Porter Farm Happenings July 18, 2009

As you’re driving down the driveway at the farm, take a look at our new sign! Thank you to Terry Zielinski from Terry’s Signs in Elba for coming up with a great design for us. Hopefully this will make it easier for new members coming to the farm for the first time to find us!

Organic Grains
This week our fall barley that was planted last September was harvested. We had a record crop this year—98 bushels to the acre! This is a really good yield for organic growers and even conventional growers.
Unfortunately, the grain market is flooded with organic grain and we have only been able to sell 100 of our 350 tons. If we cannot sell it, we will feed it to our livestock. If we do this, the grain will only have one third of the value that it would have had.
This has once again forced us to rethink what we do here at the farm. Like we have said in the past, our CSA will continue to be our main focus. We are working on some new projects and will update you in the coming weeks!

What’s in this week’s bag??
 Green Beans
 Zucchini
 Yellow Squash
 Purple Kohlrabi
 White Kohlrabi
 Romaine Lettuce
 Red Oak Leaf Lettuce or Red Fire Lettuce

Porter Farms T-Shirts!
We will be accepting orders until Saturday, August 8 and will mail you your shirts when they come in. Men’s, women’s, and child sizes are available! If you would like to order one, please send $22 to: P.O. Box 416, Elba, NY 14058. Make sure to include your name, address, phone number, the quantity and sizes of t-shirts being ordered, and your distribution site!

Farm News
While we were harvesting the green beans this week, we noticed that there was a large difference in their sizes. As the plants and blossoms were growing, the fruit did not set evenly because of the extreme weather that we have been having. Our later planting of beans also look like they are uneven in size. We tried to put a good mix of small and large beans in every box as we were packing them to make it as even as possible.
We decided not to wash the green beans in your bag this week so that they would not get moldy. Please take note that they are muddy due to the wet fields, so wash them well when you get home!
This week we transplanted broccoli, kale, collards, swiss chard, and spinach. Our crew also continued staking the tomatoes and weeding out the cabbage field.

*If you have a great recipe that you would like to share, please email it to us! *
Stuffed Baked Summer Squash
Ingredients:
-4 small summer squashes
-2 tbsp. butter
-2 tbsp. chopped onions
-1/2 tsp. salt
-1/4 tsp. paprika
-dash of nutmeg or cloves
-1 beaten egg
-1/2 cup dry bread crumbs
-1/2 cup grated cheese


Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cut summer squashes down the middle, either crosswise or horizontally. Scoop out the pulp, leaving a ½-inch shell.
2. Sauté in butter and chopped onions. Add the squash pulp and salt, paprika, and nutmeg or cloves. Stir and cook these ingredients until hot. Remove from the heat.
3. Add egg, bread crumbs, and grated cheese. You may rub the squash shells with butter or drippings. Fill them with the stuffing.
4. Place in an ovenproof dish on a rack over 1/8 inch of water or stock. Sprinkle the tops with dry bread crumbs and dots of butter.
5. Bake the squashes until tender, about 20 to 25 minutes, depending on their size.

Source: Joy of Cooking Cookbook