Sunday, December 2
It's the first delivery for the Winter Season! I know we shouldn't talk favorites, but think I speak for all of us in saying that the Winter Season might be the best season. We grow in High Tunnels and protect outside plantings with row covers for a winter harvest, but the colder temperatures of winter work to concentrate and intensify the sugars of the vegetables. You might notice the root veggies and leafy veggies are substantially sweeter than the other seasons.
Additionally, we have plenty of those stored pantry staples that are often used as a base to our meals--meats, potatoes, sweet potatoes, squashes, and other root vegetables. And look out for Lamb before Christmas.
**Special note on milk: As for milk, our girls are set to calve in April. We will be drying them off soon to let their bodies rest and recover from their lactation before (hopefully) giving us a healthy calf in the Spring. We feel this seasonal schedule is best for the cows (and the farmers). It mimics the grass season, and puts the least demand on the cow while she is eating hay. As of now, milk will be available through Christmas.
A few notes on the veggies:
"Bunching Arugula" is just a more mature version of baby arugula. At this more mature stage is best cooked--tossed with pasta, made into a pesto, or thrown on a pizza. It's maturity can hold up to some light cooking.
"Cooking Spinach" again, similar to bunching arugula, this is just a larger, more mature spinach leaf. It's going to require a de-stemming and chopping before cooking.
Celery comes in two colors, the standard green and a special purple variety. The purple celery is an Italian heirloom variety that we've really been enjoying. Both of these celery varieties are so good right now--the green is so sweet and the purple one is taking on a fennel-like flavor. Both can used exactly like store bought celery.
Sweet Potatoes and Butternut Squash are from Rootbound Farm and are Certified Organic.
Garlic is from A Place on Earth Farm, another Henry County CSA farm. Our garlic was a bust this year, unfortunately, and Carden and Courtney we're able to help us out.
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 Monday and then harvest on Tuesday.
+ Remember, you are ordering for two weeks.
+ And please remember to set out a couple of coolers so everything can stay crisp until you get home.
+ Finally, we've found theses storage and organization tips to be helpful in keeping track of all the kitchen happenings--Fruit and Veg storage tips and refrigerator organization
Pictured above, Mallory, Jenny, Myself, and Alma (and Henry our dog) got to go on a post-Thanksgiving holiday walk in the woods. We made our to Clifty Falls to catch the sights and a little RnR as they say. Below is a high tunnel full of veggies and the other is of Hershey and Clementine eating some of the first hay this winter.
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--Recipes--
Most everyone in the CSA this season has been in it at least once before. So you'll recall we usually have a recipe section that more or less talks about cooking and eating.
I thought I'd take a minute to just compile some of the cook books we've found really fun and helpful as we've cooked through the seasons with the CSA.
The most recent infatuation has been with Salt, Acid, Fat, Heat by Samin Nosrat. Netflix also recently released a mini-series based on the book.
We've loved Joshua McFadden's Six Seasons as a resource for any and every veggie. Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's River Cottage Meat Book is the go to meat cook book.
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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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