This week's Community Supported Agriculture share! Delicious....

On my honor, the CSA members will not go hungry after they pickup their shares tonight at the farm!

(Community Supported Agriculture, a farm shareholder program.  For details: http://wishfulacresfarm.com/CSA.html )

A fresh salad from my garden in November !!

Planting seeds is not something you usually think of doing at the end of July / early August.

Yet, there I was.  Luckily, the summer had been cool and wet.  I wasn't sweating and swearing out in the fields on that early August morning.

It was enjoyable.  I was planting.

Fall vegetables.  Some vegetables grow best in cool weather, others will only grow in hot weather.  Some vegetables can even tolerate a frost or freeze, or even snow!

Veggies that grow well in fall are basically the same ones that grow well in early spring.  Lettuce, spinach, onions, radish, turnip, rutabaga, carrots, beets, and many, many more!

So there I was, on November 8, picking food from the garden at the farm.  Yep!  I live on the Illinois / Wisconsin border.  It gets cold here.  We had our first frost this year on October 5.  It snowed a bit on October 10.  We had a freeze warning in early October.  Yet these vegetables grew on.  These hardy few.  These wonderful few.

I picked many varieties of lettuce, some spinach, too many turnips to count, rutabaga, kale, and green onions.

So.... on November 9, my husband and I sat down to a lunch that came from our garden.  A delicious salad.  It started with the gourmet lettuce that we had picked the day before. So good.

Then I added some chopped green onion which we had also harvested the previous day.

On top of that came a yummy "watermelon" radish that had been chilling in our refrigerator since it's harvest in September.

I even had a garden tomato.  I wouldn't lie to you!  I had picked it green the first week of October and set it on my counter next to some winter squash.  I then, of course, forgot all about it.  Until today, when I was getting a cup of coffee and had to blink twice at seeing a red orb lying next to the coffee pot.

We topped the salad off with some leftover locally-grown, grass-fed beef in the form of a giant grilled steak.  Oh, yeah!

It was scrumptious.  Yes, it is possible to eat a fresh salad from your own garden in November.  I am now saying my thanks to myself for planting those seeds in early August.  And counting my blessings for such a great harvest!

Guess this vegetable!

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I'll give a free pound of organic heirloom tomatoes to the first person who correctly guesses this vegetable. That is a quarter at the bottom of the picture, so you have an idea of the size of this vegetable.



(Sorry, locals only for the prize, I can't ship them. But non-locals please feel free to guess!)








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Are you a locavore?

Beautiful heirloom vegetables:
Locavore is a new term, defined below courtesy of Wikipedia:

Local food (also regional food or food patriotism) or the local food movement is a "collaborative effort to build more locally based, self-reliant food economies - one in which sustainable food production, processing, distribution, and consumption is integrated to enhance the economic, environmental and social health of a particular place" and is considered to be a part of the broader sustainability movement. It is part of the concept of local purchasing and local economies, a preference to buy locally produced goods and services. Those who prefer to eat locally grown/produced food sometimes call themselves "localvores" or locavores.

100 years ago, everyone was a locavore. Our great-grandparents would have laughed at our desire to eat lettuce in January.

There are so many reasons to eat locally. Here are just a few, courtesy of http://www.eatlocalchallenge.com/:

1. Eating local means more for the local economy.
2. Locally grown produce is fresher.
3. Local food just plain tastes better.
4.Locally grown fruits and vegetables have longer to ripen.
5. Eating local is better for air quality and pollution than eating organic. (This one bothers me a bit because it's very possible to eat local organics.)
6. Buying local food keeps us in touch with the seasons.
7. Buying locally grown food is fodder for a wonderful story.
8. Eating local protects us from bio-terrorism.
9. Local food translates to more variety.
10. Supporting local providers supports responsible land development.

For greater explanations of these 10 reasons, please visit http://www.lifebeginsat30.com/elc/2006/04/10_reasons_to_e.html.

On a more personal note, I'll give you my reasons for eating local foods whenever possible. It makes no sense to me to buy carrots, grown in California, from a grocery store when there is a struggling local farmer who will sell me fresher, tastier, more exotic carrots for the same price.

Having lived my whole life in the rural midwest, and seen our economy slide downhill, I can tell you firsthand how important it is to keep our money in the community. There is the study that shows for every $1 you spend locally it generates twice as much for the local economy. For example, I give $1 to a local farmer who then spends his/her money on items in our local stores, property taxes, other farmers, etc. When businesses are not owned locally, money leaves the community at every transaction.

My two oldest boys and I shelling locally-grown peas, 2008.

I was raised eating locally. This was definitely unusual for the 1980s, but my farm-raised mom would always buy fresh foods from farmers. We also have distant cousins around who farm and we would support them whenever possible as well. Our community has always had a farmers market. My mom would put up food each summer. This usually included sweet corn (which she cut off the cob and froze) as well as canning tomatoes. Some years also green beans, rhubarb, applesauce. There is no substitute for local tomatoes. The tomatoes in the grocery store should be left there. Seriously. They're poor substitutes for the real thing. They were picked before they were ripe, shipped thousands of miles. Plus the variety sold in grocery stores was chosen for it's thick skin (helps when shipping them, doncha know). Yuk. Grow your own. If you don't know how to can, toss them whole into freezer bags and freeze them for winter. Or support your local farmer's market! You can find your local market here: http://www.localharvest.org/ or contact your local university extension office.

Back to my mom. She taught me how to can and freeze foods. As her mother taught her. On and on backward through the generations. My family has never skipped a generation of local eating and food preservation. I'm very thankful for this, and hope to pass my knowledge onto others who may not have had the benefit of growing up this way.

My two oldest boys eating local sweet corn at a farm get-together about 1 mile from where it was grown and picked earlier that same day, summer 2008.

We also ate local meats growing up, as my family does today. You can buy directly from the farmer with other families (each purchase a quarter cow, half a pig, chickens, etc) and have them processed at your local meat locker. Your local meat locker also sells meats purchased from local farmers. Many of these farmers raise organic, grass-fed animals. Just ask.

Another way to find local foods is through your nearest food cooperative. Ask around, you may have one nearby. This consists of a group of people who order natural foods together to receive a reduced price. These foods are usually ordered from a corporation who sells to grocery stores, so they may not be local. However, as co-op people tend to support local foods there will probably be local foods available at your food pickup. Things such as local raw honey, fresh free-range eggs, meats, grains, fresh produce. The co-op I belong to in my small town offers all these and sometimes more.

As for taste and health, there is no substitute for eating local foods. Fruits and vegetables taste so much better when fresh and in season. Have you ever tried eating a grocery store peach in January? Leave it there. Buy some fresh, local peaches during the summer and can or freeze them instead. Same goes for all vegetables and fruits that are grown thousands of miles away and out-of-season. They just taste.... bland. Tough. Dry. Old. Not fresh.
Healthy? Not as much as a local vegetable. The vitamins are more intact the fresher the produce. Plus, if you know the farmer and maybe you've even visited or helped out on the farm, you know how it was grown. You know what they are or aren't putting on their crops. You will know if there is a non-organic disgusting mega-dairy next door that may give nasty runoff and pollute the crops (think e-coli).

Studies consistently prove that free-range eggs and meats are healthier than their corporate-farm counterparts. Tastier, too! Yum!

4 generations of my family putting up bushels of sweet corn picked that morning, summer 2008.

A recent phenomenon is heirloom vegetables. These are unique varieties of vegetables that have awesome tastes. Heirloom means the seeds have been passed down for generations. These vegetables have superior qualities. However, they usually don't make for good shipping... so they can only be bought locally. Want to try some? Find a grower at farmers market.

Local farmers also aren't likely to hire illegal immigrants for pennies on the dollar to harvest the crops.

Eat local! Support your local farmers!

One of our chest freezers full of local foods for winter, summer 2008.

If you are at all interested in this sort of thing, a great book to read is "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle" by Barbara Kingsolver. Although it is a non-fiction work, Barbara is a famous novelist. Thus, the book reads more like a great work of fiction - it's not boring or dry at all.


(I planted some of the lima bean variety shown on the front cover! They're so beautiful. They're growing well and I can't wait to taste them.)

Heirloom Tomato & Peppers grown 2009

Tomatoes

Yellow Stuffer (Heirloom). Indeterminate.  (Click here to see how I cooked these delicious tomatoes in August!)
Click here to see how we cooked them in September (Italian Stuffed Tomatoes recipe).

Yellow tomatoes, shaped like bell peppers, are perfect for stuffing. Vigorous vines produce loads of 3 to 4-lobed fruits.









Another description: Gourmet Yellow Stuffer Tomato:
Resembles a golden pepper with seeds clustered near the top. Core removes easily for stuffing. Try stuffing with a mixture of spinach and cheese, or any other mixture. Australian origin, fruits keep for an extended period when refrigerated. Indeterminate, 85 days from transplant.

Yellow Cherry Tomato (Heirloom). Indeterminate.
Lots of small, 1/2", pretty fruits to toss in your salads. Strong vines produce high yields of yellow jewels, preferred by taste-testers about the same percentage as for Super Sweet 100.
These tomatoes were good, nice and sweet, and one of the earliest to ripen for us!

Silvery Fir Tree Tomato (Heirloom). Determinate.
Makes an attractive patio plant, with silvery-gray, unusual, lacy, fern-like foliage. Very early producer of 3 to 4", flattened, oblate fruits ranging from deep orange to red, with excellent acidic flavor. Good disease resistance. Requires stakes or cages.
Along with our Yellow Cherry, our first to ripen in 2009, as advertised!

Another description:
Distinctive carrot-like silvery-gray foliage on compact 24" plants. Heavy crops of round, slightly flattened 3-3½" red fruits. Extremely decorative variety that is a real eye-catcher. Does extremely well in hanging baskets or on patios. Determinate, 58 days from transplant.


Black Sea Man Tomato (Heirloom). Determinate. (So cool looking - I'm excited about this one.)
A hardy Russian heirloom that looks odd but tastes delicious. Rich, tangy tomato flavor in medium-sized, 4 to 8 oz. fruits with brown-black skins and pink shoulders. Fruits are slightly plum-shaped, revealing skeleton-like veins when blanched and peeled. Short, potato leaf plants. Plant early for best results.
These were neat! Tasted like a typical acidic red tomato but looked so distinctive!

Another description:
Small plants with medium-sized deep brown fruits, rich flavor. Looks incredibly odd when blanched and peeled, revealing skeletonlike veins under the skin. Potato leaf, but determinate, 75 days from transplant


Pineapple Tomato (Heirloom). Indeterminate.
Enormous, uniquely-patterned, yellow-red striped fruits will be the center of attraction. Beefsteak-type fruits easily grow to 5" and larger, and are orange-yellow with red streaks. Fruits have meaty flesh, mild flavor, and no green shoulders. Heavy foliaged plants produce good yields.

Unfortunately, this year was such a bad year for tomatoes.  Almost all of our larger tomatoes failed (it was cold & rainy all summer).  The few of these we tasted were delicious. Sweet & mild.






Mortgage Lifter Tomato (Heirloom). Indeterminate.
Also called Radiator Charlie. Longtime favorite with good yields of very large, smooth, pink-skinned fruits even in droughts. Very meaty fruits with few seeds, much like Giant Belgium, but not quite as large. Very mild, delectable, sweet flavor. 85 days.

Again, most of our large tomatoes failed this year. We had a few of these biggies!

Another description:
HEIRLOOM Indeterminate. The story is that a gentleman named Radiator Charlie bred this variety with crossed between German Johnson, Beefsteak, and other varieties. He was able to earn enough selling the seed to pay off his mortgage during the Depression. The very large, pink skinned, sweet tomatoes.


Isis Candy Tomato (Heirloom). Indeterminate.
Superior quality fruits, marbled in red and with a cat's-eye starbust on each blossom end. 1-1/2" fruits are a silky blend of sugary sweetness and rich fruitiness. Heavy yields, with season-long production of short trusses, in double rows of 6 to 8 fruits each. 70-80 days

These ripened later than our other cherry-sized (yellow) tomatoes. They were incredibly sweet and they seemed to keep producing after almost all the other varieties succumbed to blight.





Martinos Roma Tomato (Heirloom). Determinate.
You can't go wrong with this Italian heirloom, no matter what you have in mind: sauces, salsas, pastes, farmer's market--bring it on! Richly flavored, meaty, pear-shaped fruits set heavily on compact plants with rugose, dark green foliage. So heavily productive, the 2 oz., 3" fruits tend to drop from the vine when ripe. Most often used for cooking, but perfectly suited to eating fresh.

Great!  Used in all of our canning! Made great sauces & salsas.

Another description:
Italian heirloom. Mild-flavored meaty productive paste tomato with pretty rugose (puckered) foliage. Very heavy set of 2-3 ounce fruits perfectly suited for making sauce, salsa and paste. Extremely reliable variety for home or market. Has a tendency to fall off the vine when fully ripe. Rugose, 75 days from transplant.


Brandywine Tomato (Heirloom). Indeterminate.
An Amish heirloom that dates back to 1885 and is generally considered to be the world's best-flavored tomato. Plants look like potato vines with good yields of extra-large (weighing up to 1-1/2 lbs.), firm, clear-skinned, light rosy-pink fruits.

Another of our large tomatoes, which failed from too much rain.

Another description:
First introduced in 1885 by Amish farmers in Chester County, Pennsylvania, the large vines produce fruit that are 8–12 ounces and deep red in color. Very productive, excellent taste. Indeterminate, 80 days.

Saucey Tomato (Heirloom). Determinate.
This heavy producer easily out performs other tomatoes of its type in earliness and yield. Plants produce many robust clusters of plum-shaped fruits that ripen simultaneously for one major harvest. Smooth, meaty fruits can be easily shaken from the plants when mature. Satisfying to grow, and is sure to electrify sauces and salsas with intense, "real tomato" taste. 75-85 days.

These were also good.  Seemed resistant to the blight which killed off the larger tomato plants.  Great in sauces & salsa.

(Saucey is a Roma-type tomato)




Cherokee Purple Tomato (Heirloom). Indeterminate.
A reliable producer of unusual, medium pink-purple fruits that appear brown in color, and average 8 to 12 oz., apiece. Fruits are round to oblate, with no cracking. Exhibits tolerance to mild drought as well as to common diseases.

Again, failed with too much rain.  I did have a couple. Beautiful color, good taste.

Unique dusty rose color. Flavor rivals Brandywine, extremely sweet. Productive plants, large crops of 12 oz. fruits. Indeterminate, 80 days from transplant



Moonglow Tomato (Heirloom). Indeterminate.
A very pretty tomato and one of the best for straight-from-the- vine eating. Medium-sized, bright orange fruits glow with neon intensity against 36" vines. A high yielder and good keeper, producing loads of tasty, 3 to 4 oz., globe shaped fruits that are dense and meaty, with thick walls and few seeds. Flavor is sweet, with a hint of tartness, but without that strong acidic taste.

Best of show 2009!!  These tomatoes will definitely be grown in my garden for many years to come.  Kept right on growing, despite the terrible tomato weather.  Taste was superb.  Sweet.  Awesome.

Another description:
Medium-sized bright orange fruits. Solid orange meat, few seeds and wonderful flavor. One of our favorites since we first grew it in 1996. Indeterminate, 80 days from transplant.


Green Husk Tomatillo (Heirloom). Indeterminate (?)
Unusual 2" fruits are harvested green - the husks are removed before cooking. A staple ingredient in Mexican Salsa Verde (green sauce). Tart, yellow-green fruits can also be used to add a distinctive taste to salads.

Awesome as well.  Great for my Salsa Verde recipe .  These were also resistant to the blight & bad tomato weather.  They kept producing right up until frost. No problems with bugs, slugs, or animals taking bites from them because of the outer husk!!!  A winner.  Has definitely earned a permanent spot at the farm.

Another description:
Mexican husk tomato, prolific bushy plant 3-4' tall and across. Green 2" sweet fruits are ripe when the fruits burst through husks. Blended with hot peppers to make traditional Mexican green sauce. 90 days from transplant.




Jetsonic Hybrid Tomato (Hybrid. Only hybrid I'm growing.). Indeterminate.
A Jet Star type with large, bright red, 7 oz. firm fruits that are oblate to deep oblate shaped, with uniform, green shoulders and smooth skin. Vigorous plants. 68 days.

I may have had a few of these. The seed company sent them with my order, for free, otherwise I would never have grown a hybrid in my heirloom-only gardens.









Pepper Plants

Early Jalapeno Pepper (Heirloom)
Very hot, ideal for Mexican dishes. Deep green fruits mature to red. Sausage-shaped fruits, 3-1/2" by 1-1/2", are also perfect for pickling. Just like Jalapeno, but earlier and better adapted to cool coastal conditions. Compact, non-brittle bushes. 60-65 days

These just kept producing and producing.  We were swimming in jalapenos this year. We grew almost 100 jalapeno plants at the farm! That meant thousands of jalapenos. Lovely. Low maintenance.  Great for Salsa Verde, pickling, etc.






King Of The North Pepper (Sweet Bell Pepper). Heirloom.
Excellent in short-season gardens of Northern climates, due to early bearing and the huge, blocky shape of its thick-walled, bright red, 6" by 4" fruits. Great for stuffing. Mild taste becomes even more mellow as the fruits mature. 68-70 days

Great! Low maintenance, heavy producer.




Golden Calwonder Pepper (Sweet Bell Pepper). Heirloom.
Very similar to California Wonder (#03121), except that its smooth, glossy fruits ripen to a beautiful, golden-yellow. Adds rich color to salads and dishes. 72 days.

Delicious, sweet flavor. These were great.





Alma Paprika Pepper (Sweet, non-bell pepper). Heirloom.
Paprika is a kitchen staple that's easy-to-grow and process. One of the best paprika for drying, grinding, or picked straight from the prolific plants and eaten fresh. Thick-walled, sweet fruits start out creamy-white, then mature to orange, and finally red. 70-80 days

Neat. Cute.  That's about all I can say. I didn't do a lot with them. They were just too cute to pass in the seed catalog.





Napolean Sweet Pepper (sweet non-bell). Heirloom.
Home gardeners everywhere will love this heirloom dating back to the 1920's. High yielding, 24" tall plants produce 8" long, thick fleshed fruits consistently up until frost. Flavor is as mild and sweet as an apple when green-even sweeter when red. Excellent for fresh use, frying or drying. 70-90 days

Very sweet! The sweetest pepper I've ever tasted. Delicious! Very good stuffed.




Sweet Chocolate Pepper (Sweet bell). Heirloom.
One of the easiest sweet bells to grow, even in Northern gardens. Medium-sized, blocky, 3 to 4-lobed fruits average 2 to 3 ounces each, with thick flesh that adds a hint of spice to traditional sweet bell flavor. Harvest while green and enjoy with no aftertaste...or ripen fully to a rich chocolate. Exotic color and bright maroon interior give salads a gourmet look. 86 days.


These were awesome. Great in chiles rellanos.


Volcano Pepper. Mildly Hot. (Hybrid. Only hybrid pepper I'm growing).
Hungarian type with slightly taller plants and larger fruits than Hungarian Yellow Wax. Pendant borne fruits, 4 to 6" long, are glossy greenish-yellow to red at maturity and are mildly pungent averaging 2,000-4,000 scovilles. Excellent for pickling, roasting and fresh use. 60-70 days

Good. We canned them with our jalapenos.  Freebie from seed company.