Fair Share Farm CSA---Week 15

BOK CHOI: These hearty Asian greens love to grow in the fall. They are getting bigger by the day. Enjoy them in a stir-fry or any other way you would use a mustard green. They make a simple dish if sautéed with garlic and garnished with some lemon. They are also great in a stir-fry soup.

ONION: The last of the season, these wonderful alliums are the storage variety and should hold well, though they are good enough to eat right away. A little stronger than the sweet onions of the spring and summer, they are great cooked.

RADISH: Growing a perfect radish is harder than you think, but we may have nailed it this week. These beauties out of the high tunnel are a gorgeous red color with very little heat. Juicy and crunchy they are good in a salad or as a sandwich with cheese or butter.

SALAD TURNIPS: Harvested out of the field, these turnips are a little blemished but packed with flavor. A little peeling may be in order, but then simply slice them up and eat them raw. Or add them to the above mentioned stir-fry soup.Yum!

GARLIC: Garlic returns to the shares. We use it in just about everything we cook. It's earthy flavor captures the essence of the farm.

LETTUCE X 2: The lettuce this week and next is coming from the high tunnel. They need to be picked this week as most of them are peaking. The flavor and nutrition comes from our efforts to constantly increase the high tunnel's fertility, through animal rotations, cover cropping, beneficial insect habitat,  water management, and reduced-tillage.

GREENS CHOICE: The greens abound right now. Choices include sprouting broccoli, kale and chard.

HERB CHOICE: We will be clipping down the rosemary plants in the high tunnel to prep for the coming winter. We hope to give everyone a sprig or two mixed with other herbs. Check the label on the crate for your choices.

This week my sister Jeanne Ruggieri and her husband Alan, as well as a high school chum of mine, Joe, paid the farm a weekend visit. It was a splendid time that included CSA work, winemaking and relaxing. It was a beautiful time on the farm. We are always glad when friends and family come to visit so they can better understand what life on the farm is really like.

As we head into the second month of fall the summer cover crops have given up their spirit. So we mow them down and turn them in so that they can provide nutrition to the land when the growing season begins again in the spring.

And if you have not made your farm shift yet for the year we have 3 Saturdays left for the season. We are appreciative of the work the CSA performs at the farm every year. The benefits are countless, both for us and for you.

Fair Share Farm CSA---Week 14

SPINACH:  The high tunnel ground was exposed to the elements during most of the recent rains. This is a great benefit to the soil, leaching salts from the surface and soaking the ground for a short time. The spinach has benefitted greatly from this and the first leaves of the fall harvest are headed to your shares.

SWEET POTATOES: Cured for over two weeks these beauties are just the thing for an autumn meal. We love them as fries (check our November 2012 blog for a great recipe.)

TOMATOES: Truly the last of the season. Make some salsa with the green tomatoes and bulb fennel for a trip back to the summer. Or try that old favorite fried green tomatoes.

GREEN PEPPERS:  Brooksiders got their fair share of our final pepper harvest last Monday. The rest of you get them this week. Great in fajitas.

BULB FENNEL:  With the crispness of celery and a touch of licorice, bulb fennel is a great addition to a lettuce salad. This November 2010 post give you instructions on cutting one up.

GREENS CHOICE: Sprouting broccoli and Toscano kale will be the main choices on Wednesday, and later in the week chard and curly kale will also be available.

LETTUCE: Only one head this week. The lettuce is in great form right now, tonight our salad was only lettuce and fennel leaves and packed a lot of flavor.

HERB CHOICE: We will see how the herbs handled the cold temps when we harvest tomorrow. Sage will be the main choice, as it compliments the sweet potatoes.

The bulb fennel plants form a beautiful block

FARM REPORT: 

The first fall freeze came this morning.  We awoke to our fields covered in nature’s icing.  These marigolds along with the summer fruits are dead and gone.  

This week’s share will contain the last of  tomatoes and peppers for the year.  Other crops like the kale and sprouting broccoli remain unscathed.  Some got a blanket of cover to help them through the night.  In the high tunnel we replaced the roof and put a cover inside.

In the Share---Week 13

LETTUCE x2: How can you resist a head of lettuce like we are harvesting this week. We have red leaf and summer crisp head.  Lucky for us we planted summer lettuce for a hot October!  Take that global warming!

 

POTATOES: The picture below is of our potatoes at the KC Food Circle dinner at The Reserve on Jefferson in Kearney. Chef Sean mixed Fair Share Farm potatoes, onions and cutting celery with a little vinegar and oil. It was served warm with our spouting broccoli and some Barham beef.  So delicious...

SWEET PEPPERS: The peppers are sprinting towards the finish when frost arrives. Enjoy them while they last.

CABBAGE: First cabbage of the fall. They are quite crisp and ready for fresh eating. We like to cut it into big chunks and cook it with most any other vegetable as if it is stew meat.

TAT SOI: One of the main ingredients in our Green Kimchi. It's nice to eat these vegetables cooked fresh, as well a ferments. While they are mild as spinach mostly, a little mustardy flavor can be kept in check by adding vinegar or citrus juice to a dish.

TOMATOES: What a great tomato year it has been. And still there is more. We like this time of year because things like tomatoes, lettuce, peppers and cabbage are all available at the same time. 

HERBS: It will be a mix this week depending on what trimming happens. You may see cilantro, parsley, cutting celery, dill, chives and/or oregano.

It's always nice when you can be served your veggies by a chef.

FARM REPORT:  

Beautiful fall weather makes this our favorite time of year.  The harvest is coming in, the fields are golden with grain and the sky is blue. Just in time for the native grass seed harvest, the farm gained an outbuilding.  This little guy is not the norm for grain bins these days but perfect for our harvest. Some used parts but with 500 new rivets it was fun to see it appear before our eyes as the professional crew put it up in one day. 

The high tunnel is all planted and growing.  We hope that these greens and roots will be ready for the last two weeks of CSA before Thanksgiving.  Until then we need to thin and weed and keep them watered.  It is too hot right now to contemplate covering the structure yet, but weather this time of year can change quickly.  

Finally we have had some cool mornings for CSA harvests with members of all ages.  After a sweltering season, you can't help but smile when you spend your morning like this.

The chicks are also enjoying their time outside on the farm.  They are so cute.  Their yard looks like a normal free-ranging flock but in miniature.  Come on out to see for yourself while they are still adorable.