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Welcome to the Fall Season!

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Welcome to the Fall Season!
This Week's Vegetable Harvest:
  • Broccoli
  • Baby Bok Choy
  • Napa Cabbage
  • Cilantro
  • Head Lettuce
  • Winter Squash
  • Fresh Turmeric
  • Salad Turnips
  • Green Peppers
  • Fennel
What's New at the Farm Stand
  • Winter Squash - Chilly weather calls for all things winter squash! Stuffed squash, roasted squash, squash soup, squash ravioli and more! Enjoy a selection of winter squash in the farm stand.
  • Hours: Open daily, 7am-7pm 
Farm Journal
Good evening, from your farm!
Welcome to the Fall Season! The four-week fall season is the shortest of them all, however, it is one of the most beautiful and bountiful! We hope that in between dodging the first snow flurries and soaking up the sunshine-filled, warmer days, you'll enjoy some time stowing away the harvest for the upcoming months.
We've been a little distracted from our normal fall season preserving projects, as the last few weeks were challenging for our family. Both sides of our family had members within the hospital. The good news is that our family members seem to be healing and feeling better. We also experienced an accident on the side of our barn that we're still working to get resolved and repaired. The good news on this is that we're envisioning newly rebuilt barn windows that will provide better insulation and sunlight into our barn. Finally, last week, we lost our dear farm dog, Winston. While losing a pet doesn't seem to have much of an upside, it reminded us of important lessons we're still learning as a farming family.
As a farming family, we support and care for so much life -- our seedlings, our crops, our livestock, our native habitats, our harvests, our team members, our neighbors, and our pets -- that we thought that at some point, dealing with loss would be easier for us. 

We grieve when losing a livestock goat or losing a large number of chickens to owls, losing a crop to extreme flooding, losing a farm cat to disease, or hearing about the loss of a well-known farmer to a very unfortunate tractor accident.

We've also shed happy tears at the beauty of a new goat being born. We've beamed with happiness at greenhouses and hoop houses stocked with hope-filled seedlings, or when we find the first egg laid in the spring. We find joy when our former employees get married and tend to their land together.
We are deeply connected to life, and supporting and regenerating life is the foundation of how we farm and live as a farm family. So every loss provides us with an opportunity to celebrate the life we cared about and our personal growth as caregivers. We're heartened to know that our family's appreciation of life is never dulled by seeing these cycles of death and life around the farm so frequently.

We're also grateful that our hearts have so much capacity for love that we will care for more life in the future. This is truly why we feel so fortunate to be farmers on this farm at this time. Our community, you, trust us to care for life in many forms, and we're grateful for your trust. 
Thank you for joining us on this (at times) emotional farming journey. This fall, we will celebrate life on the farm, bring in the final field harvests and begin the plans for growing bountiful life next spring. Thank you for joining us this fall season!

Warmly,
~ Jeff, Jen, Owen, Gavin, Arlet, Cleto, David, Yamany
Notes from the Farm Kitchen
Napa cabbage has light green crinkly leaves with white ribs. It adds a nice crunch when used raw in a salad, but it also stands up well to the heat of a quick sauté or stir fry. Napa cabbage is our favorite cabbage to make coleslaws similar to those made with the familiar green cabbage.

Fresh Turmeric, like fresh ginger, is a tropical plant that we grow in our hoophouses throughout the summer, which is the most tropical environment on the farm.

Together with ginger, we plant in early March in our greenhouse and by early summer, the plants are large enough to transfer into the hoophouse beds. Throughout the summer we tend to the crops by weeding, adding compost, watering, and we hill the beds to keep the bulbs protected while they grow upwards until they are waist-high or taller. Then, we harvest these lovely medicinal foods!

Here's a fun piece on turmeric uses -- and why you should be eating more of it! We store turmeric in a paper bag in the crisper drawer of the refrigerator (or you can wrap in a paper towel in plastic). 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 or grater to shave the peel away, and then grate to your desired amount. 
Fennel has a distinct anise flavor and smell, coming from both the base and fronds. Sautéed or roasted fennel bulb is excellent paired with broiled fish and a touch of butter and lemon. We love a raw fennel salad with citrus to bring brightness to a warm dinner. We also recommend braising and grilling the bulbs. You can use the whole plant and once the bulb is separated from the fronds, it can be kept for two weeks in the refrigerator.
Seasonal Recipes in the Farm Kitchen

Sautéd Bok Choy and Hakurei Turnips

Broccoli Slaw

Chicken Soup with Ginger and Cilantro

17 Crispy, Crunchy Napa Cabbage Recipes

Fennel and Orange Salad with Lemon Ginger Vinaigrette
1/4 baguette, very thinly sliced
2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest
1 teaspoon finely grated orange zest
1 teaspoon finely grated peeled ginger
1/2 teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper
Kosher salt
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 navel oranges
1 fennel bulb, trimmed, very thinly sliced, plus 1/4 cup fennel fronds
4 cups salad mix
 
Preheat oven to 375°F. Place baguette slices on a rimmed baking sheet and toast, 8-10 minutes. Let cool and break into pieces. Meanwhile, whisk vinegar, lemon and orange zests, ginger, and pepper in a large bowl; season with salt and whisk in oil.
 
Using a sharp knife, cut all peel and white pith from oranges; discard. Working over bowl with dressing, cut between membranes to release segments into bowl; discard membranes. Add fennel, fennel fronds, mustard greens, and croutons to bowl; toss to combine.
(slightly adapted from epicurious.com)
Winter Share Registration Open

The Winter Produce Share includes a combination of fresh, winter-sweetened greens, stored crops, and our most popular summer vegetables harvested and preserved at the peak of ripeness when they are most nutritious and flavorful. Produce shares include fruit sourced from Mick Klug Farms.

The Winter Egg Share consists of one dozen fresh free-range brown eggs every other week from Joe's Farm. 

Both Winter Shares include six (6) every other week pickups from December through March at our Grayslake Farm location. Sign up today to reserve your share of the harvest!
Reserve Your Local, Pastured-Raised Thanksgiving Turkey 

Reserve your local, pasture-raised, organically-fed heritage turkey for Thanksgiving dinner from our friends at All Grass Farms.

Turkeys will be available for pickup from the Grayslake farm on Saturday, November 12 and Sunday, November 13 from 7am to 7pm. Place your reservation soon! Thank you for supporting local farmers!

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