CSA Fall Share week 2: Blooms before the frost 

At long last, our dahlia plants produced flowers. They almost didn’t make it, but we built a makeshift hoop house to protect them from the frost. We’ll see how many flowers they deliver before the cold becomes too much for them.

In their shares this week, members will receive the following vegetables: Yellow onions, winter squash, green top carrots, kale, cilantro, green cabbage, paste tomatoes, slicing tomatoes, beets, gold potatoes and green peppers.

This newsletter includes a roundup of news from the farm as well as information and recipes. Feel free to jump to the bottom of the newsletter to find the section titled, “This week’s veggies and recipes.”

A view of the fields as the cold nighttime temperatures begin to take their toll on more sensitive plants.

News from the farm

Ask a farmer how they’re doing, and you’ll need to be prepared for a long answer.  Farmers have a lot to talk about, and sometimes, to complain about.  We picked up some straw bales this weekend from another farmer in Wrenshall, and we all lamented that although this rain was great after a horrible summer drought, this current rain was kind of a nuisance.  Making fields squishy when you need to get in with heavy equipment, harvesting, tilling and prepping for next summer.  I guess you can never make a farmer happy.

With the forecast of multiple cold nights ahead, we spent much of Friday building small, hooped tunnels over some of the remaining cold-tender annual flowers.  It may seem like a futile endeavor, but the dahlias were finally making an appearance and with that chance, we could actually make a final push for flower sales both for the CSA and the last farmstand.  We’ll see if our efforts pay off.  

Whatever stories we told ourselves last week of a final summer push of warm weather has faded to a new reality: fall is here and it’s cold.  We’re already dreaming of ratatouille and soups and baked bread.  Heather-Marie made the kale and winter squash salad (see recipe below) this week marking the first winter squash that we’ve eaten this season.  Over the weekend, John blanched the last of the paste field tomatoes and put them in quart freezer bags for winter cooking.  He also sliced about eight pounds of hot peppers that we then jarred and topped with a brine to make really delicious sweet/hot peppers. 

 We always joke that if there’s an apocalypse, we’ll survive on condiments.  

All jokes aside, nobody has time to put up food and it feels like a daunting task but, if you can just put a few things in the freezer, it makes a difference.  We try to put up certain things each summer, and we thank ourselves every winter.  Dilly beans, pickled beets, frozen peppers for soups, frozen berries for smoothies don’t sound like much but they help us get through the winter and have us dreaming of the “real” thing come summer.    

Save the date! Farm Stand Fall Celebration

Join us on Friday, October 13, 3 to 6 p.m. for our last Farm Stand of the Season:

  • Pumpkins, winter squash, garlic, onions, carrots and other late-season favorites
  • Hot cider and treats
  • Hayrides!
  • A festive fall photo booth!
  • Fall flowers and decorative fall stuff.

Images from the week

Our neighbor Ed built a device that allows him to lift the arches of our high tunnel up and into place.
Using our walk behind tractor, we mowed down the cover crop where we’ll plant garlic in the next couple of weeks.
With a hard freeze in the forecast, we built two makeshift hoophouses to protect flowers from the cold.
John reclines under a red maple we named Lucille Ball in the back corner of our property.
We said goodbye to our friend Lauren, who stayed in our tinyhouse and helped us with projects around the farm. A forester, she’s on to exciting new adventures in her career. We’ll miss her.

This week’s veggies and recipes

A look at the winter squashes members will receive in their shares this week. Members will receive either a sunshine or kuri squash (both are kabocha squashes), and either a buttercup or acorn squash.

Kale, cilantro

Give kale a chance!  There’s a love/hate relationship with kale.  Heather-Marie didn’t always love it but that wasn’t until she really tried different recipes that her mind was changed.  It’s so versatile and can be used for anything from soup to egg bake to chips.  As farmers, we love it because it grows so well and all season long.  These plants have been in the ground since MAY and are harvested weekly!   

Kale Salad with Butternut Squash, Chickpeas and Tahini Dressing

foodiecrush.com

Oh man, do we love this salad!  And the tahini dressing is good for so many other things.  The recipe calls for butternut but we’ve used any and all winter squash for this salad.

For the Salad

  • 1 bunch of kale
  • ½ cup chopped cilantro plus more for garnish
  • 2 cups large diced butternut squash
  • 1 15 ounce can chickpeas garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed
  • 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 tablespoon curry powder
  • pinch of cayenne pepper
  • Kosher salt
  • ½  cup candied pecans

For the Dressing

  • 2 tablespoons tahini
  • ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 tablespoon white wine vinegar, or apple cider vinegar
  • 1 teaspoon honey
  • ½  teaspoon kosher salt

Instructions

1. Prepare the kale by cutting out the tough ribs of the kale and discard. Thinly slice the kale into ribbons and add to a large bowl. Add the chopped cilantro and toss to combine.

2. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Add the diced butternut squash and rinsed chickpeas to a baking sheet lined with foil. Drizzle with the extra virgin olive oil, curry powder and cayenne. Mix with your hands until the squash and chickpeas are well coated. Sprinkle with kosher salt and bake for 15-20 minutes or until squash is tender and chickpeas are lightly browned.

3. Meanwhile add the dressing ingredients to a small mason jar. Shake to mix and taste for more seasoning if desired.

4. Transfer the butternut squash and chickpeas to the bowl of kale. Add the candied pecans and drizzle with the tahini dressing. Toss to coat. Allow to rest for 10 to 30 minutes before serving so kale softens and flavors meld.

Kale, green cabbage

Baked Kale Salad with Crispy Quinoa From the website Julie’s Snacks

Heather-Marie made this over the winter with some of our red onion, cabbage and herbs. 

  • 12 stalks lacinato and/or “curly” kale
  • 1 small head of green cabbage
  • 3/4 cup uncooked quinoa
  • 1 small red onion
  • 2 sage sprigs
  • 1 rosemary sprig
  • 1/4 cup honey
  • 2 tbsp water
  • 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
  • 2 tbsp chili oil of choice (Calabrian chili oil, Brightland’s chili oil or Momofuku chili crunch)
  • Olive oil as needed
  • Salt & pepper to taste

Preheat the oven to 450°F. Cook your quinoa per package instructions, or in a rice cooker with a 2:1 ratio of water to quinoa.

Remove the core from the cabbage, then thinly slice the cabbage and kale. Spread them out evenly on separate baking sheets, one for cabbage, one for the kale.

Drizzle both the kale and cabbage with avocado oil and season with salt and pepper. Roast the cabbage at 450F for 20-23 minutes or until golden and slightly crisp. For the last 5-7 minutes of baking, add in the kale to bake. (Be sure not to over bake the kale into “kale chips”).  Remove both vegetables from the oven and turn the oven down to 375°F.

Add the quinoa to a baking sheet and cover with chili oil. Season with salt to taste and toss. Roast this for 20 minutes, stirring halfway through until the quinoa is slightly golden and lightly crisp.

While the quinoa is baking, make the agrodolce dressing. Thinly slice the red onion and place it in a bowl. Whisk together the honey and water. Put a pan or small pot on medium heat and add a small splash of oil. Add in the sage leaves and the rosemary sprig. Pour in the honey mixture, it should fizz slightly, and stir until it thickens slightly, about 1 minute. Add a pinch of salt and the vinegar. Stir again and let the mixture simmer slightly for 1-2 minutes. Remove the sage and rosemary and pour this over the red onion. Stir to combine.

Toss together the kale, cabbage and red onion agrodolce. Pile this generously into a bowl.

When the quinoa is out of the oven, sprinkle it liberally on top of the salad and serve warm!

Beets, carrots

Roasted Beet and Carrot Salad From the website Paleomg

Heather-Marie made this salad over the weekend and we really loved the dressing.  Roasting any veggie is amazing!

  • 2 bundles of golden beets or mix of red and gold beets, can be peeled
  • 1 bundles of tricolor carrots, peeled and chopped
  • 2 tablespoon high heat avocado oil
  • salt, to taste
  • garlic powder, to taste

For the vinaigrette:

  • juice of 2 lemons
  • ¼ c extra virgin olive oil
  • 2 T honey
  • 1 T fresh thyme leaves, roughly chopped
  • 1 garlic clove, minced
  • 1 tsp dijon mustard
  • pinch of salt

For the candied nuts:

  • ¼ c sliced almonds
  • ¼ c roughly chopped walnuts
  • 3 T maple or coconut sugar
  • ⅛ tsp cayenne pepper
  • pinch of salt
  • 4 c arugula
  • 1 T hemp hearts

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Toss beets and carrots in avocado oil and sprinkle with salt and garlic powder on top. Place in the oven to bake for 30-35 minutes, or until veggies are golden brown and tender.

While the veggies bake, place all ingredients for the vinaigrette in a jar and shake well until combined. Set aside.

Place a medium pan over medium heat. Add almonds and walnuts to the pan and cook for about 6 minutes until they begin to become golden and fragrant. Add the sugar, cayenne pepper and salt. Use a spatula to toss the nuts in the sugar mixture until the sugar melts and coats the nuts. Remove from heat once melted, about 2 minutes.

Add arugula, roasted beets and carrots and candied nuts to a large bowl and toss in the vinaigrette.  Top with the hemp hearts.

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