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Beautiful early Fall scene on the farm, looking West towards Sandy Mush Bald.
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News from the farm...
It is cover crop time! Through mud and with sustained effort over the last few weeks, we have gotten all the drip lines, weight bags and landscape fabric out of our empty fields.The rain has held off and we were able to mow and turn under any crop residue. Today we're out spreading the seeds that will grow the plants that will feed our soil microbes that will feed next year's plants. We use a combination of winter wheat for it's great fiborous root system that breaks up our clay soils, it's quick growth and it's biomass, and two legumes, Austrian winter peas, with its deep tap roots and ability to fix nitrogen and crimson clover, also a nitrogen fixer and biomass producer.
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I got a question at market last week about how long we would be going to market and using up CSA credit. No need to worry. If things go as planned, we will be attending market and taking pre-orders until December 18th. We have a good amount of storage crops in our barn, winter squash, potatoes and onions, about 10 beds out in the field of beets and carrots and we are still sowing and planting lettuces, radishes, turnips and spinach.
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PLEASE NOTE: NEW pick times at Cecilia's Kitchen are from 9am until 11am. This is shorter by half an hour. It might not seem like much but it is will make a big difference to our hard working crew.
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Below: from the top left, crimson clover, Austrian winter pea and winter wheat.
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What's Available This Week
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We are back into lettuce and lettuce mix. Plenty of sweet delicious and versatile red Itaiian and bell peppers this week. Also jalapenos, poblanos. For greens we have kales, collards and Swiss chard. Onions, red, yellow and sweet. Potatoes: coming to the end of the yellow potatoes but plenty of reds, pinto gold, blue. Next week we'll have my favorite variety, a white variety called green mountain. Winter squash, mini honey nut butternuts, red kabocha, spaghetti squash and everyone's favorite, delicata. There's not enough eggplant out there to list on the website but we are likely to have a few pints at market. The basil is still going strong and we have a good deal on a 1 lb bag so you can put up all the pesto you'd like. The dahlias are loving these cooler nights and continue to put out buckets and buckets of blooms. Only about a month until our typical first frost, and then we'll have to wait until next spring to enjoy our beautiful flowers. I hope you can take time to enjoy them now.
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Alex (with Charlie on board, can't see him though) discing in the winter cover crop seed.
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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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“A recipe has no soul. You, as the cook, must bring soul to the recipe.” Thomas Keller
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KALE AND PECORINO CROSTINI – from a 2010 Bon Appétit.
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1 bunch of kale – around 14 ounces
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12 ½ inch thick diagonal baguette slices
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6 tablespoons olive oil, divided
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3 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
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2 oil packed anchovy fillets, chopped
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1 ounce Pecorino cheese, shaved with a vegetable peeler
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Cut and discard the center stems in the kale and put it in a pot of boiling water and cook until just tender but still bright green, 3 or 4 minutes. Coarsely chop kale.
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Preheat your oven to 400F. Arrange the baguette slices on a rimmed baking sheet. Brush slices on topside with 2 tablespoons of the olive oil and sprinkle with a bit of salt and pepper. Bake until brown. About 10 or 12 minutes. The kale and bread can be done in advance and kept at room temperature.
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Heat remaining olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Add garlic and anchovies, stir 1 minute. Add the kale and cook until it is heated through, 3 or 4 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
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Mound the kale on the bread and top with the cheese and serve.
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Substitute for anchovy. Chopped Kalamata olives. Capers. Worcestershire sauce, fish sauce or capers.
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Next year's fertility in the form of potentiality
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Love the flowers. Honor the vegetables. Let the weeds go!
Your farmers, Vanessa and Alex
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