The kitchen on the farm this week has been steamy and warm and even a little sloppy. Momma Jane and I have been busy canning tomato sauce with the culled tomatoes from the farm this week. We’re peeling garlic, chopping onions, plucking herbs, cleaning jars and canning our little hearts out. It feels good to have the pantry filling up with jars of sunshine that will sustain us in the year ahead. We even did one small batch of grape jelly from grapes that the neighbors let us pick.
Tomato and pepper production is rapidly coming to an end on the farm. There are temperatures with lows in the 30s later this week. The nights will begin to dip down closer to frost and truly, it could be ‘any day now’ before we get our first frost. Most commonly the first frost comes around the 3rd week of September, but sometimes sooner and sometimes later. The only crops we are in the biggest danger of losing now are tomatoes and peppers, but both of those crops are waning quickly in production. Many of the crops we still have out there are ‘frost tolerant’ which means that a light frost will not hurt them at all, but will in fact make them sweeter turning the starches from the plant into sugars. Once we get frost and cooler weather, many of the fall brassicas and spinach will actually be sweeter.
The days are noticeably shorter now and cooler which slows down the growth of our Fall crops some. We’re watching our fall spinach plantings and waiting for those succulent greens to size up as we can’t wait to start sharing with you fall spinach again! We were very excited to be offering fall lettuce in this week’s box. Greens other than kale, chard and collards can be tricky to come by in the fall. Many of our fall plantings of broccoli, cauliflower, and kohlrabi are looking very good. We can look forward to these and a few other seasonal treats very soon!
We have had a bit of a switch with our workers this fall as some of our crew members have left us to go back to school teaching and/or studying. We’re sad to see our friends go but we wish then success in their next chapter. We have hired on a few new workers who come with fresh enthusiasm and energy to carry us to the finish line with their new pep and energy. There is a core group of us who have been at this hard labor thing since April and our bones and brains are getting a little weary. But those of us who make it through an entire season sure do have good character! Some of us even wake up from a winter slumber coming back and wanting more!
We feel so lucky and blessed to have some sense of normalcy on the farm. Even with the masks, no hugging and social distancing, getting to work out in an open field with the opportunity to interact with other humans LIVE, we enjoy the sensation for a little while that very little has changed in the world. How lucky we are to be surrounded by so much bounty while fostering community and nourishment in all the ways that we know how.
Napa Cabbage- One head of Napa Cabbage per member this week. The heads were a little bigger this week than last week. This cabbage makes a terrific salad. It is very commonly used to make KimChi, a fermented Korean sauerkraut with hot peppers and mixed veggies. Keeps best in a plastic bag in the fridge.
Red Kabocha– Sunshine Squash is the varity name of this squash. It is my personal all-time favorite squash! It has such a thick, creamy, bright orange flesh that makes butternuts fade into the background. Cut your squash in half lengthwise, remove the seeds with a large spoon, and bake in the oven at 350 for about an hour with a little water in the pan to preven it from sticking.
Broccoli or Romanesco- You may have recevied either one broccoli or two small romanesco. The broccoli the heads were beautiful and perfect this week!
Red Potatoes- 2 lbs of gorgeous red potatoes for all this week!
Carrots- 1 pound per member.
Green Curly Kale- One hearty bunch of green curly kale per member. Keeps best in a plastic bag in the fridge.
Tomatoes- 2 lbs tomatoes per member. Tomato production is waning quickly now. Remember to remove your tomatoes from the plastic bag and allow them to continue ripening on your counter laid out. Do not refrigerate tomatoes unless you need to buy yourself some time before you get to using them up!
Thyme- One very aromatic bunch of thyme per member this week. Thyme is wonderful in soups, stews, tea or broth of any kind. If you don’t think you can use it all, you can remove the rubber band and lay your thyme out on a baking sheet and or dehydrator trays and dehydate it. If you use the oven, turn it on the lowest setting and crack the oven door so it doesn’t cook. Store your dried herbs in a mason jar with a tight lid.
Sweet Peppers- Very small givings of peppers this week. We tried to have at least two sweet peppers per member this week. Some of them were smaller or on the green side. We’re feeling the effects of our pepper disease now late in the season when we normally have a lot more peppers to share! Luckliy green peppers are still tasty in salsa, on pizza in relish or any other way you can dream up!
Yellow Onion- One Yellow Onion per member.
Lettuce- Either a green leaf lettuce head or a red leaf lettuce head. Stores best in a plastic bag in the fridge.
MiniSweet Peppers and Cherry Tomatoes– 1/4 pound paper sacks with a very small offering of mini-sweet peppers and a cherry tomato mix.
Next Week’s Best Guess-Potatoes, onion, garlic, kohlrabi?, fennel?, broccoli, lettuce, tomato, chard, winter squash, carrots
Peanut Pasta Napa Cabbage Salad
Caldo Verde-Portugese Kale, Sausage and Potato Soup (I LOVE this Recipe!)
