Happy Sunday Everyone! It is so refreshing to see the Earth absorb the light rain we’ve had this weekend. Last night the temperatures dipped into the 30’s here and brought our season to an end a bit early. This will be your last produce box for 2020, however, I will have a few crops available at the farm stand on Thursdays (3 – 7 pm) until I run out. I will also have eggs available all winter and you can also get them at the Grants Pass Farmers Market located on Rogue River Highway.
Thank you all for your support this year. It has been a challenging year for everyone, and I’m so thankful for the opportunity to serve you in this community. I will be in touch when I begin accepting orders for 2021.
If you prepaid for the entire season, a refund will be provided. If you have a credit on your account, I will apply it to a gift card that you can use in the future. Gift cards do not expire and they can be applied to next year’s farm share subscription if you so choose.
This Week in Your Box …..
Eggplant: Organic, assorted eggplants from Pistil farm this week.
Jack Be Little Pumpkins!: Just a few of these cuties left to adorn your dining table or home this autumn.
Stir Fry Greens: Enjoy this delicious mix of swiss chard and Tatsoi (green mustard) from Pistil farm. Braise in a little oil and toss in your veggies or add to lasagna or pasta sauce.
Ornamental Corn: Combine this fall’s mini pumpkins with some colorful ornamental corn to decorate your table or entry way.
Tomatoes (Mixed): A limited supply of heirloom orange jazz, heirloom San Marzano paste and Jasper cherry tomatoes are available this week.
Peppers: Green bell peppers, mild Shishito, hot jalapenos, and cayenne red ember peppers are offered separately this week again. Cayenne peppers dry very well and can then be ground up into
Cucumbers (Mixed): Lemon and green Marketmore cucumbers.
Summer Squash (Mixed): Mixed heirloom zucchini and crookneck from Pistil Farm will wrap up the end of the summer squash season.
Melons: A few melons were harvested before the rain. Green flesh Arava, orange flesh cantaloupes and New Orchid yellow watermelons.
Basil: Six stems per bunch
Strawberries:
Cantaloupe: Sweet Granite and Hearts of Gold cantaloupe
Potatoes: Both white Kennebec and Norland Red varieties are available by the pound.
Onions: Yellow Walla Walla large bulb onions.
Shallots: Matador and Conservor shallots are wonderful single meal sized with a sweet and milder flavor than traditional yellow onions.
Beets: Just a few left. 1 lb bags without tops
Flowers: The dahlias are still producing beautiful flowers so I’ll share them for another week.
Extras:
- Eggs
- Garlic Basil Pesto: 8 oz container made with garlic scapes, basil and cashews. I have frozen it so give it a stir when you get it home.
- Soothing Salve for your skin – my own recipe for dry, chapped hands
- Dried Pepper Flakes made from my own mixture of dried Poblano, red and green bell, hot padrone and paprika peppers. Is packaged in a shaker jar for easy application to pizzas, stews and chili.
- Dried Basil - Provided in a shaker jar.
What’s Happening on the Farm?
This week was a big push to get the cover crop planted before it rained. Cover crops serve multiple functions at Daily Blessings Farm. The legumes pull nitrogen from the air and move it to the soil. Nitrogen is then released through nodules attached to the roots. This is called nitrogen fixing. All of the cover crops help prevent soil erosion over winter holding the soil in place during the winter rain and snow melt off. It will grow all winter and then become forage for the chickens in spring. Allowing the chickens to graze the cover crops down avoids the need to mow it and till it back into the soil which causes soil compaction. The more I have to run the tractor over the field, the more soil compaction occurs. All of the plants must to be pulled by hand this week, so that the field can be raked smooth again. I hand broadcasted a mix of Austrian peas, red crimson clover and oats, and now the rains will initiate germination. The picture above shows what it will look like next spring when the hens are moved into the cover crop area.
This was my second year growing sweet potatoes. Last year, I waited too long to harvest and the frost killed them. Sweet potatoes don’t grow like regular potatoes. They are not a tuber, and they are extremely sensitive to frost. Sweet potatoes are planted from a “slip” not a seed. It looks like a tiny bare root. I’m excited to dig them up this week and see how they look and taste. Sweet potatoes are often confused with yams and are often marketed interchangeably, and incorrectly, in the stores.
There are two kinds of sweet potatoes; dry flesh and moist flesh sweet potatoes. Both are elongated with pointy ends. The dry flesh sweet potato has a pale, thin skin and has a crumbly texture inside similar to a baked potato. The darker skinned variety is much sweeter, has vibrant orange flesh and a moist texture. These are often marketed as Thanksgiving yams when, in fact they are sweet potatoes.
Yams and sweet potatoes are both root vegetables but come from different plant families. Yams typically have a brown, scaly skin. They can have an off-white, purple or red flesh with more rounded ends. Yams originate from Africa while sweet potatoes originate from Central and South America. Yams are very starchy and don’t contain the nutrient dense value that orange sweet potatoes do.
Nutritionally speaking, moist flesh, orange sweet potatoes are a power house of vitamins, fiber and minerals. Sometimes referred to as a super-food, it packs a punch of beta carotene and Vitamin A. One cup of baked sweet potato with skin provides:
Calories: 180
Carbs: 41.4 grams
Protein: 4 grams
Fat: 0.3 grams
Fiber: 6.6 grams
Vitamin A: 769% of the Daily Value (DV)
Vitamin C: 65% of the DV
Manganese: 50% of the DV
Vitamin B6: 29% of the DV
Potassium: 27% of the DV
Pantothenic acid: 18% of the DV
Copper: 16% of the DV
Niacin: 15% of the DV
Additionally, orange sweet potatoes are intensely rich in antioxidants that protect your body from free radicals. So when you are shopping for thanksgiving dinner this year, look for the orange sweet potatoes and ignore the marketing signs.
Now that you know the difference between a sweet potato and a yam, I’ll share the sweet potato variety in your box this week. It’s called the Mahon Yam. LOL! When will scientists and advertising get on the same page?
Blessings,
Carrie
