Farm News Crop Forecast
U-Pick Recipes Nuts and Bolts
Final share pickups of 2021
are this week —
October 12 and 14.
Join us again next year
with a farm share!
And Sign Up for the Storage Share — Pre-set or Custom Order, or Both —
The links for signing up are in the email you received with this newsletter.
Storage Share Pick-Up is Thursday and Friday, Nov. 18 & 19, the week before Thanksgiving.
Winter Store Dates are still to be determined, but will be once a month for December, January, and February.
Greetings!
It’s hard to beleive it’s time for the last newsletter of the year — it’s still been so warm, and we’ve still got a lot of harvesting left to do! We picked some parsnips for this week’s share, and brussels sprouts too. But we still have to get 2/3 of the winter carrots, beets, parsnips, cabbage and more into the root cellar…winter can arrive with a few days notice and that’s more than a few day’s worth of work!
We’ll hopefully be picking carrots on Tuesday afternoon — so the barn area might have yet another layer of commotion as we unload carrot bins from wagons and forklift them into their winter sleeping spots.
What a year! The drought was tough in June, but we squeaked through with enough irrigation, and not much wind or too much heat. We got rains in July that a lot of the region did not get, which were a pain cuz they germinated weeds that had been dormant through the dry weeks, but really took the pressure off of watering the millions of plants out there. We had to water a lot in August again, and some through the fall. I guess the theme of the year is water!! And sunshine — we haven’t looked up or tallied it, but it seems like many things just grew and grew and grew a little more with all the sunny weather.
We are also so thankful for our farm crew again this year. They love the plants, the food and the work as much as we do, and we have a lot of fun together. Even when Ben comes over at 4:30 and says ” oh, one more thing…..”
Thanks everyone for another great year!
Storage Share 2021
Sign up this week please! It’s easy! We can take sign-ups later but it’s much easier if we know now so we can plan and prepare ahead.
The storage share is separate from the regular season share, a one-time pickup the Thursday and Friday before Thanksgiving — Nov. 18th from 10am to 6pm and the 19th from 9am-noon. With the hopefully easy-to-use google form, you can request the “original” or “pre-set” storage share, and/or pre-order just what you want from the wide selection of fall veggies we grow. Prices are by the pound or by the piece.
Since it is a busy week with the double CSA and the Fall harvest, Erin might not get back to you on Storage Share questions until she is in the office on Friday. It is totally fine to send a check next week!
This is the last week of the CSA!
Split shares (this is both every week and every other week split shares) — please plan on BOTH OF YOUR FAMILIES/HOUSEHOLDS coming this week. This week is a “double share,” ie two weeks worth of share veggies. It is a Double share, so everyone will get twice their usual amount. We will have signs in the barn that say exactly what the full shares should take and exactly what the split shares should take. (we are trying to sign it differently this year, in hopes to avoid confusion). Please read the signs!
You can still come U-pick after this week—we will be opening up kale and lettuce next week and herbs will still be available. Spinach will probably be open for U-pick in a couple weeks, we’ll send out an email then.
Crop Forecast
Fall veggies — sweet, hearty and warm. Add in some greens, spinach or kale — Zoom!!! Propel you through the grey months!!!
For Winter Squash, we have lots of carnival, acorn, and butternut. We don’t have as much of buttercup and ambercup (we are sad about this too), so we will have to limit this to one total per household of these 2 types.
Leeks! Mild and elegant onion flavor. Leeks are great in lots of dishes, but our favorite is in quiche.
Spinach, lettuce and kale – all look great! We might have a little less greens this week, due to a number of pests that invaded the greens, but we will have plenty of lettuce to keep the bag size up.
Sweet Potatoes! We’ll have some dirty ones out too (they last longer when not washed, in case you want to save a few longer than a couple weeks.) They can be frozen after being roasted or boiled, but are usually better fresh. And warm out of the oven.
Brussels sprouts — Full shares will take 2, split shares will take one. They are huge and beautiful this year, but since we haven’t had a frost yet, they taste pretty good but aren’t as delicious as they can be. Every year is different and this one did not supply us with a frost before the final week of the CSA. They might just need to get dressed up a bit more—more bacon, more soy sauce, more parmesan….who can complain?!
Eggplants! Are surprise guests! The warm weather brought another round of flowers to fruit!
Plus green & red peppers, beets, carrots, onions, celeriac, parsnips, watermelon radishes and purple daikon radishes. Lovely fall food!!!! All these will keep for weeks in the fridge. The radishes are super sliced on a platter or salad or in a sandwich, or grated too. The colors really shine when they’re sliced. They shine almost as much as this sun, but not quite!
What’s for U-Pick?
Basil, Parsley, Oregano, Thyme, Sage, lemongrass (ask Erin if you are interested)
Still some cherry tomatoes , and tomatillos, ground cherries and beans !! And flowers, oh my! We’ve never had so many flowers this late before.
Kale, Lettuce and Herbs will all be open for at least a few weeks. Kale and lettuce are near the beans. We will be roping off some areas that we are still picking. We’ll try to keep these open until the ground nearly freezes, we’ll see.
Nuts and Bolts
WINTER STORE — We’re not sure how we will do the store this year , so we’ll send out an email in December once we decide. We may again have a google form to order veggies and we would bag it for you. Dates are to be decided. This is open to anyone, so once we start advertising it, please tell your friends! In December we have roots plus kale, cabbage, and maybe just maybe squash, onions or sweet potatoes. January and February probably just roots. We send out reminders the day before, and a Facebook post too.
Bulk Produce for You — This week’s selection is : Winter Squash for 85 cents/ lb. Carrots, Beets, $1.25 / lb. Cabbage for 75 cents /lb. Red peppers, parsnips, celeriac, radishes $2/lb, Spinach and lettuce $5.25/lb. Garlic $1 / head.
From LuAnn at the Medicinal Herbs Garden: It’s been great chatting with so many of you this past CSA season and having the honor of helping you choose some wonderful healing herbs from the garden for making some teas and other remedies. Feel free to contact me in the coming cooler, snowier months with any questions. I plan to have some of my favorite herbal remedies and concoctions available for purchase this week during CSA pick-up times. I love chatting herbs. So even if you don’t need anything, please stop by with any questions or tips.
Share Pickup Hours TUESDAY and THURSDAY 1:30-6:30 pm.
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, Emily, Harper, Alexandra, and Maddie
Recipes
Creamed Spinach and Parsnips
from Foodandwine.com
Ingredients
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 2 pounds parsnips, cut into 3/4-inch pieces
- 2 large shallots, thinly sliced
- 1 cup turkey stock or canned low-sodium broth
- 1 teaspoon chopped thyme
- Salt and freshly ground pepper
- 1 1/4 pounds spinach (20 cups)
- 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 2 cups half-and-half or whole milk
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
Directions
- Step 1In a large, deep skillet, melt 2 tablespoons of the butter in the oil. Add the parsnips and cook over moderately high heat, stirring occasionally, until lightly browned, about 6 minutes. Add the shallots and cook, stirring, until softened, about 2 minutes. Add the stock and thyme and bring to a boil. Season with salt and pepper, cover and simmer over low heat until the parsnips are tender, about 8 minutes.
- Step 2Meanwhile, fill a large, deep pot with 2 inches of water and bring to a boil. Add the spinach in large handfuls and blanch, stirring, just until wilted, about 10 seconds. Drain and cool under running water. Squeeze the spinach dry and coarsely chop it. Stir the spinach into the parsnips.
- Step 3In a medium saucepan, melt the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter and cook over moderately high heat until lightly browned, about 4 minutes. Whisk in the flour and cook, whisking, for 1 minute. Whisk in the half-and-half and nutmeg, season with salt and pepper and bring the sauce to a boil, whisking until thickened, about 2 minutes. Stir the sauce into the spinach and parsnips and bring to a simmer. Transfer to a bowl and serve.
Brussels Sprout, Bacon and Gruyère Frittata
from foodandwine.com
Ingredients
- 1/2 pound thick-cut bacon, diced
- 2 shallots, halved and thinly sliced
- 3/4 pound brussels sprouts, halved and sliced 1/4 inch thick
- Kosher salt
- Freshly ground pepper
- 8 large eggs
- 2 tablespoons whole milk
- 1 cup shredded Gruyère cheese
- 1/4 cup snipped chives
Directions
- Step 1Preheat the broiler and position a rack 6 inches from the heat. In a 12-inch nonstick ovenproof skillet, cook the bacon over moderately high heat, stirring occasionally, until softened, 3 to 5 minutes. Add the shallots and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 3 minutes. Add the brussels sprouts, season with salt and pepper and cook, tossing occasionally, until crisp-tender and lightly browned, about 5 minutes.
- Step 2Meanwhile, in a large bowl, beat the eggs with the milk, 1 teaspoon of salt and 1/4 teaspoon of pepper. Stir in the shredded cheese and snipped chives. Pour the egg mixture into the skillet and cook over moderate heat, stirring gently, until the eggs start to set and the bottom is lightly browned, about 5 minutes. Transfer the skillet to the oven and broil the frittata for about 3 minutes, until the center is just set. Run a rubber spatula around the edge of the frittata and slide it onto a serving plate, then cut it into 6 pieces and serve.
Open Hands Farm 