Erehwon Farm CSA Newsletter Week 12 of 19  August 28, 2005 Farm Report Greetings from Erehwon!  Last week Katie Bartels joined us as an intern for the next month or two.  She is planning to join the Peace Corps in January and will be working in Africa.  In preparation for her trip she wants to learn the basics of farming.  She joins Umar Ahmad and Laura Lewis who have formed the core of our operation.  Thanks to all for their tireless work to bring food to our subscribers! Last week we continued to attack the insurgent weed problem.  We know that to some people it may appear that we are losing the battle but we continue to make progress and we will stay the course to chop them down before they produce and deliver the seed pods of destruction to the rest of the garden. ;-) Volunteers continue to arrive at critical moments to lend a hand where needed.  Arsenio Sala came two days harvesting, making ready for subscriber pickup and clearing weeds in the potato bed so we could harvest.  The Kulvers helped prepare for Friday pickup and Linda MacDonald same late on Friday, just when we were feeling exhausted, and helped us prepare for the Saturday market.  Thanks to all this support, Beth had a record week at the market with the growth coming from sales of her beautiful flower arrangements.  At some time in the future Beth says she will be looking for a paid person to help make arrangements.   We attended the Garfield Museum Antique Vegetable Show on Sunday to sell tomatoes and to tell people about our CSA program.  Betty Sanders, one of our Elgin subscribers, came in the morning to help set up the booth and then stayed all day to sell, talk to potential subscribers and then help pack up at the end.  Thanks Betty for your support! From Your Garden This Week Standard shares should include: (subject to change of course) Tomato Bonanza  (If you want some tomatoes for canning or sauce, you may order in pounds for $.75/lb.  These will be ripe, probably with some blemishes.  Please respond to this email with your order.) Lettuce Tomatillos* Cilantro A couple of hot peppers Colored sweet peppers (3) Summer Squash (small/medium ones  you may ask for more if you want) Radishes Kale (I saw just the last part of someone making a kale dish on the television.  They sauteed some garlic, onions, some kind of nuts, maybe some peppers.  Then right at the end they put in a plateful of chopped-up kale leaves and stirred them around for a couple of minutes until they were slightly wilted.  It looked so good I wanted everyone to have a chance to make some!) Extras:  Pick  2 or 5 for jumbo subscribers plus one herb. Eggplant Beans Carrots Beets Red Cabbage Mini Cabbage (2) Baby  adolescent beet greens Kale Chard Cucumbers Herb List Dill(,We have dill heads for pickling. An extra consists of 10 heads and additional heads can be purchased at the rate of 5 for $1.) Regular dill. Basil—regular, lemon, lime, Thai, dark opal (purple with a wonderfully strong flavor)(pesto sized bag available if you ask) Chives, Cilantro, Lemon Balm, Marjoram, Mint—spearmint, Oregano, Parsley—flat leaf or curled,  Rosemary, Sage, Thyme, Winter Savory *Tomatillo Salsa Serve this tangy salsa with grilled chicken or pork.  1 pound tomatillos, husks removed, washed and quartered (about 14 medium)  1 Granny Smith apple, peeled, cored, and quartered  1 chile pepper, serrano, deveined and seeded  1/2 cup cilantro leaves  juice of 1 lime, about 2 tablespoons juice Boil (I like to roast my toms and peppers) quartered tomatillos in water for 5 to 7 minutes, until tender. Drain and cool. Place all ingredients in blender or food processor and purée until smooth. Place in tightly covered container and store in refrigerator for up to 1 week. Serve with grilled chicken, pork, or fish. Makes about 2 cups of tomatillo salsa. Pages From Grandma Beth’s Cookbook Easy Pesto at least 2 cups firmly packed basil leaves (Our favorites are lemon and lime, either individually or mixed. I know some people who swear by Thai basil pesto as well, and the dark opal basil would make wonderful purple pesto.) several cloves of garlic to taste grated Parmesan cheese to taste olive oil lemon juice (All amounts are approximate–I never measure, I just eyeball it. Sometimes there is more basil, but 2 cups seems to be about the minimum to get a decent amount of pesto. And you can never, never have too much garlic!) Peel the garlic and place in a blender or food processor along with basil. (If you use a lot, you probably won’t be able to add it all at once. Just keep adding and processing until the basil is all gone.) Add equal amounts of olive oil and lemon juice to allow contents to move in the blender. Process until contents form a smooth paste. Add more olive oil or lemon juice if necessary. Add Parmesan cheese to taste. Toss with pasta. Or use as a sandwich spread. Enjoy. Announcements Betty Sanders is interested in getting together with other subscribers to do some canning.  The farm should be able to provide some reasonably-priced tomatoes over the next three weeks or so.  Also we have a little equipment we could loan out.  You may call Betty at 847-840-7519 or makanda1@yahoo.com  .   Robin Migalla  will host the monthly meeting lf the Westin Price group on Saturday, September 10 at 11:00 am at the Glenwood School just west of St. Charles. This month, Audrey Miller - a member from Marengo, will be demonstrating making fermented vegetables in a crock.  For more details:  Call Robin at 847-468-8984 or rmigalla@earthlink.net. We Get Mail Tim and Beth, I am noticing that my diet is changing as I conform more and more to what's in the bags each week -that feels great! This week I'd like basil and green or purple beans. We should have some dog hair waiting for you tomorrow -bet you can't wait! Jenny G. Andrew Gresko and his friend Victor are certainly going to win the Over-And-Above-The-Call- Of-Duty Award for bringing out the high-nitrogen dog hair for our compost pile!  tf Hello Tim, I'm so sorry I didn't make it out last week. The time just got away from me, and with the last minute appointments, I just couldn't get there. This week is looking pretty full, too, but Friday may be a possibility. Joe and I went camping in Door County this past weekend, and the Baba Ganoush made from that delicious eggplant was a big hit with the camping crowd. The tomatillo salsa was a hit, too. For extras this week, I'd like beans, beets, carrots, cucumbers, and parsley. Hugs, Robin More Erehwon veggies make the trip to Wisconsin.  Maybe we should have a satellite garden up there!  tf I just wanted to share with you that our dog Sherman (an Old English Sheepdog) did the same as Bucky this past Saturday. Our backyard is fenced in, and the perimeter is Sherman's race track. Saturday morning he was running back and forth back and forth and there was no human or animal to be seen - then we looked up and saw the blimp! Bucky may be trying to protect the farm, but Sherman was trying to herd the blimp like it was a sheep! Go Sharman!  You’ve gatta love those dogs!  tf Please send us beets, sweet peppers, and cucumbers as our extras this week, along with our standing order of pesto-sized basil. We are enjoying summer pesto salads so much that I can't seem to get sufficient pesto stocked up for the winter; try as I will to keep some on hand in the freezer, there is no backlog yet! We served a successful vegetable-based meal to a bunch of college students last night; returning from the west coast where veggie eating is all the rage, they were impressed that we have a CSA close by and ate heartily. Your tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, and basil in a variety of forms were much in evidence! Thanks for passing on Dennette's comments about Simply in Season; I've also used a number of recipes and expect to try a lot more! Jane Halteman All right, Jane, right before the last frost we are going to pull up all the basil plants and I’m going to leave a truckload for you at Jenny’s house.  Watch the newletter for details.  tf