Spoutwood Farm CSA Harvest Guide: Week 20: October 23, 2008
To return to the 2008 Harvest Guide page, click here
A Warm Welcome, Spoutwood Farm friends!
I (Derek this time) hope you all are staying warm! Here, it is somewhat challenging. Temperatures, frosts, and freezes are something we are extremely aware of now, checking the weather report several times a day, but also simply observing current conditions outside. During 3 out of the past 5 nights or so we have had a frost and twice the temperature has dipped below freezing. Tonight (Wednesday) temperatures could reach the upper 20s and tomorrow night they could go down to the mid 20s.
Farming is a constant learning experience. Anticipating a frost on Saturday and Sunday night this past weekend, on Friday we attempted to cover susceptible crops with row cover. However, there were wind gusts around 15 mph, which quickly disrupted the work we were trying to do; none of the row cover wanted to stay put, even with rocks and concrete blocks on its sides. The wind was supposed to hold steady on Friday and increase the following day so we thought it would prevent frost and moisture from settling on the plants. Luckily most of the crops in the garden right now are cold and frost tolerant because the wind abated late Saturday night and allowed for a nice heavy frost to settle in. On Sunday Dana and I were pleased when we saw how well most of the vegetables held up. On Sunday night we received our first freezing temperatures of the season and curiously awaited the effects. On Monday we strolled through the garden to observe what happened. A frost 2 nights in a row and freezing temperatures had an impact, but most of the crops held up very well. Chard, which we gave out 2 weeks in a row anticipating its demise, was hit hard, so we tilled it in and sewed a cover crop of winter rye in its place. The leaves on the Detroit Dark Red beets were set back, but the roots are fine (this is the first week we are giving out beets without their tops). The leaves on the cauliflower and broccoli plants showed signs of stress, but today we harvested enough broccoli for everyone and enough cauliflower for those of you who didn’t receive it last week. Overall they look pretty good. The broccoli heads are slightly more exposed and therefore show slight signs of being nipped by the cold – they are slightly drier – but the cauliflower, since they are more protected by the leaves, look and taste great, albeit a little smaller in size than we hoped for.
Overall, with the temperatures fluctuating drastically over the past few weeks and with the frosts and freezes, the garden still looks great and holds, after this week’s harvest, at least 2 more weeks’ worth of vegetables. Some special new items this week include sweet potatoes, turnips, and a friend from the summer, watermelon (gasp surprise surprise).
Please feel free to drop us a line if you discover a new recipe, have any cooking tips, or would like to share your favorite way to eat the veggies from our harvest - email us and we’ll share with everyone else! That address is: csa@spoutwood.com. As the old commercial used to say, “please make a note of it.” Thanks!
Beets: Today you received only the roots due to the frosts and the freezes. Extremely healthy, try them raw in salads; roasted whole, chopped up, and mixed with herbs and a honey-vinaigrette dressing; or in a stir-fry.
Sweet Potatoes: Enjoy this while they last! We only devoted 2 beds to these wonderful, tasty vegetables and therefore only have enough to give out once! Extremely high in betacarotene, which protects us from cancer, colds, infections, and other diseases and increases in content the longer they are stored, sweet potatoes should be cooked with butter, egg yolks, or cream so that the body can convert betacarotene to vitamin A, which is only done in the presence of bile salts. The fats in butter, eggs, and cream stimulate the secretion of bile and help the body to convert betacarotene to vitamin A.
Green Cabbage: A classic vegetable in the fall. Shred finely and cook until just tender in a sauté or stir-fry. Eat raw in a fermented concoction such as sauerkraut.
Turnips: High in cancer-fighting substances called glucosinolates, turnips are a European favorite and used to be very popular among early American farmers. They can be stored over the winter in a root cellar, cooked up and mashed as a puree or added to soups and stews. Also good raw in salads.
Peppers, Green: Some of you may have received these. Last of the green bell peppers (happy?). Great in salads and stir-fries.
Peppers, Anaheim: Some of you may have received these. A mild chili pepper, Anaheims are excellent in salsa and in fact in any kind of cooking with peppers: they provide a slightly zestier flavor over bell peppers without the fiery heat of our now-defunct Red Lanterns. Try stuffing these for a mild version of jalapeño “poppers.”
Peppers, Hot Paper Lantern: Some of you may have received these. When red they are very hot; use sparingly.
Broccoli: According to Sally Fallon of the Weston A. Price foundations and Nourishing Traditions, broccoli not only “ranks number one in nutrient content, it is also the easiest vegetable of all to prepare…It is high in carotenoids and vitamin C and contains B complex, calcium, phosphorus and potassium as well…It is rich in chromium, a mineral that protects against diabetes.” Cook until just tender or eat raw in a salad.
Cauliflower: Some of you may have received these. Another member of the brassica family, cauliflower is blanched (kept white) by leaves that curl around the head, protecting it from the sun. Use raw in salads or with dips, or cook with broccoli and carrots and top with fresh-grated cheese for a colorful and healthy side. Cook until just tender.
Collards: Hardy, smooth, dark green leaves withstand, and whose flavor improves after, a hard frost. Stalks may be too tough to eat so remove if necessary. Sauté with onions and garlic. Steam and use a wrap for a sandwich. Try them in a peanut sauce. Contain vitamin A, B6, C, K, folate, riboflavin; calcium, iron; lutein and zeaxanthin antioxidants; fiber.
Lettuce: More yummy lettuce heads. This is a summer crisp variety, planted a little too late, but has held up fairly well against the cold. This will probably be the last week for lettuce heads, but more loose leaf lettuce should follow.
Watermelon: These tasty reminders of summer come from our friend and neighboring organic farmer Dave Dietz. Some of you may be familiar with him; he keeps a stand at a farmers market in York. There are several different varieties and several different sizes available. Hopefully you selected one to your liking! There is some dust on the outside that is a clay based, organic pest control called Surround. Simply wash off.
Onions: Red and yellow onions: we don’t have to tell you how to use these.
Sage: Great fresh with chicken, fish, eggs, and in stir-fries. Dries very nicely and can be used until dark matter gives up to gravity and the universe shrinks.
Flowers: A bouquet of juniper, boxwood, and crabapple. It was not in water when you picked it up, but it should be placed in water at your home.
Bread: For those who purchased bread shares, today’s selection from Atwaters is peasant wheat.
Sweet Potato Cake
1 sweet potato
Zest from 1/2 of an orange
1 cup sugar
¾ canola oil
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
2 tsp cinnamon
¼ tsp salt
1 ½ cups flour
½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
Preheat oven to 350F. Lightly coat a 9-inch round cake pan with cooking spray. Grind zest and sweet potato in food processor. Scrape down the bowl. Add sugar, oil, eggs, vanilla, cinnamon, and salt. Pulse until blended. Add flour, baking powder, and baking soda. Pulse just to incorporate.
Pour into prepared pan.
Bake 40-45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes on a rack and dust with confectioner’s sugar.
Sauce – Heat milk in saucepan over med. Heat until small bubbles form. In a bowl whisk sugar with eggs and slowly pour in milk, whisking constantly. Pour the mixture back into the pan and cook over low heat, stirring constantly until sauce thickens, about 10 minutes. Do not let the sauce boil or it will curdle. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla. Pour the sauce into a metal bowl, then place the bowl in a pan of ice water to chill. Drizzle over the warm cake and serve.
Sweet Potato and Sausage Soup
8 servings
3 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil, divided
1 10-11 ounce fully cooked smoked Potuguese linguica sausage or chorizo sausage, cut crosswise into 1/4-inch thick slices
2 medium onions, chopped
2 large garlic cloves, minced
2 pounds sweet potatoes, quartered lengthwise, cut crosswise into ¼-inch thick slices
1 pound potatoes, halved lengthwise, cut crosswise into ¼-inch thick slices
6 cups chicken or vegetable broth
1 bunch collard greens, chopped and sautéed lightly (4 minutes) in a dash of olive oil
Heat 2 tablespoons oil in heavy large pot over medium-high heat. Add sausage; cook until brown, stirring often, about 8 minutes. Transfer to paper towls to drain. ADdonions and garlic to pot and cook until translucent, stirring often, about 5 minutes. Add all potatoes and cook until beginning to soften, stirring often, about 12 minutes. Add broth; bring to a boil, scraping up browned bits. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer until potatoes are soft, stirring occasionally, about 20 minutes. Using potato mashes, mash some of potatoes in pot. Add browned sausage to soup. Stir in sautéed collards and simmer 2 minutes. Stir in remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil. Season with salt and pepper. Divide among bowls and serve.
White bean and collard greens soup
2 tbsp Best quality olive oil
2 cups Chopped onion
3 tbsp Garlic, finely chopped
1 Bay leaf
3-4 stalks Celery, chopped
2 Thick carrots, peeled and chopped
1 tsp Salt
6 cups Low fat, low sodium chicken stock
4 cups Cooked white beans (if canned, drain and rinse)
1 bunch Collard greens, well washed, chopped and stemmed (can use kale instead)
Salt and pepper to taste
1. In a stockpot, heat olive oil over medium-low heat. Add onion, bay leaf, celery and carrots. Cook over low heat for about 10 minutes or until vegetables are soft.
2. Add stock. Cover and bring mixture to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes or until vegetables are tender.
3. Add white beans, garlic and collard greens or kale. Cover. In about 15 to 20 minutes the leafy vegetables will have softened enough to allow blending. Using a hand blender, puree the soup to a smooth consistency.
4. Add salt and pepper to taste.
5. Makes 4 to 6 servings.
Garlic Planting Work Party
Saturday, October 25, 2008, 9 AM – 3 PM
Come on out and help us plant seeds (cloves) for next years crop of garlic! We will be planting no less than 30 pounds of this tasty allium (at least 3 beds worth; approximately 600 feet). If you have any more work hours that you need to fulfill, please consider helping us with this task. The garlic planting will be the final opportunity for you to get your hours in, unless you make personal arrangements with Dana, myself (Derek), or Rob, or help out with harvest. Following the completion of this task we will tally up everyone’s hours and contact you if you did not satisfy your commitment. Thank you!
(As of now there is a chance of rain on Saturday. If it is in fact raining steadily on Saturday we will plan to plant the garlic on Tuesday, October 28, same time, same place.)
This week you’ll receive a couple different varieties of sweet potato in the paper bag, some are red and some are white.
History: This plant is a herbaceous perennial vine, bearing alternate heart-shaped or palmately lobed leaves and medium-sized sympetalous flowers. The edible tuberous root is long and tapered, with a smooth skin whose color ranges between red, purple, brown and white. Its flesh ranges from white through yellow, orange, and purple.
Sweet potatoes are native to the tropical parts of the South America, and were domesticated there at least 5000 years ago. The plant does not enjoy frost (we harvested them just in time!). It grows best at an average temperature of 24 °C (75 °F), abundant sunshine and warm nights. Annual rainfalls of 750-1000 mm are considered most suitable, with a minimum of 500 mm in the growing season. The crop is sensitive to drought at the tuber initiation stage 50-60 days after planting and is not tolerant to water-logging, as it may cause tuber rots and reduce growth of storage roots if aeration is poor.
Depending on the cultivar and conditions, tuberous roots mature in two to nine months. With care, early-maturing cultivars can be grown as an annual summer crop in temperate areas, such as the northern United States. Sweet potatoes rarely flower when the daylight is longer than 11 hours, as is normal outside of the tropics. They are mostly propagated by stem or root cuttings or by adventitious roots called "slips" that grow out from the tuberous roots during storage. True seeds are used for breeding only.
Nutrition: Besides simple starches, sweet potatoes are rich in complex carbohydrates, dietary fiber, beta carotene (a vitamin A equivalent nutrient), vitamin C, and vitamin B6. As mentioned earlier in the veggie listings, sweet potatoes should be cooked with butter, egg yolks, or cream so that the body can convert betacarotene to vitamin A, which is only done in the presence of bile salts. The fats in butter, eggs, and cream stimulate the secretion of bile and help the body to convert betacarotene to vitamin A.
Preparation and Storage:
• These sweet potatoes have not been cured and so need to be eaten within 2-3 weeks. You can extend the storage life by wrapping each potato in newspaper and storing in a cool, dark place.
• Before cooking, scrub potatoes with a brush in a bowl of cold water.
• Boil whole unpealed sweet potatoes 35-45 minutes. To preserve nutrients, peel after cooking, although eating the sweet potato with the skins on is the most nutritious.
• Bake whole unpeeled sweet potatoes, rubbed with a little oil if desired, at 350F for 45-50 minutes.
Saturday, October 25, 2008, 9 AM – 3 PM
Come on out and help us plant seeds (cloves) for next years crop of garlic! We will be planting no less than 30 pounds of this tasty allium (at least 3 beds worth; approximately 600 feet). If you have any more work hours that you need to fulfill, please consider helping us with this task. The garlic planting will be the final opportunity for you to get your hours in, unless you make personal arrangements with Dana, myself (Derek), or Rob, or help out with harvest. Following the completion of this task we will tally up everyone’s hours and contact you if you did not satisfy your commitment. Thank you!
(As of now there is a chance of rain on Saturday. If it is in fact raining steadily on Saturday we will plan to plant the garlic on Tuesday, October 28, same time, same place.)
BAGS: Requested,
Recycling of Same (including paper bags)
As most of you will know, there are
various share items which must be bagged even within your usual share bag. And
frankly, we’re low on appropriate bags. Thus, we’re asking our shareholders to
please return the paper bags the potatoes come in as well as any plastic bags
that you might have at home. We are looking for both standard grocery-sized
bags, and smaller plastic bags such as those used for produce in supermarkets,
to keep newspapers dry, etc. If at all possible, please help us by bringing
them in pre-sorted as to size.
Also, please be aware (if you aren’t
already) that your plastic share bags can be re-used the following week! Better
yet, invest
in a cloth “market bag” that can be used over and over again. We are in
the process of investigating Spoutwood-themed practical items to offer for
sale, including Market Bags -- stay tuned to this space! In the meantime, if
you bring back your plastic ones, you’ll help us and Mother Earth alike. Many
thanks, from us and the Home Planet.
Need your rubber bands? Fine… but if you
don’t, we would be pleased if you could bring those (or any excess beyond your
needs) back with you when you come. We’d be happy to reuse them to bundle your
produce in the weeks to come.
This week you’ll receive a couple different varieties of sweet potato in the paper bag, some are red and some are white.
History: This plant is a herbaceous perennial vine, bearing alternate heart-shaped or palmately lobed leaves and medium-sized sympetalous flowers. The edible tuberous root is long and tapered, with a smooth skin whose color ranges between red, purple, brown and white. Its flesh ranges from white through yellow, orange, and purple.
Sweet potatoes are native to the tropical parts of the South America, and were domesticated there at least 5000 years ago. The plant does not enjoy frost (we harvested them just in time!). It grows best at an average temperature of 24 °C (75 °F), abundant sunshine and warm nights. Annual rainfalls of 750-1000 mm are considered most suitable, with a minimum of 500 mm in the growing season. The crop is sensitive to drought at the tuber initiation stage 50-60 days after planting and is not tolerant to water-logging, as it may cause tuber rots and reduce growth of storage roots if aeration is poor.
Depending on the cultivar and conditions, tuberous roots mature in two to nine months. With care, early-maturing cultivars can be grown as an annual summer crop in temperate areas, such as the northern United States. Sweet potatoes rarely flower when the daylight is longer than 11 hours, as is normal outside of the tropics. They are mostly propagated by stem or root cuttings or by adventitious roots called "slips" that grow out from the tuberous roots during storage. True seeds are used for breeding only.
Nutrition: Besides simple starches, sweet potatoes are rich in complex carbohydrates, dietary fiber, beta carotene (a vitamin A equivalent nutrient), vitamin C, and vitamin B6. As mentioned earlier in the veggie listings, sweet potatoes should be cooked with butter, egg yolks, or cream so that the body can convert betacarotene to vitamin A, which is only done in the presence of bile salts. The fats in butter, eggs, and cream stimulate the secretion of bile and help the body to convert betacarotene to vitamin A.
Preparation and Storage:
• These sweet potatoes have not been cured and so need to be eaten within 2-3 weeks. You can extend the storage life by wrapping each potato in newspaper and storing in a cool, dark place.
• Before cooking, scrub potatoes with a brush in a bowl of cold water.
• Boil whole unpealed sweet potatoes 35-45 minutes. To preserve nutrients, peel after cooking, although eating the sweet potato with the skins on is the most nutritious.
• Bake whole unpeeled sweet potatoes, rubbed with a little oil if desired, at 350F for 45-50 minutes.
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