Things are slowing down quite a bit around here and we are wrapping up some fall projects (like planting some spring flowers!) and are happily moving indoors to dive deep into planning for next year. It's been an exciting time of reflecting back over the season, remembering each crop we grew, celebrating what went well, learning from our mistakes and imagining what we might do differently and how we will grow in the coming season.
We have also got a big project in the works that we are excited to share with you all! This fall we have begun the transition some of our fields into "No-till" farming. No-till is a practice of sustainable agriculture that really focuses on building soil health through taking care of the soil health and one major piece of building soil health is the omission of tillage. For those who might want to go deeper on the topic, Regeneration International has a great article on what 'no till' agriculture is and why farmers are moving in this direction and the positive environmental impact it can have you can find here: https://regenerationinternational.org/2018/06/24/no-till-farming/ .
(here is a photo of Hannah, Caitlin and Sabrina building our permanent no-till beds!)
We look forward to sharing more with you all in the weeks to come more in depth about how the project is going and why we are choosing to move in this direction, so keep your eyes out for more from us on this exciting new development for the farm!
This week your shares may have any mix of these winter items: brussel sprouts, rutabega, Cauliflower, arugula, mustard, kale, parsley, leeks, onions, baby fennel, winter squash and chard.
The winter squash in this week's shares will be one of a these varieties: Kabocha, Speckled Pup, Blue Hubbard or Buttercup
One quick note - this week's fennel will be bunches of baby sized fennel - we enjoyed snacking on them through our field walk this morning but they would also be great roasted whole, dipped in hummus, or sliced up on a salad.
Not sure what to do with Rutabega? I have been really enjoying exploring Rutabega this season and have used it in soups (in soups I would recommend it chopped up and added to any veggie soup or simmered in butter and water until soft and then pureed to make a base for a chowder-like soup), I have also enjoyed it roasted/broiled as a "steak", and next on my list is trying it out for a spiced cake (I will get back to you with some recipes and reviews on this experiment!).
Also after a feature in last weeks newsletter on the Brussel Collards we totally forgot to include it in the Harvie list, so this week Brussel Collards will be available if you are keen to give them a try! Here are a few more fun recipe with them to stoke your curiosity (note in each recipe sub brussel collards for collard greens) :
Southern collard greens with pork
simple vegetarian collard green recipe
Sabrina planting ranunculus - a lovely spring flower
