First Days of Winter

From SHF CSA

Finally, the days are starting to get longer again. We're officially on a two week winter break but I wanted to mention that I've posted prices for the 2011/12 shares on the website here. I've also put up our plans for what we're hoping to put in the spring, summer, fall and winter shares and there's additional info on those on the website at here.

Hope you're all having great holidays and we'll see you in the new year.

End of Fall

This is the final week of Fall shares. Pull out your vegetable peelers. Today we harvested all of the remaining carrots in the field (some of them will be held for Thursday) and there's a good bit of surface damage from carrot rust fly. Peel it off and they'll be just fine. In the old days (think, a few years ago) I wouldn't have given carrots like this out, but really they're fine to eat and I'd rather have someone eat the good parts than toss them in the compost pile immediately. We also harvested collards (Thursday will be getting kale, I think), and we thinned the winter turnips. The winter turnips are a variety called Gold Ball and they are more of a traditional turnip, better for cooking than the Hakurei, not so good for fresh eating. We also cut the greens off and put those in the shares. Usually we'd just leave the greens on but it was easier to fit them in the bags, and they two will actually keep better separated, so we separated them. Turnip greens can be steamed or sauteed and they have a little bite, kind of like mustard greens.

A Little Wet

The weather is noticeably wet, but it didn't really have much effect on the harvest today. Kji pulled leeks and salsify while I scrounged all the random chicories I could. Different shares have different chicories. The photo above shows a share with escarole and frisse hearts, and small radicchio and castlefranco heads.

While the harvest was relatively smooth today, our transportation to and from the farm was a bit trickier than usual. My car was broken into while I was away, leaving the steering column damaged and so I called Kji for a ride. Kji called me back after his car wouldn't start in the morning, which left us borrowing a car from the very generous Tricia. Unfortunately this also means that Kji is stuck doing all of the deliveries tonight. With a little luck we'll have at least one of our vehicles running by Monday.

Chilly Mornings

Hello,
Kji here, giving the update of this weeks share while Josh is spreading words of wisdom over on the East coast. Oh, how I do miss the guy. Venturing out in the crisp morning air to put your hands in the damp, frigid soil is so much easier when you have someone to share it with. Nothing like a little fall farming camaraderie.

So, in Josh's absence I ventured into the greenhouse instead. We decided to sow some hardy greens in hopes of having a late winter harvest. Arugula, mizuna, mibuna, and green frill to name a few. In just a few short weeks we will be gaining daylight back, which means these little seedlings should be ready to harvest by late winter.

Okay, Okay, enough about that. I'm sure you all want to know what we are harvesting now. The highlight of this weeks share is the salsify. Don't be fooled, it is not a parsnip, although you may choose to prepare it in much of the same way. This hardy root crop of the aster family, is also known as "oyster root" for it's oyster like flavor. Although if you don't like oysters, don't be put off by this description. Remeber, these delicous roots don't actually come from the sea.
I have enjoyed them roasted with other roots in the oven or pan fried alongside potatoes. You may notice a discoloration accompaning a sap when you cut into them. No need to fret. This is normal and will disipate when cooked.

Along with the salsify I harvested leeks and a wide variety of chicories, from which you will get one or two. Due to the insesent vole pressure we have been experiencing I had to glean from varies beds. Think of it as a bit of a surprise bag. This exercise will go along well with the fact that I don't have a picture of the share this week. Don't worry, Josh will be back for Thursday harvest.

Cheers,
Kji