. . . and that’s true love and homegrown tomatoes.” Well, almost.  With props to Guy Clark, songwriter of our farm anthem, homegrown tomatoes CAN be bought, but only if grown with true love, like ours. Tomatoes are our passion! Maybe even obsession 🙂 Each year we grown 170 linear feet of a dozen varieties of darlings with names like Peacevine, Chocolate Cherry, Sungold, and Pruden’s Purple. Sweet, juicy tomatoes that have never known the insides of a semi-truck. Tomatoes that taste like they used to taste back in the day, like sunshine and heaven. Tomatoes that you can’t get in a store. Let us be your farmer, and we’ll share a little bit of that love with you every week.

Sign up for a CSA with Urban Futures Farm!

• 18 weeks of sustainably grown veggies, fruits and flower bouquets, June-October
• Farm pickup (your special box) 6 blocks NE of Ralph’s
• Large, medium and small shares offered
• For more information or to sign up for a 2020 CSA share www.urbanfuturesfarm.com

“Really enjoy all the fruit and the weekly bouquet makes my home homier” – 2019 CSA Customer
Imagine a weekly box just for you with farm fresh vegetables, fruits, berries, and flower bouquet. Food for the body & soul!

A CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) share is the original produce subscription service – and this one is right in town!

• 18 weeks of sustainably grown veggies, fruits and flower bouquets, June-October
• Farm pickup (your special box) 6 blocks NE of Ralph’s
• Large, medium and small shares offered
• For more information www.urbanfuturesfarm.com

“The CSA was a major offset to our regular grocery purchases and definitely more than paid for itself. Plus, you just can’t get this quality tasting produce in a store.” – Happy Customer

• 18 weeks of sustainably grown veggies, fruits and flower bouquets, June-October
• Farm pickup 6 blocks NE of Ralph’s
• Large, medium and small shares offered
• For more information www.urbanfuturesfarm.com

This Saturday, October 5 from 9am to noon we will be hosting our annual Friends and Neighbors Appreciation Sale.  This is your final chance to stock up on veggies for the fall and winter and have a look around the farm.  Come pick up pumpkins, squash, onions, potatoes, leeks, carrots, cabbage, beets and more.  All of these crops will store for several months, allowing you to savor the taste of summer well into the long dark winter.  Stop by for some hot cider and to take home a box of goodness.  Cash or checks gladly accepted.

Now is the time to stock up on green beans for all your canning and freezing needs! Pickled beans (dillys!)!  Frozen green beans! Pressure canned green beans! A little bit of late summer to pull out of your freezer or pantry in the middle of winter! $2 a pound.  Call or text the farmer for pickup – 360.338.8654

Now is the time to stock up on green beans for all your canning and freezing needs! Pickled beans (dillys!)!  Frozen green beans! Pressure canned green beans! A little bit of late summer to pull out of your freezer or pantry in the middle of winter! $2 a pound.  Call or text the farmer for pickup – 360.338.8654

A hunk of bread, a bottle of wine, and this salad take you to the south of France 🙂 We eat this late summer, when the potatoes and green beans come in. 

Vinagrette
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 Tbsp dijon mustard
2 Tbsp red wine vineger
2 Tbsp lemon juice
salt, pepper
3/4 cup olive oil

Whisk all but oil until blended. Add oil while whisking. Let stand 30 minutes. Discard garlic.

Salad
1lb small potatoes
4 eggs
1/2lb green beans
1 head lettuce, torn
1 red or green pepper, ringed
1/2 cherry tomatoes, sliced
1 med cucumber, peeled and sliced
12 oz tuna (2 cans)
3/4 cup Nicoise or other brined olives
1 scallion, chopped
2 Tbsp parsley, chopped
1 Tbsp capers

-Place potatoes in a pot with water to cover.  Bring to boil, add salt to taste. Reduce heat and simmer 10-15 minutes. When tender, drain, cool slightly and coat lightly with vinagrette. Season with salt and pepper, set aside.
-Cover eggs with water, bring to full boil. After 1 minute, cover and turn off heat. Let stand 6 minutes. Rinse, transfer to ice bath. When cool, peel.
-Blanch green beans in salted water to crisp tender, 1 to 2 minutes. Drain, rinse and transfer to an ice bath.
-Arrange lettuce in the middle of a large platter. Arrange the potatoes in the middle, surrounded by green beans.
– Place the peppers, tomatoes, cucmbers, tuna, sliced eggs and olives in small piles across from each other (look for balance)
– Sprinkle with scallions, parsley,and capers. Drizzle with vinagrette, and serve remainder alongside.

Enjoy!

With a fancy paper husk and hard, shiny green fruit, the tomatillo is a staple in Mexican cuisine. We typically use them for salsa, and just recently canned a bunch for winter. But we’re stepping up our tomatillo game, and so should you! Bon Appetit has a collection of 27 tomatillo recipes online to get us started on different uses for this sweet/sour fruit. The tomatillo/cucumber gazpacho is calling to us, and CSA members have both in their box this week. Enjoy!

One of the great culinary joys of summer on the farm is the arrival of tomatoes. From now until the plants cease producing, we eat them at every meal. A thick slice of juicy tomato on a bagel with cream cheese is a breakfast I dream about all year.

Sticking with the theme of bread, this week we offer Panzanella, or rustic bread salad.. Lots of cultures have devised ways to use leftover bread – French toast, bread pudding – and this one from Italy is a savory side dish or main course if you add cheese chunks or some type of protein. This only works when tomatoes are at their peak.

You can find lots of recipes on the Internet for bread salad. Some are more complex, with cucumbers and peppers or capers. Dress it up or down as you wish. Note: Bread salad does NOT make good leftovers as tomatoes suffer the minute they are put in the fridge. So make only as much as you need. For the following version, you need day-old bread (baguette or something with a crust), juicy heirloom or slicing tomatoes (you can add halved cherry tomatoes), onion, basil, olive oil, red wine vinegar, salt and pepper.

Cube your bread. If it’s very soft, pop in the oven on 350 for 10 minutes or so until crisp but not browned. Put in a bowl, Chop your tomatoes into chunks and your onion into slivers and add to the bowl.  You should have about the same amount of tomatoes as bread or slightly less. Toss.  Add olive oil. Toss. Add red wine vinegar. Toss, Salt and pepper. Toss. Chopped basil. Toss.  Let sit 1/2 hour for flavors to meld. Test seasoning. Enjoy!

Join us Tuesday, July 30, 5:30-7:30pm

Once a year, we host an event for a local candidate for office who we think you should meet. Join us for food, music, beverages, camaraderie, and the opportunity to learn more about Helen Wheatley’s vision for the Port of Olympia.