Fall Veggies: A Cast of Characters

Farm Update

The Swiss chard is liking the
comfortable environment in
the coldframe.

Hello everyone!  This week we had two frosts, and things survived very well for the most part.  The peppers died back, but that was to be expected and we had already harvested most of the remaining good ones.  All the cool weather crops seemed to get through just fine, except a lot of the lettuces are looking a little worse for wear, but that’s pretty normal around this time in October.  We’re still hoping to have some coldframe lettuce in the last share even after the field lettuce meets its end.   On Friday we harvested some apples up at the orchard! They weren’t the prettiest, but the flavor was outstanding.  Fred ate more apples at the orchard than his digestive system would have preferred, but he insisted that they were hard to resist. The apples are not perfect looking but we have decided to include more of them in the shares this year.  In previous years, we’ve just brought the ones that look nice, but we decided to include some of the uglier pie apples in the share. We find ourselves using a bunch because they are so good.  Also, apples grown without chemicals are harder to find locally. We also covered some of our newly seeded spinach, which will overwinter for an early spring crop.  Some Octobers have been a lot nastier to work in, but we couldn’t complain about the weather this week as it was still pretty warm.  Most things are still growing surprisingly well for this point in the fall!  Don’t be surprised if we add in a few items that aren’t actually on the choice list as we harvest some of the last small amounts of different veggies.

There is still one more pig left if you’re interested in a half or whole pig!  They go to the butcher at the very end of October, and they’ll be ready to pick up in mid-November.  A whole pig usually provides an average of 140 pounds of meat, and a half pig usually renders about 70.  The cost is a straight $6.75 per pound of meat, and we cover all of the butchering costs, so there are no hidden fees.  Just let me know if you’re interested!  Also, if you want to sign up for another season of great veggies, we can put you on the list for next year!  An easy way is to write us a check for a full or partial payment at the drop-off and lock in your spot for the season before the slight price increase after New Year’s.  We are very interested in everyone’s input, feelings, and suggestions for next season.  We will start the planning process/seed purchases/etc. in a month or so, and would love to have your feedback beforehand to help guide that process.  I’ll be sending out an email soon with a few short survey questions that will hopefully help us better tailor the CSA to everyone’s needs for next season. 

What to Expect in Your Share

At the regular drop-off:

Carrots

Sweet Potatoes

Apples or Brussels sprouts

Baby arugula, broccoli leaf, or bok choy

Kale, cabbage, or pie apples

Parsley, green onions, or cilantro

Pick two of green peppers, onions, kohlrabi

For prepacked shares:

Share A:                                    Share B:

Onion                                         Kohlrabi

Green pepper                             Green pepper

Parsley                                       Green onions

Kale                                            Cabbage

Broccoli leaf                              Bok choy

Apples                                       Brussels sprouts

Sweet potatoes                          Sweet potatoes

Carrots                                       Carrots

Fall Veggies: A Cast of Characters

Sweet potatoes as they are being
dug out of the ground.

With two weeks of CSA still to go, we have some great cool season veggies that are really nice! It’s such a relief for us to see growing so nicely after the cool season crops really struggled for most of this hot and dry season.  Here are some of the things to expect in the next couple weeks and how we use them at our house.

Young Leeks:  We love leeks at our house, because they add a rich and mild flavor to whatever dish we are making.  In the fall we love to chop them up and add them to roasted or fried root crop dishes, often adding them closer to the end so they cook but don’t scorch.  Also, one of our favorites is to add them to scrambled eggs or omelets.  The best part to use is the whitish green shaft, but the young leeks are tender enough to use the leaves if finely chopped as well.  Expect some in the final share.

Cabbage:  The cabbage right now is really great because these cool days and nights really help the cabbage to have a sweet and pleasant flavor. Expect the flat head Tendersweet cabbage, a round green savoy, and a few red ones over the next two weeks.  We usually fry up half cabbage and half kale in a pan with rendered bacon at a higher heat while continuously stirring so as not to scorch.  Then turn the burner off and add Parmesan cheese and maybe some Sriracha sauce while still continuously stirring so that the mixture is not watery but still not scorched.

Apples:  I did not know how great apples could taste until we started taking care of some trees on the old McIntosh Orchard up in Mt. Pleasant.  We will have mostly Ida Reds, but also some Yellow Delicious over the next two weeks.  The Ida Reds have a more complex and rich sweet/tart taste that is my favorite type of apple.  While fine for eating raw (especially in salads) they are typically used in cooking and baking because their stronger flavor really comes through nicely.  We usually make fried apples and sometimes cook up apple slices along with sausage from our pigs, Brussels sprouts, and Butternut squash for a rich fall dish.

Broccoli Leaf:  We eat a lot of greens, and broccoli leaf is one of my fall favorites.  The very smooth, tender texture and mild flavor are excellent, and Fred often will make a fried apple and Butternut squash fry with broccoli leaf thrown in at the end.  We also use broccoli leaf like kale in many ways, and my guess is that broccoli leaf is one of the healthiest greens, because usually the darker green leaves of leafy vegetables tend to pack in more nutrition per serving. 

Kale:  There is probably no other vegetable we have more consistently at our house than kale, and our kale fried in bacon is a regular breakfast staple.  The fall is really when kale takes on its best flavor and fall kale usually last much longer in the fridge as well.  At home we usually fry bacon, either our own or the Walsh bacon from Lalonde’s (if you haven’t tried it, you need to!) and then keep the rendered fat at about medium heat, throwing in the chopped kale adding salt and a little brown sugar and stirring the mixture consistently for usually no more than 2 minutes. 

Sweet Potatoes:  So the truth is that Michigan is not a great state in which to grow sweet potatoes, and so far only about 1 out of 3 years do we have a truly profitable crop, but this is one of those years! The sweet potatoes we grow are way better tasting, and we are big sweet potato fans and eat them consistently through the winter. They are healthier than regular potatoes, and we add them to a lot of roasted root vegetable mixes, or mashed and mixed with butter and brown sugar with a piece of Brie, or cubed and fried in butter with a little brown sugar and salt for a hearty winter side dish. Sweet potatoes need not be refrigerated and the best way to store them is to take them out of the bag and leave them somewhere at room temperature.  This year’s variety is called Orleans, and it has really smooth flesh and great flavor.

Carrots:  Fall carrots are by far the best carrots of the season.  Their tenderness and sweetness really come out as they have more ideal soil temperatures and moisture to develop.  At our house we eat plenty raw, but also fry them in olive oil at a medium high heat with salt so that some of the sides of the carrots brown.  This simple dish can be served for breakfast or as a side to any other fall or winter meal, and these carrots will last for a while in the fridge as long as they are kept in the bag.  The variety we grow is an orange Nantes type carrot that is a little smaller than most, but extremely crisp and tender with no hint of stringiness or dry texture. 

Spinach:  The long hot summer delayed our fall spinach, but for the last week of the CSA we will have spinach.  This fall spinach is usually a little stronger in texture and flavor than the spring spinach, and lends itself really well to being lightly cooked in fresh pasta dishes at our house.  Sometimes we also make a fresh salad with apples and chopped spinach with a heavy dressing that is packed with flavor and plenty of nutrients.  We have used several varieties this season and are still experimenting with what we like best.  Next week will be a kind called Emperor.

Arugula:  There are few people who straddle the fence on liking arugula.  People either really like it or really don’t, with a few undecided voters.  We grow arugula very early and very late to avoid flea beetle pressure, which we find hard to control on this crop since we don’t use chemical sprays.  A common dish is a goat cheese, beet, and arugula salad or what I like to do is add it to sandwiches with Brie and salami.  If you have never tried it before you might want to take a leaf at the drop off and see which party you fall into.  We should have arugula for both weeks of the CSA, and our field arugula is usually a little richer and stronger than the arugula you get at the store. 

There are many other things you will see at the drop-offs as well, like potatoes, bok choy, kohlrabi, cilantro, parsley, etc. but we thought we would just highlight a few and let you know a little bit more about the many things we grow.  As the fall weather comes, so come some of the best flavors of veggies for the season. we hope you enjoy them over the next couple weeks!