October 18th, 2011

This Week’s Share: Delicata Winter Squash Green Peppers Red Peppers Jimmy Nardello Peppers Delicata Winter Squash Kathadin Potatoes Chard Red Ursa Kale Carrots Green Tomatoes Red Onions Garlic Thyme Bob’s Red Mill: Cornmeal
Announcements: Three more weeks of Farm Share to go! Regular Season: October 25th & November 1st Thanksgiving Pick-up: November 22nd
Field Notes from Farmer Courtney, Apprentice: Farming during the peak of the season demands your presence, your focus and your ability to bend when the unexpected arises—the unexpected always arises. In August and September we were juggling 12 things at once and when one of the balls dropped we quickly had to find a way to replace it, or fix it, and get it back in the air. Now that the air is cooler, the days are shorter and the rain had returned we have fewer balls to juggle and more room to think about what lies ahead. Saving seed, step one. Each of the apprentices has spent the last few weeks thinking and working on special projects that we didn’t have time for during the height of the season. I’ve been spending one afternoon a week collecting seeds that we can sow into next year’s crop. To save pure seed involves a lot of forethought: creating room for crops that you will save seed from and not consume; identifying which plants are the hardiest and tastiest throughout the season so you can save their seed; designing a plan where cross-pollinating plants are far enough away from each other to produce pure seed. Except for garlic, we haven’t deliberately saved seed at Zenger Farm before, so many cross-pollinating crops are planted too close together this year to produce a pure seed—although, we could have some awesome hybrids on our hands—and we didn’t plan for an excess, so most of the fruit was harvested before we could save the seed. My hope is that Zenger will incorporate a seed saving plan in the future, so that we can be more self-sufficient; we will be producing more adaptive plants that have been selected for hardiness, taste and climate tolerance, and we won’t be as reliant on large seed companies. Preparing tomato seeds for saving In addition to our projects, we have been winterizing the farm. We bundled up all the irrigation and have started tidying up the barn. These are reminiscent of our first tasks when we arrived at Zenger in April, and it feels very much like we are closing a circle, which is satisfying in its sense of completion, but also feels sad that our time at the farm is nearing an end. Once winter arrives, there will be a lot of space to reflect and in turn plan for the coming season. The nature of an apprenticeship is that you take what you learn and move forward. This winter I will be passing my time thinking and planning how I can build and contribute to our urban food-system and readying myself to begin accomplishing those goals in the spring.
In the Kitchen with Devin: Fried Green Tomatoes: Slice tomatoes about 1 cm thick Soak tomatoes in 2 cups milk In another bowl, mix 1 cup corn flour, 1 cup polenta, ½ cup flour Heat Canola Oil in a pan till it reacts with splashes of batter Take a tomato slice and coat with batter mix Fill pan with battered tomatoes, salt lightly when bottom half browns, flip When ready, remove from pan onto paper to soak leftover oils Season with salt and enjoy! Green Tomato Rice from: http://southernfood.about.com/od/greentomatoe1/r/bl61217d.htm Ingredients: 1 bunch green onions, sliced, with most of green 4 medium green tomatoes, peeled and chopped 1 jalapeno pepper, seeds removed, minced 1 clove garlic, minced 2 cups chicken broth 1 cup long-grain rice dash dried leaf thyme salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste dash Tabasco sauce, optional 1/4 cup fresh grated Parmesan cheese, optional 4 slices bacon, diced, optional Directions: In a medium saucepan, saute the bacon over medium heat until crisp; remove to paper towels to drain. In 1 tablespoon of the bacon drippings, saute green onions for 1 minute. Add green tomatoes and saute for 1 minute longer. Add garlic and jalapeno pepper; saute for another 30 seconds. Add the chicken broth, rice, thyme, pepper, and Tabasco sauce. Bring to a boil. Stir, reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer for 20 to 25 minutes, or until rice is tender and liquid is absorbed. Stir in Parmesan cheese just before serving, if desired. Sprinkle with the cooked bacon. Serves 4.

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