Tuesday,  July 24, 2007

Greetings CSA Members,

The farm just gets busier by the day. The raccoons have eaten the first planting of corn. They have not learned how to share. We have a radio blaring all night long now and have set out a have-a heart trap so that we can transplant these lovely, but very pesky creatures. There is an old wife’s tale that states that the night before the corn is ready to harvest, the raccoons come in and devour the crop. We had not seen a raccoon here on this farm until the night before Brian was ready to harvest this year’s beautiful first planting. The deer fencing, though it is electric, does not hinder their entry. But the radio seems to help keep them at bay.

We are drawing closer to the middle of the summer when the abundance is more apparent. For many gardeners, this means lots and lots of summer squash and zucchini. You might be interested to know that Brian does not like summer squash on his dinner plate. And so, he does not over-plant either one. Each year, nonetheless, I pull out this absolutely fabulous recipe provided by one of our CSA members – Chocolate Zucchini Cake. I hope that you enjoy it as much as I do.

Take good care - Justine

How To Store Basil:  Strip the lower leaves off of the stems, remove the rubber band, cut the stem bottoms as you would flowers, and place the bunch in a glass of water on your kitchen counter. Wrap the stripped leaves in a dry paper towel and store in an airtight container at room temperature. Basil is very sensitive and may turn black when refrigerated. Basil can be chopped up and frozen as well - Make a batch of pesto or simply puree it with a bit of olive oil and then freeze in ice cube trays.

Chocolate Zucchini Cake

2 ½ cups all purpose-flour

½ cup cocoa

2½ tsp. baking powder

1 ½ tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. cinnamon

¾ cup soft butter

2 cups sugar

3 eggs

2 tsp. vanilla

2 cups coarsely shredded zucchini

½ cup milk

1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans (optional) Glaze (directions to follow)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Combine the flour, cocoa, baking powder, soda, salt and cinnamon; set aside.

With a mixer, beat together the butter and the sugar until they are smoothly blended. Add the eggs to the butter and sugar mixture one at a time, beating well after each addition. With a spoon, stir in the vanilla, orange peel and zucchini.

Alternately stir the dry ingredients and the milk into the zucchini mixture, including the nuts with the last addition.

Pour the batter into a greased and floured Bundt pan.

Bake in the oven for about 50 minutes (test at 45) or until a wooded pick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in a pan 15 minutes then turn out onto a wire rack to cool thoroughly.

Drizzle glaze over cake.

Glaze: Mix together 2 cups powdered sugar, 2 tbls milk and 1 tsp vanilla. Beat until smooth.