Weekly Weeder

Olin-Fox Farms Volume No. 7 Issue No. 34 October 18, 2006

www.olinfoxfarms.com Summer Season Week15

STANDARD REMINDER

Please be sure to wash your weekly share thoroughly before serving. To preserve freshness, it is NOT ‘table ready’ (i.e., pre-washed). We deliver your Olin-Fox Farms’ produce right from the fields to ensure highest quality.

This Week's News From the Farms

Blessed as we have been over the past week with some of the most beautiful days of the year, as farmers, we are also mindful of the predictability of change decreed by Mother Nature---sometimes in subtle shifts, yet just as often by dramatic reversals. Only last week we were coping with those high, blustery winds, torrential rains and the unwelcomed return of frenzied,noxious clouds of blood-lusting mosquitoes. John thinks Mother Nature finds at times a perverse pleasure in contradicting people. Just as they say something or commit it with a fair degree of confidence to the newsletter, She quixotically does just the opposite. But at last,it seems safe to say that with the evening temperatures dipping down and the signs of some patchy frost in some areas, the harassing plague of winged hypodermics is on its way out for this year. Now, if we can just get rid of those pesky fruit flies. Well, that's another whole story all together.  Anyway, back to the great outdoors...
  The mild afternoon temperatures have made it a real pleasure to work in the fields of late. We are currently completing bed preparations for the planting of 50 lbs. of German Stiffneck Garlic that just arrived
from Johnny's Select Seeds, in addition to 20 lbs. of German Porcelain Garlic grown for seed this year. After one of the local chefs asked about it, we also plan to harvest some green garlic which will be
included in the Fall and Spring Produce Programs as well.
  For the upcoming seasons, there are a number of exciting developments in the works. For instance, back by popular demand, microgreens and the start of our first Shitake mushroom colony.
  In retrospect, it's been a good growing season, for the most part; but now another full cycle is winding up and coming to an end. We hope all have enjoyed it thus far,and will continue on. As we pause to enumerate our blessings, we would like to take this opportunity to thank our CSA members, volunteers, members of our Helping Hands program, and all the members of our Family of Fine Farms. We also want
to express our deep appreciation to our Alexandria and Stafford coordinators, Cindy, who has been transporting produce to these far-flung locations, and the kind cooperation of those businesses in
Kilmarnock and White Stone that have graciously allowed members to pick up shares in their shops.
  "Takei" is the Japanese term for putting the face on the farmer.  Knowing who grows your produce and where your produce is grown is vitally important to your health and the health of our Earth. This idea is being verified regularly in the news. There are some that claim health benefits to eating locally grown produce, including lessening of allergies. Locally grown produce does not have to spend as much time in transport which saves fuel.

Olin-Fox Farms takes pride in the fact that its produce is fresher than most of what you come across in grocery stores and farmer's markets.  That's because we take excellent care of our produce so that it arrives to you in optimum condition.

John is a real stickler for maintaining very high standards for all the produce distributed as your shares. Working with 10 farms, we put the fine produce we receive from them through our own extra quality control checklist before passing it in along to our members.

The value you receive for your CSA subscription share provides you with a selection of wholesome produce as well as our services, including this whimsical Weekly Weeder newsletter with relevant

recipes and the pre-packed shares themselves. And, our high quality assurance means less wasted produce for you.

Announcing the schedule for Fall Shares: November 8-11; November 15-18; November 29-December 1; December 6-9; and December 13-16. Mark your calendars!

Weekly Weeder, October 18, 2006 Page 2

Crop Report

With every full-cycle of a produce program, from start to finish, we hope and pray that dear Mother Nature will bestow a truly bountiful harvest. Already, many of the fall crops are really starting to produce, like greens and radishes with some turnips, lettuce, broccoli and cauliflower soon to follow. Also the second planting of red, white and sweet potatoes are now being harvested and will be appearing in upcoming shares.

In Your Produce Basket This Week

Kale, Arugula, Tendergreen, Sweet Potatoes, Gala Apples, Green Beans, Bell Peppers

Recipe

Sweet Potato Latkes with Wasabi and Wasabi Tobiko
(something a bit more exotic and daring, as editor Ethan lounges by the pool beneath the swaying palm trees on vacation in Florida this week)

Sweet & spicy flavors meld in this whimsical recipe. Pungent wasabi cream tops slight sweet latkes, which are then garnished with wasabi 'tobiko' (flying-fish roe---if you can find it!) and peppery radish
sprouts [try a liberal sprinkling of macrobiotic-style match-stick slices of radish instead].

1 large sweet potato (= approx. 1 lb) peeled
1/2 cup matzo meal 1 tablespoon sugar 2 teaspoons all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons salt 1 tspn. baking powder 1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper
1/8 tspn. freshly ground pepper 1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 large egg white, lightly beaten 1/2 cup milk
Vegetable oil for frying 1/2 cup creme fraiche
1 1/4 tspn. wasabi paste 1 1/4 tspn. rice vinegar 1/4 tspn. salt
1/2 cup peppery sprouts, such as radish (or substitute matchstick slices of fresh radish)

2 ounces wasabit 'tobiko'{try caviar instead}

1. In a food processor or on a box grater, coarsely grate the sweet potato. In a large bowl, combine the matzo meal with the sugar, flour, salt, baking powder, cayenne and black pepper, then stir in the egg,
egg white and milk. Stir in the sweet potato.
2. In a medium skillet, heat 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil until simmering. Drop packed teaspoons of the sweet potato mixture into the skillet and flatten them with the back of a spoon. Cook the latkes
over moderately high heat until the edges are golden, about 1 minute. Drain on paper towels. Repeat with the remaining sweet potato mixture, adding more oil as needed.
3. In a small bowl, mix the creme fraiche with the wasabi paste, rice vinegar and salt. Arrange the latkes on a warm platter and top each one with a dollop of the wasabi cream, a pinch of sprouts or radish
sticklettes and a touch of 'tokiko' [cavair]. Superb! Takes approx. 45 mins. prep. Makes about dozen 1 1/2 inch latkes. These savvy 'zakooski' are great paired with one of the new specialty vodkas for latkes, such as 'Imperia', made from Russian wheat, distilled eight times, and blended with glacial water; or 'Green Mountain Sunshine Vodka', distilled from 100% organic corn and blended with spring water
from Vermont; and finally, '42 Below', a New Zealand vodka filtered through 35 layers of charcoal.

Newsletter and Recipes by Ethan Brent, Official Newsletter Focalizer

Bon Appetit!