Kretschmann Farm Sept. 19, 2006
don@kretschmannfarm.com www.kretschmannfarm.com
Greetings from the Kretschmanns,
The incident
last week with e-coli and spinach was one which scared us too because, we too,
pick, wash, and bag spinach. And we are just about to launch into spinach
season again. The possibility always
exists that ours, too, could be contaminated.
Try as we might, there is no way one could make the system air (or coli)
tight. Simply one deer could introduce
the offending organism into the system.
To reassure you, we do have our water regularly tested in which we wash
vegetables. And we are as careful as
humanly possible. As we said at the
beginning of the season concerning all greens, we wash them only to get the worst
of the dirt off. It’s up to you to do
the final kitchen prep. In a larger
sense, the national incident pointed out a critical flaw in our food system
which is increasingly dominated by big players of international scale. One immediately questioned how so many people
in so many geographical locations could be affected. Once a pathogen is introduced into such a
system, it is rapidly distributed in a way which makes it extremely hard, first
of all to even know what the problem is, much less where it came from. The real possibility existed that one would never have known. So back up to our own
little local food system, you and us.
If there were a problem, it would be apparent much more quickly, the
source would be identified almost immediately, and the remedy applied right
away. We’re not talking about weeks, but
days or hours. Really, how long would it
take, were there a problem, to e-mail or call each and every subscriber? Hopefully we will never cross that bridge.
Last
Wednesday and into Thursday we had over 3 ½ inches of rain. Luckily we had seen it coming and had things
picked in advance. But it’s taken most
of a week to get to the point where we can get into the fields without making a
mess of the field roadways. We had
several severe wash-outs in newly planted fields—what a
heartache to see the soil eroded.
There are still fields which are too muddy to walk into.
We’ve been
out in the orchard picking apples like crazy.
It all came upon us rather suddenly.
We had held off picking the Liberties because they just didn’t seem
sweet enough and then last Monday we noticed them starting to fall. A quick taste said that they were ready, and
the race was on. This apple is similar
to MacIntosh and is good for eating, cooking, sauce,
and juice.
The “salsa pak” contains tomatillos, cilantro,
and jalepenos.
The tomatillos can be made into a green salsa
alone, or they can be added to a tomato salsa.
Just boil them, mash, and add to the salsa. They have a lot of pectin,
so they are great to thicken a sometimes runny tomato salsa.
Enjoy the
late summer garden’s gifts. Sincerely, ---Becky, Don, & The
Kretschmann Crew
Spaghetti
squash might be new to some. It’s easy to prepare. Many ways to cook it: 1. throw the whole thing into a pot of
boiling water and cook until tender, then cut in half, scoop out the seeds, and
with a fork scrape/remove the flaky spaghetti-like flesh. Add butter and salt. 2. Cut in half, scoop out seeds, and boil
until tender. Follow as above. 3. Halve
and scoop seeds. Invert, cut side down, on oiled baking pan. Bake until tender.
Variations:
After it’s cooked, try tossing strands with parsley, butter, basil, salt,
pepper, or sage.
Or
-- Sautee green/red pepper, onion, cilantro, garlic, salt, cumin, olive oil,
and cider vinegar. Mix in cooked spaghetti squash, olives, or peanuts. Or-- Sautee green
pepper, onion, garlic, basil, oregano, olive oil, tomatoes. After squash is
cooked, toss strands with sauteed mixture and parmesean cheese. Can also stuff and bake.
Apple & Red Cabbage: Cut cabbage
into large wedges. Slice and core 3 apples. Sautee the
cabbage before adding apples. Then sprinkle on 1/3 c. brown sugar and
1/3 c. cider vinegar to give a sweet and sour taste. Salt and pepper lightly.
Cover, cook for 5 minutes and serve. This dish is often baked. Bake in covered
baking dish for one half hour or more. It will be limper than the unbaked
version.
Salsa
Verde Raul: Boil 1-2 hot peppers and 5-6 tomatillos and cook until tender. Mash slightly. Add 2 tbs finely
chopped cilantro and 1-2 minced small onions, 1 clove minced garlic and salt.
We’re
giving dill this week because we need to, or it will be past prime. Also, one of our favorite recipes is the
carrot soup below. We’ll have a lot of carrots in the coming weeks. You might
want to place the dill in a plastic bag so it will keep.
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 processor and chop finely using on/off turns. Then slowly add 2 tbs olive oil and process until well blended. Season to
taste with salt and pepper.. Ladle into bowls. Swirl
pesto into soupbowls.
Special Order Items: Green Cabbage—bu.
box $15. (Great time
to make sauerkraut.) Hungarian Hot Wax Peppers—1/2bu. $18 Jalapenos—1/2 bu $20.