This week you will enjoy:
| Beets: baby mix | 4 lbs |
| Carrots: yaya | 4 lbs |
| Garlic | 3 heads |
| Leeks | 6 each |
| Onions: cortland | 6 each |
| Potatoes: Russet & Purple | 8 lbs |
| Radicchio | 2 heads |
| Turnips | 4 lbs |
| Winter Squash: long pie | 1 each |
Crop Notes
- Baby Beet Mix: A festive mixture of red, heirloom chioggia, and gold beets. The petite size lends itself well to roasting or steaming whole or halved.
- Carrots: Yaya! Thats the name of the orange carrots in the share. These rode through the two cold snaps we’ve had since November in the fields. Root crops benefit greatly from a little extra cold right at the end of their maturation- they turn the extra starches into sugars. The higher sugar content in the cells essentially acts as antifreeze for the plants…and results in a great tasting root!
- Garlic: The garlic in your share is a softneck variety called Nootka Rose. Softneck garlic is known for its mild flavor and storage capability, but this variety has a little extra kick. The seed for this fantastic Pacific Northwest heirloom garlic came from our friend Avram of Garlicana Farm in southern Oregon.
- Long Pie Pumpkin: This unique pumpkin is also known as a Nantucket Pie Pumpkin and hails from Maine circa the mid 1800’s. It is harvested green in the late summer and slowly ripens to a brilliant orange in storage. Local area Organic farmers widely agree that this is hands-down one of the best pie pumpkins out there, and they even had a pie bake-off to prove it! We love it because it was a great producer, stores well, and has a very small center cavity…leaving you with lots of stringless, tasty pumpkin. Not only great for pies- try it roasted or feature it in a spicy Thai curry.
- Purple Majesty Potatoes: This is the darkest purple potato available, inside and out. It will hold its lovely, fun color through cooking and makes one of the best-looking pots of mashed potatoes you’ll ever find. Not only do these spuds look great, they pack about twice as much Anthocyanidins (most widely know for their antioxidant properties) as any other produce, putting these right at the top of the list for ‘superfoods’. The skins on this variety oftentimes exhibit ‘russeting’, giving them a golden/tan sheen that is perfectly normal and edible.
- Turnips: You will find either Purple Top or Gilfeather turnips in your share. They cook up the same, and are both well-loved heirloom varieties. Gilfeather is a welcome new addition to our crop collection, and the Purple Top have essentially naturalized themselves in one of our fields after going to seed several winters ago. Cultivation brings new seeds to the surface where they germinate and begin to grow. This year they grew up right in between our winter squash beds and did great!
Storage Notes
Although onions and potatoes enjoy very similar storage conditions in a cool, dark, dry, well-ventilated place- they don’t necessarily enjoy each others company. If you intend to store your potatoes or onions for extended periods of time, you will have better success if they are somewhat separated rather than right next to each other or in the same box. The reason is that both crops slowly emit gasses (as do all fruits and vegetables) over time. The gasses emitted from onions can cause premature sprouting in potatoes, and potato gasses can rot onions.