Rising River Farm
13208 201st Ave SW
Rochester, WA 98579 360-273-5368
contact@risingriverfarm.com
www.risingriverfarm.com

August 15th ***** Box 9
Hello,

My apologies for the lack of a newsletter last week. There was a death in Jim’s family and he had to go to Boston suddenly for a week. I was left to do my job as well as his and the newsletter just fell to the bottom of the list. He came back late Monday night and we are all settling back in to our usual routine.
Dare I say it aloud, but we are actually caught up on things. There is plenty to keep us busy, but we’ve been able to send the crew home early a few times (which always helps morale this time of year). Soon a few big projects will need to get done, like the mass potato harvest and the pulling, curing, and cleaning of onions, but for this week we will enjoy the sanity and just take a breather.
I hope you enjoyed the eggplant last week. They are bigger and earlier than ever this year. Eggplant is a mysterious vegetable and not everyone is a fan, so we will hand one out every 2-3 weeks. In case the one from last week is still in your fridge here is what you can do with it….
Eggplant Rounds with Mozzarella & Parmesan
This recipe is ridiculously easy and my kids LOVE it. It makes a great side dish or appetizer.
-slice an eggplant into ¼ inch rounds
-brush with olive oil and bake at 400 for 10 minutes
-sprinkle a mix of grated mozzarella and parmesan on top and bake for a few minutes more until bubble and slightly golden.
-eat as is or put a slice of tomato on top.

This recipe was sent in by a CSA member:
Eggplant Crunch Casserole
1 pound eggplant, cubed (about 2 cups) (peel if desired)
1 cup celery, chopped
1/2 cup onion, chopped
1/2 cup green pepper, chopped
4 tablespoons butter
Sauté in large skillet until tender, about 15 minutes.

Stir in:
8 ounces tomato sauce
4 ounces sharp cheese, shredded
1 1/2 cups corn chips, coarsely crushed (reserve 1/2 cup for later)
Bake in 1 1/2 quart covered casserole at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes. Before serving, sprinkle with reserved corn chips.

What’s in the box?????
-Slicing cukes-This is the first picking and there should be enough for all.
-No beans this week. The harvest was meager and we don’t want you to get beaned-out so early in the summer. Don’t despair, there are 3 more plantings still to ripen.
-Bumper crop of lettuce. Large shares get 2 heads. This abundance is a delayed response to our lettuce shortage a month and a half ago. I started planting more and now there is a sea of lettuce.
–Sweet red pepper. These are an heirloom called Sheep’s Nose. They are so sweet and wonderful. It is hard to get big red peppers around here due to our cold dew-laden summer nights, so we found this little pimento type a few years ago and have had great luck with it. Only a few were ripe so we’ll start rotating them around and you should see them soon.

The corn seems to be taking forever. I keep thinking one more week, one more week, but looks like it’ll be at least one more week….

BASIL- We have lots of basil. If anyone wants bulk amounts let us know and we can leave it with your CSA box. It is $16.00/lb.