A blessed 3/10th of an inch of rain fell on our drought-laden farm on Tuesday. When I woke in the dark of the morning before sunrise and was stiring around the house, I saw rain on the window pane. It felt like salvation, like a reprieve from doing something hard for a very long time. It felt a little like a holiday or a snow day or a special sort of a day that makes you want to celebrate and make cookies. But it was, in fact, a harvest day where we had to slip into our slickers and rain coats and head out to harvest lettuce in the rain. It has been more than three weeks since our last 2/10th of an inch of rain has fallen on this farm. The rain this morning was joyous and soft and welcome. Cleaning Carrots in the field
In the peak of the season when the days feel as long as marathons and the heat is as heavy as a wool blanket the season feels like it could go on forever. It’s hard to imagine the death of a season. My mind, still after several years of farming now, has a hard time envisioning the expiry of a field of food. There is something very timeless and fulfilling about being surrounded by so much food. It is difficult to grasp as the days become so much shorter now that soon the ground will freeze, the birds and bugs will be silent and the only smells of the coutryside will be woodsmoke and fresh air and the only colors will be white and brown for when the snow is melted.
This winter when you’re eating your frozen tomatoes from the farm, your dried parsley, and eating up the last of your storage potatoes, know that your farmers will toasting their toes by the fireplace. We’ll be reflecting on what we did well and what we need to improve on. We’ll be dreaming up irrigation systems, post-harvest handling procedures, and more effecient ways to grow our labor-intensive favorites. We’ll be re-charging our batteries while improving our game. We’ll be re-defining just why we’re crazy enough to get up after a restful winter and do it all over again next Spring.
Brussel Sprouts- Yep, at the bottom of your box, those are brussel sprouts still on their stalks. We just hack down the whole thing and leave it to you to snap them off and clean them up. Most people don’t even know that this is how they look when they grow. I’ll have you know, this is just our second year shipping brussel sprouts through our CSA program. They’re heavy-feeders and difficult to grow. We’re very happy to have them to share with you. Please do not take for granted the special-ness of this crop.
Carrots- More of our fabulously sweet and delicious carrots with their tops on. The greens are edible and can be used like parsley. You could also use them in a stock for soup to boil out their nutrition.
Russet Potatoes- These golden beauties are a delicacy. They are low-yielding potatoes with a texture like whipped cream and skin as smooth as a baby’s bottom. They should keep in your pantry for a good month or so in a cool and dark environment.
Peppers- Can you believe that we still have peppers? We’ve been keeping them in the root cellar and are shelling them out for these last couple weeks now. Enjoy the fresh, crispy texture while we still have it. It won’t be long until we’re left with just root veggies for local items.
White Onion- So wonderful caramelized.
This Week’s Bounty
Asian Tempest Garlic- Watch out, it’s spicy!
Leek- At least one leek for everyone. Use a leek like you would use an onion and enjoy their unique onion-y flavor. Potato-leek soup, anyone?
Pie Pumpkin– We chose these small pie pumpkins becuase we didn’t think anything bigger would fit in the box.
Broccoli/Cauliflower/Red Onion- We harvested some gorgeous broccoli and cauliflower this week. Stunning. We were short by almost 90 to give everyone one broc/cauliflower, so we subbed in an extra red onion. It sounds like an unfair substitute, but we do this sort of thing once in a while and we hope it works out in the shuffle. We see more beautiful broccoli and cauliflower coming up for next week.
Radish- Some folks may have received bunches of cherry bell radishes and some folks received the french breakfast radish that is longer in shape with white tips.
Dill Weed- What a fun flavor that we have missed. If you don’t think you can use it all fresh, consider dehydrating the rest for use in the winter.
Spinach- Tender spinach for your italian cooking, eggs, green salads and more. What a nice flavor in the fall. Spinach will keep for about a week in the fridge. Use it up!
Lettuce- A mix of red or green leaf lettuce this week. We feel lucky to still have it considering the numerous frosts we’ve had. We’re hoping for light frosts again this week so we still have for Week 20.
