Fall Share week 1 newsletter: Fall bounty and a few last tastes of summer

In their shares this week, members will receive the following vegetables: Brussels sprouts, leeks, yellow onions, winter squash (delicata and acorn), green top carrots, rutabaga, red and green peppers, arugula, sage, dill, German extra hardy garlic, russet potatoes, eggplant and parsnips.

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.”

News from the farm

Welcome to the first week of the Fall CSA Share for 2023. In a season filled with firsts, this delivery marks another for us. While we have had a one-week Fall Share in the past, this is the first season in which we planned for a three-week Fall CSA season. 

And, we think you’re going to like it. 

In your boxes over the next three weeks, you’re going to find a wonderful mix of late season produce (like sweet peppers and arugula), beautiful brassicas (like Brussels sprouts and green cabbage), but you’re also going to find lots of storage crops (like a pound of garlic, winter squash, onions and two varieties of potatoes). There will also be herbs and other surprises in your boxes.

Late September and October at the farm is an exciting and chaotic time. While we’re wrapping up the harvest season, we’re also doing lots of things to both prepare for winter and to get our fields and soil ready for the spring planting season. 

This year, we’ve really focused on learning more about how to use cover crops to enhance the fertility of our soil. We’ve planted a variety of cover crops that have done amazingly well thanks to our new irrigation system. The plot where we’ll soon plant garlic has a lush cover crop that includes a mixture of plants including field peas that are producing vibrant flowers of red, blue and white. 

On Sunday, CSA members Sarah and Kraig came out to help us with some of those tasks. We pulled up all the irrigation lines from the field and continued to work on our new, 100-foot-long high tunnel that we hope to have in place before the snow flies so that we can get an early start on spring planting next year.

Our task was to assemble 20, massive, galvanized steel arches that will form the roof of the structure, and we worked in teams like pit crews at a NASCAR race. 

We also pulled up all the surface irrigation lines from the field, parading down the beds, holding the line up with the sprinkler posts dangling below us. 

After one of the driest summers on record, the past two weeks have been downright soggy. On Friday night, our rain gauge measured 2 inches of rain that was added to the 3 inches of rain we got the week before. 

Fall at the farm has been busy but beautiful. We try to slow down and look up as often as we can. Birding enthusiasts, we delight in seeing all the migrating birds that stop by the farm on their way south. Kestrels hover in the fields looking for prey. A flock of bluebirds perched on the fence line one afternoon. An anxious snipe hides in the tall grasses at the edge of the field. 

The leaves are nearing peak and the sugar maples and oaks rimming our fields are turning brilliant colors.

After days of rain and clouds, the weather finally broke on Sunday. On Sunday night, we turned on the lights in the barn with the big doors to the east open and cleaned the remaining 90 pounds of garlic. Some will go in fall shares. Some will be sold and the remaining will be planted toward the end of October.

The planting of the garlic is always a symbolic moment because it signals the start of the 2024 growing season. 

As we finished the last heads of garlic, we cleaned up and walked out the big barn doors. The moon had broken through the fog and illuminated the bog to the east of us and the gentle rolling hills off in the distance.

The night was utterly quiet and peaceful. 

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

This week’s veggies and recipes

Roots

There will be lots of root veggies heading your way in the next three weeks.  We have found that storing carrots in plastic bags with holes poked in the bag help the carrots store longer.  Any time there are greens still attached to the root, remove the greens and store separately.

Winter squash

• Delicata and Acorn squash: Mature with an orange spot.  Can be eaten at harvest, stored/eaten within 2-3 months.  Delicata skins can be eaten; do not store for very long.
• Kabocha (Sunshine): Can be eaten at harvest but can be stored 2-3 months, 4 the most
• Buttercup: best after storing (curing) for 1-11/2 months; will store 4-6 months
• Butternut: best after storing for 1-2 months; will store for 4-6 months   

Herbs

Herbs can be used right away or put in a glass with shallow water and kept on the counter for up to one week.  You can also hang the herbs to dry for use during the winter.

Eggplant

We love eggplant and use it in many dishes from stir-fries to roasted and made into Baba Ganoush (like hummus).  You can peel eggplant or keep the skins on.  

Rutabaga

The following is from the last week of the summer CSA newsletter.

Askov, a town about 30 minutes south of the farm, boasts that it is (or was) the Rutabaga Capital of the World.  Though rutabagas aren’t commercially produced there anymore, it’s a reminder that this massive root vegetable has a strong cultural connection to this region and northern climes. This might also have something to with why some people also call this vegetables “Swedes.” It’s also very popular at our farmstand where people call it “rutabagies.”

Pasties

Recipe from The New York Times

Ingredients

• 1 double-crust pie dough, preferably made with shortening
• 1 ¼ pounds coarsely ground sirloin, flank or chuck steak (or you may chop into 1/4-inch dice)
• 2 russet potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced
• 1 large onion, halved and thinly sliced
• 1 medium rutabaga, peeled and thinly sliced
•  Salt and pepper to taste
• 2 tablespoons butter

Instructions

Divide pie dough into 6 portions. Press each into a flat disc. Refrigerate for 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 400. Line baking sheet with parchment paper.

Combine filling ingredients in a large bowl and mix well.

Roll out each dough into a 9-inch circle and brush edges with water. Place about 1/6 of meat-vegetable mixture off-center on each circle, topping each with 1/6 of the butter. Fold the large side of the dough over the filling, then crimp the edges to seal. Place on the prepared pan and cut several slits in the tops.

Bake about 15 minutes, then reduce heat to 350 and continue to bake (20 to 30 minutes) until the tip is golden brown. Serve with ketchup.

Sage Brown Butter Sauce

from The Spruce Eats

We recently found this recipe.  We used it for a quick dinner of arugula and winter squash with this sauce poured over top.  

• 4 ounces (8 Tablespoons) unsalted butter
• 1 clove garlic, crushed and chopped
• ¼ cup coarsely chopped fresh sage leaves
• ⅛ tsp ground black pepper
• Kosher salt, to taste

Melt the butter in a medium saucepan set over low-medium heat.  When the butter begins to get slightly bubbly, add the chopped garlic clove.

Stir the garlic in the butter for one minute.  Add the chopped sage to the garlic butter and continue stirring and cook the mixture for 2 to 4 more minutes, until the butter has turned light brown and has a rich, nutty aroma.

Season with ground black pepper and salt.  Serve and enjoy.

Toum (Lebanese garlic sauce)

This recipe was given to us by Tabitha, who came to our farm stand this summer and told us what she likes to do with her garlic. At first, we were worried that the recipe made too much fo the sauce. And then we tasted it and were no longer worried.

Source: https://feelgoodfoodie.net/recipe/lebanese-garlic-sauce/

Ingredients

• 1 cup garlic cloves peeled
• 2 teaspoons Kosher salt
• 3 cups neutral oil such as safflower
• ½ cup lemon juice

Instructions

Slice the garlic cloves in half lengthwise and remove any green sprouts.

Transfer the sliced garlic cloves into a food processor and add the kosher salt to the garlic cloves. Process for a minute until the garlic becomes finely minced. Make sure to scrape down the sides of the food processor afterwards.

While the food processor is running, slowly pour one to two tablespoons of oil, then stop and scrape down the bowl. Continue adding another tablespoon or two until the garlic starts looking creamy.

Once the garlic looks emulsified by the few tablespoons of oil, increase the speed of pouring the oil and alternate with the ½ cup of lemon juice until all the oil and lemon juice is incorporated. This will take about 15 minutes to complete.

Transfer the sauce into a glass container and cover with a paper towel in the fridge overnight. Makes about 4 cups.

The next day, replace the paper towel with an airtight lid and keep in the fridge for up to 3 months.

Roasted Brussel Sprouts

The alien-like stalks in your shares are Brussel sprouts!  We harvest the stalks so you can have all the fun of cutting off the sprouts.  We love Brussel sprouts.  There are a number of ways to prepare them but we like them simply roasted in olive oil.  You can dress them or add almonds or cranberries but you’ll find that they don’t need much.

• Brussel sprouts, sprouts removed from the stalk, ends trimmed and cut in half
• Olive oil
• Salt
• Cracked black pepper

Heat oven to 425.  Spread halved sprouts over a large rimmed sheet pan.  Coat with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Roast for 15-25 minutes.