Third Pick Up Is Today 7.7.2009

Hello CSA Members,

It is Tuesday and that means we will see you this afternoon between 4:30 and 6:00pm for our third pick up of the season. Brad will be the Elma C. Lomax farm on Atando Road and Eric and Aaron will be at Two Leaves and a Bud.

First some bragging- not about us but about you. Last week we had only one member forget to return his container!!! Great job. Now that may not sound like much of a feat but it is. In preparing for our CSA program I talked with several other farmers who have CSA programs. They all said it was really hard to get people to bring back their containers. I've talked to several of those farmers this week to brag and say how many of our members did in fact bring their containers back.

As for the one member who forgot, I have already given him a hard time in private so I won't publicly call him out this in this email. If he forgets again however...

We are strongly urging you to try cooking with everything in your container. Even if you think you don't like Swiss Chard I'm guessing there's a recipe out there that could use it in a dish you'd find delicious. However, if after trying your best you still find that you can't use something in this week's container we're going to try an experiment.

There will be a Swap Table at both locations this week. If you don't want your delicious cucumbers grown with loving care and hard work by your trusty farmers you can leave them on the table for someone else who does love cucumbers. If you see something yummy on the swap table and you want to eat it, take it. There are just too many members for us to customize each container but this Swap Table idea may help members work together to get more of what they want.

"Enough already," you're probably saying, "What are we getting this week." We've been behind this spring on several items but I am more than please to announce that this week we are right on time with something. We have corn!!!

Also last week only full share members got green beans. It wasn't that full share members are more important, it's just that we didn't have enough to put green beans in every box. If we had, every member would have gotten like 4 green beans so we made the decision to put the beans in full share member containers and make it up to the half share members later in the season. (Actually Eric made the decision so you can direct your comments to him ;-) The good news is that this week everyone gets at least a pound of green beans. Now do your best rain dance so we get some more in future weeks.

In the box this week:

Corn !!!
Green Beans
Swiss Chard
Straight Neck Squash
Patty Pan Squash
Yellow and Green Zucchini
Cucumbers

One more item for you. Chad VonCannon from Creekside Farms will be at Two Leaves and a Bud this afternoon. He asked me to send the following message to you.

See you later today (with your containers)

Aaron


From Chad...

Dear CSA Members,

Good afternoon from Creekside Farms. Just a reminder that Creekside Farms will be at the downtown pickup location this week. We will have a selection of our products at the pickup location once again this week. If you would like to ensure that you get the product that you desire please follow this instructions below and use our order form.

I have attached an order form for individuals to use for ordering our products. This is in an attempt to make purchasing our products as easy as possible and to coordinate the pickup of our products with your vegetable pickup. We ask that you either call our email us with your order by noon on Tuesday. Your order will then be ready for you at your pickup spot. Please be sure to include on the form or when you call, both your name and a way to get back in touch should we have questions for you. If we are at your pickup location you can pay us then. If we are not at you location, a total price will be on your package and we ask that you mail us a check.

Please feel free to give us a call with any questions that you may have.

Chad VonCannon
Creekside Farms

I almost forgot, Randy Fisher from Cackleberry Farms will be at Two Leaves and a Bud this week and at the farm on Atando Road next week. He operates a local dairy and will have his cheese, butter and yogurt for you to sample and purchase.

Also some recipes- thanks and keep them coming. Remember you'll miss zucchini this winter.

Zucchini "Crab Cakes" from Mary Catherine.

She said her girls loved them

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups of zucchini, grated
1 cup of bread crumbs, fine
1 egg, beaten
2 tablespoons of butter, melted
1 tablespoon of Old Bay seasoning
4 tablespoons of flour
1 small onion, chopped fine
Canola Oil and butter, for frying

Method

Mix all ingredients together until well blended. Shape into patties. Fry in a mixture of half oil/half margarine until golden on each side. Turn only once. Drain on paper towels. Serve hot, with cocktail sauce on the side.



Butterscotch Malt Zucchini Cake from Mitzi

Ingredients

1 3/4 cups brown sugar
1/2 cup (local) butter
1/2 cup oil
2 (local) eggs
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
4 tablespoons malted milk power
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
2 cups grated zucchini
1/2 cup nuts
1/2 cup butterscotch chips
1/2 cup white chocolate chips

Method

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour 13 X 9 inch cake pan or 10 inch Bundt
Beat brown sugar, butter, oil and eggs in large bowl at medium speed. Add buttermilk and vanilla. Beat until well combined.

Combine flour, milk powder, baking soda, salt, baking powder and nutmeg in medium bowl. Stir into creamed mixture. Stir zucchini, nuts butterscotch chips and white chocolate chips into batter.

Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake 40 to 45 minutes (60 or 65 minutes for Bundt pan) or until toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Makes 10 to 12 servings.