Quince

Quince could possibly be the forbidden fruit...the apple Eve gave Adam!  Apparently quince has long been associated with romance.  Haha...here is an interesting article about the history of quince.

The trouble with quince is that it's a fruit that you have to cook before eating.  They look similar to apples or pears and are yellow in color.  It's fun to have it once a year, but I couldn't deal with it more than that.  They have a perfume scent to them that make you want to eat them.  I poach them with a little cinnamon and sugar, and serve them warm with some whipped cream.  Logan had them today for a little Halloween lunch treat!  He ate them all up too! They have a texture similar to a canned/poached pear.  You could also put them in pies or applesauce to give a different flavor. Here is a recipe for poached quince from Native Offerings:

Poached Quince

Week 20 & 21 and Winter Share Coming Soon!

Thursday will be our last summer share pickup (the summer share is 22 weeks long).  We will then move on to the "winter share."  For those of you who are interested, the winter share consists mostly of root vegetables and squash that are harvested in the fall and distributed to the shareholders through January or February.  We sometimes get greens and cabbages that are grown and harvested in their greenhouse.  Last year we picked up 12 pounds of root veggies every week.  Sometimes our schedule changed, and we picked up the share every other week (in that case we picked up 24 pounds of root vegetables).  For us, 24 pounds every other week is a lot!!!   But root veggies store a long time so its sort of like stocking up for winter in our house.  Last year I think the root veggies lasted us about a month past the last share pickup.   What I liked about how they organized the winter share last year (and I hope they do it this way again), is that shareholders were able to pick out 24 pounds of whatever veggies they liked.  This is completely different from the summer share where you are given a specific list of what to pick up for that day (substitutions are sometimes offered).  During the winter share, you could pick up 24 pounds of potatoes if you wanted!  Our favorites include potatoes, squash, onions, radishes, carrots, parsnips, apples and cabbage (when it's available). I am definitely looking forward to the winter share :)

Anyway, I would highly recommend for anyone to become a shareholder next year.  It has changed the way we eat and exposed us to a variety of different foods we probably wouldn't have eaten otherwise. And I feel good about supporting a local farm and knowing where my food comes from.

Here is what we picked up the last two weeks:

Week 20

2 red peppers
2 green peppers
1 leek (love these!)
1 spaghetti squash
2 pounds carrots
1 bunch radishes with greens
5.5 pounds apples
1.5 pounds quince (type of fruit that you cook before eating)

*** This was the last week for our fruit share.  We subscribe to a fruit share (20 weeks), summer vegetable share (22 weeks) and winter share which starts in November and will continue through January or February depending on the harvest and how much the farm decides to distribute each week. So we are on our own with fruits and veggies for 2-3 months out of the year.

Week 21

1 red onion
3 green peppers
1 acorn squash
1 bunch tat soi (we like this in salad)
1 bunch tuscan greens (this is new to me!)
2 pounds carrots
1 bunch thyme

Recipes to come!

Harvest Soup!

I found this recipe in Parent's Magazine!  It's a very good fall soup.  I doubled the recipe (I had a 3 pound butternut squash), used butter instead of olive oil and added some minced garlic (because we like garlic here) and a bit of cream.  You'll need a food processor or blender since it's a creamy soup.  Doubling the recipe gave me about 3 meals for my small family.

Harvest Soup

Week 19!

Just 3 weeks left in the summer share! I'm getting excited for root veggies.  I'll explain how that works later this month...Anyway this week we picked up...

1 pound tomatoes
2 pounds carrots
1 onion
2 red peppers
1 bunch Thyme
1 bunch of red radishes with greens
7 pounds assorted apples :)

We also went apple picking with friends Sam and Leah, and picked about 20 more pounds of apples and purchased a 3 pound butternut squash.  We probably have about half the apples left.  Nick made an apple pancake for breakfast one day, which was pretty good.  We also made some apple chips and Harvest Soup-which included the butternut squash, some apples, onion and some of the carrots.  I will post that recipe soon:)

Plans for the rest of the apples includes eating them of course, but perhaps some apple crisp and applesauce?  As for the rest of the veggies...They will most likely be used in salads (I know, boring right?).  I may make some radish leaf pesto.  I'm really not sure what I want to do with those pesky radish greens.

I love salads and the simplicity that summer veggies bring, but I think I'm ready for the tastes of the winter share!

Pickup 16-18

So it's been a while since I've posted, but I do want to document what we get this year for at least my sake.  It's hard to remember what we get when.  Unfortunately, I have to remember the last three weeks to the best of my ability.  I wrote down what we picked up, but I think I threw out the paper by accident.  Oh well...Here is a pretty good idea of what we got... Only 4 more weeks of the "summer share".

Week 16

1 bunch arugula
1 head lettuce (not sure what type)
2 sweet peppers
2 large summer squash
1.5 pounds tomatoes
1 pound green beans
1 pound carrots
4 pounds apples
3 pounds plums

Week 17

1 onion
2 pounds tomatoes
1 red pepper
1 head red leaf lettuce
1 pound green beans
1 pound carrots
4 small summer squash
7 pounds apples

Week 18

1 onion
1 bunch rosemary
1.5 pounds tomatoes
1 bunch red radishes with greens
1 pound carrots
4 small summer squash
2 red peppers
4 pounds apples
1 quart organic red raspberries


I think I may forget what we get easier during the summer and early fall because we tend to eat everything up right away.  Everything is easy to cook and a no brainer (ex: green beans, squash, lettuce and tomatoes).  During the spring, I have to be more creative with the greens so I tend to remember what I used/had.  Anyway, we have been doing really well with keeping up.  I think we just have a few tomatoes, the radishes, an onion and some parsley that I have to freeze from a few weeks ago..  This week the summer squash went bad right away.  That was a bummer.  I think summer squash is done for the year.  I think we're ready for winter squash!  I don't have any new ideas to share :(  The second half of the summer share brings quicker, less interesting meals.  I usually just grill or steam and season (garlic is my best friend).  And the fruit disappears like there's no tomorrow (except plums-we don't like plums!).