Big news: TWO more weeks of CSA after this (for a total of 21 weeks, not 20 like I thought last week)! So Tuesday people, your last pick-up will be Tues. Nov 1st, and Saturday people, your last pick-up will be Sat. Nov. 5. That last Sat pick-up will be a the INDOOR winter market at Bldg. 50 at the Commons (Sat. 10 a.m.-2 p.m.). Also- Garlic Planting and End-of-Season Potluck: Friday Nov. 4. Everyone invited!
In Your Share This Week:
Fairy Squash: Its deep yellow-orange flesh has a dense, smooth texture and sweet taste that is unbelievably delicious and rich. It is one the earliest winter squash borne on long, vigorous, rambling vines. It is disease-resistant, particularly to powdery mildew, and stores well into the winter. Extremely versatile, Fairy is exceptional baked, roasted or steamed, and is perfect in either savory or sweet recipes. (description lifted from Kitchen Garden Seeds)
Onions - a mix of yellow and red storage onions
Garlic- this week: soft-neck garlic. Note the multiple layers of smaller cloves, compared to the single layer of larger cloves on the hardneck garlic you've been getting. Softneck garlic has a reputation for storing longer than hardneck, but the trade-off is more time spent peeling cloves. What's your pref?
Leeks- These elegant relatives of onions can be used any way you'd use an onion, but they really shine in Potato-Leek Soup and in Baked Leeks with Goat Cheese (one of my fave ways to prepare them). Did you know that the leek is a national symbol of Wales? It's associated with St. David, patron saint of Wales, who ordered his soldiers to wear the leek on their helmets in a battle against the hated pagan Saxon invaders of Britain. The battle itself is also said to have taken place in a field full of leeks.
Potatoes- Either Kennebec or Katahdin, both white-fleshed, white-skinned, and excellent in soup or fried.
Either Hakurei Turnips or White Carrots: It's the Week of the White Vegetable evidently ;). Hakurei turnips are like no other- sweet, mild, tender, and delicious tender greens to boot. I eat them raw like apples, or grated over salad, or cut into matchsticks. OR roasted OR boiled for turnip soup. They're about as versatile as a vegetable can get. White carrots- same thing! This is a variety called Creme de Lite (I know, it's hard to take a vegetable -or anything- seriously that has the word "lite" in its name, but give it a try)- it tastes sweet, looks funny, and is excellent raw or cooked- I like to include them sliced on a veggie platter and watch people try to figure out what they are.
Cherry Tomatoes- more little sweeties! The field-grown plants are still producing, believe it or not, though slowing down, and the hoophouse plants KEEP on giving! I *think* we'll still have tomatoes next week - a record for CSA at Birch Point, if not for all of northern MI!
Heirloom Tomatoes- I've been so pleased with all the heirlooms we grew this year. Despite a slow, late start, they all produced like mad toward the end of their normal growing season, and WAY beyond, thanks to the lack of frost (so far!). My favorites have to be Crnkovic (light pink, large, similar to Brandywine, but fewer super-weird shaped fruits, and less cracking) and Striped German (mammoth yellow fruits with pink starbursts on the bottom and pink streaks- the silkiest-textured tomato yet, in my opinion). What have been your favorites this season? Your feedback will help inform our seed order next year!
Italian Parsley- flavorful, flat-leaved parsley to go with your potatoes, tomatoes, or anything else you like. If you can't use it this week, parsley freezes well for use in soups, etc. later- just pop into a ziploc bag and freeze. Voila.
Either Arugula or Spinach- for salad or to toss with hot cheesy pasta, or anything else you like to do with baby greens!
Announcements:
1. GARLIC PLANTING and End of Season Potluck: Friday Nov. 4! We'll start planting and mulching early, around 3 p.m. and continue til we're done, OR til 6 p.m, whichever comes first. We'll press apples for cider in the barn, and share food in the house afterward. Come for any or all- you DON'T have to plant garlic to come to the party! Everyone invited, all ages and abilities welcome.
2. honey still available
3. A few Thanksgiving shares still available
4. Winter Shares in the form of declining-balance accounts, with 10% interest on your investment, still available
That's it for this week!
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