Weekly Share November 5th – 11th

Fennel
German White Garlic
Arugula or Lettuce Head
Purple Top, Golden, & Scarlett Queen Turnips
Sucrine Squash or Seminole Pumpkin
Broccoli Raab or Tuscan Kale

 

This is the second to the last share of the CSA season and marks the slowing down of our season. Our full season intern Izze and our part-time helpers Kendal and Chelsea end their season with us in two weeks, so our work load changes drastically once they are all gone. We continue going to market twice a week up until Thanksgiving and then in December we transition to once per week until Christmas. Normally this mirrors the slowing down of crop growth and lets us continue picking from our Fall crops without over harvesting. Although this year with the extreme weather, many of our Fall crops seemed to wear out really early on. We are seeing a bit of a jump in growth though, probably with the warm nights over the past week. When the weather is temperate like it has been this past week, Fall is the most beautiful time of year to work outside. We love the crisp cool mornings, it encourages working quickly to warm up and since we have less hours each day to work we need to work with more pace. The leaves are changing and the vibrant color keeps the scenery very enticing. Everyone and thing on the farm seems to enjoy the fall. These last two full weeks with our regular help means we have a long list of goals to accomplish; from large bulk harvests of root veggies going into cold storage, to fence repair and cleanup, to duck processing, to processing our value added products such as cornmeal and chile flake. At this point most of our summer crops have been cleaned up and mowed. We have almost completely transitioned all out covered spaces to winter direct seeded crops, and are going to seed our last outside crop this week, Fava beans. We grow them under a low tunnel structure over the winter and uncover them in March. So things are getting wrapped up for 2019.
Today we had our final CSA work share day, which is always our annual garlic planting. It went perfectly with 12 of us working together. Most of the work share people had planted garlic 2 or more times with us, so we were able to get the heads separated and the beds raked, dibbled, and planted like a well oiled machine. We planted around 7000 garlic cloves today and will get it mulched with straw later this week, so they are tucked in and cozy for the winter. So as our season winds down, we look forward to 2019. Perhaps it will be a mild mannered year, perhaps.
This week’s share includes a larger amount of garlic, as it is last for the season, and winter squash. Our planting of squash this year was ravaged by a persistent and very hungry groundhog. It took out 70% of the planting, so we had a small yield with only 2 of 6 varieties surviving. We have links to a recipe for each variety. The Sucrine is definitely savory, with more texture; while the Seminole is going to have a silkier and sweeter flesh. In addition you have some bitter and spicy treats this week including arugula, broccoli raab, and turnips. Enjoy the share…..Autumn and Brian
What is Broccoli Rabe? (And How Should You Cook It?)
Sausage, Fennel, and Broccoli Rabe Sheet Pan Dinner (Use Spigariello or Kale as a substitute)
Kale Tarts With Fennel And Olives
Fennel and Turnips a la Francias
Seminole Pumpkin
Berrichon Squash Pastry Adapted from ”The Compleat Squash” by Amy Goldman (Artisan) 
Flour, for board
2 frozen puff pastry sheets, thawed
3 cups minced raw winter squash, preferably Sucrine du Berry, turban or butternut
1 small onion, minced
1/2 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley leaves
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 egg, beaten
1/2 cup crème fraiche optional.
1. Heat oven to 400 degrees. Lightly flour a work surface. Divide each pastry sheet in half, and place 2 half-sheets on floured board. Mound squash on each, leaving a 1/2-inch border. Top with onion and parsley. Season with salt and pepper.
2. Use rolling pin to flatten and enlarge remaining half-sheets slightly. Place over filling, and seal by brushing with water and pressing together. Cut three slits in each pasty and brush with egg.
3. Transfer to a baking sheet, and bake until golden, about 30 minutes. Serve warm in slices, with crème fraiche if desired.
Yield: 4 to 8 servings.
This entry was posted in weekly share. Bookmark the permalink.