CSA Share Notes:

Welcome to your first week of our fall season! It’s a nice and full first box, filled with the remnants of a bountiful summer garden. Cucurbits, eggplant, basil, and more.

But this season-opening looks a lot different than last fall.  We already had leafy greens harvested at this time one year ago, (successfully planted in mid-August) but this year’s August and September drought conditions delayed planting until just THIS WEEK! That’s later than ever! We aren’t entirely sure how the season will unfold and what mother nature will do, but we’re all here to find out together. The future is yet to be revealed, but for now, we’re really glad we were able to give you a nice, big first box!

Now here’s your vegetable line-up:

• Squash – Our late summer planting of these cucurbit crops are going wild and you get to benefit!  Enjoy our heirloom zephyr (Regular shares), along with our more standard yellow summer squash (Large and Mini shares)
• Zucchini – Plenty of big, beautiful zucchini.  Grab a zoodle maker or perhaps try your hand at DELICIOUS and gut-healing lacto-fermented zucchini pickles (I’m crazy about these). This week we made the simplest 30 min meal with a couple of our zukes.   It also happens to be gluten free, keto, and without the shredded cheese it’s also dairy free, Paleo, and Whole30 friendly!  We used giant Zukes that we thought might be a bit “too big” but they were actually WONDERFUL.
  • Taco Zucchini Boats (this served 2 adults and 2 little kids and we were very full)
    1. Saute an onion and a few cloves of garlic, (also use some hot peppers if you don’t have wimpy kids like mine telling you apples are too spicy) and then add 1 lb of grass fed ground beef and brown it. Add 1 Tbs total of your favorite taco seasonings (smoked paprika, chipotle chili powder, cumin, a little oregano).
    2. While this is all cooking, slice in half 2 small or 1 large (even a jumbo is fine!) zucchini lengthwise. Lay them flat and scoop out the center with a spoon, making plenty of space for your beef filling. If they are trying to roll around on you, shave a flat bottom on the back of your zucchini halves so they’ll sit still. Don’t try this on your kids, trust me.
    3. Fill your boats with the beef mixture and bake at 350 for 12-20 min, depending on zucchini size. You want the zucchini to be cooked to al dente, not mush.
    4. Top immediately with shredded cheese so it’s gets all gooey and wonderful, and have on the table any manner of toppings like avocado, cilantro, green onions, spicy salsa, your favorite hot sauces, sour cream or tangy unsweetened greek yogurt

Does anyone have an Italian version of this simple recipe you love? Please share with us on social media/Instagram Stories! We are eating a LOT of zucchini in the farm household and would love more ways to enjoy it.

Peppers: refer back to our instagram post of our different pepper varieties. It can be hard to tell some of them apart, and to remember which ones are spicy and which are sweet. Hope this post helps!

• Sweet Italian Peppers – Everyone received these this week, but different varieties. The Large and Mini shares received Goddess peppers- a range of pale yellow-green to dark orange.  The Regular shares received Carmen peppers- a range of dark green to deep red. See the instagram post mentioned above to help you identify them.  These are delicious, crunchy, long and slender Italian sweet peppers, NOT spicy! These will be very similar to bell peppers in flavor. Use yours in our summer green curry recipe!
• Shishito peppers – Some for everyone this week! These are simply wonderful raw, with a hummus or spread, but they’re REALLY perfect blistered in a hot skillet or grill, and then dipped in any delicious type of dip you can come up with to go with it. They are sweet and mild, but every once in a while, about 1 in 10 peppers, you’ll find a spicy one. A bit of russian roulette.
• Jalapenos – Plenty for making poppers this week! The ones beginning to turn red are called Chipotle peppers. If you have a means of dehydrating and grinding them up, you’ll have yourself a delicious warming spice all winter long.
• Poblanos – A nice big bunch of them for the Large shares and the Mini shares this week.  Check out our own recipe on our website for Variations On Stuffed Peppers.  We’ve also made mini chile rellenos, poblano buttermilk cornbread, and Jam-Spiked Poblano Poppers the past month with these and they were all a hit.
• Basil – For everyone this week.  If wilted, rehydrate in a lengthy cold water plunge.  And DO NOT REFRIGERATE.  Instead, store it bouquet style, in a glass of cool water on the counter.
• Beans – Beautiful green beans and a special favorite: Dragons Tongue! These are fantastic right now, young and tender. But they’re a short lived crop- we will probably have them for the first 3 weeks of the CSA harvest.
• Eggplant –  Our Large and Regular shares received the lovely Italian eggplant (some pale purple or white heirlooms, too). Mini shares received Long Japanese eggplant. Our small harvest of Fairy Tale eggplant went to the large shares.  The fairy tale and Japanese types are really excellent in Asian dishes- Korean Marinated eggplant is fantastic. Thai or Indian Curries, Stir Fries, etc.  The Italian eggplant is super versatile as well. And these are so fresh that you shouldn’t need to sweat out any bitterness. I see Baba Ganoush in your future! Or try our summer stacks which can use up your zucchini, eggplant and a few peppers all in one go.
  • We suggest roasting eggplant at high heat to bring out its sweetness and get the yummiest texture. 400+ degrees in a hot oven, a grill, or a smokin-hot cast iron. A little bit of char on them is a very delicious thing.

 

We have one item for you this week which was not grown by Red Moon Farm but we are excited to provide for you to kick off our season:

• Okra from Zillmer Farm, Lindale, TX. Our okra plantings at Red Moon Farm ended up becoming a food source for our native deer population in the intense summer drought. We’re not too mad at them, deer gotta eat too, and we love having a few around.  So it’s Victor Zillmer to the rescue!

If you’ve been a member for a while, this name will sound familiar. Victor Zillmer also provides us with the best in pesticide-free fruit jams and jellies in our online store. (They are fantastic. Snag a jar next week) But he also grows a few veggies each year, too. The next few weeks he’s providing us with baby okra.

While he doesn’t strive in *all* ways to be organic like we do at Red Moon Farm, he is committed to no chemical pesticides or herbicides. His synthetic use is limited to the liquid fertilizers he uses before planting. We feel like this is about the best compromise one can get.  **Be warned** Okra has a short shelf-life, which is why you don’t see much of it on the grocery store shelves. Refrigerate it and eat it up on day 1 or 2 after you receive yours for best quality.

Veggie Storage tips:

• Everything wants to be washed well before cooking, but keep the dirt on till then, to prevent faster spoilage.
• Basil must not be stored in the fridge. Keep it in a glass of water in a cool place, and out of direct light.
• Tomatoes, sweet potatoes prefer room temperature, dry conditions.
• Okra prefers to be around 45 degrees which can be tricky in modern refrigerators. If it goes below about 38, it’ll turn black so be forewarned not to put it in the coldest part of your fridge.
• Squash, zucchini, eggplant, peppers, and beans all want to be sealed up in plastic and stored in the fridge.

 

We’d love to hear stories and recipes of your culinary adventures this week. Tag us on Instagram or Facebook, showing us how you’ve used your CSA share.

Your farmers, Jess & Justin

 

Regular Share

Today’s Regular Share:
Left to Rt (top row): colorful Italian peppers, mostly CARMEN variety, a few Goddess variety. Below those peppers are jalapenos. Zucchini, including Italian Romanesco, Heirloom and regular Italian eggplant, and basil. (2nd row) Poblano peppers above jalapeno peppers, yellow squash. (bottom row) clamshell of okra, clamshell of shishitos, Zephyr squash, and bagged green beans.

Large Share

Today’s Large Share:
Left to Rt (top row): colorful Italian Goddess peppers, heirloom eggplant above italian eggplant, basil, and okra in a clamshell. (2nd row) Poblano peppers above jalapeno peppers, yellow squash. (bottom row) Zucchini, including Italian Romanesco, bagged Dragons Tongue beans, and Shishito peppers in a clamshell.

 Mini Share

Today’s Mini Share:

Left to Rt (top row): jalapenos above poblanos, Japanese eggplant, yellow squash, and basil (2nd row) Italian Goddess peppers, a clamshell of okra, a clamshell of shishitos, bagged Dragons Tongue beans. Zucchini across the bottom.