Fennel
Arugula or Salad Mix
Milano or Hakurei Turnips
Tomatoes or Sweet Peppers
Spigariello or Russian Kale
Eggplant
Dill
We are halfway through our Fall season, with so many new crops coming on every week. October is always our most diverse month of the year. Our fall root crops like winter radishes, turnips, beets, and carrots are growing substantially right now. We are currently harvesting 9 varieties of bunching greens plus a lot of headed crops such as napa cabbage, savoy cabbage, bok choy, escarole, frisee, and soon our early radicchio varieties. All of this in addition to summer crops such as eggplant, peppers, and tomatoes. With the unusually early coolish nights in the 40’s, okra, basil, and beans have pretty much halted any growth; but sometimes we welcome this shift as its difficult to harvest so many different crops at one time. October marks a shift in our direct seeding and transplanting. Everything is basically planted under cover in our high tunnels or for some cold hardy crops (purple sprouting broccoli, overwintering chicories, or fava beans) we plant outside and later cover with some low tunnels, hoops that cover our 4’ beds that are then covered with a greenhouse plastic. Most of our October planting is for the late Winter and Spring, unless its lettuce, arugula, spinach, hakurei, or radish, these grow a tad bit faster and will be ready for November or December. More or less though our big planting push is over and we are now looking towards keeping weeds in check (it has been so temperate and wet, they have taken off), managing the pest problems (slugs, aphids, and moth worms love temperate weather), and to our large bulk harvesting for storage.
Overall our fall crops look fabulous and are abundant, especially fennel, tender as we could ever imagine, bunching greens, cilantro, dill, and the big radicchio block. Whereas our large fall broccoli stand is completely diseased, likely from a soil deficiency coupled with the incessant rain and many of our arugula successions are stunted, also an effect from so much moisture. As always some crops do well in certain conditions and others struggle, this is the joy of a large diversified crop plan. We have included a lot of recipes for this week’s share. The only crop that may seem unusual is Spigariello, a green that looks very much like broccoli leaf and tastes somewhere between broccoli and kale, but you can enjoy the stalk, mini floret, and leaf. It is great sautéed on its own with garlic and chile flake, or added as a pizza topping, to a egg scramble, or even in a soup. Some will get Spigariello this week and others in a few weeks. Enjoy the share…..Autumn and Brian
Tomato Fennel Salad
Barley Soup with Greens, Fennel, Lemon, and Dill
Sautéed Spigariello Greens
Sauteed Eggplant with Yogurt and Dill
Roasted Red-Pepper Salad with Anchovy White Beans
Pasta With Prosciutto, Turnips And Greens
Caponata with Fennel, Olives, & Raisins (adapted from Epicurious)
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 pounds unpeeled eggplant, cut into 3/4-inch cubes
1 cups coarsely chopped red bell peppers
2/3 cup coarsely chopped fresh fennel bulb (about 1 small)
2 large garlic cloves, chopped
3 tablespoons pitted Kalamata olives, coarsely chopped
3 tablespoons golden raisins
½ cup tomato sauce
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
Heat oil in heavy large pot over medium-high heat. Add eggplant, bell peppers, fennel, and garlic; sauté until eggplant is tender, about 10 minutes. Add olives and raisins, then mix in tomato sauce and vinegar. Cover, reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Uncover and simmer until caponata is thick and vegetables are tender, stirring occasionally, about 15 minutes longer. Mix in parsley. Season caponata to taste with salt and pepper. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover and refrigerate.) Serve at room temperature.
