Medford Gardening Project: Harvest News!

Saturday, August 1, 2009

Harvest News!

We will be gone for a week, but here is our assessment of what is going on at the farm (what we know about any way). We wish we could stick around to help.

Canning Day: I am planning on having a canning day at my house a week from Tuesday, August 11th. We will start at 8am. I hope we will be able to can some more beans, pickles, and pickled squash. I have a lot of cucumbers at my house that the kids harvested today. There are plenty more.

Harvest give away: We were discussing what to do with our abundance of food at our last canning day. It was suggested that we allow the children to give food to those in need or as gifts to others. Anyone that wants to can try to sell them.

Beans: There are more bush beans to harvest. (The beans that are by the peppers). These should be picked to can. These are the beans that were too small to pick last time. I would hate to see those go to waste. If someone can pick them, we will plan on canning them next week. There are also pole beans to harvest. (The beans that are inbetween the potatoes and corn.) We can pick those to can or to eat fresh. The pole beans will mature over time, so they are for good for eating fresh or canning.

Zucchini and Yellow Squash: The zucchini plants need to be harvested every few days if small vegetables are desired. We harvested a LOT of large zucchinis today. Cyndi has them at her house. Katherine said the squash can be cut and frozen for later if desired. There are still more zucchini plants and yellow squash to be harvested.

Potatoes: I harvested almost a full row of Red Chieftain potatoes today - two bucket fulls. (Cyndi has these at her house). (The Red Chieftains are the ones in the middle of the potato patch - about half of the rows. They are the shorter plants that are inbetween the Russets and the variety potatoes.) They are beautiful and there are about 6-10 potatoes from each plant. We can leave these in the ground until we want to eat them (unless they start to get too many white spots which indicates too much watering). The green leaves on the top will help pull some of the water out. The best thing would be to decrease the watering on the red potatoes, but we can not do that selectively so we can leave them in the ground for now and just watch them. If anyone wants potatoes, you can just go dig them up as needed. The Russets won't be ready until about the middle of September. They store better than the reds and can be kept in a dark bag throughout the winter.

Peppers: We didn't harvest any peppers today. They can be harvested at any time. They can be cut and frozen. Katherine has instructions on how to do this.

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RECIPES

Best-Ever Sweet Pickle Relish from Linda Fernandez

Puree of Yellow Squash Soup

from Linda Fernandez

This is very good and rather gourmet tasting

1 pound yellow crookneck squash

2 cups onion, chopped

1 clove garlic, sliced

2 Tbsp. gutter

½ tsp. dried thyme or 2 tsp. fresh thyme

½ tsp. dried sage or 2 tsp. fresh sage, sliced

½ ts[/ dried basil or 2 Tbsp. fresh basil, sliced

1 tsp salt

2 Tbsp. flour

½ cup white wine (I use the wine but you can substitute chicken broth)

2 cups milk

Black pepper, to taste

2 tsp. olive oil

1 red bell pepper, sliced into thin strips

1 garlic clove, minced

Chives, chopped

Directions

1) Cut the end off the squash, and peel any skin that is blemished. Cut the squash into 1/4 inch slices and set aside.

2) In a large saucepan sauté onions and garlic in butter over medium heat. After about 5 minutes, add squash, herbs, and salt. Stir, cover, and continue to cook about 10 more minutes.

3) Gradually sprinkle in the flour, stirring constantly. Continue to cook and stir over low heat about 5 minutes.

4) Pour in the white wine, stir briefly, cover, and let simmer 10 to 15 minutes.

(Note: The alcoholic content of the wine dissipates with cooking, and the taste of the wine diminishes gradually. So if you let if cook a little longer at this step, you will get a more subtle result. Just be sure to stir everything up from the bottom from time to time, so it won't stick or scorch.) Remove from heat, and allow the soup to cool until it's cool enough to puree.

5) Puree the soup with the milk in a food processor or blender, and return it to a kettle. Adjust the seasonings. Add black pepper to taste.

6) Heat gently just before serving.

7) While the soup is heating, prepare the optional topping.

Saute the bell pepper and garlic in olive oil or butter until just tender.

Spoon a little bit of this into each steaming bowl of soup, and sprinkle with minced chives.

Prep time: 45 minutes Yield: 4 to 6 Servings

Yellow Crookneck Squash Soup

from Linda Fernandez

6 crookneck squash -- peeled, seeded and chopped

1 green bell pepper, chopped

1 onion, chopped

2 cups cubed processed cheese

salt and pepper to taste

1. Place squash, bell pepper and onion in a large pot with water to cover. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer until tender, about 15 minutes; drain.

2. Puree vegetables with a blender or food processor. Return to pot over medium heat and stir in cheese until melted. Serve.

CROOKNECK SQUASH SOUP WITH GINGER

from Linda Fernandez

Serves 8

2 1/2 pounds crookneck squash, peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes *

1 onion, chopped

1 carrot, shredded

3 cups fat free chicken broth

2 tsp gingerroot, finely chopped

1 tsp curry powder

1/2 cup half and half

* You can substitute crookneck with butternut or acorn squash.

Combine squash, onions, carrots and broth in crock pot; stir in the gingerroot and curry powder. Cover and cook on LOW for 7 to 9 hours or on HIGH for 4 to 6 hours or until squash is tender. Put vegetables in a blender and puree. Stir in half and half.

Total Calories per serving: 90

Total Fat 2 grams

Saturated Fat 1 gram

Dietary Fiber 1 gram

Summer Squash Soup

from Linda Fernandez

3 medium yellow squash

2 tablespoons butter

1 clove garlic, minced

1/4 teaspoon dried rosemary

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

1 cup chicken broth

2 cups cooked chicken, diced

Scrub squash; do not peel. Dice squash to make 5 to 6 cups. Melt butter in a large saucepan and sauté garlic briefly. Add squash, rosemary, salt and pepper. Sauté very slowly. Keep pan tightly covered and do not allow squash to brown. Add 1 or 2 tablespoons water if necessary when squash is softened. Purée in electric blender. Return purée to pan and add chicken broth, and diced chicken. Heat until flavors are well blended. Pour into serving dish or soup bowls. Serves 4.

Summer Squash Salad

from Linda Fernandez

4 small yellow crookneck or a mixture of zucchini and yellow summer squash

6-8 leaves basil, or to taste (original recipe calls for 1/3 cup packed mint leaves)

3 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil

1 Tbsp fresh lemon juice

¼ tsp fine sea salt

Pepper to taste

¼ cup toasted pine nuts (1 oz.)

Asagio or parmesan cheese for shaving

Fresh mint sprigs for garnish

Toast pine nuts in a small skillet on medium high heat. Stir gently until pine nuts start to brown. Remove from heat and allow to cool.

Slice squash into paper-thin slices. Set aside

Stack basil or mint leaves and roll together lengthwise. Slice crosswise into very thin slivers. Add to squash.

Combine oil, lemon, salt and pepper. Pour dressing over squash. Add pinenuts and marinade for 10 minutes. Garnish with shavings of Asagio cheese. Use a vegetable peeler to shave cheese. Garnish with mint leaves.

Bread and Butter Pickles

from Janet Lightheart

25-30 medium sized cucumbers

8 large white onions

2 large sweet red peppers

½C Salt

5C cider vinegar

5C Sugar

2 T mustard seed

1 t turmeric

½ t cloves

Wash cucumbers and slice. Chop onions and peppers. Combine cucumbers, onions, peppers and salt. Let stand for 3 hrs. Drain.

Combine vinegar, sugar, and spices in large kettle and bring to boil. Add the drained cucumber mixture. Heat thoroughly but do not boil. Pack while hot and seal.

Zucchini Casserole

from Linda Fernandez

6-8 cups sliced zucchini, about 2 pounds

1 can cream of chicken soup (can use low fat)

1 cup sour cream

1 cup grated carrots

¼ - ½ cup chopped onions

1 – 8oz. Stove Top stuffing mix, chicken

¼ cup butter

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add sliced zucchini and cook for just a few minutes, no more than 5 minutes. Drain.

Mix sour cream, soup, carrots and onion. Add drained zucchini and gently mix with the sauce mixture. In a sauce pan, melt butter and add stuffing mix. Put ½ of stuffing mix into the bottom of a 9X13 pan. Add all the of the squash mixture. Top with remaining stuffing. Bake for 25 – 30 minutes at 350 degrees.

Note: We really like the stuffing part so I usually use 2-8oz. packages of stuffing mix and an additional ¼ cup butter. One half of the stuffing on the bottom of the casserole and the other half on top. Yum!

Medford Gardening Project

Saturday, August 1, 2009

Harvest News!

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