HI! We are excited to share with you the link to our 2012 season slide show! And the link to Around the Farm Table featuring our farm! We love it! We also want to let you know that we are still taking sign-ups for the 2013 season, but there will be a price increase at the beginning of January. Sign up now!
More updates to come. Also a chicken delivery soon! Be well!
What’s in the box?
garlic
onions
potatoes
butternut squash
broccoli
carrots
cabbage
dino kale
spinach
celeriac
Notes on the box…
We had some very low temperatures here. It made us spend a lot of time waiting for things to thaw out so that we could harvest. Thankfully we got everything that couldn’t stand the super cold temps (it got down to 14 degrees on Monday night!) out of the field in time. Then on Wednesday it warmed up enough for the ground to thaw so that we could dig some carrots. Everything is extra sweet and yummy thanks to the cold temps. Enjoy it!
The kale bunches were made by us taking off the entire top of the plants off and bunching them. The leaves are young and tender enough that they don’t need de-stemming. I just cut the whole bunch up without even taking the leaves off the stalk. I toss out the stalk along with the base of the leaves.
Recipes….
Butternut Squash Gnocchi with Garlic Butter and Sage I roasted several butternut squash and made a double batch of this gnocchi to put in the freezer. It’s a project, to be sure. But if you have some time and feel like spending it in the kitchen, this is a nice way. This was my first time making gnocchi and it came out so delicious!
Korean Kale and Squash Soup This recipe calls for soybean paste, but I didn’t have any and the soup still tasted really great. We ate it with a scoop of brown rice. After a couple of heavy meals, this was nice and light, but still comforting on a cold day. Otto really liked the kale in this soup. He ate the squash, the kale, and then drank the broth!
Pumpkin Roll We made this for Craig’s pre-birthday party. We really love Birthdays because they are an excuse to bake and because we love celebrating our friends!
On the farm….
This is the last of the Winter Share boxes for the 2012 season. We hope that you enjoyed the extended season and that you still have some veggies to serve on Thanksgiving!
We will soon be sending out an email about chicken that we will have available for delivery. We are waiting until after the Thanksgiving holiday to get those deliveries out.
Craig and Lauren are moving on to help out our friends at Foxtail Farm this Winter. We are REALLY going to miss those two. They have been with us for 2 full seasons and we’ve really enjoyed working with them. They are going to have the most amazing farm someday!
We are hunkering down and will be spending the Winter working on getting our cheese facility licensed and planning the 2013 season. We are keeping our fingers crossed for a nice snowy Winter.
Many Thanks and we are looking forward to the 2013 season!
What’s in the box?
winter share week 5
pie pumpkin
butternut squash
curly kale
yellow storage onions
garlic
red onions
broccoli
spinach
potatoes
cabbage
carrots (not pictured)
Notes on the box….
The broccoli tastes SO SWEET now. We roasted some after tossing it with a little olive oil. We put a little lemon zest and salt and pepper on it and when we tasted it I had to check to make sure that I hadn’t mistakenly put sugar in the salt shaker. It’s really that sweet. We are really enjoying it and we hope that you and your family do as well!
The carrots are still quite small, but very tasty. The smallest ones are wonderful if left whole and roasted or steamed. Pretty fancy, too!
Green vegetables and carrots should be stored in your fridge. Everything else should be stored outside of your fridge (in a cool, dark place if possible).
Recipes…
Balsamic Roasted Winter Squash and Wild Rice Salad
What to do with cabbage, potatoes, and kale? Colcannon!
On the Farm…
We are still adjusting to the slower pace that comes with the end of the season. Getting some projects done that got pushed to the side during the big growing season. We’ve gotten to do some visiting and help out some friends by milking their cows when they went on vacation. A couple of steers went to the butcher this week. We will have broiler chickens as well as stewing hens in the web store soon. We are still deciding on the best day to deliver them, but we will email everyone about it soon. The snow was really flying on Tuesday morning, though it didn’t stick around for long. We have been enjoying some mild days and hope you all enjoyed Halloween and election day! Enjoy your box. Next week will be the last delivery of Winter CSA boxes.
Pie Pumpkin
Butternut squash
onions
potatoes
garlic
brusselsprouts
spinach
broccoli
collards
parsley
much of the same as last few weeks. this is the nature of the colder months ahead. what we have now is what we will have until Spring.
What is up with these carrots? carrot planting failed on the first try, hot weather and dry conditions forced us to replant. Then it got cold this fall sooner than average (we have had night time temps in the teens) so they haven’t really had enough growing degree days to size up. The taste is great though. roast them whole if are making a crock pot roast or a bird in the oven. Or with brussel sprouts and onions. what you have are TRUE baby carrots. but we thought the taste was worth all the trouble we went to digging in the partially frozen wet ground.
This is the last week for the brussel sprouts. Spinach will keep coming, and more Butternut squash. Broccoli is not too happy with the colder weather but still seems to be pushing on despite it. More kale on the way as well. and we will have potatoes onions and garlic and one more round of celeriac…
We will have some chicken posted in our webstore soon! we will send an email to let you know. stock up for the winter chicken soup season.
until then..
WHAT’S IN THE BOX?
Winter box week 3
butternut squash
cilantro
pie pumpkin
bagged spinach
thyme
cabbage
bagged broccoli
brussel sprouts
lacinato kale
potatoes
onions
garlic
NOTES ON THE BOX
Pretty much the same as last week. As you can tell with the Winter Shares, if you aren’t able to get through all the produce in a week, it’s a good idea to have an area set aside for storage of things like onions, garlic, squash, and potatoes. For your broccoli and other greens, freezing is a great idea and can be done quite easily and quickly. Broccoli can be chopped, blanched for a few minutes, run under cold water to stop the cooking, drained well, then placed into freezer bags until you are ready to use them. Thawed broccoli is good for soups and casseroles. Greens can be blanched (very shortly for spinach) then drained and chopped and put into a freezer bag. We like having frozen spinach on hand for spinach lasagna or other pasta dishes.
Cilantro FINALLY made it into the boxes. We tried four plantings of cilantro this season! One got rained out in the Spring, the next bolted before it sized up enough to harvest, the third planting didn’t germinate because it was too hot when we planted it, and this final one we expected to have for our last Summer box, but it wasn’t big enough to send out. I know cilantro seems to be much more of a summertime herb, but it’s great with curry or on tacos or burritos.
RECIPES
I’m quite excited to share a super easy and yummy way to cook cabbage! I know that cabbage is a challenging vegetable for many, but it’s actually very versatile. The good thing about it is that even if you can’t use it up right away, it will hold for a VERY LONG TIME. At a farm I once worked on, when cleaning out the cooler in the spring, we discovered a cabbage in a box in the back of the cooler. It had been harvested in October and was found in March. It had quite a bit of fuzzy mold on it, but after peeling away a few layers of leaves, we found the interior to be in good condition! We cooked it, ate it, and we are still alive to tell the tale! While I don’t recommend trying to keep cabbage around for 5 months, just know that there’s no rush to get it all eaten in a couple of weeks. But really, the recipe in the link is so easy and fantastic. We had it for lunch without the Bacon, and it was still so yummy!
——————————–
Brown Lentil Soup With Cilantro
——————————
Roasted Butternut Apple Soup with Cilantro and Walnut Pesto
——————————
Garlic, Thyme, Lemon Potato and Brussel Sprouts
1. Clean, dice, and boil several potatoes until you can pierce them easily with a fork. Amount depends on how many you are feeding and how hungry you are…
2. While the potatoes are cooking, prep the rest of your ingredients. Take the brussels sprouts off their stalk, then slice off the hard woody bottom on each one can cut the large ones in half. Chop 1 large red onion into small pieces. Chop 4 cloves of garlic into smaller pieces. Prepare fresh thyme by sliding your fingers over the stems to remove the leaves. The small stems are pretty tender at the top are tender enough that you don’t have to worry about them. You want enough to make about two tsp (or more if you like a lot of thyme!)
3. Toss the boiled potatoes and prepared brussel sprouts in a pan with the onion, garlic, thyme, 2 tbsp olive oil, 2 tsp salt, and some fresh ground pepper. Mix everything so it’s all evenly coated. Cook in a skillet on medium-high heat for 20-30 minutes, stirring every five or so minutes to keep things from burning. Let cook until the brussels are tender and there is some nice browning on them and the potatoes. Squeeze the juice of half a lemon over everything before serving.
ON THE FARM
making bunches of cilantro
What’s in the box?
Winter Share week 2
pie pumpkin
sweet dumpling or delicata squash
potatoes
celeriac
bagged broccoli
bagged spinach
curly kale
sage
garlic
onions (red and yellow)
brussel sprouts
Notes on the box…
Please see last weeks post for storage tips.
This is CELERIAC.
Celeriac is a root. The flavor is similar to celery, but the texture is similar to other root vegetables. Store it in the crisper drawer of your fridge. When you are ready to prepare it, it’s best to peel it (a pairing knife works well) because the small gnarled roots tend to hold on to a lot of dirt. Celeriac is great cubed and roasted, cubed and sautéed, added to soups where celery is called for, you can cut it up and boil it with potatoes and mash to add a little new flavor to your mashed potatoes… it’s a great vegetable!
Sage pairs well with potatoes and also winter squash. If you would like to dry it, just hang it upside down in a dark spot. Use less sage when it is dried because the flavor concentrates.
Recipes…
Creamy Celeriac Soup with Bacon Bits
Raw Celeriac and Apple Salad This recipe calls for watercress, but I think it would be great served on top of the spinach in this weeks box.
Spaghetti With Broccoli Cream Pesto From Smitten Kitchen
Dijon Braised Brussel Sprouts from Smitten Kitchen
Maple Glazed Acorn Squash with Apples, Sage, and Parsnips (substitute celeriac for parsnips and if you don’t have acorn squash, try it with the sweet dumpling)
On the farm….
Garlic was planted last Friday. It was a lovely fall day. We seem to consistently get the garlic in on a lovely fall day. Planting garlic is usually the last big thing that we get done every season. Once it’s done we breathe a sigh of relief. We celebrated Otto’s second birthday with lots of family. We ate a huge feast (everyone really loved the brussel sprouts roasted and the delicata and sweet dumpling squash cooked as suggested in last weeks post). It’s been nice to have more space in our days than we did when weeds kept growing and there was always something that needed to get planted or to get trellised or to get harvested…. We’ve been able to visit some of our farmer friends again. We check in with them to see how their seasons went. Sounds like things went well (though it was too dry) for everyone that we’ve check in with so far. This winding down on the farm also allows Rama to get back to taking cheesemaking classes and getting apprentice hours towards getting her cheese makers license. We look forward to eventually being able to sell our members the delicious cheese we’ve been making! We hope you enjoy the box this week.
What’s in the box?
Winter Share Week 1
bagged spinach
green and ripe heirloom tomatoes
yellow onions
garlic
parsley
carnival squash
brussel sprouts
acorn squash
pie pumpkin
collard greens
green cabbage
broccoli
potatoes
Notes on the box….
Spinach, parsley, collards, cabbage, brussel sprouts, and broccoli can all be stored in your fridge. You’ll want to keep the spinach, parsley, and collards in your crisper.
Store onions, garlic, winter squash, tomatoes, and potatoes outside of your fridge.
If you don’t have room in your fridge, feel free to pop the sprouts off the stalk of the brussel sprouts and put them in a plastic bag before storing them in the fridge. Their flavor tends to diminish the longer they are off the stalk, so try to cook them soon. They are one of many crops that taste quite a lot better fresh from the farm than they do from the store. These sprouts suffered through an extra hot and dry summer and fall, so the flavor isn’t quite as awesome as previous seasons, but still quite good even if there is a little bit more bitterness than they normally have. The stalk is not edible. NOTE: When cooking brussel sprouts, be sure to cut off the tough end where the sprout connects to the stalk. Then CUT THE SPROUTS IN HALF. It makes them cook more quickly and taste a lot better than overcooking the whole thing in an attempt to get the entire sprout tender! Though they are often steamed, they are really great roasted or sautéed.
We prewash the spinach, but to be sure that you don’t get any grit in your salad or whatever you decide to make with it, we suggest washing or rinsing again.
The collards are nice and sweet again after a few good frosts and some cool weather. We made pretty huge bunches of collards. After some discussion in the field we decided that for the remainder of the Winter Share boxes, we will give smaller bunches of more varieties of greens so as not to force you to eat one type of green all week long. Hope you can get through and enjoy these collards, though. If you have a hard time, you can sneak some leaves into smoothies. If you have a juicer, you can juice both the stems and leaves. Or you can stem and cut up the collards and blanche them, and freeze. They are great to add to soups later.
Most of the broccoli is side shoots. After the plant puts on its main head and we harvest that, it grows multiple small heads. We really like cooking with the side shoots because they are so easy to work with. The stalk is edible and can be chopped and cooked with the head of the broccoli.
There are three types of Winter Squash this week. Sweet Dumpling, Acorn, and Pie Pumpkin. We try to keep squash with any bumps, scrapes, or bruises out of the boxes. There are a handful of acorn squash with the stems missing. Any Winter Squash with imperfections should be eaten first as they won’t hold as well as others. Otherwise, WinterSquash should hold for at least a couple of months and they make nice Autumn decoration as you wait to eat them. Wash off the squash before you cook them!
The skin on the Sweet Dumpling is edible, making it a great squash for cutting in half, seeding, slicing into crescent moons or rings, tossing with some olive oil and spices of your choice, and roasting in the oven until fork tender and slighty carmelized on the edges.
Sweet Dumpling
Some people eat the skin of the acorn squash and some do not. It depends on how long you roast it and your preference for tough or fiberous textures. These are a less sweet squash that taste great cut in half, seeded, and roasted with butter and maple syrup or honey until nice and soft. They are also wonderful stuffed with your favorite savory stuffing.
Acorn Squash
Pie Pumpkins are good for roasting and using in pumpkin muffins, bread, pie, and smoothies. They are also good if you can seed the pumpkin, peel the skin (you need a good vegetable peeler to do this), and cube and add to curries or use in soups. They are also good for Halloween decorations.
pie pumpkin
The tomatoes were picked from the greenhouses as we are cleaning them out to get them ready for next season. Green tomatoes can be ripened by putting them in a paper bag with an apple on your counter. The texture and flavor of these tomatoes aren’t the best for fresh eating, but are great for sauces and stews.
Recipes…..
sautéed Brussel Sprouts with Bacon and Onions from Alice Waters The Art of Simple Food
————————————–
Braised Collard Greens from Mad Hungry by Lucinda Scala Quinn
1 lb. collard greens, trimmed and washed, water still clinging to the leaves
1 Tbsp vegetable oil
1 medium onion, chopped
3 slices bacon, cut in half lengthwise and sliced crosswise in ½-inch pieces
Pinch of crushed red pepper flakes
1 Tbsp red wine vinegar
Coarse salt
1. Remove the tough stems from the collard leaves. Finely slice the stems crosswise. Stack a few leaves on top of each other and cut into 1 ½- to 2-inch pieces. Repeat with all leaves. You’ll have 8 packed cups.
2. Heat a 20-inch sauté pan over high heat. Swirl in the oil and add the onion, bacon, and red pepper flakes. Fry until the onion is soft and the bacon is beginning to render its fat and crisp up, about 13 minutes.
3. Add the greens, 2 cups at a time. Stir into the onion mixture as you add. They will collapse and shrink in the heat.
4. When all the greens are in the pan and the heat has returned to sizzling high, pour in the vinegar. Stir to evaporate. Cover and let the greens cook over low heat until just tender, 10 to 15 minutes. Add a bit of water as needed to keep the greens from burning. Add salt to taste and serve.
——————————————-
I made this recipe for Creamed Spinach from the book Mad Hungry, but I doubled the sauce, added a few cloves of minced garlic, and mixed it and the spinach in with some cooked pasta and topped with grated Romano. It made a great and quick lunch. Josh has made Creamed Collards, by substituting sautéed collard greens and garlic for the spinach and adds 1/4 cup of cream to the sauce. It’s really rich and delicious!
——————————————
Please see last weeks blog post for many more recipes using ingredients from the box!
On the farm….
It’s feeling very much like Winter is knocking on the farm. We are cooking a lot in the oven and making soup on the stove. We are drinking tea on our breaks. We are getting sore, pink fingers on cold mornings bunching greens in wet weather. Those cold damp days make us want to get our work done quickly so that we can be inside, warm, and out of the weather. But we are LOVING the sunny crisp clear days that make us so happy to be working outside!
We have picked rock out of the garlic patch for next season. This would be the third picking this summer. Still hauling multiple full trailer loads. But we push on. We have saved garlic seed for 8 eight years running now. You may have seen some small heads of garlic this season as we are holding back the largest for seed stock, and our hope will be to have enough large stock to give to you and have enough for seed. That day is getting near.
The weather continues to be dry, we are still irrigating the carrots, and broccoli that we hope will come on soon. The growing days are numbered. long range forecast predic cold and dry conditions this winter, so we will be sure to mulch the garlic to prevent heaving and frost damage.
We unfortunately don’t have the wide variety that we had last season as the dry hot weather took out many of the plantings we had hoped to have for this time of season. But the boxes are still full.
Survey results will be in soon
have a great week
