Farm Update
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| The piggies love leftover kale! |
Hello everyone! It is officially fall, and with the new season comes new weather and work patterns at the farm. Now that the season is slowly starting to wind down, we are planting a lot less (although Fred did put in a new planting of field spinach last week, as well as plenty of new greens in the coldframes), and even harvesting is starting to take on a new pattern. In the summer, we are still planting every week so that there will always be plenty of veggies at the right stage for harvest, and we usually harvest just the amount of produce we'll need for that day's shares. When we get into fall, we still harvest the greens, beans, and whatever tomatoes are left daily, but we do a few large harvests of root vegetables rather than many small ones. Fred is preparing to harvest several thousand sweet potato plants soon, which is a huge job, but fortunately it only has to be done once. So in this way, fall is a steady winding down of temperatures, and of work, and of daylight, until everything is covered in snow and we hibernate next to the fire. But for now, there is plenty of work to be done and a lot of great veggies to enjoy.
What to Expect in This Week's Share
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| This Romaine lettuce growing in the field reminds me of lovely green roses. |
- Choice between potatoes and carrots
- Choice between cherry tomatoes and Brussels sprouts
- Choice between snap beans and tomatoes
- Choice between cabbage and beets
- Choice between salad mix and large leaf salad mix
- Choice between kale, cooking greens, and frisee
- Choice between baby fennel, onion, and kohlrabi
A Gathering of Early Fall Recipes
When you eat seasonally and most of your diet revolves around what is coming out of the fields and orchards at the moment, these transitional weeks between summer and fall can be particularly exciting! We still have several traditional summer foods, such as tomatoes and snap beans, along with the addition of many fall foods like Brussels sprouts, potatoes, and carrots. So whether the weather is rainy and chilly and you're feeling like comfort food, or it is nice and you're thinking of salads, here are several recipes that are perfect for these transitional days.
Jamie's Minestrone: This is one of my go-to recipes for this time of year! When the weather gets chilly, I always want soup, and this one has lots of veggie goodness in it. It calls for spinach, which we don't have yet, but you could use kale or cooking greens instead. Also, you can substitute kohlrabi for the celery in the recipe. It tastes even better the next day, and freezes well too.
Fried Cabbage with Bacon, Onion, and Garlic: Fred often makes a side dish that is pretty much exactly like this, and it is awesome! Comfort food at its finest, this veggie-heavy dish gets all of its comfortiness from our very favorite non-veggie, bacon!
Grilled Chicken Salad with Tomatoes, Avocado, and Parmesan: This is a Fred special. The picture is not that great, but the salad is awesome! (As are the blistered yellow beans tossed in soy sauce, and the pear bread accompanying it, I might add.) To make this salad, take some frozen chicken breasts and grill them while still frozen, about five minutes. When they are done grilling, finish them in olive oil in a covered pan over medium heat. Put salad mix or roughly chopped romaine (or a mix of both) on a plate, cover it with slices of tomatoes and avocados, then cover that with shaved Parmesan cheese (don't use the powdered stuff! That is not the same at all!), and then cover that with the grilled chicken. Make a simple dressing with two parts each of olive oil and premade Italian dressing, one part honey for sweetness, and some of the shaved Parmesan. Drizzle the dressing over the whole salad, and devour at whatever speed you deem appropriate. :-)
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