This week is the last week that the farm stand is open for the season, as well as the last week for the Main Season CSA! Please note that 2019 Barrett’s Bucks expire after this Saturday, October 26th, so if you still have a balance to use up, now is the time! Flex, Extended, and Late Fall CSA members will have an additional 4 weeks of pick-ups: Thursdays and Saturdays from October 31st-November 23rd. Thank you to everyone who has already signed up for the 2020 season. If you haven’t already gotten your CSA renewal form for next season, we’ll still have them available in the stand this week, as well as 2020 Barrett’s Bucks sign-ups and CSA sign-up forms for new members (sign-ups are also available online).
Although from the outside it looks like the farm is going into hibernation mode after this week, it’s actually a very active time of year. Once the farm stand closes for the season, much of the time we had been devoting toward harvesting and setting up the store gets redirected towards mulching next season’s crops, protecting the remaining 2019 crops, field clean-up, and even some planting for next season! Of course, we’re still harvesting for the CSA too, though it’s a slightly smaller number of members and many late fall crops have already been harvested (like squash, onions, shallots, sweet potatoes and garlic). All of these projects sound manageable, but it feels especially active and busy because we have a smaller field crew. On Wednesday we say goodbye to Abby, and after this week it’s just Melissa, Lise, Sarah, Molly, Rebecca and Meghan in the fields. Ari, Debbie, Kathy, Jane and Sue will continue helping Molly and Meghan to hold down the fort with our CSA pick-ups! We are so grateful to our field and store crews for all they do to help keep things running smoothly.
This week in the CSA:
Sweet Potatoes
Acorn Squash
Butternut Squash
Yellow Storage Onions - These onions have been cured so can be stored outside your fridge. They keep best in a cool, dark, dry place.
Shallots
Leeks
Garlic
Carrots
Brussels sprouts
Cabbage - we’ll have a mix of green storage, purple, and savoy.
Watermelon radishes - these fall beauties are white on the outside and hot pink on the inside! They look (and taste) great in salads.
Mini daikon radishes - white mini mak and purple K-N bravo varieties
Turnips - these purple topped turnips are an excellent addition to roasted vegetable medleys.
Hakurei salad turnips - This spring favorite is back! They look much like radishes but have a sweeter flavor.
Escarole - This cooking green is great in Italian soups and pasta dishes! It looks like lettuce but is best cooked. It has a bitter flavor, in a delicious way!
Salanova
Baby bok choi
CSA Pick-your-own:
Frosts finished off most of the PYO field, but we still have some herbs for picking, including the following: parsley (it has made a resurgence), cilantro, chives, peppermint and spearmint.
CSA Hours:
Tuesday and Thursday 11am-6pm
Saturday 9am-3pm
PYO Flowers
The PYO Flower field is closed for the season as we have now had several frosts!
This week in the farm stand:
We will have all of the veggies listed in the CSA available in the farm store as well as our own lemongrass, kale, scallions, cauliflower and decorative corn stalks. We will also have organic cranberries from Fresh Meadows Farm, Double B Honey (from hives on the property), eggs from Pete and Jen’s Backyard Birds, mushrooms from Fat Moon Farm and raspberry jam and vinegar infusion from Silferleaf Farm in Concord. We also have a few jack-o-lanterns left from Verrill Farm.
Quiche Lorraine
from Smitten Kitchen
1 3/4 cups diced leeks
3/4 cup diced onion
3 tbsp olive oil
1 1/4 cups flour
1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons cornstarch
Salt
6 tablespoons butter, diced
4 eggs, divided
1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon heavy cream
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons sour cream
Pinch nutmeg
Pinch pepper
1 1/2 cups diced ham (1/4 -inch dice)
3/4 cup grated Swiss cheese
Heat a large sauté pan over low heat. Sauté the leeks and onions in the olive oil 30 to 40 minutes until caramelized, occasionally stirring. Remove from heat and cool. Meanwhile, in a large bowl, combine the flour, cornstarch and one-fourth teaspoon salt. Cut the butter in with a pastry blender, fork or two knives until it is in very tiny bits. Add one egg (a fork works great for this) and mix it until a dough forms. (Dough can also be made in a food processor, or in theory, and as the original recipe suggests, in a stand mixer.) On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough out to a 12-inch circle. Place the dough in a 9-inch pie plate and press to remove any air bubbles. Crimp the edges, and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
While the quiche shell chills, mix the heavy cream and sour cream in a medium bowl. Whisk in the remaining three eggs. Add a pinch each nutmeg, salt and pepper and combine to form a batter. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Remove the quiche shell from the refrigerator and spread the leek and onion mixture evenly over the base. Sprinkle the ham and then the cheese over the leeks and onions. Pour in the batter and place the quiche in the oven. Bake until puffed and golden, about 25 to 30 minutes. Remove from the oven and cool slightly on a rack. Serve warm or at room temperature.
Roasted Root Vegetables
By Mark Bittman and Sam Sifton, NYT Cooking
3 pounds assorted root vegetables: carrots, potatoes, turnips, rutabaga, radish, sweet potato, etc.
¼ cup olive oil
Salt and black pepper
Chopped rosemary, thyme or parsley, plus more for garnish
Heat oven to 425 degrees. Peel vegetables (optional) and cut them into 1- to 2-inch chunks, put them in a baking pan and toss with the oil and a sprinkling of salt and pepper. Put the vegetables in the oven and roast without stirring for 20 minutes, then check. If they look dry and are sticking to the pan, drizzle with more oil. Continue roasting, stirring or turning the vegetables once, for another 20 minutes or so. Stir in the herbs, then return the pan to the oven for another 20 to 40 minutes, until crisp. Remove from the oven. Garnish with rosemary or thyme.