Denison Farms Harvest Box: Week 24
Red and Green lettuce*Carrots* tat soy* kubocha squash—has tender skin and does not need to be peeled (from Persephone Farm)* sweet peppers* potatoes* sweet potatoes (from Rojo’s Farm)* Braeburn apples (from LaMancha Ranch and Orchard)
Final week of Harvest Box
    We come to the end of our summer season Harvest Box. I feel it’s time for a little reflection on the season, and a time to look ahead to the winter and toward next season. Though we still need to pass through the shortest and coldest days of the year, spring will be fast upon us, and we have already started planning and planting for next summer’s season. We were very happy with our cooperative arrangements with other farms during this season. By partnering with other farms we are able to offer you a box with more variety (without having to grow everything ourselves). And we help our farming friends by moving a significant amount of apples, squash, salad mix, zucchini, or beans during times when their production is abundant. Indeed, there were a few weeks when we wondered just how we could fill the boxes with what we had on our farm alone. Fortunately, Gabe had strong production of his crops during the weeks we really needed him.
     We appreciate your choice to get our Harvest Box this year. We do hope you enjoyed the experience. Thank you, and have a great winter!

Recipe ideas for this week
    Every year, I hear reports from a few of you that some items have piled up in your fridge by the end of the season. Isn’t it nice that there are some things (like squash, roots, and potatoes) that aren’t too perishable and don’t have to be eaten in a rush? But now it nears the end of the Box season, and you might be looking at a bin full of unidentified potatoes. Here are some ideas…..
    Potatoes—We do grow a wide variety of potatoes, and if you’ve lost track of which potatoes are good for steaming, mashing, boiling, or hashing, you might consider a medley of roasted potatoes. Our potatoes will roast nicely in a pan of mixed varieties, even given the difference in textures. My trick to roasting the best potatoes is to cut them into similar-sized chunks (a large bite-size), coat with olive oil,  and bake for about 45 minutes at 350o, stirring once at 30 minutes and again at 45 minutes, until the outside is crispy and browned and the inside pierces easily with a knife. My favorite pan for the roasting is a cast iron skillet. The key to the best roasted potatoes is to make sure they get thoroughly roasted—until the outside is browned and the inside is soft (a good coat of olive oil helps ensure nice browning).
    The roasted vegetable theme is also a good way to use any assorted other roots, leeks, or onions that might still be in your refrigerator. Roasting really brings out the sweetness of vegetables.
    Gypsy Soup is another way to use a variety of whatever red, orange, and green vegetables are in your kitchen. The basic recipe (I got mine from the original Moosewood Cookbook) starts with 2-3 cups of cooked garbanzo beans, to which you add an assortment of orange or red vegetables and enough water to make a nice soup. I used sweet onion sautéed with Italian peppers, delicata squash smiles (kubocha would work fine as well), a diced sweet potato, two or three chopped tomatoes (did anyone freeze any tomatoes during those weeks of plenty?). After the vegetables were cooked, I added a bunch of thinly sliced collards. At the last minute, I seasoned the soup with ½ teaspoon of cinnamon, ¼ teaspoon of cayenne pepper, a dash of tamari, and 1 Tablespoon of Miso dissolved in ½ cup of warm water with 2 teaspoons of arrowroot powder (to thicken the soup slightly), and a dash of rice vinegar. While Tom and I enjoyed our soup with all the assorted vegetable chunks, Carson preferred only the soup stock, sipped through a straw. (At least he’s getting some of the goodness of the vegetables, I think to myself).
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Denison Farms Harvest Box: Week 23
Salad mix*Collards*Carrots*sweet peppers*acorn squash (from Persephone  Farm) *chioga beets*Bintje potatoes*and a surprise from Rojo’s Farm (strawberries or sweet potatoes, depending on the weather and strawberry supply)
One more week of Harvest Box

Children
    The other day as I was driving our 4-year old, Carson, to daycare, we passed a farmer planting a large field with grass seed. Tractors and associated farm machinery have long been a fascination of our son, so we started talking about what we saw. In addition to the planting tractor (“a John Deere”, Carson informs me), there was a sprayer and a tanker truck.
    He wonders what they are doing. Since I have some knowledge of conventional farming (in a previous job, I worked with the Extension Service to educate farmers about reducing the environmental impact of pesticides), I described how some farmers spray pesticides when they plant seeds to kill the weeds. He asks “why don’t we spray pesticides?”
    (I’m thinking quickly at this point, trying to decide how to condense a very complicated situation into something that makes sense to a 4-year old). I start by telling him that some farmers spray chemicals on their crops to kill weeds and to kill the bad bugs that eat the crops. I talk about how pesticides kill the “good bugs” along with the “bad bugs” (a concept we’ve talked with him about before when we see bugs in the fields). We would rather encourage lots of healthy good bugs that will eat the bad bugs. “In fact,” I said, “we buy good bugs to put out in our fields to eat the bad bugs.”  And I talked about how some people would rather not have pesticides on the food that they eat because the chemicals that kill weeds and bad bugs may not be healthy for people to eat.
    Next comes the question “What about bug poop and bug pee on the food? I wouldn’t want to eat that.” I love how young minds think! I guess the bottom line is, everyone should wash their vegetables before eating them. And then we ran out of time to continue the conversation, for now.
     And speaking of children, we are expecting the arrival of our second child around the first of February. I spent much of this past summer in a constant state of morning sickness and exhaustion. Now I’m in the stage of the rapidly expanding belly, but I’m feeling much better overall. Tom, Carson, and I are all quite excited as we plan for another baby on the farm.

More about good bugs
     This season, we have had some success with a new biological control of the larvae that eat root crops. Cabbage fly larvae will infest the roots of most crops in the broccoli family, but the ones we are most concerned with are the crops where we eat the roots, like turnips and radishes. These pests are difficult to control by organic methods. We have had some success when we keep the crops continuously covered with a floating fabric row cover to prevent the moth from laying her eggs on the soil. But it takes a lot of time to cover the crop at planting, uncover to hoe weeds, then cover it up immediately again.
    Recently, there has been some research into using predatory nematodes to control root maggots. Since nematodes are living organisms, they are sensitive to temperature, soil moisture, soil type, and the timing of the insect life cycle. Just applying nematodes to the soil doesn’t assure that they will work to control the pest. We are happy to report that we have seen much less larvae damage in our turnip and radish crops than in previous years, a testiment to the success of the nematodes. Our watermelon daikon, however, were less fortunate. We ran out of time and didn’t get the nematodes applied to the daikon field. We are sorry to report that there will be no more watermelon daikon this season.
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Denison Farms Harvest Box: Week 22
Mizuna *carrots *sweet Italian peppers *French Breakfast Radishes (from Rojo’s Farm) *celery *turnips *broccoli *potatoes *Canary melon

Two more weeks of Harvest Box

Sweet Italian Peppers
    In this season of cooler weather, the ripening process in the pepper field is slow.  Any peppers in your box that still have a little green on them should ripen to full color and sweetness if left on the counter in your kitchen for a few days. Of course, you can use them if they still have patches of green, but the green parts won’t be as sweet.
    Peppers don’t like to be chilled. A refrigerator is too cold, so just leave them on your counter. If you can’t use your peppers up quickly enough, you can cut them into chunks, remove the seeds, and stick the pieces in a zip-lock freezer bag for winter use.
    Roasting peppers: these sweet Italian peppers make wonderful roasted peppers, for antipasto, roasted pepper sauce, or in chile rellenos. To roast peppers: rinse peppers, place on a baking sheet with edges to catch the juices. If you have a gas oven with broiler at the bottom, line the oven bottom with aluminum foil and place peppers directly above the broiler. Broil until skin bubbles up and starts to char, turning to char all sides. If the peppers are really odd-shaped, don’t worry about evenly charring all surfaces, as long as the pepper is well-cooked, you can peel it. Turn off the oven and close the door for 5 minutes to finish cooking until the peppers are soft. Some recipes recommend placing peppers in a paper bag to cool, which keeps the humidity up and helps the skin to loosen. In my kitchen, I decided this step was too messy, and leaving peppers in the oven for that last 5 minutes works almost as well. When cool, peel and take out the seeds.
Roasted Red Pepper Butter from Kokanee Café
1/2 pound butter at room temperature
1 Tbs. minced shallots (or onions if you have no shallots)
2 red sweet Italian peppers, roasted, seeded, peeled, and minced
1 tsp. minced garlic
black pepper
Heat about 2 Tbs. butter in a small skillet over medium heat and sauté the shallots and garlic until the shallots are softened. Remove from heat and stir in the roasted peppers and freshly ground black pepper to taste. Let mixture cool, then blend it into the remaining softened butter using a wooden spoon. Try it on corn on the cob or other vegetables, as a topping for grilled fish, or on toast. (Recipe from Jan Roberts-Domingez’s column in the Corvallis Gazette Times, 1999)

Mizuna
    This week’s fall green is Mizuna, a mild Japanese variety in the mustard family that can be eaten either raw in salads, or cooked (any way you might cook spinach). It is a good source of calcium, iron, magnesium, potassium, phosphorus, beta carotene, and vitamins C and E. It is nice in soups, stir-fries, or omelets. Our friend Steve, who helps us at the Corvallis markets gave us a recipe for steamed greens that is really popular with our family (even kids have been known to like greens cooked this way). If you still have the kale from last week’s box, it’s great with kale, too.
Steve’s Steamed Greens:  Wash a bunch of greens and cut in ½ inch strips. Place in pot with a tight-fitting lid. Add ¼ cup water and ¼ cup vinaigrette salad dressing. Turn heat on high until steam starts to escape out from under the lid. Then turn off heat (if electric stove), or turn to very low on a gas burner. Leave on hot burner for 5-7 minutes (5 minutes for mizuna, 7 minutes for kale/collards/beet greens). Serve.
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Denison Farms Harvest Box: Week 21
Salad mix*carrots*tomatoes*mixed sweet colored peppers*kale*garlic*
onions (red or sweet)*bintje potatoes*delicata squash (from Persephone Farm)*
Liberty apples (from LaMancha Ranch and Orchard)

October
    There are so many new items to write about this week, I hardly know where to start. Perhaps I’ll begin with Bintje potatoes, since we just had some refried boiled Bintje’s for lunch. This is the first year we’ve grown Bintje, spurred on by the recommendation of our friend Jeff at Kingfisher Farm (you tasted his sugar snap peas a few weeks ago). Jeff says Bintje is a popular potato with the Chefs at his Portland restaurant accounts. Bintje is a yellow finn-type potato with a lovely flavor. Our seed catalog calls it an “all-purpose” potato. So far this week, we have tried them boiled, mashed, and in soup, and all methods have been delicious. When we boiled cut-up potatoes, then mixed gently with butter, they sort of half-mashed themselves. This was the batch Tom refried in olive oil and a little garlic for lunch (yum).

Tender Fall Kale
     Our late summer planting of kale is ready this week. We grow kale for the spring and fall seasons, because it tastes sweetest when the weather is a little cool. (At least the nights have been cool lately). Kale is a nice addition to a vegetable soup, or stir-fried by itself (or with a little garlic or sweet onion).

Delicata Squash
     We love winter squash, but don’t have the room to grow any on our farm. Fortunately, our friends at Persephone Farm grow lots of squash, and every fall we get a box of their squash to keep us through the winter. Delicata is one of my favorite varieties, as it is so easy to prepare. It is Carson’s favorite because it is so sweet. The skin of the Delicata is tender, so don’t worry about peeling it. To prepare delicata: slice in half lengthwise and scoop out the seeds (First I cut off a sliver at the ends, or my knife won’t cut through the stem and the hard part at the tip). Then cut each half into “smiles”. As with most of the rest of this week’s box, delicata is wonderful in a vegetable soup. A quicker preparation is to steam the delicata smiles until tender. They hardly need any adornment, just eat when cool. Delicata also makes a lovely stuffed squash, though I rarely have the time to make it that way.

Liberty Apples
     A few weeks ago, we introduced you to David and Anita from LaMancha Ranch and Orchard. On their farm in Sweet Home, they grow a variety of apples and other fruits. (Anita is the Extension Stone Fruit Specialist at Oregon State University). Liberty is a crisp, sweet-tart apple that grows well in Western Oregon without too many disease problems. David and Anita grow a lot of  Liberty’s, and use it for cider-making as well as fresh eating.

Calling all boxes
    We are having a box shortage on the farm. If you have an accumulation of empty harvest boxes (or even an extra one or two) at your house, please round them up and return them in the next week or two when you pick up your weekly box. Thanks.
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Denison Farms Harvest Box: Week 20
Red or green leaf lettuce*Tomatoes*Carrots*Watermelon Daikon*
Arugula (from Rojo’s Farm)*Zucchini (from Rojo’s Farm)*Desiree potatoes*
Curly leaf parsley (From Springhill Farm)*Canadice Grapes (from Reynold’s Farm)

Carrots are back!
     The early fall greens and roots that we planted back in July are maturing, and we are excited to have carrots back in your box. Actually, we’re pretty excited to have carrots back in our own kitchen as well, having missed them for these past weeks.
     Another fall crop, new to your box this week, is Watermelon Daikon. Many of you have probably seen (or even eaten) the traditional long, white Daikon radish. This is a close relative that looks somewhat like a watermelon when sliced, but tastes like a daikon (except sweeter). I just walked through our kitchen, where last night’s pan of roasted roots (turnip, beet, and daikon) is sitting on the stove and grabbed a couple chunks of roasted watermelon daikon. It is so sweet as a roasted root! I also like them raw, though I prefer to peel the outer skin off, as that is where much of the hotness resides. We have also sautéed sliced daikon with other stir-fry vegetables (including the daikon greens), and the heat of the sauté brings out the sweetness and mellows the hotness of the daikon.
     If you’re roasting or sautéing the daikon, I recommend not peeling them. If you’ll eat them raw in a salad or by themselves, I suggest peeling.

Arugula
     We thought our fall planting of arugula was ready for this week’s box, but discovered the plants were too small to pick this week. Fortunately, Gabe (Rojo Organic Farm) had enough of his own arugula for us. I particularly enjoy arugula salad, using half lettuce and half arugula for a green salad. Crumbled goat cheese goes particularly well on an arugula salad. It’s also really nice on a sandwich instead of lettuce.

Tomato and Basil Pasta
(Recipe from member Erin Farrar. I haven’t had time to try this one myself, but I’m thinking of trying it tonight and substituting arugula for the basil. Adapted from Real Simple Magazine, August 2001, p.30)
Combine:
6 chopped tomatoes (maybe 3 of our huge ones)
½ cup basil (or try arugula)
¼ cup olive oil
1 chopped jalapeno pepper (canned is OK)
4 oz. crumbled fresh goat cheese
½ cup grated parmesan or romano cheese
salt and pepper to taste
1 lb. cooked, drained pasta.
You can toss lightly in a pan over medium heat right before eating to make it hot, or just eat it cold. Great for picnics.

End of season evaluation
    In past years, we have done an end-of-season survey to get your feedback about your Harvest Box experience. This year, we’ll try an informal evaluation.
    We appreciate any feedback (positive or negative) that you want to pass along, about your weekly box, the newsletters, member gatherings at the farm, or your experience in general. I have appreciated the recipes that members have sent during the season. Many of them have appeared (or will appear) in newsletters as I have the space.
    Email is a great way to reach us.
    We’re grateful that you have chosen us to be your farmers for this season, and we truly hope you have been enjoying your box.
    Your weekly Harvest Box will continue until the end of October, until week 24.

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Denison Farms Harvest Box: Week 19
Salad mix (SweetLeaf Farm)*Tomatoes*Sweet Italian Peppers*Green Beans (Rojo’s Farm)*Beets*Leeks*German Butterball potatoes*Canadice Grapes (Reynolds Farm)*and maybe a melon or watermelon (our last planting of melons is ripening, and if there are enough, we’ll put one last melon in this week’s box)

Sweet Italian Peppers
    Although these sweet Italian peppers are a fine addition to your salads or eaten raw as you would a ripe bell pepper, they really shine as a frying pepper. When Tom was studying agriculture in upstate New York, any time he went to a market or auction a group of older gentlemen of Italian descent would be frying these peppers with garlic in olive oil and putting them on sandwiches made with crusty Italian bread.  A little feta cheese is nice with it too.
     To prepare peppers for frying: cut off the stem and top, slice the pepper in half lengthwise to pull out the seeds. Then slice in thin strips 1/8 to ¼ inch wide. Sauté in olive oil over medium-high heat (with a couple cloves of sliced garlic or sweet onion) until they start to brown. Serve as a side dish, or ladle onto crusty Italian bread.
     Last night I added sautéed sweet peppers to Hannah’s Kitchen Pesto Salad (see newsletter week 10) for a potluck dish. There were no leftovers.
     These peppers also make wonderful roasted peppers, but you might want to wait a few weeks until we have an ample supply, then put up a few jars of roasted peppers for the winter.

Canadice Grapes
    Another thing Tom remembers from his days in New York is going on field trips to the vineyards in the fall as the grapes were ripening.  He was delighted to discover how many different kinds of grapes there are, and what a diversity of colors, flavors, and aromas they have.
    Our neighbors, Ken and Heidi Reynolds have ten varieties of organic grapes growing on their farm. These Canadice are a seedless red table grape. Tom taste-tested several varieties that they have ripe now, and he liked the Canadice best.

Tomatoes
    At this moment, I have a batch of tomato sauce simmering on my stovetop. Our tomato supply continues to look strong for the next few weeks at least. Here is a very simple soup recipe that I found in my recipe archives from many years ago.
Quick Tomato-Basil Soup
2 Tbs. olive oil
2 cloves of garlic
4 large tomatoes, peeled, seeded and chopped
3 fresh basil sprigs
2 thick slices of bread, toasted
salt and pepper to taste
--Heat olive oil, add garlic and cook about 5 minutes. Remove garlic and save for later. Add tomatoes and basil to saucepan. Simmer until chunky, mashing with a spoon (about 15 minutes). Season generously with salt and pepper.
--Brush toast with olive oil, rub with saved garlic and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Ladle soup into 2 large bowls. Discard the basil. Drizzle with (even more) olive oil. Top with toast and more basil for garnish.

Leeks
     Please don’t be intimidated by the 3 leeks in your box this week. One of my all-time favorite recipes calls for 3 large leeks, and I want to give you the opportunity to try a leek pie in your own kitchen. Two versions of the recipe are included on the back of this newsletter. (Leeks keep well in the fridge if you don’t feel up to making a pie this week.)

    For those of you who want another idea for leeks (besides using them for potato leek soup or instead of onions in stir-fry dishes), here is one of my favorite (and I mean favorite) fool-proof ways to use leeks. Very rich and elegant, I use this recipe when company’s coming for dinner. The original recipe came from one of our Corvallis market customers. Thanks Wendolyn. I have also included my own dairy-free variation.

Leek Pie
3 large leeks, cleaned and sliced into thin rings (use the white part and inner green leaves)
2 Tbs. butter
½ lb. Crumbled Roquefort or grated gruyere cheese
1 egg, beaten
¼ cup plain yogurt or heavy cream
pie dough for a double crust pie
--Sauté leek rings in butter on medium heat for 30 minutes. (Yes, 30 minutes. Cover if it seems to be getting too dry). Add cheese, egg, and yogurt or cream. Pour into pie crust. Cover with top crust. Bake at 350o for 35-40 minutes.
 

Elizabeth’s Indonesian Leek Pie
     I created this one when we were looking for some satisfying dairy-free ideas for our family. We served it when some friends from Indonesia were over and they said it reminded them very much of a recipe from their homeland.

3 large leeks, cleaned and sliced into thin rings
2 Tbs. butter
½ tsp salt
1 large or 2 small eggs, beaten
½ can coconut milk
grated rind and juice of 1 large lemon or 2 limes
pie crust (I use a single crust, it’s easier)
--Sauté leek rings in butter with salt on medium heat for 30 minutes. Add coconut milk, eggs, lemon or lime juice, and grated lemon/lime rind. Pour into pie crust. Cover with top crust. Bake at 350o for 35-40 minutes.
 

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Denison Farms Harvest Box: Week 18
In this box:
Romaine lettuce
Big Beef tomatoes
Turnips
Basil
Eggplant or Spinach
Potatoes
Willamette Sweet onions
Garlic

Remembering
I write this newsletter on the National day of mourning for the victims of this week’s tragedy. This may be a short newsletter, as we are still stunned by the events of this past week, and feeling rather somber.

Turnips
     Our baby turnips are back. These turnips are mildest and sweetest in the spring and fall when the weather’s not too warm. Our two favorite ways to prepare them are 1) steamed until tender in salted water, or 2) sliced into a green salad as you would radishes.  Any slight hotness will be much milder once the turnips are cooked.
    And don’t forget about the nutritious greens. I will repeat a recipe from earlier this season for those of you who have lost track of your Week 2 Newsletter.
Hot and Sour Greens       (from Andrew Weil, 8 Weeks to Optimum Health)
    1 bunch greens (turnip, chard, kale)
    2 tsp. canola oil
    2 cloves garlic, minced
    dash of hot pepper flakes
    ¼ tsp. dry mustard
    2 Tbs. rice or wine vinegar
    1 tsp. soy sauce
    1 tsp. brown sugar
Rinse and slice greens in ½ inch shreds (stems are OK).
Heat oil, stir-fry garlic and pepper flakes 1 minute.
Add greens and mustard powder.
Stir to coat greens with garlic and oil.
Combine rice vinegar, soy sauce, and sugar.
Add to skillet. Cook, covered, over medium heat about 5 minutes.
    This recipe adapts very well even if you are missing some ingredients, or omit some ingredients
to suit your personal taste preferences.

Willamette Sweet Onions
     There are a lot of onions in this week’s box. That is because this variety of onion (also known as Walla Walla Sweets) is not a good “keeper”. We are nearing the end of the season when this year’s onion bulbs will sprout new greens and the onion bulbs will soften. So, what to do with so many onions all at once? Well, you can:
1. put them in the refrigerator, in a ventilated bag and use them during the next few weeks,
2. try a recipe for onion rings—they are amazingly sweet this way, and it uses a lot of onions,
3. dry them in a food dehydrator for winter soups and stews,
4.  make a layered casserole like cheesy scalloped onions and potatoes, or
5.  slice eggplant into 1/2" thick slices and put them in a baking dish. Then slice sweet onions into similar pieces and lay them on top of the eggplant. If you have any zucchini (will be some in next week’s box), slice and layer it also. Then slice tomatoes and put them on top of the onions/zucchini. Cover the tomatoes with fresh basil leaves. Cover everything with grated cheese. Chop several large cloves of garlic, and sauté them in an ample amount of olive oil until the garlic is cooked and the oil is well flavored with garlic.  Then drizzle the oil over your eggplant dish. Cover, and bake at 350 degrees until the eggplant is very soft and the cheese is all bubbly.  Serve and enjoy.
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Denison Farms Harvest Box: Week 17
In this box:
Salad mix (SweetLeaf)
Big Beef Tomatoes
Lemon cukes (Rojo’s Farm)
Green beans (Rojo’s Farm)
Cauliflower
Eggplant or Spinach (expect the other next wk)
Willamette Sweet onions
Garlic
Jonafre apples (LaMancha Ranch and Orchard)

********Fall Member Party********
Celebrate the turning of the seasons

Sunday,
September 16
From 2-5 p.m.

Farm tour and Tempting Seasonal Treats
 (Pepper sampling if the peppers are ripe by then, or melon sampling if we still have melons)

Please R.S.V.P. by the 15th,  and let me know if you need directions.
********************************
September
     Has anyone else noticed the subtle change in the seasons? I’ve felt a real chill in the morning air this week. We’ve pulled our quilt out of the closet and put it back on the bed. I saw a small flock of geese flying South this week, prelude to the huge flocks of ducks, geese and swans that overwinter in the Jackson-Frazier Wetland below our farm. Many of our members mark the change of seasons with the start of School and the end of summer vacations; our children one grade older than last year. As Tom and I (and the rest of our market crew) get up on Market days, it is definitely dark. Fall is near.
     On the farm, the heat-loving summer fruits notice the cooler nights as well. Our melons have really slowed down already. However, our early fall vegetables will be appearing in your box over the next few weeks. Eggplants, sweet peppers, baby turnips and turnip greens, fall radishes, and our mid-summer planting of carrots will be maturing during September.

Jonafre Apples
    Jonafre is a relative newcomer in the apple marketplace. Our friends, Anita and David from LaMancha Ranch and Orchard in Sweet Home grow several varieties of apples, and this is one of their mid-season varieties. Jonafre was developed by plant breeders who were looking for a disease-resistant apple. We think it’s exciting that years of research into producing disease-resistant apple varieties is finally paying off with good-tasting apples that don’t need to be sprayed as much. It’s ancestry includes: Jonathan, Gallia Beauty, Red Spy, Golden Delicious, Crandall's Rome and Malus floribunda.
    If you notice any white residue on the surface of your apples, it’s Kaolin clay, which organic growers have discovered repels the codling moth (non-organic growers spray organophosphate pesticides for this pest). Kaolin is non-toxic substance that is a primary ingredient in Kaopectate and Pepto-Bismol. It will wash off with water.
     Incidentally, LaMancha Ranch and Orchard also produces some excellent organic beef. They have been supplying our freezer with beef for the past two winters. They usually sell by the quarter-beef, so you’ll need space in a freezer. You may contact them directly if you want to see when their next batch will be available. Call David or Anita at 541-367-6262.
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Denison Farms Harvest Box: Week 16
In this box:
Romaine lettuce
Butter lettuce
Big Beef Tomatoes
Fennel
Leeks
Shallots
Korean licorice mint
Corn (Saturday) or Cauliflower (midweek)
Maris piper potatoes
Melon or watermelon

Melons
    The Willamette Valley is a challenging place to grow melons.  In the 20 years that Tom’s been growing melons, he’s trialed about 100 different varieties. We’ve settled on about a dozen different melons that all taste fabulous when growing conditions are perfect, and have the potential to produce wonderful melons. However, given the coolness of our springs, the variable temperatures of our summers, and the potential for rain (which spreads disease) at critical times, we’ve never found a variety that makes great quality melons in every season. We planted 4 successive batches of melon seeds in our greenhouse in late spring. The first of these produced a few melons during the last week of July, but a day of rain during their flowering time caused most of the vines to wilt before they had produced any great abundance of melons. We are now harvesting from our third planting, and the vines look healthy. Even with that, we sample every 12th melon for quality control (and besides, our crew likes to eat melons). This year, we’ve had excellent production in our honeydews and orangedews, but other varieties have produced less abundantly. Although it is our intention to give you a wide variety of great melons over the course of the season, this year it seems like the honeydews and orangedews have been the most dependable. Only time will tell how September’s weather treats our last planting of melons.

Korean licorice mint (Agastache rugosa)
         We discovered this lovely flavor several years ago in a batch of salad greens that a friend mixed for us. Though it is a common ingredient in gourmet blends of salad greens, it is also a lovely herb on it’s own. You can make a nice pot of tea from the small bunch in this week’s box, or try the following vinaigrette dressing for either lettuce salad or pour it over pasta (or pasta salad). I was reading a recent copy of Martha Stewart’s LIVING last week while waiting for a doctor’s appointment, and this issue had a simple recipe for vinaigrette, which I will share here (modified to include licorice mint):
     Blend in a food processor or blender:
 4 Tbs. vinegar, or mixture of vinegar and lemon juice
 1 small shallot, finely minced
 1 tsp. coarse salt
 ½ cup chopped licorice mint leaves and tender stems
 ¼ tsp. pepper
     Then add while processor is on:
 ½ cup olive oil
      Blend well and pour over cool greens or warm pasta.
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Denison Farms Harvest Box: Week 15
In this box:
Salad mix
Big Beef Tomatoes
Broccoli
Sugar Snap Peas (from Kingfisher Farm)
Rosemary (from Springhill Farm)
Russian Banana Fingerling Potatoes
Corn
Willamette Sweet Onions
Melon or watermelon

*****Fall Member Party*****
    Sunday,September 16
    From 2-5 p.m.
Farm tour and Tomato Tasting
    And maybe Pepper sampling if the peppers are ripe by then
    (Please R.S.V.P by the 15th)
           ********

Kingfisher Farm and Springhill Farm
    This week’s box introduces produce from two more organic grower friends of ours. Jeff Trenary of Kingfisher Farms has been in the produce business a long time. Tom met him over 20 years ago when Jeff was owned a produce booth south of Newport. More recently, Jeff bought a farm on the north coast, on the Nehalem River (north of Tillamook). Since his farm is on the coast, his weather is more moderate than ours during the summer (it can be downright cold and stormy some days). Because of this, he is able to grow peas in August, and we’re offering his sugar snap peas in this week’s box. Though I have fond memories of shelling peas with my mother when I was growing up in Central Ohio, I have recently become a fan of sugar snap’s because they are so much quicker to prepare—you eat everything except the stem end and the little string that comes with it when you snap it off.
    Closer to home, Jamie and Lisa of Springhill Farm live in North Albany (just off Springhill Road). Springhill Farm may be familiar to many of our members, as they sell their produce in Corvallis, Beaverton, and Portland. (We are also grateful to Jamie for transporting our Wednesday Harvest Boxes to the Portland Wednesday Market for us.) Over 10 years ago, Jamie worked on our farm for a year before starting his own farm. We have stayed in close contact since then, and still share equipment and information back and forth. We appreciate the friendships that are formed through working together and sharing a lifestyle.
    Springhill Farms has been planting a variety of herbs over the past several years. We offer their rosemary this week, along with several items from our farm and some ideas for roasted vegetables with rosemary. If it’s not too hot to have your oven on, Fingerling potatoes and Willamette Sweet onions with rosemary would make a nice combination. Or try:
 Roasted Tomatoes
     (recipe adapted from the First Alternative Thymes, August 2001)
    Make a bed of rosemary sprigs (or basil leaves) in the bottom of an ovenproof dish. Peel and core tomatoes. Place core side down on the herbs. (They should fit tightly in the pan). Lightly salt and pepper. Pour in enough extra virgin olive oil to come halfway up the sides of the tomatoes. [this is where I diverge from the recipe—I think much less olive oil is sufficient, maybe ½ inch in the bottom of the pan if your tomatoes fit tightly together]. Bake for 1½ hours at 350 degrees, until tomatoes are soft and the tops have carmelized. Season to taste and spoon over pasta. Leftovers are great in salads, in cold pasta dishes, spread on toast, or as a poaching sauce for fish.

Chilled Tomato Juice /Soup (also adapted from the First Alternative Thymes, August 2001)
     Cut 4 lbs tomatoes in chunks. Add 2 Tbs. salt, mix well, and chill at least 30 minutes. Dice 1 shallot finely and cover with vinegar. Mash tomatoes and press through a food mill or juicer (my Champion juicer makes a nice thick juice). Add the marinated shallot. Enjoy a cool glass of tomato juice or add some diced cucumber for tomato soup. Season to taste with salt and vinegar.
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Denison Farms Harvest Box: Week 14
In this box:
Lettuce
Tomatoes
Basil
Lemon cucumbers (Rojo's Farm, Midweek boxes)
Parsley (Rojo’s Farm)
Garlic
German Butterball Potatoes
Sweet Onions
Broccoli
Zucchini (Rojo’s Farm)
Blackberries (Saturday only)
Melon (Midweek boxes)
Peaches or Nectarines

A time for appreciating those who help us
    In previous, newsletters, we’ve tried to introduce you to the other farmers whose products occasionally appear in your box. This week we’d like to recognize some of the other people without whose help, your weekly box would not be possible.
     First and foremost is our hardworking field crew. These are the people who plant, nurture, weed, water, and pick, grade, and pack your produce each week. Their attention to these details allows Tom to focus on planning, marketing, troubleshooting, and bigger projects.
    Pablo is the head of our field crew. He started working here in 1993, and has assumed increasingly more responsibility each year since then. Celia (Pablo’s wife) started here the next year, as did Marcelo (Pablo’s brother in law). Pablo and Celia and their three children live in a home on the farm, which gives us the additional benefit of playmates for our 4-year old son, Carson. More recently, two of Marcelo’s brother’s have come to work here, Cesar and Braulio; and a childhood friend of Pablo (Genaro). Jose and Maximino have joined us this year to round out our field crew. Our crew’s combined years of experience help make each successive season go a little more smoothly.
     About once a week, we’re visited by our friendly travelling mechanic, Bill Murray (theorganicmechinic.com). Bill was once head of Maintenance for the Port of Newport, and also had a career as a helicopter mechanic. Several years ago, Bill decided he really wanted to work with small organic farmers, so he and his wife Nancy settled in Veneta, and Bill has become an indispensable feature at quite a few organic farms within a 50 mile radius of his home. He spends about a day a week on our farm keeping all our machinery in good running order. On this farm, he’s done everything from keeping our fleet of antique tractors running, to designing and building special equipment for planting and harvesting our crops.
     Two faces that may be familiar to our Corvallis and Salem members are Debbie and Camille, who deliver your Harvest Boxes to Corvallis and Salem, and also staff our Corvallis Farmers’ Markets. This is Camille’s second season with us; and Debbie’s first. Both women are well-organized, knowledgeable about produce, and really fun to work with. We feel lucky that they found us.
    When Tom and I count our blessings, we are grateful for the help of so many talented people. Truly without the people mentioned on this page, we couldn’t do what we do. (And we don’t want to forget our top-notch staff who help us at our Farmers’ Markets, but that is the subject of another newsletter.)

Willamette Sweet Onions (a.k.a Walla Walla’s)
     If you’ve ever thought of making onion rings, these would be the onions to use. Frankly, I don’t deep-fry much of anything, but last year I found a recipe for onion rings and fried up a batch. They were incredible! I haven’t found the perfect recipe, so I’ll let you hunt up your own recipe for the batter. I was watching last week’s “Cooking with Caprial” and she made onion rings. She reminded me of a few tricks to making the best onion rings:
(1) Cut your onions immediately before dipping them in the batter. This keeps the onion rings moist so the batter will stick.
(2) Make sure your oil really hot before adding the onions, and fry only a few onion rings at a time (so the oil doesn’t cool too much).
(3) After removing each batch of cooked onion rings, let the oil heat up again. (Really hot oil keeps the rings from tasting greasy).
(4) Enjoy!
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Denison Farms Harvest Box: Week 13
In this box:
Green Lettuce
Salad mix
Tomatoes
Red onion
Leeks
Lemon cukes (Sat. only—we missed them last week)
Green beans
Dill
Beets
Strawberries
Canary melon or Gypsy watermelon (Midweek boxes only)
(Cukes, beans, dill, beets, and berries from Rojo’s Farm)

Mid-season for the Harvest Box
     For those of you who have been counting, this is week 13 out of 24 weeks. We’ve passed the midway point for this season’s Harvest Box.  Boxes will continue each week until the end of October.
    On the farm, we’re feeling the sultry heat of the summer. I find myself wanting to rest in the shade in the afternoons and just watch the clouds changing shape (if only my 4-year old would want to rest with me…..). I wait until the cooler morning hours to tend my flower gardens. I am thankful that my job on the farm is mostly in the office, not out in the sun on these hot days.
    Earlier this week I was trying to dig up some black-eyed Susan’s from a fallow field to transplant into my flower garden by the house, and I realized how much we affect the natural environment by growing crops. In it’s natural state, our soil is hard as concrete this time of year (and sticky mud in the winter). With careful cultivation, the addition of appropriate organic amendments, and plenty of water (for which we are grateful!), we are able to transform our 20 acres into a productive and mostly green patch amidst our neighbor’s dry grass seed fields.

Marinated Vegetables
I’ve had fun in the kitchen this week testing a couple of marinated vegetable recipes. I like marinated vegetables for summer meals because you can steam the veggies in the cool of the morning, then chill for a light dinner. And who feels like cooking or eating when it’s 90 degrees out? One of the simplest ways to marinate vegetables is to lightly steam them, add your favorite vinaigrette dressing, and chill. Here are a couple of other recipes I’ve tried and can recommend.
Green Beans with Red Onion and Mustard Seed Vinaigrette
1. Heat 1 Tbs. olive oil in a heavy skillet over moderate heat until hot but not smoking. Cook 2 Tbs. mustard seeds, stirring, until they pop and are 1 shade darker, about 2 minutes. Transfer to a large bowl.
2. Heat 2 Tbs. olive oil in a cleaned skillet over moderately high heat until hot but not smoking, then cook 1 red onion (thinly sliced), stirring, until golden brown (8-10 minutes). Remove from heat and stir in 1/3 cup red-wine vinegar, then add to mustard oil in large bowl.
3. Have ready a large bowl of ice and cold water. Cook 1 lb. green beans in a pot of boiling salted water until crisp-tender, about 5 minutes. Drain and plunge into ice water, then drain well.
4. Toss beans with vinaigrette and salt and pepper to taste. Serve at room temperature or chilled. Serves 8.
(slightly modified from Gourmet, August 2001)
Marinated Beets with Dill
1. Boil or steam 1 bunch medium-sized beets until tender (20-25 minutes). Drain, then rub off skins under cold running water (the skins come off really easily this way).
2. Slice beets in half lengthwise, then into very thin half-moons. Place in a medium-sized bowl.
3. Add 2 Tbs. walnut or olive oil, 1 Tbs.+ 1 tsp. vinegar (raspberry vinegar is especially good if you have it),  ½ tsp. salt, ¼ cup minced dill. Cover and refrigerate 12 – 24 hours. Stir occasionally.
4. Serve cold, topped with crumbled feta cheese, yogurt, or a few toasted walnuts.
(adapted from Still Life with Menu, by Mollie Katzen, 1998)

Another beet idea: (especially for larger beets) Grate raw beets for a crunchy garnish on a green salad.
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Denison Farms Harvest Box: Week 12
In this box:
Lettuce
Tomatoes
Carrots
Cilantro
Broccoli (from Rojo)
Cucumbers (probably lemon cukes from Rojo’s Farm)
Willamette Sweet onion
Maris piper potatoes
Shallots
Watermelon

Maris piper potatoes
     Last year was the first year we grew this variety of potato. I thought it had an interesting (if rather obscure) name, until one of our members shared some recipes from a favorite cookbook; Real Food, by British author/potato lover Nigel Slater. Therein I found that Maris piper is a much-loved variety in England, particularly for baked or mashed potatoes. Here are Slater’s thoughts on the “Best-Ever mash”
    “…..Much depends on the potato, which must be of the floury variety, such as Maris Piper…….What we are after here is giant piles of blissful mash. The sort you want to bury your face in.”
    900g (2#) potatoes
    100g (2Tbs—though personally I like a bit more) butter
    100 ml (1/2 cup) hot milk—not essential but gives a fluffier mash
    “Rinse the potatoes, put them in a large pan of cold water and bring up to the boil. Salt generously and partially cover with a lid. Simmer until the potatoes are tender to the point of a knife, then drain them. Pull off the skins—they should peel away easily. You can wear rubber gloves if you like, or struggle with an oven glove. I hold them in my hands as best I can and tell myself a little pain is good for me.
    “Throw the hot, peeled potatoes back into the pan and return them to the heat. Hold them briefly over the heat to dry off completely and become even fluffier. Mash them with the butter using a metal potato masher. There should be no lumps. Pour in the milk, which should be hot rather than boiling, and beat the mixture with a wooden spoon or Kenwood beater till it is fluffy and light. You might want to add more salt. One must work quickly if the mash is to be hot. And it must be hot, and buttery, gloriously buttery.”
And Slater’s thoughts on the perfect baked potato:
    “Surely the perfect baked potato is crisp, salty and rough outside, all ‘fluff and butter’ within. My friend Rosie Stark told me to hit my baked spud with a neat karate blow (with your hand wrapped in a tea towel if you would rather not burn yourself) instead of a knife as it comes from the oven…. Hit it hard enough to split the skin but not so hard that you re-decorate the kitchen…. This guarantees a baked potato that is as light as snow inside. The accepted rule is to use a large, floury-textured variety such as Maris Piper. For the classic cold-weather baked tatties, the sort that drips butter down your shirt, they are unbeatable…..A baked potato is a humble feast until we get out the butter, the cheese, the olive oil, the gravy and the cream. But surely that is what a baked potato is for.”

Broccoli
     After several earlier attempts, we are happy to have broccoli for you this week. Our early spring planting of broccoli was looking fine until we covered it with row cover to keep it warm. Unfortunately our local field mice thought the same row cover would provide them with an excellent hiding place from the kestrels and hawks that fly over our farm looking for young mice to eat. In addition, apparently field mice think tender young broccoli plants make a tasty meal. I felt a little like Mr. McGregor, outsmarted by Peter Rabbit and the Flopsy Bunnies, as the mice mowed down our early broccoli crop.
     A month ago, Gabe had a field of broccoli ready for harvest; but since he was on bedrest healing from his accident, he didn’t realize the broccoli was ready until it was too late to get it here for your boxes.
     This week, Gabe’s second crop of broccoli is ready for your boxes.
Shallots
     Earlier this season, we put green shallots in your box. Now in August it’s the season for mature shallots. We didn’t plant very many, so this is probably the last time you will see shallots in your box. I think of shallots as the most gourmet member of the onion family. Perhaps that’s because shallots are often accompanied by white wine, heavy cream, and butter in fancy recipes.  But there’s no reason they need to be kept only for special occasions. You may substitute shallots for onions or garlic in any stir-fry dish. In reading my favorite cookbooks to prepare for this newsletter, I found that shallots rank somewhere between onions and garlic in intensity of flavor. Shallots are seldom eaten raw, and are often sautéed or roasted for recipes (roasted whole shallots are divine—just peel, and add to the pan with other roasting vegetables).
    Our friend Jan Roberts Dominguez (Corvallis artist, author, and food writer) wrote a fantastic cookbook called The Onion Book that is full of information and recipes about all members of the onion family. With thanks to Jan’s original idea, I adapted one of her recipes, included here.
Creamy shallot sauce for pasta
½ cup minced shallots
½ cup minced fresh shiitake mushroom
4 Tbs. butter
¾ cup white wine
½ cup milk
2 Tbs. flour
2 Tbs. water
½ cup grated parmesan cheese
    Sauté shallots and mushrooms in butter for 3-4 minutes. Be careful not to scorch the shallots or they will become bitter. Add wine and simmer to reduce until liquid barely  covers the pan, but shallots are still moist (7-8 minutes). Stir in milk. Make a paste of flour and water. Whisk into shallot sauce and continue to stir briskly until the mixture begins to thicken. Remove from heat and mix gently with cooked pasta. Top with cheese.

Bruschetta
    I have a memory of making Bruschetta with a friend many years ago. We chopped basil, fresh tomatoes, a little bit of fresh garlic, a touch of salt, and fresh mozzarella cheese into a small bowl. Then we dipped the savory sauce with slices of fresh baguette. It was memorable. So simple, and so delicious, and so…well, summery.
    As I searched the Web for a specific recipe, I discovered dozens of different Bruschetta recipes (though I never did find one that matched my memory). Apparently, bruschetta means “toasted bread with a topping”.  Since I’ve tried this shallot bruschetta, and there are shallots in your box, I include the recipe below:
Shallot Bruschetta
3 Tbs. olive oil
5 large shallots, thinly sliced
4 sliced French bread
Pepper
Freshly grated Romano cheese (optional)
* Preheat broiler. Heat oil in a small heavy skillet over medium heat. Add shallots and sauté until tender, stirring frequently, about 5 minutes.
* Broil 1 side of bread until toasted. Spread shallot mixture on second side of bread. Sprinkle generously with pepper and cheese. Broil until beginning to brown. Serve immediately.
(Bon Appétit, October 1990)

Another idea for shallots: Sauté minced shallots in butter, then mash with your Maris piper potatoes.
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Denison Farms Harvest Box: Week 11
In this box:
Salad mix
Tomatoes
Fennel
Red onion
Corn
Zucchini  (from Rojo’s Farm)
Garlic
Strawberries (from Rojo’s Farm)
Fruit (either plums or a melon)

Fennel
     One of the less common things in your box this week is fennel. I had never eaten fennel until a few years ago when I was nursing Carson as a baby. I was searching for alternatives to vegetables in the Brassica family (broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, collards, and kale) so that his baby tummy wouldn’t get upset. Our friends, Jamie and Lisa of Springhill Farm gave us some fennel. Now, I’ve come to realize it’s a rather chic vegetable in the gourmet circles. It has a very mild licorice flavor, and is crunchy like celery when raw; soft and sweet when cooked.
    Preparing raw fennel: slice off the root at the bottom and separate the outer few leaf bases. Rinse any dirt off with water. You can continue to slice and rinse the entire bottom bulb portion, slicing thinly to put in a green salad, or thicker to eat as is, roast, or sauté.
    The outer leaf stems tend to be “woody”, and are best used in soups. The inner leaf stems may be tender and juicy, and can be chopped for salads or bruschetta (recipe follows), or eaten as you would celery.
    I like to spread soft goat cheese on my fennel slices, sprinkle a bit of finely chopped fennel leaves on the top, and there’s a nice appetizer.

Tomato and Fennel Bruschetta
½ lb. tomatoes, seeded, and chopped
½ cup finely chopped fresh fennel
12 Tbs. minced fennel tops
1 small shallot, minced
½ tsp. fennel seeds (optional)
4 4x6 sourdough or French bread slices
1 Tbs. + 1 tsp. olive oil
Combine first 5 ingredients in a medium bowl. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Grill or toast bread. Brush with oil. Season generously with pepper. Top with tomato/fennel mixture. Cut each slice into 4 pieces and serve immediately. (Bon Appétit, Light and Easy, special edition)

Barbecued salmon over fennel greens (from Beaverton market customer Alix Truax)
Double a piece of heavy duty foil. Put the foil on a baking rack and poke holes in it. Place a layer of fennel greens on the foil. Top with salmon. Sprinkle with olive oil, kosher (coarse) salt, and pepper. Barbecue on a covered grill until the fish is done. Squeeze with lemon and serve.

Baked or sautéed fennel: Fennel is nice when cooked. Try roasting thick slices of fennel bulb with other roast vegetables. This works particularly well with Willamette Sweet onions, as the flavors blend and it makes a very sweet vegetable side dish. I like the feathery fennel greens roasted with onions and potatoes (and a touch of olive oil) as the greens become crunchy during the roasting process. We also will frequently use fennel (bulb and softer leaf stems) in stir-fry dishes. Fennel, lamb, and sweet onion are nice together.

Fruit season
     We are starting to enter mid-summer fruit season. Our fruits are ripening rapidly, and it’s hard to predict what will be available for your boxes ahead of time. We will try to put in either plums or a melon, depending on what is ripe the day we pack your box. This week, we have a few French melons, watermelons, margarita melons, and little sweetie melons that are ripening, as well as Beauty and Methley plums.
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Denison Farms Harvest Box: Week 10
In this box:
Cucumber (from Rojo’s Farm)
Basil
Tomatoes
Red Gold Potatoes
Green Beans (from Rojo’s Farm)
Celery
Willamette Sweet Onions
Corn
Blueberries (from Nature’s Fountain)

An update on Gabe
     We are happy to report that Gabe is healing well from his electrical accident earlier this month. A week ago, he had surgery on his feet, where Doctors removed the end of one of his big toes and performed skin grafts on the little toes of both feet. After two days in the hospital, he convinced them to let him return home to recuperate in his own bed (and to eat fresh organic produce instead of hospital food). We have been talking with him on the phone almost every day, as he has been managing his farm while staying in bed and off his feet for a week. He is anxious to get back “on his feet again.”
     The good news is that his crops are growing well. This week, the green beans and the cucumber in your box are from his farm, and we may have his zucchini and strawberries again soon. We thank his dedicated crew and Sophie, his sweetheart, for helping keep things together during his recovery.

On the farm this week
    Our tomato harvest has finally reached it’s stride. It took a little longer than we expected, but we now have a plentiful supply of tomatoes. If anyone is interested in purchasing a box of tomatoes for juicing, drying, or canning, let us know. We also hope to send some “bonus” tomatoes to the pick-up sites. While we try to put only premium quality tomatoes in your box, the “bonus” tomatoes are ones that might be softer, or oddly-shaped, or not as pretty. I like the softer ones for cooking fresh tomato sauces, as they peel fairly easily.

More Basil Ideas
Basil Lemon Sauce (here’s something really different for your basil)  serves 6-8
1¼ cups olive oil
2 Tbs. coarse salt
1 cup fresh lemon juice
30 chopped basil leaves (1½ c.)
ground pepper to taste
Heat the oil and salt in a 1-qt. saucepan over medium heat.
Remove from heat, and stir in lemon juice.
Place back on heat, and bring to a boil.
Remove from heat again, and add the basil leaves.
Stir, then let sit 10 minutes to infuse the flavor.
Stir in hot pasta, sprinkle with black pepper, serve and eat.
(from Shepherd Seeds catalog)

Hannah’s Kitchen Pesto Pasta Salad     serves 4-6
16 (or so) sundried tomatoes
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1/3 cup olive oil
2 cups basil leaves (and small stems), coarsely chopped
¾ tsp. salt
¼ tsp. freshly ground pepper
16 oz. pasta (spiral, penne, bowtie)
2 Tbs. pine nuts, toasted
½ cup freshly grated parmesan (optional)
3 boneless chicken breasts, poached and cut in bite-sized pieces (optional)
1. Soak tomatoes in boiling water 5 minutes. Drain and cut in thin strips. (If using tomatoes packed in oil, do not soak).
2. In food processor, mince garlic, add basil, then slowly add oil. Puree pesto, and add salt and pepper.
3. Cook pasta in salted water. Combine pasta, pesto mixure, and sundried tomatoes (and parmesan and/or chicken if desired).
4. Garnish with pine nuts and serve.
(from Canadian Living magazine, Sept. 1994, sent to me by Beaverton member Catherine Keith. Thanks, Catherine!)
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Denison Farms Harvest Box 2001: Week 9
In this box:
Salad mix (from  Sweet Leaf Organics)
Lettuce
Tomatoes
Carrots
Corn
Leeks
Butterball  potatoes
Blueberries (from Natures Fountain)

The seasons turn
     On the farm these days, we’re noticing the arrival of the mid-summer season. The air is dry and hot, the fields are browning where we’re not irrigating. The weed seeds are going to seed (if we don’t get them mowed in time), and the summer fruits are ripening. But the cycle of planting, growing, and harvesting is really continuous. In the greenhouse, we will soon be planting seeds for winter greens. Fragile, grass-sized leek seedlings are ready to be planted outside for next winter’s harvest. Outside, the young pepper plants have their first blossoms, and I’m already anticipating eating a crisp, juicy sweet pepper some time in September. The bulk of our garlic crop is ready for harvest this month. When the garlic plants are just dry enough (but not too dry), all the garlic is dug, and each bulb is cleaned (stripped of outer, dirty leaves), and left to dry in the shade for a few days in huge picturesque pyramids of garlic bulbs.
    And speaking of garlic…The bulbs in your box in recent weeks have been “fresh” garlic. That means the bulbs are still quite moist and they need to be kept in a dry, well-ventilated place until you use them. Otherwise, they might get moldy. I keep mine on the kitchen counter, bottom-side-up if possible, or in a ventilated basket.
    A few years ago, we purchased a small potato-digger that is pulled behind a tractor. That has proven to be a great investment, as it makes the job of digging potatoes less of a back-breaking task for our crew, and the potato digger is versatile enough to also dig our garlic, and even carrots if we’re not leaving the tops on.
    These past few weeks, the carrots in your box have been “topless.” They will probably be like that for the rest of the season. Though bunched carrots look nice, it’s harder to pick and wash them in bunches (especially when the weeds have grown as tall as the carrots), and the fragile tops break off easily this time of year.

Summer fruits
 Cherry season is over for us. It was a fun and busy month, but now it’s time for other summer fruits. Except for cherries and melons, we don’t have a huge quantity of any particular fruit. Instead, we have a little bit of several different things. We do have a quarter acre of young blueberry bushes. However, we’re not sure that we would have enough berries at any one time to supply all our members with more than a mouthful, so the berries in this week’s box come from our friends, the Frosts (Yvonne, Rich, and Scott) of Nature’s Fountain in Albany. They have 26 acres of mature blueberry bushes and a lot more berries than we have. Yvonne is the retired certification director for Oregon Tilth, the agency that certifies organic farms in Oregon. She has had a lot of influence, both locally and nationally, on the development of the National Organic Standards. She’s sort of a celebrity in the Organic circles.
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Denison Farms Harvest Box 2001: Week 8
In this box:
Cabbage
Lettuce
Tomatoes
Carrots
Parsley (from Rojo)
Zucchini (from Rojo)
Garlic
Cherries
Tat soy (Saturday only—midweek saw tat soy last week)

    Hi folks, this is Tom. I’m going to open this newsletter with a somber note. Our good friend Gabe Cox, (who has been growing your cucumbers, zucchini, and strawberries) had a serious accident on Tuesday (7/3). He hit a power line with a piece of aluminum irrigation pipe, and was transported to the burn center at Emanuel Hospital in Portland. As we write this, it appears that there is no internal damage, but some of his fingers and toes are very badly burned. In the 5 years he worked for us, Gabe never so much as cut his finger with a knife. While we are dismayed that he had such a serious accident, we are grateful that he is still alive. We are using this opportunity to remind ourselves and our employees to work safely every day and to try to remember what’s really important in life. Gabe’s crew is working hard to keep his farm running while he is recuperating. They have provided the zucchini and parsley for this week’s box.

Quick-Fried Zucchini with Toasted Garlic and Lime
From Kitchen Gardening magazine, “Mexican Ways with Zucchini”, #14, p. 28.
1 lb. zucchini cut in ½ inch pieces
1 scant tsp. salt
1 Tbs. unsalted butter
1 Tbs. vegetable oil
5 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
1 Tbs. lime juice
Generous ½ tsp. freshly ground pepper
½ tsp. dried oregano
2 Tbs. chopped parsley
    In a colander, toss the cut zucchini with salt; let stand over a plate or in the sink for half an hour. Rinse and dry zucchini.
    About 15 minutes before serving, heat the butter and oil over low heat in a skillet large enough to hold the zucchini in a single layer. Add the garlic, stir until light brown, about 3 minutes. Do not burn garlic.
    Scoop the garlic into a fine-mesh sieve set over a small bowl, then scrape the strained butter mixture back into the pan; set garlic aside.
    Raise the heat to medium-high. Add zucchini to the pan and fry, stirring frequently, for 8-10 minutes, until browned and tender but still a little crunchy. Remove from the heat. Add lime juice and toasted garlic and toss thoroughly.
    Sprinkle with pepper, oregano, and parsley, then mix. Taste for salt, and season if necessary. Serve in a warm dish.

Tat Soy
    Tat soy (or tah tsai) is a mild Asian green. It is very similar to baby bok choy, and they can be substituted for each other in recipes. Generally, mature tat soy is eaten cooked, though young tat soy leaves are often included in salad mix. I usually cook my tat soy according to the “hot and sour greens” recipe included in the newsletter from week 2. At the moment, I’m also visualizing an omelet folded over a filling of sautéed garlic and tat soy…..
    Our row of Tat soy almost disappeared in the weeds (we’re a little behind on our weeding because our crew has been so busy picking cherries and digging and cleaning our garlic crop), but Pablo discovered it just before the plants became overmature, and we were able to slip it into the midweek boxes last week, and the Saturday boxes this week.
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Denison Farms Harvest Box 2001: Week 7
In this box:
Salad mix
Butter lettuce
Tomatoes
Celery
Corn
Basil
Chard
Morning Gold Potatoes
Tat Soy (Midweek only)

I’m a bit distracted today as I write this newsletter. Our 3½-year old son, who is usually at daycare on Fridays, is home with me. Those of you with children can probably imagine what it’s like to focus on a writing project while a youngster is playing in the next room. I will try to write quickly before he tires of his lego construction project and needs more direct attention (while cooking pesto and steaming fresh oysters for our Friday farm crew lunch).

Corn
We hope you enjoy this early corn. When we planted it in April, the weather was still much too cold for corn to be happy. So,we protected it from frost with a blanket of row cover for a month until the danger of frost had passed. Since it was planted so early, the plants never grew very tall, and the ears themselves are shorter than classic mid-season corn. We like this variety because it produces an early ear, and we think they are full of sweet corn flavor.

Celery
We’ve really been enjoying the celery this past week in our kitchen. Tom and I especially like to use celery in our stir-fry dinners. It adds a sweet crunch and nutritious green to our meals. The leaves are great for this kind of sauté, or in soups or stews.

Morning Gold Potatoes
I haven’t actually seen the morning gold potatoes yet, but I’m expecting them to be rather large sized. If yours are large, they are especially good as quick bakes.
Quick-bakes (for larger potatoes)
    This recipe makes delicious potato crisps without any added oil or salt (unless you add it as a dipping sauce). It works well with larger Morning Gold, German Butterball or Red Gold potatoes.
    Cut large potatoes in ½ inch slices. Place directly on your oven rack in the middle of a hot oven. Bake at 400o for 15-20 minutes until the surface puffs up and turns golden brown. They should be soft when pierced with a knife.
     Eat warm with a sprinkle of salt or dip in your favorite sour cream or mayonnaise-type dressing. My favorite dressing (this week) is:
1 Tbs. fresh tarragon,
1  tsp. mustard,
1 Tbs. mayonnaise,
1 Tbs. olive oil,
2 tsp. rice vinegar,
1 crushed umeboshi plum.
Mash all ingredients together.

Basil
Here are a handful of basil ideas:
1. Make pesto, if you’re not in the mood for pesto tonight, it freezes well for later use.
2. Add pesto to vegetable soups, scrambled eggs, or baked potatoes. Use as a dip for quick bakes.
3. Buy spring roll wrappers at an Asian market, soak in hot water until soft, then fill with bean thread noodles, mung bean sprouts, and basil leaves. Wrap like a burrito, and eat.
4. Substitute basil leaves for lettuce on your sandwich.
5. Tear basil leaves and add to a green salad
6. Make bruschetta. Chop fresh garlic, tomato, basil, and fresh mozzarella cheese. Dip with Italian bread.
7. Check this web site for additional recipes: http://www.epicurious.com/e_eating/e02_recipes/enhance_search.html
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Denison Farms Harvest Box 2001: Week 6
In this box:   Lettuce*Tomatoes*Cucumbers*Red onion*Fava beans*French fingerling
    Potatoes *Garlic*Strawberries

French Fingerling potatoes
There are many varieties of fingerling potatoes. In my opinion, this is one of the most beautiful, and it has a sweet, almost nutty flavor. French fingerlings have a firm texture. They are great for potato salad, cut in chunks and sautéed with olive oil and garlic, or roasted--in the oven or on the grill.

Fava Beans
    This is the height of our short Fava Bean season, so a perfect time to offer them in our Harvest Box. We planted these beans last October, to harvest in June. This will be the only week for fava beans in your box, so we’re including 3 lbs., which should be enough to try a couple of different recipes, have two meals worth, or put some in the freezer for later.
    Though they are not common in American cuisine, Fava beans are a staple of Mediterranean and Middle Eastern cuisine. They may soon become more popular, as I’ve heard Martha Stewart featured them in a recent issue of her magazine. Favas are not the simplest bean to prepare, but many of us think they are worth it. First, you must shell the bean out of the pod. This is done most easily by scoring the length of the bean with a sharp knife. The bean inside has an outer skin, and many recipes suggest blanching the beans (2 minutes in boiling water, then plunge into ice water) and removing the skin. The skin contains a slightly bitter component, so many people remove the skins, eating only the mild, sweet inner bean. Frankly, I usually leave the skins on to save preparation time, but then the beans may be a little tough, and can be slightly bitter. You can taste the blanched beans before you skin them to see if it’s worth the trouble. After 2 minutes of blanching, the skins will slip right off. Don’t try to skin them raw—it’s really difficult.
    What to do with Fava Beans:
* The flavor of fava beans is enhanced by any combination of garlic, olive oil, and lemon juice. I like to sauté a pound of blanched beans in garlic and olive oil, drizzle with lemon juice, and serve over rice.
* Fava bean sauté: Blanch and remove skins from 2#  fava beans. Heat olive oil in a frypan. Sauté one clove garlic and ½ sweet onion until soft. Add 1 bunch chopped greens (optional), and fava beans. Add 1 tsp. tamari. Cover, cook until greens are done.
* Fava Pesto: (for people who love pesto, but aren’t sure about fava beans): Boil water for 12 oz. pasta. Steam beans from 2# favas for 5 minutes. (Optional: remove skins). Combine 1 bunch basil, 1-2 cloves garlic, ½ cup olive oil in food processor. Process until finely chopped. Add juice of 1 lemon (or 1 Tb. rice vinegar) and 1 tsp. tamari. Add steamed fava beans and process until coarsely chopped. Mix with drained pasta. Add 4 oz. grated sharp cheese (my favorite for this is Kasseri, but Romano also works well).
* Fava Pasta Salad:  Shell 1 pound fresh fava beans. Blanch 2 minutes, plunge into ice water, drain and peel. Cook 12 oz. pasta in boiling, salted water. Drain, reserving 1 cup liquid. Return pasta and 1 cup liquid to large pot. Add favas, 1 cup crumbled feta cheese, ¼ cup olive oil, juice of 1 lemon. Stir constantly and simmer over low heat until feta cheese melts into a sauce. Remove from heat. Add ½ cup grated parmesan cheese, and ½ cup coarsely chopped basil, or cilantro, or parsley. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
* Saving favas for later: blanch and remove skins, freeze for later use in winter soups or stir-fries.

Are you still wondering what to do with last week’s cabbage? For lunch today, I shredded half a head of cabbage and cooked it according to the Hot and Sour Greens recipe (printed in newsletter week 2, and available on our web site). Substitute cabbage for the greens
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Denison Farms Harvest Box 2001: Week 5
 In this box:  Cherries*Tomatoes*Salad mix (from SweetLeaf Organic Farm)*Lettuce*Chioga beets (from Rojo Organics)*Caribe potatoes*Cabbage*Carrots*Basil*Garlic

Tomatoes
    We finally are coming into a plentiful supply of tomatoes. We have increased the weekly allotment to 2 lbs. in each box, and we should be able to keep up this level of supply for most of the rest of the summer. Ah, pasta salad with tomatoes; bruschetta (chopped tomatoes, basil, garlic, fresh mozzarella cheese dipped with french bread); tomato sandwiches; tomato sauces; tomato and sweet onion salad; tomatoes dipped in mayonnaise; tomatoes, tomatoes, tomatoes…..
    All of our June and July tomatoes are grown in cold frames—long plastic tunnels that are tall enough to (mostly) stand up in and walk through. During May, our tomatoes were coming from heated cold frames. We hope you can come to our member party next Sunday to tour the farm and see how we grow your produce.
    Right now, we have two primary varieties, as you may have already noticed. Our beefsteak variety tends to be larger and firmer, with a meaty texture and mild flavor. Our Oregon Spring tomatoes tend to be smaller, juicier, brighter red, and packed with flavor. We will soon have some Early Girls are much like the Oregon Springs, but are a little less acidic and a little firmer. In late August or September we will also have roma tomatoes, and a few other varieties of beefsteak tomatoes. If anyone is looking for quantities of tomatoes for canning, drying, or freezing, let us know and we can alert you when we have enough to offer them by the box. We offer our members a discount price on quantity orders.

Caribe potatoes
This week’s potato is called Caribe. It is my favorite potato. The texture is very moist, smooth, and creamy. They make “the best” mashed potatoes, and are wonderful in hot potato salad (see week 3 newsletter for a recipe).

Chioga Beets from Rojo Organics
 Chioga is an heirloom variety of beets. It has an interesting pattern of concentric rings inside, and won’t stain your hands or cutting board like the more common deep red beets. I was never much of a beet fan until I started roasting them. Just scrub and cut off the tops. Roast either by themselves or (better yet) with other root vegetables like potatoes and carrots. Our son, Carson, also likes them cut in quarters and steamed until soft. If steamed, they are nice tossed with a little butter.
 Another fun fact about beets: I have it on good authority (though I’ve never tried it myself) that raw red beets, when cut in half and rubbed on the lips, make for stunning bright red lips. I think this is most popular with the less-than-twelve-year old crowd. I’m not sure this will work as well with Chioga beets, but thought I should share the information anyway in case you pick up some red beets later in the season.

 Produce storage tips
Of course, produce is most flavorful and nutritious if eaten just after it is picked, but since you get
your box only once a week, some things will have to hold for a few days before being eaten. You might find that some of our produce doesn’t hold as well as what you find in the grocery store. Unlike many varieties grown for the grocery market, we choose our varieties for flavor rather than for durability. In addition, many store-bought vegetables have been soaked or sprayed with waxes and fungicides to prevent moisture loss and molding. The produce in your box has only seen a fresh cool water rinse.

Group 1: cold and high humidity
Broccoli, carrots, cauliflower, cilantro, collard, lettuce, kale, parsley, turnips, salad mix
Rinse with cold water, drain well, and store in plastic in the refrigerator. Will keep up to a week. Carrots and turnips keep better without their green tops.

Group 2: cool and moist
Beans, basil, corn, eggplant, potatoes
Store in plastic in the warmest part of your refrigerator. Ideal storage temperature for this group is between 45 and 50o, warmer than most refrigerators and colder than your countertop.

Corn, beans, and eggplant have a short storage life, and should be eaten quickly. Basil turns black when it is too cold. We have good luck storing basil in a plastic bag in our not-too-cold refrigerator. Other people like to make a fresh cut in the stem (as you would a flower) and place in a jar of water on the counter, covered with a loose plastic bag to keep in moisture. New potatoes need to be stored in plastic in the refrigerator because their skins are tender and won’t prevent moisture loss. Mature potatoes (with firm skins) may be stored in a paper bag on a cool countertop. Keep all potatoes in the dark or they will turn green. Green parts should not be eaten.

Group 3: room temperature
Cherries, melons, nectarines, peaches, sweet peppers, tomatoes
These fruits should be stored on your countertop and eaten as soon as they are ripe. Chilling will cause tomatoes to loose their flavor. The other fruits do not have long between ripe and rotten, so keep an eye on your fruits and eat them as soon as they are soft. If the fruit flies are swarming, they were probably ready yesterday. For melons, we usually store on the countertop until they are cut, and then cover with plastic and refrigerate to keep the fruit flies away. The other option is to eat the whole melon as soon as it is cut!

Group 4: dry
Garlic, onions
These may be stored in the fridge or on the countertop, but do not use plastic. On the counter, our fresh onions will continue to loose some moisture, but you can just cut away the dry parts and use the rest.
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Denison Farms Harvest Box 2001: Week 4
 In this box:  Cherries * Willamette Sweet onions * Tomatoes * Cucumber (from Rojo Organics)
 * Lettuce * Butterball potatoes * Turnips * Shallots * Arugula

Our first-of-the-year Harvest Box Member party
Potluck and farm tour
Sunday, June 24th.
From 3-7 pm.
Pick up your invitation with a map
to the farm with this week’s box.

Cherries    One of the most exciting things on our farm this month is our cherries. Tom and his brother, Glenn planted 100 cherry trees on our farm in 1993. It takes standard cherry trees six years to grow to mature size and produce fruit. Our first fruit set was 2 years ago, but flocks of hungry birds arrived before our bird netting and they ate all the fruit. Last year we managed to cover our trees with bird netting, but then rains caused us to lose about half of the ripe fruits. If the rest of this month remains relatively dry, we should see a really good crop of cherries for the first time since they were planted 8 years ago! We have several varieties of cherries, which ripen at different times, so you should see several slightly different varieties over the next few weeks.

Roasted vegetables   I have become a real fan of roasted vegetables. The long, slow cooking process brings out the sweetness of root vegetables. If it’s not too hot in the kitchen, I don’t mind having the oven on. This week’s box contains several vegetables that work well together in a roasting pan.
Roasted New Potatoes with Shallots and Herbs
6 Tbs. butter
Salt
2 lbs. new potatoes (butterball’s are great), cut in bite-sized chunks
1 bunch small carrots, cut if you want
1 bunch baby turnips, in bite-sized chunks
1 bunch green shallots
Fresh rosemary, sage, thyme, tarragon, or oregano (whatever your herb of choice)

1. Chop a handful of herbs, simmer in butter over medium heat until bubbly. (Herbs are optional)
2. Toss potatoes and carrots with half the butter.
3. Sprinkle with salt. Put in baking dish.
4. Bake 20 minutes at 375 degrees.
5. Toss the shallots and turnips with remaining butter.  Add to the potatoes and carrots.
6. Bake about 30 minutes longer, stirring occasionally, until vegetables are very soft and a little crispy.
 7. Toss with finely chopped herbs.  Serves 8.
(Original recipe from Bon Appetit, November 1997. Adapted by Denison Farms)

Willamette Sweet Onions   This is not a new onion variety for us, but it is a new name. These onions are grown from Walla Walla onion seeds. However, since our farm is not in Walla Walla County, we are not supposed to call them “Walla Walla’s”. They are a very mild onion. This makes them great for marinated salads. They are especially fine on the grill (or roasted--by themselves or with other vegetables). Then they become unbelievably sweet.

Quality Control   We make every effort to put only top-quality produce in your box each week. However, it is possible for a less-than-perfect item to slip past the skilled eyes of our pickers and packers. In that case, please let us know, and we will replace the item that disappointed you. Also, if your box is missing something from the “in the box” list, we apologize. Let us know and we’ll send extra for you the next week.
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Denison Farms Harvest Box 2001: Week 3
In this box:
Salad mix
Red onion ( very sweet when sauteed, or use in potato salad--recipe included)
Tomatoes
Carrots
Zucchini (from Rojo Organics)
Garlic tops (recipe included)
Chard
Red ruby  potatoes
Strawberries  (from Rojo Organics)
 

Salad mix from Sweetleaf Organic Farm
We met Dave several years ago, when he was an intern with Horton Road Organics near Eugene. After his year at Horton Road Organics, Dave started Sweetleaf Organic Farm on some land next to the Willamette River north of Eugene. Dave and Gabe are neighbors and friends, and both are fine examples of the new generation of organic farmers. Our Eugene members may already be familiar with Dave’s salad mix, as it is on the menu at some of Eugene’s finest restaurants. We really like his salad mix and are proud to offer it to you in your box. We expect to have Sweetleaf’s salad mix every other week throughout the season.

Red Ruby Potatoes
There are an amazing number of different potato varieties. And we grow quite a few. This year, we’re down to about 10 different varieties, but it’s a tough choice every year with many good possibilities. This week’s selection is Red Ruby, a red-skinned/white fleshed potato. Last year we grew 6 or 8 different red potatoes. Of all those, we thought Red Ruby had the best flavor. Red potatoes are wonderful for potato salad. They have a moist texture and hold their shape when boiled or steamed. I searched my newsletter archives for a 1998 recipe for simple potato salad. Those of you who have been members in previous years have probably seen this recipe, but it’s worth repeating because it is a yummy way to fix red potatoes. It’s mildly reminiscent of my grandmother’s German Potato Salad, but without the bacon and bacon grease.

Elizabeth’s Simple Potato Salad
Finely chop ½ a mild onion, place in bowl. (this week’s red onion works fine).
Cover with good olive oil and rice vinegar (use about twice as much olive oil as vinegar).
Crush and add 1 umeboshi plum (optional, but it adds a nice zing).
Cut 2 lbs. new red potatoes into bite-sized chunks.
Cover potatoes with water, add 1 tsp. salt. Boil for 10 minutes or until soft.
Drain potatoes and add to onions. Stir gently. Cool 10 minutes. Serve.

Garlic Tops
Garlic tops are the flowering stalk of the garlic plant. They are only available during a short season in late spring/early summer. You can cook them like you would asparagus: steam for 3-5 minutes or until you can pierce them easily with a knife. Add a touch of butter if you wish. Then eat the whole thing. It should have a tender, juicy texture and a very mild garlic flavor. Garlic tops are also fine in a vegetable sauté (maybe with this week’s zucchini and red onion?). Just steam them until tender with the other vegetables.
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Denison Farms Harvest Box 2001: Week 2
In this box:
Red lettuce
Butter lettuce
Carrots
Basil
Spinach
Collards
Tomatoes
Green garlic
Cucumbers
Strawberries

Introducing some of our friends
Let us tell you about Gabe Cox and Rojo Organics.  Gabe called us in the fall 5 years ago, saying that he wanted to learn how to farm, and he wanted to learn from Tom. At the time, he had some farming experience, having been an intern on a farm in the Eugene area the prior summer. After the first year Gabe worked for us, he became interested in growing strawberries (which we had not grown before), and planted a quarter acre of them in the back yard of his rental house in Corvallis. Encouraged by his back-yard success, the next year, he rented 11 acres of farmland in Eugene, and planted strawberries, zucchini, cucumbers, and tomatoes, while at the same time working part time on our farm and managing our Eugene Farmers’ Market booth. This spring, he purchased a beautiful 30-acre farm off River Road near Eugene. We really like Gabe, and we want him to succeed as a farmer. To help him find an outlet for some of his produce (and to save us the energy of growing everything ourselves), Gabe will be supplying our Harvest Box with strawberries, cucumbers, zucchini, beets, and radishes. It’s been fun for Tom to see a young person as excited about learning to farm as Tom was when he was in his 20’s. We think Gabe grows high-quality produce. We’re proud of him and look forward to cooperating with him for many years.
Green Garlic
One of my favorite vegetables of the spring is green garlic (also known as garlic greens). This is the same garlic plant that will produce a familiar head of garlic if we leave it in the ground for another 6 weeks. But most years by May, I have long since used up all the garlic we saved in the fall, and I’m hungering for some real garlic flavor in my kitchen.
So, I figure, why wait until July, when you can have fresh garlic flavor in May? My favorite way to cook green garlic is to chop and saute (moderate heat) the entire plant (anything that is white or green) in a generous amount of olive oil (about ¼ cup) until the greens are tender. Then add a little salt and toss with warm pasta. Of course, this is also great with a few fresh or sun-dried tomatoes tossed in.
Collard Greens
“Greens” can be some of the most nutritious vegetables, and they grow quickly, so they’re available early in the spring before some of the longer season vegetables are ready (like broccoli, cauliflower or cabbage). I really like my collards just steamed, but here is a recipe if you want another idea.
Hot and Sour Greens (from Andrew Weil, 8 Weeks to Optimum Health)
1 bunch greens (collards, chard, or kale)
2 tsp. canola oil   Rinse and slice greens in ½ inch shreds.
2 cloves garlic, minced  Heat oil, stir-fry garlic and pepper flakes 1 minute.
¼ tsp. dry mustard  Add greens and mustard powder.
2 Tbs. rice vinegar  Stir to coat greens with garlic and oil.
1 tsp. soy sauce  Combine rice vinegar, soy sauce, and sugar.
1 tsp. brown sugar  Add to skillet. Cook, covered, over medium heat about 5 minutes.
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Denison Farms Harvest Box 2001
Week 1
In this box:
Salad mix
Cucumber
Carrots
Turnips
Lettuce
Tomatoes
Potatoes
Sweet onion
Rhubarb
Strawberries

     Welcome! to the first box of the season. Late spring on the farm is a wonderfully exciting time. We’re harvesting the first of our early crops; watching some of our root crops like onions, carrots, and turnips grow almost before our eyes; and seeing the progression from fragrant flowers to tiny green fruits covering our cherry trees. In just a few weeks, the early cherries will be ripe, and all hands will be busy covering the orchard with bird netting to keep the birds from eating all the harvest.
    Our potatoes were planted in a cold frame in late January. Potatoes cannot survive a frost, so they need protection (like a cold frame or row cover) in our climate during the colder nights of spring. This year, we had a few frosty nights as late as April (which froze our peaches and plum blossoms), and a few more sleepless nights when Tom or I got up every hour to check the temperature when it fortunately didn’t freeze. We now need to dig these early potatoes to make room for heat-loving summer crops in the cold frames—such as tomatoes, or basil.
    We plan what will be in our box a week ahead of time. Early last week, we were expecting to have a lot of strawberries. Our strawberry grower (friend and former employee Gabe of Rojo Organics) had about 100 flats of berries nearly ready to pick. Then it rained for 3 days (it seems so long ago now), and he lost all the ripe berries. Strawberries are such a tender fruit. So our Saturday members in Eugene and Beaverton got rhubarb without strawberries. Fortunately, with the warm and dry weather, the berries recovered and we have a pint for each box. We won’t have rhubarb again for a while, so if you want your strawberry-rhubarb pie, this is the week to make it.
    Tomatoes in May. Every year, Tom likes to try some new idea, and this year’s project was to put a little bit of heat into two of our tomato cold frames. With a little hot water circulating through small hoses on the soil surface, we were able to plant tomatoes in February, and harvest ripe tomatoes a month earlier than we’ve ever had them before. These beefsteak tomatoes make a wonderful quick tomato sauce. Just chop and sauté/simmer in a covered pan until they turn into sauce, then pour over pasta. If you have any garlic around, that makes a nice addition.
    Turnips (and turnip greens!). We grow a special variety of turnip that is tender, sweet, and juicy. Our 3½ year old son, Carson, loves to eat them raw like an apple. There may be a touch of hotness just under the skin (particularly in the larger ones), so you might prefer to peel the largest ones if you’ll use them raw. If you’re planning to cook them (steam, sauté, or in soups), you don’t need to peel them, as the hotness will fade with heat. The greens are quite nice as well, steamed, sautéed, or in soups
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Denison Farms Harvest Box   Preseason newsletter 2001

Welcome, friends and members, to this season of Harvest. Your first of 24 boxes will begin in about 2 weeks. I hope you are as excited as we are!

Crops are growing quickly during these long sunny spring days.  Many of the crops
we planted during late winter and early spring will probably be ready for your first box. It’s a bit hard to predict exactly what will be in your box that first week, but there’s a good chance you will see: salad mix, tomatoes, carrots, new potatoes, baby turnips, spinach, onions, and maybe strawberries. That should get your mouths watering in anticipation. Mine sure is. Our new experiment this year was to add a little heat to one of our tomato houses, to produce ripe tomatoes even earlier than our usual June tomatoes. We started harvesting a few ripe tomatoes in late April this year—Carson (our 3 ½ year old son) was really happy about that! Our cherry trees are currently in full bloom, and our borrowed honeybees are busy during every sunny moment flying from blossom to blossom. We look forward to another great cherry season in June.

We have hired most of our crew for this summer and are grateful to have many energetic and experienced returning employees. Everyone is working hard, from sun-up to sun-down (and some days even later) to keep up with all the growing and planting, weeding, and soil preparation during this busy time of the year.

www.peak.org/~denisont/
This will be the second year for our Denison Farms web site. Portland members Cynthia Stone and Richard Fobes helped us create a web site for the farm a year ago. I will continue to post the weekly newsletter on our web site so you can preview the box a few days before it arrives, and you can also locate recipes and information from previous weeks and years at www.peak.org/~denisont/.
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