CSA Week 19 and Farm stand updates

Last Tuesday night, we got our first frost of the season. This meant that we spent Tuesday afternoon making preparations. Certain crops, like arugula and salad turnips, are relatively cold hardy, and their low-to-the-ground habit make them easy to cover with pieces of fabric row cover to prevent frost damage. Other crops, like peppers and dahlias, are very sensitive to frost and would be too cumbersome to cover or otherwise protect from the cold. Therefore, we harvested a final batch of hot peppers for hot sauce and all the dahlias blooms that were open and bid those crops farewell. On Wednesday morning, we were in a race against the clock because we had to wait for the cabbage and kale to thaw before we could harvest them for the CSA! The temps are looking more mild this week, but we’ll likely get another hard frost next weekend.

We have plenty of storage and frost hardy veggies so the remaining weeks in the farm store and CSA will be bountiful despite the cold! The farm store will be open regular hours until Saturday, October 31st (Barrett’s Bucks expire at this time) and our CSA continues on Wednesdays and Saturdays until November 21st! As we have the past few years, we are planning to have a big pre-Thanksgiving farm store sale open to all on Saturday November 21st.

In the CSA this week:

• Pie pumpkins - They may look like Halloween decorations, but unlike jack-o-lanterns, they are intended for eating. Not only can you make pumpkin pie with them, but you can also make things like pumpkin soup and pumpkin muffins! See the recipe below for some directions for making your own pumpkin puree.

• Escarole - This bitter green is excellent in soups and stew like the classic white bean and escarole soup. It can also be sauteed with garlic and olive oil as a side dish.

• Garlic

• Yellow onions - These are cured (unlike the fresh onions we had in the summer) and should be stored in a cool and dry place

• Acorn squash

• Broccoli

• Rainbow Carrots - Bunches of mixed colors (orange, purple, red and yellow)

• Green and purple peppers - Probably the last for the season that we’ll harvest from the field.

• Colored peppers - From the high tunnel. This may also be the last week for these, as temperatures this weekend look like they could be cold enough to freeze even our high tunnel crops.

• Scallions

• Fennel

• Potatoes - Gold variety from MX Morningstar in Hudson, NY. Certified Organic.

• Cabbage - Savoy variety.

• Curly Kale

• Bok choi

• Salad turnips - These sweet and tender mini turnips can be eaten raw or cooked!

• Arugula

• Salanova lettuce mix or lettuce

CSA Pick-Your-Own:

• Herbs: Parsley, sage, mint, thyme, chives

• Hot peppers - Some of the plants were protected enough from the frost last week that they survived, but this will definitely be the last week.

In the farm store:

Farm store hours are Tuesday-Friday 11am-6pm and Saturday 9am-3pm. Our farm store will be open regular hours until October 31st. In addition to most of the items listed in the CSA above, we will have:

• Winter squash: Butternut (new this week!), Kabocha, Spaghetti, and Delicata(limited availability, this is the last of the delicata for the year).

• Spinach

• Heirloom and slicing tomatoes from the high tunnel.

• Cherry tomatoes - Sakura variety from our high tunnel. Limited availability.

• Fresh Organic Cranberries - From Fresh Meadows Farm in Carver, MA. Certified Organic.

• Mushrooms - Seasonal Medley Mushrooms and Shiitake. From Mycoterra Farm in Deerfield, MA. Certified organic.

• Pears - From Ed at Long Run produce in Boxborough, MA. Certified Organic.

• New! Heirloom Apples - Ananas Reinette (a crisp and juicy fruit with a hint of pineapple flavor, great fresh or baked) and Orleans Reinette (complex flavors of nutmeg spice and citrus, great for baking, fresh eating and cider) from Scott Farm in Dummerston, VT. Eco-certified.

• Baer’s Best Beans - Black Turtle, Italian Cranberry, and Cannellini are Certified Organic. Bumblebee and Black Coco are not organic. Grown by Charley Baer in South Berwick, ME.

• Raspberry Vinegar Infusion and Raspberry Jam from Silferleaf Farm in Concord, MA. Certified Organic.

Homemade Pumpkin Purée

Adapted from The Pioneer Woman

Ingredients

• 1 pie pumpkin

Instructions

1. Cut the pumpkin in half. Using a spoon or a scoop, scrape out the seeds and pulp from the center. You don't have to be too thorough with this.

2. Reserve all of the seeds in a separate bowl. Repeat until both halves are largely free of seeds and pulp.

3. Place the pumpkin pieces on a baking sheet (face up or face down; I've done both) and roast in a 350°F oven until the pumpkin is fork- tender, 45 minutes. They should be nice and light golden brown when done.

4. Peel off the skin from the pumpkin pieces until you have a big pile of the stuff. If you have a food processor, throw in a few chunks at a time. A blender will work, too, if you add a little water. Or you can simply mash it up with a potato masher, or move it through a potato ricer, or process it through a food mill.

5. Pulse the pumpkin until smooth. If it looks too dry, add in a few tablespoons of water during the pulsing to give it the needed moisture. (Note, if the puree is overly watery, you should strain it over cheesecloth or a fine-mesh strainer to get rid of some of the liquid.)

6. Dump the pureed goodness into a bowl, and continue pureeing until all the pumpkin is done.

7. You can either use this immediately in whatever pumpkin recipe you'd like or store it in the freezer for later use.

8. To store in the freezer, spoon about 1 cupful of pumpkin into each plastic storage bag. Seal the bag with just a tiny bit of an opening remaining, then use your hands to flatten out the pumpkin inside the bag and push out the air. Store them in the freezer until you need them.

Pumpkin Soup

from Recipe Tin Eats

Ingredients

• 2.4 lb pumpkin

• 1 onion, sliced

• 2 garlic cloves, peeled whole

• 3 cups vegetable or chicken broth/stock , low sodium

• 1 cup water

• Salt and pepper

• 1/2 – 3/4 cup cream (for finishing)

Instructions

• Cut the pumpkin into 2.25" slices. Cut the skin off and scrape seeds out Cut into 1.5" chunks.

• Place the pumpkin, onion, garlic, broth and water in a pot – liquid won't quite cover all the pumpkin. Bring to a boil, uncovered, then reduce heat and let simmer rapidly until pumpkin is tender (check with butter knife) – about 10 minutes.

• Remove from heat and use a stick blender to blend until smooth (Note 3 for blender).

• Season to taste with salt and pepper, stir through cream (never boil soup after adding cream, cream will split). 

• Ladle soup into bowls, drizzle over a bit of cream, sprinkle with pepper and parsley if desired. Serve with crusty bread!

Braised White Beans and Greens With Parmesan

By Lidey Heuck, from NY Times Cooking

Ingredients

• ¼ cup olive oil

• 1 small fennel bulb, trimmed, cored and small-diced

• 1 small yellow onion, small-diced

• 2 teaspoons minced fresh rosemary or thyme

• 5 garlic cloves, minced

• ¼ teaspoon red-pepper flakes, plus more to taste

• 1 large or 2 small bunches escarole, kale or Swiss chard, stems removed (10 to 12 ounces)

• 2 (15-ounce) cans cannellini beans, rinsed

• 2 cups low-sodium vegetable or chicken broth

• Kosher salt and black pepper

• 1 tablespoon lemon juice

• ½ cup shredded mozzarella (optional)

• 3 tablespoons grated Parmesan or Pecorino Romano, plus more for serving

• Toasted country bread, for serving

Preparation

1. In a 12-inch skillet or Dutch oven, heat the olive oil over medium. Add the fennel, onion and rosemary, and cook for 4 to 6 minutes, stirring occasionally, until tender. Add the garlic and red-pepper flakes and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute.

2. Begin adding handfuls of the greens, cooking and stirring until leaves wilt.

3. Add the white beans, broth and ¼ teaspoon black pepper, and stir to combine. Bring to a boil, then turn the heat to low and simmer, mashing some of the beans with a wooden spoon, until the liquid has reduced and thickened, 6 to 8 minutes.

4. Off the heat, stir in the lemon juice, then the mozzarella, if using, and Pecorino Romano. Taste and season with salt and pepper. Divide among shallow bowls and top with more Pecorino Romano. Serve with toasted bread and a dish of red-pepper flakes on the side.

The frost last week fortunately didn’t damage our high tunnel peppers or Sakura cherry tomatoes!