The Prep for Winter Begins
/
Hello Folks!
With just 5 weeks left in the market CSA season, your farmers are working hard to finish strong and to prep for winter. We picked hard on Friday and Monday in anticipation of a frost....but it didn't come. So, although summer stuff has slowed way down, we will still be enjoying fruits for a bit longer. We are working through roasting our last batch of green chilies for the winter shares and the smell alone is worth the effort. We also did a big storage kohlrabi push...big being the defining adjective there. This season has been punctuated by abnormal maturation times for our vegetable and the kohlrabi fell victim to the trend. We had to take it our early or else we wouldn't be able to fit it into storage!
With that lead up, its time to switch from the tomato challenge to the kohlrabi challenge! It will be at market this week and we need to move enough of it by mid October to make room for other crops. It looks intimidating but stores well, so pick one up for your family and whittle away at it. If 75% of our members pick up one kohlrabi before winter, we should be in good shape. The good news is that these babies are really quite amazing vegetables. They are like a cross between jicama and broccoli and can be eaten raw (my preferred way with a delicious dipping sauce), roasted, slawed, fermented, shaved into fritters and baked or fried, or turned into delicious soup with some good German sausage. Have kids? Try cutting into sticks and then breading and baking, my guess is that it is like a healthy chicken nugget.
Broccoli rabe is back and is one of my favorite fall veggies...mostly because it pairs well with tomatoes and pasta, but it also plays nice with chick peas and eggplant. The first of the winter squash is ready. We will have delecata and acorn at the market this week. Both are great because you don't have to peel them...the skin of the delecatais totally edible and while the acorn is a bit tougher, it makes a nice baking vessel and can be scoop out if need be. I love roasted delecata as a side to any great fall meal, but it is also great for topping cool weather salads of spicy greens and sharp cheeses or on top of a fancy homemade hummus plate with pomegranate and sliced pita. Oh autumn.
I have good news! Your email receipts now show your account balances! Apparently the square folks finally figured out that was helpful knowledge. If youneed to add more money to your account, you can do so via credit card, cash or check at the market. Haven't quite figured out how to do it online yet but maybe next year.
See many of your real soon!
Katie
This Week's Harvest
Kale
Collard
Chard
Arugula
Spicy Mix
Spinach
Broccoli Rabe
Beets
Carrots
Potatoes
Winter Squash
Green Beans
Slicing and Heirloom Tomatoes
Basil
Eggplant
Peppers
Garlic
Broccoli
Kohlrabi
Green, purple and savoy cabbage
Radishes
Fennel
