Kretschmann Farm Oct 24, 2006
don@kretschmannfarm.com www.kretschmannfarm.com
Greetings from the Kretschmanns,
It’s amazing
the transformation at the farm in just a week or week and a half. Where there was a forest of tomato plants
entwined on stakes, now there’s just a field of newly tilled and planted
rye; where there were rows of yellow,
horn shaped, hot, and bell peppers, now it’s likewise rich brown soil resting
with a cover crop ready to sprout; where apples hung bending branches nearly to
the ground, now are trees bare of fruit, leaves thinning. Nearly every field of annuals has or is in
the process of reverting to the Kelly green color of a rye cover crop for the
winter months. As the leaves drop off
the trees in the many woodlots surrounding our fields, they blow onto rows of
veggies still in the field. This naturally
adds carbonaceous matter for unseen soil organisms to digest.
Our human farm
component has undergone a transformation too.
Our two faithful Mexican field hands have left for their families and
pueblito with smiles, a big hug, and money.
The rest of us have swapped to sock hats, wool socks, insulated
overalls, heavy coats and gloves. The
cooler is still a favorite place to hang out-- now because it’s the warmest
place!
Once again
last week we were inundated with water—on Thursday and Friday we had 3” of
rain. We’ve got a lot of carrots yet to
dig in a field apt to stay soggy.
Hopefully we’ll be able to get to it.
Luckily we planted spinach in many different places, but it looks like
yet another field of spinach will have drowned. This has happened so often this
entire season, one wonders how it could have been such a persistent theme this
year. We’ll certainly have some spinach, but less
than planned.
Hope you are enjoying
everything, snow and all. Sincerely, ---Don, Becky, & The
Kretschmann Crew
This recipe has been in the
newsletter before, but if you haven’t tried it, you are missing one of the
best. Usually a soup as a covered dish
isn’t much of a hit, but this one is guaranteed to wow them--bring copies of
the recipe.
Carrot Soup With Dill Pesto: Saute 4 large carrots, 1 onion and and 1 tsp dill
seeds in 2 tbs butter until tender, about 10 minutes. Add 4 cups broth and
bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer until carrots are very tender, about 35
minutes. Transfer soup to blender in batches and puree. Thin with more broth if
desired. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Combine
1 c. fresh dill and 2 tbs pine nuts or sunflower seeds in a processor or
blender and chop finely using on/off turns. Then slowly add 2 tbs olive oil and process
until well blended. (It’s difficult with such a small quantity, but it doesn’t
take much to flavor this yummy soup.) Season
to taste with salt and pepper.. Ladle into bowls.
Swirl pesto into soupbowls.
Tried out this cheesecake on
friends last week and got rave reviews. Moist and rich. Easy to make.
Apple Cheesecake: Crush 1
package graham crackers to fine crumbs and mix with 1/3 c. melted butter. Press this into a 9” round cake pan or a deep
pyrex pie pan on the sides and bottom. Then arrange one layer of small apple cubes
on top of the crust. (one apple should suffice) Separate 4 eggs. Whip the whites until stiff. To the yolks add 1# small curd cottage
cheese, ½ # cream cheese, ¾ c. sugar, 1 tbs flour, 1 tbs corn starch, ¾ c.
heavy cream, and 1 tsp. vanilla. Mix
with electric mixer until smooth and well blended, then fold batter into the
egg whites. Fill the crust with cheese filling and bake 15 min. @ 400 deg. then
45 min. @ 350 deg. (This quantity of cheese filling can make two smaller or
shallower dish cakes.)
Moroccan Stew-- First mix
together--Berber Spice Mixture--2T. cumin seeds, 1/2
T. fennel seeds, 1 T. peppercorns, 1T. whole allspice, 3 whole cloves, 1/2
T.coriander seeds, 1 T grated fresh ginger, pinch saffron, 2 T. sweet paprika,
1/2 tsp.cinnamon, 1/2 tsp. Tumeric. Chop stew sized- 1 1/2 c. onions, 3 c.
potatoes, 2 c. carrots, 1 small butternut, 1 green and one red pepper, and 3
cloves garlic. Saute vegetables and
garlic in 2 T. olive oil 3-5 min. add 4 c. veggie stock and 2 c. chopped
tomatoes and simmer with Berber spice mixture until veggies are tender, 20 to
25 min. Salt to taste and garnish with
1/4 c. chopped fresh parsley. (We substitute anise for fennel and put all the
Berber spice mixture in a teaball or tie in a cloth bag to steep in the
stew. You can also use 1 qt of canned
plain tomato sauce instead of the stock.)
Stuffed Cabbage- Filling:1 c. minced
onion, 1# ground meat, 2 c. cooked brown rice, 1 egg, salt and pepper. Mix with the hands then roll up in cabbage
leaves and place in large pot with a little tomato sauce on the bottom. When filling is used up, you can fill in the
top layer with chunks of remaining cabbage or saurkraut and add enough tomato
sauce to cover. Simmer until meat is
cooked.
Southwestern Slaw: Shred
1/2 head cabbage very fine; cut 1 pepper into thin slices; chop 1/2 bunch
cilantro; chop 1-2 green onions. Heat in saucepan: juice of 2 limes, honey,
olive oil, and salt. Pour over tossed veggies, mix well. Let
sit for 10 minutes before serving.
Special Order
Items: Green Cabbage—bu. box $15. Potatoes: ½ bu. $20.
Butternut squash--$20/bu. These will keep half the winter. Cider
from Sally’s Cider Press (the custom cider mill
where we get ours pressed) It’s not organic, but it is fresh pressed and UV
pasteurized the same as ours. 4 Gal.--$20