In This Week’s Box
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- Navel Oranges, Fuerte Avocados, Olsen Organic Farm, Lindsay, CA
- Meyer Lemons, Frog Hollow Farm, Brentwood, CA
- Algerian Clementine’s, Abounding Harvest, Los Gatos, CA
- Kiwis, Chiechi Farms, Gridley, CA
- Pink Lady Apples, Cuyama, New Cuyama, CA
- Grapefruit, CCH Organic Farms, Riverside, CA
- Satsuma Mandarins, Twin Girl, Yettem, CA
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From Farmer Al
Dear CSA Members,
Thankful for the Rain!
Yes, very thankful! As you all know we planted about 1600 trees two weeks ago. 500 more trees arrived from nurseries via truck deliveries or UPS early in the week, but I was in Monterey at a Pacific Coast Farmers’ Market Association ‘Board Retreat’ (pcfma.com) from last Sunday through last Thursday. But I’ve got a great crew and we planted 200 cherries (all replants of trees killed by gophers) and 300 pears (all replants of Bosc and Taylor’s Gold, which were killed by fire blight, a fast spreading bacterial disease activated by rain, which we had lots of last Spring) all on Thursday. We got done at 3:00 PM just as the first raindrops began falling.
Meanwhile, Christophe, our compost-meister, having analyzed under electron microscope, declared two big compost piles to be ‘fungal-dominant!’ and ready to use. So the tractors went to work and compost was spread; about 140 tons covering 20 acres of apricots, and finished Thursday, just ahead of the rain as well. Now the rain will carry all those beneficial fungus and lots of other microbes from the compost into the soil around the trees and down into the roots
Microbially Yours,
Cooking with Citrus
The Clementine is great in a spinach salad or used to flavor or decorate deserts.
Add a distinctive taste to your grills, top them with a Clementine-flavored pat of butter which can be made by simply combining some pulp and a little rind with some soft butter.
Lemon Rice;
From the desk of Kimi-
Season with butter and lemon zest, and add some lemon juice to the water when cooking. Slicing lemons and arranging them on top of your rice once it starts to absorb water- makes a beautiful presentation and is perfect for serving with fish.
I love squeezing lemon on rice and grating a hard, dry cheese, like Parmesan, on top. Feta + Lemon + Rice is also a delicious flavor combo. If you have mint, even better!
Storage Tips for Winter Fruit
-To hasten ripening, leave avocados unrefrigerated. If you don’t want them to soften as quickly, you can refrigerate without fear of damage to the fruit. Depending on how firm they are and how warm your house is, leaving out for 3+days unrefrigerated seems to leave most of the avocados the CSA has had ready.
-Any of the citrus, kiwis, and apples can be refrigerated without fear of damaging them. The crisper is an ideal location for fruit storage because it’s a bit more humid in those drawers! Make sure the area they are stored in is DRY. Moisture is your enemy when it comes to keeping fruit fresh.
-Cleaning with warm soapy water, rinsing and drying, then lining your refrigerator drawers with a dishtowel or paper towel on occasion never hurts, either.
A lot of this comes down to how warm your house is, and where the fruit is kept, if not in your refrigerator. I personally do not like cold fruits! My formal dining room is also *freezing* and very dark, so I like to keep all of my fruit there. Including Kiwi! They do just fine for several days in this cool, dark and dry environment.
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