CSA Newsletter

Greetings from the Garden!  This box has Russian banana fingerling potatoes, sweet potatoes and / or squash. beets, red cabbage, Walla Walla onions, broccoli side shoots,  lettuce and other greens, daikon radish, rutabagas, parsnips.

Field Notes.  Picking rocks is the natural result of excavation.  Loyal and Ken have made time to gather rocks as they emerge from the digging and before they are buried as digging continues.  Most farmers find rocks a nuisance.  Ken and Loyal see them as a resource.  The current rock project is to set up a base for a construction project.  

Years ago at an auction Ken got a corn crib.  It is a large open structure that would be great for many purposes - storing and drying crops,  seed saving, - endless possibilities.  So they are moving and laying rocks around other tasks.

This week we reduced the goose population and next week the pigs will go to the meat locker.  Loyal helped move the onions and squash to the winter storage site indoors so they won't freeze.

Work continues on the digging and harvesting front.  I have barrels in the root cellar of carrots, beets, celery root with rutabagas and fall radishes left to store.  Surplus cabbage will become sauerkraut this weekend.  More fall and next spring greens are being planted.  Hoopettes are springing up in the garden.  Plans are being finalized for what crops will be planted in hoopettes, high tunnel and medium tunnel in the field.  We are working with the dry soil and were grateful for the rain we got last week.

From the Kitchen.  The cook stove is in daily operation.  It is the season for hearty breakfasts.  Ken often gets up and cooks meat and eggs and then either fruit or vegetable to go along.  I have been making stews and roasting meats and vegetables.  Ken is making squash pie from the squash that looks like it will not keep.  I have been baking sweet potatoes and then slicing the leftovers and heating them in butter - delicious.

We are nearing the end of broccoli and other greens out in the field.  There are still Brussels sprouts coming, but they are smaller this year due to lack of rain.  I have been steaming broccoli and serving it with a little umeboshi vinegar as our meals are heavier to give us energy in the cooling temperatures.  Balance helps any meal.  Years ago an Asian friend told me to get as much color, texture, and shapes variety as possible on the plate - it makes for a more appetizing meal.  He is right.  So go for color this week - red beets, with green kale. 

The Russian banana fingerling potatoes are great roasted.  They have yellow flesh and buttery flavor.  Just scrub, cut into large chunks, roll in olive oil and herbs and pop into the oven, turn every few minutes.  Voila
'Til Next Week!