CSA Newsletter August 13th and 14th
This Week’s Harvest:
- Assorted Squash & Zucchini
- ‘Copra’ Onion
- ‘Ruby Ring’ Red Onion
- ‘Ichiban’ Eggplant
- ‘Black Beauty’ Eggplant
- ‘Cubanelle’ Pepper
- ‘Jalapeno’ Pepper
- ‘Juliet’ Grape Tomato
- Tomatoes
- Tomatillos
- Chives
- Basil (‘Napoletano’ or ‘Genovese’)
- ‘Giant Italian’ Parsley
- Peppermint
Crop of the Week: Tomatoes
The tomato (Solanum lycopersicum, syn. Lycopersicon lycopersicum & Lycopersicon esculentum) is a herbaceous, usually sprawling plant in the Solanaceae or nightshade family that is typically cultivated for the purpose of harvesting its fruit for human consumption. Savory in flavor, the fruit of most varietals ripens to a distinctive red color. Tomato plants typically reach to 1-3 metres (3-10 ft) in height, and have a weak, woody stem that often vines over other plants. The leaves are 10-25 centimetres (4-10 in) long, odd pinnate, with 5-9 leaflets on petioles, each leaflet up to 8 centimetres (3 in) long, with a serrated margin; both the stem and leaves are densely glandular-hairy. The flowers are 1-2 centimetres (0.4-0.8 in) across, yellow, with five pointed lobes on the corolla; they are borne in a cyme of 3-12 together. It is a perennial, often grown outdoors in temperate climates as an annual.
(from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tomatoes)
Herb of the Week: Chives
Chives (Allium schoenoprasum) are the smallest species of the onion family Alliaceae, native to Europe, Asia and North America. They are referred to only in the plural, because they grow in clumps rather than as individual plants. Allium schoenoprasum is also the only species of Allium native to both the New and the Old World. Its species name derives from the Greek skhoinos (sedge) and prason (onion). Its English name, chive, derives from the French word cive, which was derived from cepa, the Latin word for onion. Culinary uses for chives involve shredding its leaves (straws) for use as condiment for fish, potatoes and soups. Because of this, it is a common household herb, frequent in gardens as well as in grocery stores. It also has insect-repelling properties which can be used in gardens to control pests. The chive is a bulb-forming herbaceous perennial plant, growing to 30-50 cm tall. The bulbs are slender conical, 2-3 cm long and 1 cm broad, and grow in dense clusters from the roots. The leaves are hollow tubular, up to 50 cm long, and 2-3 mm in diameter, with a soft texture, although, prior to the emergence of a flower from a leaf, it may appear stiffer than usual. The flowers are pale purple, star-shaped with six tepals, 1-2 cm wide, and produced in a dense inflorescence of 10-30 together; before opening, the inflorescence is surrounded by a papery bract. The seeds are produced in a small three-valved capsule, maturing in summer. The herb flowers from April to May in the southern parts of its habitat zones and in June in the northern parts.
(from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chives)
Recipes:
Tomato and Eggplant Casserole Recipe
Tomato and Cucumber Salad
Sour Cream and Chive Mashed Potatoes
Announcements:
-We’re sorry to say our Tomatoes have been struck by Late Blight, a tomato disease that has been rampant on the east coast this summer. Late Blight spreads rapidly, and once plants are infected, the damage is irreversible. We have been treating the tomatoes with an organically approved fungicide (Oxidate) and hope to forestall the inevitable loss of our crop for as long as possible. More information on Late Blight & how this year’s outbreak is explicitly linked to large-scale agriculture is available through this New York Times article.
-Our BagShare Project continues…Our helpful shareholders have started making re-usable bags for use in the CSA or Market. We still have plenty of material left if anyone is interested in helping out. Please get in touch with Johann for the material.
