Name: Albert

Stop: G

Rolling Balance: $183

(negative is a credit or you're paid ahead)

We couldn't get peaches this week from the grower as he didn't have what he expected.  Sorry if you had peaches ordered. 

 

Kretschmann Farm                                                                   Aug. 24, 2010

257 Zeigler Rd., Rochester, PA 15074  (724)452-7189  

don@kretschmannfarm.com   www.kretschmannfarm.com  

Greetings from the Kretschmanns,

   We're almost giddy this year over the tomatoes. We've often described our CSA distribution as being alot like having a garden.  Every gardener experiences a time of the season when the tomato plants are just loaded with fruit, gorges on them, and gives them to every person he/she knows.  That time is now in your garden here.  After two years with very short crops (last year nearly missing a crop entirely) we seem to be back to a normal tomato year.  Since we started growing veggies, tomatoes have always been our biggest crop--or very nearly so.  Last week we continued to increase the number of tomatoes we gave subscribers as the week went on, and still had more in the barn at the end of the week than on Monday.  Picking is clearly outpacing distribution.  We'll be at it again with renewed effort this week.  Because they last longer in the field without degrading, we have been leaving the plum tomatoes to pick later.  These will be appearing in time. Meanwhile, enjoy a colorful tomato salad--slice up a variety of colors of tomatoes--red, black, yellow, green, and/or pink. Add a little onion, lettuce, pepper, and basil.  Dress. The fare doesn't get any better than that!

   By now, you've noticed the zucchinis.... We assure you, last Saturday we really did till in the early summer squash field and planted the winter cover crop.  But the later direct seeded zuc field is upon us already with hardly a break in the action.

   The local warming 90's played havoc with our last lettuce planting, causing it to bolt.  But a little leafy is better than none.  

   The amount for the second half of the season is now due.  Generally, that is $225 for the small, $275 for the medium, and $325 for the large boxes respectively--this is if you had received all boxes or had donated them when away, and hadn’t gotten anything extra.  Amounts for the ½ smalls are either  $118 or $97 depending on whether you started the first or second week in June.  The amount above reflects the August payment and everything you've received to date (but not extras for this week) as well as coffee, mushrooms, and cheese for the remainder of the season--three more times each  (if you signed up for any of them).  We’ll be sending out a detailed billing shortly, if you have any questions.  If you can save us the mailing by sending it on, we'd really appreciate it.

   Enjoying the cooler weather, we are, sincerely,  

                                                              Don, Becky, & The Kretschmann Crew

 

Tomato Note:  If you're afraid you'll not use your tomatoes quickly enough, you can easily just put them in a plastic bag and freeze them.  When thawed, they are great in soups or sauces. 

 

Italian Green Bean Salad: Cook or steam 1# green beans until tender.  If beans are large, cut French style into lengthwise strips.  Drain and pour your favorite vinegrette dressing over the warm beans and toss.  Refrigerate at least two hours and serve with tomato wedges and sliced onion.  Sprinkle with parmesan cheese and garnish with olives.

Tomato Bruschetta  (“Italian salsa”): Dice up tomatoes, peppers, and onions.  Add a little hot pepper if you want it hot. Mix with shredded basil, olive oil, and lemon juice. Salt and pepper to taste. Toast your favorite bread or ideally, French baguette, rub with garlic and top with mix. 

Stuffed Tomatoes: Cut tops off 4 large firm tomatoes and scoop out insides.  Mix ¼ c. dry bread crumbs 1 beaten egg, 1 diced green onion, 1/3 c grated parmesan cheese, 1 tbs basil, 2 cloves minced garlic, ½ c. shredded mozzarella cheese, 1/4 c chopped basil, salt pepper to taste. Pack tomatoes tightly, top with shredded mozzarella, bread crumbs, butter, and bake uncovered 25-30 min. @ 350 deg.

Zucchini Pizza: Oil cookie sheet.  Slice zucchini lengthwise in strips about 1/3” thick and arrange on sheet.  Top with tomato sauce and shredded cheese.  Bake until tender and just becoming leathery

Pasta a la Georgina:  Saute 2 lg. cloves chopped garlic and about an equal amount of finely diced fresh ginger in 2 T oil.  Add about 1# fresh ripe tomatoes, cut in chunks, and simmer.  (15 min+-)  Cook pasta, drain.  Add 1 c. chopped fresh basil to tomatoes just before serving.  Sprinkle pasta servings with grated mozzarella cheese and top with sauce.  A great 20 minute meal!

Roasted Pepper & Tomato Pasta with Shrimp:  Make one cookie sheet of roasted tomatoes (about 5) and roasted peppers (about 2).  Boil and peel 1/2# shrimp.  Dice and saute about 5 cloves of garlic and 1/2 c green onions sliced in rings.  Add the shrimp to the garlic & onions, then add about 12 oz bowtie pasta cooked & drained, the peppers, tomatoes and 1/2 c chopped fresh basil.

 

Reuse, Recycle: Keep those used blueberry/cherry tomato pints coming back!  Otherwise we'll have to use little plastic bags for the cherry tomatoes.  The cost of the pints is sinful--nearly $.30 each!

 

Veggie ID:  The red horn shaped peppers are Italias.  They are very sweet and not at all hot. 

Special Orders:  Basil--$14 1/2 bu. box.  It's easy to freeze a batch of pesto for the winter. Half bushel is a lot of pesto. 

We've got extra goats' milk feta and chevre cheeses--half#/ $6.00  Cull tomatoes for canning: $12/20# box (ripe&ready)

 

Last Call for Mushroom CSA: Once a month we'll have a sampling of Pennsylvania mushrooms. These are fresh and excellent mushrooms--quite a few unusual varieties will be included.  See the Wild Purveyors site for more information.  We're rounding the cost to $19/delivery.  If you're interested, we'd like a commitment for the remaining three months of our season.  See the calendars for which weeks on our website.   We'll close the signup period for mushrooms on 8/28 at noon.