THE BEET: Volume 13, Issue 7

THE BEET : VOLUME 13, ISSUE 7

In this week’s BEET:

1. This week's share
2. Letter from Ted
3. Reminder-Save The Date: Farm Tour!
4. Recipes
5. Groucho Marx Promotes Composting!
6. Around Town

CSA Pickup Today 5-7:30pm

PS 56 at Gates and Downing (enter on Downing)

This Week's Share

• Tomatoes
• Lettuce
• Swiss Chard
• Cabbage
• Cucumber
• Squash
• Onions
• Beets
• Blueberries or Apricots (Fruit Share)

(Sweet corn, beans, and peppers coming soon!)

A dry week, and good weather for getting things done. We planted lettuces and Swiss chard for the late summer, trellised tomatoes and new grapes and mulched blueberries. Our mechanical cultivators – the ones we imported from Holland a few years back – worked wonderfully until the rains came and sidelined our tractors, and now our onions are inaccessible to tractors because their foliage is so tall. We had no choice but to take care of the escaped weeds by hand. We have 43 beds of onions on bare ground, and another 20 or so on mulch – two acres in all, and all but the two we’ll harvest this week are now free of weeds. It took us three half-days to do it, sometimes on our hands and knees in weeds that occasionally stood waist high. It wasn’t especially enjoyable, the humidity nearing 100% in the high canopy of those onions, and we’re happy to have it behind us. But we feel good about having done the work, knowing that hard physical work done in moderation is good for us. None of us needs a gym membership. If all goes well, you’ll get onions of some kind each week for the remainder of the season.

 

Have a great week, Ted

REMINDER: SAVE THE DATE!

The annual Open House at Windflower Farm: Weekend of August 23-24

All CSA members are invited!

RECIPES

CUCUMBER MINT AGUA FRESCA

(from Anne, your newsletter author)

This is a great accompaniment to any summer meal- especially brunch. :)

• 3/4 Large Cucumber peeled and cut into chunks
• (reserve the other 1/4- un-peeled, and slice into thin rounds)
• 1/2 cup mint leaves, roughly chopped
• 1/2 cup simple syrup
• 1 cup fresh lime juice (from real limes)
• 2 or 3 cans seltzer water

1. Combine Lime Juice, mint, cucumber chunks in a blender- until very smooth.  Then add simple syrup, and blend again.
2. Pour over ice into serving pitcher, and then add the seltzer water.  Garnish with cucumber slices, and a mint sprig!

Note: making simple syrup, is very easy!  Bring one cup water and 1/3 cup raw sugar to a simmer over the stove, and stir until sugar dissolves.  Continue simmering until about 1/2 the liquid has evaporated.  Let cool a bit before adding to the lime juice mixture.

 QUARTER POUNDER BEET BURGER

(from the Post Punk Kitchen, by Isa Chandra )

Tho I have never had a real burger, my meat-eating friends assure me, that this comes close.  It is everything a burger should be.

Prep time: 75 min - Active time: 30 min

• 1 1/4 cups cooked, cooled brown rice
• 1 cup cooked brown or green lentils, cooled, drained well
• 1 cup shredded beets
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• Fresh black pepper
• 1 teaspoon thyme, rubbed between your fingers
• 1/2 teaspoon ground fennel (or finely crushed fennel seed)
• 1 teaspoon dry mustard
• 3 tablespoons very finely chopped onion
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tablespoons smooth almond butter
• 1/2 cup very fine breadcrumbs
• Olive oil for the pan

Peel beets and shred with the shredder attachment of your food processor, then set aside. Change the attachment to a metal blade. Pulse the brown rice, shredded beets and lentils about 15 to 20 times, until the mixture comes together, but still has texture. It should look a lot like ground meat. Now transfer to a mixing bowl and add all the remaining ingredients. Use your hands to mix very well. Everything should be well incorporated, so get in there and take your time, it could take a minute or two.

Place the mixture in the fridge for a half hour to chill. Preheat a cast iron pan over medium-high. Now form the patties. Each patty will be a heaping 1/2 cup of mixture. To get perfectly shaped patties, use a 3 1/2 inch cookie cutter or ring mold, otherwise, just shape them into burgers with your hands.

Pour a very thin layer of oil into the pan and cook patties for about 12 minutes, flipping occasionally. Do two at a time if you’re pan isn’t big enough. Drizzle in a little more oil or use a bottle of organic cooking spray as needed. Burgers should be charred at the edges and heated through. Serve immediately. But they taste pretty great heated up as well, so if you want to cook them in advance, refrigerate, then gently heat in the pan later on, then that is cool, too.

For more information, and additional pictures with this recipe, click here.

FARMING FOR EVERYONE:

Groucho Marx on Person to Person with Edward R. Murrow (Apr 9, 1954)

Groucho Marx was an avid supporter of Composting!  Who knew!  This is a really cute interview with him from the 50's.

On Apr 9, 1954, Groucho Marx was interviewed in his home by Edward R. Murrow for the program "Person to Person". Groucho is his usual wise-cracking self, and included daughter Melnda in the act as he so often did on "You Bet Your Life". They sing a duet together, and Groucho gives a tour of his house. A unique glimpse into Groucho's home life.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I7R4Uz6p7jA

A Note about compost . . .

Just a reminder- you can drop off your weekly compost at the Fort Greene Green Market- Saturdays from 8AM-3PM.  We don't accept compost at the CSA Pick-up, unfortunately.  The little bin that we have marked as "compost" is only for the few scraps that happen as a result of the pick up.  Unwanted carrot tops- or some bad leaves.  They go to the schools small garden compost- which is only able to handle a very small amount.

AROUND TOWN

FARM SCHOOL- NYC BENEFIT

Join Just Food and Farm School NYC's Executive Board on Monday, August 4, 2014 for a Special Benefit Performance

More Information Here

SUMMER SUPPER SERIES

Are you a foodie looking for something above and beyond?  Each year, Just Food organizes a series of fundraising events called Summer Supper. These privately-hosted fundraising dinners bring together urban farmers, chefs, donors, and taste-makers to support a great cause: creating a more just and sustainable food system. Each event is hosted by an individual supporter who invites guests to dine in their home or a location of their choosing.  Hosts are paired with notable New York City chefs, who prepare a customized, multi-course meal featuring locally-grown produce from an urban farmer.

The Next dinner is Thursday, Aug 7th @ 7pm.

An Evening with Urban Sproule and Monument Lane

Urban Sproule is NYC's first and only rooftop salt farm!  The evening includes a tour of the farm, salt tastings, cocktails and a 4 course dinner by the executive chef, Dustin, of Monument Lane.

For more info and tickets go here!