Kretschmann Farm Oct. 21, 2008
don@kretschmannfarm.com www.kretschmannfarm.com
Greetings from the Kretschmanns,
The
weekend brought our first killing frosts.
Actually, we had been waiting for it for a few weeks now, because we
like that it kills weeds which compete with our hearty late fall crops. The prolonged warm weather has actually
allowed the fast growing galansoga (weed) to nearly
smother a lot of the spinach at one end of our field. Repeated frosts should whack it down so we
can begin to see the spinach again.
These frosts also cause the kale and collards to sweeten
wonderfully. Southerners who are great
fans of these crops will often avoid buying them until they know there’s been a
frost.
The parsley this year is particularly nice
for this time of the season. We experimented
with just mowing two rows down with a lawn mower in late summer and it has regrown beautifully.
Without those few residual yellowed leaves which are there after the
last normal picking, this re-growth is especially nice. Enjoy a tabooley
salad with the last few tomatoes.
Parsley is especially high in vitamin C.
We should be up to date on the amounts due
above. Please make an effort to get this
sent off to us. If you think it’s not
accurate, let us know and we’ll send a more detailed accounting. Remember that a negative amount reflects a
credit.
Enjoying the harvest as the nights lengthen,
---- Don, Becky, & The Crew
Tortellini
w/Broccoli and Carrots- Either
parboil broccoli pieces and sliced carrots until tender and add garlic powder,
or stirfry the same (garlic first). Add this to hot tortellini with a little
olive oil. Season as desired, salt, nutritional yeast,
oregano, or dry parmesan. It's
very colorful and a quick meal.
Stir Fried Spicy Carrots
with Peanuts:
Preheat the oven to 350 deg. Put ¼ c peanuts in a shallow pan, and bake for 10 minutes . Cool and chop coarsely. Coarsely grate 1 pound
medium carrots and stir fry in 2 tbs butter or peanut
oil about 5 min. Stir in peanuts, ¼ tsp
hot pepper flakes or to taste. Season with salt pepper and a dash of lime juice. Serve hot.
Arugula, with Beets, Gorgonzola, and Sweet Walnuts: Cook beets until
tender, slip off the
skins and slice. Toss with the 1 T olive oil, 1 T wine or
herbed vinegar, 1/4 tsp salt, and 1/8 tsp pepper. Mix 1 c.chopped walnuts well with ¼ c. corn syrup and ¼ c brown sugar.
Spread on cookie sheet and bake @ 350 deg. about 10 min. until crisped.
Cool. Serve beets atop small portion of
arugula greens, sprinkling crumbled gorgonzola and walnuts.
Another great salad is mesclun greens topped with apple slices and candied
walnuts. Fruited vinegrette?
Tabouleh: (Lebanese dish) to 1c. cooked
bulgur (cracked) wheat, add 1/2 c olive oil, 1/2 c lemon juice, 1 bunch finely
chopped scallions, lg bunch finely chopped
parsley. Salt to
taste. (Cucumbers, tomatoes, and celery can also be finely chopped and
added.) In this case, one can put all
ingredients in a ceramic or glass crock (wheat uncooked) with the tomatoes and
cucumbers on top and refrigerate for at least 1 day, and up to two weeks. Another refreshing addition is a little
finely chopped fresh mint. Serve on bed
of lettuce or Lebanese style, wrapped in single lettuce leaves and eaten out of
hand.
Special Orders: ½ bu. beets or potatoes--$25 Jalepeno peppers--$20/half
bu. (It’s easy to make a batch of pickled
hot jalepeno peppers.) Apple butter:
3.50/pint (This
is made by Sally & Tom Davis of Sally’s Cider Press from apples, and boiled
down cider—something healthful, seasonal, and great on toast.)
Cheeses: The last week for cheeses will be the week of 11/10
to 11/14. Get your order in now to put it on our list.
The
camembert has been such a favorite, that even though we haven’t had the orders
in 60 days in advance, we will have extra again available—first come first
served. Also there’s the goat’s milk feta and chevre,
and the raw cow’s milk cheeses—cheddar, swiss, Colby,
and pepper Jack. All cheese is $6/half pound except camembert is $10/half pound
wheel.