In your share, plus a recipe:

Our fall crops are coming on so we again have lettuce and greens. 

• Roma tomatoes (for sauces)
• Thyme and margoram
• Red onion
• Pepper
• Baby bok choi (for stir fry)
• Lettuce
• Cantaloupe

 My favorite quick tomato sauce:

Saute 1/2 of the red onion in 1/4 cup of olive oil (you can add the chopped green pepper if you like at this point). Add 2-4 cloves of chopped garlic after the onion is soft and fragrant. Also add 1 tbls. of chopped thyme and margoram. When the garlic is fragrant, add all of the chopped tomatoes--should be about 2-3 cups. 

Cook down  the tomato sauce for 45 minute to 1 hour, stirring occasionally until it is not as watery and the tomatoes have started to break down. For a smoother sauce, pulse it in the food processor, or just leave it to keep it chunky. If you want to add meat balls the 45 minute mark is a good time to let them cook in the sauce. My favorite meatball recipe is, of course, on Epicurious--I usually cut this in half and use only elk (or hamburger):

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Spaghetti-and-Meatballs-351190

Also I promised to give my aunt Judy's salsa recipe. I receive permission to post it when I was back visiting my family in Colorado this week. It is very close to Seth's Grandma Irma's recipe, who is from Durango, Mexico. That really is the best salsa I have ever tasted, but she would never let me have her recipe! 

2 chopped (roasted either under the broiler or on a grill) green chiles

2 cups of chopped tomatoes (or a 16 oz can)

2 teaspoons of chopped garlic

2 scallions

1 tbls chopped cilantro

1 tbls of fresh lime juice

1 tsp of sea salt (or to taste)

Blend or pulse for about 15 seconds in the blender or food processor. serves about 20 people.

Update from the farm...

One of the things that I love about farming is the cyclical nature of it. It seems like yesterday that we were working our tail off trying to get everything planted and here we are now trying to cover crop and close everything down for the season. One of the goals for our farm is to put enough food away during the winter to off set our grocery bill and to savor the taste of summer when it is 20 below outside. Last year we canned 32 quarts of tomatoes and this year we are well on our way to that.

From the Greenhorns- A young and beginning farmer organization (not that I am young, but hey...)

Below is a picture of the concord grapes that Ben so lovingly planted two years ago. This is our first year that we will have grape jelly (two whole jars) from them. The freezer is full of beans, pesto, peas and edamame for the winter. Ben's other effort on the farm is our broiler (meat) chickens. They will be slaughtered this weekend and put in the freezer. We are thinking about growing out and selling some turkeys for next year, so keep that in mind for Thanksgiving 2012.

Grapes before....

Grape jelly after... The other stuff is apple butter from our apple tree.

Our farm theme song...

Hello again!

I have taken a brief hiatus from the farm blog due to travels and general burn-out from the harrowing schedule of the farm. If we had a farm theme song Red Clay Halo by Gillian Welch and David Rawlins would be it..not that we have red clay here--but our hands and clothes are perpetually muddy! Just look at how fast David Rawlins put that capo on...wow!

Frost on the farm!

We greeted Labor day with a frosty morning. We have used many season extension techniques on the farm, but we cannot cover the entire farm! The frost got most of our beans, winter squash, cucumbers, summer squash.

Frosted cucurbits...

We are turning our sites towards fall. All of our fall crops are planted and your food shares should go for another month, as long as the weather holds.

The fall crops are starting to come on and you should have lettuce and greens again next week.

Here are some recipes to use your goodies this week.

One of our favorite recipes for cooler nights is roasted root vegetables:
Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees. Cut potatoes, carrots, beets, onions (or leeks) into 1/2 to 1" pieces and peel garlic cloves. Put them in an iron skillet or baking dish. Toss with olive oil and fresh thyme and/ or rosemary.
Place in the oven and cook for 45-50  minutes, or until tender and crispy on the outside.

If you haven't cooked winter squash before--this is the perfect time for it. It sweetens up after the first frosts. Cut it in half, scoop out the seeds, place several pats of butter in the cavity and sprinkle with brown sugar or maple syrup. Bake at 350-375 for 45 minutes to 1 hour. Or until soft.