It's October and my goodness we are excited about this time of year - it's chestnut season! At some point in late fall we'll start to "chill" a little bit, but right now we are still in full swing. We are working hard harvesting chestnuts (see photo above), planting and transplanting greens and roots for our winter CSA, and trying to cover any bare land in cover crop. We just harvested 140 acres worth of hay for our animals to eat this winter and then seeded all that land in a mix of rye, vetch and radish - crops that will not only suppress weeds, but actually help to build healthier soil! While feeding YOU is our biggest priority, growing crops that will feed our animals (particularly during winter) is also essential to creating a healthy farm organism.
While most of our pigs will be ready to be slaughtered in November, we sent 8 of them to the processor last week. We've been cleaning out our shelves this week and will be sending all the remaining 2020 pork harvest, as well as the first of our 2021 harvest. We are also picking up a batch of beef today, so we'll be sending plenty of beef cuts to make room for the new. Our lamb shelves are currently loaded with lots of shoulder roasts, leg of lamb, shanks, and other large cuts that are excellent for feeding the family. I'll try to add some of these bigger cuts to the "extras" section, where you can swap or add them to your cart if want.
Next week we'll be sending all our Veggie CSA members a bag of chestnuts in your box! If you don't have a veggie CSA, feel free to purchase some chestnuts through the "extras" section. Veggie members can also expect tender hakurei turnips and french breakfast radishes, greens like pac choi (great stir fried!), escarole and lettuce, sweet peppers, beets and carrots.. yum!
What are you cooking with your meat and veggies? Join our Caney Fork Farms CSA Facebook group and let us know! We hope to use this FB group to help folks mix and mingle and inspire each other with new recipes.
What's in the veggie box:
- Rendered Leaf Lard - from the farm, $8.50/pint (available to swap if you have a meat share)
- Rendered Beef Tallow - from the farm, $12/pint (available to swap if you have a meat share)
- Beef Bone Broth - from the farm, $15/quart (available to swap if you have a meat share)
- Chickens (non-GMO) from Underground Farmers - $5/lb, ~3-4 lbs
- Chestnuts - from the farm, $9/lb
Recipes
