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Fresh This Week Add-ons

The weather is beautiful and the produce tastes and looks amazing! We are very excited about this week’s add-ons. They are sure to make great additions to summer dishes.

Try this Summer Squash Casserole Recipe: Click Here

This Week’s Add-Ons

Fruit:

Pluots: $2.25/lb.

Blackberries! $3.50/pint.

Peaches, $5 for $3.75

Apricots, $0.60 ea.

Order Fruit: Click Here

Vegetables:

Summer Squash: $3.25/ 1.5lb

Sunburst Yellow Squash: $2.25/lb.

Zucchini: $2.00/lb.

Jalapeno Peppers, 0.25/lb. for $1.15, 0.5/lb. for $2.25

Cilantro, $1.00/bn.

Order Vegetables: Click Here

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The Perfect Way to Freeze Fresh Vegetables

The Perfect Way to Freeze Fresh Vegetables:

Preserve Their “Straight From the Garden” Taste

By Kassidy Emmerson

There are basically two ways you can store fresh vegetables for an extended period of time: can or freeze them. You can virtually can any type of vegetable, fruit, or meat. You can freeze all meats and most fruits. When it comes to freezing vegetables, however, you’ll need to choose the best candidates. For example, potatoes, lettuce, cucumbers, and celery tend to turn soft and mushy when they are frozen, then thawed out. But onions, peppers, and tomatoes can be successfully frozen if you’re going to use them in a soup, stew, or casserole. Other vegetables such as green beans, lima beans, peas, corn, et cetera, tend to maintain their original shape. They can be frozen, then cooked and served, and still look and taste as fresh as they originally were.

Before you begin freezing your fresh produce, make sure you pick items that are in good condition. Avoid using bruised, soft, wormy, or overly-ripe produce. For the best flavors, choose vegetables that have just reached ripeness. This is the time when the flavor is at its peak.

Then, start the process by washing each produce item thoroughly by using clean, cool tap water. Next, you’ll need to prepare the vegetables. That means, you’ll need to remove peas from their pod, remove strings and the ends from green beans, cut the tops and bottoms off of red beets, and so on. You’ll also need to cut certain vegetables up into bite-sized pieces.

The next step is called “blanching”. Blanching helps to keep the natural flavor intact while the item is in a frozen state. There are two ways to blanch vegetables. You can use the first method which is called, “The Boiling Water Method.” To do this, you’ll need to boil a large pot of water on your stove top. Then pour washed, prepared vegetables into the boiling water. When the water begins to boil again, you’ll start timing.

The second method of blanching vegetables is called, “The Steam Method.” This procedure uses a steamer that conveniently fits onto the top of a pot. The vegetables you want to blanch are then placed inside the steamer as soon as the water in the pot begins to boil. The steamer is then covered with its lid, and the timing is started.

The amount of time that vegetables are blanched vary. That is, different vegetables require different amounts of time. Check the Internet or with your local county extension office to find out the exact times.

Once the fresh vegetables have been boiled or steamed, you’ll need to chill them at once in order to halt the cooking process. The most effective way to do this is to carefully place the hot vegetables into a kettle full of cold tap water. Allow the produce to cool down until they are completely cool inside and out. You can easily check the inside temperature of a piece by gently biting into it. Be careful not to burn your tongue or mouth! The item could still be hot on the inside!

After the vegetables are completely cooled, take them out of the cold water and place them in a colander to drain.

The final step in this process is to place the prepared produce into freezer bags or into plastic freezer containers. Pack the produce into each bag or container firmly, and fill each one up. If you’re using freezer bags, you’ll need to carefully squeeze the air out before you seal them shut. Secure the bags and place lids on the containers. Finally, mark each container by listing its contents and the date it was frozen. Then, place your vegetables in the freezer until you’re ready to use them.

I have used this method for freezing fresh vegetables from my garden, produce that was bought from a roadside stand, and items that were given to me, for several years now without fail. Every vegetable I have frozen has come out of the freezer tasting just like it was freshly picked!

Takeaways

  • Veggies such as potatoes, lettuce, and cucumbers don’t freeze real well.
  • All produce must be blanched first before it’s packaged and frozen.
  • The best vegetables are just ripe and have no bruises or damaged spots.
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It is fair season!

Come on out to Stanwood and Silvana over the next few weeks.  July 31st is the Silvana Community fair; it is free, fun and not commercialized.  The following weekend August 6th,7th, and 8th  is a

fun packed three days with a carnival, farm animals, lots of vegetable and other homemade entries, music and vendors.  Our farm sponsors and volunteers at the Franklin Hanson Threshing demonstrations on Saturday and Sunday, come by and visit.

Then on August 21st we host the Klesick family our old fashioned farm days.  I love this day, a chance to connect with many of you directly.  Our team is planning an incredible day of festivities, with farm Olympics and tug o wars (dads vs. the kiddos, dadsvs. the draft horses) and water balloon tosses.  We have gunny sack races and hay rides, our own potato digging and historical farm demonstrations.  Del Fox meats will be on hand serving some great food and we will have some summer fruit and veggies for sale as well.

Mark your calendars and come and experience the Stanwood area where

there are a whole lot of farmers and a whole lot of fun.

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Egg Production – Part 2

Researchers are apparently going to research whether chickens are happy in cages or not?  Sadly, I think that Benjamin Franklin was right when he said, “nothing is more uncommon than common sense.” I have raised chickens and they do like to keep close quarters, but only when they are Roosting (sleeping), not all the time.  I also know that chickens love being chickens. They are created to scratch and eat bugs. 

So we, the tax payers, are going to pay a researcher at some university to study if the chickens are really happy in cages or not!  I can save us a lot of money and answer the question.  The answer is quite obvious, the chicken is not happy.  Sadly, the research is not about chickens, it is about egg production.  If we respected the design and nature of a chicken, it would be easy to conclude  they are not happy.  Chickens wouldn’t choose to live in a cage with 9 other birds, never seeing the light of day, never being able to stretch their wings and never scratching for some delicious bug!  Organic and cage free chickens get to live more like they were created.

Join the good food revolution, vote with your dollars.