Week of September 9, 2018

Cows spread out and graze as the temperatures reach a more comfortable level Thursday evening

Produce for This Second Week of September 2018

Red Ace Beets,  Red Butterhead Lettuce,  Red Russian Kale,  Fennel,  Parsley,  Summer Squash,  Sweet Peppers,  Tomato Mix

Farm Animals Get Grumpy, Too

These last couple of weeks have thrown our biologic thermostats into a tizzy, to say the least. From last week’s temperatures, with a heat index into the 100’s, to 50 degrees and a cold, driving rain on Monday, then back up to the 80’s at the end of this week, its been crazy.  The farm animals thought so, too!!  Feeding time in the horse pasture could have been mistaken for a rodeo on Monday morning, when the poor guys were soaked through with the cold rain.  Bucking and slipping to the ground off cold wobbly legs, it was a sight!  Even the mares, lucky enough to be in a stall were shivering.  Just too much of a temperature change!  The hens were so noisy, Jenny the farm dog thought a predator was afoot.  The cows seemed to handle the cold a bit better, but were hollering today!  When moving them to a new pasture, they seemed so hot and uncomfortable, they couldn’t even get interested in this lush, green new field that hadn’t been grazed yet at all this year, they just stood nose to tail one right next to the other to ward off the voracious flies and mosquitos, mooing up a storm. Ugh!  Finally, as the sun started to sink and the cool evening settled in, they spread out and put their noses to the grass.

Misty, the grey mare, had an especially “bad hair day” when rolling to get her buggy, itchy spots, she hit a patch of burdock.  Look at the clump stuck in her poor mane at the top of her head!  After thirty minutes, lots of Show Sheen and elbow grease,  she was pretty again.

Sweet Summer Tomato Salsa

1 quart tomatoes, chopped

1 bunch parsley, minced

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 sweet pepper, chopped

sea salt to taste

few dashes of good olive oil

Juice from one lime

Mix all ingredients in a bowl.  Cover and let sit at room temperature at least an hour before serving. Refrigerate leftovers.

Pasta with Golden Fennel

1 large fennel bulb, including the greens

2 Tbsp unsalted butter

1 Tbsp olive oil

sea salt and freshly ground pepper

grated zest and juice from 1 lemon

2 garlic cloves, minced

3/4 lb fettuccine

Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese

Quarter fennel bulb, setting aside the greens and slice thinly.  Heat a large pot of water for the pasta.  Melt one Tbsp of the butter with the olive oil in a wide skillet.  Add fennel and saute’ over high heat, stirring occasionally, until browned in some places, 7-10 minutes.  Season with 1 tsp salt.  Toss with the lemon juice, then add 1 cup water.  Reduce the heat and cook, covered, until the liquid has evaporated.  Add another 1/2 cup water and continue cook in this manner until the fennel is very soft and deep golden in color, about 25 minutes total.  Season with pepper.  Chop a handful of fennel greens, enough to make 1/3 cup, with the garlic and lemon zest and set aside.  Add salt and the pasta to boiling water and cook until al dente.  Scoop it out and add to the pan with the fennel and chopped greens.  Taste for salt and season with pepper.  Serve with the cheese, finely grated or thinly shaved over the top.

adapted from Local Flavors

Next week…..tomatillos, Komatsuna, cilantro, Roma beans

‘Eating is an agricultural act,’ as Wendell Berry famously said.  It is also an ecological act, and a political act, too.  Though much has been done to obscure this simple fact, how and what we eat determines to a great extent the use we make of the world – and what is to become of it.  To eat with a fuller consciousness of all that is at stake might sound like a burdon, but in practice few things in life can afford quite as much satisfaction.  By comparison, the pleasures of eating industrially, which is to say eating in ignorance, are fleeting.

Michael Pollan, The Omnivore’s Dilemma