Week #24; Final delivery of the regular season!

Thank you!

Folks, this is the final delivery of our regular CSA season.  Thank you for joining our farming adventure this year!  We could not farm without the support of you, our community of eaters.  We hope you enjoyed the produce, the newsletters and recipes, and the farm events.

All your farmers thank you.  From left, back row; Ben (seated), Maggie, Smitty, Beth, Steve, Billy (seated), Linda, Chance and Michio.  Front row; Raul, Monika, Anna, Jory, Karen, Simone, Kerry.  MIA Alex, David, Jim, John, Josh, Kristin and the high school crew.

What a week

I often reflect on the season for this final newsletter.  Not this year.  The cold snap and coming snow forced us to hustle to bring in frost-sensitive crops, and to get garlic planted for next year.  It’s been quite a week.  After the snow melts, it will take another week or two to finish harvesting our root crops.  We don’t like leaving them in the field in such cold weather but the roots are snug in the still-warm soil and the tops will (hopefully) remain strong enough to pull with our harvesting equipment.  A blanket of snow will insulate the carrots but make a muddy harvest next week.

Soon, we will be done for the season.  This year has taken a lot of effort, and we look forward to our winter rest.  By January, we’ll have our plans finalized and will start ordering seeds.  By late February, the greenhouse will be running and seeds sprouting.  We hope most of you will join us again next season.  We’ll be in touch this winter.
Beth and Steve

We planted garlic on Friday, before the weather turned wintery.  You really need dry soil for this job.  We rarely work in such a tight cluster but were at the end of the row and everyone was having fun together.

Cabbage is a very important crop for us, something we’ll store and sell through the winter.  However, it won’t survive the low temperatures predicted for tomorrow night so we raced to get it all out of the fields.  It’s taken a full week.  Simone (blue coat) manages our cabbage crop.  Above, she and Karen (red hat) make sure that all the varieties are kept separate.  

We were simultaneously harvesting carrots with a separate crew.  You can see Billy unloading bins of carrots in the background.

We couldn’t wait for the snow to melt to continue the cabbage harvest.  Photo credit, Karen Nicholson

Here are your Brussels sprouts on Tuesday morning.  We waited for the snow to (mostly) melt before picking.  It’s too much of a mess otherwise, not to mention ridiculously cold.  Brussels sprouts are cold-hardy, so we’re not worried about unharvested sprouts left in the field.

Veggie List and Veggie Notes
Week #24 = Final delivery of regular season
October 31/ Nov. 1, 2019 (Thurs/Fri. sites)
– Weekly shares
– EOW/ green

Sweet potatoes, 3 to 3.5 lb
Brussels sprouts, 1 lb
Celeriac, 1 large
Beets, ~2 lb
Carrots, ~2 lb
Koji greens
Bell or frying pepper, 1 or 2
Poblano chiles, 2
Yellow onion
Some sites get broccoli.
Some sites get Romanesco cauliflower.

Sweet potatoes – These are the ‘Beauregard’ variety. Store at room temperature, e.g. on your kitchen counter. Do not cover or wrap in plastic. These will store for a long time.

Brussels sprouts – See last week’s newsletter for cooking information.

Celeriac (knobby, round, bizarre-looking vegetable which smells like celery) – Flavorful celeriac is good raw or cooked.  It is excellent in mixed roasted veggies or in soup.  It’s especially good in cream soups, alone or mixed with potatoes.  Grated raw celeriac is a great starting point for winter salads.  Celeriac will store in your refrigerator for months.  Cut off chunks as you need them.  Peel before using.

Beets – Storage:  Cover and refrigerate.  Beet roots will store for months.  Wash well to remove leaf fragments.  For all the cooking methods below, wash and scrub the beets but do not peel.  The skins slip off easily once the beets are cooked and cooled.
Cooking beet roots on the stovetop:  Slice or quarter, cover with water in a pot, and simmer until tender.  This will take from 25 to 45 minutes depending on how large the beet pieces are.  Drain.
Roasting beets in oven:  Wash beets, but do not peel.  On a sheet of aluminum foil, put beets (halved or quartered if large), salt, pepper and a few sprinklings of water.  Seal the foil packet, and roast at 400 oF until tender, about 45 minutes to 1 hour.  Slip off skins once cool.
Microwave:  Slice beets in half and place in a large microwave-proof bowl.  Add ¾ inch water and cover with a plate.  Microwave on high until tender, about 9-20 minutes, depending on your microwave’s power.  Drain and slip off skins.
Uses:  Use cooked beets in cold salads, or dress simply with vinaigrette, onions, salt and pepper.  Beets are also good tossed with sour cream, minced onion, fresh herbs and walnuts.  

Koji greens (head of dark green leaves) – These have some silvering on the tops of the leaves, from rubbing against row cover we used to protect the plants from frost.  Just ignore or cut away.  Sorry about that.
 Koji greens are a lot like Yukina if you know that one; dark green with a nice balance of bitter flavor but not too strong.  Like tat soi but with larger, lusher leaves and not so many leaf stalks.  Recipes that use mustard greens or bok choy will work with Koji.

Bell or frying pepper – EAT SOON. We protected these plants with row cover outside for as long as we could.  They’ve been exposed to cold nights which shortens their storage life.  Eat within a few days OR chop and freeze for later.  Just toss the frozen pieces into dishes at the end of cooking.  We treasure these last few peppers and hope you do too.

Poblano chiles (dark green, shiny, triangular) – EAT SOON, for same reason as the bell peppers.   Eat this weekend OR chop and freeze for later.  These chiles have low-to-medium heat and great flavor.  Most I’ve cooked so far this year were fairly mild, but a few were corkers.

RECIPES

Visit our 2019 Recipe Log or our 2018 Recipe Log or join our Facebook discussion group.

LOCAL THYME/ Comforting Classics
Soy Braised Shrimp with Koji
Nana Maniscalco’s Turkey Barley Soup
Shredded Carrot and Beet Salad with Carrot Ginger Dressing

LOCAL THYME/ Outside the Box Recipes
Vietnamese Noodle Salad with Grilled Beef, Koji and Carrots
Baked Celeriac
Beet Hummus

LOCAL THYME/ Quick & Easy Meal
Black Bean Quinoa Salad with Oranges, Peppers and Roasted Poblanos

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RECIPES FROM LAUREN

BEET & CARROT SLAW WITH KOJI GREENS
Inspired by Bon Appetit

Takes 45 minutes
Serves 4-6

4 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 cup dried currants (or cranberries)
1/4 cup champagne vinegar
2 large (or 1 extra-large) beets, peeled
3-4 large carrots, peeled
2 apples
1 bunch koji greens (reserve the stems for another use), very thinly sliced
1/2 lemon, juiced
1 teaspoon Kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/2 cup olive oil
1 cup chopped and toasted almonds

1. In a small bowl, combine garlic, currants and vinegar. Let currants plump and garlic mellow in there for at least 20 minutes. It will likely take that long to get your veggies cut up anyhow.
2. Cut the beets, carrots and apples into matchsticks and place in a large bowl with the koji greens. Squeeze with lemon and season with salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes. Toss to combine then add the garlic and currant mixture. Drizzle with olive oil and toss several more times to combine. Taste and adjust seasonings as desired.
3. Serve with toasted almonds.

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SWEET POTATO & CELERIAC HASH
Inspired by Bon Appetit
The original recipe that inspired this one didn’t actually call for Brussels Sprouts or poblanos so if you’d rather use them some other way, feel free to leave them out.

Takes 1 hour
Serves 2-4

5 pieces bacon
1 large celeriac, peeled and cut into 3/4-inch dice
1-2 pounds sweet potato, peeled and cut into 3/4-inch dice
1/2 pound Brussels sprouts, halved (quartered if very large)
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1 cup chicken broth
1 yellow onion. thinly sliced
2 poblanos, diced
1/2 teaspoon Kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 eggs, optional
Hot sauce, optional

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
2. Place bacon on a baking sheet and put in oven right away (the oven won’t be preheated yet). Set the oven for 15 minutes and check the bacon then. Add more time if its not done. Once finished, drain grease on paper towel but do not wash pan or get rid of the grease left on the pan– you will use in the next span.
3. In a large heavy skillet, combine celeriac, sweet potatoes, and Brussels sprouts. Add thyme and broth. Bring to a boil over medium high heat and cook for 20 minutes stirring occasionally until the vegetables are soft.
4. Add softened vegetables to baking sheet you cooked the bacon on. Add onion and poblanos. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Roast for 40 minutes, stirring after 20 to make sure veggies on the bottom do not burn.
5. Serve hash with eggs and hot sauce.
6. Cut bacon into pieces and sprinkle over the finished dish. Add more salt or pepper to taste.

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