BONITA SWEET POTATOES: The Bonita’s definitely live up to the word sweet. Also, be careful as they cook relatively quickly, so check them often for tenderness. Treat them as you would a white potato and make a unique salad.
SALAD TURNIPS AND RED RADISHES: Fresh and crispy, all you need is a little salt to enhance the flavor of these fresh roots.
BOK CHOY, SWISS CHARD OR SPROUTING BROCCOLI: .
SPINACH OR LETTUCE MIX: Fresh greens from the high tunnel. A tough choice, but no losers here. The spinach is full of body and flavor while the lettuce is tender and crunchy.
ROOTS MIX: A mix of carrots, beets, and two types of colorful radishes can make for a bright fresh slaw, or a yummy roast. More suggestions below.
BULB FENNEL OR LEEK: Great roasted with the root mix.
GARLIC: We store the garlic in a cool and dry cooler to keep it at peak quality. It goes with everything in the share.
DILL OR ROSEMARY: We still have some herbs in the high tunnel. Just the thing to garnish a slaw or cooked greens.
RECIPE: The root mix this week is a versatile group of vegetables. When used fresh, you simply have to clean and grate them together with some salt, garlic, and a dressing of your choice. That has been our angle the last few days. A finely chopped couple stalks of fennel really enhances the dish’s freshness. On the other hand, all you have to do is clean and cut the vegetables into chunks, toss with a little salt, oil and herbs, and roast at 400 F for 30 to 45 minutes. Mix in some fennel and sweet potatoes for a real mix of flavors.
FARM REPORT:
‘Tis the final week of the 2019 CSA season, and just in time as old man winter arrived last night. The low dipped to 5 degrees, although by the time the sun was up enough to take the photo it had reached a balmy 7.
This is perhaps the coldest weather this early in the fall that we have experienced in our 17 years of growing food on the Graff place. It was an abrupt change from the 65 degrees we enjoyed on Saturday during our hike across the farm.
In the high tunnel with two heavy layers of row cover, we still had some freezing. Most plants recovered but you may notice a bit of tinged stems and leaves in your share this week. They are all still completely edible and may be even sweeter due to the cold snap.
The cold has kept the farm crew indoors as much as possible. Between the high tunnel and the fermenting kitchen there is still plenty of space to work even when it is freezing outside. The cooler is full of cabbages and roots destined for pickles and krauts. Today we made green kimchi from the last field harvests of bok choy and tat soi. The kitchen is spacious enough that we move the winter packing work inside as well. Having year-round work is important for our employees and the farmers too. We look forward to watching the winter season from the big kitchen windows.
Finally, we thank our 100 CSA member families from the bottom of our dirty boots for joining us this season. Our farm is growing stronger every day due to your consistent support. We hope you have a happy, healthy winter season and look forward to feeding you again in the Spring. We also encourage you all to support the Brookside Winter Market, which has a record number of vendors this season: https://www.brooksidefarmersmarket.com/ We hope to see you there!
