We've been busy filling up our winter storage rooms, to the ceilings! Stephanie's the mastermind behind all the careful stashing. We've saved a little room as there's still some veggies to come in from the fields like carrots and Brussels sprouts, but all the frost sensitive crops were safe from last night's first freeze. However, we're really excited to be packing up this week to make room to tuck in the last crops. Yup they're that full. I always like to start the winter with some storage tips, as you'll have a month to eat through your veggies before we restock you and (thankfully) they don't all have to squeeze in your fridge. If you're nervous about fridge space, take a peek at your cart to visualize where you're thinking of storing the various bits - and don't forget you'll be eating through it gradually all month and can rearrange.
- In a cool spot in your home (we keep them at 15°C) goes the squashes, garlic and sweet potatoes. Keep your sweet potatoes in the plastic, they prefer the humidity while the squash and garlic are fine loose. This trio would be fine on the counter, but they won't like your fridge. Fun fact, after years of gradually bringing the garlic temperature down as we go through the winter we have learnt that it actually stores longer term without getting cold! So we'll see how that does for us but we're hoping for less sprouting come March.
- Flexible items that can be tucked in a cold spot (say below 10°C) in your home are: potatoes & onions. We keep them in the fridge to be able to enjoy in May, but they'll be fine for a month without being that cold. If you have a vestibule or entry way that's cold (but won't freeze) that's a perfect spot for these bulky items unless it's really sunny too and gets hot during the day of course!
- Root veggies prefer to stay in the fridge, I like to tuck them in a big plastic bag together. Condensation is their enemy, so just flop the bag over no need to seal it. A little air flow is a good thing, but if you were to leave them loose on a shelf the roots would shrivel up and dry out. A big plastic tub (or root veggie drawer) could work well to as long as there isn't too much air flow (watch for shrivelling, select max humidity if there's a vent). Beeswax wrap is also another option, but be careful not to forget veggies that way as they can spoil your wrap if they go off.
- Any leafy greens, including cabbages, are the top priority for your fridge space, and must be stored in plastic so they don't wilt. Cabbages are the most compact as nature grows them, but there's no harm chopping them in half to fit better as they can be awkward shapes to fit in ;)
Now that you know how to store it all, don't forget to swap away or add more to your cart to ensure you're well fed all month! You'll get a customization email each Thursday before a delivery, and you'll have until Sunday night to customize. You can also just log into Harvie and there will be a button to customize here:
https://www.harvie.farm/account/dashboard
You can edit your shopping cart as many times as you like over the weekend before the cutoff at 11:55pm Sundays.
For members returning from last winter, you may remember a separate "swap" and "extras" page, but Harvie has simplified now to just have one shopping cart. When you're customizing you can swap something in your cart, take something out, or add something in. You'll always have a cart summary on the right which shows you your total due. Keep your eye out for the green banner at the top if you're pulling items out, this will pop up if you need to add more back in to ensure we're packing you the full base value of your share!
If you'd like the guided tour of swapping, here's a quick link to Harvie's very thorough guided tour with lots of screen shots:
https://harvie.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/1260802865550-Customizing-Your-Share-
That's all for this week, keep your eye on our social media (Instagram and Facebook)... I'm hoping to get more recipes and food ideas out for you this winter!
Heather
