Share Notes Oct. 9, 2024
CSA Share Notes:
We’re so excited to finally have a sizeable harvest for you guys! The fall harvest changes a lot over the first month. The first few weeks will mostly be heat-loving summer crops (squash, peppers, eggplant, okra, basil) while the cool season crops gradually rotate in as they get ready. The summer crops are very fleeting so enjoy them while we’ve got them!
Now here’s your vegetable line-up:
- Basil — DO NOT REFRIGERATE your basil. Store it bouquet style, in a glass of cool water on the counter. If yours is wilty, you may be able to refresh it submerged in a sink of cold water, let it soak for an hour. If it doesn’t revive, use it up soon, or simply hang it to dry. (try to pick up your box promptly after delivery whenever possible!) We will give you as much of this crop as we have until it dies at the first dip below 40 degrees, so prepare to receive a good bit. You can dry it to save for winter, or make pesto and freeze to enjoy all year.
- Collard or Kale — Large and Mini shares received our Red Russian Kale, a delicious, tender kale, perfect for raw salads, excellent as a slaw, fantastic sauteed. Regular shares received Collard Greens. We always suggest you cook collards up southern style with a little bacon or ham, onion, garlic, and crushed red pepper flakes. Finishing with a dash of vinegar is in line with tradition. They’re delicious.
- Eggplant — Large shares and Mini shares received Italian eggplant. My best eggplant tip is cook it HOT and FAST. You want a good browning as this really brings out the sweetness. Grill, oven roast at 450, or blister in a super hot cast iron. Some years we have a huge abundance of this crop, but not this year. We’ll only have a little to offer until it peters out.
- Bell Peppers — Everyone is receiving 3-5 nice-sized bell peppers, and they are so good this time of year!
- Italian Peppers — 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 — 3-4 Jalapenos for the Large and Regular shares, 5-6 cayenne peppers for the Mini shares. Those cayenne’s pack some heat, so be careful!
- Shishito Peppers — for the Large and Mini shares. These are a snacking pepper that is having a culinary moment in the chef world. To serve as an appetizer, blister in a hot cast iron, and then dip in any sauce that compliments your meal: romesco sauce, hummus, pesto, or an asian miso/soy umami-heavy sauce, anything you can dream up.
- Squash/Zucchini — 3-4 for each share from our 4 different varieties. This crop is struggling and we may only get a couple of weeks of harvest from it, so get maximum enjoyment out of these babies while the garden can offer them. Luckily there are lots of new crops that will be ready soon to take their place.
- Okra — This is our lovely heirloom Hill Country Red okra, super delicious. We love to roast it in a hot oven or grill it to avoid heating up the kitchen. It’s also wonderful raw!
- 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 some parts of the year, our family chooses to only buy organic root crops) 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.
Veggie Storage tips:
- Everything wants to be washed well before cooking, but keep the dirt on till then, to prevent faster spoilage.
- Basil must not be stored in the fridge. Keep it in a glass of water in a cool place, and out of direct light.
- Peppers, okra, squash, and eggplant 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