Summer has come to a close and fall is officially in the air. We are preparing the Farm for a much awaited family fun event this Sunday: “September Serenade!” We will have farm tours for all who would like to know the particulars about the Farm. Tours are from 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. and again from 2:00 p.m. until we close at 4:00 p.m. We suggest bringing your camera. We’ve set up a fall decorated area if you want a ‘Kodak Moment.’ Also don’t forget to bring your appetite and support the local Boy Scout Troop #114 as they will be selling hotdog lunches to raise money for their troop! From 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. Shasta Ray and Down Home Band will be per-forming traditional family oriented music at the Farm. Music styles include Folk, Gospel, Country and Bluegrass. We hope to see you and get better acquainted with you while you enjoy a day on the Farm!

In your boxes this week you will notice our last, yes last, variety of peaches for the year...Rio Oso Gems. They were developed in Rio Oso, California, in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains, around 1933. This peach is large and round with yellow skin that has a bright red blush. The flesh is firm, and the meat has coarser texture than other peaches. It is highly aromatic and juicy with a good tart finish. The Rio Oso Gem is difficult to grow, as it bruises easily and drops from the tree as soon as it ripens. We have also found that this peach, which was developed for the dry California climate, does not like our Oregon weather. We call them the “Ugly Peach” because the finish is
not as pretty as it should be. Many also have split pits inside. However, they do make up for this in flavor...we hope you enjoy them!

Additionally, as suggested from our summer surveys and from a recent member recommendation via e-mail, we have started listing the produce in the newsletter in order of perishability. We suggest that you use the items listed first as they will not keep as long as the items lower in the list. Thanks for the suggestion as we want to help you out as much as possible! This week we have also suggested a “Stuffed Bell Pepper” recipe. If you are not going to use all of the peppers a great storage tip is to chop any extras and put into your freezer for winter use. This makes great additions to soups and casseroles!

We hope to see you at the Farm on Sunday...enjoy this week’s farm fresh produce!

The Lehne Family

In this week's box:

• “Rio Oso Gem” Peaches

• Swiss Chard

• Tomatoes

• Eggplant

• Cucumber

• Bell Peppers (sweet)

• Cabbage (can be cut and stored in fridge. When ready to use other half simply slice off air exposed area.)

• “Prima” Apples (for Cabbage Rolls)

INGREDIENTS

4 bell peppers

Salt

5 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil

1 medium yellow onion, peeled and chopped

1 clove of garlic, peeled and chopped

1 lb of lean ground beef

1 1/2 cup of cooked rice

1 cup chopped tomatoes, fresh or canned

1 tbsp chopped fresh oregano or 1 tsp of dried oregano

Fresh ground pepper

1/2 cup ketchup

1/2 tsp of Worcestershire Sauce

Dash of Tabasco sauce

DIRECTIONS
1) Bring a large pot of water to a boil over high heat. Meanwhile, cut top off peppers 1 inch from the stem end, and remove seeds. Add several generous pinches of salt to
boiling water. Then add peppers and boil, using a spoon to keep peppers completely submerged, until their flesh is slightly sof-tened, about 3 minutes. Drain, set aside to cool.
2) Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Heat 4 tbsp. of the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add onions and garlic. Cook, stirring often, until soft and translucent, about 5 minutes. Remove skillet from heat, add meat, rice, toma-toes, and oregano. Season gener-ously with salt and pepper. Mix well.
3) Drizzle remaining 1 tbsp. oil inside peppers, arrange cut side up in a baking dish, then stuff peppers with filling. Combine ketchup, Worcestershire sauce, Tabasco sauce, and 1/4 cup of water in a small bowl. Spoon over the filling. Add 1/4 cup of water to the baking dish. Place in oven and bake for 40-50 min-utes (or longer, depending on how big the peppers are that you are stuffing), until the internal temperature of the stuffed pep-per is 150-160°F.

INGREDIENTS

1 bunch Swiss chard, rinsed thoroughly

4 medium tomatoes

2 cans (14 1/2 oz. each) cannellini beans, rinsed and drained, divided

2 tablespoons olive oil

4 cloves garlic, minced

2 medium carrots, peeled and cut into 1/4-in. dice

2 medium zucchini, quartered lengthwise and cut into 1/4-inch pieces

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup dry white wine

2 cups shredded green cabbage

1 can (14 1/2 oz.) chickpeas (garbanzos), rinsed and drained

3- to 4-inch parmesan cheese rind

4 cups reduced-sodium chicken broth

About 1/2 cup freshly shredded parmesan cheese

DIRECTIONS

 1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Meanwhile, cut stems from Swiss chard leaves by making a V-shaped cut into each leaf around the stem. Finely chop stems, cut leaves into ribbons, and set both aside separately. 2. Boil tomatoes for 30 seconds. Lift out with a slotted spoon and rinse under very cold water. Re-move the skin with a paring knife or vegetable peeler. Cut tomatoes into quarters, remove seeds, and chop. Set tomatoes aside. 3. Whirl half of cannellini beans with 1/2 cup water in a blender until smooth. Set bean purée aside.
4. Cook olive oil and garlic in a large pot over medium-high heat until fragrant, about 2 minutes. Add carrots, zucchini, reserved chopped chard stems, and salt. Cook, stirring, until stems are tender, about 5 minutes. Add white wine and cabbage. Cook, stirring, until cabbage wilts, 2 to 3 minutes.
5. Add reserved chard leaves, remaining cannellini beans, the chopped tomatoes, bean purée, chickpeas, parmesan rind, and broth. Bring to a boil, then re-duce heat to maintain a steady simmer. Cook until all vegetables are tender and flavors blend, about 15 minutes. Remove parmesan rind. Serve soup hot, topped with shredded parmesan.

INGREDIENTS

1 eggplant

1 tube (1 lb.) cooked polenta (see notes)

Olive oil cooking spray

1 onion (8 oz.), peeled and chopped

2 cloves garlic, peeled and pressed or minced

2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil leaves or 2 teaspoons dried basil

1 can (14 oz.) tomato purée

Salt and pepper

1 1/2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese (6 oz.)

1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese

8 to 12 breadsticks (2 to 3 oz. total)

PREPARATION

Rinse eggplant and trim off and discard both ends. Cut eggplant crosswise into 8 equally thick slices. Cut polenta crosswise into 8 equal rounds. Lightly coat a 14- by 17-inch baking sheet with olive oil cooking spray. Arrange eggplant and polenta slices in a single layer on sheet. Lightly coat tops of slices with more cooking spray. Bake in a 425° regular or convection oven until eggplant is soft when pressed and polenta is heated through (cut to test), 20 to 25 minutes. Meanwhile, in an 8- to 10-inch nonstick frying pan over medium-high heat, stir onion, garlic, and basil occasionally until onion is lightly browned, 4 to 5 minutes. Add tomato purée and 1/4 cup
water; simmer uncovered, stirring occasionally, until flavors are blended, 5 to 10 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste. Cover and keep warm over low heat, stirring occasionally, until eggplant is done. When eggplant is soft, sprinkle mozzarella and parmesan cheeses equally over eggplant and polenta. Return to oven and bake until cheese is melted, about 2 minutes. On each of four dinner plates, place 1 eggplant slice (use largest slices first) and drizzle with 1 tablespoon sauce; top with 1 polenta slice and 1 tablespoon sauce. Repeat until all slices are used. If desired, garnish each stack with rosemary sprig. Spoon remaining sauce around base of eggplant stacks. Serve with breadsticks.

2 quarts water

1 large green cabbage (about 2 1/2 pounds)

2 tablespoons butter

1 large onion, chopped

1 garlic, finely chopped

2 cups cooked rice

8 ounces ground beef

8 ounces ground pork

Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper

1 tablespoon dried parsley flakes

1 medium green pepper, grated

2 celery stalks with leaves, finely chopped

4 cups tomato puree

1 Prima apple, peeled, cored, and chopped

1/2 cup sour cream, plus more for garnish

1) Using a paring knife, remove center core of cabbage. In a large nonreactive stockpot, bring 2 quarts water to a boil. Add cabbage and cook 2 to 3 minutes or until outer leaves are bright green and tender. Lift cabbage from water, and remove outer leaves. Return cabbage to boiling water, and repeat brief cooking and removal of leaves until all leaves are cooked. Reserve 2 cups cabbage cooking water. Trim thick center vein from bottom of each leaf. Reserve four large outer leaves to line bottom of pan.

2) In a medium skillet, melt butter over medium heat. Add onion and garlic, and cook until golden and tender, about 8 minutes. In a large bowl, combine onion mixture, rice, beef, pork, salt, pepper, parsley flakes, green pepper, and celery. Stir to combine.

3) Add about 1/3 cup rice filling to one cab-
bage leaf. Fold sides of cabbage over filling, and, starting with the stem end, roll the cabbage up. Repeat with remaining leaves and filling.

4) Line a 5-quart Dutch oven with reserved out-side leaves. Transfer stuffed cabbage leaves to Dutch oven.

5) In a large bowl, combine tomato puree and the reserved 2 cups of cabbage cooking water. Pour some of the tomato sauce over cabbage to almost cover. Sprinkle apple over top of cabbage leaves. Bring to a boil and immediately reduce to a gentle simmer; cover. Cook for 1 hour or until cabbage is very tender, adding additional tomato sauce as needed.

6) Place sour cream in a small bowl, and ladle in about 3/4 cup of tomato sauce from the cooked stuffed cabbage rolls. Whisk to combine. Add sour cream mixture back to Dutch oven, and stir to combine. Serve with additional sour cream.