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Chatfield CSA e-news for September 17-19

Posted 9/13/2019 5:16pm by Josie Hart.

Dear shareholders,

Tomorrow is Gleaning Day! We invite you and your families to come out between 8-10 a.m. to harvest some crops before they get mowed and plowed back into the ground. It's a nice time to come see where your crops are grown, and also a great scavenger hunt! We'll have beans, chard, basil, summer squash, cukes, tomatillos, dill and cilantro, and probably a few more that I'm forgetting right now.

When you get to Chatfield Farms, park in the gravel lot and walk past the Hildebrand Ranch House and animals out to the dirt road. Take a left, walk past a pond and then our beehives on your right. Turn left into the fenced in fields just opposite our compost piles, and there will be volunteers to orient you, a list of crops and flags marking areas to be gleaned. Bring your own supplies, like gloves, knives for harvesting and something to put your harvest into.

This is David in the golden light of morning mowing the aisles of the tomato field. We try to keep our fields as manicured and tidy as possible, both for aesthetic purposes and for the health of the crops. Luckily now that we are past the peak of planting and seeding new crops we've had some time to get aisles mowed, fall cover crops seeded, and our last transplants cleared of competition from the weeds. With six more weeks of distribution we are feeling much less hectic and some of us are even getting vacations in (say hello to the ocean for us, Maddy!). We're still far from what I would consider peak harvest of summer crops but fall crops such as broccoli and cabbage are coming on and suddenly the equinox is right around the corner! I honestly can't say whether I'm ready for summer to be over or not ...

HARVEST LIST:

  • Napa cabbage
  • Bok choy
  • Tomatoes
  • Leeks
  • Fennel
  • Sage
  • Garlic
  • Beets
  • Broccoli

*Please note the exact share may change due to weather or crop conditions.

FEATURED RECIPE: Fennel casserole

This week's recipe comes from Monika, aka "Scales," a shareholder and Tuesday distribution volunteer who can be found manning the third table and hitting the weights of all bagged cut greens right on the money!

 

Ingredients

  • 6 tablespoons melted butter
  • 1 tablespoon lemon juice
  • salt and pepper
  • 1/2 teaspoon minced fresh thyme
  • 2 fennel bulbs, stalks discarded, halved and cut into 1-inch wedges
  • 3 ounces rye bread, cut into 1-inch pieces
  • 1 ounce Parmesan cheese, grated
  • 1 teaspoon caraway seeds

Directions

Heat oven to 425 degrees. Whisk 3 tablespoons melted butter, lemon juice, 1 teaspoon salt, thyme, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper together in a large bowl. Add fennel and toss to coat. Arrange fennel cut side down in a single layer in 13x9 baking dish. Cover with aluminum foil and bake until fennel is nearly tender, 25-30 minutes.

Meanwhile, pulse bread, Parmesan, caraway, 1/4 teaspoon salt, 1/8 teaspoon pepper and remaining 3 tablespoons butter in food processor to coarse crumbs, about 20 pulses. Set aside.

Remove foil from dish and sprinkle fennel with bread crumb mixture. Continue to bake, uncovered, until fennel is tender and topping is browned and crisp, 15-20 minutes. Let cool for 5 minutes before serving.