Week #4, Heat wave

See this berry?  Last weekend, we irrigated it to protect it from frost.  This week, we irrigated that same berry again, this time to cool it and protect it from sunny, 90 degree days.  This is crazy!  We have irrigated endlessly the last two weeks but for unexpected reasons.  Obviously, we need to water the crops but we have to water even before we plant.  Tonight, we irrigate fields to transplant watermelons and sweet potatoes into tomorrow.  You cannot plant sweet potatoes into hot, dry soil and expect them to survive.  I learned that from a sweet potato grower years ago.  Today, Steve irrigated a field containing a recently tilled cover crop.  Without water, the cover crops won’t decompose and the soil won’t be ready when we need that field.  

Night-time is most reliable for overhead irrigation because the wind usually drops late in the day, allowing the irrigation water to fall where intended.  During the day, we use drip irrigation, with miles of high-tech but inexpensive tubing.  We drilled an irrigation well soon after buying our farm, and could not raise vegetables reliably without it.  Beth

Of course, all the berries got the same treatment to protect from both cold and heat.  We have one cup for everyone this week, as they are just beginning to ripen.

Two Graduations

The past month has been very, very busy for our family.  Our daughter Sophie graduated from Macalester College in May, then our son Ari graduated from Evansville High School this past weekend.  Both ceremonies were in person, unimaginable just a few months ago.  Both kids have worked very hard at their studies and graduated with top honors.  We are so happy and so relieved to be able to celebrate in person.  It’s a big change from four years ago when we pulled out all the stops for Sophie’s graduation but we really don’t care.  In-person ceremonies are all we hoped for.  I admit that I cried at both ceremonies.

Sophie is back in Saint Paul, starting a new job as a computer programmer.  Ari joins the farm crew again this summer.  He’s got years of experience under his belt and is a valued crew member.  Our longterm employees have watched him grow up, and know how to keep him in line.  In fall, he heads to Macalester College to study math and other interests.

Ari (right) and neighbor Chance (left) on a hot day nine years ago.  Farm kids!  Believe it or not, Chance works at the farm too.

Veggie List & Veggie Notes
Week #4, June 10/11, 2021
– Weekly shares
– EOW/ green

Beth’s box logic:  We are sending bok choy with scallions and cilantro because they are so good together in stir-fries.  Add some turnip slices too, just don’t overcook them.  Honestly, you could stir-fry everything in this box together … except the strawberries and lettuce.  Beth

Strawberries, 1 paper cup
Bok choy
Spinach, 1 bunch
White salad turnips
Red bibb lettuce 
Kohlrabi, 1
Cilantro, 1 bunch
Scallions, 1 bunch

Next week’s box will probably contain strawberries, napa cabbage, peas, spinach, scallions and more.

Strawberries – It’s just a few.  Eat them right away!

Bok choy (large rosette with thick white stems and green leaves) – This Asian green is good for stir-frying or sautéing or in soup.  You can think of the stems and leaves as two separate vegetables.  The stems require longer cooking.  The leaves will cook almost as quickly as spinach.  Bok choy stores well, so feel free to pull off leaves as you need them, or use the whole head at once.  Storage: Refrigerate in a plastic bag or other container.

White salad turnips (round white roots, with soft leaves) – They’ve grown since last week!  This field is pretty dry, so plan to eat the greens soon.  They risk turning yellow if they age or warm up.  The roots will store longer.

Red bibb lettuce (red-tinged head) – Look at this beautiful lettuce!  The leaves are buttery and tender.  This is one crop that appreciates dry weather.  We grow it each year but struggle to harvest delicate red bibb because it damages easily in wet weather.  Not this year!

Cilantro – Used in both Mexican and some Asian cuisines.  Good to season stir-fries, salad dressing, salsa, etc.
Storage: Cover and refrigerate.

Scallion Ideas

We expect to send scallions for the next few weeks.  They are the best seasonal allium (onion family plant) this time of year so we plant an extended season for you.  Let’s share a few of our favorite ways to prepare them.  
– Kimchi, Pork + Scallion Pancakes – Beth’s comment: This is our household’s favorite, but we add bay scallops instead of pork and skip the relish.  These are hefty and filling.
– Scallion biscuits (slice and add to your usual biscuit recipe)
– Any bok choy stir-fry needs scallions!
– We have a favorite scallion dressing for adaptable pasta salads.  We use it with spinach and asparagus in spring, then switch to grilled vegetables and sweet Walla Walla onions once those are available.
– Egg drop soup with spring greens, topped with sliced scallions
– Grilled scallion and turnip salad
– Sliced scallions are good on sandwiches and salads
– Grilled beef bulgogi wrapped in lettuce leaves.  Easily adapted to tofu.
– Salmon patties with minced scallions mixed into the batter.

RECIPES

Visit our 2020 Recipe Log or our 2019 Recipe Log or join our Facebook discussion group.

June Cobb Salad

Serves at least 4 as a meal, more as a side
Takes about 25 minutes
Based on Lauren’s Spring Cobb Salad, adapted for this week’s box. Lauren’s version includes a buttermilk scallion salad dressing, to give you a variety of dressings to use with all of our lettuce!

6-8 slices bacon OR sub *fried tofu
4 eggs
About 8-12 cups of lettuce washed, dried, and torn or cut into bite size pieces
4-5 scallions, cleaned and thinly sliced on the diagonal
4-6 bok choy stems, sliced – leaves saved for another dish (like stir fry chicken!)
1 cup cooked garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed if canned
1 cup salad turnip, cut into cubes or sticks
4 ounces cheddar cheese cut into small cubes

Raspberry balsamic vinaigrette
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 small clove garlic, smashed and chopped or put through a press
2 tablespoons your favorite raspberry jam, seedless preferred
3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1/2 cup olive oil, plus more
salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
optional: 1-2 teaspoons sugar

Dice the bacon, and cook it in a skillet on the stove until crispy. Drain on paper towels.

Make the hard boiled eggs: place cold eggs in a pot and cover with cold water. Bring to a boil, and boil for 13 minutes. Drain the hot water, and flood the pot with cold water in the sink, until the eggs are cooled. Peel.

Make the dressing: Mix the Dijon mustard, jam, garlic, and vinegar in a small bowl or spouted measuring pitcher. Whisk in the olive oil until emulsified. Season with salt, pepper, and sugar if desired. Taste, and add more olive oil if it makes you cough.

Assemble the salad: place the greens, scallions, and bok choy stems in a large salad bowl, and drizzle in some dressing. You might want to salt and pepper at this point a bit, too. For a traditional Cobb, arrange the bacon, eggs, beans, turnip, and cheese in piles on top of the greens, or just pile it all in! Drizzle with more dressing and serve.

*Fried tofu topping
1/2 lb firm Tofu
2 tablespoon oil
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon brown sugar

Squeeze some of the water out of the tofu, but you don’t have to go too crazy about it. Cut the tofu into 3/4 inch cubes. Heat the oil in a non-stick skillet big enough to hold the tofu in a single layer. Fry the tofu until golden on one side (about 10 minutes) and then turn and do the other side. Mix the sugar and soy sauce, and pour over the tofu. Boil down until glazed.
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Ramen salad on shredded lettuce

6 servings
30 minutes

6-8 cups of cleaned and shredded lettuce
one kohlrabi, peeled and cut into matchsticks
one salad turnip, cleaned and cut into matchsticks
2 3-oz. packages ramen noodles – you can use the grocery store kind or the slightly fancier co-op organic version, and since you won’t use the seasoning packets, the flavor doesn’t really matter
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 tablespoons toasted sesame oil
1 cup blanched slivered almonds
1 tablespoon sesame seeds
1 bunch scallions, cleaned and chopped

Dressing:

2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 tablespoons toasted sesame oil
1/3 cup cider or rice vinegar
3 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons soy sauce

Place the lettuce in a big bowl or platter that you’ll serve from. Place the matchstick-ed veggies in another bowl, big enough to mix in.

Smash the ramen noodles – bashing them with a rolling pin while still in the package is the best method. Pour the oils into a frying pan, and heat. Add the almonds, the smashed noodles, and the sesame seeds, and stir and over medium high heat until the sesame seeds start popping and everything smells toasty. Add the scallions and remove from the heat.

Whisk together all the dressing ingredients and pour over the matchstick-ed veggies. Add the toasted noddle and nut mixture, and mix well. Pour over the shredded lettuce and serve.
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Cheese Quesadillas with Cilantro Pesto

Serves 4
About 30 minutes

Pesto:
1 bunch cilantro, rinsed, leaves and tender stems only
1/2 cup pumpkin seeds, toasted (or sub sunflower seeds, or other nuts)
1 medium clove garlic
1/4-1/3 cup olive oil
salt and freshly ground pepper

8 flour tortillas
1/2 pound cheddar cheese sliced

Place the cilantro, pumpkin seeds, and garlic in a food processor and pulse until finely chopped. With the motor running, pour in the oil, starting with the 1/4 cup, adding more oil until you have a spreadable paste.

Spread 4 of the tortillas with the pesto, and arrange the cheese on top. Sandwich with another tortilla.

Heat a cast iron (or other) skillet and griddle the quesadillas until they are toasty and the cheese is melted.

Cut into quarters and serve with rice and salsa and sour cream. Good additions include cubed and roasted salad turnips, or shredded chicken.
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Photo by Marisa McClellan.

Quick Pickled Kohlrabi

From Serious Eats
www.seriouseats.com/shredded-kohlrabi-quick-pickle-recipe
You can use a mix of kohlrabi and salad turnips to make this quick pickle, which is delicious in sandwiches, think Bahn Mi. If you like sauerkraut on your brats and sausages, this one’s for you!

Photo by The Spice Train.

Scallion Aioli

From The Spice Train
https://thespicetrain.com/scallion-aioli/
Use this mayonnaise-based scallion dressing on a salad of spinach and lettuce, or spread on sandwiches.

Photo by Evan Sung

Stir-Fried Chicken and Bok Choy

By Melissa Clark
cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1015084-stir-fried-chicken-and-bok-choy
This recipe from Melissa Clark calls for leeks, but scallions will work just as well! Easily doubled since we have more bok choy in the box.

Photo by The Spruce

Simply Delicious Roasted Turnips

From the Spruce Eats
www.thespruceeats.com/roasted-turnips-2217054
Here’s a simple way to prepare salad turnips. You can sautée the greens and serve alongside, or sub in some spinach.
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Week#3 (purple+sun), Frost

Ice on weeds at the edge of our strawberry field. 

Irrigation still running on our strawberry field the morning after frost.

Strawberry blossoms coated with ice.

Frost

We transplanted most of our pepper seedlings early last week, expecting good weather.  As the forecast turned cold and ominous, we began to realize how many frost-sensitive crops would need protection.  May 29/30 is late for a frost and we had acres of vulnerable crops.  

We have three options for frost protection: irrigation, row cover, and high ground.  High ground is good because cold night air drains away, leaving those fields a few degrees warmer than low areas.  Our earliest tomatoes are in that situation, and came through the frosty nights in good shape, with trivial damage.

We set irrigation lines in our strawberry field and our largest field of young peppers, and prepared to run the irrigation overnight.  Irrigation water freezing on the plants releases heat and keeps the leaves from freezing.  That’s the result of heat released as ice crystals form.  This is amazing and useful.  The next morning, we continue running the irrigation until all the ice melts.

On other fields, our only option was to cover the plants with large sheets of floating row cover to trap the heat from the ground.  We rolled out and anchored an acre of row cover over our young peppers.  Fortunately, our early vine crops (melons, cucumbers, zucchini) were already protected.  We covered those fields at transplanting to gather extra warmth and to protect the plants from insects.  

Results?  The irrigated fields were perfect but the row-covered fields suffered damage, especially to peppers.  All the vine crops look good enough, with damage limited to outer leaves.  Many other crops were singed but will survive.  For example, sweet corn will regrow but might be uneven at harvest.  In the long view, this frost is a small blip.  Nearly everything in our fields is OK and many fields are not even planted yet.

What does the weird spring weather mean for your vegetables?

The weather has been odd this entire spring, swinging from unusually warm in April to a long string of frosty nights in early May.  We irrigated the strawberry field for five nights in one week in early May, then again this past weekend.  That’s a lot, but worth it for berries.  They are too precious to risk.  Here are some weather-related effects you’ll notice in your produce this week and in coming weeks:

– This week’s lettuces are enormous, the result of warmer-than-typical weather in April.  The lettuce and greens in the first two boxes were also ahead of schedule and therefore bigger than usual.
– You’ll notice brown edges on your escarole or endive leaves this week, the result of the most recent frost.  Expect brown edges on other vegetables for the next few weeks.
– No asparagus this week and we might be done for the season.  In early May, frosts damaged everyone’s asparagus plantings repeatedly.  The plants can only take so much.
– Hot peppers will be late and we will have fewer yellow and orange peppers.  Those fields were damaged the most.  But the all-important red pepper fields are fine!  Whew.  Those are our most important and most productive peppers.
– We will pack rhubarb on an upcoming EOW (purple)/ Sampler week.  The rhubarb plants need to be coddled this year.  We divided our patch in March in order to plant a fresh rhubarb field.  Followed by damage from the earlier frosts, the plants need extra time to regrow before the next harvest.

Thanks for reading.
Beth & Steve

Greens ID

The greens and lettuce look pretty similar this week.  Clockwise from top left; escarole, endive, green leaf lettuce, red leaf lettuce.  Everyone gets escarole OR endive.  Everyone gets green leaf OR red leaf lettuce.  The lettuce leaves this week are big enough (and flexible enough) to use as wraps.

Veggie List & Veggie Notes
Week #3, June 3/4, 2021
– Weekly shares
– EOW/purple
– Sampler/sun

Escarole OR endive (Each site will get escarole or endive.  All boxes at a site are identical.)
Shiitake mushrooms, ~8 oz
Green or red leaf lettuce
Spinach, 1 or 2 bunches
White salad turnips & greens, 1 bunch
Kohlrabi
Scallions, 1 bunch

Next week’s box will probably contain napa cabbage, scallions, cilantro, white salad turnips and more.

Escarole (broad head of wavy green leaves) or endive (green, curly leaves) – These members of the chicory family can be used interchangeably in recipes.  Both are good eaten raw or cooked.  Their slightly bitter flavor is a good addition to mixed salads.  They are excellent cooked alone or mixed with other greens.  They cook quickly, but not as quickly as spinach.  Cover and refrigerate.

Shiitake mushrooms – These are from Hidden Valley Mushrooms, the same people who grow button mushrooms for us.  I love shiitakes cooked with spinach or other greens.  Shiitakes must be cooked.  A small subset of people can have a toxic reaction to raw or undercooked shiitakes.  Once cooked, they are harmless.  And tasty! Lightly sauté in butter and add to any dish.  We will use ours in a frittata, as well as sauteed and mixed into pasta salad.  Sauteed shiitakes and spinach are a great topping for rice bowls, e.g. bibimbap.
Storage, general: Refrigerate in a dry paper bag, but not in your crisper drawer with other vegetables, especially brassicas.  Do not cover the paper bag.  Mushrooms are perishable so use soon.

White salad turnips (bunched white roots with green tops) – I know that returning members look forward to these sweet and delicious turnips, which taste nothing like the turnips that are harvested in fall.
– Storage: Cover and refrigerate.
– Uses: Both the turnip roots and tops are edible.  The roots are excellent raw; Slice and add to salads.  They can be cooked and are especially good when lightly sauteed in butter.  Stir as little as possible so they brown on at least one side.  The turnips greens are excellent cooked.  Treat them like mustard greens.
– Our favorite use:  Slice the roots very thinly and combine with a mixture of rice vinegar, mirin, soy sauce, sesame oil.  Eat immediately or marinate.

Kohlrabi (pale green, round vegetable with thick skin) – Crunchy and sweet, kohlrabi is a great addition to salads.
Storage:  Kohlrabi bulbs will store for a month in the refrigerator.  Remove the leaves if you plan to store for more than a few days.
Uses:  Kohlrabi are good peeled and eaten out of hand, or added to sandwiches, or added to salads.  It makes a nice salad on it’s own.  You can grate it, slice it, or cut it into matchsticks.  It’s also good cooked.  If you have it, the Asparagus to Zucchini cookbook has a long list of kohlrabi suggestions.

Scallions (bundle of green onions) – These are useful raw or cooked.  Thinly-sliced raw scallions can be folded into biscuit dough or sprinkled on top of soups or salads.  Terrific garnish for pasta dishes.  Think pad thai. 

RECIPES

Visit our 2020 Recipe Log or our 2019 Recipe Log or join our Facebook discussion group.

Greens & cheese pie

This pie is kind of a production, but worth it – even greens haters will eat greens tucked into a crust, with plenty of cheese! You can use purchased frozen puff pastry, or try making your own – here’s a suggested recipe from Epicurious. You’ll need about two pounds of greens altogether, so if your escarole is small, use turnip greens!

Serves 4-6
Prep time: 30-45 minutes, excluding making your own pastry
Baking time: 30 minutes

Ingredients:

1 large (or 2 medium) bunch spinach (1 to 1 1/2 pounds) rinsed and stemmed
1 bunch escarole, separated into leaves and rinsed (if you got endive you can use it, but it does not need to be blanched; slice and add to the onions)
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
1 clove of garlic, minced or put through a press
salt and pepper to taste
freshly grated nutmeg or about 1/2 a teaspoon ground
1 1/2 cups of ricotta, preferably whole milk
2 eggs, one to go into the filling, one for egg wash
1 cup grated cheese of your choice (Gruyere, cheddar – pepper jack is good if you like some spice)
1/4 cup toasted pine nuts
one box – 17 oz. – frozen puff pastry, thawed

Heat the oven to 400° Bring a large pot of water to a boil, and submerge the spinach and escarole, just long enough to wilt them. Pour into a colander set in the sink, and run cold water over the greens to cool them. Let drain, then take handfuls and squeeze out most of the water, transferring the greens to a cutting board, where you’ll chop them.

Melt the butter and olive oil in a wide deep skillet over medium heat, and add the onion. Cook for a few minutes, till they’re starting to look translucent, and add the garlic (and endive if using). Stir and cook for a few minutes, then add the greens. Cook until any remaining liquid is evaporated, season with the salt, pepper, and nutmeg, and transfer to a bowl to cool. Stir in the ricotta, one egg, grated cheese, and pine nuts.

Line one or two large baking sheets with parchment. In a small bowl beat the egg with 1-2 tablespoons of water to make the egg wash. Unfold the puff pastry sheets on a floured surface, and roll each out to about a 12-inch square. Place a square on the baking sheet, and brush all over with egg wash. Place half the filling in neat ribbon about 4 inches wide in the middle of one of the sheets leaving about a 2-inch border at the top and bottom. Fold in the top and bottom, flop the left side over the filling, and roll the pastry over, pinching to seal, and placing the seam side down. Brush all over with egg wash and cut 2-3 slits in the top. Repeat with the second sheet of pastry, on the same baking sheet if it will fit, or on your second sheet.

Bake for 25-30 minutes, until puffed and brown.

The lettuce leaves are big enough for wraps!

Turkey Lettuce Wraps with Shiitake Mushrooms & Peanut Sauce

Serves 4
Prep time: 30 minutes

Ingredients:

one salad turnip, cut into matchsticks
a good pinch of kosher salt
8 oz. shiitake mushrooms
1 tablespoon butter
3-4 tablespoons hoisin sauce, divided (you can purchase or make your own)
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 pound ground turkey
1/4 cup peanut butter
3 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
3-4 scallions, sliced thinly into rounds
12 leaves of lettuce cleaned
A handful of chopped roasted peanuts, Siracha, soy sauce, more hoisin – for serving

Toss the turnip and salt in a small bowl and set aside for topping.

Rinse the mushrooms, taking care not to soak them. Trim the stems – or remove them and save for veggie stock (I find shiitake stems to be a bit tough), and slice. Melt the butter in a wide deep skillet and and sauté the mushrooms till they’re fragrant and lightly browned. Drizzle in about 1 tablespoon of the hoisin sauce, and remove to a plate.

Wipe out the pan, add the vegetable oil and the ground turkey and cook, crumbling the meat with a wooden spoon, until the meat is nicely browned. Add the remaining hoisin sauce, peanut butter, soy sauce and sesame oil, and mix. Add the scallions, remove from the heat, and stir in the reserved mushrooms.

Serve warm with the lettuce leaves, turnip matchsticks, and other toppings.

Photo by SOS Cuisine

Kohlrabi Remoulade

SOSCuisine
Kohlrabi tastes like broccoli stalks! This recipe calls for peeling and grating the kohlrabi, but you can make the salad crunchier by slicing it and cutting it into matchsticks.

Photo by Alex Lau

Scallion Pancakes

Bon Appetit
Make restaurant-quality scallion pancakes at home! These are so crispy and delicious, and the hot water dough is as fun to make as play dough. This recipe from Bon Appetit calls for chicken fat rolled into the pancake layers; feel free to sub vegetable oil – or sesame oil – if you are avoiding animal fats, or simply do not happen to have a handy supply of chicken fat.

Photo by Cookie and Kate

Vegetarian Italian Chopped Salad

Cookie and Kate
This recipe is valuable for the tasty homemade vinaigrette, and for its approach mixing lettuce with a bitter green.  That’s radicchio in the recipe but endive or escarole for us.  (All three are in the chicory family.)  We assume you folks are creative with substitutions, and suggest scallions for purple onion.  Try upping the sun-dried tomatoes to replace the cherry tomatoes.  And salami or bacon bits are great in a chopped salad!

Photo by Heidi Swanson

Caramelized Onion Dip

101 Cookbooks
We’ve got so many dip vehicles this week (kohlrabi, salad turnips, even lettuce and escarole), so let’s brainstorm dips.  Here’s a homemade version of the soup mix dip many of us grew up on.  Feel free to leave out the dehydrated onions, and add a little soy sauce and brown sugar to increase the caramelized factor of the onions.  

Photo from Martha Stewart’s Everyday Food, December 2007

Sauteed Spinach and Shiitakes Recipe

Martha Stewart
Here’s a nice side dish made with the spinach and shiitakes.

Photo from Splendid Table

Dressing-in-a-Bowl Simple Salad

The Splendid Table, By Sally Swift and Lynne Rossetto Kasper
It’s salad season folks, so here’s another one from the Splendid Table.  Sometimes called “Supper” salad, this version has only lettuce, dressing, and dried cranberries.  Add up to two cups of cooked protein to make it more filling – shredded chicken, sliced ham, cubed tofu, egg.  Sliced scallions will be tasty in this salad too.

Week#2 (weekly+green); Gorgeous cover crops

Our standing cover crops are beautiful and lively right now.  Look at that undulating motion!  I was briefly hypnotized but able to break away.  When the video ends, go ahead and watch Steve’s instructions how to flatten a CSA box without damaging it.

Here’s the same field, mowed just yesterday.  That is a beautiful, thick layer of straw to incorporate into the soil.  We chopped the straw as the rye was flowering, young & succulent enough that it will break down readily this season, nourishing the soil and future crops.

It was a nice surprise to find crimson clover peeking out of our standing cover crops this spring.  Crimson clover is pretty finicky about when you seed it, and does not usually survive the winter.  Steve seeded a summer cover crop mixture that included this clover.  In fall there was leftover clover seed in the planter, so he just added seed for a winter-hardy cover crop and planted it all together.  He was only trying to clean out the planter.  The heavy snow cover must have helped the crimson clover survive the winter.  It’s an excellent legume, capable of fixing lots of nitrogen, so we’re glad to have it.  Plus it brightens our days with a burst of color.  Beth & Steve

Veggie List & Veggie Notes
Week #2, May 27/28, 2021
– Weekly shares
– EOW/ green

Bok choy (left) and Romaine lettuce (right)

Button mushrooms, 12 oz
Asparagus, 0.6 lb
Bok choy, 1 large
Romaine lettuce, 1 large
Spinach, 2 bunches
Salad radishes, 1 medium bunch
Green garlic, 1 bunch
Rhubarb, 3/4 lb

Next week’s box will probably contain shiitake mushrooms, salad turnips, lettuce, some kind of spring greens, scallions and more.

See last week’s newsletter for wash, prep, cook and storage instructions for these crops: asparagus, spinach, salad radishes.  We included an entire section on “How to wash greens efficiently and to maximize storage life.”

Button mushrooms – These organic mushrooms are from Hidden Valley Mushrooms from Wisconsin Dells.  We bring in mushrooms from Mary every spring, because I think they combine so perfectly with our spring vegetables, for salads, quiches, etc.  
Storage: Here are Mary’s suggestions for storing the mushrooms:
– Store separate from leafy greens, which hasten mushroom aging.  
– If storing for more than a few days, remove from the box and refrigerate in a paper bag with holes punched in the side.  Keep dry.  
– Don’t wash to clean, just wipe with a damp cloth.

Asparagus – See last week’s newsletter for info on cleaning and cooking.
Storage: Asparagus is perishable, so eat it as soon as possible.  Store in a paper towel, cloth or paper bag, then wrap loosely in a plastic bag.  The paper bag protects the asparagus tips from direct contact with the plastic bag.  The plastic bag keeps the asparagus from wilting.

Bok choy (large rosette with thick white stems and green leaves) – This Asian green is good for stir-frying or sautéing or in soup.  You can think of the stems and leaves as two separate vegetables.  The stems require longer cooking.  The leaves will cook almost as quickly as spinach.  Bok choy stores well, so feel free to pull off leaves as you need them, or use the whole head at once.  Storage: Refrigerate in a plastic bag or other container.

Romaine lettuce (upright head of lettuce with crisp leaves) – More sturdy and less fragile than our other spring lettuces.  Great for Caesar Salad or lettuce wraps.  If you’re intimidated by the amount of salad greens this week, Ceasar salad is a good option because it shrinks a big head of lettuce and everyone will fight over the leftovers.  Poof, it’s gone.

Green garlic (looks like scallions, tastes like garlic) – Green garlic is young garlic, planted in fall but harvested before bulbs have formed. 
Preparation: Green garlic is more pungent than scallions, so slice thinly and use sparingly when raw.  It mellows when cooked.  Chop and add to any cooked dish that would benefit from garlic.  Use the white bulbs and pale green stems.  Avoid the dark green stems and leaves, as these are fibrous.

Rhubarb – Storage: Refrigerate in a plastic bag.  FYI, 3/4 lb of rhubarb yields about 2.25 – 2.5 cups when chopped.
Stewed rhubarb:  This is the simplest way to prepare rhubarb.  Chop rhubarb into one inch chunks.  Stir over medium heat with a small amount of water in the bottom of the pan.  The rhubarb will release moisture as it cooks.  Stew until it softens and falls apart.  Sweeten to taste with honey or sugar.  Eat warm on its own, over vanilla ice cream, on pancakes, etc.
Preserve: Rhubarb is so easy to freeze.  Wash, chop and pop it in a freezer bag.  That’s it; no need for blanching.  When baking muffins or cakes, add the frozen rhubarb directly to the batter.

Recipes

Grilled Romaine with Tahini Dressing and Super-Seedy Crunch

Serves 4
Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 10 minutes

Ingredients

1/4 cup smooth tahini
3 tablespoons water, more as needed
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
1 green garlic bulb or 1 garlic clove, minced
1/4 teaspoon maple syrup
1/4 teaspoon sea salt, more for sprinkling
1/4 cup sunflower seeds
1/4 cup pepitas
1 tablespoon sesame seeds
1/4 teaspoon extra-virgin olive oil, more for drizzling
1 large head romaine
Fresh black pepper

1. Preheat the oven to 350 and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. Make the Tahini Dressing: In a small bowl, stir together the tahini, water, lemon juice, sesame oil, green garlic, maple syrup, and sea salt. If the dressing is too thick, add water, 1/2 tablespoon at a time, to thin it to your desired consistency.
3. Make the Super-Seedy Crunch: Place the sunflower seeds, pepitas, and sesame seeds on the prepared baking sheet. Drizzle with the 1/4 teaspoon olive oil and sprinkle with a pinch of salt. Toss to coat, and spread the seeds in an even layer. Bake for 5-7 minutes, until fragrant and lightly browned.
4. Grill the romaine: Preheat a grill or grill pan to high heat. Carefully slice the romaine in half lengthwise. Then, slice each half in half lengthwise again, keeping the core intact. Drizzle the romaine wedges with olive oil and sprinkle them with salt and pepper. Grill for 1-2 minutes on the first cut side, 1-2 minutes on the second cut side, and 1 minute on the back, until lightly charred.
5. Serve the grilled romaine wedges with generous drizzles of the Tahini Dressing and plenty of the Super-Seedy Crunch.

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Mushroom Miso Soup with Bok Choy and Green Garlic

If you’ve never worked with miso before, you can find it in the refrigerated section of most grocery stores. Once you add it to the soup, be sure to keep it at a very low simmer. Boiling miso can destroy its beneficial enzymes.

Serves 4-6
Prep time: 20 minutes
Cook time: 30 minutes

Ingredients

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil or neutral oil, such as avocado oil
12 oz button mushrooms, sliced
2 stalks green garlic, white and light green parts, sliced
1 large bok choy, sliced, stems and leaves divided
2 tablespoons tamari, more for serving
6 cups water
1/3 cup white miso paste
6 oz soba noodles, optional
Toasted sesame oil, optional, for drizzling
7 oz tofu, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1 tablespoon rice vinegar

1. Heat the oil in a large pot or Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the mushrooms and cook without stirring for 2 minutes. Stir, then cook for another 2 minutes without stirring (this helps brown the mushrooms). Add the green garlic and sliced bok choy stems and cook for 2 minutes more, until softened.
2. Stir in the tamari, followed by the water. Cover and simmer for 20 minutes.
3. Place the miso in a medium bowl. Uncover the pot and scoop 1/2 cup of the hot broth into the bowl with the miso. Whisk vigorously to form a smooth paste. Reduce the heat to low, and stir the miso mixture into the pot.
4. If desired, cook the soba noodles in a large pot of unsalted water according to the package instructions. Drain and rinse with cold water and toss with a drizzle of sesame oil to prevent sticking.
5. Add the sliced bok choy leaves and the tofu to the soup, and stir over low heat until the leaves wilt. Stir in the rice vinegar and turn off the heat.
6. Portion the soba noodles into bowls and top with the soup. Serve with more tamari to taste.

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Photo by Jack Mathews

Baked Ziti from Love & Lemons

This comforting pasta has a full pound of spinach hiding inside it!  There are no herbs in the box this week, so feel free to skip the parsley or basil for garnish, or top with minced green garlic.
Vegetarian

Photo by Jack Mathews

Radish Salad from Love & Lemons

This recipe will let you use your radishes three ways: you’ll roast some, leave some raw, and dollop a nutty radish green pesto on top! If you like, you can skip the mint and make the radish green pesto with half radish greens and half spinach instead of basil.
Vegan, gluten-free

Photo by Smitten Kitchen

Shaved Asparagus Pizza from Smitten Kitchen

Deb describes this pizza as “tangled and grassy, bubbly and lightly charred, and accented with mild bites of scallion.”  How good does that sound?  To use the box produce, replace the scallion with thinly sliced green garlic.
Vegetarian

Photo by Cookie+Kate

Sun-Dried Tomato, Spinach, and Quinoa Salad from Cookie+Kate

Quinoa and sliced almonds make this salad nice and hearty, so it’d be a great one to pack for lunch!
Vegan, gluten-free

Photo by Minimalist Baker

Savory Chickpea Pancakes with Leeks and Mushrooms from Minimalist Baker

These crepe-like pancakes are made with chickpea flour, so they’re high in protein and fiber.  Make them for an easy dinner or lunch!   You can replace leeks with green garlic, using the white bulbs and pale green green stems (but not the fibrous, dark green leaves).
Vegan, gluten-free

Photo by Smitten Kitchen

Almond Rhubarb Picnic Bars from Smitten Kitchen

Have you ever seen rhubarb look so pretty?  It’s layered over a sweet almond filling and a buttery crust.  If you weren’t already planning a picnic for this weekend, I hope you are now!
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Week #1; A low threshold for joy

Welcome to our CSA!  Deliveries begin this week for:

– Weekly members, and 
– Every-other-week/ purple group
– Sampler/ moon group

Log into your dashboard to view your schedule, at tipiproduce.csaware.com/accounts/login.jsp .
Download this season’s calendar here.

Farm Beauty

During the pandemic, friend told me that she developed a low threshold for joy.  Life was so constrained that, give her a tasty snack or a kind word and she was thrilled.  “It’s all out of proportion,” she said.  I feel that way too, and find myself appreciating our farm’s beauty more intensely than I ever have.  All my photos seem to focus on the sky or brilliant spring colors.

In the photo above, we transplanted cabbage in April.  Look at that sky!  

The pea field.

Rain has been sparse, so we’ve had to irrigate more than usual.  This photo at dusk shows Steve watching our irrigation gun spew water over a field of young onions.  The hose reel will slowly coil up the heavy hose, pulling the irrigator down the field.  The field at right is under a white layer of row cover, a lightweight fabric that we use to cover our spring crops, to trap extra heat.  Your lettuce and spinach came from that field.

Team radish.  I bought new rain gear last season.  We have no trouble finding each other these days.  From left, Karen, Simone, Danni.

Things you need to know.

♦  On Thursday, we deliver CSA boxes to Evansville, Fitchburg, Madison, McFarland, Middleton, Oregon and Verona.
♦  On Friday, we deliver CSA boxes to Janesville.
♦  We post this newsletter/blog each Wednesday night, with a list of veggies for the week, quantities, information about storage and preparation, news of the farm, recipes, and a forecast for the next week’s box.  I’ll send  you an email on Wednesday night once the newsletter is posted and ready to read.
♦  EOW, Sampler and Weekly members, we assume you read all the newsletters, even on your “off” weeks.  This newsletter (and our emails to you) are our means to communicate with you.
♦  Want earlier notice of what will be in the box?  Check the sidebar on our website homepage around 7 – 8 p.m. on Wednesday night.  I’ll post the list under “Box Contents.”  Check the Veggie List section of this newsletter each week for a forecast for the next week.  The list is rarely complete but the items listed are ones we feel confident about.
♦  The first few boxes of the season are often the lightest.  EOW members, do not worry that you have signed up for the wrong share!   Our deliveries get heavier and more abundant as the season progresses.
♦  Wash your produce well this week to remove grit.  It rained yesterday and today, driving grit into the asparagus and anything that forms a head (lettuce, arugula, spinach).  Our crew took extra care with washing but expect to wash everything.

How to wash greens efficiently and to maximize storage life

Washing and drying your lettuce and other greens prolongs their storage life.  Here’s our approach.  It works.
1.  Fill your sink or a basin halfway with cold tap water.  If you have two sinks, fill one sink partway with cold water.
2.  Chop your lettuce, spinach, escarole or other green to the size you wish.
3.  Dump it into the water and swish around gently but thoroughly.
4.  Working in two batches (for average lettuce head) or more batches (big spinach bunches, Romaine), pull handfuls out of the water and drain in the basket of a salad spinner.
5.  After all the greens have been rinsed one time, dump the water.  Rinse the sink/basin and refill with cold tap water.
6.  Repeat the process.
7.  Spin your greens dry and store in a dry container.  They store much longer when spun dry.

This works because …
– pre-chopping the greens frees soil trapped in the head.
– the large amount of water washes and dilutes away the grit.
– By pulling the greens out of the water, you take advantage of the draining action to pull the grit with it.
– Storing greens dry lessens spoilage.

Veggie List and Veggie Notes
May 20/21, 2021 (Th/Fri sites)

Potatoes, 3.5 lb
Asparagus, ~1/2 lb
Spinach, 2 bunches, ~1.5 lb total
Green leaf lettuce
Arugula, 1 medium bunch
Amara kale, 1 bunch
Salad radishes, 1 bunch
Green garlic, 1 bunch

Next week’s box will probably contain spinach, lettuce, button mushrooms, asparagus, radishes, rhubarb and more.

Potatoes – Please refrigerate these potatoes.  They are in great shape now but will sprout within days if stored at room temperature!  They’ve been stored all winter and want to grow.  Store in a paper bag to protect from light, even in the fridge.  We grow everything we send in our CSA boxes except potatoes, mushrooms and some asparagus, all of which we buy from organic growers that we trust.  We purchased these potatoes from Jesse & Jonnah Perkins at Vermont Valley Farm.  Jesse says the potatoes have a higher sugar content because of starch to sugar conversion during cold storage.  That means the potatoes taste a bit sweet, and will blacken slightly when fried. It’s a harmless color change due to the sugar conversion.  You will receive either ‘Goldrush’ russets or ‘Red Prairie’ red potatoes.  

Spinach – The spinach is abundant, so we’re sending two bunches, totaling about 1.5 lb.  Quality is good for either salads or cooking.  It looks like a lot but shrinks when cooked.

Amara kale –  We’ve grown this variety a few times and grew it this spring to provide variety among our cooking greens.  Here’s the seed catalog description: “While technically a mustard, Amara is known by several different names including Ethiopian kale, highland kale, Abyssinian mustard, and Texsel greens. The attractive, dark green leaves are tender, slightly savoyed with a wavy margin, and have an excellent rich flavor. Good in salads or as a cooked green.”  This stuff is pretty interesting. It has the texture of kale but the spiciness of mustard.  I’d say it’s about half as spicy as mustard greens.  The flavor is strong once cooked but quite good.
Use: Use like any kale or mustard green.  Eat the leaves and mid veins.  Discard the stems and petioles, which are too tough.
Storage: Cover and refrigerate.

Arugula – (bunch of green leaves with pungent scent) – This is a spring treat!  Arugula is good mixed with lettuce or spinach in salads, or added to cooked dishes such as lasagne or quiche.  I love it on sandwiches.  This arugula will not store for long.  Eat soon.  Cover and refrigerate.

Salad radishes – These are so good right now; tender, crisp and not too spicy.  They are great in salads or thinly sliced on sandwiches.  A few years ago, I was served open-faced radish and butter sandwiches on toast and was impressed with how tasty they were.  Use good quality butter.
Storage: Cover and refrigerate.

Asparagus – Our asparagus grew slowly following frosty nights, then burst into growth in the last few days.  Some of the asparagus is from our farm and some is from our friends Tim and April’s Lotfotl Farm.   They have a larger asparagus field than they need, so we go and pick it for them once a week.
Prep: Wash your asparagus thoroughly to remove hidden grit.  Submerge in water with the tips pointing down, soak briefly, then swish vigorously and pull out of the water.  The draining action helps pull the grit out of the asparagus tips.  Repeat several times.
Storage: Asparagus is perishable, so eat it as soon as possible.  Store in a paper towel, cloth or paper bag, then wrap loosely in a plastic bag.  The paper bag protects the asparagus tips from direct contact with the plastic bag.  The plastic bag keeps the asparagus from wilting.
Preparation: We snap our asparagus at harvest, rather than cutting.  Therefore, there is no need to snap the stalks to remove fibrous ends.  For the same reason, it is not necessary to peel the asparagus stalks.  It’s OK to trim the cut end a bit.
Cooking:  If your asparagus stalks vary greatly in size, you will want to cook the thicker ones longer.  Put an empty steamer pot over water, and bring the water to a boil.  Add the asparagus.  Cover and steam over medium heat until just tender.  Use two forks or a spatula to turn the asparagus during cooking, rotating the bottom spears to the top.  Drain and serve.  Alternatively, you can lay spears flat in the bottom of a broad pan, with ½ inch of water.  Also excellent broiled or grilled.  Good dressed with vinaigrette, or with lime juice, salt and pepper.

Green garlic (looks like scallions, tastes like garlic) – Last fall, we planted garlic cloves that grew into the stalks we harvested this week.  If left to grow until mid-summer, the slim white bulb on this week’s garlic will divide and form the usual cluster of cloves in a garlic bulb.  This year’s green garlic is robust.
Preparation: Green garlic is more pungent than scallions, so slice thinly and use sparingly when raw.  It mellows when cooked.  Chop and add to any cooked dish that would benefit from garlic.  Use the white bulbs and pale green stems.  Avoid the dark green stems and leaves, as these are fibrous.

RECIPES

Wilted spinach salad with bacon and asparagus

From DebsLunch
Feeds 4 or more depending on what else is being served.
Takes about 30 minutes.

Approximately 2 pounds spinach, kale, argula, or other greens: lettuce, or cabbage; stemmed if necessary, washed, dried, and cut or torn into bite size pieces (cabbage can be shredded)
8 strips (half a pound) of bacon, sliced into 1-inch pieces
1/4 – 1/3 cup cider vinegar
2 – 4 TBLS brown sugar
1/2 of a red onion, sliced thinly
2 hard boiled eggs
1/2 pound of asparagus, roasted or steamed
lots of freshly ground black pepper
Croutons

Put the greens in a large heat proof (metal or glass) bowl. Cook the bacon until crisp and, using a slotted spoon, remove to paper towel to drain. Pour off all but 4 TBLS of the bacon fat from the pan. Add the vinegar and sugar, and cook until the sugar is dissolved. Boil until a bit syrup-y. Add the onion at the last minute if using. Take the dressing off the heat and pour over the greens. Add the bacon bits and toss. If the greens do not wilt as much as you would like, put the bowl over the warm burner and toss until the salad is more wilted (this works best with a metal bowl). Grind in the pepper and toss again. Top with the asparagus, boiled eggs, and croutons.
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Cheater’s many greens Caesar salad

Make enough for about 6 – 8 people
Takes 30 minutes
About 2 pounds of greens – roughly 1/2 the spinach, some of the Amara kale, and Argula from this week’s box
a hunk of old bread, about 2 – 3 slices
1 – 2 TBLS olive oil
2 – 3 whole cloves of garlic
2/3 cups mayonaise
juice of 1/2 a lemon, or a little more to taste
another clove of garlic, minced or put through a press
a few shakes of Worcestershire sauce
1/2 – 1 cup grated Parmesan
coarse salt and freshly ground pepper

Wash and dry the greens, and tear them into bite size pieces. Place in a bowl with room for tossing. Tear the bread into rough cubes. Heat the olive oil in a skillet and fry the bread in it along with the garlic cloves until nicely toasty. Let cool slightly and then dump into the salad bowl. For the dressing, [This is the cheater’s part] whisk together the mayo, lemon juice, crushed garlic, and Worcestershire sauce. Add a handful of Parmesan, and taste – add more lemon, cheese, Worcestershire – what ever you think it needs (I sometimes sneak a pinch of sugar into the dressing). Toss the salad with a liberal amount of dressing, adding more Parmesan, and salt and pepper. Taste for seasoning and when you like it, serve.
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Photo by The Leek & The Carrot

Spinach, Radish & Green Garlic Dip

Adapted from Bon Appetit
Takes 30 minutes.
Serves many.

2 tablespoons butter
2 green garlic, white and pale green parts only, minced
1 bunch radishes, roots shredded and greens, roughly chopped
Spinach, roughly chopped
1 teaspoon Kosher salt
8-ounce cream cheese
2 ounces Parmesan cheese (about 1 cup)
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1. Melt butter in a medium saucepan. Add garlic and saute for 1 minutes over medium heat until very fragrant. Add radishes and cook, tossing, until well-coated in butter, 1-2 minutes longer. Add spinach and radish greens along with salt. Cook until wilted and most of the liquid is cooked off., 5-10 minutes. Add cream cheese and cook until melted. Stir in Parmesan and pepper until melted and creamy. Taste and adjust seasonings.
2. Serve warm with toast, in a bread bowl or with crackers.

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Photo by Smitten Kitchen

Spinach and Cheese Strata

From Smitten Kitchen
smittenkitchen.com/2009/12/spinach-and-cheese-strata/
This filling recipe is good for any meal from breakfast to dinner.  From Deb Perelman of Smitten Kitchen “I’m all about hosting brunch, but only if I can make everything in advance.  .. This strata — really, a savory bread pudding — is the missing piece because not only can you make it the night before, you are supposed to.”
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Creamy Green Garlic Salad Dressing

From Willy Street Co-op
Makes a generous cup of dressing

Tangy and garlicky, this salad dressing is amazing over a simple green salad of crunchy Romaine and blanched vegetables.

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Photo by Food52

Alex Raij’s Radishes with Vanilla Butter & Salt, 2 Ways

Food52 Genius Recipe
“Alex Raij was initially inspired by a snack at Roscioli delicatessen in Rome that combined salty Spanish anchovies with curls of cold vanilla butter. “I was so enchanted with it, I came home and put it on everything now,” Raij said. Her take on Roscioli’s dish, a deliberately plain cracker with a thin tube of vanilla butter and a very good-quality Spanish anchovy, has been on the menu at her NYC restaurant El Quinto Pino ever since, and she riffs on it often for parties, big and small.”
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Photo by the Kitchen Girl

Arugula Pesto with Walnuts

From The Kitchen Girl
“Arugula pesto is a 5-minute pesto recipe made with fresh arugula, Parmesan cheese, walnuts, olive oil, and lemon. It’s nutty, zesty, peppery and can be served as a sauce, dip, or spread.”

Storage Share, Nov 19/20, 2020

Farm News

We have enjoyed the mild weather! After frosts in early October, the warm weather has coaxed a few later crops to maturity. We have harvested endless rounds of cabbage, carrots and other roots.  Machinery breakdowns have been minimal!  That’s the worry at the back of our minds at this time of year.

We harvested your Romanesco cauliflower on a blue-sky day.  Ben shows off a beauty.

Next year’s garlic and green garlic are safely in the ground.

Our work days end after dark, but soon our field work will end.  There are still modest amounts of cabbage, Brussels sprouts and a bit of reluctant cauliflower to bring in by next week, then field work will be done for the year.  We’ll move inside for the winter, to wash and deliver all the carrots, cabbage, parsnips and other roots that we’ve stashed away.

Thank you so much for joining our farm this season.  We hope you stay safe and warm this winter, and that this big delivery brightens your winter meals.
Beth and Steve

Storage Share this week

Take one box labelled “A” and one box labelled “B”.

Things you need to know about your winter share

* Your delivery will consist of two different boxes, labeled “A” and “B”.  Take one “A” box and one “B” box.  The boxes contain different vegetables.
* Please pick up your boxes on the day of delivery, during the normal hours for your site.
* Outpost members, pick up your boxes on Friday.  This is the busiest weekend of the year for the Outpost staff, so they WILL NOT hold boxes past Friday, nor can they handle special requests.
* Bring extra bags this time.  The boxes will be lined with a plastic bag as usual, but this big share is too much weight for the bag.  Leave the boxes at your site, take the produce home in the liner bags plus your own bags/containers.

Veggie List and Storage Info (Storage share, Nov. 19/20, 2020)

We hope you enjoy this shipment of veggies.  Strategize to use them well, as some will last longer than others. 
* This is the most perishable vegetable: purple broccoli
* These are the next-most perishable: Brussels sprouts, leeks, Romanesco.  Keep an eye on your butternut, potatoes and sweet potatoes.  The last two are susceptible to drying out.  Expect the largest butternuts to last the longest.
* These will last the longest: beets, cabbage, carrots, celeriac, garlic, red & yellow onions, parsnips and shallots.

Box “A”
Everything in this box can be stored cool or at room temperature.  See notes below for more detail.

‘Autumn Frost’ pumpkin
Butternut squash
Sweet potatoes, mixed ‘Bayou Belle’ and ‘Covington’
(Combined squash & sweet potatoes weigh about 19 lb.)
Shallots, 1.25 lb
Garlic, 3 bulbs (in shallot bag)
Potatoes, russet, 5 lb
Potatoes, Satina, 5 lb

Box “B”
Refrigerate everything in this box, except the onions.

Beets, 3 lb
Brussels sprouts, 1.5 lb
Carrots, 6 lb total
….. orange ~4 lb
….. yellow & purple ~2 lb
Celeriac, 1
Green cabbage, 1 large
Leeks, ~2.5 lb
Onions, 5 lb total
….. red ‘Blush’
….. yellow
Parsnips, ~2 lb
Purple broccoli, 1 large head
Romanesco, 1 medium head (or maybe a purple cauliflower)

Autumn Frost winter squash

Shallots.  Yours are packed in a paper bag, with the garlic.

Top, ‘Blush’ red onion
Bottom, yellow onions

The ‘Blush’ onions are more pink than red, and excellent for long storage.

Autumn Frost winter squash – Store cool and dry.  60 F is ideal.
These beautiful frosted squash have both pumpkin and butternut squash breeding in them.  They cook and taste like an unusually good butternut, with rich, smooth texture.  They are quite nice.  The skin is elible.  The seed companies tell us that they store well, but I encourage you to eat your Autumn Frost within a month.  These are new for us, so we don’t really know if they store reliably.

Beets – Refrigerate in a bag or container.  Beets will store for two months or longer.

Brussels sprouts – Eat within 2 to 3 weeks.

Butternut winter squash –  Store your butternut in a cool, dry place.  60 F is ideal.  Do not put in a plastic bag.  Expect the largest butternuts to store the longest.  Inspect your squash frequently and cook promptly if you see any soft spots developing.  You can cook, mash and freeze the squash for future use.  I find that you can refrigerate cut raw squash for up to one week.  This runs counter to the accepted way to store squash, but is useful if you want to cook just half a squash.  Some of them are big!  Try microwaving your squash for one to two minutes before cutting or peeling.  This softens the squash and makes a large butternut easier to handle.

Cabbage – Refrigerate.

Carrots, orange.  Refrigerate in a plastic bag.  Will keep for several weeks.
Carrots, yellow & purple.  These varieties are pretty AND they taste good.  Refrigerate in the plastic bag.

Celeriac – Will store for months in your fridge.  Cut off chunks as needed.  Peel before using.  I find it easiest to cut the celeriac into flat slices, then peel.

Garlic –  Store at room temperature.

Green cabbage – Refrigerate.  These are big.  It’s OK to cut off chunks as needed.

Leeks.  Refrigerate. In general, leeks are not a long-storage crop.  You may need to strip off one or two outer leaves to freshen the leeks before you cook them.

Onions: Refrigerate or store in a cool, dark spot and protect from light.  Exposure to light stimulates sprouting.  

Parsnips (These look like large white carrots.) – Refrigerate in a plastic bag.  Parsnips will store for several months but will darken in color.  That is a harmless change.

Potatoes; russets and Satinas – Can be stored at room temperature or in a cool spot, but must be kept in the dark so they do not turn green.  A cloth or loose plastic bag draped over the paper bag will slow moisture loss, but do not close the plastic bag.  Both types will store longer if kept cool.  Around 40 – 50 F is ideal.  The potatoes were grown by the Igl family near Antigo.
Russets– We got the big ‘baking’ grade so you have nice bakers for Thanksgiving.  Excellent for baked or mashed potatoes.
Satinas– These are good all-purpose potatoes, everything from roasted to potato salad.  I really like this variety of yellow potato because they oven-roast so well and because they are less sweet than other yellow varieties such as Yukon Golds.

Purple broccoli – Refrigerate in a plastic bag or a container.  You should plan to use this soon, eg within one week. 

Romanesco cauliflower (beautiful chartreuse green, spiraled head) or purple cauliflower (dense purple head) – Refrigerate.  These should store well, eg for a few weeks.

Shallots (look like small red onions) – Good for salad dressing.  We’re still learning how to grow shallots and are thrilled to have a small bag for everyone!

Sweet potatoes – We’re sending a mix of two varieties, Covington (orange skins) and ‘Bayou Belle’ (purple skins).  Both have excellent flavor and sweetness.  Store at room temperature, no lower than 55 F, but 60+ F is better.  Keep them on your kitchen counter where it’s easy to keep an eye on them.  I like to keep ours in a paper bag so they don’t dehydrate.  Cook promptly if they start to soften.  The roots come in a wide ranges of sizes and all are good.

Recipe Ideas

Check out the winter issue of Edible Madison.  That’s our own recipe writer Lauren’s recipe on the cover!  Recipe is at ediblemadison.com/recipes/winter-kale-salad-with-roasted-brussels-cinnamon-citrus-vinaigrette .  

Thanksgiving Menus

For obvious reasons, the Thanksgiving recipes offered online are different this year, scaled back but worth bookmarking for winter meals.  Here are some interesting ones.

The Washington Post
The Post staff used the popular “sheet pan dinner” technique to craft whole holiday meals on one sheet pan, fine-tuning when to add each ingredient to the pan.  I appreciate that kind of finesse, and will be trying a few of the recipes this winter.  I don’t have a good track record with Hasselback potatoes (undercooked potatoes after hours in the oven) so I’m interested in their tricks in the Sheet Pan Chicken With Hasselback Potatoes and Brussels Sprouts recipe.

Smitten Kitchen
I love this cook!  She has an extensive list of Thanksgiving recipes from previous years.  Her newest Potato and Leek Gratin recipe looks good.  

Food52.com
Once again, the lively Food52.com site has outdone itself with an extensive Thanksgiving recipe collection.  They’ve named it “AutoMagic Thanksgiving Menu Maker“.  It’s organized by type of dish, e.g.
.  “Bright and Crunchy” and
.  “Roasted to Perfection”, etc.
I’ve extracted a few sauce ideas from the recipes.
– I like the horseradish vinaigrette in the Autumn Salad with Horseradish Vinaigrette recipe, and have been happily spooning it on roasted sweet potatoes.
– The spicy onions in Dan Kluger’s Roasted Butternut Squash with Spicy Onions recipe are very zippy.  They are quite strong, and I find they overpower roasted squash but are a good complement for mashed potatoes.

Local Thyme
Finally, remember that we can use Local Thyme recipes all winter.  Check them out for Thanksgiving ideas.