Week 13; September 26, 2013
What's in the box?
Full Share
Potatoes
Mustard / Asian Greens
Cauliflower
Eggplant
Daikon Radish
Tomatoes
Broccoli
Sweet Peppers
Thyme
Winter Squash - Delicata, Black Futsu, Thelma Sanders
Single Share
same as above, but lesser quantities and no Cauliflower. Maybe different combinations of Winter Squash
Notes on the box...
The Winter Squash this week features Delicata (also some Sweet Dumpling). Delicata and Sweet Dumpling are both pale yellow with dark green stripes. Black Futsu is a big favorite for us. An heirloom variety that looks kind of orange and warty and makes a really nice fall decoration, but tastes too good to just look at! And Thelma Sanders, also an heirloom, is the larger pale yellow smooth and deeply ribbed squash. The skins on all of the squash this week are edible. We highly suggest cooking them as described in last weeks blog. Store Winter Squash at room temperature. They keep for several weeks, often for months!
Remove the tops from the Daikon Radish to make them last longer. You can cook the tops of the radishes with mustard and Asian greens. Daikon are a nice mild radish. They are a fantastic addition to kimchi and other ferments or pickles.
Remember: DO NOT keep your tomatoes in the fridge! They will get mealy and the flavor will suffer. Store them on your counter with the stem end down (on their shoulders). Use the more ripe ones first. They are winding down, but if you find yourself with more tomatoes than you can eat in a week, you can put some in the fridge if you plan on cooking them. You can also freeze whole tomatoes (core them first) for use in sauces and soups during the winter. Their skins slip right off as they are heated. They do take up quite a bit of freezer space, though!
Eggplant will keep longest if you are able to keep the moisture up, so in your crisper and in a plastic bag will make it last longer. This classic variety is from our friends down the road at Sleepy Root. They had given quite a lot of eggplant and thought their members might be tired of it, so they invited us to come harvest some. Thanks, guys! It's common practice to slice eggplant, salt it, allow it to drain, and then rinse it before cooking in an attempt to tenderise and remove any bitterness. You can also it in milk for at least 15 minutes to accomplish the same thing.
Recipes...
Pan Fried Eggplant with Honey and Thyme
[yumprint-recipe id='23'][yumprint-recipe id='22']
On the farm...
We have been getting questions about the Winter Share and when we will offer it this season. Our Winter Share is normally a six week add on of storage crops and greens. However, because of the late start this season, we will be delivering our Summer Shares until the end of October. This means that we will need every last vegetable to fill the Summer Shares and we won't be able to offer Winter Shares this season. There is also the small detail that your farmers are expecting TWINS this November and think we will need some time and energy to focus on the additions to our family! We do plan on offering the Winter Share beginning again in 2014.
If you are looking for a Winter Share.... our good friends and mentors at Foxtail Farm offer a really amazing Winter Share. They were one of the very first CSA farms to start to deliver to the Twin Cities and they are stopping their Summer CSA share to focus solely on Winter CSA. We were able to help them pack their Winter CSA boxes one week last season, and it is really quite a deal. We can email you the sign up form if you are interested, or you can contact them directly. Here is their description about it:
--------------------------------------------------------------------- Important Notice To All VeggieLovers!
Foxtail Farm CSA has Winter Shares available for 2013-14!
Foxtail Farm has proudly been providing abundant Summer CSA shares for 15 years. We are now in our 4th season of Winter Shares, November-April
Our farm is located in Osceola, WI and we make home/neighborhood/ workplace deliveries to our local community plus the Twin Cities area.
What do we put in CSA boxes in the middle of a Midwest winter?
Just like with a summer CSA the contents of the boxes are subject to change based on what the weather does, but basically the winter share consists of three parts: 1) Storage crops- Potatoes, beets, carrots, cabbage, garlic, winter squash, sweet potatoes etc. from our root cellar, fresh greens from the field, and fresh cold-tolerant plants from the hoop houses like spinach, kale, and turnips. Also, broccoli and cauliflower if it doesn't freeze solid! 2) Frozen Veggies- When it gets too cold to pull stuff from the field (we hope just Jan thru Mar) we also have greens, peppers, sweet corn, broccoli, and other summer veggies vacuum-packed and frozen to put in the box. 3) Prepared Goods- Finally, we put in quite a bit of value-added goods made here on the farm. Breads and bagels (made from our own whole wheat), soups, granola, humus, pesto, sweet breads made from pumpkins and such, canned tomato sauce, apple sauce, etc. All to keep you nice and warm and healthy this winter!
We make 8 deliveries (once every 3 weeks - November thru April)
The share price is $590.00 In the past, members have been very satisfied and believe the share to be an excellent value and quite delicious. Deliveries begin the first weekend of November! Please let us know if you have any questions or need any more information!
Chris and Paul Burkhouse foxtailcsa@yahoo.com 715-294-1762
--------------------------------------------------------------
We really can't say enough good things about Foxtail Farm and their Winter offering. We encourage you to sign up and enjoy local foods through the Winter!
Now for some pictures!
