Tantre Farm CSA Newsletter
WEEK #17
Sept. 15-21, 2019
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.
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. In our newsletter, we try to give you an accurate listing of the produce in your box; however, since the newsletter is published before the harvest, we may sometimes substitute some vegetables for others. The information provided here is also published each week on our website. **Also, if you’re having trouble identifying any unfamiliar produce, please look for “Veggie ID” with additional information on our website under CSA INFO or under RECIPES.
If you are new to our CSA, since you signed up with a prorated share, you can find all past newsletters on our website under the NEWSLETTERS tab.
THIS WEEK’S SHARE
FRESH BEANS: You will receive E-Z Pick (a round, tender, dark green, snap bean with good sweet flavor) and Marvel of Venice (famous Italian, Romano-like heirloom with large, sweet, juicy, 8-9 inch long, wide, flat yellow pods) . See Week 8 newsletter for usage and storage tips.
BOK CHOY (Joi Choi): All members will receive this green written as bok choi, bak choy, a traditional stir-fry vegetable from China with a sweet and mild flavor; looks like white Swiss chard with the stems all attached at the bottom; considered a cool weather crop and part of the cabbage or turnip family.
-How to use: two vegetables in one–the leaves can be cooked like spinach, and the crisp stem can be eaten like celery or asparagus; excellent in stir-fries, soups, sauteed or eaten raw.
-How to store: store as you would any green–in a loose plastic bag in the crisper drawer of your refrigerator.
BROCCOLI: deep emerald green, tiny buds that are clustered on top of stout, edible stems; high in vitamins A, C, calcium, potassium, and iron; known as an anti-cancer vegetable. See Week 5 newsletter for usage and storage tips.
CARROTS (Romance): blunt-tipped, deep orange roots with impressive flavor for a summer-harvested carrot; excellent greens this week! See Week 8 newsletter for usage and storage tips and yummy “Carrot Top Soup” recipe.
SWEET CORN (Potawatomi): yellow kernels with excellent sweet flavor. * We don’t treat our corn with pesticides, so you may find some ear worms enjoying the corn too; just break off the damaged part and cook the rest of the ear. See Week 16 newsletter for usage and storage tips.
DAIKON RADISH (Alpine): the smooth, attractive roots are white with green shoulders; looks like an overgrown green carrot, but with a slightly mild radish taste; crunchy and sweet texture; good macrobiotic root that is good for the gut; the most common type grown in Korea.
-How to use: for fresh use, pickling, and storage; greens are also edible and can be used like any other green.
-How to store: not as hardy as you may think, so store wrapped in plastic to keep them crisp for up to 2 weeks in refrigerator.
U-PICK FLOWERS (only available on the farm): This week you can pick up to 15 stems for as part of your share. You may want to bring a vase/jar to keep your flowers fresh going home, but we will have donated yogurt containers to fill with water as well. Your bouquet is part of your share, although you may always feel free to make a donation to pay for seeds, if you like. $5 for extra bouquet.
NO HERBS: We are letting our smaller patches of herbs rest for another week, so we will have enough herbs for next week.
LETTUCE: You will receive Green or Red Leaf lettuce and/or Romaine lettuce. See Week 1 newsletter for usage and storage tips.
ONIONS: You will receive Red Zeppelin (medium to large, globe-shaped bulbs with deep red color and will store for six months or more under proper conditions). See Week 7 newsletter for usage and storage tips.
SWEET PEPPERS: You will receive Cornitos (exceptionally sweet, smaller versions of Carmen sweet pepper, but can be bright yellow or red when ripe; “bull’s horn” pepper type and tasty any way you eat them — raw, cooked, sliced, diced, sautéed, stuffed, grilled, and especially fire-roasted, which caramelizes the sugars and is so delicious! See Week 13 newsletter for usage and storage tips.
POTATOES: You will receive Yukon Gold (yellowish brown skin with yellow dry flesh and pink eyes; long storage and good tasting) and Mountain Rose (rosy-skinned inside and out, these versatile, all-purpose spuds are deliciously moist, but not waxy textured; extra nutritious, and high in antioxidants; excellent baked, mashed or fried). See Week 8 newsletter for usage and storage tips.
U-PICK RASPBERRIES (only available on the farm): Come to the farm and pick a pint for yourself as part of your share. $4/extra pint.
TOMATOES: The tomatoes are finally thinning out, but you will still receive Verona (similar to Juliet, but with even tastier, somewhat plumper, deep red “cocktail plum” fruits; good in sauces and in salads, excellent dehydrated!) and San Marzano (early, large classic Italian Roma tomato; delicious, balanced acidic flavor and meaty flesh makes for good sauce and paste). See Week 9 newsletter for usage and storage tips.
WATERMELON: You may choose from Mini Love (sweet and firm, oval-round fruits avg. 3–5 lb. Distinctive, bright green rind with dark green stripes and dense, bright red flesh) or Sunshine (8-10 pound oval-rounded fruit; green-striped shell with bright yellow flesh, which is brittle, juicy, and very sweet), OR Dark Belle (dark-green skin, bright-red flesh, oblong 5-7 lb. fruit with thin rind, and very sweet flavor). See Week 10 newsletter for usage and storage tips.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
1. STILL ROOM: SALADS COOKING CLASS on Sept. 18 from 6 – 8:30 PM at Tantre Farm: Please join us THIS WEDNESDAY for another great cooking class on SALADS. CSA member, Laenne Thompson, will share a flavorful assortment of recipes for hot summer nights using mostly ingredients from Tantre Farm’s weekly share box. We will break into teams to prepare them, and enjoy a feast of our creations! There will be a $10 fee for materials and handouts for each class. Please register with SALADS in the Subject Line and your NAME, PHONE NUMBER, and E-MAIL ADDRESS in the body of the email.
2. FALL WORK PARTY/END-OF SEASON POTLUCK will be this coming Sunday, Sept. 22, from 1-4 P.M. Please feel free to bring an hors d’oeuvre, snack, or refreshment to pass. Members are invited to bring family and friends to help harvest squash, pumpkins, and potatoes before the first frost. You may also come just to enjoy the farm and walk around to see the produce and the animals, go on a wagon ride, listen to a local musician, or just eat at the potluck anytime between 1 and 4 PM. All who come will be able to take something home, such as a pumpkin, a winter squash, and a flower bouquet.
3. EDIBLE & MEDICINAL PLANT WALK SERIES Sept. 25 from 6-8 PM (Last Wednesday of every month May through October)
We are offering a monthly plant walk at Tantre Farm with the guidance of our local foraging expert, Rachel Mifsud. On these leisurely walks we will be looking for edible, medicinal, and otherwise useful plants and mushrooms. The cost is $15 for Tantre CSA members or $20 for nonmembers. Kids 12 and under FREE! You may bring cash, check or pre-register at https://squareup.com/store/willforageforfood
4. ENDING SUMMER CSA DATES: The summer season ends next week! This means Sept. 25 (Wed.), Sept. 27 (Fri.), and Sept. 28 (Sat.) are the last distribution days for our Summer Shares, but please feel free to continue with our Extended Fall CSA program. See below for details.
5. “EXTENDED FALL CSA” SHARE REGISTRION IS OPEN: This year we are providing a 4-week share, which runs from Sept. 29 – Oct. 26 for $140 celebrating all the bounty of the fall vegetables! The link for online registration is http://tantrefarm.csasignup.com. Please sign up by Saturday, Sept. 28 for all 4 weeks. Please 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! Tell your friends and family!! Due to outside exposure of potentially cold-damaging temperatures in October, we will not have Fall Shares at the Chelsea Farmers Market or at MOVE, since we have no way to protect these shares from the Oct. elements, so please choose alternate pick up locations. All other sites are the same.
6. THANKSGIVING CSA on November 23: This CSA is NOT open for registration just yet, but we wanted to let you know to “save the date”, since it will open soon. A more detailed email notice will come to you in the next week or so. 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 $125. 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.
7. THANKS FOR COMING TO THE TOMATO PRESERVING WORKSHOP! During the workshop our enthusiastic participants managed to put up over 60 quarts of canned tomatoes and 10 trays of dehydrated Green Zebra, Roma, and cherry tomatoes during our 3-hour workshop. This is an incredible amount of help from our community of CSA members for our winter preservation and our farm crew that we feed throughout the seasons! All went home with 1 jar of canned tomatoes. Thanks to Noelle Dronen, who facilitated the workshop and all the hardworking participants. Many went home with their own box of tomatoes to preserve as well. Happy canning!!
8. U-PICK AVAILABLE: Please call ahead if you plan to pick on other days besides Farm Distribution Days (Wed. and Fri.), so we can make sure someone is around to help you.
**U-pick Flowers – 15 stems with your share and extra bouquets for $5 for Members. Nonmembers–$6/bouquet
**U-pick Fall Raspberries – 1 pint FREE if you can make it out to the farm to pick. Extra pints are $4/pint for members. Nonmembers–$5/pint.
**U-pick Tomatoes – some tomato varieties are gone, but there still are a few tomatoes ready for picking. Members–$0.50/lb. Nonmembers–$0.75/lb.
9. PICK UP TIMES & LOCATIONS REMINDER:
*Ann Arbor Farmers’ Market (Wed.)—7 A.M. to 12 P.M.
*MOVE Fitness & Wellness Studio (Wed)—8 A.M. to 12 P.M.
*Farm (Wed.)—10 A.M. to 7 P.M.
*Washtenaw Food Hub (Wed.)—6 P.M. to 8 P.M.
*Pure Pastures (Wed.) (limited site) —10 A.M. To 7 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 12 P.M.
*Argus-Packard (Sat) (limited site)—10 A.M. to 6 P.M.
RECIPES
BRAISED ROMANO BEANS (from https://gluttonforlife.com/2013/09/6/spilling_the_beans) Serves 4.
1 pound Romano yellow beans
2 tablespoons olive oil
3 small shallots or 1 red onion, thinly sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 small fennel bulb, trimmed and roughly chopped (retain fresh fronds)
1/2 pound tomatoes (about 3 small), roughly chopped
2 tablespoons chopped fennel fronds
1 teaspoon ground toasted fennel seeds
sea salt & freshly ground pepper
fennel pollen, for optional garnish
Rinse and trim beans, as needed, discarding any stems. Heat olive oil over medium heat in a large, heavy saucepan or Dutch oven. Add shallots, garlic and a fat pinch of sea salt and sauté until lightly golden. Add fennel bulb and cook for a few moments, then tomatoes and fennel fronds. Cook, stirring often, until everything is soft and melded, about 15 minutes. Add beans and stir to coat, then pour water over to cover, about 3 cups. Bring to a gentle simmer, then cover and cook over low heat until beans are quite tender but not mushy, about 45 minutes. Serve hot or at room temperature, drizzled with good olive oil, some flaky sea salt and a shower of fennel pollen, if you have it.
BRAISED DAIKON (from Winter Harvest Cookbook) Serves 4.
1 Daikon radish, peeled and diced
2 Tbsp light cooking oil
1 tsp sugar (or honey)
1 1/2 Tbsp soy sauce
Put Daikon in saucepan, cover with water, and boil 5 minutes. Drain well. Heat skillet, add oil, and stir-fry Daikon for 2 minutes. Add sugar and soy sauce; stir-fry another minute. Add 1/4 cup water, cover, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low and cook, stirring occasionally, until Daikon is tender, but not mushy, about 30 minutes. Serve hot.