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Fall colors on the farm. It matches our tractor!
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News from the farm...
We have about ten more days with our full crew, so we are trying to cross off some big projects before they head out. The overwintering onions and leeks got planted on Monday. Today we are tackling taking down the tomato vines from our high tunnels. They have been in the ground since April, producing since June and it is time to let them go. First, we pick all the good sized green fruit. They will ripen over the next month or so, giving us tomatoes well into November. They don't taste as awesome as that mid-summer tomato but they still beat the grocery store variety. Then we take off all the clips from the vines, about 10-15 per vine. We save these for next season. We pull up the plants. We don't put these in the compost pile as any diseases on them might survive the composting process. They go to the burn pile. We cut the used strings, and voila! the beds are ready to be composted, amended with a little fertilizer, forked, raked to shape and then planted with their next crop, our over wintering flowers like snapdragons, campanula, feverfew, and ranunculus!
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Next Wednesday, October 28, will be our last River Arts District Farmers Market and the last time to pre-order for Wednesday pick up at the RAD market and the farm. As I mentioned, our crew is heading out for new adventures and we won't have the people to do both markets. We will be offering pre-order pick up on Saturdays at the North Asheville Tailgate Market, at Cecilia's Kitchen and at the farm until Saturday, December 19. Cecilia's is an easy to get to, laid back, socially-distanced pick up experience, for any of you who haven't been there. Hopefully we'll be seeing some of you Wednesday folks on Saturdays in November and December. We are so grateful for your support and business over these last 6 months!
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Below: Plastic ground cover is up and vines picked clean of tomatoes, and below that, about half way done.
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What's Available This Week
Beautiful bunches of beets and delicious sweet carrots. Broccoli is in the online store and going fast. For kale, we have green, red ursa and have added siberian. Siberian kale is like a wilder cousin of green kale, a little closer to a mustard green in flavor and texture. Collards are back in the online store. Rainbow Swiss chard. Nice lush bunches of cilantro. Jalapeno peppers. Plenty of big heads of cabbage, great for eating fresh, cooking and your fall fermenting projects! Lots of head lettuce and lettuce mix. For winter squash, we have full sized and convenient, mini butternuts, angel hair and regular spaghetti squash, and two kinds of kabocha, winter sweet, a lovely grey green squash with dark orange, dry flesh and sunshine, with bright orange skin and flesh that is not quite as dry as winter sweet. Green Mountain and pinto gold potatoes. This is likely one of last weeks for mixed bouquets. The dahlias we might have for a little longer. Honey and don't forget about the popcorn!
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John's Recipe of the Week
John Loyd is our dear friend, neighbor, CSA worker member and a gourmet Southern cook. His delightful cooking observations and delicious recipes offerings appear here each week.
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“Cooking well does not mean cooking fancy.” Julia Child
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Lots of carrots are on their way. We plan to get a fair amount and eat them throughout the cold months.
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Carrots will keep in the refrigerator for months and the variety Alex and Vanessa grow (bolero) is a storage type and actually gets sweeter with storage. Wrap them in a paper towel and place them in a plastic bag and use the smallest ones first. Excess moisture will cause them to rot, so keep an eye on them.
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Carrots can be frozen after cutting them up any way you like and blanching them from 3 to five minutes according to how big they have been cut. They will keep about 9 months or so before quality begins to drop off.
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GINGER CANDIED CARROTS – “The Silver Palate Cookbook” If I could only have one cookbook, this would be it. This recipe sort of turns the carrots into a desert, but there’s nothing wrong with that. Serves 6
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12 medium-size carrots, peeled and cut into 1-inch lengths
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4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
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1-½ teaspoons ground ginger
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Place carrot pieces in a saucepan and add cold water to cover. Cook carrots until tender, 25 to 30 minutes.
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Melt butter in a saucepan. Add brown sugar, ginger and caraway seeds. Mix and set aside.
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When carrots are done, drain and return to the pot. Pour butter mixture over them and cook over low heat for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Serve immediately.
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Don’t forget the greens. They are good on salad. Our chickens prize them as well.
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Below: Lettuce mix growing for our November and December markets
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Love the flowers. Honor the vegetables. Let the weeds go!
Your farmers, Vanessa and Alex
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