For the next 3 weeks - Customization for all shares (Applefest, Veggie, and Meat Boxes) will end at 9:00 AM on Sunday! This is to help our producers and staff enough time to prepare and deliver products for packing on Tuesday morning!! Thank you for your understanding
Well, just like that, it's October. Believe it or not, there are only 4 more weeks of the regular summer veggie CSA remaining. If you've liked getting your veggies through the CSA this summer, I'd encourage you to sign up for a winter box as well! Once again, the winter boxes are delivered twice a month from November through March, and you can get all the details at the website bayfieldfoods.org.
This week, farmers Eric, Ryan, and I have been bundling up to stay warm. Winter is indeed on the way and our cold fingers can vouch for that. Before we harvest any crops, we always wash and sanitize the bins we put crops into. Scrubbing bins isn't usually a task that comes to mind when you think of organic farming, but it's just one more way we make sure that food from our farm not only tastes great, but is safe to eat as well. It's a cold wet job, but somebody's gotta do it!
During the warmer summer months, none of us really mind getting our hands wet while we clean totes. This time of year however, we suit up in our full rain gear to stay as warm and dry as we can! This week, we scrubbed down another round of big pallet bins for cabbage harvesting, and were glad when the job was finished. We've been sending out the smaller heads in the CSA boxes each week, but today we sent over two and a half TONS of big heads off to our friends at Spirit Creek Farm. These big cabbages get chopped and used for their amazing kraut and kim-chi. Knowing that they use locally grown and organic veggies in their products makes each bite taste that much better! Local pasture-raised brats paired with locally grown and made kraut - now we're talkin'.
Wednesday night after dinner, the kids helped me haul in the FINAL bin of winter squash - some butternuts, baby butternuts, and autumn frost squash that had been covered with row cover during the previous freeze and survived with flying colors. Once we uncovered them however, the deer took their toll, and sampled many a squash... We left a lot out in the field that were damaged but still managed to bring in a full bin before dark. Now all the squash are all tucked safely away in storage for winter - and the good news is they get sweeter as they age. When cooking butternuts, we like to cut them in half, scoop the seeds out, and roast face down on a pan with a little water in it. After spooning out the flesh inside, we either mash it with butter and salt like mashed potatoes, or use it in a soup. I like to sautee onions, garlic, and carrots together while the squash is roasting, then add veggie broth and cook some red lentils in there. Once the squash is finished roasting and the lentils are soft, I add the roasted butternut and some coconut milk to the soup. It's a hearty, healthy dish that warms you up from the inside out (and makes the house smell amazing too.)
Now that they are out of the field, we've got 2 new squashes to offer this week - autumn frost (with the beautiful frosted appearance on the left) and baby butternuts on the right (so cute!) The autumn frost squash is supposed to be a lot like a butternut in flavor, and most weigh in the 3-4# range. Each of us farmers will be cooking one up this weekend for a taste test, and we'll let you know how the results. The baby butternuts are new varieties of butternut, bred for sweetness (not for longer term storage like traditional butternuts) and a smaller, more convenient personal serving size of about 1# each. Give them a try if you are looking to expand your winter squash palate!
In the hoophouses, we'll be picking the LAST of the cherry tomatoes and green peppers next week. Once we harvest, we'll tear those plants out and seed those beds into spinach for winter. But as the warm season crops dwindle away, cool season crops are beginning to shine. Our fall planting of hoophouse swiss chard is really taking off now - chard lovers rejoice! When cooking with swiss chard, we like to sautee it quickly in a few Tbs of butter and salt, then serve over a bed of pasta with olive oil, black pepper, and parm cheese. Add a little grilled chicken to the side, and you've got a nice, quick meal for dinner with chard as the star. We'll have some spinach available again this week as well, and I know Brian at Northcroft Farm will be picking kale and lettuce too, so please remember to eat your greens. Your mom would be proud.
Lastly, there will be plenty of broccoli again this week - both small bags and 20# cases if you would like to stock up and fill your freezer. The crop this fall has been gorgeous, so enjoy it while it lasts. As farmer Ryan put it - "This is some significant broccoli!" California, please take a seat - you got nothin' on northern grown broccoli.
That's it for this week. Stay warm, stay healthy, and as always, thanks so very much for eating locally. We're honored to be your farmers!
In community -
Farmer Chris
Great Oak Farm
