CSA Newsletter #16 - September 25, 2021

 

Yes, this week summer left on Tuesday and fall arrived with a bit of a vengeance the next day. Here, branches of Black Walnut, a lone Cottonwood, a Box Elder, an Oak, and Mulberry tree all get tossed about in Wednesday's wind, while the chickens remain nonplussed:

Your share has landed firmly into fall, but with one toe still in summer, as you'll see.  Here's the scoop:

SWEET POTATOES - Some of these spuds have been speared in the digging process but we trimmed them and the cuts have cured and healed. They are good to go; you can always cut off a bit from the trimmed end. As was chronicled in last week's CSA newsletter, sweet potatoes grow underground and you really can't see them when digging.  The crew did a great job but it's almost impossible not to spear a few spuds. The alternative would be to get one of these commercial sweet potato harvesters!

This would probably completely fill one of our rows!

We appreciate that we can share with our members these less-than-perfect specimens, products of human-scaled labor. That's what we eat, and we made Chili with Sweet Potatoes this week. Hit the spot as the temps turned cool. 

We also roasted some sweet potatoes; we like to add cinnamon and/or cumin - or both!

The sweet potato sizes vary; some of you got the biggest ones - just cut off and use as much as you want; store the remaining in the fridge. Otherwise, they do not need to be refrigerated, as long as you'll use them up in a week or two.

BUTTERNUT SQUASH - Roasted or in soup, butternut squash is one of the most versatile of the winter squash. 

CARROTS 

ONIONS

GARLIC

BEANS - are back! This is our last patch for this season, and, although the cool nights are slowing the growth, the beans are pretty happy so far. Don't know if we can say the same for the bean pickers :-)

HERB - possibly parsley or dill

CURLY KALE - Lately we have been featuring summer kale salad recipes with peaches and other fruit; now it's time for a heartier kale salad. This dish is almost a meal in itself; add a hunk of good bread and you're good to go! 

Hearty Kale Salad with Chipotle Pecan Pesto

The rest of the share will be a surprise in terms of how the harvest goes. But it won't be a surprise in terms of a veggie variety - no cardoons in this week's share!

Notes from the farm, and Hollywood:

We mostly stayed out of the fields on windy, wet Wednesday, but had no wiggle room for the Thursday and Friday harvest days. The crew donned their wet suits and headed out to the kale patch. (thanks to neighbor Tom Hines for photos)

Ashleh harvesting kale -  suited up and still smiling

Edwin, collards, light rain, also smiling!

Hoods up harvesting!

More summer-into-fall scenes on the farm:

These bouquets were over a week old and were on their way to the compost pile but...

...this bee decided there was still plenty to work with here. The flowers stayed!

The turning colors of the leaves are still subtle at the pond; blue sky not so subtle!

Puffball mushrooms appear on the path this time of year. Puffballs are known as the "tofu" of mushrooms and to be honest we probably won't cook this one, not when shiitake mushrooms are abundant from our own logs (trying not to sound smug :-) But it's always kind of magical to find these large dome-shaped fungi - almost seeming to appear overnight.

Emily found a beautiful specimen of a mushroom known as "chicken-in-the-woods" -

 

and turned it into this delicious soup!

Did you know you can get a variety of fresh, locally grown mushrooms from a vendor at the A2 Farmers Market? (if you can't find any yourself - but always definitely i.d. your mushrooms!)

More from Frog Hollerwood: The trailer for The Tragedy of MacBeth, co-starring Francis McDormand, was not available when Ms. McDormand's latest project was mentioned in last week's newsletter. The trailer became available this week and strikes a somber and dramatic note. The film, although not in theaters until December, will lead off the New York Film Festival on Sept. 24, and no doubt there will be "buzz" until its wide release.

And if you're wondering what Francis McDormand has to do with Frog Holler Farm - our farm family member and Edwin's partner, Emily Foley, has worked closely with Ms. McDormand for several years. We are happy to "loan" Emily to whatever project takes her on location! As we mentioned last week, Emily was not involved in the MacBeth production, but just finished a project with Ms. McDormand that will emerge eventually from the editing room. Stay tuned!

and back to the farm....

Trees preparing to don their fall finery

Have a great week everyone!