Jen and Derek's Farm Fresh Veggies: 12th CSA Week - How many CSA bins can you fit in your car???

Today was an interesting harvest day on the farm. The weather was overcast and drizzly making for tricky walking through the garden lugging bins full of CSA veggies but I was thankful for no sun as I was without my harvest vehicle. Last Thursday I was all set to head to Summerside with the truck full of CSA bins, I had 40 minutes to get to town, just what I needed. I jumped in the truck after doing one last check of the bins (which I ended up being 1 short, my silly math, but thats another story) and when I went to turn the key there was nothing!! Oh no. I called Derek up at work thinking that he would have the magic answer but unfortunately it was not to be had. Plan B, back up the civic and down went the seats, who knew a civic could hold 18 bins of vegetables, I sure did not. It was a fast drive to town but thankfully I made it only a few minutes late and no-one was waiting, thank goodness. So all weekend Derek was taking things apart on the truck trying to figure out what was wrong. Thanks to his investigations he was able to track down the fried part and we're just waiting for it to come in. So my regular harvest truck was replaced with our lawnmower pulling a small wagon. Its actually what I used to use before we got the cap on the truck and it sure was slow going compared to the truck but I'm just glad I had something besides lugging everything from the field to the wash station back to the coolers in the barn.

The other monkey wrench in my day was that my helper called in sick around 9am. Yikes!!! So I put everything into high gear and amazingly everything got done in time for the Charlottetown deliveries. It was a crazy day.

This week the large share has lettuce mix, beets, carrots, garlic, red and yellow onions, leeks, quart of mixed tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchini, mixed beans, rutabaga, green peppers and superior potatoes (the final ones for the season). The grab box had kale, swiss chard, cilantro, dill, cabbage and more of the veggies above.

If your new to leeks then your in for a treat. Leeks are probably one of my favourite vegetables because of their amazing flavour.

Potato Leek Soup

3 cups chicken stock
1 cup beef stock
2 leeks (white and light green parts)
3 medium potatoes, cut in small cubes
2 carrots, cut in small pieces
1/2 onion
salt & pepper, to taste
summer savoury, couple of shakes
thyme, couple of shakes
Fry the chopped onions and leeks in a bit of butter for a few minutes along with the salt, pepper, thyme and summer savoury. Add chopped potatoes, carrots, chicken & beef stock and bring to a boil. Simmer for 1/2 hour or until veggies are soft.

Cream of Tomato and Leek Soup
3 tbsp butter
2 leeks, white part only, sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 carrot, chopped
1 rib celery, chopped
3 tbsp all-purpose flour
8 ripe medium tomatoes, peeled & chopped
2 ½ cups milk
3 tbsp tomato paste or tomato sauce
1 bay leaf
½ tsp dry thyme
1 ½ tsp salt
¼ tsp pepper
3 green onions, sliced
½ cup sour cream (optional)

1.Wash leeks very well; slice and use white and light green parts only (save the tops for vegetable stock)
2.Melt butter in large saucepan. Add leeks and garlic; cook without browning until tender. Add carrots and celery; cook 5 minutes. Add flour and cook without browning, 5 minutes.
3.Add tomatoes, bring to a boil. Add milk, tomato paste, or tomato sauce, bay leaf, thyme, salt, pepper and slowly bring to a boil, stirring occasionally. Lower heat, cover, simmer gently 30 minutes. Remove bay leaf.
4.Puree, heat thoroughly and season to taste. If soup is thicker than you like add additional milk. Serve sprinkled with green onions and a spoonful of sour cream.

If you have any cilantro left from last week or grabbed some today from the grab box you should try out the below recipe, it was very tasty.

Cilantro & Mango Salsa

1 mango, diced
1 tomato, diced (I used 3-4 small tomatoes and a few golden cherry's all cut up)
1/4 red onion, diced
1/4 - 1/3 c cilantro, finely chopped
1-2 Tbsp lime/lemon juice (i used 1 tbsp of each)

Mix together and serve immediately with crackers, chips or tortilla chips. I let this sit overnight and mixed together before serving. It was a huge hit at a pot luck!!! Thanks Naomi for sending this along.

There are now 6 weeks left in the CSA 2010 program. I was telling everyone tonight at the pick-up that there were 7 weeks left but this is week 12 so that leaves 6 remaining weeks. Hopefully the fall frosts will stay away so we can all enjoy lots of farm fresh veggies for the remaining few weeks.

The boys turned 14 months old yesterday and I thought I would share a few pictures of their recent adventures. They LOVE going on farm walks to find hidden or forgotten treasures including dropped carrots, lonely cucumbers and their favourite of all, golden ripe cherry tomatoes off the vine. Yesterday I wanted to go and visit my neighbour but they were too busy playing with the lawnmower to follow me so I put them in the wheelbarrow and wheeled them over. They loved it!! Such great little farm boys already.