Helsing Junction Farm Newsletter Archive

Greetings from Helsing Junction Farm!

It seems like the first whisper of fall is in the air here on the farm. Now when we begin work at 5:30 am it is still pitch-dark out and mornings start out cold and misty. It’s wonderful though, to watch the sunrise up over Mount Rainier while we cut greens in the slanting early morning light. We’re amazed to find ourselves at the halfway point in our delivery season. After this week, there will be 9 weeks left of CSA delivery. Our last CSA deliveries will be October 13th-15th.

We’ve almost finished planting for the year which is another sure sign of early fall’s arrival. We’ll put in one more planting of arugula and radishes and some over wintering onions this week and then we’re done planting seeds until October, when we plant about 10,000 row feet of garlic. We were really happy with the Musik garlic we planted this year; we seemed to have a lot fewer mold issues than we have in years past and we really love its large, easy to peel cloves. We were astonished to see how much bigger and healthier it looked in the field in comparison to the variety we have been saving and growing for the past several years. We also plan on growing a white, soft-neck garlic next year for inclusion in the storage shares as it has a much longer shelf life. We are almost half done cleaning the garlic now —there is a veritable mountain of it! To clean a head of garlic you cut off the long hard stalk, peel back a few of the outer layers, trim the bottom roots off and clean the dirt out of any remaining roots—and repeat 40,000 times! Any garlic you receive in your boxes from now on can be stored in a dry dark place and should last for several months.

The silk on the first planting of corn is drying out and the ears are plumping up, indicating it will be ready to harvest in a week or two. The second planting of corn is tasseling up nicely and will soon follow. We have 2 varieties of corn planted this year; Bodacious and Honey Treat. (We don’t know why but corn gets the silliest names of any vegetables!) Green pumpkins abound as do egg sized delicata and Kabocha squash. Our tomatoes seem are coming along swimmingly. The bees have been doing their job, and the tomato plants are laden with fruit. Let’s just hope this rain doesn’t do too much damage to them. All the other plants on the farm love it though! Looking back on our notes from years past, it seems we harvested eggplant 4 weeks ahead of schedule. We will pick eggplant for Tuesday’s boxes next week. The eggplant are so pretty. They look so shiny hanging down amidst the dusty green velvety looking leaves. This year we have installed drip irrigation for the peppers and eggplant, which really seem to appreciate not being splashed by overhead watering. It always seems ironic to us that fall begins, and only then is summer’s produce ready to be reaped, almost glowing from soaking up the warm summer sun.

August always heralds the arrival of the canning season. All over Rochester people are making pots and pots of jam and putting up all kinds of pickles and relishes as well. Incidentally, one of the most accomplished canners and bakers is our very own Oly, a wizard when it comes to jelly and pie. In some ways living on the farm and in Rochester is like traveling back in time 20 years or so, and we like that. The pace is definitely a little slower and people’s priorities a little different. Independence Valley (which is our small corner of Rochester) is narrow, with only one street running through it. Hence after my 17 years and Sue’s 20 years, we know almost everybody. People around here still bake pies, it’s blackberry or apple if you feel like something new this week. They also spend a lot of time socializing with each other, a.k.a. beer drinking and yakking about the kids, pets and/or garden. And most importantly, almost everybody that lives around here likes to cook especially with fresh produce. We opened a self-service farm stand this week which has attracted local interest (not a lot going on out here). In the past people were always stopping by to ask if they could buy something, but since all of our vegetables were sold via the CSA, we didn’t have any format for selling produce off the farm, so it’s nice that we do now. We will have it open during the music festival next weekend.

We entertained a group of Ukrainian berry farmers on Monday who were on a 10 day tour of Washington State farms. First we all had lunch together on Annie’s parents back deck. Annie’s dad Bill was a chef/restaurateur in Chicago before he moved here 5 years ago, so we turned to him to prepare the lunch. Using Selma’s lamb and vegetables from our farm he prepared an amazing lamb and eggplant stew, potato and fennel gratin, butter lettuce salad with chives and a Greek salad with goat feta that our neighbor made. Then we toured around the farm comparing notes on things. Most of them were either large scale farmers or involved in large scale agricultural production, so our little farm probably seemed more like a garden to them, but they seemed to enjoy seeing what we had growing and got introduced to several vegetables they had never seen before. Christian of Provisions Mushrooms, our CSA partner, was also in attendance as he speaks Russian. He took several people up to his place to tour his mushroom growing facilities. Later, as we sat and chatted over coffee and blueberry peach cobbler, they began asking us questions about our Kabota tractor which made them so excited that they had to trot off to the Kabota dealership for a look-see themselves. We really enjoyed their visit!

Here is the schedule of when the 2 pounds of basil that comes with your bulk share will be delivered:
Thursday August 1st: Allrecipes, Beacon Hill, Belltown, Capitol Hill, East Olympia, Georgetown and Queen Anne
Wednesday August 26th: Alberta, Centralia, Hawthorne and MLK
Thursday August 27th: Ravenna, Seward Park, West Olympia, West Seattle and WSNMC
Tuesday September 1st: Ballard, Bellevue, Crown Hill, the Farm and Fremont
Tuesday September 8th: Green Lake, Kirkland, Phinney Ridge, Shoreline, Tacoma and Wallingford

Your Bulk Share/basil will be delivered to your regular drop site and marked with your name. Bulk shares are separate from your regular small or large CSA share. To determine whether or not you have a Bulk Share, please look on the sign-in sheet at the drop site under the category “Bulk Share.” If there is a “yes” in the bulk share column next to your name you are slated to receive a Bulk Share. If we have made a mistake and you are supposed to receive a Bulk Share but are not on the list, please contact us and we will make sure you get one. If you need to reschedule the date you receive the bulk basil, please let us know and we can make other arrangements. The 10# of potatoes that come with your bulk share will be delivered in September; we will provide you with the exact date via the newsletter.

So sorry if you got an incomplete copy of this newsletter earlier today with some Latin in place of the list of what is in the boxes, we sent it out on accident!


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This Week's Shares

Tuesday’s small shares contain:
1 pint Sungold cherry tomatoes
1# slicing tomatoes
1# summer squash
1# green beans
1 fresh sweet onion (store in fridge)
2 cucumbers
1 bunch of carrots (nantes variety)
jalapeno peppers
1 head garlic
1 bunch arugula
1 lettuce
1 bunch basil
1 bunch cilantro
Flowers (only if your share includes flowers)

Wednesday’s small shares may contain:
1 pint Sungold cherry tomatoes
1# slicing tomatoes
1# summer squash
1# green beans
1# tomatillos
1 fresh sweet onion (store in fridge)
2 cucumbers
1 bunch of carrots (nantes variety)
jalapeno peppers
1 head garlic
1 bunch arugula
1 lettuce
1 bunch basil
1 bunch cilantro
Flowers (only if your share includes flowers)

Thursday’s small shares may contain:
1# slicing tomatoes
2-3 sweet peppers
1# fava beans
1# summer squash
1# green beans
1 bunch golden beets
1 fresh sweet onion (store in fridge)
2 cucumbers
1 bunch of carrots (nantes variety)
1 head garlic
1 bunch arugula
1 red butter head lettuce
1 bunch dill
Flowers (only if your share includes flowers)


Tuesday’s large shares contain:
1 pint Sungold cherry tomatoes
1½ # slicing tomatoes
1# fava beans
1-2# summer squash
1½ # green beans
2 fresh sweet onions (store in fridge)
3 cucumbers
1 bunch of orange carrots (nantes variety)
1 bunch of purple carrots (purple haze)
jalapeno peppers
1 head garlic
2 bunches arugula
2 little gem lettuces
1 bunch basil
1 bunch cilantro
Flowers (only if your share includes flowers)

Wednesday’s large shares may contain:
1 pint Sungold cherry tomatoes
1½ # slicing tomatoes
1-2# summer squash
1½ # green beans
1# tomatillos
2 fresh sweet onions (store in fridge)
3 cucumbers
1 bunch of orange carrots (nantes variety)
1 bunch of purple carrots (purple haze)
jalapeno peppers
1 head garlic
2 bunches arugula
2 little gem lettuces
1 bunch basil
1 bunch cilantro
Flowers (only if your share includes flowers)

Thursday’s large shares may contain:
1 pint Sungold cherry tomatoes
1# fava beans
1-2# summer squash
1½ # green beans
1 bunch golden beets
2 fresh sweet onions (store in fridge)
3 cucumbers
1 bunch of orange carrots (nantes variety)
1 bunch of purple carrots (purple haze)
2-3 sweet peppers
1 head garlic
2 bunches arugula
2 little gem lettuces
1 bunch dill
Flowers (only if your share includes flowers)


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Recipes

Fava Beans:
Fava beans have a long tradition of cultivation in Old World agriculture, being among the most ancient plants in cultivation and also among the easiest to grow. It is believed that along with lentils, peas, and chickpeas, they became part of the eastern Mediterranean diet in around 6000 BC or earlier. They are still often grown as a cover crop to prevent erosion because they can over-winter and because as a legume, they fix nitrogen in the soil. Fresh fava beans are a fleeting seasonal treat. They're readily available for at most a few months in early summer. They are also, without a doubt, a labor intensive treat since they must first be removed from their outer pod and then, unless they are very small and tender, slipped out of the tough skin that enwraps each bean. If that's too much trouble for you, you can leave the shelled beans inside the skin, sauté them in some olive oil, garlic, salt and pepper, and let each diner perform the final extraction of bean from skin with fingers and teeth. The easiest way to skin them is to blanch them in boiling water for a few minutes, then slit the skin with a knife or your thumb nail, and squeeze gently to slip the bean out. We slipped the skins on ours while watching a movie and then sautéed them with some butter, garlic and lots of fancy sea salt. They were divine; their nutty flavor was reminiscent of artichokes somehow.

Szechwan Green Beans:
-Place a wok or heavy skillet over medium high heat.
-After a minute, add 2 TBS sesame oil.
-After another minute, add 1 pound tipped and tailed green beans.
-Raise heat to high and stir-fry for 3-5 minutes until beans are well seared.
-Add 5 cloves of finely chopped garlic, ½ tsp salt and crushed red pepper flakes to taste.
-Stir-fry several more minutes, and then remove from heat. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Glazed Green Beans:
-Wash, trim and cut 1# of green beans into 3inch lengths.
-To make the stir-fry sauce; add ¼ cup soy sauce, 3 TBS sake, 1½ TBS sugar, ½ cup water and stir to dissolve sugar. Set aside.
-Heat 1½ TBS corn or vegetable oil in a wok until very hot.
-Add ¼ cup finely chopped onion and stir-fry over high for about 15 seconds.
-Add beans and stir-fry over high heat for about 1 minute.
-Add sauce mixture and heat until boiling.
-Cover, reduce heat to medium and cook for about 8-10 minutes or until beans are tender.
-Uncover, increase heat to high and cook stirring occasionally until sauce is reduced to a glaze.
-Serve hot or at room temperature or even cold the next day.

Sautéed Summer Squash and Fresh Sweet Onions with Lemon and Herbs:
-Slice about 1½# of summer squash into ¼ inch pieces
-Place in a colander and sprinkle with 2 tsp. kosher salt.
-Set the colander in the sink and let it drain for 30 minutes. Then rinse and thoroughly dry the summer squash.
-Heat 2 TBS extra-virgin olive oil in a large skillet. Cut 1 fresh sweet onion in half and add to the pan.
-Add the squash and cook over medium heat for about 10 minutes until the squash is golden brown.
-Stir in ½ tsp. grated lemon zest, the juice of half a lemon, a large handful of minced basil/cilantro/dill and some freshly ground black pepper. -Heat through and serve.

Cucumber Salad with Chiles and Roasted Peanuts:
-Halve 2-3 cucumbers and then scrape out the seeds with a teaspoon. Slice then and put them in a glass bowl.
-Thinly slice ¼ cup sweet onion into thin strips and add to the cukes.
-Cut 1 jalapeno pepper in half, scrape out the seeds and finely dice it. (We suggest wearing gloves to chop hot peppers!)
-Add the pepper to the cukes along with 3-4 TBS finely chopped cilantro and/or 2 TBS finely chopped basil.
-In a small bowl combine the zest and juice of 2 limes, 1 TBS soy sauce, 1 TBS light brown sugar and 4 TBS roasted peanut oil.
-Toss the dressing with the cucumbers and add 1/3 cup roasted peanuts. Toss again and serve.

Fresh Carrot and Herb Salad:
-Grate 1 bunch of carrots.
-Finely chop a small handful of basil and a small handful of cilantro or dill. Add the herbs to the carrots.
-Whisk together a splash of rice vinegar, ½ a lemon or orange and a splash of extra-virgin olive oil.
-Pour over carrots and chill for 1-2 hours.

Arugula and Tomato Salad with Garlic Croutons:
To make croutons: Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
-Cut 4 pieces of bread into cubes (stale bread works well).
-Press 2 cloves of garlic into 2 TBS extra virgin olive oil and stir.
-Drizzle the oil over the bread, toss to coat, sprinkle with sea salt and then spread on a cookie sheet.
-Bake until crisp, stirring once, about 8-10 minutes.
-For the salad: Wash, stem and spin-dry 1 bunch of arugula.
-Cut 1 pint cherry tomatoes in half.
-Put the arugula and the tomatoes into a bowl and add 10-15 pitted and halved Kalamata olives (optional).
-Drizzle the salad with 2 TBS extra virgin olive oil, 1 tsp balsamic vinegar, 1 tsp red wine vinegar, a pinch of sea salt and some freshly ground black pepper.
-Toss and serve right away topped with garlic croutons.
Tsatsiki:
-Peel, seed and dice 1 cucumber.
-Toss with ¼ tsp salt and ¼ tsp pepper, place in a colander and drain for 15 minutes.
-Press 1 clove of garlic, 1 TBS finely chopped cilantro, ¼ tsp salt, 2 TBS extra virgin olive oil and 1 cup plain yogurt.
-Press the excess liquid out of the cucumbers and stir into the yogurt.


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Helsing Junction Farm
12013 Independence Road, Rochester, WA 98579 | (360)273-2033
helsingfarm@msn.com | www.helsingfarmcsa.com

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