Week 12

If you have been a supporter of local farms for a while you probably remember Boisfort Valley Farm. They went to the Oly market and had several hundred CSA members in the greater Seattle area. They stopped farming a few years ago and took on a couple more traditional 9-5 jobs.  This year they decided to plant/sell corn and pumpkins along with the 9-5 gigs.  Last night they told me that commodity farming is the new niche farming.  I have thought about it quite a few times since then and for this area, and I think many more semi urban areas, it is probably true.  The current trend in farming in this area is small scale, intensive farming focusing on high profit crops.  Land is expensive and small scale farming allows one to farm and support oneself on much smaller acreage(less than two acres typically).  Our farm, at seven acres, is not that kind of farm, but we are still a very small farm.  We like being diversified, but also have recognized that our scale we can't grow everything.  I think the long term health of our local food systems depends on having farms of all sizes.

 Grilled cabbage is great.  This recipe, with a chimichurii and and mustard maple tahini, turns what most people think of as a pretty mundane veggie into something special.  It is really flavorful.   I suspect you could get away with just making one sauce or the other and still have an enjoyable dish.


Bell Peppers - Our bell peppers are just starting to ripen.  The stand out at the moment is a green to orange bell pepper from Adaptive Seeds.  Many of you will have an orange pepper, others probably a golden yellow variety called Flavorburst.  Everyone will also get a purple pepper.
Onions - Sweet.  These will be of all sizes.  Some of you will have more traditional large sweet onions and some of you will have smaller sweet onions.
Zucchini - I made the most incredible pork burgers last Tuesday.  I added an egg and some shredded zucchini because I think it helps the texture.  I seasoned it with garlic and onion and a bit of clove, cinamon and star anise(I was trying to capture the memory of a vietnamese pate) and we had it with pickled daikon and carrot and some sliced cucumber on a bun - a bahn mi inspired pork burger.
Cabbage
Cherry Tomatoes
Melon - Maybe.  We had someone out sick on Friday and Kelly and I didn't make it back to the melon patch to harvest until 6:30pm on Friday.  We had yet to harvest a single melon, but we knew they were close.  We found a couple Korean melons to harvest and a tested a few watermelons.  I have to admit I was so relieved there weren't a bunch of melons.  However, there were a lot of Korean melons that looked close and I am hoping we will have them for everyone.  I saw this melon's flavor described as cucumber, honeydew and cantolope all in one.  It starts off more in the honeydew/sweet cucumber realm and then picks up some richer notes as it gets riper.  I actually like it closer to the honeydew/cuke zone.  I have also had people tell me it has notes of pear.  It is mild but also delicious.  It really is its own thing.  I don't bother removing the seeds, it is the most flavorful part, but not everyone is into it.
Arugula - Large Only
Lettuce - Large Only