This Week's Vegetable Harvest: Carrots Swiss Chard Savoy Green Cabbage Japanese Salad (Hakurei) Turnips Cippolini Onions Fresh Ginger Salad Mix Broccoli Tomatoes This Week's Fruit Harvest: 'Fuji' Apples 'Bosc' Pears 'Stanley' Plums 'Ever-Bearing' Strawberries

Farm Journal

Good afternoon from the farm!

Whew, what a busy time at the farm! Each day, Jeff and I consider how much we've accomplished in the day and we give thanks for our team. Our style of vegetable farming is dependent on dedicated, hard-working individuals who share our values and enjoy working together.

For example, we harvested half a ton of carrots today! While we use tractors to help seed and dig the carrots (see Abbey leading this effort in the above photo), most of our processes are done by hand. Oskar, Chrissie and the team pull carrots from the earth and bunch (or top) them. Kim coordinates our counts and work processes as Arlet leads the post-harvest handling processes which include washing, sorting, cooling, storing, and packaging. These many hands make for light work!

In addition to the harvest, our walk-in freezer arrived (in pieces) which the team carefully helped to move into place.

Tyler took a break from morning activities at his farm, Kroll's Fall Harvest Farm, to help us assemble the freezer.

After having worked together for over a decade, as evidenced by this classic team broccoli picture, Jeff and Tyler work together seamlessly.

They made the tricky assembly seem easy (it wasn't!) with the freezer standing and wired before lunch. Tyler headed back to his farm for afternoon visitors, and Jeff wrapped up the final caulking and wiring details before the freezer specialist gives it a final review.

Our dedicated team will work through the fall to pull in bulk harvests for storage and prepare the farm for winter harvests.  Speaking of which, thank you members! Even though we increased our Winter CSA size by 20% (thanks to receiving the Resilience Fund grant for this freezer space!), we sold out in less than one week. We're humbled and very grateful for your ongoing support of our farm, our family, and local food.  If you're still interested in local food this winter, never fear! Our Farm Stand will remain open throughout the winter (open daily, 7am-7pm) and our 2021 Farm Share registration begins this October.  Enjoy this week's harvest, brought to you by the hands of our family and our team!

Warmly, Jeff, Jen, Tyler, Abbey, Arlet, Kim, Chrissie, Oskar, Alex, Owen, Silas and Gavin

Notes from the Farm Kitchen

Salad turnips have returned! Our white salad turnip is a Japanese variety called hakurei. It is very mild and sweet and is easily mistaken for a white radish. Japanese turnips are delicious eaten raw or sautéed in a little butter and sprinkled with salt. Turnips are a good source of Vitamin C, and rich in the minerals potassium and calcium. As with all roots (e.g., radishes), make sure you remove the green tops from your turnips so the turnips remain crispy and fresh. Use the green tops as you would other cooking greens, for example, mixed into a soup or sautéed with your swiss chard.

Ginger again! We wanted to make sure everyone received so we're distributing fresh ginger for a second week. A quick reminder: store your ginger in a paper bag in the crisper drawer of the refrigerator. However, if you won't use all of it within a week, we encourage freezing it in a zip-lock bag. When you are ready to cook with it, simply use a knife to shave the peel away, and then grate to your desired amount.

Seasonal Recipes in the Farm Kitchen Pear Salad with Dried Cherries and Candied Walnuts Six Ways to Preserve Ginger Quick Pickled Hakurei Turnips 3-4 small turnips (about 12 ounces), peeled and very thinly sliced ½ cup quartered and thinly sliced red onion 3 cloves garlic, smashed and peeled 1 cup white-wine vinegar 1 cup hot water 1 tablespoon sugar 10 whole black peppercorns 1 teaspoon salt ½ teaspoon 1/4-1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper (optional)   Layer turnips, onion and garlic in a quart jar (or similar 4-cup container) with a lid. Whisk vinegar, hot water, sugar, peppercorns, salt and crushed red pepper (if using) in a medium bowl until the sugar is mostly dissolved. Pour the mixture over the vegetables. Put the lid on and gently shake a few times to distribute the flavorings. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes for the flavors to develop. Keeps for up to 2 weeks. Pan-glazed Onions and Carrots 3 tablespoon(s) butter 1 pound onions, e.g. cipollini, sweet or a combination 1/2 pound(s) carrots, peeled 1 1/2 tablespoon(s) brown sugar 2 teaspoon(s) dry mustard 1 teaspoon(s) salt 1/2 cup(s) white wine Freshly ground pepper In a large skillet over medium-high heat, melt 2 tablespoons butter. Add onions and sauté until browned all over, about 5 minutes. Add carrots and 1/2 cup water; simmer until liquid is almost completely evaporated and carrots are crisp-tender, about 8 minutes. Stir in brown sugar, mustard, and salt. Add wine and stir, scraping bottom of pan. Increase heat to high and cook at a rapid simmer, 5 minutes more. Remove from heat and stir in remaining butter. Season with pepper. Apple Pear Crumble 2 1/2 cups old-fashioned oats 1 1/2 cups (packed) golden brown sugar 1 cup all purpose flour 1 cup (2 sticks) chilled unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes   Nonstick vegetable oil spray 4 pounds large mixed apples and pears, peeled, halved, cored, each half cut into 6 slices 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon   Mix oats, 1 cup sugar, and flour in bowl. Add butter; rub in with fingertips until topping comes together in moist clumps. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover; chill.) Preheat oven to 375°F. Spray 13x9x2-inch glass baking dish with nonstick spray. Mix apples, lemon juice, cinnamon, and 1/2 cup brown sugar in bowl. Transfer to dish. Sprinkle topping over. Bake crumble until apples are tender and topping is brown and crisp, about 55 minutes. Cool slightly. Spoon warm crumble into bowls. Serve with ice cream.  Serves 6.

• Tags: Apples, Carrots, Ginger, Onions, Pears, Salad Mix, Salad Turnips

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