What’s Happening at the Farm?
This week marks the very last share of the season! Our Cornucopia fall harvest share. There are lots of items to choose from: -Goodies for your Thanksgiving feast (Celery, Carrots, Pumpkin, Cranberries, and herbs).
-Storage Crops that hold well in a pantry or cool storage (like potatoes, dry beans, cabbage & cauliflower (for pickling/fermenting projects).
-Weekly favorites like salad mix, braising mix, beets and garlic.
-We've also got some new farm products coming up this week! Small batch handmade Goats Milk Soap, Bath Soaking Salts, and Hot Sauce. More details about these products and where you can purchase them is located below.
This is also our very last weekend at the Downtown Vancouver Farmers’ Market. We will be slingin’ produce and farm made body care products this Saturday, November 20th from 9-2 pm at Ester Short Park. Come visit and grab some goodies to eat and gifts for friends and family!
Kitchen Notes
We’ve been getting some questions about what to do with that bitter green in the shares. Chicory! The family of winter greens that includes Chicory, Frisee, Radicchio, Endive, and Sugarloaf, and Spadona (looks similar to Dandelion greens). I found this great Sunset article that explains more about what/how/and delicious recipes. Check it out here: https://www.sunset.com/food-wine/chicory-recipes-to-make-in-fall
Here is another great combo of seasonal items for a Cornucopia Salad: https://www.yummly.com/recipe/Roasted-Squash_-Chestnut_-and-Chicory-Salad-with-Cranberry-Vinaigrette-2556919
Butternut & Potato Au Gratin (VEGAN!) https://thenewbaguette.com/vegan-thanksgiving-sides-potato-gratin/
We used the farm potatoes of all colors and alternated with slices of peeled butternut squash. We also omitted the bread crumbs and it was sooooo delicious and beautiful! A great dish to bring to a potluck. I love this sauce and will be using it for lots of other dishes, vegan mac n cheese, pasta sauce, substitute for gravy and more, mmmmm…
Local Spotlight
SOAP time! Kelly (of Flat Tack Farm) and Lisa Marie (of the Humble Homestead) met at an Urban Abundance meet-up and quickly found that they had a lot in common! One of their shared interests is making their own body care products. In the interest of eliminating synthetics and GMO’s, and discovering lost ways of thriving in a modern world. Shopping for a soap that is actually wholesome (and not just “greenwashed”) is not only exhausting, but can get very expensive. Between can-do ‘tudes and a healthy lust for adventure Lisa Marie and Kelly started getting together to make soap. They found that they not only loved the process, but that their soap was getting rave reviews from friends and family. Top of the favorites list was the goat milk soap - procured from a local farmer in Oregon City. It leaves the skin moisturized and makes a lovely bar of soap. Combine that with grass fed beef tallow and they had a soap that makes skin happy! Being slightly obsessed with buying local, the next logical step was to bring Ode to Goat soap to you! Focusing on high quality ingredients, and a range of products from hand soap to shave bars, unscented to earthy tones, Kelly and Lisa Marie are excited to share their creations with you!
The soap is made using a cold process method where oils and fats are mixed carefully with sodium hydroxide to start a chemical process called Saponification where the fats are the turned into a cleansing soap. This soap focus’ on including all natural ingredients (like activated charcoal, spirulina/chlorella powder and bentonite clay) for color and cleansing properties. They use grass-fed tallow, organic olive and coconut oils mixed with a high percentage of goats’ milk to “super fat” the soap creating a very moisturizing soap bar. The soap is scented with all natural essential oils and topped with flowers grown on the farm (like lavender & calendula).
HOT HOT HOT Sauce! Patrick (of Flat Tack Farm) has also been making his delicious hot sauce! These batches use all farm grown peppers in varieties of heat levels from a tasty medium version called Caldera to the super-hot Sauce of the Gods. Sauce of the Gods is a Mexican Mole inspired hot sauce with Cherries, Chocolate, and Ghost, Reaper, and Scorpion Peppers. There’s also a tropical inspired hot sauce called Pineapple Pyro featuring Passion Fruit, Pineapple, Sweet Peppers, 7 Pot, Reaper, Scotch Bonnet, and Aji Mango Peppers. These hot sauces are available by PRE-ORDER only! They won’t be for sale at the market, so email or contact us if you’d like to pre-order.
It’s a bitter sweet ending. We are very excited to take vacations, but also bummed that the season has come to an end. Winter is a much more relaxed time where we regenerate our energy, close out the past season, focus and plan for the next season and enjoy much needed rest. We greatly appreciate all of our members and followers for their love and support this season and we wish you all the most joyous holiday season.
With Gratitude from the bottom of our hearts,
Kelly (Patrick & Lyndsay)
