Happy New Year to all. We begin 2010 with the same mantra as the beginning of last year—“best year yet.” And while the cold weather isn’t suitable for farming at the moment, we are happy for a real winter, with cold temps and lots of snow cover on the fields.

While our December vacation was truncated for various reasons, and Rebecca spent most of December in an antibioitic induced immunity suppression from a small kidney stone (all better now thanks to probiotics), we did have a chance to rest and visit friends and family. We even enjoyed a visit for our friend/old CSA member/2008 intern Lorne Carrol and wife Angela. Lorne is in the middle of a 2 year public health nurse stint in Nome, Alaska. They were right at home.

We are now in the process of pulling together our seed and equipment order for 2010. Fun and daunting at the same time, we anxiously anticipate the start of the season when we plant the first onion seed in the greenhouse in early February.

The farm has been a winter wonderland since Xmas eve, and a playground for Rocky. He grows a polar bear coat this time of year, and looks at home in the snow. We will try to post on a regular basis between now and when the season starts to keep you up to date on things. Enjoy the winter while it is here.

Morning walk

Tracks

Strawberry patch

As we enter December, the farm has been put to bed. We have laid down hay on 8 new no-till beds, mulched the strawberries with hay, planted and mulched the garlic, cut new ground for next year, gotten all of the row cover, hoops, tomato stakes, and harvestable produce out of the fields, and put away the electric tractor for the season.

Next we hope to enjoy several weeks of rest, before getting our seed order together after the New Year. Part of our day (morning and late afternoon) is always spent taking Rocky for a walk. Being a mountain dog, he loves the snow, and is full of energy this time of year. Here’s a little video showing what a happy dog looks like.

Perhaps more than anything, since becoming a farmer I have learned to understand and appreciate the annual movement of the sun through the sky. This time of year the sunrise is low on the southeast horizon. The photo below is due east from our kitchen window, as it is zero degrees F right now. Every morning for the next 10 days the sun will rise just a little more to the right. In the old days people rejoiced after the winter solstice since the sun turned around and headed north again.

We celebrate the return of the light in late December too, knowing that another planting season is on the way.

Rooting in the End
We are glad to have had such a good season this year, and bid the 2009 CSA harvest a hearty thank you. In closing, the fields bring you mainly root crops, vegetables that have the ability to keep all winter long, if given the right conditions. That means making them think they are still in the ground and at rest during the dark winter. The roots we give you are alive, so alive that they will make seeds if planted in the Spring. They need to be treated accordingly.

So if you have more than your fridge can hold, or want to buy some bulk and wonder how to store them, all just get a Rubbermaid container and some sand and follow the lead of the pictures below. After layering the roots with the sand you give them a little watering (wet the top of the sand ) to keep them damp so they don’t dry out. A few ventilation and drainage holes in your tub will help too. Keep the tub in the coolest part of your house that doesn’t freeze. A basement or heated garage works fine.

Garlic Braids
We several items available in bulk that have been there awhile (see below). We also are adding garlic braids to the list this week. We have a limited number, so it is first come first serve. They are $16 for a braid of 12 Silverskin garlic heads. They are our best keeper. If kept near 32 deg F in a dry place they will last until Spring. If you hang them in your kitchen be sure to use them. A garlic braid that is being used is just as attractive as a full one that dries out.

Bulk Order Week of 10/17/09
Garlic $8.00/lb
Garlic braids (12 heads) $16.00
Chard $3.00/bunch
Kale $3.00/bunch
Beets $3.oo/qt (specify Chiogga (stripped), or red beets)
Jalapenos $2.50/pint, $4.00/quart
Arugula $2.50/bunch
Dried herbs $2.00/tin (thyme, marjoram, dried hot peppers, lovage, lavendar flowers, coriander, oregano, rosemary)

LETTUCE (F/P)
GREENS (F) cabbage, kale or chard
HERBS (F/P) cilantro, dill or arugula
VARIOUS ROOTS (P) choice of beets, turnips, rutbagas, watermelon radishes and kohlrabi (not really a root, but it looks a bit like one.) Check Tom’s blog from last week for a photo i.d. of the various roots.
CELERIAC & CARROT (P) a bit of each for a nice soup or salad
BULB FENNEL (F/P) eat them like they do in Calabria in a salad
BEETS OR KOHLRABI (F) A bumper beet crop this fall. They’re still on the bulk list!
FRENCH BREAKFAST RADISHES (F/P) the mildest, most delicate radishes.
WINTER SQUASH OR SWEET POTATOES (F/P) Tis sad, but true, the winter squash harvest this year was a bust. We’ve got about 60 shares worth between the pumpkins and butternuts that made it. We only grow pumpkins fit for pies and such, so only take one if you plan to eat it. They will keep until after Halloween if you must use them as decorations first.

ALSO THIS WEEK: Parker Farms delivery

NEXT WEEK: Take stock of your crisper drawer. Hopefully you’ve accrued another week’s worth of Fair Share Farm veggies.

END OF THE SEASON
The day is about to come when the CSA season is complete. Since February we have been counting down to this day: the final plantings done, the earlier crops turned under, but somehow it always feels suprising when we arrive at the final week of the season. Last week the chilly, wet weather made the season’s end seem eminent. But then the sun came out for the first time in weeks heralding the Indian Summer. The sunshine and warm weather has gotten us moving again. It is just too darn perfect outside not to.

The Saturday crew prepared the seed garlic for planting:

clipping the heads


separating the cloves

We planted the hardneck today and will plant the softneck over the course of this week.

THANK YOU
Tom and I may be the farmers at Fair Share, but we wouldn’t be successful without the labor, energy and spirit of many people. A huge thank you to Lori Watley and Kara Jennings, our brave apprentices who slogged it out with us all season long. It is an accomplishment to even stick it out and they did so with such style and grace. We wish them bountiful harvests in all that they endeavor. And to all of you who pay us in advance in the hopes that we will feed your family for 24 weeks, thank you for sticking with this also. Your support and crazy faith in us is just amazing. We were lucky this year. The weather was moderate and the harvest was good overall, unlike many farms in the northeast where blight and flooding dominated. So, finally we must thank the soil that grew our food, the moderate rains that watered it and the mild temperatures that ripened it.

Roots Medley
Roots, the hardiest of the vegetables, dominate the last few weeks of the season. We had good but mixed results with the roots this Fall. The beets, carrots, and Hakurei turnips were as good a crop as we have ever had. The purple top turnips, rutabagas and radishes however have struggled at best.

For the full shares mixed root choices (next week for partials) we have a refresher photo below to tell things apart. From left to right are rutabaga, Hakurei turnip, and 2 varieties of watermelon radishes.

Carrot and Pecan Soup
While we were in the field today I was thinking about coming up with a good recipe. As we started our carrot harvest Irealized I had to cook something with the great carrots coming out of the Fall beds. Carrot and chestnut soup came to mind, so making due with some Missouri pecans I adapted a recipe from Cooking at the Academy.

Ingredients
2 tbsp olive oil
5 medium carrots, chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
1 potato, chopped
1-1/2 cups shelled Missouri pecans
1-1/2 tsp salt
6 cups stock or water
Optional
1 cup heavy cream
1/4 tsp grated nutmeg

Method

Saute the carrots and onion in the olive oil for 2 minutes over medium high heat.
Turn heat to medium and cook 5 minutes more, add the pecans, stir and cook for 2 more minutes.
Add 2 cup of stock, bring to boil, cover and simmer for 10 minutes
Add remaining 4 cups of stock and simmer for 30 minutes
Strain the soup and puree only the solids. Blend puree with liquid part of the soup, adjust taste with salt and pepper. At this time you can also add some cream for even more richness of flavor.

Bulk Order Week of 10/12/09
(Sorry for the late posting)
Garlic $8.00/lb
Chard $3.00/bunch
Kale $3.00/bunch
Beets $3.oo/bunch (specify Chiogga (stripped), or red beets)
Jalapenos $2.50/pint, $4.00/quart
Arugula $2.50/bunch
Dried herbs $2.00/tin (thyme, marjoram, dried hot peppers, lovage, lavendar flowers, coriander, oregano, rosemary)

Fall Favorites
The weather is changing, and Fall is in the air at the farm. The cool but not cold temps and wonderful blue skies create a hankering for the comfort food of Autumn. As we have been handing out more than expected the last couple weeks, no doubt you have a full fridge. Keep in mind over these last few weeks that some veggies keep better than others, so you may want to prioritize what gets cooked first.

The eggplant, beans, broccoli, cauliflower, summer squash, herbs, lettuce and greens should be first on the list to use. The sweet potatoes will hold for months if kept in a warm, dry and dark place. Turnips, beets, kohlrabi, celeriac, cabbage, leeks, green tomatoes and peppers will keep several weeks or longer if kept in a bag in the fridge, though eat them up too if the mood strikes.

Green Tomatoes
As year 6 of the CSA draws to a close “what do I do with green tomatoes?” hopefully isn’t a questions members have in mind. Fried green tomatoes, green tomato and pepper relish, green tomato salsa, and green tomato curry are but a few of the recipes from our archives. Tried and eaten many times by us farmers, we can attest to the wonderful flavor green tomates can impart upon a dish.

Celeriac
No doubt a suspect vegetable for many, celeriac (or celery root) continues to find favor in our household. If you are not sure where to start using it, try the mashed white root recipe from our October 6, 2004 newsletter. We have found that when it makes up about 15 to 25% of a dish, it’s subtle flavor creates a delicious and out of the ordinary taste. The other night we made a potato leek soup that included one medium celeriac in the mix and felt it was as good a soup as we have ever made.