Types of Eggplants

Here at the farm we are growing all kinds of different eggplants, some long and thin, some fat and round, all delicious. Here is a quick look at some of the various types of eggplants you can see in your shares.

– Machiaw

Long purple Japanese – Chinese hybrid eggplant

– Galine

Classic glossy black appearance

– Imolese Bianca

Ivory white eggplant, be careful of the sharp spine!

– Rosa Bianca

Pink and round with mild flesh

– Barbarella

Dark purple and round

– Shikou

Long dark asian eggplant

+++ Alex

This post is by Alex MacLellan who is in his first year as one of the Farm Apprentices at Moose Hill. Alex has some of the highest energy we have seen out in the fields. He has begun to share pictures of the varieties of crops that we have and some of the fun things our farm apprentices and farm hands find in the fields.

While digging potatoes we found the elusive heart potato

And these two sweet potatoes sure are sweet on each other! (Sorry for the bad joke!)

The bees sure are liking this final set of corn

The sunflowers are just about ready to pop

The melons are ripening up, you can tell by the noise they make when you knock on them and the yellow spot on the bottom

The chard is pulling through in this drought! Look forward to some in your share soon!

The soy beans are almost ready

Pumpkins are coming along great! We even carved one quick while harvesting one morning.

You can even kind of carve eggplants! (Sometimes they have funny noses)

Thats the news from the farm! Thanks for reading

– Alex

This post is by Alex MacLellan who is in his first year as one of the Farm Apprentices at Moose Hill. Alex has some of the highest energy we have seen out in the fields. He has begun to share pictures of the varieties of crops that we have and some of the fun things our farm apprentices and farm hands find in the fields.

Hi all,

Similar to a blog post I wrote earlier in the season, I thought I would share some steps for how you can regrow your green and yellow rocdor beans. I discovered this process from a friend of mine, who was simply using cotton balls to do so! As you will see in this article, all you will need is a small jar or plastic container, a few balls of cotton, and your beans. You can grow beans in this way using many types of bean varieties: green, black, kidney beans, etc.

Start by placing about 3 moist cotton balls inside a jar or small plastic container. Cotton should be spread apart and not tightly compacted. Do not soak the cotton, rather you can lightly pour water on it.  Make a very small indentation in the cotton for the seeds. Each seed can be placed about 1 inch apart. Cotton should be 1 – 2 inches from the surface of the cup or jar.

These beans should receive only about a half hour of sunlight a day, and the rest of the time they can be in a well lit area. Make sure they are not placed in the dark for long periods as this will not allow photosynthesis to occur. Water the cotton and beans when the cotton starts to dry up in order to maintain moisture. In no time you will see the beans break out of it’s skin like in the picture above!

When bean sprouts reach about 6 -8 inches you can bury them along with the cotton into potting soil. At this point they can be exposed to sun throughout the day but should be watered daily so that it’s soil is continually moist.

This photo was taken myself…watch it grow!

Reference:

How to grow beans in cotton

How do you grow a bean using cotton wool?

This post is by Matt Eiland who is in his first year as one of the Farm Apprentices at Moose Hill. In addition to the weekly pick-up posts, Matt has been sharing stories from the fields, ways to care and store for the crops, and other helpful insights.

Hi folks,

One thing I was noticing while shucking our fresh corn the other day, was how much of a mess I was making while doing so! The silk seemed to fall on everything, similar to the affect of cat hair. One shareholder mentioned to me the other day how your can microwave corn while it is still in the husk, which ends up making it much easier to shuck. Sure enough, after researching this a bit more, it turns out you can save yourself the mess of having to tear off the husk with your hands…

Simply cut your fresh ear of corn a couple inches above the stalk end and place in the microwave for about 3 minutes (or an additional minute if corn doesn’t slide out easily from stalk).

The steam from the microwave will separate the kernels from the stalk, thus the cob should slide right out of the husk silk free!

For those of you who may have some questions about how long to cook corn before it is ready, here are a few tips…

Boil a pot 3/4 full of water, add some sugar and lemon juice for extra sweetness, throw in as many corn cobs that will fit, then cover pot and turn off heat. Corn should sit in hot water like this for 10 minutes before it is ready.

Lastly I have included a recipe for choclo (meaning “corn pie” in Spanish), which is a very popular dish in South America. I don’t think I have had choclo since I lived in Paraguay, yet this recipe is very easy to make, and so tasty that I highly recommend testing this out if you have never had choclo before. You can even use store-bought pie crust to save time…

Recipe:

2 cups corn
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 small onion, chopped
2 cups milk (1% or more)
3/4 cup of butter
1/4 cup of cornstarch
2 hard boiled eggs (chopped)
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 (9 inch) unbaked pie crust
1 egg, beaten

Directions:

Preheat an oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).

Place eggs in a pot and once the water boils, remove from the heat and let the eggs stand in the hot water for 15 minutes. Cool the eggs under cold running water; peel and chop.

Meanwhile, heat the corn in a saucepan and cook for approximately 2 minutes; strain and set aside to cool.

Heat the vegetable oil in the same saucepan over medium heat. Stir in the onion, and cook until the onion has softened and turned translucent, about 5 minutes. Pour the milk into the saucepan and whisk in the cornstarch. Add the butter, nutmeg, salt, and pepper. Bring to a simmer whisking constantly, then cook for 2 minutes over medium heat until the butter has melted and the sauce has thickened. Stir in the hard-boiled eggs and corn; pour into the piecrust.

Bake in the preheated oven until crust and pier are golden brown and pie center is firm which is about 25-30 minutes depending on your oven.

Half way through the baking process, brush the beaten egg over the top of the pie and finish baking. This will give the pie and nice golden brown topping.

Note: This recipe can be prepared ahead of time and warmed before serving.

References:

K Consulting

Kitchn.com

Zestuous

This post is by Matt Eiland who is in his first year as one of the Farm Apprentices at Moose Hill. In addition to the weekly pick-up posts, Matt has been sharing stories from the fields, ways to care and store for the crops, and other helpful insights.

Hello Shareholders!

Now that we are nearing the halfway point of our season, I have to admit that it’s been wonderful getting to know some of you all. A lot of you have offered some great suggestions and input about ways we can improve the distribution process, and its great to see so many people who really value truly organic food and the need to have more people buy locally. One shareholder has suggested that I request from anyone interested, some pictures of dishes with their recipes that you all have conjured up with our produce. Please email me what you have to offer, and I can make a blog post presenting these neat dishes. This would be a great way to share some of your talent in cooking, so please don’t be shy!

Below are a few photos of some vegetables and fruits that have yet to arrive so that you all can see how far along they are in the ripening process. I’ve also shared some photos of crops that we have recently harvested, with some information about the pollination and flowering process involved.

Here is a look at a still growing potato plant from a couple weeks ago. A good indicator of when to harvest this depends on how developed it’s flowers are, which this plant has yet to produce. As you can see there is the dreaded potato beetle which feeds on foliage, and even enjoys our tomatoes and eggplants!

Here is a look at our sweet corn. The tassels or male parts, are the golden tops shooting straight up on the top of the stalk (photo on left). They produce pollen which must land on the silks at the ear tips, which are the female parts (photo on right). A pollen grain must fall on a single strand of silk and imbed itself. The pollen then grows a tube down the length of a silk to arrive to the ovary, and if all goes well, a kernel is born! Each strand is connected to an individual kernel, so if you see corn with lots of missing kernels, this indicates poor pollination. The pollen is wind blown, thus most of the pollen which lands on the silks comes from tassels of other corn stalks. If you have ever grown corn yourself, you can assist in the pollination process by simple breaking off one thin branch of tassel, which has several anthers on it that are full of pollen. Simply brush the tassels over corn silks to pollinate. See photo below, which shows one small tassel with several pollen yielding anthers dangling on it.

Tomatoes Tomatoes!! Soon to arrive! This particular photo was taken at an earlier stage in it’s ripening process, but we should be expecting this awesome crop within a couple weeks. My favorite are the green zebras which we offer. When fully ripe they form some wild looking green and yellow stripes.

Recent photo photo taken of our “tirreno” cantaloupes. Due to be ready to harvest around mid September, and if you look closely at this plant you can see a slight patch of yellow. When the rinds have changed to a more uniform tan or yellow color they should be ready to eat.

References

Growveg.com

So after researching and talking to various shareholders about storing and utilizing Kale, I have found out there is quite a history behind the way this vegetable has evolved to what it is today.

Interestingly, Kale which is classified as one of several Brassica plant species– including cabbage, kohlrabi, cauliflower, broccoli and Brussels sprouts–was selectively propagated over thousands of years based on a preference that people have towards larger and thicker leaves.

In much of Europe, Kale was in fact the most widely eaten vegetable until Cabbage became more popular during the middle ages. In 19th century Scotland, “Kali” was the name given to Kale, which most people cooked with in pots designed specifically for Kale.

So, that being said, I highly doubt that Europeans of the middle ages were freezing Kale, making Kale chips, or even Peanut Butter, Kale, and Banana smoothies–a most delicious recipe which I couldn’t help post because I love all of these ingredients so very much. While the Scotts probably couldn’t have predicted what we would end up making Kale into, I personally love making certain concoctions which can turn strong-flavored veggies into dessert-like creations. From everything I have heard and read, it seems as if these “green smoothies” have an almost “rejuvenating” quality to them due to their nutritional content.

I have also added some instructions for making Kale and Strawberry smoothies, and Kale pesto; a very simple an easy recipe..