Sweet season

On: October 14, 2015
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Fall weather does not get better than this. Our farm work is so pleasant when the weather is sunny and mild. Prepping parsley bunches when it’s sunny and 65^oF? That’s perfect – our fingers are ungloved and nimble, we can handle rubber bands. Try tackling that job when it’s 35^oF and raining and you are dressed in bulky layers. We know frost is coming soon, but we are trying to extract as much pleasure as we can from these last warm days. The sweet potatoes and winter squash are all harvested (yeah!), and we’ve begun harvesting cabbage for winter storage. These are satisfying milestones. Here are photos from the last few weeks. Beth

Sweet potatoes pop out of the ground when the soil is just right – not too dry, not too wet. From top, Steve mows the vines and undercuts the roots to bring them to the surface. We pick them up by hand. They need to be handled very gently at this stage. At bottom, Jeremy finds a favorite.

Billy tosses cabbage to Kyle.

Maggie and team sort winter squash as it comes up the conveyor belt.

Winter squash primer

We will pack several types of winter squash this week, although each member will receive just one type. We tried a few new varieties this year, and are sharing ones that passed our taste tests. Some new varieties are great but others are duds. We only send the good ones. If you have a strong opinion about the squash you receive this week (good or bad), could you let us know? We’ll keep track of where the varieties are delivered.

Clockwise from top right, Sugar Dumpling (2), TipTop acorn, sweet dumpling (2), and Honey Boat delicata.

The early winter squashes were not very productive because of pest problems. On the other hand, the butternuts did great. Above, keeping the butternut squash warm and dry in the greenhouse so they cure and sweeten.

Veggie List and Veggie Notes (Oct. 15/16, 2015, week #22, green EOW)

Yellow potatoes, 3 to 3.5 lb
Red beets, 2 lb
Broccoli AND/OR cauliflower
Frying peppers, mixed colors, ~4
Bell AND/OR Oranos peppers
Zavory “mild” habaneros, small handful
Yellow onions, about 2
Scallions, 1 bunch
Parsley, 1 bunch
Winter squash; acorn OR sweet dumpling OR Sugar Dumpling OR delicata

Next week’s box will probably contain cauliflower OR Romanesco broccoli, winter squash, cabbage, leeks, carrots and more.

Peppers! – It’s a pepper medley this week. We are stripping the plants in anticipation of frost in a few days. It is so hard to let the pepper season end. We’ll protect a few varieties with floating row cover so we have peppers for you next week.
Frying peppers (red, green or yellow; long & slender) – Don’t confuse these sweet peppers with last week’s HOT anaheim chiles, in you have any left in your fridge. Look at photos in last week’s newsletter to see how similar they appear. This is our biggest delivery of frying peppers so far this year. Frying peppers are my favorite pepper, so let’s share how we cook them at our house:
– The classic use; pan fried with ones and garlic, then used to top sausages.
– Grilled or roasted, then served atop cheesy polenta.
– I keep a few roasted peppers in the fridge, to top pizza or salads, or dress up grilled cheese sandwiches. They are handy to dress up simple pasta dishes.
– Roasted then pureed with grilled or sautéed onions and garlic to make a chunky spread for bread.
Zavory “mild” habanero chiles (small; red, orange or green) – Well, these chiles have gotten hotter than the last time we delivered them. Not sure why. They are still pretty mild, about the same as an Anaheim, with lots of interesting flavor.

At left, sweet frying peppers. At right, mildly hot Zavory habaneros.