Well here it is, the last week of our CSA for the 2019 season. It seems to have crept up on us so quickly. These past few weeks have been quite busy, harvesting thousands of lbs of produce to store for our upcoming winter markets, protecting crops that will be in the ground longer, and flipping all our high tunnel beds from summer nightshade crops into winter green crops. We had our final CSA workday today, planting our garlic for the 2020 season. It was truly the best weather we could have asked for and thanks to a hard working group we got it all finished. We are tired and without a day off this week, but we are happy to have accomplished so much. This coming week we will plant our fava beans for this coming spring, our late winter spinach, arugula, sorrel, cress, and claytonia. This time of year we are planting crops for 2-4 months from now and beginning to plan the details for the coming season, from seeds, crop layout, and infrastructural changes. We also begin to discuss any changes we want to make. So although the days are getting shorter and it feels like the time to hibernate, we are actually quite busy getting ready for the future while continuing to harvest and make trips to market. This season has been really great in so many ways and the weather has treated us pretty well. Some crops have thrived and others have failed, mostly due to our lack of management and labor shortage. We feel delighted to have you all supporting our endeavor and we hope you have enjoyed cooking and eating what we grow.
This week’s share includes some of our favorites: cauliflower, parsnips, and either our delicious Aleppo chile flake or cornmeal. Cauliflower is always a treat in our kitchen, simply roasted with some smoked paprika, salt, and olive oil till crispy or made with a simple creamy cheesy sauce and pasta or into a cream soup. There are so many options. We are lucky to have gotten a hard frost this past Friday, as we do not begin harvesting our Parsnips until we get some very cold weather to help sweeten them up. They are great in a gratin, mashed into a puree, or even raw in a salad. We had almost a complete failure with our corn this year, from a lack of management (we were too busy in June to weed or thin and transplant properly) and then an intense drought period in August & September. So we do not have enough for the entire CSA, instead we are offering either our delicious “Aleppo style” chile flake, made from 3 peppers we grow or the cornmeal. Both are specialty product we offer and we hope you enjoy. Check out the recipes below and enjoy the share…..Autumn & Brian
Simplified Cauliflower And Potato Curry “Aloo Gobi”
How To Make Colcannon (Irish Potatoes and Cabbage)