Winter CSA Newsletter Week #6, Dec 3 - 9, 2023 “B” week
I'm calling this painting of mine "Emerald Nile". There's a Blue Nile and a White Nile but no green one, so I decide this could be it!
INewsletter Table of Contents:
This Week’s Shares with Guides & Recipes- VEG, MES, EGG
Recipes- 1. Slow Roasted Chicken with Vegetables, 2. Essential French Onion Soup,
3. Apples, Sauerkraut and Porkchops 4. Crunchy Apple Stir-Fry
Field News & Photos from the Week
VEG SHARES
(see FULL and HALF list for which share has what, how much, along with info, guides, recipes)
FULL SHARE:
HAKUREI SALAD TURNIPS (1 bunch) - These popular white golf-ball or smaller size roots are juicy, sweet and less starchy than an average turnip, best eaten raw or barely cooked but can be used in a variety of ways. Use in salads, sandwiches, stir frys, sautes, scrambled eggs or sauces. To prep: Cut off the green tops (which can be eaten as well). Wash and cut the white roots into wedges or slices. Try: Serve raw with dip in a veggie tray. Or grate and add them to a salad. Turnips are delicious when roasted with other root vegetables (like carrot, potatoes, rutabaga, garlic). Add a turnip or two to your favorite mashed potato recipe. Or add them into soups and stews. To freeze: Blanch for 3 minutes in hot boiling water. Cool in ice water for 3 minutes, drain and pack into freezer containers or freezer bags. Best used within 3-4 weeks but will keep a long time! Guide & Recipes
YELLOW ONION (1 lb) - Store on your counter or in your pantry out of direct sunlight. Onion peels can be put into a freezer bag with other vegetable scraps to make soup stock later, as they are full of antioxidants. To freeze: Cut or slice onions to desired size and place in Ziplock bag. Remove all the air and seal. It helps to freeze them in 2-3 cup increments. These are a good all-around onion, great for cooking and flavoring dishes. By far, they're the most popular onion sold in America and versatile enough for just about anything. Yellow onions are a smart choice for caramelizing, which draws out their natural sweetness.
CARROTS (1 lb roots) - Store the roots dry and unwashed in a plastic bag in the refrigerator for up to 4 weeks. from our farm and from Red Door Family Farm Guide & Recipes
GARLIC (1 bulb) - Ready to be used now or later, this is “cured”, or dried garlic, and as such should be stored on your counter out of direct sunlight.
RUSSET POTATOES- Fully russetted skin with dry, white flesh perfectly suited for classic baked potatoes. from Mythic Farm Guide & Recipes
GOLD RUSH APPLES (1 lb) -Flesh is yellow, firm, and crisp. Flavor has the honeyed sweetness of a Golden Delicious, wedded to a pleasing tartness with a touch of acidity. The tension between these flavors is just right and there are fleeting hints of pear, citrus, and spice to keep things interesting. Plus a little metalic fizz on the tip of the tongue. Sweeten over time. from Two Onion Farm
EOW MEMBERS = BABY GINGER (1/4 lb) - Baby ginger is much milder than mature ginger. Ways to use it: Grate it into stir-fries and soups for a mild, warming spice, blend it into smoothies or homemade popsicles, make a soothing, sweet-spiced tea, perfect for cozy evenings, simmer with sugar to make a ginger syrup, make a zesty salad dressing with minced baby ginger, olive oil, vinegar, and honey, or add it to muffin or cookie batter for a subtle warmth and aroma in your baked goods. More ideas & recipes in the Recipe Section below. Storage: Baby ginger is best stored in the fridge. It will last around 2 week before you should dry it or pop it into the freezer. In the freezer, it will last months, just grate some off for your next recipe. We've had this ginger in the cooler from Central Farm and not certified organic BUT grown without synthetic pesticides or fertilizers
HALF SHARE: (see Full VEG Shares above⬆ for info on each item)
SALAD TURNIPS (1 lb)
YELLOW ONION (1 lb)
RUSSET POTATOES (1 lb)
CARROTS (1 lb)
GARLIC (1 bulb)
GOLD RUSH APPLES (2 LBS)
EOW MEMBERS = BABY GINGER (1/4 lb)
OPTIONAL ITEM: for FULL & HALF Shares
WINTER SQUASH - one of the following Sunshine Kabocha, Autumn Frost, North Georgia Candy Roaster, Long Pie Pumpkin Note -- If the stem is broke off, use the squash sooner than later. Guide & Recipes
AUTUMN FROST WINTER SQUASH - With smooth, fine-grained, tender flesh, and sweet and delicate flavor his squash works well for roasting, purees, pies, bread, muffins and in hearty soups, stews and gratins. It has a reputation for tasting better than butternut squash and stores well with flavor improving over time.
North Georgia CANDY ROASTER Can be roasted, stuffed, or made into pie filling. Usually 18 - 24” and between 8–15 lb. Rind is thinner than butternuts or acorns so easier to peel. The meat is dense but soft and easy to cut through. Texture is creamy, the flavor very good, and the sugar content relatively high even after just one month in storage. Smooth and sweet. Becomes sweeter with time. Substitute in recipes that use winter squash or sweet potato. This squash can be fried, baked, or roasted. Make into a purée and use like you would puréed pumpkin in breads, pies, or pasta dishes. It’s also a delicious addition to soups, stews, or casseroles. Pairs well with flavors like chipotle, chili, cinnamon, nutmeg, and curry.
TETSUKABUTO WINTER SQUASH - A delicious cross between Butternut & Kabocha squashes, this variety was bred in Japan during the middle of last century. The translation of the Japanese name is “iron helmet,” after the famed hardness of its rind. It stores well - up to 6 months! And is fabled to just get better and better over time. Store as you would any other winter squash.
SUNSHINE KABOCHA SQUASH (1) - Smooth, tender flesh that’s sweet, bright orange with a velvety texture that’s excellent for soups, baking, mashing, and pies. Ready to eat now or later. Can be stored for several months.
LONG PIE PUMPKIN - With looks more like an overgrown, orange zucchini than a “normal” pumpkin or winter squash, it’s said to have come to Nantucket from São Jorge Island in the Azores on a whaling ship in the early 1830s. Their cylindrical shape makes long pie pumpkins easy to stack, and some used to stack them on the porch like cordwood! Having fallen into obscurity, it’s made a deserved comeback in popularity in the last 10 years or so. Use like you would any other winter squash however its deep, sweet flavor makes delicious pie hence it’s name.
MES SHARE for Big Sky (unless we made other arrangements)
This week is at LEUCC. (Next week is Wednesday Home Deliveries)
FULL : 1 chicken, 1 ground beef, 2 doz eggs, 1 vanilla, 1 honey
HALF: 1 chicken, 1 ground beef, 1 doz eggs, 1 vanilla, 1 honey
EGG SHARE Weekly Shares = 1 Dozen Biweekly Shares = 1 Dozen
RECIPES:
Click the link to go to a printable pdf of the recipe.
Field News & Photos:
Bill and I were picking up landscape fabrics and sand bags in last season's squash field at the end of last week when I noticed Bill had "disappeared." He wasn't loading the bags into the side by side as he had a few moments before. Where'd he go? That's when I realized he went over to hang out with the grazing hogs in the asparagus field. He later told me he'd been worried they might be rooting up the vegetables roots so walked over to check. His worries were relieved as he squatted among them watching them enjoy the green grasses and seemingly not even thinking about rooting. These Kune Kunes and Idaho Pasture Pigscrosses have slightly turned up snouts which make them much less likely to use them for digging. Plus they really like grass! Both fortunate traits for our farm.
And fortunately for me on that day, Bill's legs got tired of squatting after only a short time, and he joined me again to finish our field clean up task. ;)
Bill's finally realizing a long-held dream of his to use solar to supply our energy needs.
He was able to get a used inverter, charge controller and battery system from another farmer almost a year ago, and now he was able to get a pallet of used solar panels.
They arrived Monday. Bill was very excited and ripped the plastic open as if it were Christmas! He and Aidan immediately tested one of the panels to see how much "juice" they give. His enthusiastic, "YES!" let me know the number was good.
In fact it was higher than guaranteed.
Setting up a rack to supply some of our energy is his next project. If all goes well, we'll be able to use it to save on energy costs and to provide a back up power source for the vegetable cooler and freezers we use to store much of the food in your shares.
Curious Smudge made sure to check out the panels too!
This early morning photo sums up the feeling on the farm right now - quieter, calmer and more relaxed than during the summer. It doesn't mean stuff - like field clean up, working on a solar set-up, and even painting made-up rivers - isn't happening, it just means it's all happening at a different pace.
And that feels right for now.
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