Share Notes Nov 11 & 13, 2021

Share Notes Nov 11 & 13, 2021

CSA Share Notes:

The winter CSA season is open for registration and you can join now!  The winter season is about half the size of the other seasons, as there is much less production in the cold, low-light conditions of winter, but we can grow quite a lot and we want you to enjoy it!  In the winter season we distribute to all of our Tyler area locations, plus this year we are adding two DFW locations, too! Irving and Far North Dallas. If we have 20 total members sign up in DFW we’ll be able to come to the metroplex this winter.

Winter shares could make a fabulous Christmas gift for the healthy eater in your family.

 

Here’s this week’s vegetable line up:

  • Arugula —  Generous beautiful bags of leafy greens this week! This arugula went to the large and regular shares. It’s a bit spicy and so, so delicious.  Enjoy with nuts, cheese, and fresh fruit like apples and pears.
  • Spring Mix— For everyone. flavorful and pretty. Mix with milder greens in a fresh salad if they’re too spicy for ya. They’re also great crisped up by roasting them in a hot oven and added to a grain salad. Try this turnip and grain salad with your spring mix and turnips!
  • Sweet Potatoes— These lovely tubers come from our friend just 5 miles up the road from us, Tony Philips Sweet Potatoes. He’s a wonderful area grower, and while he’s not organic, he is conscientious of chemical use, and uses no sprout-retarding chemicals on the roots, which is commonplace in conventional potato production.  We eat them all fall and winter, loading up on nutritious betacarotene.  Enjoy!
  • Eggplant— Large shares received fairytale and Italian, while Regular shares received Japanese eggplant. If you’re new to cooking eggplant, see our cooking tips we shared a while back.
  • Tomatoes — green, and ready to go into a green tomato salsa or chutney, or to be battered and fried.
  • Beans—dragons tongue. This is a broad bean and it’s delicious prepared like you would any green bean.
  • Turnips— Hakurei for the regular shares and Scarlet Queen for the large and Mini. These are both fantastic turnips. I enjoy them just cooked up in butter, but there are loads of options with turnips. Try cooking a bit of onion and garlic in some bacon fat, then add the chopped up roots and cook till softened, and toss in the sliced up greens at the end to cook for a final minute or three until as soft as you like. salt, pepper, and if you like, vinegar or tabasco, and you’ve got a hearty side dish.  They also roast beautifully, especially in a winter root blend with carrots and sweet potatoes or winter squash, with some rosemary sprigs or other herbs.
  • Pac Choi—It’s time for Asian soups!  Pac Choi is an Asian cabbage, and it’s delightful in a Thai curry, or a warming bowl of Vietnamese Pho or Japanese Ramen. The key is a good hearty bone broth base.  You can buy your bone broth, or make it from beef, pork, and chicken bones. We often do a whole mix of all-of-the-above when we have Ramen or Pho. We love all the Asian soups this time of year.

Veggie Storage tips:

All your bagged greens, eggplant, beans, turnips, will keep longest stored in the fridge sealed up in produce bags. Remove roots from their tops, and store the greens separately to keep the roots from getting rubbery. Keep sweet potatoes at room temp. Everything will need a thorough washing before cooking, but leave the dirt on until you’re ready to use them to prevent spoilage.

We’d love to hear stories and recipes of your culinary adventures this week. Send us a note or post a comment of how you’ve used your CSA share.

Your farmers, Jess & Justin

Regular

Regular Share-columns, left to right: Pac Choi, Green tomatoes above Japanese Eggplant, sweet potatoes, arugula, above spring mix, above dragons tongue beans, and lastly, Hakurei turnips

Large

Large Share-columns, left to right: Pac Choi, Green tomatoes above Italian and Fairytale Eggplant, sweet potatoes, arugula, above spring mix, above mixed beans, and lastly, Scarlet Queen turnips

Mini

Mini share-columns, left to right: Pac Choi, sweet potatoes, green tomatoes above mixed beans, spring mix, and lastly, Scarlet Queen turnips