Share Notes, Nov 30th 2023
CSA Share Notes:
We’re back from Thanksgiving and excited to have another harvest for you. We think we’ll get several more harvests out of our fall garden (we’re thinking maybe 3-5 more?) for our Fall CSA members, but because some of the crops are delayed, many of them won’t be ready until after the turn of the new year. Even though the gregorian calendar says that Fall is over on December 21st, our fall garden will still have a few good boxes coming your way in 2024. They’ll be loaded with beautiful food: spinach, broccoli, cabbage, kohlrabi, and maybe even carrots and beets, all headed your way right around Christmas or the turn of the year.
Here’s this week’s vegetable line-up:
- Turnip – Hakurei salad turnips are like a cousin to the regular purple-top turnip you’re probably used to seeing. Read our little write-up all about ’em to discover more about this crop. And they’re so, so good. If you believe you’re a turnip-hater, please don’t walk away from these salad turnips without giving them a taste! They’re intended to be eaten raw, and you can leave the peel on. They’re a bit less crunchy than a radish, and have a nutty sweetness that we adore. They’re great for snacking, or on a salad/sandwich/wrap. They’re excellent in a slaw, too.
- Radish – Easter Egg for the large and regular shares, with their assortment of pink, red, purple, and white globes, all with a slightly different flavor. We are harvesting our very first watermelon radishes for the mini shares this week, thinning out a packed-row. These are small, so most of them likely will not have developed their hot-pink centers yet. But they’re still delicious as far as taste and nutrition goes, but the big tennis ball sized watermelon radishes won’t be ready for a bit. All types are great dipped in melted salted butter, on a slice of avocado toast, or if you’ve got some good Jewish Rye, make a salted butter and radish sandwich on Rye. You won’t be disappointed.
- Arugula – Just enough to share amongst the Large and Regular shares this week. This peppery green is fantastic in a fresh salad with nuts, fruit, and good cheese. I like pear-walnut-parmesan, or apple-pecan-chevre. Definitely toss in some sliced radishes and turnips!
- Kale/collard – We’ve got gorgeous bunching greens this week. We have a couple of good kale recipes on the blog: roasted squash and kale salad, as well as kale pesto potato salad, but options abound online. We like to make really simple “massaged kale” salads with a bit of strawberry or fresh mango, red onion, and dressed with olive oil and red wine vinegar. Large shares received both curly kale AND Lacinato kale. Regular shares received Red Russian kale AND Collards, which is great in a pot of ham and peas, or you can sub it in for kale in any recipe that calls for it. Mini shares received Red Russian kale.
- Chard – This went only to the Large shares this week. This variety is called Bright Lights. It’s closely related to spinach, so feel free to swap it in to a recipe that needs cooked spinach. Make a beef roast in your crock pot and toss in large-torn chard leaves for the last 30 min. to braise. It’s delicious. We also use ours in veggie egg scrambles, in quiches and frittatas, or sauteed and topped with parmesan and pine nuts.
- Winter Squash – I cannot adequately convey our delight that we pulled this crop off through the summer drought. It was not easy. Only about 30% of our expected yield survived through drought and the big 3 night frost we received a couple of weeks back, but it means you all get to enjoy at least one acorn squash this season. We made ours into a fantastic entree this week, cut in half, roasted, then stuffed with a sauteed mix of pork sausage, celery, garlic, apple, dried cranberry and toasted pecan, then re-baked to heat through. Low carb, high protein meal, absolutely delicious fall meal. These also heavenly sliced into thick rounds and roasted and topped with butter. Use a very sharp knife when cutting through the tough skin, and be extra careful as these babies are a bit tricky to cut.
Below are all the items we’re sharing with you today that were not grown by Red Moon Farm:
- Lettuce from Salt Marsh Farm, Saltillo, TX. Green oak leaf heads and red frilly heads of “Salanova” lettuces, excellent in a salad, or atop a leftover turkey sandwich (which was my quick, super satisfying lunch today during CSA packing. Lettuce, radishes, and turnips spilling out- so delish).
- Sweet Potatoes from Tony Philips, Grand Saline, TX. We’ve got the same wonderful sweet potato producer just a couple of miles from Red Moon Farm, Tony Phillips. He’s been in Sweet Potato cultivation for decades and uses no synthetic herbicides or pesticides. Additionally, he never uses post-harvest growth-inhibitors (endocrine disruptors) which you’ll find in regular grocery store tubers.
Veggie Storage tips:
- Everything wants to be washed well before cooking, but keep the dirt on till then, to prevent faster spoilage.
- Sever roots from their tops -this keeps the roots from turning rubbery- and either discard the greens or save for your braising pot or next batch of home-made stock.
- Leafy greens and bunched root crops want to be stored fairly dry and sealed up in a container/bag in the fridge.
- Sweet potatoes and winter squash should be stored at room temperature.
We’d love to hear stories and recipes of your culinary adventures this week. Tag us on Instagram or Facebook, showing us how you’ve used your CSA share.
Your farmers, Jess & Justin
