When I made the marmalade, I used slightly less sugar and two lemons instead of one. I also cooked it for 1-1/2 hours to get it syrupy. I love marmalade, but this was the first time I’ve tried making it. It turned out to be one of my favorites!
The farm has lots of winter squash right now, including butternut and spaghetti. Here’s an easy and delicious way to make spaghetti squash. This is a great low-carb alternative to pasta.
First, cook the squash. (I boiled mine.) Then let it cool a bit, cut it in half, and scrape out the seeds. Use a fork to scrape out the flesh of the squash. It will come out in threads like spaghetti.
Mix the squash spaghetti threads in a saucepan with a little bit of olive oil and a couple tablespoons of pesto. Optionally, top with parmesan cheese and stick under a broiler for a few minutes until golden brown.
Our open house this weekend was a great success! We had a wonderful turnout. Thanks to everyone who came out to support our local farm.
During the day, we had farm tours and introduced folks to our heritage breed Nigerian Dwarf goats, Navajo Churro sheep, turkeys, and Plymouth Barred Rock and Rhode Island Red chickens. We also toured the fields and the greenhouse and took a look at the newly planted fall crops. Jerry shared his wisdom about planting and growing in our environment and utilizing sustainable growing methods to be good stewards of the land.
Jerry demonstrating sustainable farming methods (photo courtesy of Roger McKasson)
Everyone enjoyed lots of good food, including pesto bread, cucumber salad, pesto pasta salad, La Buena Vida lasagna (specially formulated for this event), and delicious make-your-own pizzas. (Most of the pizzas got to their rightful owners, though there was some confusion when a group of pizza makers set off on a farm tour before their pizzas came out of the oven.) Dessert was apple and peach pie, as well as pumpkin cheesecake. Thanks to the whole crew of volunteers in the kitchen who worked on this.
Music for the day was provided by the fabulous Gypsy Carpenters.
Burt and Susan
We also had a farm stand, cooking demonstrations, tree climbing, and lots of fun!
Farm stand with winter squash, eggplants, watermelon, pies, and much more!
Those kids have so much energy!
The day ended with a group making fresh apple cider. Delicious!
Thank you to everyone who made this great community event possible!
Lappe Moore, Frances and Anna Lappe. Hope’s Edge. New York, NY: Putnam, 2002.
This book is about a lot more than food. It is a mother-daughter journey around the world to explore issues of food, labor, politics, activism, and more.
Nestle, Marion. Food Politics. Berekely, CA: University of California Press, 2002.
This book is by a former adviser to the federal government of food and nutrition issues documents the influence of the food industry on our food choices and the influence of industry on government policy.
Pringle, Peter. Food Inc. – Mendel to Monsanto – The Promises and Perils of the Biotech Harvest. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster, 2003.
This book by an investigative journalist takes a very balanced look at the pros and cons of genetic modification of food.
Robbins, John. The Food Revolution. Berkeley, CA: Conari Press, 2001.
Singer, Peter and Jim Mason. The Way We Eat – Why Our Food Choices Matter. Emmaus, PA: Rodale Press, 2006.
This book takes a look at three different types of family diets and examines the implications of each backed up with a lot of research. It has a definite perspective toward the humane treatment of animals, but I would challenge even the most adamant omnivore to read this and not rethink what they eat.
This is a delicata squash, a mild tasting, heirloom variety of winter squash. You can store them for several weeks.
What do I do with it?
You can bake, roast , steam, or sauté it. You can peel it first with a vegetable peeler, or if you’re roasting to make soup, just leave the skin on while you cook it or remove it first. (One really nice thing about these squashes is that the skin is very thin. You can easily remove it before or after cooking with a vegetable peeler.) It you’re baking or roasting it, cut it in half longways and scoop the seeds out. To bake, put in a pan with 1/2” or so of water, cover, and bake at 375° for 30 min. or until soft. If you are roasting, leave the skin on, brush the cut side with olive oil, and put cut side down on a baking sheet. Roast at 425° for 20 min. or until soft. To steam or sauté, peel first and then cook on the stove.
Then what?
There are lots of nice ways to prepare delicata squash.
Steam or sauté, add butter, salt and pepper and serve as a side vegetable.
Use roasted squash and make a soup or bisque. (This is my favorite.)
Cube and make with a rosemary, sage, and cider vinegar glaze.
Cook any of the above ways, mash squash, and add butter, parmesan cheese, salt, pepper, and thyme or other herbs. Use the mixture to stuff ravioli or pasta shells.
(Note: These cooking and serving suggestions will work with most winter squash.)
This time of year, things are growing like crazy, and gardens are sometimes producing more than we can eat (or want to eat). In the winter, when fresh produce is hard to get, it’s wonderful to be able to get a taste of summer with frozen produce. Here are some tips for freezing different kinds of produce.
Zucchini or other summer squash
Blanch, grill, or saute and freeze in plastic resealable bags.
Make zucchini bread or muffins and freeze.
Tomatoes
Put whole tomatoes in a single layer on a cookie sheet. Freeze solid (6 hours or so), and then put in a resealable bag.
Make tomato sauce and freeze it. (It’s so convenient to have ready-to-use tomato sauce for pasta or pizza and much more delicious than canned sauce.)
Sun- or oven-roast tomatoes and freeze them. For oven roasting, quarter or half the tomatoes, spread in a single layer on oiled cookie sheets, drizzle with olive oil, and sprinkle with kosher salt and fresh pepper. (You can add garlic and herbs as well if you like.) Bake at 225 degrees for 3-4 hours (or until done depending on the size of your tomatoes). The tomatoes will get shriveled looking as the water is removed. After they are done, you can freeze and use in a wide variety of recipes.
Chop finely in a food processor adding a small amount of water to make it easy to take out. Put in ice cube trays and top with water. Freeze and then put cubes in resealable bags when frozen. (You can then pop these cubes right into soups or sauces as needed.)
Make pesto. Then freeze in ice cube trays and put in resealable bags when frozen.
Leeks
Cut white and pale green part into 1/2″ thick round pieces. Wash to remove any dirt. Drain. Spread out in a single layer on a cookie sheet. Freeze solid (6 hours or so), allowing the pieces to freeze individually. Then put in a resealable bag.
Berries
Spread out in a single layer on a cookie sheet. Freeze solid (6 hours or so), allowing the berries to freeze individually. Then put in a resealable bag.
If you plan to make pie, make your pie filling and freeze in resealable bags.
Apples and peaches
Peel and cut fruit in half. Put halves in a single layer on a cookie sheet with the cut side up. Freeze solid (6 hours or so), and then put in a resealable bag.
Lightly saute or blanch and freeze in resealable bags.
If you plan to make pie, make your pie filling and freeze in resealable bags.
Whatever you freeze, make sure to label and date it so you can easily identify it later.
