Dear Friends,
Among the many other misc correspondences I received this week was one from a woman that wanted to come to the farm and film my ‘fields’ of sunflowers, specifically at dusk. It was however, at first, a nice change from the now top of the popularity list of those demanding to know what we do with our ‘wasted’ food! Of course I took the time to explain to her that we haven’t the land or resources for that many sunflowers and we focus on food first. Then I got lectured that it was my responsibility to provide for the public to have fields of them to maintain ‘historical rural beauty’ as she said. I was stumped then – how to explain to her the gestalt of modern agriculture and food production? I briefly explained a couple of the main issues and she hung up by saying “Well, I’ll just call another farm if you won’t help me”. My office is always such a challenge!
For our members that missed last week’s newsletter on the Barhi dates, they are very special and hard to get. They can be enjoyed when yellow and have a nice crisp ‘apple’ flavor, or when they start to turn into a ‘date’ by turning brown little by little into what most recognize as a ‘date’. Glad you liked them.
I did however, forget to mention another item, the spaghetti squash we sent last week. These are considered a ‘winter’ squash as they remain edible for a long time. The trick to preparing them is to not ‘over’ cook and reduce the internal temperature so they won’t be too soft, by putting ice over them when first out of the oven and reduce the cooking heat. Then using a fork, fluff the squash sides apart. There should be strands of crunchy, tasty squash spaghetti. Here is a link and with the basil we’re sending this week, should be a winner with pesto.
Many of our winter crops have been seeded and await transplanting. Among them are celery, broccolini, caulilini (new baby cauliflower), celery, leeks, kales, scallions, beets, sweet radishes, Italian parsley, cilantro, spinach, carrots, beets, cabbage, Asian greens..the list goes on. Let’s keep our fingers crossed we have another year of good rain so we don’t have to use a lot of expensive San Diego water..will the price increases never cease?
Please feel free to call or email me..I’m not discouraging contact with our appreciated members!
We know many of our subscribers are enthusiastic about getting freshly harvested food from Seabreeze Family Farm. It would be helpful if you could take a photo of a plate you prepared with your farm share and post it on our Facebook page and on Next Door so your friends and neighbors could also benefit from your neighborhood’s locally grown food.
We look forward to seeing how you transform your Seabreeze ingredients.