On the final week of Summer Share deliveries I feel gratitude running thick in my blood. I feel thankful for a bountiful harvest that the good earth has offered us even through a challenging growing season of drought. I feel thankful for my health and the health of my small family. I feel thankful for the four seasons that include a season of rest that is before us. And I feel thankful for you, the CSA member, who finds value in purchasing fresh, local, organic vegetables from a small family farm.
There is a small gap between the farmers and the eaters even in the CSA model. This summer I have felt the gap more than ever through the absence of on-farm events, potlucks and dinners sharing food with you. I do everything I can through these simple newsletters to try and bridge the gap between the farmers and the eaters. The newsletters are designed to create transparency that our CSA members feel like the farm is truly their farm. My hope is that when the sun is shining or the rain is pouring or the wind is blowing, you’re thinking about how it is impacting your local farm and food. The newsletters are a tiny window into a world that you belong to, one that feeds you and nourishes not only your need for calories and fuel, but a deeper need to feel connected to a place where your food is grown.
We are a real, live family with faces and names and stories. We are working hard to steward a small piece of this earth and treating it with respect and care and tenderness. We are cultivating, not only vegetables, but community. We are writing a story here with your names and families interwoven. Without your interest in your own health, the health of our local economy, and the health of your local community, none of this would be possible. Adam and I and the crews of people who work and pass through this farm are only pieces in the puzzle. I cannot emphasize enough how important YOU are to the success of our farm. And for this I am eternally thankful.
In an election year where I feel so powerless and confused and frustrated in the macro way of approaching change, I find hope and encouragement in another way of voting on the micro way of voting for change. I vote with my words and my actions and my small stash of dollars. I vote for local food systems by working tirelessly within them. I vote for kindness and patience and generosity by modeling these virtues in my daily practice. I vote for peace through my words of kindness and in the absence of words altogether at times. I will spend my hard earned dollars at businesses that are treating their communities and the earth with this same degree of respect and reverence.
I believe that we are voting with our knives and cutting boards too. We are voting for more than the local food system. I believe that the home-cooked meal restores and heals more than the land or the economy. When we warm our homes and kitchens with the sounds, smells and flavors of cooking, we are nourishing a home. Homes are where real change happens. The inherent slowness of a home-cooked meal implies that we are in our homes, we are spending time with our families, we are creating a warm, inviting and nourishing place where people want to be. Nothing on earth is more sacred and beautiful to me than food shared among friends and family and community. So thank you, from the deepest part of me, for your vote. I am so honored to participate in something much larger than this little farm with you. Chop on!
Sweet Potatoes- This was not our best sweet potato year. We got our ‘seed’ or sweet potato slips very late this year from our supplier due to weather in the south and suppliers being short handed due to COVID, so they were planted later this year than the should have been. The harvest was very modest and many of the tubers were on the smaller side. We tried to give everyone some of the bigger potatoes this week. We do not wash them to avoid scuffing them up during washing. Endless delicious sweet potato recipes.
Celeariac Root-These are the gnarly looking roots in your box. Celeriac root is specailly cultivated so that the root of the celery plant grows large rather than the stalks. These were one of the first plants we seeded in the greenhouse in the spring and one of the last to harvest in the Fall. They are white and dense on the inside like a potato without all of the starch and carbs. They are fantastic keepers and will keep for months in the fridge. Peel them with a pearing knife, cube them up small and add them to any soup. They can also be shredded into slaws, boiled and mashed with potatoes, or even make a celeirac potato hash browns! Enjoy this very unique and old-time vegetable.
Parsnips– 1 pound of parsnips per member this week. I love the smell and look of freshly harvested parsnips. Parsnips will keep for months in a plastic bag in the fridge, but they sure are fun to eat when they’re fresh like this! Enjoy them in soups, gratins, fried or even sub them for carrots in carrot cake! Parsnips are in the same family of carrots, not not as commonly eaten raw.
Leek- These are the longer green-onion looking plant in the box. Leeks are in the onion family but are commonly found in the Fall. You can eat every part of this plant, so have fun exploring how you like to eat it. They’re also lovely just cooked in coconut oil and fried and then sprinkled on top of soups. Potato leek soup?!
Brussels Sprouts- We’re very pleased with the brussels sprouts harvest this season with very little decay on the sprouts themselves. We think the dry weather this summer led to very nice looking sprouts at harvest. Brussels are prone to getting little black spots that appear on outer layer of the sprouts in a wet growing season, but not this year! We harvested some of the bigger stalks this week. Snap the sprouts off of the stalk and store in a plastic bag in your fridge for storage.
Carrots- These are the last of the summer carrots. We have been busy digging our fall carrots this last week. Carrots will keep nicely in a plastic bag in the fridge and I bet you don’t need much help figuring out how to use these up!
Green Curly Kale- Cute little bunches of kale to add to your fall soups, salads or snacks. These kale leaves have sweetened up from the frost so we find them to be much sweeter than summer kale!
Spinach- .55 lbs per member. These spinach leaves are also sweeter from the frosts. We love wilted spinach salad for a treat. Spinach is wonderful with pasta, raw in salads, with eggs, fritattas, and really just about anywhere!
Pie Pumpkin- Yes, these are the cute little squash at the bottom of your box. They’re not jack-o-lanterns, but pie pumpkins! You can cut these in half, remove the seeds and bake them like any other squash until they are soft. Each pie pumpkin yields around 1-2 cups of squash for making pumpkin bars, pumpkin pie, or pumpkin anything you like this time of year! Have fun with it!
Cherry Bell Radish- These are a fun item to find in a fall box. Cherry bell radishes are commonly found in spring boxes, but we seeded these late summer as an extra little treat for fall boxes.
Broccoli and Cauliflower- 3 pieces per member. You may have received either two broccoli and a cauliflower or two cauliflower and a broccoli. Such a lovely fall item to cook with!
Wilted Spinach Salad with Chopped Radishes and Shallots
