Happy Halloween! And there are just two more shares to go after this week's! Remember, if you pick up on Mondays, your last share pickup will be on November 14th. If you pick up on Thursdays, it will be November 17th. We still have some great Fall veggies left for you.
We are hoping to finish our garlic planting this week, and after that our field projects will be pretty much wrapped up for the year. We are still picking food for the Orchard Kitchen the farm stand, and you all of course, but we've now removed almost all of the crops that are no longer producing, and planted cover crop everywhere that we could. All that's left is to keep picking until the food runs out! Here's what's in this weeks share:
Gypsy peppers- The peppers keep on coming...I never want to assume we'll still have peppers this time of year, although we usually do. It sure is nice to have them, to compliment all the Winter veggies we have this week, from squash to hardy greens to root veggies...nice to have a sweet fruit in the share!
Radicchio- Radicchio is in the lettuce family, but it is a bit hardier to cool temperatures than lettuce is. It is a very important and popular crop in Europe, and has a really nice slightly bitter flavor. It can be eaten raw, but is best lightly cooked. Here are some recipes from Bobbi:
http://www.thekitchn.com/take-the-edge-o-164160
or if you still have your pumpkin from week before last:
http://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/11249-roast-pumpkin-radicchio-and-feta-salad
Parsnip- Parsnips are a delicious and underrated root vegetable. They are similar and closely related to carrots, with a similar texture when cooked but definitely a different flavor. They are easy to cook with, I usually peel them, then chop them up, and then either roast, sauté, or steam them.
http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/howto/guide/top-10-ways-parsnips
Delicata squash- One thing we still have a MOUNTAIN of left is delicate squash...mostly by design. It did seem to outperform our other squash this year (every year is just a little different as far a which squashes yield best) but we also planted a LOT more of it because we wholesale it to Georgie at Willowood Farm in Coupeville, who we didn't have nearly enough delicata for last year. I haven't posted many recipes for pastas this year:
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/pasta-with-delicata-squash-and-sage-brown-butter
Collards/kale- The large shares already got collards a second time, so they will get kale...small shares will get collards...either way, everyone will be getting a nice bunch of braising greens.
Leeks- These will be the last of the Fall leeks in your share! After having so many leeks last winter, I am wishing we'd planted a bit more this year. But that's okay, they've made it into the share a handful of times, and we'll still have some left to sell to the Orchard Kitchen over the few weeks, so it's aallllll good.... leeks are great in recipes with potatoes or root veggies, but they can be a star on their own if you braise them:
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/braised-leeks-with-lemon-10099
Winter turnips- All shares will be getting a few of our winter turnips this week, a mix of golden turnips and the appropriately named "purple top white globe" turnip. These European turnips, unlike the Japanese Hakurei turnips from the Spring, are better for cooking. You can use them not too differently from potatoes or beets...they were once a very important crop in Europe and the U.S., but have kind of faded into obscurity. They really are delicious though, and not hard to use at all. Bookmark this page, because there will be rutabegas (or "Swedish turnips") in your share a few weeks from now! http://www.marthastewart.com/275205/turnip-and-rutabaga-recipes
Large shares only:
Beets- Some more topped red beets in the large shares this week...I'm not sure if we'll have beets in all shares again this year, or in any shares...so enjoy what may or may not be the last of our 2016 beets!
Cabbage- We have so much cabbage out in the field, I will try not to overwhelm you all with cabbage over these final few weeks! We planted a whole lot of kraut cabbage, which grew to be enormous, in the hopes of selling them to Britt's pickles for their sauerkraut...hopefully we sell them somewhere, because we have a lot of them....
http://www.thekitchn.com/recipe-roasted-cabbage-slaw-with-hazelnuts-lemon-recipes-from-the-kitchn-178256
Red onion- We still have a few bags of these red "Cabernet" storage onions left, definitely enough to add a few to the large shares this week! These onions are small, but good and sweet with good storage potential.
Week 22 Blog
Hi there....
Week 22, with just 3 more weeks to go after this one, and we are just starting to get to some of our true Fall crops with Romanesco, storage carrots and some celery root for the large shares in this week's share. By next week I hope we're including some parsnip, turnip and more root veggies. That said, some of our warm season crops won't stop ticking....we got a snap of cooler weather there for a bit, but it has warmed up again so these solanum crops aren't ready to quit. There are eggplants and hot peppers in all shares this week, and the last of our tomatoes in the large shares. Enjoy! And Happy Halloween....
In all shares:
Romanesco- This is the world's most unusual cauliflower...it is actually a spiral in Fibonacci's sequence, a spiral pattern that occurs throughout nature. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fibonacci_number
Also, it's lime green. And it's delicious! The flavor isn't too different from cauliflower, but it's a bit firmer, easier to cut up, and does have a bit of a different sweetness and flavor to it.
http://lethallydelicious.blogspot.com/2012/01/spicy-roasted-romanesco-cauliflower.html?m=1
Eggplant- Our eggplant has been delicious for years now, but we tried a different variety this year grown by our friends at Deep Harvest in Freeland. It has been our best ever, with great production and quality and with a really nice flavor. I have been really enjoying eating it this year.
http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2014/09/stovetop-eggplant-with-harissa-chickpeas-cumin-yogurt-recipe.html
Potato- We have so many fingerling potatoes still! We will give a really generous amount of these delicious spuds and Bobbi found a nice recipe for me to go with some of the arugula in the share below...
Arugula- Here's the recipe for potatoes and arugula:
https://smittenkitchen.com/2009/03/penne-with-potatoes-and-rocket/
Bobbi has been helping me a bunch with finding recipes lately, she is really enjoying doing it and it's nice to inject some new energy and a different angle into the recipe hunt!
Hot peppers- Hope you find a way to put these suckers to good use! Mostly what we have now are the smaller red cherry bomb peppers, which are really great. They are pretty sweet, and then have a quick burst of hotness that doesn't last too long. If you don't use any of the seeds and internal ribs, then they really aren't too spicy at all.
Garlic- This is some of the last of our food garlic for the year, maybe the very last of it! It has been a good year for garlic, with much more than we had last year, but I wish we'd planted way more....maybe next year, as we begin planting our garlic for 2017 in the coming week or two...
In the large shares-
Tomato- Believe it or not, we still have a few more tomatoes still ripening off the vine in storage. They won't last much longer, so rather than have them go bad I thought it would be better to give them out to the large shares this week! I've been eating my morning toast with cream cheese and tomato with some salt and pepper on there.
Celeriac, or celery root- This is a more unusual vegetable that is great for the Fall and Winter in the Pacific Northwest. The tops can be used like celery, but more for the souping/stocking/stewing uses, they're not good for eating with peanut butter. The root is the real winner. Although it is a bit ugly, it is truly delicious, with a juicy crunchy texture kind of like jicama, but a flavor like celery. I like to slice it raw for snacking or salads, roast it in the oven as you would potatoes or beets (diced into cubes), or steam it for a while and mash it up with potatoes. Here's another website from Bobbi that might help: http://www.wellpreserved.ca/what-to-do-with-celeriac-celery-root/
Lettuce- This may be a smaller head of lettuce. I am anticipating the first decent frost coming in the next few weeks, and the lettuce won't survive it, so just as with the tomatoes, I'd rather pick them for you than have them be ruined by cold weather out in the field! Time for one last lettuce salad....
Week 22, with just 3 more weeks to go after this one, and we are just starting to get to some of our true Fall crops with Romanesco, storage carrots and some celery root for the large shares in this week's share. By next week I hope we're including some parsnip, turnip and more root veggies. That said, some of our warm season crops won't stop ticking....we got a snap of cooler weather there for a bit, but it has warmed up again so these solanum crops aren't ready to quit. There are eggplants and hot peppers in all shares this week, and the last of our tomatoes in the large shares. Enjoy! And Happy Halloween....
In all shares:
Romanesco- This is the world's most unusual cauliflower...it is actually a spiral in Fibonacci's sequence, a spiral pattern that occurs throughout nature. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fibonacci_number
Also, it's lime green. And it's delicious! The flavor isn't too different from cauliflower, but it's a bit firmer, easier to cut up, and does have a bit of a different sweetness and flavor to it.
http://lethallydelicious.blogspot.com/2012/01/spicy-roasted-romanesco-cauliflower.html?m=1
Eggplant- Our eggplant has been delicious for years now, but we tried a different variety this year grown by our friends at Deep Harvest in Freeland. It has been our best ever, with great production and quality and with a really nice flavor. I have been really enjoying eating it this year.
http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2014/09/stovetop-eggplant-with-harissa-chickpeas-cumin-yogurt-recipe.html
Potato- We have so many fingerling potatoes still! We will give a really generous amount of these delicious spuds and Bobbi found a nice recipe for me to go with some of the arugula in the share below...
Arugula- Here's the recipe for potatoes and arugula:
https://smittenkitchen.com/2009/03/penne-with-potatoes-and-rocket/
Bobbi has been helping me a bunch with finding recipes lately, she is really enjoying doing it and it's nice to inject some new energy and a different angle into the recipe hunt!
Hot peppers- Hope you find a way to put these suckers to good use! Mostly what we have now are the smaller red cherry bomb peppers, which are really great. They are pretty sweet, and then have a quick burst of hotness that doesn't last too long. If you don't use any of the seeds and internal ribs, then they really aren't too spicy at all.
Garlic- This is some of the last of our food garlic for the year, maybe the very last of it! It has been a good year for garlic, with much more than we had last year, but I wish we'd planted way more....maybe next year, as we begin planting our garlic for 2017 in the coming week or two...
In the large shares-
Tomato- Believe it or not, we still have a few more tomatoes still ripening off the vine in storage. They won't last much longer, so rather than have them go bad I thought it would be better to give them out to the large shares this week! I've been eating my morning toast with cream cheese and tomato with some salt and pepper on there.
Celeriac, or celery root- This is a more unusual vegetable that is great for the Fall and Winter in the Pacific Northwest. The tops can be used like celery, but more for the souping/stocking/stewing uses, they're not good for eating with peanut butter. The root is the real winner. Although it is a bit ugly, it is truly delicious, with a juicy crunchy texture kind of like jicama, but a flavor like celery. I like to slice it raw for snacking or salads, roast it in the oven as you would potatoes or beets (diced into cubes), or steam it for a while and mash it up with potatoes. Here's another website from Bobbi that might help: http://www.wellpreserved.ca/what-to-do-with-celeriac-celery-root/
Lettuce- This may be a smaller head of lettuce. I am anticipating the first decent frost coming in the next few weeks, and the lettuce won't survive it, so just as with the tomatoes, I'd rather pick them for you than have them be ruined by cold weather out in the field! Time for one last lettuce salad....
New Farm Share!
Hope we all survived the the crazy windstorm this weekend! Things were blowing around a bit on the farm, but we all survived with no major disasters....thanks in part to Vincent, who may have saved our greenhouse this weekend. If you noticed our note in the farmstand, we also hopefully got our cash box situation all corrected after some major frustrations last week. We are really transitioning into the winter season now. with wind storms and lots of rain, as well as some cooler weather spelliing the end for many of our Summer crops. Lots of nice winter crops still to come this year though, with a handful in the share this week!
In this week's share:
Lettuce- The last of the lettuce for this year! We have managed to protect our Fall lettuce from marauding deer, and I'm glad we did. It is nice to still have it this time of year. Enjoy a final local lettuce salad of 2016! I heard recently that several local farmers have already had a frost that has killed tender crops like lettuce...fortunately, we haven't yet!
Beets- Some nice red beets in the share this week! We are getting low on beets...after having way too many last Fall, I went too far the other way and underplanted this year! Wish we had more...
Swiss Chard- Some nice Fall bunching greens. I just made some soup with stock, onions, winter squash, chard, rice, and too many other things to list.
Brussels Sprouts- This will be our first pick on the Brussels Sprouts this year! Everyone is always excited for the sprouts this time of year. This is kind of a funny recipe, but similar to how I like to prepare sprouts: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/15276/breaded-brussels-sprouts/
Acorn Squash- We ate a lot of acorn squash growing up. What I love about acorn squash, aside from their pleasantly stringy texture and nice strong flavor, is how easy they are to cook. Just cut them in half, scoop out the seeds, put some salt, olive oil, and maybe some maple syrup or brown sugar on there, and bake in a 375 degree oven for about a half hour. Or:
http://www.marthastewart.com/275063/acorn-squash-recipes
Onions- I am so glad we had the foresight to move our onions out of the greenhouse before this week! The roof of the greenhouse started to blow off in the windstorm, and some of our winter squash and storage corn got a little bit wet, but that is not too big a deal. If the storage onions had gotten wet, it would have been a real bummer and probably really would have impacted their storage life. These will be some of the first of our yellow Copra storage onions to go out this year!
Gypsy Peppers- Our peppers will just continue to get sweeter until an early frost kills them! They are really doing well so hopefully they will continue for a while.
Green Tomato- Our tomatoes are dead. Rest in peace. As I've been writing every week, it was only a matter of time after the weather turned cold and damp. We were able to put a good last pick on the plants though, getting the last of the ripe fruit and much of the green fruit that would never have time to ripen.
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/16760/best-fried-green-tomatoes/
Large Shares-
Parsley- A great herb to use with your Brussels sprouts, your green tomatoes, or with the chard. Just chop it up and add it to almost any recipe for some fresh, herby flavor.
Turnips- Our first pick on our winter turnips this week as well! With the cooler Fall weather here, it is time to roll out the winter veggies.
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/glazed-turnips-104647
Large Shares will mostly get more of everything this week! More of just about everything in the share. As we get into the Fall, when there are fewer veggies available, this will happen more!
Mid October on the Farm...
The weather took a very sudden turn there from a Summery Fall week to a Wintery one. I had quite a bit of work to do just picking up all the odds and ends that had blown around in the high winds last week. The days are getting a whole lot shorter now, too; we will work on getting some lighting in the farm stand this week so that you can find your share when you come!
With the work load slowing down, and Jack planning to take a family trip to Hawaii this Fall, we decided we should all take turns having some time off. This is my week, so I will work a bit today and then be off Island for Tuesday through Friday! I am hoping, if the weather permits, to go on an overnight adventure on my sailboat, which was given to me years ago but I'm just this year finally getting around to taking out on the water.
We are beginning to prepare for our final sizable field project; planting our garlic seed for next year's garlic. It goes in at the end of October or early November, and will take several days by the time we prep the fields, separate all the seed and get it planted. Hope to have even more garlic for next year, because other than the garlic we've held on to for farm shares and seed, we are all out already!
Have a great week!
Tomatoes- All good things gotta come to an end...I've been talking about the last days of the tomatoes for a while, and now I think they're here. "Late blight", the disease that almost always kills our tomatoes sooner or later, is spreading like wild fire with this cold wet weather. We still have time for one last big pick though!
Spinach- Can't have too much spinach in the Fall, and I can't seem to plant too much. These nice little bunches should be great for a salad or for cooking.
Carrots- After starting to worry about how many carrots we had left a few weeks ago, now I don't know what I was worrying about. We have a whole planting we haven't even gotten into yet, and the beds we're digging right now are super nice carrots.
Winter Luxury Pumpkin- These pumpkins are beautiful and delicious. The nicest eating pumpkin I've ever found, with a pretty white webbing that looks a little like decoration on the skin. As Jack and I were just talking about, while they are related pumpkins are actually pretty different from squash; while squash are all from the Americas, the pumpkin is native to Africa. This is our first year growing pumpkin on the Farm, and they've done great. Super good for a soup or stew, a curry, or baking. They should store on the counter top for weeks or months before you use them if you'd like a little Fall decoration too.
"Cabernet" Red Onions- We planted these red storage onions as a bit of an afterthought when our red onion seed we ordered didn't arrive. They didn't exactly take off after being planted late, so they are a bit on the small side, but they are a really nice red onion that should keep for quite a while and be great on sandwiches, salads etc.
Eggplant- The eggplants are always very productive in October, although as a subtropical they are also very sensitive to frost, and usually the first crop to go down if the weather gets down into the mid thirties. So far so good...we have lots of nice fruits and the nights haven't threatened to get that cold yet, although there is a chill in the air...
Large Shares:
Collard Greens- A nice bunch of our collard bunching greens. I love to eat these this time of year...use them just like you would kale, but cook them just a minute or two longer as the leaves have a bit more thickness to them.
Broccoli- I hope you're not overwhelmed after getting an enormous head of broccoli last week! This week's will be a more modest size, easy to use in a salad or stir fry.
Hot pepper- A few of our chile peppers. Anaheim, cherry bomb, poblano, or Serrano. Great for spicing up a recipe and adding some peppery flavor.
With the work load slowing down, and Jack planning to take a family trip to Hawaii this Fall, we decided we should all take turns having some time off. This is my week, so I will work a bit today and then be off Island for Tuesday through Friday! I am hoping, if the weather permits, to go on an overnight adventure on my sailboat, which was given to me years ago but I'm just this year finally getting around to taking out on the water.
We are beginning to prepare for our final sizable field project; planting our garlic seed for next year's garlic. It goes in at the end of October or early November, and will take several days by the time we prep the fields, separate all the seed and get it planted. Hope to have even more garlic for next year, because other than the garlic we've held on to for farm shares and seed, we are all out already!
Have a great week!
Tomatoes- All good things gotta come to an end...I've been talking about the last days of the tomatoes for a while, and now I think they're here. "Late blight", the disease that almost always kills our tomatoes sooner or later, is spreading like wild fire with this cold wet weather. We still have time for one last big pick though!
Spinach- Can't have too much spinach in the Fall, and I can't seem to plant too much. These nice little bunches should be great for a salad or for cooking.
Carrots- After starting to worry about how many carrots we had left a few weeks ago, now I don't know what I was worrying about. We have a whole planting we haven't even gotten into yet, and the beds we're digging right now are super nice carrots.
Winter Luxury Pumpkin- These pumpkins are beautiful and delicious. The nicest eating pumpkin I've ever found, with a pretty white webbing that looks a little like decoration on the skin. As Jack and I were just talking about, while they are related pumpkins are actually pretty different from squash; while squash are all from the Americas, the pumpkin is native to Africa. This is our first year growing pumpkin on the Farm, and they've done great. Super good for a soup or stew, a curry, or baking. They should store on the counter top for weeks or months before you use them if you'd like a little Fall decoration too.
"Cabernet" Red Onions- We planted these red storage onions as a bit of an afterthought when our red onion seed we ordered didn't arrive. They didn't exactly take off after being planted late, so they are a bit on the small side, but they are a really nice red onion that should keep for quite a while and be great on sandwiches, salads etc.
Eggplant- The eggplants are always very productive in October, although as a subtropical they are also very sensitive to frost, and usually the first crop to go down if the weather gets down into the mid thirties. So far so good...we have lots of nice fruits and the nights haven't threatened to get that cold yet, although there is a chill in the air...
Large Shares:
Collard Greens- A nice bunch of our collard bunching greens. I love to eat these this time of year...use them just like you would kale, but cook them just a minute or two longer as the leaves have a bit more thickness to them.
Broccoli- I hope you're not overwhelmed after getting an enormous head of broccoli last week! This week's will be a more modest size, easy to use in a salad or stir fry.
Hot pepper- A few of our chile peppers. Anaheim, cherry bomb, poblano, or Serrano. Great for spicing up a recipe and adding some peppery flavor.
Farm Share#19
Wow, seven more farm shares to go including this week's. Unlike in the Summer, when fruiting crops just produce more food every week, this time of year I can look out in the fields or in our storage sheds and see how much food we have left for the rest of the year; it always makes me a bit nervous at first, that we will run out of food or not have enough of something. But by now, in October, I begin to adjust and see how much we still have. I start to create plans for the remaining farm shares, and it helps me to realize that we have more than enough to fill up the bags for the remainder of this year.
I love this time of year when we have weather like we've had over the last week. A little bit of rain and some cooler nights, but lots of sun and pleasant temperatures too. And beautiful views of the mountains during the day and the stars at night! Here's what's in your share this week:
Broccoli- We have lots and lots of really nice Fall broccoli right now.. this might be the best time of year for broccoli. Although in late Spring it's great when broccoli comes on, as there aren't as many other crops harvested yet, it seems like the Fall broccoli might be a little sweeter and more delicious, and it's great for some warm dishes in cooler weather.
http://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1015248-roasted-broccoli-with-tahini-garlic-sauce
Carrots- After several weeks with no carrots in the share, they are back! We have some nice ones out of a new bed, orange carrots with a sweet Fall flavor...
Lettuce- As soon as we get a decent frost, the lettuce will be toast...but we have lots of lettuce that is just great right now, so if the colder weather holds off for a while, it should hopefully last for several more weeks. The November shares will switch to the more cold hardy greens though, like spinach, kale, radicchio, chard and collards.
http://dadcooksdinner.com/2011/12/turkey-lettuce-wraps-thai-style.html/
Fingerling potatoes- This is a beautiful pink fingerling potato we grew a bit of this year, named "Rose Finn". They grew in all kinds of funky shapes, but they are a very delicious pink spud.
http://www.perrysplate.com/2012/11/crispy-lemon-garlic-fingerling-potatoes.html
Leeks- Leeks are back in your share...the longest, and some of the nicest leeks I've ever grown! The stalks of these plants are just unbelievable...hard to fit in our blue farm share bags though.
Tomato- With this beautiful Fall weather, the tomatoes are marching on. In fact, we picked more tomatoes last week that we have all year. We will give you a bunch this week, and hopefully we should have plenty more for the farm stand and next week's shares...
Garlic- It's been so long since garlic was in the shares! Sorry, with so much produce available in the late Summer, there was no room for it. We have some nice garlic for this week's share though. Hard to believe, beginning next week we will be planting next year's garlic!
In the LARGE shares:
Green Tomatoes- Not the ripe green zebras we grow, these are underripe green tomatoes for cooking! Fried green tomatoes are a great Fall treat, as we can see that some plants have set fruits they won't be able to ripen. Perfect for picking green, rolling in bread crumbs and frying for a great Southern side dish. Or making this shrimp salad recipe:
http://www.closetcooking.com/2014/08/blackened-shrimp-and-fried-green-tomato.html?m=1
Gypsy Peppers- More of our delicious, tart sweet gypsy peppers. I can't get enough of them this time of year!
Kale bunch- A nice bunch of kale greens to round out the large shares this week...
I love this time of year when we have weather like we've had over the last week. A little bit of rain and some cooler nights, but lots of sun and pleasant temperatures too. And beautiful views of the mountains during the day and the stars at night! Here's what's in your share this week:
Broccoli- We have lots and lots of really nice Fall broccoli right now.. this might be the best time of year for broccoli. Although in late Spring it's great when broccoli comes on, as there aren't as many other crops harvested yet, it seems like the Fall broccoli might be a little sweeter and more delicious, and it's great for some warm dishes in cooler weather.
http://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1015248-roasted-broccoli-with-tahini-garlic-sauce
Carrots- After several weeks with no carrots in the share, they are back! We have some nice ones out of a new bed, orange carrots with a sweet Fall flavor...
Lettuce- As soon as we get a decent frost, the lettuce will be toast...but we have lots of lettuce that is just great right now, so if the colder weather holds off for a while, it should hopefully last for several more weeks. The November shares will switch to the more cold hardy greens though, like spinach, kale, radicchio, chard and collards.
http://dadcooksdinner.com/2011/12/turkey-lettuce-wraps-thai-style.html/
Fingerling potatoes- This is a beautiful pink fingerling potato we grew a bit of this year, named "Rose Finn". They grew in all kinds of funky shapes, but they are a very delicious pink spud.
http://www.perrysplate.com/2012/11/crispy-lemon-garlic-fingerling-potatoes.html
Leeks- Leeks are back in your share...the longest, and some of the nicest leeks I've ever grown! The stalks of these plants are just unbelievable...hard to fit in our blue farm share bags though.
Tomato- With this beautiful Fall weather, the tomatoes are marching on. In fact, we picked more tomatoes last week that we have all year. We will give you a bunch this week, and hopefully we should have plenty more for the farm stand and next week's shares...
Garlic- It's been so long since garlic was in the shares! Sorry, with so much produce available in the late Summer, there was no room for it. We have some nice garlic for this week's share though. Hard to believe, beginning next week we will be planting next year's garlic!
In the LARGE shares:
Green Tomatoes- Not the ripe green zebras we grow, these are underripe green tomatoes for cooking! Fried green tomatoes are a great Fall treat, as we can see that some plants have set fruits they won't be able to ripen. Perfect for picking green, rolling in bread crumbs and frying for a great Southern side dish. Or making this shrimp salad recipe:
http://www.closetcooking.com/2014/08/blackened-shrimp-and-fried-green-tomato.html?m=1
Gypsy Peppers- More of our delicious, tart sweet gypsy peppers. I can't get enough of them this time of year!
Kale bunch- A nice bunch of kale greens to round out the large shares this week...
Another Week, Another Farmshare Blog
Howdy,
The last September share...next week will be October already! Happy with how the farm shares are looking these days. Last year (2015) was so hot and dry that things started producing super early...that combined with some rainy weather in the early Fall meant by this time last year we had no more tomatoes or corn, and the summer squash and cucumbers were long gone. I remember feeling like the late September shares were less exciting, so I tried to plan to spread things out a bit longer this year, and the weather has cooperated. Really happy to be giving you corn one last time this week, and the tomatoes are still hanging in there and will hopefully continue into October.
Settling into some nice Fall weather, and I feel like we are ahead of the game where our Fall projects are concerned. We managed to bring in all the Winter squash from the field last week; one of the funnest Fall projects on the farm, because it involves tossing and catching the squash to get them in and out of the pickup truck. We grew about a quarter of an acre of squash, and maybe brought in a couple of tons....That was the last of our large storage crop harvests, so now our potatoes, onions, garlic, squash and pumpkins are all under cover and will be packed into the upcoming shares out of the greenhouse or shed.
This week red kuri squash will be in the shares, and here's what else:
Sweet corn- Our last corn of the year! This is our final planting that I sewed as a bit of an afterthought thinking it would be nice to have some more. I'm glad I did, as this planting has grown really well and should be great. If I remember right from back in early June, I believe this will be a white corn...it has been a great season for sweet corn, enjoy the last of the year!
Shallots- Shallots are a delicious allium crop that is kind of like a cross between onion and garlic; more flavorful than onion but useable in the same way. A must for many French recipes, great in soups, sauces and salad dressings but really usable in all kinds of dishes you would usually use onion for but want to try something a little different.
Cherry tomatoes- I didn't know if the cherry tomatoes would still be producing heavily, but they are looking better than ever and the fruit is really nice and sweet. Big heirloom tomatoes should be back in the share next week too!
Cauliflower- More beautiful cauliflower, try stir frying it, roasting it, or making some soup or stew!
Collard greens- It is collard green season! We grow these in the Fall and Winter for their excellent cold hardiness and great flavor. A classic Southern side dish with some barbeque...braised collard greens.
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/51803/kickin-collard-greens/
Hot pepper- We grew just a small amount of hot peppers, as Pacific Northwesterners are not usually too keen on them. There are Anaheim, Cherry Bomb, Poblano, and Banana peppers, and you'll get one or two of them in your share...grab a different one out of the farm stand if you prefer! Great for making salsa....and none of them are too spicy. Wish we had some cilantro right now, it's done for the year!
Red Kuri squash- One of my favorite winter squashes, these red Japanese squash have a very dry, almost crumbly texture and a nice strong flavor. Many squash improve in flavor over the weeks in storage (you might notice when you get the delicata again in a few weeks their flavor should be sweeter), but these ones are great to eat now and don't store for too long.
http://naturallyella.com/roasted-red-kuri-squash/
Large shares:
Eggplant- Bobbie found this delicious looking eggplant recipe and emailed it to me:
https://smittenkitchen.com/2016/07/eggplant-with-yogurt-and-tomato-relish/
Arugula- A bunch of green arugula in your share this week for making a nice Fall salad.
Topped beets- We have lots of big golden and chioggia beets right now, perfect for roasting. I quickly chop them into quarters or eighths, toss some olive oil and salt on em and bake on a cookie sheet at 375 for about 50 minutes....then it is easy once they cool down to peel away the outer skin if desired and then slice them up.
Large shares will also be getting a bit more shallot, cauliflower and squash!
The last September share...next week will be October already! Happy with how the farm shares are looking these days. Last year (2015) was so hot and dry that things started producing super early...that combined with some rainy weather in the early Fall meant by this time last year we had no more tomatoes or corn, and the summer squash and cucumbers were long gone. I remember feeling like the late September shares were less exciting, so I tried to plan to spread things out a bit longer this year, and the weather has cooperated. Really happy to be giving you corn one last time this week, and the tomatoes are still hanging in there and will hopefully continue into October.
Settling into some nice Fall weather, and I feel like we are ahead of the game where our Fall projects are concerned. We managed to bring in all the Winter squash from the field last week; one of the funnest Fall projects on the farm, because it involves tossing and catching the squash to get them in and out of the pickup truck. We grew about a quarter of an acre of squash, and maybe brought in a couple of tons....That was the last of our large storage crop harvests, so now our potatoes, onions, garlic, squash and pumpkins are all under cover and will be packed into the upcoming shares out of the greenhouse or shed.
This week red kuri squash will be in the shares, and here's what else:
Sweet corn- Our last corn of the year! This is our final planting that I sewed as a bit of an afterthought thinking it would be nice to have some more. I'm glad I did, as this planting has grown really well and should be great. If I remember right from back in early June, I believe this will be a white corn...it has been a great season for sweet corn, enjoy the last of the year!
Shallots- Shallots are a delicious allium crop that is kind of like a cross between onion and garlic; more flavorful than onion but useable in the same way. A must for many French recipes, great in soups, sauces and salad dressings but really usable in all kinds of dishes you would usually use onion for but want to try something a little different.
Cherry tomatoes- I didn't know if the cherry tomatoes would still be producing heavily, but they are looking better than ever and the fruit is really nice and sweet. Big heirloom tomatoes should be back in the share next week too!
Cauliflower- More beautiful cauliflower, try stir frying it, roasting it, or making some soup or stew!
Collard greens- It is collard green season! We grow these in the Fall and Winter for their excellent cold hardiness and great flavor. A classic Southern side dish with some barbeque...braised collard greens.
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/51803/kickin-collard-greens/
Hot pepper- We grew just a small amount of hot peppers, as Pacific Northwesterners are not usually too keen on them. There are Anaheim, Cherry Bomb, Poblano, and Banana peppers, and you'll get one or two of them in your share...grab a different one out of the farm stand if you prefer! Great for making salsa....and none of them are too spicy. Wish we had some cilantro right now, it's done for the year!
Red Kuri squash- One of my favorite winter squashes, these red Japanese squash have a very dry, almost crumbly texture and a nice strong flavor. Many squash improve in flavor over the weeks in storage (you might notice when you get the delicata again in a few weeks their flavor should be sweeter), but these ones are great to eat now and don't store for too long.
http://naturallyella.com/roasted-red-kuri-squash/
Large shares:
Eggplant- Bobbie found this delicious looking eggplant recipe and emailed it to me:
https://smittenkitchen.com/2016/07/eggplant-with-yogurt-and-tomato-relish/
Arugula- A bunch of green arugula in your share this week for making a nice Fall salad.
Topped beets- We have lots of big golden and chioggia beets right now, perfect for roasting. I quickly chop them into quarters or eighths, toss some olive oil and salt on em and bake on a cookie sheet at 375 for about 50 minutes....then it is easy once they cool down to peel away the outer skin if desired and then slice them up.
Large shares will also be getting a bit more shallot, cauliflower and squash!
Fall is here.....Week 17
Wow, Week 17 already. As my favorite farm blog post was titled, "Time Flies When You're Having Farm". It is now officially Autumn (or will be soon) with the Fall equinox on Wednesday. It is amazing how quickly the days get shorter this time of year. While many people are mourning the end of Summer, I spend the crazy weeks of July and August looking forward to this time of year, when things are mellowing out a bit but the weather is often still really nice.
We had quite a bit of rain this weekend, so we will probably be more or less done irrigating for the year! That saves a lot of time and energy. It also really helps the cover crop I wrote about last week, which was beginning to grow but drying out quickly, and would take a ton of work to irrigate. It may spell the eventual end of the tomatoes, but we did put our sheeting back up over the tomato rows before this weekend in the hope that it would prolong their life through the next few weeks.
The Summer crops gradually give way to Fall crops...first winter squash in the share this week(!), a very poorly named vegetable, as they are planted in the Spring, grow through the Summer and are eaten primarily in the Fall. Vincent calls them "hard squash", I think a better name. Still melons, tomatoes, and peppers from our Summer plantings....
Here's what's in this week's share.
Celery- I am very proud of the celery we grow on the farm, even though it doesn't seem to be a customer favorite. It isn't quite as blanched and crunchy as the grocery store stuff, but it actually tastes like something! Great for soups, stews and sauces, as well as snacking...
Spinach- It has been a long time since spinach was in the share....late Summer the spinach just never seems to grow quite as well or last as long, and so we never seem to have enough of it. Happy to have a beautiful bed of it coming on now though.
Delicata squash- If you don't know these squash, you're in for a treat. The skin is thin and edible so they don't need to be peeled, and the flavor is great. I usually cut them in half longwise, scoop out the seeds, and slice them into crescent shapes pieces about a half an inch wide. Then I toss them in oil and salt and bake them on a cookie sheet for about 30 minutes at 375. They're delicious!
Ailsa crag onions- Soon we will be getting into more of our Fall alliums, with storage onions, shallots, and more leeks and shallots on the way. But we have so many of these Ailsa crag sweet yellow onions, and they're still so nice, we couldn't resist putting them in the share one last time!
Gypsy peppers- More of our tasty sweet gypsy peppers, getting more color and flavor now as time goes on. I was making a potato dish for breakfast this morning and wishing I had a few of these in the kitchen! They are so good.
Heirloom tomatoes- The tomatoes continue! I would really like to keep them going for at least two more weeks to make it into October! At some point we may decide to pick them really hard and let the greenish fruit ripen up in the greenhouse if it seems like it won't survive out in the field....
Melon?- We grew a delicious cantaloupe type melon that is just ready for harvest now...I'm hoping we have enough to give everyone a half a melon (at least) in their share...fingers crossed...
Large shares:
Broccoli- Wow, we have some really pretty broccoli right now. It is so good this time of year! We made broccoli the other day in a cheese sauce...not exactly health food, but really satisfying as a side dish!
Scarlet runner shelling beans- These are a special treat, beautiful purple and black speckled beans that cook up nice and plump. Chef Vincent buys them from us and loves to cook them in the Orchard Kitchen...I am going to ask if he's willing to share his recipe. These beans need to be shelled from the pod, a bit of a project, but because they are fresh and not completely dry they don't need to be presoaked...if you boil them in plenty of water for just 30 minutes or so they should be nice and tender. I will have to cook some up myself to see exactly how long it takes.
Purple carrots or topped beets- A nice Fall root vegetable to round out the large shares, depending on what we have enough of....
We had quite a bit of rain this weekend, so we will probably be more or less done irrigating for the year! That saves a lot of time and energy. It also really helps the cover crop I wrote about last week, which was beginning to grow but drying out quickly, and would take a ton of work to irrigate. It may spell the eventual end of the tomatoes, but we did put our sheeting back up over the tomato rows before this weekend in the hope that it would prolong their life through the next few weeks.
The Summer crops gradually give way to Fall crops...first winter squash in the share this week(!), a very poorly named vegetable, as they are planted in the Spring, grow through the Summer and are eaten primarily in the Fall. Vincent calls them "hard squash", I think a better name. Still melons, tomatoes, and peppers from our Summer plantings....
Here's what's in this week's share.
Celery- I am very proud of the celery we grow on the farm, even though it doesn't seem to be a customer favorite. It isn't quite as blanched and crunchy as the grocery store stuff, but it actually tastes like something! Great for soups, stews and sauces, as well as snacking...
Spinach- It has been a long time since spinach was in the share....late Summer the spinach just never seems to grow quite as well or last as long, and so we never seem to have enough of it. Happy to have a beautiful bed of it coming on now though.
Delicata squash- If you don't know these squash, you're in for a treat. The skin is thin and edible so they don't need to be peeled, and the flavor is great. I usually cut them in half longwise, scoop out the seeds, and slice them into crescent shapes pieces about a half an inch wide. Then I toss them in oil and salt and bake them on a cookie sheet for about 30 minutes at 375. They're delicious!
Ailsa crag onions- Soon we will be getting into more of our Fall alliums, with storage onions, shallots, and more leeks and shallots on the way. But we have so many of these Ailsa crag sweet yellow onions, and they're still so nice, we couldn't resist putting them in the share one last time!
Gypsy peppers- More of our tasty sweet gypsy peppers, getting more color and flavor now as time goes on. I was making a potato dish for breakfast this morning and wishing I had a few of these in the kitchen! They are so good.
Heirloom tomatoes- The tomatoes continue! I would really like to keep them going for at least two more weeks to make it into October! At some point we may decide to pick them really hard and let the greenish fruit ripen up in the greenhouse if it seems like it won't survive out in the field....
Melon?- We grew a delicious cantaloupe type melon that is just ready for harvest now...I'm hoping we have enough to give everyone a half a melon (at least) in their share...fingers crossed...
Large shares:
Broccoli- Wow, we have some really pretty broccoli right now. It is so good this time of year! We made broccoli the other day in a cheese sauce...not exactly health food, but really satisfying as a side dish!
Scarlet runner shelling beans- These are a special treat, beautiful purple and black speckled beans that cook up nice and plump. Chef Vincent buys them from us and loves to cook them in the Orchard Kitchen...I am going to ask if he's willing to share his recipe. These beans need to be shelled from the pod, a bit of a project, but because they are fresh and not completely dry they don't need to be presoaked...if you boil them in plenty of water for just 30 minutes or so they should be nice and tender. I will have to cook some up myself to see exactly how long it takes.
Purple carrots or topped beets- A nice Fall root vegetable to round out the large shares, depending on what we have enough of....
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