Farm Newsletter October 2, 2019
Farm News Crop Forecast
U-Pick Recipes Nuts and Bolts
Join us again next year with a farm share!
You should have received a separate email this week, with a link to an easy online order form and payment method. If you didn’t get that email let us know.
And Sign Up Here for the Storage Share — Pre-set or Customizable, or Both —
Storage Share Pick-Up is Thursday, Nov. 21 st. You also should have received a separate email for the storage share this week — lettuce know if you didn’t.
Final share pickups of 2019 in a few weeks — October 15 and 17.
Fr-St Coming Thursday night?
This week could be the last chance for basil and most flowers.
Change Pick-Up Day Form — Click here.
Please use this to notify us of changes in your pick-up schedule. Thanks!
Greetings!
Now, two weeks later, those cover crops are so green and brilliant! The way they shine such a bright green in the sun, plus the fall veggies and their other shades of green/blue, with bluestem and a few asters and other flowers in the wildflowers strips … sometimes it’s hard to keep our eyes on what we’re doing with our hands!
Which is a lot!
Each week we’ve been filling a couple dozen bins with all these great fall crops, and emptying them out to fill the share table and our wholesale orders. What a beautiful thing to have lots to harvest at this time of year!
We got another few acres of wheat and rye planted before this week’s rainy forecast, so that feels good to have good timing on that investment in next year’s harvest. With a fr-st likely Thursday night, we’re in good shape with all the winter squash and sweet potatoes picked into bins and safely in the greenhouse. We miss having tomatoes; some years they make it to the first frost and some years they don’t. But at least the frost wouldn’t be taking any good tomatoes away. We have a lot of peppers still in the field, hopefully we can keep them alive with irrigation so we can have them for the remaining pickups.
It’s always strange to be thinking already about next year (that’s 2020!) at this time, but if you didn’t receive the emails for next year, and this fall’s storage share, let us know. We start renewals now so that by the end of the share in late October we know how many folks are coming back to join us next year — we hope you will!! — and whether we have any spots available to fill for next year.
By the way — this year’s last share pickups will be October 15 and 17, and that week you’ll pick up a “double share,” ie two weeks worth of share veggies. Split shares — please plan on BOTH OF YOUR FAMILIES/HOUSEHOLDS coming that week. There will be one more newsletter that week to remind you. We used to do a pickup the last full week of October, but for our workload it is an almost identical repeat of the week before; we save ourselves many hours of labor by doing the same jobs in bigger chunks, and being “open” one less week. You can still come U-pick after that week, for kale, spinach and herbs and/or whatever else is u-pickable.
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Crop Forecast
Winter Squash — Spaghetti squash, acorn and buttercup, plus carnival and delicata. Butternut should be ready by next week, and Ambercup the following week. Winter squash can be roasted, peeled and boiled (cubed), smoked, grilled —
–Basic way to roast winter squash — Cut in half , remove seeds, place halves upside down on oiled baking sheet. 350-400 degrees for 1 hour or til soft with fork. We like to roast a few on the weekend — it keeps great in the fridge to be added to salads or many dishes, or a side by itself.
Summer squash, zucchini and cucumbers are done. They were putting out a few new ones in the warm days, but now it’s not enough to justify walking the rows. So we mowed, disced and cover cropped them.
We’ll pick some celeriac, watermelon radishes and purple daikon radishes to have in their place on the table. Celeriac adds great depth and a mild celery flavor to soups, mashed potatoes, mixed mashed roots.
Eggplant, the long Asian ones, had a good second round in September. They don’t always do that’ any day could be the last.
Peppers, carrots, beets, cabbage, onions, celery are all looking good. Broccoli is slowing down, and cauliflower is slowly coming in. We are going to plant cauliflower one week earlier next year.
Kale and Collards. We mowed the chard, after picking it clean for last week.
Spinach is going strong, and might still be enough for the 3/4 clear bag this week, and next. Soon we’ll be cutting “re-growth”, which is sometimes a little choppier looking, but still awesome in salads or cooked.
Pumpkins! This week we don’t have enough for everyone to take one, so outside you’ll have a choice of 1 pumpkin or 2 gourds, and inside your choice of another 2 squashes.
Next week brings sweet potatoes, leeks and maybe parsnips! Sounds like October!
What’s for U-Pick?
We Still Need U-Pick Containers!!! If you have any hanging around, please bring them in.
The U-pick crops are what will change the most if we get a Fr-st —-
The basil probably won’t survive Thursday night; there are still some good leaves to be found by the patient ones. The beans … seem about done (certainly weedy!!) but they probably won’t survive either. For flowers , about all that survives reliably is calendula; depending how cold it is for how long. That’s east of the cherry tomatoes and sunflowers, but the driveway planting is still pretty good. The cherry tomatoes will also meet their final end if it’s 32.
All Herbs are Unlimited, and looking good.
Please always check the U-pick board when you’re here to see what’s available and picking amounts.
Nuts and Bolts
Remember your reusable bags and also to sign in when you pick up your share.
SIGN UP FOR NEXT YEAR (see email sent Monday morning for sign up link)
and the STORAGE SHARE —
STORAGE SHARE — After about 10 years of doing the storage share as a pre-set amount of each vegetable, the new online order form makes it possible for you to custom order what you want of any, all or none of the fall storage veggies. You also have the option to order the same standard storage share by clicking one box.
Veggies in the storage share and customizable order: carrots, beets, cabbage, sweet potatoes, winter squash (mostly butternut, sometimes others), onions, kale, herbs, celeriac, watermelon radish and purple daikon (so pretty cut on platter or salad with carrots!), leeks, brussels sprouts, garlic.
CLICK HERE TO SEE THE FULL DESCRIPTION OF THE “ORIGINAL” STORAGE SHARE AND CUSTOMIZABLE ORDERING.
Last Share Pickups are Oct 15 & 17. Double Share that week, all full and half shares should come that week.
Share Pickup Hours Tuesday and Thursday 1:30 – 6:30pm. You can U-Pick any time (when U-pick crops are in season.)
Bulk Produce for You — Check here each newsletter for what we have available for extra purchase.
To place a bulk order, simply call or email us at least 2 days ahead of the day you’d like to pick it up. Orders can be picked up at the farm during our regular pickup hours, but it doesn’t have to be your share pickup day.
This week’s selection is : Carrots, Beets, Onions for $1 / lb. Cabbage for $60 cents/lb, Green and Red Peppers for $2/lb. Garlic for $1/ head. Winter squash for 60 cents/lb.
Change Pick-Up Day Form — Click here.
Please Drive Carefully —Children are everywhere.
On the note of children, please know where yours are at all times.
Thank you for making this such a great place to be! Thank you so much for your support!!
Your farmers,
Erin and Ben, with Allia, Alissa, Danny, Ed, Emily and Sahara
Recipes
Pumpkin Scones
Source unknown
- Measure and mix 2 ¾ cups of flour, 1/3 cup of sugar, 1 tbsp of baking powder, and ¾ tsp of salt, ¾ tsp ofcinnamon, and ¼ tsp each of ginger, nutmeg and allspice in a big bowl.
- Cut one stick (½ cup) of cold butter into small pieces. Work the pieces into the flour mixture until it has an even texture. OPTIONAL: Add 1/2 cup of tiny pieces of crystallized ginger or cinnamon chips.
- Whisk together 2/3 cup of pumpkin (cooked, pureed) and 2 large eggs.
- Add most of the wet mixture to the dry mixture. Fold/knead ingredients together until the dough forms one big ball.
- Press the ball into a circle or a strip that is about 1 inch thick. Brush with the remaining egg mixture. Sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon. Cut into 6-12 wedges or triangles (depending on desired size).
- Spread the scones out on a baking sheet (on parchment paper!), and bake at 400° for 12-14 minutes, or until cooked through and golden.
- Cool to room temperature and serve.
Scalloped Celeriac and Potatoes
from a Friend of Angelic Organics Farm
Here’s a variation on a classic that just might be better than the original. Traditionally, scalloped potatoes are cooked in milk or cream; here, however, we cook them in stock, and the result is a more flavorful and delightfully lighter dish. The celeriac adds a brightness that assertively sets the dish apart from its classic cousin.
- butter for greasing the baking dish
- 1 pound celeriac, peeled, halved, sliced about 1/8 inch thick
- 1 pound baking potatoes, peeled, sliced about 1/8 inch thick
- salt
- freshly ground black pepper
- 1 cup grated Gruyère or domestic Swiss cheese, divided
- 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
- 2 cups chicken, beef, or vegetable stock
- 2 tablespoons butter
1. Preheat the oven to 350° F. Grease a 2-quart baking dish with butter.
2. Place the celeriac and potatoes in alternating layers in the baking dish, seasoning every few layers with salt and pepper. At about the halfway point, add 1/3 cup cheese in an even layer; sprinkle with the thyme. Continue with the celeriac and potatoes, until you have used all of your slices (don’t go all the way to the top edge; leave a little room to allow the liquid to boil).
3. Pour the stock over the celeriac and potatoes. Dot with butter. Cover with foil and bake for 45 minutes. Remove the foil and bake for 15 minutes more. Sprinkle the remaining 2/3 cup cheese over the top layer, add several grindings of fresh pepper, and bake until the cheese turns golden, about 15 minutes.
4. Let stand for 10 minutes before serving.
Serves 6.
Open Hands Farm 