Tag Archives: Cucumbers

Community Supported Agriculture (CSA), CSA Newsletter

Jupiter Ridge 2020 CSA | Week 13

October 6, 2020 Adrian White Leave a comment

Warm greetings to our CSA members – especially after these last few chilly fall days!

We’re just coming out of a busy week doing a frantic (but expected) harvest of all our sensitive crops: tomatoes, peppers, and squash from out of the field, and packing and moving all our onions, garlic, and shallots to dry storage in order to protect them all from the threat of these recent frosts.

Despite all that: it looks like the frosts missed us! Crazily enough, our tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, and even basil plants are all still alive, thanks to our unique spot up high on our ridge (which can make frosts settle lower than us in the valleys and rivers, etc.). And with the week ahead looking warm and sunny (highs in the 70’s, lows above freezing), some of our warm-loving crops may not be done producing yet, which will make for an interesting next couple weeks for our CSA…

That said, here’s what to expect this week!

Beets
Cherry tomatoes
Sweet peppers
Cucumber (lemon or green)
Kale and Chard “Bouquet”
Onions (2)
Garlic
Hot pepper
Thelma Sanders winter squash
Acorn squash

You might be seeing the return of a familiar item: cucumbers! We were almost certain that these plants, which have been thriving in our greenhouse, were completely shut down and that these recent cold temperatures would finally do them in. Not so!

Summer is hanging on for dear life, so we’re happy to share this last burst of cukes with you….all thanks to the greenhouse. It’s amazing to have summer vegetables like this in a month like October!

What’s up with the “kale and chard” bouquet? It’s just our fancy way of saying “a bunch of chard and kale” which, obviously, really doesn’t sound as good as a bouquet….right? These bunches will simply be large leaves of kale and chard mixed together. Should be colorful, delicious, and not to mention…healthy!

And since it’s *really* fully autumn now with this weather lately, we’re stocking you up on some winter squash (two in this share) so you can really match your eating with these autumnal surroundings. Though this next week is really not fall-like at all….that’s OK. You can save your winter squash for a colder time and store it at room temperature, it stores quite well like that for weeks….even months!

Wellness Spotlight On: Onions

We don’t think about the healthiness of onions a lot. Do we?

Which is kind of funny, considering that onions might be the most ubiquitous vegetables around. There’s an Eastern European saying: first, you chop up and fry your onions. Then you decide what you’re cooking for the evening.

Onions are flavorful in different ways (sweet or pungent, whether fresh or cooked) and have woven their way into the fabric and cuisine of every country, region, and recipe you can imagine. So when it comes to wellness what are they good for? I’ve been thinking this question a lot, especially after just planting, cleaning and hauling hundreds of plants (and pounds) of them over this past season.

Since they’re relatives of garlic, it may surprise (or not surprise) you that they have similar benefits to the bulb vegetable (though not as powerful). They can boost immunity, fight inflammation, and keep you from catching illnesses like colds and flu. And yes – onions contain that medicinal compound, allicin, just like garlic does, only less. (By the way allicin is responsible for onions’ wonderful smell!) Also, you can use onion juice for hair care and stimulating hair growth (weird I know – I wrote about it for Healthline here).

One benefit of onion that makes it better than garlic in some ways: it’s really an excellent vegetable for your gut! Consume tons of onions, and you’re getting way more fiber than you would from garlic. Combined with the antimicrobial compounds (including allicin) you get an amazing combo probiotic/prebiotic for your digestive system. Not to mention: onions are also rich in vitamin C, B vitamins, magnesium, trace minerals, calcium, potassium, and lots more.

If you EVER have questions about items in your CSA or farm share box, please let us know! Whether it’s how to use them, what they are, or anything that might make you curious.

We love to talk food! | – jupiterridgefarm@gmail.com –

Thank you for choosing us to be your farmers!

Adrian & Will | Jupiter Ridge Farm

Community Supported Agriculture (CSA), CSA Newsletter

Jupiter Ridge 2020 CSA | Week 2

July 21, 2020 Adrian White Leave a comment

Greetings CSA Members and Supporters,

Here we are at week two! Our crop of summer vegetables are coming along nicely, and we hope you’ve enjoyed the last dregs of late spring/early summer fare: namely, the bounty of lettuce that’s filled farm share boxes and our first official CSA share for the last few weeks, which we hope you’ve enjoyed.

With the last lettuce pulled out of the field, we’re finally done with most of our fresh greens (at least for a while – until we plant our next round of lettuce in, hopefully soon!) We still have kale to give your shares a touch of green and, this week, we’ll be giving you rainbow chard, which we didn’t have last year! (We’re pretty happy with our plants this year….expect big, beautiful bunches!)

As for the rest, this is the full list of this week’s offerings:

Small rainbow beets bunch
Rainbow chard bunch
Kohlrabi
Summer squash
Fresh shallot bunch
Cucumbers (one green, one lemon)
Small leaf kale mix
Large sweet onion
Culinary herbs

We’ve been hard at work (and excited!) about our hot “true” summer vegetable crops this week. Tomatoes are trellised and fruiting (green fruits for now), eggplants are beginning to form, and peppers both hot and sweet are not too far behind. Garlic is being pulled, storage onions too, and in not too long we’ll be digging up the year’s first potatoes – not to mention leeks, squash, and okra not too far off.

Lots of great things to look forward to!

Lemon Cucumbers: What Are They? | Explanation & Tips

What’s the round yellow stripey thing in the box? Since this is a question that’s popped up from some of our members, we’re happy to explain before you cut it up to see what it is (or what’s inside).

Lemon Cucumber Flowers | Jupiter Ridge Farm — Lemon cucumber vines go nuts with flowers, all of these will be cucumbers someday soon!

It’s a lemon cucumber! Despite it’s name, no, it does not have a citrus flavor. It has pretty much the same identical flavor as typical fresh green cucumbers, but without bitterness due to their very thin skins. (That said, it would probably taste pretty good with lemon now that I think about it).

These cukes are called lemon cukes mostly just because of how they look: they’re round, and they’re yellow. We think they shine best when sliced up in a salad and they really do add a refreshing yellow color to contrast all the green. Try them on a sandwich, maybe. I’d bet they’d be pretty good!

Wellness Spotlight: Kohlrabi

If you think kale’s healthy, try a bite of the fresh kohlrabi in your share. Since this veggie is closely related to kale, it has a lot of the same nutritional profile as the superfood green that people have been raving about for years.

This includes cancer-, inflammation-, and diabetes-fighting antioxidants like sulforaphane and vitamins B and C. And you can’t argue with fiber – plus tons of plant proteins and minerals, too! Looking at some research, it does look like some scientists are studying it for the ability to prevent fat production in the body.

Of course, people might be more curious about what to actually do with kohlrabi, not just its health perks! It has a flavor between broccoli and cabbage, and here are some quick recommendations: cut it into matchsticks for a salad, lacto-ferment/pickle it and enjoy it over a long period of time (it tastes delicious as pickles the most, in my opinion – especially with dill!), or cut into very, very thin slices and eat lightly fried (or raw) on a sandwich or burger (burger is my favorite.)

You can always hold onto your kohlrabi for a couple more weeks, you don’t have to use it right away. Just make sure it’s wrapped up in airtight plastic or stored in the crisper in your fridge, otherwise its skin may get soft!

Until next week, we hope you enjoy your veggies! Like last week, Cedar Rapids delivery is tomorrow, Dyersville/Colesburg is Wednesday, and Peosta will be early Saturday morning.

Have questions about how to cook/prepare items in your share?

Don’t hesitate to contact us! – jupiterridgefarm@gmail.com

Thanks for choosing us to be your farmers.

Best,
Adrian & Will | Jupiter Ridge Farm

CSA Newsletter

Jupiter Ridge 2019 CSA | Week 7

September 3, 2019 Adrian White Leave a comment

Greetings CSA Members!

Wow – can you believe we’re at week 7 already?

With a heavy share for you last week, we’re going a little light this week on our offerings – but your cooler will still be packed with plenty to enjoy and have fun with.

New item this week: Acorn Squash! That’s right, we’re finally starting to move into fall (a little bit) and this is only the first taste of what we’ll have to offer for fall flavors (meaning we have many more types of winter squash you’ll be able to enjoy in your future shares.)

This week’s share will include:

Red Round Slicing Tomatoes
Cucumbers
Baby Rainbow Carrots
Baby Rainbow Beets
Lacinato Kale Bunch
Acorn Squash
White (Kennebec) Potatoes
Red Onion
Sweet Onion
Garlic

A heads up about CSA deliveries next week! They will be taking place on Monday evening rather than on Tuesday evening. So make sure to leave your cooler with ice pack out then.

We will be attending the 2nd Annual Feed Iowa First that evening at Rodina in the Czech Village! We will also be collaborators, so the dishes featured during the dinner will feature the same produce you have been enjoying in your shares. Because of the event, we are tying in our restaurant and CSA deliveries into that day for convenience.

Speaking of the dinner – there are still tickets available!

Wish to attend? Click this link here. It would be great to see you there, and to work with us to help a great nonprofit like Feed Iowa First (Read about what they do here!)

This amazing nonprofit gathers growers and farmers (including ourselves here at Jupiter Ridge Farm!) together to produce healthy food and get it to communities, institutions, and other populations in need.

Participating in this dinner is a great way to support them as directly as possible, and will feature dishes and beverages produced from the talents of chefs, beverage makers, brewers, and farmers – the best talents in the Cedar Rapids area! Last year’s event was delicious, amazing, and fun. Let us know if you can join us!

Acorn Squash: What Do I Do With It? | Explanation & Tips

Never had acorn squash before? Well, you’re in for a real treat!

If you’ve ever roasted a butternut or spaghetti squash, acorn squash basically gets the same treatment when it comes to preparation. Cut them in half, scoop out the seeds, and place them on a cookie sheet or pan (with a little water in pan if desired) and roast them up until they’re nice and soft.

Adding a little salt on top (black pepper, too) makes this squash enjoyable right on it’s very own. Or, you can scoop out the flesh (leave the skin aside – it’s not very edible) and blend it into soups or stews. Half-bake it and cube it up and it makes an excellent addition to stuffing! (A bit early to be thinking about Thanksgiving, we know.)

Did you know the acorn squash was actually developed here in the state of Iowa? And that it also goes by the name Des Moines squash? The acorn was officially introduced and debuted as a commercial cultivar in Iowa in 1913. However, all squash originate from the Americas – pumpkins, zucchinis, you name it.

As you enjoy acorn squash this week, you can be proud to be tasting and savoring produce that is as Iowan as it gets.

Wellness Spotlight On: Cucumbers

Something as green as a cucumber has got to be healthy. But what health benefits does it have, exactly?

Cucumbers | Jupiter Ridge Farm — Cucumbers in closeup.

People eat cucumbers most often as a condiment we know all too well: pickles. “Dill pickles” (cucumbers pickled with dill seeds or fronds) are delicious, but there’s something more to this pairing: both cucumbers and dill are known to be great for aiding digestion.

Whether you eat them raw or as pickles, cucumbers are also known to help regulate blood sugars a little bit. This makes them an excellent vegetable for people with diabetes!

Well, that’s all for now! It’s an amazing time for CSA members right now, being able to enjoy the last tasty vegetables of summer alongside some of the first hints of autumn produce.

We hope you love what’s in your share – and as always, let us know if you have any questions about anything!

– jupiterridgefarm@gmail.com –

Best,
Adrian & Will | Jupiter Ridge Farm

– Jupiter Ridge Farm –

Tag Archives: Cucumbers

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