Too much Zucchini? Freeze it!

Pathfinder Produce market at the Village Commons. We're open on Thursdays from 2 to 5 p.m. and hope to see you here!

Some market news of note: Our homegrown 5210 Hoop House veggies are really starting to come into their own now, and there are several products featured on our price list. Also, our market is now accepting Visa, MasterCard and Discover cards … now that’s convenience!

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As we move into the dog days of August, we'll start seeing a lot of farm stands with great, green zucchini squash for sale. It's a really versatile vegetable (although technically, it's a fruit), and can be frozen for future use.  Comprehensive freezing instructions are found at the HGTV Gardens website. 

Zucchini, sometimes also called courgette, is related to other squashes -- its ancestors originally grew in the Americas and were transplanted to Europe during the Age of Exploration. Through hybridization in Italy, the current variety of the plant became known in the late 1800s. Italian immigrants introduced the plant in its current form to the United States in the early 20th century, and now it is widely grown everywhere.

Health-wise, zucchini and other summer squashes are low in calories, high in fiber, and high in antioxidants like Vitamin C (studies show that even frozen squash retains these antioxidants). Other benefits include lots of B vitamins, to help with maintaining healthy blood sugar levels, and omega-3 fats to combat a wide variety of inflammatory conditions. Summer squash may also offer some anti-cancer benefits, according to the website of the World's Healthiest Foods.  Zucchini are also high in copper and oxalates, so if you have sensitivities to these compounds, you should limit your intake.

To freeze zucchini, it is recommended that you cut it into bite-size pieces, so you won't have as much work when you add it to a recipe.  I would also make sure that the skins are washed well; most online references don't indicate you need to peel zucchini. Some sources indicate that the baseball bat sized zukes may have bitter-tasting skins, so perhaps that should be part of the decision. If you plan on using the veggies as an ingredient in muffins or bread, you also may grate it.

Most vegetables need to be blanched before freezing to destroy bacteria and enzymes that cause discoloration.  Bring a big pot of unsalted water to a roiling boil, then using a heat resistant strainer or colander, completely submerge the zucchini pieces for three or four minutes. Your zucchini shouldn't get mushy during this process. Then, quickly dunk the pieces into a bowl or stockpot of cold (ice) water to stop the cooking action.

Once the zucchini cools, drain the extra water out of it using your colander.  You really want to get the extra water out so the package doesn't turn into a solid block in the freezer. It will be easier to measure out specific amounts with less water content. Some websites recommend patting the zucchini dry with paper towels too. When the pieces are fully drained, transfer them into quart or gallon size freezer bags (labeled with contents and date of course).  Pack the bags full and push as much air out as possible before sealing.

Of course, there are many great fresh zucchini recipes to try right now.  I found some that look appealing (and some are a little out of the ordinary) at Martha Stewart's website and at Health.com.   

Until next time, savor those summer flavors and be well!

Lori

Considering the Cuke

We hope you will join us this coming Thursday at Pathfinder Produce for the freshest tastes around.  Our weekly market is just brimming with fresh produce, and we offer many bulk items and baked goods too.  Stop by the Village Commons from 2 to 5 p.m. …  you’ll be glad you did!

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At Graceland we’ve been enjoying the kale and lettuce from the garden, which are still going remarkably well.  I noticed that despite the presence of weeds, bugs, and juvenile delinquent bunnies, my green beans are starting to produce, and many yellow blossoms are flowering on my cucumbers.

Freshly sliced cukes are a great taste of summer, and there are many recipes calling for them in salads, sandwiches, in drinks, and even as desserts.  A lot of options – some of which are surprising -- are available at the Huffington Post and the Martha Stewart websites.

Cucumbers, cucumis sativus, are 90% water, and are high in Vitamin K and lignans, compounds that are thought to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease, as well as breast, uterine, ovarian and prostate cancers.  According to some studies in an article in Life Extension Magazine, lignans, which are phytoestrogens, may also have a role in reducing chronic inflammation, staving off viruses, and improving the insulin response in the body.

Cukes are thought to have originated in India, and they have been cultivated for over three millennia.  According to the Roman historian Pliny, Emperor Tiberius, who reigned from 14 to 37 AD and was a gloomy sort, loved cucumbers.  "Indeed,” Pliny wrote, “he was never without it; for he had raised beds made in frames upon wheels, by means of which the cucumbers were moved and exposed to the full heat of the sun; while, in winter, they were withdrawn, and placed under the protection of frames…."

Cucumbers then traveled to France, Spain and England, and made it to New England by the mid-16th century.  Concurrently, the Plains Indians learned how to grow them from Spanish settlers in Mexico and California and they traveled eastward as well.  Cucumbers were grown by the Haudenosaunee here in New York when the first Europeans came through the region in the late 1600s.

For a while, Europeans in the later 17th century, held that eating uncooked vegetables was dangerous; cucumbers may have gotten the moniker “cowcumber” at this time as they were viewed only as fit to be used as fodder.  By the mid-1800s, cukes were back in favor, and pickling, which had become a favorite way of preserving them, was revolutionized with the advent of the Mason jar for home canning in the 1860s.  A fun history of pickling timeline is offered by the New York Food Museum. 

So until next time, enjoy your garden, try some fresh cukes in new recipes, and be well!

Lori

A Bumper Thumper Crop

We hope you'll join us this Thursday at the Village Commons from 2 to 5 p.m. for our next Pathfinder Produce market!  

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Going to Cooperstown this morning, I noticed quite a few lush, well-tended gardens, not without a touch of envy.  My garden is producing – the kale and lettuce are going strong, the beans and cukes are flowering.  But to really make things take off, I really need to go out and give my raised beds a good hoeing out.

Although persistent, the weeds aren’t necessarily pernicious.  The real threat to the garden is a bumper crop of bunnies!  For the past few years, our property has been overrun with Flopsy, Mopsy, and Cotton-tail, and all their kin.  I can look out the window at any time of day and usually see three or four, or at times six or seven, eating and playing in the mowed areas around my house.

According to the web, our rabbits are Eastern Cottontails, Sylvilagus floridanus, one of the most-common species of the rabbit family in North America.  They prefer living where there is optimal food, and cover, typically with fields and fencerows that offer places to hide from predators.   

They do not dig burrows, but use the abandoned dens of other wildlife; they also build nests for their young in grassy areas, hay fields, scrubby woods or thickets. According Wikipedia, rabbits’ breeding habits are controlled by warmer temperatures, with litters being born in New York State roughly from March through September.  The gestation period is about 30 days, and the young are fully independent by five weeks.  Some females breed during their first year, when they are two or three months old.  They typically have four litters of five babies each in a season, but annual offspring can be as high as 35 babies.  They are indeed prolific. 

So, fighting these staggering odds, what is a part-time farmer to do?

My first line of defense is “da’ fence,” which encircles the garden beds that are not far from the house.  The rabbits are bold (they’ve been caught on the back steps), and are also around when I’m not, so the layout isn’t fool proof.  We’ve caught a few smaller kits getting through the fence and have had to scare them away.

My second line of defense is our goofy, jet black Della, a five-year old lab who lives to be outside.  It’s quite something to watch this happy-go-lucky nut transform into a hunter.  She moves ever so slowly toward a group of rabbits, making no sudden moves … think of a lioness on the Serengeti.  At times, and I’m not sure how common this is, she’ll actually point at her victim.  (This just shows she is a screwball … according to The Labrador Retriever Club, “The clear and unarguable fact is that the Labrador is a retriever, not a pointing dog." Go figure.)

She’ll continue to inch closer, and then when she’s about 15 yards away, she’ll spring her 80 lbs. forward in hot pursuit.  She usually is foiled in her efforts due to the presence of multiple bunnies, which of course scatter.  She can’t follow more than one, gets confused, and usually comes back to the house with a silly grin and her tail wagging over having some fun.

According to other websites, like HGTV Gardens and The Old Farmers’ Almanac there are all kinds of “Maginot Lines” against the leporid hordes:  planting things they like away from the garden (too much like work), planting things they hate in your garden (tomatoes, cukes, peppers), planting bad smelling flowers or odiferous herbs (chives, mint), caging or cuffing veggie plants, using humane-catch traps, and spraying pepper or other noxious substances around the garden perimeter.   

Other sites reference the roles that predators – dogs, cats, coyotes, foxes, and even bobcats – play in keeping rabbits under control.  (It seems to me that the coyotes, foxes and bobcats in the neighborhood must need some hunting lessons).

So until next time, enjoy your garden, be vigilant, and be well!

Lori

The Sweet Tastes of Summer

Our Pathfinder Produce market is in full swing, and is now selling Pathfinder grown produce from the 5210 Hoop House.  Our market offers a full variety of FRESH summer flavors, so why not try something new!  We’ll be open this Thursday, July 10, at the Village Commons from 2 to 5 p.m.

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This past weekend I was able to put up several quarts of blueberries.  They’re a real favorite at my house, and nothing says summer like a bowl of fresh, slightly sweet indigo berries. And because they are easy to freeze, I can use blueberries throughout the year for pancakes and low-sugar breakfast muffins.

Blueberries are native to North America, and were a valued food source for Native American tribes.  The Old Farmers’ Almanac website says the modern blueberry was developed in the 20th century.  Other sites state that blueberries were first harvested commercially in Maine during the Civil War, when they were canned to feed Union soldiers.  The Almanac adds that blueberries are related to rhododendron and azalea, and they prefer to grow in acidic, rich, well-drained yet moist soil.  Cultivated berries require regular pruning, mulching, and many growers place nets over them to reduce losses to birds.

There are three varieties grown in the U.S. - northern highbush, lowbush, and “rabbit-eye,” a hybrid that grows well in warmer climates.  Historically, berries have been grown in New England and the Middle Atlantic States, but Michigan and Georgia are also major producers, growing 32% and 10% respectively of the U.S. crop.  Blueberries can be distinguished from identical-looking bilberries by their light green flesh color. (Other berries are red or purple throughout).

Highbush varieties grow larger berries than lowbush types; the term “wild” for berries found in stores is a marketing term to denote lowbush varieties.  More information on “wild blueberries” may be found at www.wildblueberries.com.

According to the World’s Healthiest Foods website, blueberries have one of the highest antioxidant levels among all fruits, vegetables, spices and seasonings.  (Freezing doesn’t diminish the fruit’s nutritive properties).  Blueberries are a very good source of vitamin K, vitamin C, and manganese, fiber and copper.  Other health benefits include: 

• Improved blood-fat balances, including a reduction in total cholesterol, raising of HDL levels, and lowering triglycerides.
• Reduced overall blood pressure and better vascular health.
• Improved blood sugar balances, which is important for those living with Type 2 diabetes, metabolic syndrome, and/or insulin resistance
• Healthier nervous systems, which are protected from damage by free radicals/oxidative stress.
• Improved memory:  In a study involving older adults, 12 weeks of daily blueberry juice consumption (equal to about 1.5 lbs. of whole berries) was enough to improve scores on two tests of cognitive function and memory.

Until next time, enjoy all the great tastes of summer, and be well!

Lori

Progress at the Hoop House

We hope that everyone will come out for our next Pathfinder Produce market, where you can find the freshest tastes of summer.  We’re open on Thursday, July 3, from 2 to 5 p.m., just in time to stock up for your Independence Day celebration!

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Nick prepares the soil for planting in the 5210
Hoop House as Rebekah and Brian look on.

Earlier this spring, I had the chance to visit as our School-to-Work students planted our garden beds at the Village’s new 5210 Hoop House.  Now that the hot, humid days of summer are here, I thought I’d check in with one of the students, Nick C., to learn how the Village garden is progressing.

Although he’s officially on break for a few weeks, Nick stays busy and monitors the garden, usually early in the morning before it is too hot.  He reports, “Everything is doing okay.  I check the plants each day.”

“Plants need dirt, water and sunlight,” he said. “They need a good farmer.  Each day I see if they need water.  I look for bugs and weeds. The plants can die if we don’t care for them.”

“We started seeds in the Button Greenhouse,” Nick recounted.  “They go from seeds to sprouts.  Then they are seedlings that grow.  We transplanted them (from pots to the hoop house beds). The plants will flower, and they will produce fruits.”

Our older students cared for the garden as it was being planted in the closing weeks of the school year, working with Teacher Aide Lorraine Layton, and Food Service Director Brian Belknap from Edmeston Central School, our gardening consultant.  The School-to-Work students also researched gardening and crops on the web, learning how to build different greenhouses with recycled materials like plastic soda bottles, what types of plants are grown in other places like California, and how small farmers can advertise and market their produce.

Nick’s favorite task is watering, but he knows that weeding is important too.  The School-to-Work students like to sing their own version of the “COPS” theme song as they work:

               “Bad weeds, bad weeds,

               “Whatcha’ gonna do?

               “Whatcha’ gonna do when we come for you?

Very soon, Nick and his fellow students will harvest lettuce, kale and spinach, and they are eagerly watching other plants grow – tomatoes, peppers, and onions.  He added, “When they’re ready, we’re going to make some salsa!”

Until next time, be well and enjoy your own garden!

Lori

Lori V. Grace

Assistant Director of Development and Public Affairs

(607) 965-8377, ext. 115

lgrace@pathfindervillage.org