CSA WEEK #20: OCTOBER 4 & 6

• Beets
• Carrots
• Celeriac
• Corn
• Kale
• Onions
• Peppers
• Winter Squash, Delicata

Share Notes

Beets: The beets in the share this week are the first harvest of one of our new trial varieties. I am curious to know what folks think of the flavor, texture, and color. So far they have passed the field-test; they look great in the field, are yielding well, have a nice shape and uniformity, and display a lot of overall vigor. Although I really like growing beets, I don’t eat them horribly often so to me a beet is kind of a beet. If we have any beet lovers in the crowd, put that discerning taste in beets to the test and tell us what you think.  

Corn: I think late sweet corn is a real treat and although most of us consider it a definite summer crop, its SO GOOD with savory Fall flavors like carrots and celeriac. Corn chowder immediately comes to mind…or a corn, pepper, and Delicata roast! The only downside is that I think you are very likely to find those pesky corn borers in the tips. As insurance, you could just chop the tip of the ear off before you shuck the ear- and then you never have to know!

Peppers: We are just having the toughest time trying to harvest any sizable amount of ripe fruit from our pepper field this season. The plants are lush and beautiful, and loaded down with huge fruit…pure green fruit. When we see rains in the forecast, we pick our field slightly under-ripe and allow the fruits to finish coloring up in storage- they taste great and look lovely once they’re fully red or gold. This allows us to avoid the inevitable proliferation of rot that happens to peppers when the weather turns wet; when you try and let the fruit turn 100% ripe on the plant, what you often end up with is a mostly rotten pepper instead of a beautiful red fruit. At any rate, I suspect that we will have to continue this trend for the remainder of the peppers’ lives in order to try and continue to glean what fruit we can from the field. 

We are excited to be offering a Winter Share again this season. As farmers we love all the roots, squashes, cabbages and hardy greens of the Winter. Please join us if you do too! We are selling a limited number of shares (about 60), so don’t miss the chance to continue to eat locally & deliciously from December 2016 to March 2017. 

Number of Deliveries: 7

Price: $560 (one share size)

The Bounty: beets, braising greens, cabbage, carrots, celeriac, chicories, herbs, kale, kohlrabi, leeks, onions, parsnips, potatoes, pie pumpkins, radish, rutabaga, turnips, shallots & numerous varieties of winter squash (butternut, delicata, acorn & kabocha varieties)

Quantity: approximately 30 pounds per delivery, most of the crops can store for many weeks in your refrigerator or root cellar.

Delivery Dates:

• December 15 & 29 
• January 12 & 26 
• February 9 & 23  
• March 9