled pinnacles; crisp and mild. For all you mathematicians, it’s a fractal!!
How to use: Raw for salads and dips, steamed, sautéed, or roasted.
How to store: Sweetest and best when used within a week when stored in the refrigerator, but can last up to 2 weeks.
How to freeze: Blanch 2-4 minutes, rinse under cold water, drain and dry, pack into freezer bags.

EGGPLANT: You will receive Nadia (slender, purplish-black, glossy-like, bell-shaped fruit) or Orient Express (dark purple Asian type with long, slender, glossy fruits, which are delicately flavored and quick cooking). See Week 8 newsletter for usage and storage information.

U-PICK FLOWERS (only available on the farm): A bouquet per household of up to 15 stems will be part of your share, if you are able to come and pick it.

GARLIC: a bulb of several papery white cloves; believed to help in fighting infections, cancer prevention, bolstering the immune system. See Week 6 for usage and storage information.

FRESH HERBS: The herbs have been slowing down with this cooler weather and shortening days, so they have not grown back quickly enough for us to cut enough for everyone. If you really want a fresh herb bunch though, you can pick one bunch for yourself from the herb garden. Please ask for help.

KALE: You will receive Green Curly (well ruffled green leaves; great for kale chips, in a salad, roasted, and in soups). See Week 1 newsletter for usage and storage information.

LETTUCE MIX (Allstar Gourmet): a bag of ruffled red and green lettuces with unique leaf shapes that provide loft, interesting texture, good shelf life, and fancy appearance; includes Green Oakleaf, Red Oakleaf, Green Romaine, Red Romaine, Lollo Rossa, and Redleaf lettuces. Your lettuce has been rinsed once. See Week 1 newsletter for usage and storage information.

HOT PEPPERS: You will receive Jalapeño (small and conical pepper, ranging from green to red; hot chile pepper used commonly in Mexican or southwestern cooking) and one of the following Joe’s Long Cayenne (long, slender, bright red fruits tapering to a point with medium heat; are excellent for homemade hot sauce and dry well for ristras and dried hot pepper flakes) or Hungarian Wax (Yellow, orange hot pepper with smooth, waxy fruits tapering to a point. Easy to stuff and to peel after roasting; thick-fleshed for frying; colors change from yellow to orange to red, and make the prettiest pickled peppers. Definitely, but not overly, hot. See Week 15 for usage and storage information.

SWEET RED PEPPERS: You will receive Carmen (6 inch long, tapered fruit that ripens from green to a deep “carmine” red; sweet taste in salads and when roasted and fully red-ripe) or Red Knight Bell (big, blocky, thick-walled, green-to-red pepper with sweet flesh). See Week 14 for usage and storage information.

POTATOES: You will receive Russian Banana Fingerling (an heirloom potato with small, banana-shaped tubers with yellow skin and light yellow flesh; used by chefs for its delicious flavor and smooth “waxy” texture that doesn’t fall apart when cooked; good baked, boiled, or in salads). See Week 8 newsletter for usage and storage information.

U-PICK RASPBERRIES (only available on the farm): The sweet fall red and golden raspberries have been ripening, so we are opening up to u-pick this week. Unfortunately we happened to get over 5 inches of rain in less than 4 days this past week, so you may find mold or fermented berries as well. 1 pint is available as part of your share this week, if you are able to come out to the farm and pick it yourself. SALE on U-PICK: $3 for any extra pints picked this week.

TOMATOES (optional): Our tomato bonanza is winding down, it seems. There are still a few “seconds” tomatoes that you may choose to take if you wish at each site, especially for eating immediately or freezing: Tiren (early, classic San Marzano shaped tomato with same meaty texture and great flavor for sauce), Japanese Black Trifele (unusual pear-shaped, heirloom tomato with burgundy, greenish color and excellent, rich flavor), Rose (deep pink, heirloom, medium-sized tomato, which is meaty and flavorful), or Geronimo (newer variety but already one of the most widely used beefsteak varieties; fruits are firm, nice red color and good taste).

WINTER SQUASH: Everyone will receive Butternut (light, tan-colored skin; small seed cavities with thick, cylindrical necks; bright orange, moist, sweet flesh; longest storage potential of all squash) and Delicata (small, oblong, creamy colored with long green stripes, only slightly ribbed; pale yellow, sweet flesh; edible skin; best eaten within 4 months of harvest). See Week 16 for usage and storage information.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

1. SAUERKRAUT WORKSHOP on SATURDAY, OCT. 23: Get cultured with us at the Washtenaw Food Hub and learn to make your own sauerkraut using locally-grown, organic produce from Tantre Farm! Brinery Fermentation Expert, Melissa, will be leading this Farm-to-Fermentation workshop that will cover the basics of wild vegetable fermentation. Participants will take home a jar of fermenting sauerkraut made during the workshop. Please register by email with your NAME, EMAIL ADDRESS, and PHONE NUMBER. $5 fee for materials and other ingredients.

2. ENDING SUMMER CSA DATES: The end is drawing near. This is just a reminder that our summer shares are ending in just a few weeks. That means Oct. 12 (Wed.), Oct. 14 (Fri.), and Oct. 15 (Sat.) are the last distribution days for our Summer Shares.

3. EXTENDED FALL CSA SHARE REGISTRATION IS OPEN: This share runs from Oct. 16 through Nov. 5 for $105 celebrating all the bounty of the fall vegetables! There is plenty of room and plenty of produce this fall, so you will get in! The link for online registration is http://tantrefarm.csasignup.com, which will bring you right to the sign up page. Please sign up by Oct. 15, so you won’t miss any of those 3 weeks of produce. We will be sending a separate email notice soon, so that everyone knows more details about this share. You also can go to our website for more information. We are prorating these shares as well, so if you need to miss a week of the Extended Fall CSA, just send us an email, and we will register you for the weeks you will receive a share. Hope to share more of this abundant fall harvest with you throughout October!

4. THANKSGIVING CSA on November 19! This CSA is NOT open for registration just yet, but we wanted to let you know about it. A more detailed email notice about this will come out to you sometime in the next few weeks. You can also read more details about the Thanksgiving Share on our website under “CSA Info”. This share is a one time pick up of 60 to 80 pounds of produce for winter storage or to stock up on vegetables before the holiday for $120. This share will be available for pick up on the Saturday before Thanksgiving at the Ann Arbor Farmers’ Market from 7 A.M. until noon or at Tantré Farm from 2-5 P.M.

5. U-PICK AVAILABLE: Please call ahead if you plan to pick on other days besides Farm Distribution Days (Wed. and Fri.).
-U-pick Golden/Red Raspberries—1 pint FREE! Extras $3/pint
-U-PICK Flowers–You may pick 1 bouquet of up to 15 stems per household for “free” in the u-pick flower garden on the farm. Whenever possible if you can donate $1 or $2 that will help to pay for some seed and labor costs. Extra bouquets will cost $4.
-U-PICK Christmas Limas Beans–$2/lb. (a large, flat dried pod with beans a light cream color with maroon splashes; this favorite heirloom has a butter-like texture and a subtle chestnut-like flavor; simply enjoyed after cooking with a drizzle of olive oil and a few grates of dry goat cheese; use in soups, stir fries…Yum!!)

6. PICK UP TIMES & LOCATIONS REMINDERS:
Ann Arbor Farmers’ Market (Wed.)–7 A.M. to 12 P.M.
MOVE Fitness & Wellness Studio (Wed)—8 AM to 12 PM
Farm (Wed.)–10 A.M. to 7 P.M.
Washtenaw Food Hub (Wed.) –6 P.M. to 8 P.M.
Farm (Fri.)–2 P.M. to 7 P.M.
Community High School (Sat.) –7 A.M. to 12 P.M.
Washtenaw Food Hub (Sat.)—9 A.M. to 12 P.M.
Chelsea Farmers’ Market (Sat.)–8 A.M. to 1 P.M.

ALL DAY “MUSHROOM DAY” at TANTRE FARM on OCT. 16
Autumn is a great time to find mushrooms, and we have been finding so many flushes of mushrooms throughout this spring and summer! It seems to be a great mushroom year with just the right conditions! This class is being led by local forager, Rachel Mifsud. She has been leading the monthly Foraging Series at Tantre Farm, and is offering this all day mushroom series on Sunday, Oct. 16, from 11 AM until 6 PM. She has split it up into sections though, so you can come for part of the day or all of the day.

$50 for the entire day ($15 discount) Registration link if you want to pre-register: https://squareup.com/store/willforageforfood

Mushroom ID Class: 11-1 pm, $25
Learn the basics of mushroom identification. This will be a paper and pencil class designed to help you become familiar with the vocabulary of mushroom anatomy. Great practice for those who are hoping to earn Michigan’s Expert Mushroom Identifier Certification, and a good introduction for anyone interested in foraging for wild mushrooms.

Mushroom Walk: 1:30-3:30pm, $15
Mushrooms like to hide in plain sight. There is no better way to develop “mushroom vision” than to practice, so we will make a foray into the woods to look for fall mushrooms. This will be a great chance to practice ID. And if we are lucky we might find pheasant backs, oysters, hen of the woods, and maybe even honey mushrooms.

Grow Your Own Mushrooms: 4-6pm, $25
Indoor mushroom gardens are ideal for people in apartments who want to grow some of their own food. Outdoors, they can be incorporated into existing gardens, added to compost, or grown on logs and tree stumps as part of a natural landscape. In this class you will learn the basics of growing mushrooms. We will talk about the benefits of growing mushrooms and the time and materials required for indoor and outdoor growth. Then you will have the chance to start your own table top mushroom farm to grow oyster mushrooms at home.

RECIPES
**Keep in mind a very easy way to find recipe ideas for almost any combination of share box ingredients is to type the items into your preferred “search bar” with the word “recipe” after it, and many recipe ideas will pop up. Have fun searching! Lots and lots of ideas!

AUTUMN MINESTRONE (Moosewood Restaurant Daily Special by the Moosewood Collective)
2 Tbs. vegetable oil
1 c. chopped onions
2 garlic cloves, minced or pressed
2 1/2 c. peeled and cubed winter squash (such as delicata or butternut)
2 celery stalks, diced
1/2 c. peeled and diced carrots
2 1/2 c. cubed potatoes
1 tsp. dried oregano
2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. black pepper
6 c. water
4 c. chopped kale
1 1/2 c. cooked (or 15-oz. can) cannellini beans (or any cooked bean)

Warm the oil in a large soup pot on medium heat. Add the onions and garlic, and sauté for 5 minutes. Add the squash, celery, carrots, potatoes, oregano, salt, pepper, and water; cook for 10 minutes or until potatoes are almost done. Add the kale and beans (drained) and simmer for another 5 to 7 minutes, until the kale is tender and the beans are hot. Yields 12 cups. Serves 6 to 8.

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