Sol Food Farm

THIS IS THE LAST WEEK OF THE FIRST HALF OF THE SEASON. PAYMENTS ARE DUE FOR THE NEXT HALF. WE FEEL GREAT ABOUT HOW THE SEASON IS GOING AND WE LOOK FORWARD TO YOU BEING WITH US THROUGH NOVEMBER 21.

YOUR BOX: basil, top bunch collards, heirloom collards, lettuce heads, broccoli, peppers, parsley, summer squash, tomatoes, dino kale, garlic

FARMING NEWS:
How about this weather we’re having? With the nice cloudy day we had yesterday Brian and I were able to put lots of baby greens in the ground. Along with the Dino and Red Russian Kales that we normally grow we are also trying out two new varieties of kale. We were also able to get some lettuces in the ground. The greenhouse has lots of starts in it that we are trying to get out into the field before to long. It’s always a monumental occasion to be putting plants in the ground for the fall and winter months. The summer is marching on along. The solanums in the field: tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants, are taking their sweet time. They like it hot all the time, and being up here on the grade we sometimes miss out on the hot weather. Fortunately, we are able to put some of them in the box each week.
Pretty much the whole household is off to party in the city this weekend. There is a big festival in Golden Gate Park we will be attending. Hope to see some of you there.
We appreciate your support and look forward to you being a part of this cool community supported agriculture thing. Have a great one.

Recipe:
Braised collard greens with sweet and sour sauce. (Farmer Johns Cookbook)
¼ cup water 2 tsp sugar
¼ cup sweet sherry ½ tsp Chinese five-spice powder
3 tbsp soy sauce or tamari 2 bunches o greens
1. Bring the water, sherry, soy sauce or tamari, sugar, and five-spice powder to a boil in a large, heavy pot.
2. Add the greens; cover. Reduce to a simmer and cook until very tender, 15 to 20 minutes. Add more water if need be to keep mixture from drying out.
3. Uncover the pot and continue simmering until the mixture no longer resembles a soup, 3 to 4 minutes. Remove the pot from the heat.
4. Stir in a dash of rice vinegar. Season to taste with more sugar, soy sauce, or rice vinegar.

Your box: cilantro, lettuce, eggplant, tomatoes, plums, asian pears, collards, dino kale, heirloom collards, basil, garlic, summer squash

On the farm:

You’ll never believe what happened. Santa Claus landed on our roof last week and threw out a bunch of gifts! Brian got a gift certificate to Target and I got a brand new unicorn. For some reason the unicorn always hangs out by the rainbow that ends in our back yard. So random. The girls both received new vacuum cleaners and a lifetime subscription to Good Housekeeping. Santa gave Roy the dog coal because he is bad. Real bad. The cats got socks and new tennis shoes. All in all it was a great Christmas. Hope you all enjoy your box. Please don’t forget to pay us for the next half of the CSA because Santa forgot to give us cash. Happy Holidays!!!

Recipe:

Caprese Salad

4 tomatoes pepper balsamic vinegar
handful of basil salt
mozzarella ball olive oil

Slice tomatoes 1/8 inch thick, lay down on platter. Place one leaf of basil on each tomato slice. Slice rounds of fresh mozzarella 1/8 inch thick and place on top. Drizzle olive oil, balsamic vinegar on top. Salt and pepper to taste and enjoy.

Fresh Tomato-Basil Sauce ( Fresh from the Farm and Garden)

¼ cup butter ¼ cup good olive oil 1 medium onion, chopped 4 cloves garlic, minced 5 tomatoes, seeded and chopped ¼ cup fresh basil ¼ teaspoon nutmeg
2 teaspoons sugar or honey salt and pepper to taste 1 tbs fresh oregano chopped ¼ red pepper flakes

Heat butter and oil in a large pot or Dutch oven. Saute onions and garlic until golden. Then add the rest of the ingredients. Simmer 30 minutes, covered, stirring occasionally. Serve immediately or freeze.

Vegetables: collards, collards, basil, summer squash, peppers (gypsy), lettuce head, plums, garlic, cucumbers, parsley, kale, green onions.

Woo Woo. That’s the name of our dog Roy. He is an Akita who is super sweet to humans, but not into other dogs at all. He sort of reminds us of Zoolander because he’s really, really good looking yet sometimes kind of slow acting. We also call him Roy Bobby because of this. Roy belongs to Brian, who also has another dog named Teka. Teka is older than Roy and a bit wiser. She is half German Shepard and half Akita, so our dogs really only like each other as dogs. These dogs stay inside at night, unlike our old dog Corrie, who used to cruise around the farm at all hours. Corrie was the big fluff ball who has since gone back east with Leo and is doing very well out there. We hear that he is swimming everyday, taking long walks with the boys, and is looking forward to the fall foliage. With Corrie staying outside he was a huge help with the deer that for some reason can still jump over our deer fence, and our even chewing through it. And as you can guess when deer get into your garden they eat your plants. I am just going to put it out there that our dry farmed tomato field has taken a pretty big hit. We put the tomatoes over near our neighbors thinking that their dog would take care of the problem, but alas, their dog has done nothing to help. We are doing what we can to fix the problem and hope that we can rescue enough of the tomatoes to get them to you. We do have two other rows of heirloom tomatoes that are coming on so there won’t be a shortage of tomatoes. We also have three cats and eleven chickens. Have a great week everyone.

Fusilli with Basil and Kale
1 lb fusili
2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil
8 cloves garlic, minced
4 shallots, minced sea salt 1 cup vegetable stock
1 bunch kale, finely diced
1 bunch fresh basil, leaves minced
½ cup sun-dried tomatoes, soaked until tender and diced

Cook Fusili.
While Fusili is cooking, heat olive oil in a deep skillet over medium heat. Add garlic and cook 1 to 2 minutes. Add shallots and pinch of salt and cook, stirring, until shallots are translucent. Stir in sun-dried tomatoes and season lightly with salt. Add stock and simmer until tomatoes are soft, 6 to 8 minutes. Add kale and cook until kale is wilted and turns a deep green, about 8 minutes.
Add fusili and sauce to pasta cooking pot and stir until fusili is well-coated with sauce. Gently fold in basil. Transfer fusilli to a pasta bowl and serve immediately, garnished with fresh basil leaves.