JOIN US FOR OUR 7th ANNUAL
POTATO HARVEST PARTY!
THIS Saturday, October 14th, 8:30 am - 11:30 am
Join us for our 7th annual potato harvest party! 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.
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. (For new folks: This potato harvest is not required in any way for members to enjoy potatoes, we will be distributing the tuberous bounty all year whether or not you come to harvest!)
THIS WEEK’S HARVEST
In a nutshell:
Fancy Fall Braising/Salad Mix, Spinach, Newham Little Gem Lettuce, Panisse Oakleaf Lettuce, Brussel Sprout Tops, White Russian Kale, Fennel, Multicolored Beets, Poblano Peppers, Sweet Peppers, Romance Carrots, Murdoc Cabbage, Summer Squash & Zucchini, Elsye Yellow Onions, Harvest Moon Potatoes, Heirloom & Red Slicing Tomatoes
U-PICK
Jack-O-Lantern Pumpkins: Season limit 1 per person
Albion Strawberries: 2 pints per share
Cherry Tomatoes: 3 pint per share
Jalapeños: 5 peppers per share | If you like your jalapeños hot, look for peppers with checking (little cracks) on them
Buena Mulata Peppers: 1 peppers per share | Usable at any color, but with more fruity flavor when ripe red or orange
Habanero Peppers: 4 pepper per share | Ripe when orange
Aji Limo Peppers: 4 pepper per share | Ripe when yellow. This citrusy Peruvian pepper is traditionally used in ceviche. Sometimes called Lemon Drop in the US.
Goldilocks Beans: 4 pints 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!
There are still lots of gorgeous pumpkins! You’ll have the greatest selection if you venture a little further out into the field.
HARVEST NOTES
Jack-O-Lanterns for Pumpkin Pie? Lots of folks have asked us if the Jack-O-Lantern pumpkins are edible. While they are technically edible, they’ve been bred for their charming appearance rather than flavor, so we don’t recommend eating them. Don’t worry, we’ll be rolling out 9 different types of truly delicious winter squashes over the coming weeks.
Tomatoes: Our tomatoes are winding down! We’ll likely have one or two more weeks of a modest harvest.
Brussels Sprout Tops: Each year around this time we trim the tops off of the Brussel sprouts plants to encourage the sprouts to size up evenly. This annual necessity has the delicious benefit of giving us delicate bunches of cooking greens with that lovely Brussel Sprout flavor. Use as you would any of your favorite cooking greens like Kale or Collards.
Kimchi Week Next Week! Every year, we design our crop plan so that scallions, daikon, and Napa cabbage all line up so that members can make kimchi! We wanted to give you a heads up in case you want to stock up on the other ingredients or make room in your schedule for a delicious project.
Pickle Party!
We’ve recently fallen in love with a sandwich called The Scuttlebutt (think thick-sliced feta, aioli, hard-boiled eggs, and an herby, pickled-vegetable-filled salad with olives and capers on homemade focaccia!), and one delightful byproduct of this development is having a fridge full of these bright and beautiful pickles. Even if you’re not thinking of making a Scuttlebutt, we think you’ll love using these pickles to dress up other sandwiches or as a vibrant side to pretty up any plate.
If you’re on the fence, check out CSA member Kate Seely’s Scuttlebutt testimonial:
“This is the perfect sandwich! A little savory, a little sweet, with lots of herb and a perfect juiciness to it. It can look intimidating, but just do a little over two days: Prep your focaccia one day, your pickles the next, then bake your focaccia the morning of your first feast. Then, with your extra ingredients already prepped, you're set for sandwiches for the next few days! DELISH! And so beautiful, too. “
You can find the entire recipe here!
pickled Beets & Onions
1 bunch beets (about 5 or 6)
1/4 cup olive oil
2 large red onions, thinly sliced
1 1/2 tablespoons kosher salt, divided
2 cups red wine vinegar
2 cups water
1 cup sugar
1 tablespoon whole black peppercorns
1 tablespoon coriander seeds
1 tablespoon mustard seeds
2 whole star anise pods, broken up
8 whole allspice berries
Roast the beets: Preheat the oven to 400° F. Put the beets in a roasting pan, add just enough water to the pan to evenly cover the bottom. Salt the beets with 1 tablespoon of salt and drizzle them with olive oil. Cover with foil and roast for about an hour, until they're tender when pierced with a knife. Let them cool, then peel the beets. Cut them into 1/4-inch slices and pack loosely in 2-3 heatproof quart jars with the onions.
In a saucepan, combine the red wine vinegar, water, sugar, and 1/2 tablespoon kosher salt, plus the peppercorns, coriander seeds, mustard, anise, and allspice. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring to dissolve the sugar and salt. Pour the brine over the beets and onions, then let them cool at room temperature. Transfer them to a plastic or glass container, cover them, and refrigerate for at least a day. They'll last up to 2 months.
Pickled Carrots
8 medium carrots, peeled and very thinly sliced into rounds or on a bias
2 cups apple cider vinegar
2 cups water
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup kosher salt
1 tablespoon coriander seeds
1 tablespoon fennel seeds
2 árbol chiles (or any of our hot peppers)
Place the sliced carrots in a heatproof quart jar. In a saucepan, combine the apple cider vinegar, water, sugar, kosher salt, coriander, fennel, and the chiles. Boil, stir, and pour over the carrots. Cool them, then store in the fridge for at least a day, and up to 2 months.
FARMERS LOG
7TH ANNUAL POTATO HARVEST
Tomorrow morning, we'll come together as a community to perform a quintessential agricultural ritual: The potato harvest. As we kneel down, on the Earth, bagging the cool, bulbous tubers, we will join in concert thousands of people around the world performing the same act. We will also join untold millions of ancestors who, in the late summer and fall, knelt together and harvested potatoes. We will be joined, by a real, living, breathing chain of seed potatoes to hundreds of historic potato harvests in Europe and Asia and to the thousands of harvests in the Andes and Northeastern Bolivia — the birthplace of this amazing plant.
There is nothing quite like an abundant potato harvest and the feeling, afterwards, of storing them away — in a pit, a cooler, a cave; the potatoes themselves alive, breathing slowly, promising food, promising life, throughout the winter months.
Potatoes are the highest caloric food crop per-acre of any crop (over maize, wheat, and rice). And they are the only one of these “staff-of-life” crops that grows (the food part, at least) deep in the Earth — shrouded in the dark and in mystery until they are harvested and lifted up into the light.
While we check the potatoes as they grow every so often, every potato harvest is a mystery until it happens: How will the crop turn out this year? Will it be an abundant?
If our first few small harvests are any indicator, it looks like we’ve been blessed with a healthy, abundant potato crop. The potato field in purple and white flower in June and July was a vision to behold. They scented the foggy mornings. The shimmering green foliage reached above your waist and covered every inch of ground so it was hard to walk. All that energy, all that delight, all that sunlight, was sent down below to the tubers, which are waiting for us now. They’ve been coming out of the ground “sound as stone” and will nourish us all through this fall and winter.
And that is cause for celebration.
Join us tomorrow for our 7th annual potato harvest as we "shower" up the living roots and scatter libations in remembrance and thanks.
See you in the fields,
David & Kayta
