Dear CSA Member

The middle of summer and the tomatoes are starting to ripen.  There are different varieties that will be coming your way as we go through the season.  The first ones are the small salad type that ripen first. They are solid and firm.  We are trying a new variety this season that was developed by Johnnys’ Select Seeds to be Late Blight resistant. In 2009 most of NY state farms, organic and conventional, lost their tomato crops to Late Blight.  Since that devastating year, we are on guard and willing to give a new variety a try if it proclaims that it is resistant to the Blight.  Hopefully we will not be put in the position to see it in action.  Not this season with the ample sunshine and dry weather.  Better safe than sorry, though.

Sun Gold Cherry Tomatoes, small orange deliciously sweet, are a favorite and they also are some of the first tomatoes to ripen.  We will try to keep up with them as they fill the vines each week.  Just like a bite of summer.  They probably don’t make it home from the CSA pickup.

There will be orange tomatoes that are an heirloom variety, large round red tomatoes, plum tomatoes.  Each week we harvest the tomato patch and fill the crates for the CSA sites from the baskets as they come into the packing barn.  There is no telling which varieties will be delivered to which CSA site.  All delicious and the season comes and goes so quickly.  Enjoy them while the sun shines.

Upcoming Events:
Farm Festival Saturday September 10, 11-3.  Many CSA sites coordinate rides to the farm.  Check with your CSA coordinators.  The day is a big celebration.  Members are asked to bring a side dish to share and their own place settings.  The farm will have local pork on the grill, sweet corn, fresh fruit.  There will be water and also coffee.  We have tractor rides around the fields, walks around the fields to see what is growing, plenty of time to take a walk to the creek and see if the Bald Eagles will swoop by.
Mark the day on your calendar.

Enjoy the Vegetables
Deborah
for everyone at Stoneledge Farm

Full Vegetable Share
Slicing Tomatoes – 3 pounds
Sun Gold Cherry Tomatoes – 1 basket
Orient Eggplant-(purple) – 1
Raveena Eggplant (green) – 1
Edamame (Soy Beans) – 1 bunch – take the pods from the plant, rinse and steam for 3-5 minutes.  Add salt if you like.  Pop the seeds from the pod right into your mouth.
Leeks – 1 bunch
Tomatillos – 1 pound
Lime Basil – 1 bunch
Peppers – 3 – This is an heirloom pepper

Fruit Share
Red Nectarines & White Peaches – 1 bag
Donut Peaches – 1 bag – Different varieties ripen at different times and so the season continues

If you are looking for a ride to the farm on Saturday, September 10th or are looking for a passenger or two with whom to split your costs, please post your information in the comments area below.

We’re not doing any matchmaking here; if you see a posting follow up directly if possible. This is open to all Stoneledge CSA members!

This week’s newsletter includes recipes for cucumber soup, Tuscan carrot top soup, pink gazpacho with tomatoes and watermelon, farro and pine nut tabouleh, and sweet and savory cabbage.

Carnegie Hill Newsletter – Week 9

Dear CSA Member

We finally had rain and the ground softened enough so we could finish the garlic harvest.  We worked all day and pulled the bulbs from the earth, crated and then hung the bulbs to dry until cured in the barn.  The harvest looks wonderful.

Garlic is one of the favorites of CSA members and also farmers.  We harvest the heads in July, hang to cure.  When the heads are dry we separate the heads into bulbs and plant the bulbs in October.  The garlic bulb stays in the garden until the next spring time when first the garlic leaves and then the Garlic Scapes emerge.  Some of the first greens of spring time and the scapes are a treat after the long winter without fresh vegetables.  We tend the rows of tall garlic leaves until we are ready to once again pull the bulbs and start the process all over.

We save about 1/3 of our harvest for seed stock for planting in the fall.  Each head has 5 or so bulbs and each bulb will produce a head the next summer.

We have been adding products to the Market Place at the farm website slowly but surely.  Along with the Coffee, Honey and Maple Syrup, our first batch of Dill Pickles are ready and can be purchased online from the Market Place.  We are working with Jim Hyland of Winter Sun Farms, the Winter CSA share, and his partner business Farm to Table Co-Packers.  We grow the vegetables and Jim and his crew process them.  We plan on offering more products as the season goes on and I will let you know as they are available.

It seems a little early, but time goes so quickly and I wanted to mention that the Farm Festival is scheduled for September 10 from 11-3.  It is great fun and a great way to visit the farm, meet a lot of great CSA members and all of us at Stoneledge Farm.  Please make a note on your calendar and hope you can make it.

Enjoy the Vegetables
Deborah for everyone at Stoneledge Farm