Final 2009 Share

I'm a bit late in getting the post up for the last share. I was a bit late delivering as well. This time of year the daylight hours are short and all the mud and slimy leaves seem to take forever to clean before packing can happen. With the freeze there wasn't as much as I would have liked in this share, which was to be a double after last week's delay. It still turned out alright though and I hope everyone has been happy with the season.

Tonight's share includes Rainbow Lacinato kale, which is very sweet from the recent weather. I dug the last of the carrots, both Yellowstones and Napolis, some quite large. I also dug root parsley and leeks. The leeks came in a variety of sizes from medium large down to very small. The small ones are great for roasting whole. The root parsley was all small, and I like it chopped and fried where it gives a sweet parsley flavor. The final item in the share is a small bag of Amish Butter popcorn. Our intention was to give out ears but winds knocked down the plants, and that combined with a cold damp spot, kept the ears from being pretty enough, and plentiful enough to make our plan work. Instead I shelled all of the corn and gave it an initial cleaning so it's ready to pop. If you've never popped corn it's easy and one of my favorite snacks. The Amish Butter is noticeably better than the typical stuff you get in the store, much more flavor. To pop it on the stove top use a small pot with a lid, use enough vegetable oil (like canola, but not olive) to coat the bottom of the pot and then dump in the corn and turn the burner to high. When the first kernels pop start shaking the pan on the burner until the popping slows significantly. Have a bowl ready to dump the corn into and top it with whatever you like, or nothing at all. The amount we gave out is just enough for one serving.

So, that's it for this year. We'll be posting information about next year and keeping the blog up to date with the preparations for 2010 so keep watching. Have a great New Year!