10.27.21

Around The Farm

It is nearly time to put the farm to bed by seeding the earth with a green quilt of clover, vetch, rye, peas and phacelia. Over-wintering crops will keep in the field, through rain, sleet, and snow. The scarlet and emerald kale and collards are tougher than any frost. Bunches will be plucked every week through the new year bound for the food pantry and UW Dining services.

We mark another season gone, a chapter with the soil and lessons from our insect and fungi teachers. Mistakes and unanticipated gains are all part of the urban farm experience. The challenges are hurdles not stop signs because every day we are learning, together.

At the UW Farm, and at many farms across the nation, it is a time of celebration. The physical tasks of growing produce are concluding. The finger-counting, number-crunching. invoice-tallying business begins. 2022 crop planning and seed ordering will start. Visions for next year's activities are already being discussed, floating around the farm office.

Today's 7th Annual Farm to Table dinner is upon us. The dinner is our way of celebrating with our community, an essential ingredient that makes a farm hum. Staff, faculty, students, neighbors, chefs, fellow farmers, shareholders, volunteers, families, children and their pets too. To all the eaters including the fungi, bacteria, earthworms, the sun, rain and everything in between – Thank you!

And now, a poem. The first fruit picked on the farm each year is also one of the last, plums. We are blessed with many plum trees in the Pacific Northwest and at the UW Farm too. 

Plums

Gillian Clarke

When their time comes they fall
without wind, without rain.
They seep through the trees’ muslin
in a slow fermentation.

Daily the low sun warms them
in a late love that is sweeter
than summer. In bed at night
we hear heartbeat of fruitfall.

The secretive slugs crawl home
to the burst honeys, are found
in the morning mouth on mouth,
inseparable.

We spread patchwork counterpanes
for a clean catch. Baskets fill,
never before such harvest,
such a hunters’ moon burning

the hawthorns, drunk on syrups
that are richer by night
when spiders pitch
tents in the wet grass.

This morning the red sun
is opening like a rose
on our white wall, prints there
the fishbone shadow of a fern.

The early blackbirds fly
guilty from a dawn haul
of fallen fruit. We too
breakfast on sweetnesses.

Soon plum trees will be bone,
grown delicate with frost’s
formalities. Their black
angles will tear the snow.

This Week's Recipe:

Roasted Green Tomato Salsa

Photos and Recipe by UW Farm Education Intern, Elizabeth Rauscher, majoring in Public Health-Global Health

This green tomato recipe is simple and makes use of all those unripe tomatoes dangling on the vine that won't have time to ripen. Any size green tomato will work, because you will be chopping them up to make the salsa.

While your roasted tomatoes are cooling, finely chop up jalapenos or serrano peppers (last week's CSA box) and onions. Feel free to add more or less of these as you please. Bell pepper also works as a great substitute if you like the flavor that the pepper gives but aren’t a fan of spicy hot peppers. 

My seasoning choice include Trader Joe’s Chili Seasoning. This is a combination of chili powder, cumin, and garlic powder, so you can also use the individual spices, plus salt and pepper. I would definitely recommend experimenting with whatever spices you have at home. This is really a chance to customize the salsa to your own flavor pallet!

I topped some roasted potato tacos with the salsa, which worked out really nicely. I would also recommend enjoying your salsa with some tortilla chips or over anything that you would normally put salsa on!

Ingredients:

• 1 medium green tomato
• ½ of a jalapeno, finely chopped
• ¼ of a medium sized onion, finely chopped
• Chili seasoning (combination of chili powder, cumin, garlic powder)
• Salt and pepper

Instructions:
 

1. Preheat the oven to 450° F
2. Wash your tomato and cut it in half
3. Place face down on a baking sheet and roast for 30 minutes. The skin of the tomato should start to turn brown. Let cool until you’re able to touch it.
4. While this is cooling, prep the rest of your salsa ingredients by chopping the jalapeno and onion and placing them into a mixing bowl.
5. Finely chop the tomato and combine with the jalapeno and onion.
6. Add your spices and enjoy!

Nutrition Corner:

Green Tomatoes

Oftentimes, the flavor and nutritional potential of green tomatoes are overlooked. They’re just seen as an unfortunate end of the season crop that has to go to waste. However, when this potential is explored, you’re able to utilize an ingredient that can be made into many different things.

Since green tomatoes are simply unripe tomatoes, the nutrients within them will be less concentrated than their riper counterparts. When looking at the nutritional information for tomatoes, just keep in mind that the less ripe ones will still have the same nutrients and minerals, but they will be present in lesser quantities than the more ripe variety. More specifically for tomatoes, the amounts of 𝛽-carotene and lycopene really influence the fruit color, so the less ripe tomatoes will have less of these compounds which are related to vitamin A production and anti-cancer qualities. But don’t worry! These compounds are still present just in lesser quantities, so you are still able to reap some of the benefits of using produce that might have been discarded otherwise.

News and Noteworthy:

Support the UW Farm through our Exclusive Swag Sale

The annual Farm To Table Dinner on October 27 is sold out, but you can still show your support for the Farm with your purchase of farm team shirts, hats and totes. Your purchase raises funds for seeds, growing materials and programs. Give as a gift or wear yourself, but shop now as these items will be available for purchase during the month of October ONLY. Promote the UW Farm wherever you go! 

To shop the UW Farm team items, visit this secure link:   UW FARM TOUCHNET

Tilth Conference November 19-20

Mark your calendars for this year's Tilth Conference! It's Friday-Sunday, November 19-21, at the Lynnwood Convention Center in Lynnwood, WA.

"The Innovative WA Farmer: Sharing What We've Learned"

Over the course of three afternoons, farmers, food system professionals, researchers and educators have the opportunity to learn from one another and share best practices, catch up with old friends, and make new connections. To learn more and see the schedule of speakers and events for the three day conference visit THIS LINK

Good Cheer Food Bank is Hiring

To learn more about the positions visit THIS LINK

Volunteer at the UW Farm! 

The UW Farm is experiencing a record low number of volunteers right now. If you have some time to spare and would like to know more about how to grow food, come volunteer with us! 

See details and learn more about how to sign up by visiting THIS LINK:
https://botanicgardens.uw.edu/center-for-urban-horticulture/gardens/uw-farm/volunteer/

Help The Farm Grow!

Every year, we have the capacity to grow more food and increase our educational and research program at the UW, but not without your support. Every contribution goes to work immediately, helping us better serve students. Your support can sustain our momentum and help seed new opportunities for student internships, academic work, and future growth. Please consider making a gift to the Farm online

Copyright © 2021 The UW Farm, All rights reserved.

Our mailing address is:
The UW Farm
3501 NE 41st St, 
Seattle, WA 98105

On campus mailbox
Box 354115

NEW email address:
uwfarm@uw.edu