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We accidentally printed the wrong newsletter today. Here is the one that goes with today’s box.

Double Oak Farm

CSA Newsletter- June 23, 2010

Today in your full share boxes you will find:

Sweet Corn – 8 ears Onions - 2

Zucchini - 2 Cucumbers - 2

Apples - .5 pounds Peaches – 1.5 pounds

Green Beans – 1.5 pounds Tomatoes – 2 pounds

Half shares will have half of the above.

Week four is here and our first month has flown by. This hot, wet weather continues to affect the crops. Some items are flourishing and others are failing. Farming is always an adventure.

One item you have been enjoying for the past couple of weeks is green beans. Many of our green beans are grown by our Amish partner Maddie Marner. She was also responsible for our early spring lettuce and spinach. Maddie has a young family and really appreciates the income from her garden. Last year it paid for all the grocery items she needed, but could not produce herself. We really appreciate her great produce. She always does a wonderful job!

The first sweet corn has arrived. It is always a treat. You also have some of the first apples. The variety is names “Lodi” and is especially good for baking and making sauce. By next week we will also have the first few cantaloupe.

Hope You Enjoy!

Lori Moses

Double Oak Farm

Cucumber and Tomato Salad

Add the tofu to make this a main dish, or leave it out for a great side dish.

1 tomato, chopped

1 cucumber, seeded and chopped

1/4 cup thinly sliced red onion

1/4 cup canned kidney beans, drained

1/4 cup diced firm tofu

2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil

1/4 cup balsamic vinaigrette salad dressing

salt and pepper to taste

In a large bowl, combine the tomato, cucumber, red onion, kidney beans, tofu, and basil. Just before serving, toss with balsamic vinaigrette salad dressing, and season with salt and pepper.

Grilled Peaches

6 peaches(on the firm side)

2Tbs salted butter

1/2 tsp vanilla

pinch of brown sugar

Cut peaches in half and remove pit.

Heat above ingredients in a small saucepan and mix.

Brush flesh side of peaches with the mixture.

Fire should be fairly mellow(these are after dinner) Place peaches on the grill, flesh side down. After about 5 minutes turn, cook on skin side for 2-3 minutes. You don’t want skins to char or blister. They are ready when the flesh is easily penetrated by a fork-soft but not mushy. They should be golden in color.

Serve immediately. Top with a pat of butter or scoop of vanilla ice cream. Enjoy!

Green Bean Salad With Feta

1/2 pound fresh green beans, trimmed,

cooked al dente and cut in half

4 cups mixed baby salad greens 2 ounces feta cheese, crumbled

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

1 tablespoon orange juice 1/2 teaspoon fennel seeds

Salt and pepper, to taste

In a medium-size bowl, combine greens, beans and cheese. Add oil, vinegar, juice, fennel seeds, salt and pepper; toss.

Here is a copy of our CSA Newsletter that comes with our vegetable box subscriptions. I’ll try to add pictures with next week’s box.

Please feel free to add you own recipes in the comment section.

Double Oak Farm

CSA Newsletter- June 1, 2010

Today in your full share boxes you will find:

New Potatoes – 2 quarts Shell Peas – 1 pound

Cabbage – 1 large head Tart Cherries – 1 quart

Tomatoes – 1 pound Zucchini – 2 small

Strawberries – 2 quarts

Lettuce – 1 large head

Half shares will have half of the above.

Welcome to our 2010 Vegetable Box program. We are so excited to begin a new year of great local produce boxes. In your box today you will find an assortment of fresh items from the early garden. Each week you will find new things as they become ready. Because of the hot weather this year some items will arrive early, such as sweet cherries and peaches. Other things will end sooner than usual. We may only have strawberries for one more week!

Each week I will include some recipes for your produce. If you have a great recipe please email it to us or submit it to our blog to share it with others. If you need more of anything please stop by our store at 1120 Washington, or visit us at the Farmer’s Market beginning this Saturday.

We are trying a new format for box pickup this year. We hope you enjoy it and we welcome your feedback. Any items not picked up will be donated to Love Chapel on Thursday morning.

Hope You Enjoy!

Lori Moses

Double Oak Farm

Grilled Cabbage

Our favorite way to fix cabbage is on the grill right next to our meat. Just remove the outer leaves and wash the cabbage. Cut it into quarters and remove the stem section. Wrap each quarter in foil and add a small amount of olive or canola oil(or butter), salt, pepper or your favorite seasonings. The cabbage will steam in the foil and slightly caramelize. Just be careful when opening the foil. It will be hot!

Vegetable Frittata

Another favorite recipe for any selection of vegetables is to make a quick frittata. You can use any combination of vegetables you like. The following is for your current veggies:

Ingredients: 1 cup small potatoes cut into pieces, ½ cup onions chopped, 2 cups zucchini cut into pieces, 1 tomato, 6 eggs, canola oil, optional cheese or cooked meat.

Using an oven proof pan, stir fry the potatoes, zucchini and green onions until just barely cooked, but still somewhat firm. Make sure the potatoes are starting to get soft. Beat eggs. If you choose add the meat to the veggies. Pour the eggs over the top. Season with salt, pepper, garlic or any favorite herbs. Top with sliced tomatoes and the cheese and bake in a 400 degree oven until the eggs are done. About 20 minutes.

Shell Peas

Shell peas only last a few short weeks in the spring. Ours rarely make it into a recipe. We eat them fresh from the pods right in the garden. After you remove them from the pod they are great in salad, pasta, soup, or just by themselves.

Tart Cherries

Can be eaten fresh, but are most often cooked. If you don’t have a cherry pitter, you can remove the pits with the blunt end of a bamboo skewer. Just hold the cherry and push the pit out. Besides pies and cobblers these cherries can be made into a great and easy ice cream topping. See the recipe below.

Ingredients: Pitted cherries – about 2 cups, sugar – about ¾ cup, 2 tablespoons corn starch, water

Place the cherries in a sauce pan and add about ¼ cup of water or enough to cover the bottom of the pan. Mix the sugar and cornstarch and add the mixture to the cherries. Heat until thick and bubbly, stirring often. You can adjust the sugar to your own taste.

Half shares can cut this recipe in half.

Well, the printer was having a bad day. It is eating every paper that feeds into it. So this week our CSA newsletter will be brought to you in a greener manner. Let me know what you think. I may just keep this format.

No eggs this week. Some of the chickens are molting and we did not have enough. We will have them next week.

Double Oak Farm
CSA Newsletter- July 8, 2009

Today in your full share boxes you will find:

Sweet Corn – 1 dozen
Roma Green Beans – 1 pound
Yellow squash - 2
Peaches – 1 pound
Cucumbers-2
Tomatoes – 2
Banana Pepper - 2
Cantaloupe – 1
Sweet Onion - 1
Bonus –parsley

Half shares will have half of the above.

It’s Fair week and our family is super busy. I have a great group of helpers who will be at the store the next few days. I will be at 4H judging events, and getting ready for the poultry show on Friday. Hope you will get a chance to check out the fair and the 4H projects that our county’s youth have worked so hard to complete.

One of my favorite summer treats is tabouli. Our box items this week would work well in this salad. Look for a recipe below. Also don’t forget the pie baking contest at the fair next Tuesday. There is nothing like fresh ingredients to make a great pie!

A few of you took the time to submit recipes and we greatly appreciate it! You will find an extra bonus in your box today. We always welcome your great recipe ideas.

Hope you enjoy!

The Tabouli recipe is a healthful and delicious Mediterranean food recipe prepared with cracked wheat, mint, garlic, tomatoes, green onions, olive oil and lemon. An excellent picnic food idea, it tastes great chilled or at room temperature.

Spell it Tabouli, Tabouleh, or Tabule, there’s no confusion about one thing– it’s a really nice departure from ordinary salad recipes, a vegetarian meal in itself.

Tabouli

2 cups cracked wheat (bulghur) AKA couscous
2 cups very hot water
1 cucumber, chopped
2 small tomatoes, chopped
1 bunch green onions, (8) sliced
1/2 cup fresh chopped mint
2 cups fresh chopped parsley
1 clove garlic, minced (optional)

Dressing:
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon pepper
2 teaspoons salt, or to taste

# Soak the cracked wheat in the hot water until the water is absorbed, about 30 minutes.

# Drain any excess water, if necessary, and squeeze dry.

# Combine the salad ingredients, including wheat, in a medium bowl.

# Mix the dressing ingredients together and stir into the salad mixture.

# Serve chilled or at room temperature.

# Makes about 8 cups, 12 to 16 servings.

Our New Store!

So much has happened in one short day! We finally have a location for our store. I signed the lease today. We have a lot of work to do to get it ready to open in May, but it is a great location and a great building. It used to be a service station and it has great big glass bay doors that will open to provide an open air market during the day. At night we can close it up to secure the store. It is light and airy and will be a wonderful market. It’s located in downtown Columbus at the corner of 8th and Washington. We plan to open in May as soon as we have produce to sell. Hopefully this cold weather will be over soon and we won’t have any late freezes.

The second part of this exciting day is that we are going to be featured in the local paper “The Republic”. The story will come out in March. It is a real blessing to have the news coverage and the advertising will be priceless.

Double Oak Farm Market

I was going to update the website tonight with the new store information, but the web host site is unavailable. I won’t get a chance to make the changes until next week so this has caused a little frustration. But, I guess it will wait.

Tomorrow we will visit the Healy families. We have to finalize a few partnership legalities. We also get to visit our Amish friends. The Graber’s greenhouse should be up by now and I plan to take plenty of pictures to post on the website so check back soon!

Lori M