Food Preservation
It has been all consuming for me and Jack this past 2-3 weeks, with every day, starting at the end of farm work at about 3 pm, heading into the pile of stuff on our table, and slowly picking away at it until 7 or 8 pm. This week featured lots of tomatoes, peaches and grapes, with some squash thrown in.
For sure it has seemed like a monstrous and overwhelming task at times, even with reminders to ourselves that “this too shall pass” as soon as the season winds down. The back aches that I have suffered this past week are legendary.
But today I want to write about my excitement of seeing others around us taking on this noble profession of ensuring good food for the rest of their year. Jennifer texted me excitedly that they are buying a freezer this weekend, Diane, a shareholder who is going away on Friday asked to switch her share to Wednesday. When I confirmed the switch, I received this short email in return – “Thank you so much! It will give us a chance to either eat or preserve the goodness! ” Matt has been working overtime, and then running out to pick extra tulsi, cabbage and broccoli to take home and preserve for his family.
As with the ants and grasshoppers in the Aesop fable, there is a complete sense of industry and planning for a productive and well-fed future that comes with food preservation.
It is the case with farming and homesteading that we have to push ourselves past our limits at high points of the season, as we follow that dictates of the sun. The rewards, however, are unsurpassed.
We served lunch on Friday on top of the canned tomatoes, Jennifer and Matt ran out to harvest broccoli and cabbage while Jack and I stayed back to clean up and get on to the next round of preservation
By the way, if you would like to come and do some hands-on food preservation with us, we are doing it most afternoons, and would be happy to have you come help – mostly from about 1:30 – 4, and this week on Monday, Wednesday and Thursday. Call or email ahead to confirm. julie@mhof.net; 978-257-1192.
Special Gratitude this week
Paula, who had to be gone for several months, has come back fully invested and is adding a day to her usual Monday and Wednesday. She has seen the physical stress that I am under right now, with not totally resolved Lyme, and is stepping in. Last week she brought the bacon and bread for our annual BLT sandwiches (bacon that she had purchased from us last fall), giving me a cooking break. And last week, when our freezer failed, she stayed late to help me quickly move our chickens to other locations. It is hard to surpass in life the support of a true friend. Thank you, Paula.
What is in your CSA Share this week?
Best guess for week of September 9
- Lettuce
- Chard
- Beet greens
- Arugula
- Kale
- Tomatoes
- Peaches – we might make it through this week, and if not, will move to apples and pears
- Cilantro
- Dill
- Radishes
- Summer squash
- Peppers
- Tulsi
- Potatoes for Wednesday – we ran out of time last week
Digging potatoes on Friday
- Soybeans – Strip these beans from their stalks, throw them in boiling water, and after about 3-5 minutes, they should pop out of their shells. Great for eating out of hand, or rewarm them and serve with butter.
- flowers for flower shares
We are still taking new shareholders – here is where you can sign up — https://mhof.net/csa-order-form/
Singing Opportunity- LAST CALL
Circle of Song, a Barre and regionally based choral group of which I am the director, will be starting up soon on Thursday, September 12 at 7:00 pm at the Barre Town Hall. We are starting our 23rd season and are planning on doing a relatively new major work titled Requiem for the Living, by Dan Forest. You can listen to it here – https://video.search.yahoo.com/yhs/search?fr=yhs-infospace-076&ei=UTF-8&hsimp=yhs-076&hspart=infospace&p=Requiem+for+the+LIving+satb+youtube&type=ud-c-us–s-p-tfzzhiwm–exp-none–subid-fk6j226i#id=1&vid=eb203b45427da4763f59ec91901a9b81&action=click If you can carry a tune, we can help you with the rest. We will be also doing Aint a That Good News and Ave Maria under the leadership of our pianist Cailan McClure. We are a group of singers aged from early 20’s to mid-80’s, we sing in 4-part harmony, and we push ourselves just a little bit past our comfort zones musically. As you might imagine, if you know me and Jack, we have no pretenses (sometimes choral groups can be accused of putting on airs) and we are super friendly and supportive. This might be the fall that you make a bunch of new friends and work together to co-create a wonderful piece of art work. The concert will be held on Saturday, December 14 at the Barre Town Hall. Rehearsals, starting September 12, are every Thursday (except Thanksgiving) at the Town Hall from 7:00 – 8:30 pm. Contact me if you would like to join (sliding scale – $40-$70/year to cover music costs and our pianist’s salary). julie@mhof.net; 978-257-1192.
Volunteering at MHOF
We are still hard up for help right now. Come and enjoy working with us on M, T, W, or Friday mornings in exchange for a large share. Though we had a large cadre of Saturday volunteers there for a minute, we are short again. On Saturdays from 7-9:30 during September – November we can truly use your help. Not only do you get a full share in exchange for your efforts, but also breakfast (overtime for weekends!) Can’t come every Saturday, but can schedule every other or a few, be in touch. We need to move those birds, and then add in some fun other farm work.
Jennifer’s recipe for the week
I spent most of my week preserving food rather than cooking up meals. I’ve been buying tomatoes from the farm 10 pounds at a time, which makes about 6 quarts of sauce. My recipe this week:
Garden Vegetable Tomato Sauce
Ingredients:
- 10 lbs. of farm fresh Tomatoes, cored and quartered
- 1 oversized Summer Squash, de-seeded and chopped
- 2 large Green Peppers, chopped
- 1 large Onion, diced
- 1 large Carrot, shredded
- 1/2 cup dried crushed Kale
- 1/4 cup dried crushed Carrot Tops
- 3 T Pink Himalayan Salt
- Pepper to taste
Directions:
- In a large blender or food processer, puree all of the tomatoes transferring to a large sauce pan.
- Add all ingredients and cook on medium to low until sauce is thick and vegetables are tender. Stir often so not to burn.
- You may can the sauce for later use or refrigerate to be used within 2 weeks.
Items that you can buy for your own food preservation
We will have some crops in enough abundance that you can buy them in quantity for preserving for your use in the next year. We now have tomatoes, kale, and chard at $3/lb.
We are also selling frozen applesauce – nothing added – $7/quart. And frozen peaches – $6 per pound in bags of around 2-3 bs. And canned tomatoes – $10/quart.
Dan has some items for sale
Potatoes and tomatoes, each at $3/lb. Contact him at 978-257-2627 or dan@bionutrient.org.
Farm Doins
We had a hard time getting the shares done last week – lots of food – finishing around 2 on a couple of days.
I am feeling dogged by the need to get some last crops in the ground for the season, and no time to do it. Hopefully this Tuesday we will get all of that accomplished.
Apples are starting to drop, but no time to pick them up – another goal for this week.
We have been doing some weeding while picking each M, W, F and are ensuring good fall crops of lettuce, carrots, broccoli, cauliflower and cabbage with our efforts.
Jackson stopped by to help us pick our late blueberries
Julie
Happy 29th, Marissa!
