Sustainable Hastings/Stoneledge Farm CSA

hope everyone had a lovely 4th of July weekend.

thanks to carter there is a blog now for recipes and and archive of these weekly emails.
http://sustainablehastingscsa.wordpress.com/ carter’s also added some useful links. please continue to send new recipes – we’ll post ‘em to this blog – as always your suggestions for links etc. are always welcome.

i was asked about humanely raised, grass fed beef/poultry/pork – does Stoneledge offer any? they don’t but Deb pointed me to Lewis Waite farm in Greenwich NY. http://www.lewiswaitefarm.com
Lewis Waite and others can be found on the JustFood website www.justfood.org

this wednesday i’ll have a sign up for volunteering to help set up/breakdown and ‘man’ on wednesdays. if you’re available please sign up.

Arliss has been arriving with our harvest at 10:30 so pick ups can begin earlier than our original 11:30 am time.
(pick up times: 10:45a ish – 1p &  3:30-6p)

thanks for the rubberbands – Stoneledge appreciates the returns.

and now….

Week #5
What’s In the Bag
Dear CSA Member,
Another muddy, wet week of cold and constant rain storms.  The rain has been coming later in the day and during the night, so for the most part, we are able to slog through the fields to pick the vegetable shares.  There is no hoeing or cultivating because of the wet soil, but even the weeds seem to be held back by the weather.  The weatherman  calls for a bit of sunshine later in the weekend.

The vegetables keep coming even with the extreme weather we have had.  New this week is the Early Jersey Wakefield Cabbage. It is an heirloom variety that is very sweet and has a distinctive pointed top.  The Red Leaf Lettuce, Radishes and  Red Scallions will be perfect salad ingredients.  One more week of Sugar Snap Peas and then they will be a spring time garden memory.

The Fruit Shares start this week for the members that have registered for the optional Fruit Share.  We are trying to work with as many local farmers as possible and this is the first year we will have local Black Currants and White Sweet Cherries.  I have included a few ideas to use the Black Currants because they are rather tart if not cooked and sweetened with honey or sugar.  They are a super fruit as they have twice the potassium of bananas, four times the vitamin C of oranges, and twice the antioxidants of blueberries.

With all of the fruit shares come boxes and flats.  We would appreciate having them returned to the farm to use again.  Members have requested less plastic bags so we are trying pulp baskets for the early fruit.  They have been expensive to purchase and would like to be able to re-use them.

Enjoy the vegetables-and fruit.  Deborah, for everyone at Stoneledge Farm

Sugar Snap Peas – 1 pound
Summer Squash-2 pounds
Radishes-1 bunch
Red Leaf Lettuce-1 head
Red Scallions-1 bunch
Early Jersey Wakefield Cabbage-1 head
Summer Spinach-1 bunch
Summer Savory-1 bunch-(use very much like Thyme)

Optional Fruit Share
1 basket Black Currants
1 basket White Sweet Cherries
1 basket Black Sweet Cherries

A bit about Black Currants:
Black currants are very rich in many phytonutrients, antioxidants, vitamins, essential fatty acids and minerals

In particular, black currants are renowned for their high content in Vitamin C (a powerful antioxidant), GLA (Gamma-Linoleic Acid, a very rare Omega-6 essential fatty acid) and potassium. They have been shown to have twice the potassium of bananas, four times the vitamin C of oranges, and twice the antioxidants of blueberries.

Black currants contain anthocyanins, which are compounds naturally found in berries. They are very potent antioxidants and are responsible for the color of black currants. Around 300 different types of anthocyanins have been discovered.

The taste of black currants is very tart and sharp, and they’re used to make black currant jellies, jams, added to desserts or as a part of sauces and dippings. Black currants are commonly used to make cordial, liqueur, ice-cream and they can also be found in juice form.

Black Currant Sauce
Wash currants and measure. Place currants in a heavy, non-aluminum sauce pan. For the basket of currants , mix in 1 TBS. Stoneledge Farm honey or other good honey and 1 TBS. sugar.   Heat over medium heat, stirring occasionally to mash berries and make sure they don’t stick. When the mixture becomes a thickened sauce remove from heat and let cool. If mixture is not sweet enough, add more sugar or honey and reheat until sugar is dissolved.   I didn’t take all of the stems from the Black Currants before cooking so I put the finished sauce from above through a fine sieve or food mill.

Use sauce over vanilla ice cream and serve with chocolate brownies.  You can mix this sauce into your favorite barbecue sauce and add some chili pepper for a spicy, sweet sauce that is great on poultry and beef. You may also add a pinch of cinnamon, a dash of cloves, and/or a few gratings of whole nutmeg to this sauce.

Black Currant Juice
The juice/syrup can be added to soda water to create something that resembles an Italian soda.  It is also delicious in tea.  Store the syrup in a sterilized glass bottle in your refrigerator as you would fruit pancake syrups.