CSA Monday....

veggie share, week 18

Scallions, Green beans, Bok Choi, Kohlrabi, Red Jalapeños, Garlic


fruit share, week 9

Descriptions of this weeks fruit share from North Star Orchard..

Stellar Apples (yellow and smooth) Wow..crunchy! Juicy! Flavorful! 'Round here, we like these way better than Honeycrisp. The combo of sweet flavor and crisp and juicy texture make these a real winner!

Razor Russet Apples (greenish/yellowish/russeted) Not to be confused with Asian pears...these are indeed apple-shaped! Slightly sweet and juicy with a great texture. These are one of our favorites for snacking.

Hosui Asian Pears - Super-sweet and yummy! Eat these right away or store them in the fridge to eat later in the week. I eat these skin and all; there's really no bitterness to the skin as there is in some other Asian pear varieties. Have a napkin handy!

Magness Pears - A sweet and juicy 'European' pear. These will need time to get a bit soft though, so let them sit on your counter for a few days until you can dent them with a finger. This can take 3 to 6 days, so you've got plenty of time to eat your other fruits first.

Salsa Verde

Earlier in the week I hand picked some Tomatillos at Pennypack Farm. There were no more regular Tomatoes being offered so I decided to try these as there were plenty of them out in the fields. Once I brought them home, I had no idea what to do with them. Several people suggested making a Salsa Verde, and after looking up a few recipes found that this looked like a fairly easy way to work with this strange and unknown fruit.

I started out by roasting about twenty Tomatillos, and a couple mild green peppers. I did this on a small grill rack directly over my gas range...



I love the smell of fire roasted vegetables...



Once I had finished roasting the Tomatillos, Peppers, and some Green Onions, I combined them into a food processor with a couple cloves of Garlic, a bit of Vegetable Oil, some Fresh Lime juice, and some fresh Parsley. (Should have used Cilantro but I don't have it in my garden). Most recipes call for some salt, but I didn't want to add any.

The finished salsa was very good, although next time I make it I'll use a pepper with a bit more kick to it. There is no heat at all in this one...

Walk through the garden....

Where did September go? Seems like yesterday it was Labor Day weekend, and now here we are a week away from October! Summer over, and Fall officially here. Amazing!

One of the peppers I grew this year were Tabasco Peppers, and I never picked any of them. I've been using my Thai Dragon Peppers to cook with. Earlier this week I cut down my entire Tabasco plant, loaded with fruit, and hung it upside down in a nice sunny spot to dry them. I still have another plant in the ground that is loaded with flowers and small fruits. I'm hoping I can coax along another harvest. I should have plenty of these nice dried Tabasco peppers for winter cooking...




Right after Labor Day I removed all of the Tomato plants from my main raised bed, and prepared the soil for Fall Crops, which consisted of nothing more than just turning it over and removing all remaining tomato plant debris. I let the bed rest for a couple weeks and on Monday of this week I seeded in rows of two varieties of Arugula, an Italian Arugula (Renee's Garden) and a Wild Rocket (Franchi), some Purple Top White Globe Turnips (Burpee), French Breakfast Radishes (Botanical Interests), Mache Corn Salad (Botanical Interests), and some Baby Pak Choi Green Fortune (Renee's Garden)...



By today, just about every row has germinated. We've had perfect weather for starting seeds... warm and humid with nights in the high 60's. Couldn't ask for better conditions to get the Fall garden off to a great start. Here is a close up of the tiny Arugula sproutlings...



For me, one of the best things about the last weeks of the season is enjoying the Herb Garden. Everything seems to gain an intensity of fragrance and flavor, and maybe that is simply because we know these are the last of the season's fresh herbs. In another month it will be nothing but dried herbs till Spring! I've still got plenty of Basil, Oregano, Thyme, and more Lemon Grass than I know what to do with. I have got to remember to dig up a couple of the Lemon Grass plants and bring them inside this year. They are tender perennials that do not survive the Pennsylvania winter.





One last photo. I have been posting occasionally about the amazing Strawberry season I had this year, and the story continues. Here it is a week from October and I am still finding beautiful fruit on a daily basis!



Hope you all enjoy every minute of the gorgeous Fall weather ahead. I am looking forward to some road trips into northern Pennsylvania and upstate New York to see the spectacular foliage and hunt down some late season farmer's markets.

Pennypack Farm...

Some photos from Pennypack Farm in Horsham, Pa. This is the CSA where I get my weekly vegetables


picking blackberries


fall season crops



the herb garden

CSA updates

Week 17



Week 8

Pennypack Farm...

CSA updates...

Wow... Week 16 of the vegetable shares from Pennypack Farm! As you may know from previous posts, each week I have taken a portrait of everything I have brought home from the farm. Not always something I have felt like doing after a long day, but I haven't missed a single week yet. I had a feeling that seeing the documentation of a full season of produce from a small farm, on a week to week basis, would be an interesting study. Maybe you have to be an obsessed gardener like me to appreciate this photo study. The set of 16 weekly portraits can be seen here... Veggie Shares 2009. Five weeks to go to complete the season!



Here is the fruit share for this week. I was particularly amazed by the pear shaped apples and I can't wait to try them...



Descriptions of this week's fruit share from North Star Orchard...

Liberty Apples (green with some red blush). Tart and very crisp, we like these better than Granny Smith as they have more apple-ly flavor, plus they're tart and crunchy. Use them for fresh eating or in cooking. They're great in apple cake!

Adam's Pearmain Apples (goldish-green russeted variety with some pink blush). This is a classic antique variety, and it sure packs the flavor! I wouldn't call it tart, necessarily, but it's certainly not sweet. Sugary-tart perhaps, with an intense and aromatic flavor. Addictive!

Encore Peaches (yellow with red blush) Allow to soften for 1 to 3 days on the counter.

Sugar Giant Peaches (dark red outside, white inside). Our last variety of white peaches for the year. Savor every bite!
Allow to soften for 1 to 3 days on the counter.

Hosui Asian Pears - Super-sweet and yummy! Eat these right away or store them in the fridge to eat later in the week after you've finished your peaches. I eat these skin and all; there's really no bitterness to the skin as there is in some other Asian pear varieties. Have a napkin handy!

Seed sharing...

Is anyone interested in sharing and or trading heirloom seeds this Winter? Add to comments of this post what seeds you are saving from your garden. I am mostly interested in seeds from gardens in Southeastern Pennsylvania, and especially vegetables with a long heirloom history.

But please tell me what seeds you are saving regardless of your location! Maybe we can start a small network of seed sharing...

went to a garden party...

I went to a garden party yesterday, and as I was talking to someone they pointed just over my shoulder, and when I turned around there was this beautiful Mantis right at eye level. I barely had to move an inch to take this photo...

CSA September!

Who doesn't love this time of year?....cool crisp air, and fantastic tasting harvests of fruits and vegetables! I've got 6 more weeks of CSA shares to look forward to. The Apples and Asian Pears coming from North Star Orchard have been incredible, and the veggies from Pennypack Farm never fail to impress me.

veggie share, week 15


fruit share, week 6

Seed Saving Time!

Many thanks go out to my friend Albert Yee for the reminder to save seeds! It is more important than ever after this really dreadful growing season. Any quality fruit that made it through this year of bad weather and Late Blight is surely a keeper and something you will want to grow again next season. It's important to make sure you save seeds from the best picks of the harvest.



I'm saving seeds from the three most successful varieties I grew this year... Harzfeuer, Schimmieg Creg, and Hahnstown Yellow.

There are several ways to save seeds... I have a friend who just squeezes the seeds onto a paper towel and lets them air dry. He has mailed them to me and I have grown them very successfully. These are the Santore Romas I grew last season. I started them again this year from seed and because I lost track of my plant labels as the seedlings got bigger, I ended up without planting any Santores in my garden this year. (Huge lesson learned!! Keep track of your seedlings!)

Earlier in the season I found a really excellent blog post on how to save seeds. It seemed really simple and foolproof so I saved it...

How to Save Seeds

It's a cold miserable rainy day here in Philadelphia, much like the season started. The perfect day to begin saving seeds for next season!

final harvest....

final harvest 2009

The final harvest of the year is always bittersweet, but this year I am sort of glad to be finished with the dismal tomato season. Last season I was still picking wonderful tasting fruit all through October. Yesterday I decided to pull out all of the tomato plants and get ready for a full crop of cool weather veggies.

Today I have a slow cooker full of sauce simmering for the next 12 hours or so. I used up about half of the harvest, including 4 lbs of plum tomatoes I got from my CSA this week. About a gallon of sauce for the freezer, and plenty of green tomatoes for pickling. Plenty left for sharing with friends and lot's of great tomato salads for the next week.



Here is the bed all ready for seeding with cold crops like spinach, arugula, bok choi, broccoli, etc. I have plenty of seed packets left over from Spring, so I'll just use what I already have on hand.

CSA updates...

Just realized I have been forgetting to post the weekly CSA photos....


CSA Week 13

CSA Week 14

Herbes de Provence

Herbes de Provence is a traditional blend of herbs grown in the south of France. I've been drying my own herbs for several years now, and often give baggies filled with extras to my neighbors and friends. This year I decided to go with a bit more inventive and creative approach with a unique culinary blend to give as gifts. I found these great little containers on the internet.They really look a whole lot nicer than sandwich baggies.

This blend consists of Basil, Oregano, Thyme, Tarragon, Lavender, and Orange & Lemon peel. There are so many uses for Herbes de Provence, but I generally add some to a good Olive Oil and create an amazing marinade for chicken or steak.

It is also the perfect herb mixture for Chicken Soup. You can tie it up into some cheese cloth so you can remove it later, or just throw the herbs right into your stock for a more rustic soup.

Edit* Since a couple people have commented on these really cool containers, here is where I got them, and did I mention they were only 75 cents each? I have only purchased one order from this company, but I was satisfied and will order from them again...

Specialty Bottle Supply