Next Wednesday will be the final Summer Share delivery of the season. We will then take one week off with no delivery and before we deliver our first Fall Share box of the season on Wednesday, October 30th. Fall Shares are an additional share you must Sign Up for if you would like the vegetable boxes to continue coming your way. There is also a Thanksgiving Share box (1 time box) that is delivered on Tuesday, November 26th.
For the superstar, committed, local, organic vegetable lovers, The Fall Share and Thanksgiving Share boxes at the end of the season are delivered in much larger boxes, 1 1/9 bushel boxes, stuffed with larger quantities of storage produce like 5lb bags of carrots, 5lb bags of potatoes, 3lb bags of onions, 3lb bags of sweet potatoes, a variety of winter squashes and other storage gems like beets, storage radishes, Brussels sprouts, cabbage and more! Everything that keeps well either at room temp or in the fridge.
All of these vegetables require so much work and preparation. I must tip my hat to you all! You have made it through a midwestern summer consuming mostly local produce! You have (hopefully) stretched your comfort zone and made better friends with some of the vegetables that you previously struggled with or didn’t know what to do with. You ate ultra-fresh produce picked just hours before it made it your countertop free of bar-codes, stickers, and semi-truck flavors.
You managed to eat seasonally. You ate your asparagus, radishes and lots of tender lettuce this Spring. You ate lots of yummy melons, sweet corn, green beans and tomatoes this summer and now that we’re fully emersed into Fall you’re eating your Brussels sprouts, celeriac root, potatoes, sweet potatoes, and winter squashes. Your truly a locavore if you eat Brussels sprouts off the stalk in the fall! I’m so proud of you!
I’m reading a book called Atomic Habits right now where the author, James Clear, talks about how create new healthy habits or move away from old habits that aren’t serving you well anymore. I love the way he talked about making new habits ‘easy’. Eat just 1 vegetable a day. Or cook just 1 healthy meal at (insert time) in (insert place) to remove ambiguity and hold yourself accountable to do it. Of course my vegetable farmer brain goes right to thinking about how to help people 1) make time for cooking their vegetables and 2) eat their vegetables; even the ones they thought they wouldn’t like or wouldn’t know what to do with.
I also liked how he talked about giving yourself small rewards for doing the new habit you want to create. Like pouring yourself a glass of wine while making dinner. Or getting to listen to your favorite podcast while making dinner. Or getting to sit down and play your favorite word game or video game or crossword puzzle after you have made dinner. For me the reward would simply be getting to eat the delicious home-made dinner. Or getting to eat that delicious cheese I bought at market with my dinner.
Make eating your vegetables so easy you cant avoid it.
He also talked about surrounding yourself with the kinds of people you want to be like. Make your friends foodie-friends. Make friends with people who love to cook. Share recipes. Have friends for dinner and hold yourself accountable for cooking those veggies! My guess is that since you signed up for a CSA farm, you WANT to eat your vegetables. But have you eaten them? I sometimes hear stories about how much food goes to waste when people sign up for a CSA and it breaks my heart! It makes think about how part of my job is to help you get those veggies into your gut.
I’ll leave you with one of Jame’s Clear’s habit tips which is the ‘Law of Least Effort’. Make eating your vegetables so easy you cant avoid it. Buy hummus or sour cream dip to just dip your raw veggies into. Leave them in obvious places where you must look at them, eat them or take the with you. Do not pack them away in your crisper drawers and forget about them. For some of you, eating your veggies is no burden. It is no task at all. You are my hero. Sadly we have become a culture that loves fast, convenient and easy. Preparing nutritious home-made meals can be fast, convenient and easy, but with some vegetables, it might take more intention, preparation and time. For anyone who struggles to eat their veggies, don’t give up!
What’s in the Box?
Tomatoes- 5 lbs per member but we sometimes had to pull one or tomatoes out of a box in order to get them closed during packing this week. Tomato production is gearing down finally. We had our first frost this Sunday night, but somehow the tomatoes and peppers did not get frosted. There was only frost on the low grass. So we’ll keep picking and sharing through week 20 this year! Allow unripe tomatoes to sit on the couter until they are ripe. Do not refrigerate.
Peppers– 2-4 peppers per member depending on space in the box at packing time!
Pumpkins- One pie pumpkin per member this week. These pumpkins can certainly be cooked up! Slice them in half lengthwise, discard (or save) the seeds, and place them in a baking bag face down with a little water and cook for one hour in a 350 degree oven.
Thyme- One bunch of tyme for your fall cooking! If you can’t use it all at once, unbunch and allow to dry or dehyrdate in a warm oven. Once dry cumble the leaves off of the stems and store leaves in a mason jar with an air tight lid.
Brussles Sprouts- Did you know that Brussels Sprouts are spelled with an ‘s’ at the end of the brussel? Yes! One time someone reveiewing our websute sent me an e-mail and told me I had mis-spelled Brussels Sprouts, but alas, I do know my vegetables, they are indeed ‘Brussels Sprouts’ and not ‘Brussel Sprouts’. We left the work of snapping them off of the stalk to you. Snap your sprots off of the stalk and store the sprouts in a plastic bag in the fridge. Do not let them sit out on your counter un-refrigerated.
Sweet Potatoes- 2lbs sweet potatoes per member. Sweet potatoes were just harvested last week and have been curing in an 85 degree room with as close to 100% humidity as we can get. Did you know the skins are edible as well? Our kids love it when we cook the small ones up and they can eat the whole sweet potato, skin and all! Do not refrigerate. Keeps best at room temp.
Leeks- 1 leek per member. Leeks are a nice addition to fall soups. Eat the entire leek from the white part all the way into the green as far as you like.
Celeriac Root- One of my favorite old-time storage veggies. Celeraic has so much flavor, character and unique-ness it has stood the test of time. Remove the greens and celeriac will keep for months in a plastic bag in the fridge. But if you’re ever wondering what to do with it, I love it just diced up and added to chicken noodle soup or mashed with potatoes for Cerleriac Mashed Potatoes.
Broccoli- One head of broccoli per member this week. Keeps best when kept very cold in the fridge. A plastic bag preserves moisture.
Cauliflower- One head of cauliflower per member this week. Keeps best when kept very cold in the fridge. A plastic bag preserves moisture.
Kohlrabi- One kohlrabi per member. Keeps best when kept very cold in the fridge. A plastic bag preserves moisture.
Cherry Tomatoes- We put them in plastic clamshells this week because so many of them were wanting to split we thought they would be better protected in the plastic clamshells. I don’t love using the plastic, but sometimes it’s necessary! We can take them back if you want to send them back to the farm clean.
Next Week’s Best Guess: brussels sprouts, sweet potatoes, rutabaga, tomatoes, peppers, kohlrabi, fennel, parsnips, leek, butternut squash, broccoli or cauliflower, sage.
Celeriac Potato Hashbrowns witih Jalapeno and Cheddar
