Sunday, November 11
New this week:
Purple Top Turnips, Napa Cabbage (limited amount), Brussels Sprouts (limited amount), Beets, Pink Lady Apples (conventional), Baby Red Russian Kale, Buckskin Pie Pumpkins
Turkey, Pork Breakfast Sausage Patties, Chorizo Sasage, Beef Stew Meat
Turkey!! Turkey's are raised by Andre Faul, of Faul Riverside Family Farm, the same Andre who has been suppling those beautiful chickens. They will be heading your way on Tuesday November 20th and will be fresh. Please leave a cooler out for us to deliver on Tuesday and for those picking up, feel free to come anytime Tuesday or Wednesday. The White Broad Breasted breed is a standard market breed, and has been fed a non GMO diet and were rotated on pasture every three days. We are expecting them to be quite delicious!
Bacon. In addition to the Turkeys, Andre has raised a few pigs this years and is able to offer their bacon to us.
Sweet Potatoes and Butternut Squash are supplied by Rootbound Farm. They are certified Organic and located in Crestwood, KY.
The Apples are from Mulberry Orchard in Shelbyville, KY and are grown Conventionally (meaning, to be clear, they have been sprayed with non-organic sprays during their management). The Pink Lady variety is crisp and sweet with a slight tang--great for fresh eating.
Garlic is from A Place on Earth Farm, another Henry County farm. Courtney and Carden have been running their CSA for 14 years and have been a staple in the local food scene.
There are a couple items with limits this week due to a smaller-than-expected harvest, the Napa Cabbage and Brussels Sprouts.
Finally, here is this week's order form
+ Delivery for this order is WEDNESDAY. Expect us sometime between 4-7pm.
+ Please complete this order by MONDAY night so we can order bread and then harvest on Tuesday.
+ Remember, you are ordering for two weeks.
+ And please remember to set out a couple coolers so everything can stay crisp until you get home.
+ Fruit and Veg storage tips and refrigerator organization
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Pictured above: Turkeys on Andre's farm
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--Farm Update--
Lots of details! Please read thoroughly.
Ending One Season and Continuing on to the Next in the CSA
OK, we have reached the final order period of the "Fall Season"! We will all take one week off after Thanksgiving, and the "Winter Season" will start with a December 5th delivery. Please send us email to indicate that you would like to continue with the CSA through the winter. We're looking forward to lots of frost sweetened greens, lettuce mix, carrots and all those wonderful storage crops like sweet potatoes and winter squash. Valley Spirit recently processed a couple of cows and pigs, so we'll be in good supply with a diverse protein list, including some sheep that are finishing up to offer lamb in the mix! We will continue with the same bi-weekly delivery through the end of March.
If you choose to not join us for the winter season, I'll speak for all of us and say we have been so glad to grow and provide for you and your family!
Thanksgiving--Delivery and Turkeys // November 20th delivery
Everything you order tomorrow will be delivered on Wednesday, the only exception being your turkey! They will be heading your way on Tuesday November 20th and will be fresh. Please leave a cooler out for us to deliver on Tuesday and for those picking up, feel free to come anytime Tuesday or Wednesday. It will be fresh (not frozen) so you should be able to get working on it right away. :)
Further, we expect that all the veggies will stay fresh for all your Thanksgiving cooking. If you need some tips, don't forget to check the above link for best storage practices for all your veggies (name of the game is to help those greens retain their moisture!) Try to order what you'll need for your Thanksgiving cooking on this order form. But, feel free to reach out if you discover you need extra of something and we'll do our best to get it to you on Tuesday with the turkey.
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--Recipes--
All About Thanksgiving
What a holiday: a day all about giving thanks for the abundance of the the earth and all those who bring food to the table. We are especially grateful for Andre and his family for their commitment to raising high quality poultry, including the turkeys that will be gracing our tables this year.
I suspect every household has their own unique Thanksgiving traditions and probably has unique preferences for what this meal should be and how it should all turn out. I don't want to step on too many toes here, but here are a handful of resources to help, remind, or inspire you in the kitchen this season.
This article from the New York Times gets tips and recommendations from lots of the best chefs around NYC. The consensus, it seems, is to break the turkey down and roast each piece until its perfect level of doneness. The Splendid Table has a running countdown to their Thanksgiving episode, "Turkey Confidential," which I'm sure will be full of great ideas and tips for pulling off your holiday celebration. Thomas Keller, known for among others things, has his "Perfect Roast Chicken." He applies many of the same strategies for roasting a turkey as he does for chicken. But I also find little cooking reminders from Keller helpful.
Finally, a couple videos from both Gordon Ramsay and America's test kitchen (see below) . Once you watch, and consider the articles, you'll notice there are lots of methods for preparing your perfect turkey. I'd just underscore the tip from Gabrielle Hamilton who says, "recognize the limits of your time and interests in making a particular part of the meal." In other words, I think she's saying to do what feels good; trust yourself in the kitchen; it's going to be epic no matter what. And if all else fails, we're in Kentucky, there's plenty of bourbon to go around! |
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Love love love all the butter and bacon going on in this situation. It certainly isn't traditional in my family to go this route, but he's sure making a good case for a tradition change!
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Bucking the suggestions of all those famous NYC chefs, the test kitchen suggests that perfect Normal Rockwell turkey is within reach.
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Your Valley Spirit Farmers!
Caleb, Kelly, Judah & Rebekah Fiechter on the left. Joseph, Abbie, Ruth and Angus Monroe on the right.
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And from Pink Elephant Farm & Kitchen, Jenny Vaughn and Justin Owings.
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As a reminder, this is all new to all of us. Please feel free to reach out at any time with any and all questions or concerns. We want this to be a highly positive experience for all of us, and a big part of ensuring this is keeping the communication and feedback lines always open. Let us know what's going on--what you liked, what you cooked, how veggies are storing and holding up for you, etc..
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