This last week we harvested all of our sweet potatoes for the season. Sweet potatoes are a very interesting crop that is planted with a little ‘slip” which is a small piece of root attached to skimpy little stem with a whithered little leaf that arrives in bundles by mail in the Spring. Our goal is always to plat them on or before June 1st to ensure a long enough growing season that we can still get a nice crop. The last couple years our shipments have arrived late and we haven’t been able to get them planted until the end of the first or second week of June. This year they went in on June 15th which is a full two weeks later than when we hoped to have the planted.
The sweet potatoes are planted into plastic mulch because it helps a lot with the weed pressure and since they are a crop that grows for almost four months on the farm and needs to be weeded three times, it can be tricky to keep them out of the weeds. We did a good job of keeping them out of the weeds and met their watering needs. We then stepped back and hoped for a decent harvest.
We were pleasantly surprised by the harvest this year considering how late they went in. The tubers in the higher ground that is more well-drained soil sized up a little nicer and the tubers in the lower ground that we called a ‘wash out zone” from heavy rains were smaller. Over all we thought the harvest was fair. Our heavy clay and rocky soils aren’t what sweet potatoes prefer coming from their native lands in the south where they have sandier and more well-drained soils. They tolerate our farm just fine, but I don’t think we’ll be going into business as large scale sweet potato growers any time soon;)
Another interesting fact about sweet potatoes is that they need to be ‘cured’ for 1-2 weeks before they are eaten where their skins tuffen up a little and their starches turn to sugars. These tubers could have used a little longer to cure, but we wanted to give them in this week’s box. The curing process is 1-2 weeks long in an 80 degree room with very high humidity. We have the perfect little room attached to our packing shed where we stack the bins as high as we can lift and then keep them cozy and moist for the curing process, again mimicking a southern climate for curing.
Sweet potatoes prefer a warm, dry storage which is then a little difficult for us to find here on the farm in the fall. We have our packing shed which cools to around 52 degrees and then our walk in cooler at 33. We will be sharing all of our sweet potatoes in the last two summer share deliveries and then in our Fall and Thanksgiving Share deliveries which will use up our harvest for this year. We are not equipped to store them for longer than this time period unless we start running heaters for them which is not economical.
In the weeks to come we will focus on digging the carrots, beets, parsnips, leeks, Brussels sprouts and fall radishes. We will be planting garlic, mulching garlic and doing filed clean up. A festive fall feel carries us through.
Sooo….What’s in the Box????
Brussels Sprouts- We had a very good Brussels sprout year. We left the work of snapping the sprouts off of the stalk up to you. Once they are snapped off of the stalk they should keep in a plastic bag in your fridge for up to a couple weeks. Peel off any unsightly layers before you cook them up and enjoy their lovely flavor.
Green Cabbage- We had a nice planting of fall cabbages we wanted to share with you before the season is over. While this is not a storage variety, it will keep for a good month or so.
Sweet Potatoes- 2.5 lbs sweet potatoes per member this week. Did you know the skins of sweet potatoes are edible. You can even cut these into pieces and pan fry them in coconut oil. They also make delicious sweet potato fries either baked or fried. If allowed to sit on your counter for another week or two, they may become sweeter if you can resist eating them. Do no refrigerate sweet potatoes.
Leek- One nice leek for your fall soups. They also make a nice crunchy garnish to a soup if pan fried in coconut oil and sprinkled as ‘crispies’ on top of a soup. Leeks can be used like an onion with their own unique flavor.
Butternut Squash– Does not like refrigeration. Butternuts are the gem of the winter squash family. They are so versatile they can be used in place of pumpkin in any fall
‘pumpkin’ recipe. Did you know that pumpkin pie filling in the stores is actually butternuts squash? Yep! It’s so creamy and smooth and sweet!
Broccoli- 1-2 Broccoli per member. We are so thrilled to have such nice Fall Broccoli. We had our summer broccoli plantings fail on us. Stores best in a plastic bag in the fridge.
Cauliflower– 1-2 nice cauliflower per member. We are also having a very nice cauliflower crop this fall. Very happy to share it with you!
Peppers– About 4-8 peppers per member this week depending on size and space in he box. We went ahead and started picking them greener this week knowing that frost could really surprise us any day now. We’re always thrilled when we can continue to give peppers all the way to the end of the season because frost holds off. We picked anything with any kind of color this week. Peppers will continue to turn colors slowly off the vine if held at 50 degree storage which is difficult to achieve at home. We suggest using them up as is. We only grow colored peppers, but you can always pick them before they turn colors at the end of the season like this.
Fennel- One fennel per member. These guys are little on the smaller side. Fennel will caramelize up nicely like onions and loose much of it’s licorice flavor once cooked. It it lovely raw on salads if shaved very thinly. The frawns can be used for garnish.
Jalapeno Pepper– They’re hot!
Hungarian Hot Wax Pepper– They’re not as hot, but can surprise you!
Kohlrabi- These guys were pretty small due to lack of rain this Fall. It has been quite dry on the farm. They may have sized up better with a little more moisture. We decided to give them this week as we are running out of time to share some of our fall plantings with you!
Next Week’s Best Guess- Brussels sprouts, sweet potatoes, pie pumpkins, napa cabbage, spinach, broccoli, cauliflower, peppers, leek, mini sweet peppers
Sweet Potato Pancakes-Gluten Free!
Broccoli Cranberry Salad with Walnuts and Bacon
Caramelized Fennel Paccheri with Sausage and Pistachios
