Erehwon Farm CSA Newsletter Week 19 of 19  October 17, 2005 Farm Report Well, here we are at the end of the season and we have some glorious October weather to work on our clean-up projects.  Last week we planted 3 long rows of garlic, a row of hairy vetch as an experiment, and a row of winter wheat.  We plan to plant a number of rows of wheat to serve as an early spring windbreak when we start putting out seedlings.  I believe this technique will give us some crops a week or so earlier. Thanks to all the subscribers who brought newspapers to us last week.  We can use more.  We can also use your fall leaves as mulch for our pathways. And thanks for all you subscribers who have been with us this year  --  it has been our pleasure to serve you.  Also, thanks for being so understanding when we mess up now and then. Also, thanks to Umar, Laura, Katie, and Rachel for your help.  And thanks to the volunteers who have done an outstanding job of providing a lift so we can continue to improve the farm. We will soon be planning for next year and hope to have a longer season by a week or two and a number of new varieties to bring to you.  We would welcome your inputs about anything we could do to improve our CSA. Tim and Beth From Your Garden This Week Standard shares should include: (subject to change of course)   Lettuce Tomatoes: Only a few and these will be not quite ripe but they will be in a few days..   Winter Squash Potatoes or Eggplant Carrots Jumbo shares may also include raspberries, strawberries and,  broccoli, kohlrabi Extras:  Pick  3 or 5 for jumbo subscribers plus one herb. Cauliflower Big pumpkin (grown by a friend of ours) Parsnips Baby beet greens Spicy salad mix (It’s pretty big now, more of a cooking mix) Mustard greens Hot peppers Sweet peppers Bag of red/brown/orange mini sweet peppers Kale Chard Gourd – birdhouse, apple, or snake Herb List Basil:  Can still do pesto basil if you want some.  If you want some herbs for drying, please ask and we will give you what we can. U-Pick this week:  Cherry tomatoes, especially yellow pears,  hot peppers for freezing, sweet pickling peppers, 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 Announcements Needed at the farm: 1) Newspapers 2) Your unneeded cut firewood. 3) Recipes for Beth’s cookbook 4) A washing machine (we can use a beat-up one as long as the spin cycle works.  We’ll use it to spin-dry lettuce and other greens.  You should see the little critters, like lady bugs, after coming out of the spin cycle. They walk around in tight little circles looking dazed! 5) Materials for our compost pile. Delivery Times Lombard: 3:00 Wheaton: 3:45 Elgin:   5:00 Farm Pickup Times Wednesday Pickup:  Starting Wednesday, September 28, we would like to change the hours to 4-6:30 because it will be getting dark earlier.  If you cannot get to the farm by 6:30, call Beth’s cellphone ( 630-346-1503 )and she will bag you order and leave it in a cooler on the table for you (you can drive right in, get your bag, and continue around the circular drive. Friday Pickup: Since some of our extras, such as herbs, are unsold items from the Friday Farmers’ Market in St. Charles, and Beth gets back to the farm about 2 p.m., if you could come after 2:15, it would help us have time to get everything onto the tables. We Get Mail (From Dana Kalumbo) Zuppa Toscana Soup like Olive Garden's® 1 lb. spicy Italian sausage - crumbled 1/2 lb. smoked bacon - chopped 1 qt. water (2) 14.5 oz. cans chicken broth 2 lg. russet potatoes - cubed 2 garlic cloves - crushed 1 med. onion - chopped 2 cups chopped kale OR Swiss chard 1 cup heavy whipping cream salt and pepper - to taste -In a skillet over medium-high heat, brown sausage, breaking into small pieces as you fry it; drain, set aside. -In a skillet over medium-high heat, brown bacon; drain, set aside. -Place water, broth, potatoes, garlic, and onion in a pot; simmer over medium heat until potatoes are tender. -Add sausage and bacon to pot; simmer for 10 minutes. -Add kale and cream to pot; season with salt and pepper; heat through. Dana, thanks for the recipe.  Also, I enjoyed your presentaion on sprouting at the Westin Price meeting last Saturday. Hi Tim, I hope this week is treating you and Beth well.For this week extras I would like arugala, mini sweet peppers, and Spearmint. I have another recipe for your folks. It has meat in it. I hope all recipes don't have to be vegetarian. Chicken sausage- (any flavor or combination of) remove casing and make meat balls Kale - chopped Beans- any color Corn Onions Garlic Chicken stock or water Salt, pepper,hot sauce,and lime juice to taste Brown all sides of meatballs, remove and add onions, then garlic. add ckix stock or water and rest of ingredients until meat is cooked and kale is tender. Thanks, Julian, sounds great! For the extras: baby beet greens and sweet peppers and any herbs you can spare. Thanks for the nice big bag last week of herbs. I was able to dry them all. I just tied a rubberband around them and let them dry in a spare room. I may even have enough for a small wreath. Betty S. Yep, it’s pretty easy to dry those herbs.  See note above if you want some next week.  If you come out to the farm, pick herbs on request. Hi Tim and Beth, I cannot tell you both how sorry I am that it is week 18 out of 19. Ahhhh.. the days of week 7 out of 19. Oh, well, there is always next year. Is that a pie pumpkin you are sending or a regular? For extras this week may we have: Beets … Thanks for everything! Georgine Georgine, you certainly do have a way with words… Hi Tim, We would like the Salsa pack, the mini sweet peppers and mustard greens. For our herb I owuld love a pesto sized bag of basil. I will take some newspapers over to Jenny's when I go pick things up on Tuesday. Best, Sandra Yep, let’s fill Jenny’s garage with newspapers! Uh-oh, maybe I should have asked Jenny first… ; -)