Share Notes Oct 30, 2025

October 29, 2025 · by Red Moon Farm · in Farm News

CSA Share Notes:

Week 4 of the harvest is here…and a big fall cold front! Things are getting exciting! We were harvesting in howling wind on Wed. and it really wore us out. Afternoon hot chocolate perked us up for our packing tasks. The change of seasons brings new tasks, and a welcome shakeup of our routine. Justin’s getting busy this weekend prepping firewood for the woodstove and cleaning all our heaters for the greenhouses so we’re more prepared for with winter weather. Hope you’re all staying warm!

Your vegetable line-up:

Kale — Large shares received our Red Russian kale, tender and perfect for a raw salad or a saute. They also received Lacinato or Dinosaur kale, my favorite for soups. Regular shares received collard greens, and Mini shares got our Winterbor kale, the crinkly type. All of these would be perfect in a sausage, potato, white bean soup this week.
Bell Peppers — We harvested these really heavy, knowing there’s a chance of a frost. This means you’re loaded this week and might not get too many next week (if there’ no frost, that is. If there’s a frost, then the peppers are toast).
Italian Peppers — Same as above- lots this week, maybe none or few next week. These long, slender peppers are so delicious, with no hint of spice. They’re great for fresh-eating, using with dips, making rings for homemade pizza, or cutting into long strips for a batch of fajitas.
Hot Peppers — Regular shares received 4 jalapenos, Mini and Regular shares received 2. Large shares also received a half pint of Shishito peppers, a wonderful mild snacking pepper that is great blistered in a hot cast iron and served as an horsdourve.
Garlic — a bulb or two of our last yield of summer garlic. Yes, the bulbs are teeny- they’re the last ones of the season- but they’ll pack a lot of flavor for a meal or two!
Asian Mustard Mix — For everyone this week. This frilly, spicy salad green is super flavorful and a bit spicy! It’s great raw but can also be sauteed if you prefer your greens cooked. Perfect to pair with your kale.
Radish — Red Rover radishes for all. Slice atop a well-buttered piece of sourdough, or some avocado toast, and sprinkle with some fancy salt and you’re in for a treat. Root crops stay the most crisp and nutritious if you remove the tops, otherwise the greens will draw moisture and nutrients away from the roots and you’ll soon have soft, rubbery roots. So chop those babies off and eat ’em up (both radish and turnip greens are edible!)
Turnips — Hakurei salad turnips for the Regular, and Purple Top turnips for the Large. The purple top are the southern heirloom and here’s what to do (of course you’re welcome to seek out alternative options) Cube up the roots, chop the greens, chop a yellow onion and a few cloves of garlic, and one jalapeno if you like. Also, chop up 2 slices of bacon, or a big of ham or other porky smoky somethin to make it utterly delectable. Once all ingredients are ready, cook the bacon until it’s cooked through but still tender- add in the onion and optional jalapeno, saute till soft. Add the garlic for 1 minute. Add the roots and saute until soft, and last add the chopped greens and wilt them. You can add a dash of tobasco to it at the end for a bit of southern flair. And there you have it, folks, southern turnip greens. Oh, so good alongside a steak and baked sweet potato. Now for the white Hakurei salad turnip, here’s the run down: This variety of turnip is actually a FRESH EATING Salad turnip. You don’t cook them! You snack on them like radishes. They are so delicious and nutty and a bit sweet. If you think you don’t like turnips, don’t be afraid to try these, they’re so good!
Persimmons — Grown by Jessica’s mom and dad here at Red Moon Farm, these are a wonderful fall treat. Make SURE you let them ripen before diving in, or you’ll get a bitter, astringent, inedible bite. They should be slightly soft to the touch, and a nice full orange color when ripe. They’re excellent raw but you can find awesome recipes using them in fall roasted fruit dishes. I often request this recipe for my birthday, and we’ve made it lots of different ways.

Items from other neighboring farms:

Colin Hendee at Emory Market Gardens — Our friend Colin grew your lettuce. Large shares received 2 heads, and Regular and Mini shares received 1 head. He is a fantastic grower with just as strict a standard to organic growing as we have. Also like us, they do not hold an organic certification, but you can absolutely consider his crops organic. If you like his crops, you can often find them at the White Rock Lake farmers market on the East side of Dallas. He’s a ETX grower worth supporting!
Tony Philips Sweet Potatoes — Our friend and neighbor Tony Philips grows the regions best sweet potatoes, just a couple of miles from Red Moon Farm. These are fantastic, sweet, with a long storage life. Enjoy them on the regular. You’ll get lots more throughout the fall!
- A few notes about Tony’s Practices: He is not aiming to be organic, so some years the above-ground parts of the plants have non-organic products used on them, however, the roots never have anything applied to them.
- Usual standard practice in commercial sweet potato production is to use sprout-inhibitors on the crop post-harvest, and these chemical compounds are known to be extremely harmful to the thyroid and other hormonal systems in the human body.** (It’s why, when we can’t get them from a local grower and have to rely on a grocery store, our family chooses to only buy organic potatoes, sweet potatoes, onions, and garlic.) Well, Lucky us: Tony Philips never, ever uses sprout-inhibitors. His potatoes simply get a clean water bath to rinse the ETX sand off of them, so we eat them with confidence, and we believe you can, too.

Veggie Storage tips:

Everything wants to be washed well before cooking, but keep the dirt on till then, to prevent faster spoilage.
Acorn squash, garlic, persimmons, and sweet potatoes like to be out at room temperature in a dry spot.
All leafy greens, the radishes, peppers, turnips, etc all want to be in your fridge. Seal them up in a bag or container to retain moisture for longest storage life.

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