JOIN US FOR OUR 7th ANNUAL
POTATO HARVEST PARTY!
Saturday, October 14th, 8:30 am - 11:30 am
There’s nothing like watching potatoes shower up out of the ground behind the wake of the tractor and then getting dirty and bagging them with friends. It’s an unforgettable experience, especially for the kiddos, and we hope you’ll join us!
All abilities and interests welcome. Feel free to bring non-members. We recommend a sunhat, water bottle, and clothes you don’t mind getting dirty. Some people prefer using gloves. We’ll have some light refreshments, music from the boombox, and agrarianly awesome time.
THIS WEEK’S HARVEST
In a nutshell: Summer and fall collide on the harvest table.
Mustard Mix, Little Gem Lettuce, Assorted Lettuce, Dazzling Blue Dino Kale, Bel Fiore Chicory & Radicchio, Bishop Cauliflower, Sweet Peppers, Poblano Peppers, Fennel, Multicolored Beets, Summer Squash & Zucchini, Cabernet Onions, Bintje Potatoes, Green Cabbage, Heirloom & Red Slicing Tomatoes.
U-PICK
Albion Strawberries: 2 pints per share
Cherry Tomatoes: 6 pint per share
Shishito & Padrón Frying Peppers: 1 pints total per share | Likely the last week
Jalapeños: 6 peppers per share | If you like your jalapeños hot, look for peppers with checking (little cracks) on them
Buena Mulata Peppers: 5 peppers per share | Usable at any color, but with more fruity flavor when ripe red or orange
Habanero Peppers: 1 pepper per share | Ripe when orange
🌟 Aji Limo Peppers: 1 pepper per share | Ripe when yellow. This citrusy Peruvian pepper is traditionally used in ceviche. Sometimes called Lemon Drop in the US.
🌟 Goldilocks Beans: 3 pints per share | These gorgeous golden green beans seem to glow. Perfectly suited to any of your favorite cooked bean dishes or for making dilly beans!
Amethyst Beans: Gleanings | Surprisingly, the plants from our earliest succession have started to make more beans. Feel free to pick some if you feel like foraging.
Tomatillos: 1 pint per share
Herbs: Italian Basil, Thai Basil, Tulsi Basil, Dill, Chamomile, Parsley, Onion Chives, Garlic Chives, Tarragon, Oregano, Marjoram, Culinary Sage, Lemon Balm, Lemon Verbena, Vietnamese Coriander, Shiso (Perilla), Culinary Lavender, French Sorrel, Borage, Violas, Thyme and Mints.
Flowers!
Our final patch of u-pick green beans, Goldilocks, on the far right.
Preserving the Harvest
Canning Tomatoes
Tomato production is still going strong, but we recommend taking home your share’s 25 lb season limit (this week or next!) before the the plants start to tap out. Check out Week 12’s newsletter for a super simple fresh tomato sauce recipe that freezes beautifully.
lemon dill Sauerkraut
We have some beautiful (and giant!) heads of cabbage in the share this week, perfect for making sauerkraut! Here is our favorite garlicky, dill kraut recipe from the book Fermented Vegetables by Kristen and Christopher Shockey
(Yields about 1 gallon of kraut)
about 6 pounds cabbage (2 small heads or one large one)
1 1/2-2 tablespoons unrefined sea salt
4 tablespoons lemon juice
1-2 tablespoons dried dill
4-5 cloves of garlic, finely grated
To prepare the cabbage, remove the coarse outer leaves. Rinse a few unblemished ones and set them aside. Quarter and core the cabbage, thinly slice, and transfer to a large bowl.
Add the dill, lemon juice, and 1 tablespoon of the salt and, with your hands, massage it into the leaves, then taste. You should be able to taste the salt without it being overwhelming. Add more salt if necessary. The cabbage will soon look wet and limp, and liquid will begin to pool. At this point, add the garlic. If you've put in a good effort and don't see much brine in the bowl, let it stand, covered, for 45 minutes, then massage again.
Transfer the cabbage to a crock or 2-quart jar, a few handfuls at a time, pressing down on the cabbage with your fist or a tamper to work out air pockets. You should see some brine on top of the cabbage when you press. Leave 4 inches of headspace for a crock, or 2 to 3 inches for a jar. Top the cabbage with one or two of the reserved outer leaves. Then, for a crock, top the leaves with a plate that fits the opening of the container and covers as much of the vegetables as possible; weigh down with a sealed, water-filled jar. For a jar, use a sealed, water-filled jar or ziplock bag as a follower-weight combination.
Set aside the jar or crock on a baking sheet to ferment, somewhere nearby, out of direct sunlight and cool, for 4 to 14 days. Check daily to make sure the cabbage is submerged, pressing down as needed.
You can start to test the kraut on day 4. You'll know it's ready when it's pleasingly sour and pickle-y tasting, without the strong acidity of vinegar; the cabbage has softened a bit but retains some crunch; and the cabbage is more yellow than green and slightly translucent.
Ladle the kraut into smaller jars and tamp down. Pour in any brine that's left. Tighten the lids, then store in the refrigerator. This kraut will keep, refrigerated, for 1 year.
Tossing some beautiful Cauliflower heads during harvest this morning.
FARMERS LOG
We started in on some truly autumnal tasks this week like mowing and spading big blocks in the fields to prep for cover cropping and walking the winter squash and Jack-O-Lanterns to decide when to clip them!
And lucky for us, this autumn began with a little kiss of rain. We were so grateful for that kiss, adding a little softness, and a little green into what’s usually the driest time of the year. It’s brought to mind one of our favorite poems, by Ursula K. Le Guin, a daughter of California.
* * * * *
TO THE RAIN
BY URSULA K. LE GUIN
Mother rain, manifold, measureless,
falling on fallow, on field and forest,
on house-roof, low hovel, high tower,
downwelling waters all-washing, wider
than cities, softer than sisterhood, vaster
than countrysides, calming, recalling:
return to us, teaching our troubled
souls in your ceaseless descent
to fall, to be fellow, to feel to the root,
to sink in, to heal, to sweeten the sea.
* * * * *
Many of you asked how the rain affected the farm. Aside from a few squishy strawberries and tomatoes, it was a manifold blessing and sweet relief to the soul and to the senses of all the creatures of the farm. The calls of the songbirds seemed to be tinged with joy that wet morning. And now everything seems to have became softer — from the blades of dry grass to the very earth under our feet which seemed to change from baked brick to a bouncy sponge.
Fall Carrots, being rarified by the cooler nights. We will have a brief break from carrots this week to let these size up a little more and we’ll start distributing them next week.
You can see and taste the rain’s blessing in the crops too. Our friend Ryan Power at New Family Farm once said, "Vegetables become more refined in the Fall." Truer words were never spoken. Perhaps it’s from those occasional fall rains. Or perhaps it’s from the slower growth caused by the reducing sunlight that makes the vegetables grow sturdier, like hardwood trees; rarified and essentialized. Or maybe it’s because they stare more often at the moon and stars these days than the belligerent sun. Or perhaps it's the cooler days and cooler nights that slow down the insect and root worm armies and allow our veggies to let their defenses down and grow in peace. Whatever the cause, it is true: Many in our vegetable society are looking more dapper than they have all year — especially the greens.
We hope you enjoy the share this week: That unique time of year when autumn and summer collide on the harvest table and you can chase some fruity tomatoes with rain-kissed cauliflower.
See you in the fields,
David
