CSA Newsletter - Oct. 10, 2020 - Week 18

Fall is here!

But your share hasn't given up summer yet! In your last box is a combo of the seasons:

LETTUCE

RADISHES 

CARROTS

GREEN PEPPERS

TOMATOES

KOHLRABI

RED ONION - SWEET POTATOES

GARLIC

RUTABAGA - POTATOES

Rutabaga in left lower corner, next to garlic and red onion, behind sweet potatoes, below potatoes
 - all in your share!

Most of these photos were taken at our market stall last Saturday. We hope you will come visit us at our stall (#19-20) for the remainder of the season. Online orders will also continue as long as we have produce - pickup at the stall, curbside at the market, or at the farm.

All market photos by Donya (pictured above)

RECIPE TIPS

We had radish sandwiches this week - so simple but uniquely satisfying. Quick too! Start with some good dense bread; we had a hearty rye loaf. Spread with good butter. Place slices of radishes on bread. Eat!

We also added radish greens to a stir-fry. When the greens are young and tender like the ones in your share, they are very edible AND nutritious!

We had a classic fall dinner with roasted potatoes, roasted brussels sprouts, and roasted sweet potatoes and carrots. We topped it all off with a vegan gravy, from a recipe provided by one of our members, Jude. 

Basic Vegan Gravy: 2 T butter or plant-based butter; 2 T flour - roast briefly in pan. 1 T. cornstarch; 1 and 1/2 c. veggie broth - stir into flour/butter. 2 T soy sauce; 1 T. nutritional yeast - add last. Stir over medium heat until thickened. 

CSA member Jude was getting ready to make pasties and they are a perfect fall dish. Use your garlic, onion, sweet potatoes, potatoes - some combination thereof, but most important, add the rutabaga for the classic pasty flavor. This recipe from Jamie Oliver for My Veggie Pasties, adds a British twist, calling the rutabaga a "swede". You'll find that name for rutabagas in many old gardening books.

SCENES FROM THE FARM

For this last official CSA newsletter, we'll give a bit of a recap on farm crew and doin's. But First...ta dah..or should we say cock-a-doodle-doo!? The winner of the Feathered Fun Crossword Puzzle contest is Jackie Creager! Jackie is a long-time Frog Holler friend and CSA member and she will pick up her prized dozen eggs at our market stall. Thanks to all of you who had fun with the puzzle!

Thelma says Congratulations Jackie!

As we wind down the season, there are many tasks geared toward cleaning up the fields from this year and preparing for the next. At this time of year, when we are finished harvesting a field, we plant cover crops to replenish the soil, add organic matter, and provide a setting resistant to soil erosion.

Here Billy King spreads buckwheat cover crop using the hand crank spreader.

Here is the young buckwheat sprouting. No more rows!

We squeaked through a couple of frosty nights and protected the vulnerable crops through a combination of covering and running the sprinklers all night. So far so good! But remember those tiny lettuce seedlings we crossed our fingers and set a few weeks back?

Well we thought those babies needed some longterm protection so we covered the entire patch one afternoon. 

It takes a lot of digging and scooping, but hopefully we'll have salad mix in November!

All tucked in

Emily and next-door neighbor Sandy have started keeping bees this year, trading sessions with each other's hive. As you may have heard, bee populations are under challenge due to loss of habitat and invasive pests. Even if you can't have a hive in your backyard, you can plant and encourage pollinators to provide the bees with nectar and nourishment. 

Happy because they won't get stung in this gear!

And here is our honeybee hive haven:

We won't take honey this first year so the bees get strong and fat through the winter!

The flower garden is right by the bee hive so the bees have lots of yummy flowers to visit:

Fall is a time to forage for mushrooms and we recently found this humongous puff ball:

The knife shows the relative size.

Well, the puffball was a tad too mature for good eating but it did make a perfect turban!

Hail Cale, King of the Mushrooms!

Cale and Ashleh, who have made it through a second season on the Frog Holler crew, and in fine spirits to boot, will be moving soon to a place that will give them a lot more room to practice their respective arts. And as the farm season winds down, they will have more a lot more time as well as room. 

Ashleh is a silversmith, and we highlighted some of her beautiful jewelry in a previous newsletter. One example:

The stone on this pendant is a Cherry Creek Jasper

.
Cale carves unique wooden spoons, such as:

All from foraged wood - some from Frog Holler!

You can see more of Asleh's beautiful creations, as well as Cale's exquisite hand-carved spoons, at their Etsy shop, accessed by Caveandcanopy.com. If you are thinking of holiday gifts, consider supporting these fine artisan farmers!

Crew member Keegen is also moving - actually he took possession of his new house this week! Many of you know that the housing market has become very competitive. It wasn't easy and Keegen had some disappointments in his search, but he persevered and and now gets to deep clean, make repairs, and do all those good homeowner chores!

Keegen will be smelling the roses in his own backyard!

Crew member Milan has been living in town for a month and is loving her tutoring job.  Here is a science experiment she put together with a stalk of celery and some food coloring.

Look at that osmosis/transpiration go!

And here is Milan in her new apt. with a really big chair!

Om sweet home

Well, time moves on, the seasons change, the leaves turn. In this tree-filled area of the state it is almost dizzying to see the latest color splash surprises:

And while the crew is moving on, they have made a connection to the farm through the soil and their toil, and through friendships forged in shared experiences, shared dedication. The fruits of their labor have landed in your share boxes and our hope is that the newsletter has given you a peek into the stories behind the box. We couldn't have done it without crew; we couldn't have done it without you! We're grateful to live on this beautiful piece of land that has allowed us to coax some crops from the soil while learning to be good stewards. We're sorry we couldn't share the land with the community this year, but look forward to a time when gathering at the farm will feel comfortable, normal, and healing! Until then, thank you to all who joined us in the adventure of CSA 2020 - be well, stay safe, and we'll be in touch!

Freya says have a great Fall everyone!