This Weeks Share Includes: Collard Greens, Rainbow Carrots, Sweet Corn, Red Potatoes, Cucumbers, Shishito Peppers, Cured Sweet Onions, & 1/2 Dozen Farm Fresh Eggs.
Rainbow Carrots: These particular carrots are best enjoyed cooked. If you bite into them raw you may notice they are not as sweet as earlier in the year, this is due to warmer weather thus symbolizing the end of our carrot growing season.
Sweet Corn: When people flock to markets in search of sweet corn, they want it to be of the highest quality-sweet, fresh, and worm-free. Yet achieving worm-free corn is perhaps one of the most difficult challenges especially in organic production.The most common of sweet corn pests are corn earworms (Helioverpa zea). This particular worm is most frequently found feeding in the tips of sweet corn ears, which is why we lob the tops off of our sweet corn before we package and sell it. Why do we have worms, you ask? Because we are ORGANIC. We grow several non GMO Hybrid varieties of sweet corn and we do not use synthetic pesticides to kill the natural living organisms that want to eat our sweet corn too. When you see that perfectly golden ear of corn in the grocery store you can be assured one of two things have been done to that corn crop. It is either BT-Sweet Corn, a variety which is a Genetically Modified (GMO) with worm resistant traits OR it has been sprayed with BT, or another pesticide. Bt, on it’s own, is approved for organic use, but it becomes inactive very quickly after exposure to UV radiation (sunlight).
1/2 Dozen of our Farm Fresh Eggs:
Quick, Let me tell you what makes our Eggs sooo TASTY!…We have four different breeds of chickens: Ameracauna, Cuckoo Maran, Turkens and Pearl Leghorns. The chickens here on the farm are free-ranging and their laying house/ fenced in grazing area is moved every week or so to another location on the farm. This process exposes the chickens to new fresh patches of grass filled with tasty morsels, while fertilizing the soil beneath them. Chicken poo is a very valuable organic garden fertilizer. They are fed a diet of organic, soy-free chicken layer feed, crushed oyster shells – as a calcium supplement used to harden their shells, and organic vegetable scraps from our farm. As our egg production is at it’s peak, we thought this would be the perfect time to give all of our members a sample of our delicious eggs. We have had several people tell us they are the best eggs they’ve ever tasted, but don’t take our word for it, see and taste the difference for yourself. You’ll notice a darker, brighter yolk and a richer taste.
Shishito Peppers: Shishito is a Japanese sweet pepper that are generally quite mild but can be extremely spicy too (usually 1 in 10). The exciting part is you have no way of knowing the hotness of the pepper until it’s too late. The peppers are thin-walled, making them blister and char more easily compared with thicker-skinned varieties. On this side of the Pacific, it’s wildly popular as an appetizer—tossed with oil, then char-grilled or pan-seared to a blackened, blistered state, add a touch of sea salt and enjoy.
Blistered Shishito Peppers with Sea Salt
Extra-virgin olive oil- for frying , Shishito peppers, Coarse ground sea salt
- Line a plate with paper towels.
- Pour the oil to a depth of 1/3 inch into a wide, deep frying pan and place over medium heat.
- When the oil is hot, scatter the peppers in the pan without crowding them and cook, turning once or twice with tongs, for 1 to 2 minutes until barely golden brown. (Be careful of splattering oil.)
- Using a slotted spoon, transfer them to the towel-lined plate to drain and sprinkle generously with salt. Serve immediately.