Share Notes 10-13-16

Share Notes 10-13-16

CSA Share Notes:

Thank so much to all of you who came out to the farm potluck this last weekend! It was so nice to have you out on the farm. Such a good night. If you’d like to come out again, our next big event is the Farm Dinner hosted with Twin Pines Beef. Grab a ticket and join us for a great evening of drinks, live music, and farm-to-table fare!

Now on to your vegetable line up:

  • Squash—Our late fall planting is still holding on strong. Some of our varieties are smooth and straight necked, others are bumpy and crook necked, and some have color variations of green and yellow. All are fantastic. Squash spoil quickly and bruise easily on their journey to you, so use them up fast.
  • Zucchini—Also a rarity in the fall. Enjoy!
  • Cucumbers—Crisp and juicy! Enjoy, and give our Fridge Pickles recipe a try.
  • Eggplant—This week our Large shares are receiving Italian eggplant and our small shares are receiving Fairytale eggplant. Fairytale are beautiful and petite and are great roasted or grilled. Italian would be perfect in a veggie lasagna, a veggie bolognese sauce, or get messy and make eggplant parmesan!
  • Bell peppers—Each share received a big handful of green (and a few purple, orange, yellow, and red!) bell peppers.
  • Sweet potatoes— This year’s fabulous harvest of fresh sweet potatoes comes from a neighboring farm here in East Texas, Jose Gomez and his wife grow the BEST sweet potatoes and we are lucky enough to share them with you.
  • Onions—Sweet red storage onions from our summer harvest. These have great flavor and low moisture. They’re petite, but wonderful.
  • Sungold tomatoes—Each share received a pint of our most prized crop: sungold cherry tomatoes! These are like vegetable candy.

Veggie Storage tips:

Some of your crops can be damaged by refrigerator temperatures, and some crops prefer it, so be sure to check out our veggie storage tips each week for proper storage of your loot.  As a general rule, wait to wash any veggies until you’re ready to use them to help retain nutrients and prevent spoilage from excess moisture.

The onions can be kept at room temperature. The eggplant, bell peppers, and squash/zucchini will all like to be kept cool. They can stay out at room temp, but will only last a couple of days. In the fridge, you’ll have about a week.  The cherry tomatoes will be damaged and begin to get mealy if stored below 50 degrees, so the refrigerator is not the place for them. 70 degrees is optimal for tomatoes, and they’re happy sitting at up to 80 degrees, so out on your counter or in some other cool place is perfect for them.

In the past 4 weeks, we have planted turnips, radishes, lettuces, kale, beets, Asian greens, cabbage, broccoli, and more. The new baby plants are growing great! We’ll keep you posted on their progress.

Thank you so much for being a part of our Spring CSA at Red Moon Farm, and for all your support of local, organic agriculture!

Your farmers,

Jess & Justin

 

Large Share

CSA-large-share Large Share (L to R): Zucchini, cucumbers across the top, red onions, Italian eggplant, Sungold tomatoes, sweet potatoes, yellow squash, and mixed bell peppers.

Small Share

CSA-share-smallSmall share (L to R): sweet potatoes, zucchini across the top, fairy tale eggplant, red onions, and cucumber across the bottom, yellow squash, Sungold tomatoes, and mixed bell peppers.

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