CSA Week #17

October 1, 2013

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  • Savoy Cabbage
  • Collards
  • Turnips
  • Lettuce
  • Celeriac
  • Chard
  • Red curry squash
  • Leeks
  • Yellow onions

Some sites only:

  • Cauliflower

Special Announcements:

*The farm’s Harvest Celebration is coming up! It will be held Saturday, October 19th From Noon to 4pm.  This is the time to come out to the farm, jump on the hay wagon and get your pumpkins! We will also start the day with a potluck lunch, and have activities for the kids like face painting, cider pressing, and more. We hope to see many of you there, rain or shine!

*We also want to let you know that we still have our organic grass-fed beef available. We also have late season shares available so if you are interested in either of these opportunities, please call the farm and talk to Linda!

*Winter Green Farmer Chris Overbaugh has his own flock of grass-fed lamb and has one more available if anyone is interested, the price is $5.00lb. and you can order by calling Chris at 541-285-1889!

*We had a bumper crop of tomatoes this year, and with the abundance we were able to make a big batch of our delicious organic tomato sauce with the help of our friends at Sweet Creek Foods. It is probably being made as I write this, so if you are interested in ordering some you can call the farm and Linda will sign you up! The sauce will be $7 for a 24oz. jar, or $80 for a case of 12 and can be delivered to your drop site.

ImageVeggie Storage and Preparation Tips:

CELERIAC: Celeriac will store for up to a month in your refrigerator in a plastic bag.  When ready to use, slice off the green stalks at the root crown. Then soak the root in warm water to loosen the earth between the roots and scrub well with a brush.  Peel the skin off the roots before preparing (top and peeled portions are a tasty addition to soup stocks). We usually cut off the tops in the field but as Jabrila was harvesting them today she was so impressed by their delicious flavor and crispness, so she left them on for you to use!

Try celeriac raw, grated into salads or in any recipe that calls for celery. Celeriac can also be boiled or steamed.  Peel, slice, and boil for 5-10 minutes or boil whole for 20-30 minutes.  Mash and top with butter (tastes incredible with mashed potatoes!).

ImageTURNIPS: Cut beet and turnip greens from their roots: store roots separately. Keep dry, unwashed greens in a sealed plastic bag in your fridge. Thicker greens will keep up to two weeks; tender ones should be eaten within a week.

To store turnips, radishes, and beets, place them unwashed in a plastic bag in the crisper bin of your fridge.  Due to high water content, turnips and radishes may deteriorate quickly, but most should keep for a week. Beets should keep for up to two weeks.

ImageRED KURI SQUASH: Hard-skinned Red Kuri squash can be difficult to peel and are most easily cooked in their skin. Split squash in half, scoop out seeds and roast, cut-side down until tender. Blend cooked squash flesh into soup with fennel, onions, root vegetables, curry or fall spices. Grate flesh and bake into gratins or casseroles with cream and cheese. Puree squash with syrup or vanilla for compote or bake diced squash into bread pudding with apples. Hard red kuri squash will keep in cool, dry storage for up to six weeks. – See more here.

ImageRecipes!
Just in case you didn’t see your fellow CSA member Darby Shindruk’s comment on the last post, here is a link to her delicious soup recipe here! Also, here is a link to some health information about turnip greens and some ideas about cooking them!
News From The Field:

All of a sudden it feels like we have skipped fall and went straight to winter weather! The crew really braved the elements today to bring you your vegetables! They had to bring a truck and a tractor down to the field this morning just in case the truck couldn’t handle the muddy farm road. Jabrila commented that the storm almost gave the day an element of excitement and challenge, maybe even some adventure to the harvest routine. It’s great to know that everyone stayed positive and looked on the bright side on a day like this, and they were all rewarded with some small sunny breaks this afternoon to dry out the soggy boots and rain gear.

Farm owner Wali Via gave me some very interesting weather information to share with all of you. We have been keeping records here at Winter Green since 1991 and this September we measured 8.08” of rainfall. Our previous record for September was 4.3”! The crazy thing is that we also beat our record for October in September and we were ¾” shy of our average rainfall for November. The impact this has on the farm is not only muddy fields to tromp though during harvest, but we haven’t been able to get all of our cover crop seed in the ground and fall tillage completed. We also haven’t been able to do our first burdock root harvest yet, so we are all hoping for a respite in this winter weather!

The box is now full of the autumn harvest, as we say goodbye to our beloved tomatoes, peppers and eggplants. Some of you might still see them in your boxes, but for the most part the rain and cold weather has steered us in the direction of the cool weather crops. We had a bumper crop of tomatoes this year and we were able to give you much more than we had planned, so we are very excited about that! That is one of the many benefits to belonging to a CSA. When we have abundance, we get to share it with all of you! This year has been full of them, and we hope you all feel connected to this amazing season we have had.

We hope you are all staying warm and dry during this stormy weather and enjoy your vegetables this week!

-Sara