July 21 or 24 CSA

This weeks’ share contains:

3 pounds of Italian heirloom tomatoes (that you’ll weigh out yourself), 1 pound of yellow wax beans, 2 pounds of Romano beans, 1 bunch of red beets, 1 bunch of Tropea red onions, 1 pound of baby summer squashes.

We are having a great bean year and hope you are as excited about them as we are. The yellow wax beans pickle well if you like to make pickles. They are also great in bean and tomato salad. Romano beans withstand longer cooking. There are some great traditional Italian recipes for them. I’ll include one today. The baby squashes are great roasted whole or cut in half lengthwise. They are also great in rice dishes.

We pulled all of the onions from the field this week so these are the last that you’ll get with the tops still on. Onions will still be in the boxes regularly as well as garlic. It would be good to get feed back on whether you’d like more or less of these items.

We are at the busiest time of the farm year right now as we harvest whole crops of onions and potatoes to put into storage just as the tomato crop starts to ripen. Harvesting tomatoes takes many many hours of the week. While these things are going on, we have to continue regular harvests, plant seeds for fall crops, transplant other fall crops, and battle the weeds and mud. It is all going very well and the crew of people working here with us are amazing. They are hard working and funny and nice. It is a great year!

Fresh Beans in Tomato Sauce

2 pounds of romano beans, 1 tablespoon of ghee or butter or lard or olive oil, 1 small onion chopped, 1 tablespoon of chopped parsley, salt and pepper to taste, 1-2 large tomatoes.

1. blanch the beans either whole or snapped in half
2. In a large skillet over medium high heat, heat ghee, add onion and parsley and brown slowly.
3. Chop tomatoes into 1 inch chunks and add to skillet along with beans, salt and pepper, reduce heat to medium low and cook with lid on for about 20 minutes or until beans are tender. (after 10 minutes check and if they need more moisture, add a little water)