LAST CSA OF THE YEAR!!!  We made it!  I wish I could add up all of the poundage of produce we hauled out of the field this year, but I didn’t keep that data.  I was pleased to offer salad mix or lettuce to you almost every week, plenty of carrots, tomatoes and squash, and a good variety of other veggies.  Hopefully you enjoyed the variety.  We are so appreciative of the feedback from several of you about eating healthier and feeling healthier this summer.  I will be sending out a survey soon to help us plan for next year, but we welcome other feedback via email about how we could improve/adapt/change our CSA for next season.  We look forward to seeing you back with us in 2018, and we are grateful for your trust in us and your support of our endeavors.  It means the world to us.  Have a happy and healthy winter!

Standard Share

• Butternut Squash–large (may need more time to ripen to tan)
• Leeks  Potato Leek Soup
• Watermelon Radishes–Tuesday (see last week’s post for info.)
• Broccoli–Thursday
• Carrots–2 lbs. OR Brussels Sprouts–1 lb.
• Sweet or Bell Peppers
• Cabbage–red or green  Braised Cabbage with Bacon
• Herbs–thyme and sage

Salad Share

• Butternut Squash–small
• Carrots–1 lb. OR Brussels Sprouts–1/2 lb.
• Pepper
• Cabbage–red or green

Things are definitely winding down on the farm coming into October:  two frosts in a week have turned the edges of the garden brown and we are starting to bring in the fall crops as the plants die back.  The last of the peppers and tomatoes will go home with you this week.  Enjoy sweeter lettuce greens, Brussels Sprouts and Pac Choy as their taste improves with successive frosts.  Even in it’s seedy, dried-up mess, this garden is still kicking out some bounty.  One more week to enjoy!

Standard Share

• Fall Salad Mix with arugula and spinach
• Pac Choy (large or baby bunch)
• Brussels Sprouts
• Tomatoes–1 lb. or pint
• Peppers–bell and hot
• Scallions
• Baby Butternut, Delicata Squash or Pie Pumpkin

We LOVED this recipe (you could use Delicata too!): Butternut Squash Mac & Cheese

• Cauliflower or Broccoli (Tues)
• Watermelon Radishes (Thursday)

What is a WATERMELON RADISH? (Tuesday folks will get them next week!)  Find out here.

Salad Share

• Fall Salad Mix
• Pac Choy
• Tomatoes

 

As we come closer and closer to October (the time we usually take tomatoes out of the hoop house to plant winter greens) the tomatoes seem in no hurry to leave.  They are ripening by the hour, and there are piles of seconds ready to go in salsas and sauces.  Luckily, it looks like the cool canning weather will be upon us in the next few days, and we could even get frost(!)–after two and a half weeks of sunny summer weather and no rain.  Go figure.

Look forward to two final weeks of CSA veggies in October.  We have had a great season, and it is all due to the amazing support of our members and customers.  Happy Fall!

Standard Share

• Cabbage (green, red or savoy)
• Carrots–2 lbs. 

Carrot Ginger Soup with Coconut Milk?! Sounds amazing! From Splendid Table

• Cauliflower (Tuesday)
• Pac Choy (Thursday)
• Beets

Have a lot of beets sitting around? Try Quick Pickled Beets from Eating Well

• Tomatoes (red and low-acid orange slicers)
• Onion (1 large or 2 small)
• Kale
• Basil

Salad Share

• Cabbage (green, red or savoy)
• Carrots–1 lb.
• Tomatoes (red and orange slicers)

It’s turning out to be a beautiful Fall!  We hope you enjoy all the colors and variety of this week’s share and find many creative, yummy ways to use your veggies.

If you have too many tomatoes, it’s easy to make a basic salsa with peppers, onions, garlic and cilantro.  There are so many recipes out there: roasted, fresh, and with a variety of ingredients.  We cook and can tomato salsa and tomatillo salsa using recipes from Ball Canning “Blue Book”, a great resource for all things canned.

Looking for another way to cook Brussels Sprouts?  (There are so many!)  Here are some more Brussels Sprouts Recipes.

…And when you can’t think of any more creative ways to cook, there are always the tried and true: Boil or steam with a little salt and/or vinegar (edamame, beets, kale).  Chop up in a stir fry with eggs and salsa (tomatoes, tomatillos, peppers, kale).  Or roast in the oven with oil and salt (Brussels sprouts, Delicata squash slices, kale, potatoes, beets, carrots).  Or just eat it raw, like I do! (peppers, carrots, husk cherries, cherry tomatoes). That’s the easiest way to (not) prepare food!  And since it’s organic, there is no need to peel anything at all.  : )

Standard Share

• Salad Mix
• Brussels Sprouts–1 lb.
• Cherry or Roma Tomatoes
• Kale–mixed variety
• Peppers–bell, sweet and hot
• Edamame Soy Beans or Husk Cherries
• Broccoli or Cauliflower
• Pie Pumpkin OR Delicata Squash
• Cilantro

Salad Share

• Salad Mix
• Kale–mixed variety
• Brussels Sprouts–1/2 lb.
• Edamame, Husk Cherries or Broccoli

 

What a lovely week!  Hope you are all enjoying the sunshine.  I have been “back to school” teaching preschool on Tuesday and Thursday mornings, leaving us a little short-handed and frantic by CSA pick-up time.  Nevertheless, we managed to get out Tuesday’s share with the help of my sister and brother-in-law, who escaped the floods down in Charleston, S.C. to spend this sunny week with us!

There were a lot of roots in the share today.  At our house, we love a good root roast with garlic, potatoes, carrots and beets.  The small fennel bulbs, chopped, add a nice licorice flavor to a root roast.  Note:  I  find that if you roast beets with other veggies, they take longer to cook, and either need to be boiled a bit first, chopped smaller, or roasted longer.  Here is a great recipe that incorporates fennel (you could sub potatoes or beets in for parsnips!): Fennel Roasted Fall Vegetables

Standard Share

• Greens mix with herbs and flowers
• Edamame (fresh soy beans)  here’s a great link for how to prepare this tasty snack:    How to Cook Edamame
• Fennel
• Tomatoes–2 lbs.  Too many tomatoes?  Try this: Basic Tomato Sauce
• Roots:  Carrots, Beets, Potatoes–2 lbs.
• Kale
• Garlic
• Green Beans or Broccoli–Tuesday
• Thyme and Oregano (use in root roast and sauce, or hang to dry!)–Thursday

Salad Share

• Greens mix with herbs and flowers
• Roots: carrots, beets, potatoes–1 lb.
• Tomatoes–1 lb.
• Garlic

First shares of Fall are looking good!  Today, we had a nice visit from the St. Johnsbury Academy “Field Semester” class.  They toured the farm (including a visit with our baby goats, Smudge and Smoke) and worked on some projects in the field.  They “topped” the Brussels Sprouts to stop the leafy growth and encourage the sprouts to bulk up.  They also harvested some of the sprouts for tomorrow’s share.  Many of the students were not aware that Brussels Sprouts grew on a stalk.

We have two varieties of Brussels Sprouts this year: the early variety we are harvesting this week, and a later variety where the whole stalk will be harvested at once.  Our early frost (September 2nd!!!) has made the sprouts sweeter, as well as sweetening other crops like kale, broccoli, arugula and cabbage.  Unfortunately, frost does nothing for the squash and pumpkin leaves, which were hit pretty hard.  The fruit itself should ripen with a few more days of sun.

This week, you have most of the makings of a great “Ratatouille,” a classic French stew with seasonal vegetables.  Besides the eggplant (which I leave out), you can easily cobble together one of these with your toms, peppers, onions, garlic, and zuccs or squash.  Here is an easy recipe from Martha Stewart: Ratatouille

Standard Share

• Lettuce Mix OR Arugula
• Head Lettuce (Thursday)
• Summer Squash (Tuesday)
• Brussels Sprouts  Try one of our all-time favorites:  Crispy Fried Brussels Sprouts with Honey and Sriracha
• Green Beans
• Onions
• Kale
• Tomatoes
• Basil
• Bell Peppers

Salad Share

• Lettuce Mix OR Arugula
• Kale
• Green Beans
• Peppers

Happy last share in August!  And happy back-to-school for many families this week–including ours.  Kids back in school brings a dramatic change to the mood at the farm.  Things are quiet, but we are suddenly struck with the feel of the Fall to come.  There is a bit of a mourning here for the end of the kid’s summer, but we are re-focused on fall projects, other jobs and thinking of the future.

In the garden, we are finishing some crops (zucchini, summer squash, cucumbers) and re-seeding others (spinach, baby pak choi) for fall crops.  Lots to look forward to in the month and a half that is left in our CSA season:  Brussels sprouts, sweet potatoes, cauliflower, red peppers, pumpkins and butternut squash are still ahead.  Enjoy this week’s bounty!

 

Standard Share

• Summer Salad Mix
• Cabbage (red or savoy)
• Green Beans or Broccoli
• Spaghetti or Delicata Squash
• Leeks   One of my favorite recipes uses leeks and squash.  It recommends butternut, but 2 small or 1 large delicata will do.  Check it out here:

Squash and Leek Lasagna

• Husk Cherries**, Plum Tomatoes or Cherry Tomatoes
• Slicing Tomatoes
• Carrots

Salad Share

• Summer Salad Mix
• Microgreens
• Carrots
• Tomato

**Husk Cherries are part of the Tomatillos family, and are a sweet treat, especially when the wrapper is brown and the cherries are yellow-orange.  If they are a little green, wait for them to ripen a bit.  Take the wrapper off before eating.

If you have never cooked with shallots, here’s your chance.  Milder than onions, but with a unique and pronounced flavor, shallots are excellent as a raw ingredient in salad dressings.  I have a favorite shallot sauce I use to cook with pork chops (difficult to find when I need it, though!).  Check out the link below with lots of ways to use the shallot.  The variety we grow is called “Camelot,” a larger variety than you see in the grocery store.  You may want to use some and refrigerate the rest.  Enjoy it while you can–it’s difficult to find fresh shallots at any other time of year.

The beets are doing so well in our garden–we had to give you more!  If they are starting to pile up, there are so many beet salads (like the one below), or consider pickling a few jars of beets so you can enjoy them in the depths of winter.  Here is a basic recipe: Pickled Beets

Standard Share

• Spinach or Lettuce Head
• Tomatoes–slicers, cherries or salad
• Bok Choy
• Shallots (lots of great recipes here: Shallot Recipes)
• Corn (Tuesday), Potatoes (Thursday)
• Squash–Spaghetti, Delicata, Zucchini or Summer Squash
• Cucumbers
• Beets–Red Ace and Touchstone Gold (lovely recipe WITH SHALLOTS! here: Beet Salad)
• Peppers–Italian, Bell and Purple
• Kale (optional)

Salad Share

• Spinach or Lettuce Head
• Corn
• Cucumbers
• Kale
• Beets

Green is not the only color in the garden, and we really proved that this week, with gorgeous varieties like Ruby Perfection Cabbage and Chef’s Choice Orange Tomatoes.  Different veggie colors offer different nutrients and benefits, as this link describes: Eat A Rainbow

This week, we’ve added Tomatillos, a fun veggies that comes in it’s own wrapper!  A member of the nightshade family (which includes tomatoes, peppers, eggplant and potatoes), tomatillos originated in Mexico.  They are terrific in a variety of chicken dishes or in a green salsa, like this one from Food Network: Salsa Verde

Another excellent seasonal dish to try (if you aren’t yet acquainted with it) is “Caprese Salad,” an Italian favorite (and the reason we added basil to the salad share this week!).  As simple as can be, just slice a tomato, top it with a slice of fresh mozzarella and a couple leaves of basil.  As a final touch, drizzle some balsamic vinegar over the top.  This one is Justin’s favorite!

Standard Share

• Tomatoes
• Tomatillos
• Summer Salad Mix
• Cabbage–Ruby Perfection
• Scallions and Red Onions
• Jalepeno Peppers
• Carrots–Napoli and Yellowstone
• Basil
• Potatoes (Tuesday)
• Corn (Thursday)
• Kale–Optional

Salad Share

• Tomatoes
• Summer Salad Mix
• Basil
• Cabbage