It’s still spook-tober!!
I mean, have you seen the pie pumpkins that are available? Nothing says Spooky-Fall-Tober like purchasing a pumpkin from a farm share that you plan on eating! Fresh thyme and rosemary. Sweet potatoes and shallots. Apples, garlic, and all sorts of squash (not a bad combo, by the way). There’s all sorts of veggies available in the share that make you wanna scream out “FALL!” Woohoo!
But it’s not just the seasonally appropriate vegetables that make us want to scream out this time of year…
Bwahahaha! It’s Spook-Tober!
*shines flashlight on face* There’s a ghost on the farm, and he’s building hoop houses! He only works at night under the light of the moon, raising metal rings into the shape of a tunnel faster than you can say “JEEPERS CREEPERS!” He leaves no trace but the floating metal beams he’s placing, and if you squint your eyes from afar (don’t get too close!!) you’ll be able to make out a yellow OSHA approved hardhat.
Boo!
Yep, there’s all sorts of spooky things happening on the farm, adding a new layer of chaos to our daily farm chores. Like the phantom chirping that can be heard in the walls when you’re alone taking a bathroom break. Cow’s mooing and shrieking when they see you walking around the farm. Or the vampire Aphids. If you thought I was joking last week, think again. Apparently they scatter at the first whiff of… garlic spray! Ahhh!
But the scariest thing of all is something that cannot be attributed to creatures in the garden or farm anomalies unseen by the human eye. No, the true horror on Hawkins Farm these days is the hundreds of pounds of Napa cabbage ready to be harvested… all at once! Boo!
That’s right, folks, I said hundreds of pounds. So many Napa cabbage that we’re skipping the bins and piling them straight into large barrels, taking up an inordinate amount of space in the walk-in cooler. It’s scaring us silly. Hundreds of pounds of fresh Napa cabbage, all waiting to be sold in CSA shares, and turned into…kimchi!
When it comes to selecting custom add-ons to your farm share, Hawkins has you covered with all sorts of fall-friendly treats.
Syrup from Winger's Sugar Bush for a crispy Saturday morning pancake breakfast (or a good way to dress up a cup of coffee). Roasty toasty coffee beans from Blue Lion Coffee Roaster. Honey from Haynes Honey for cozy sips of tea. Apple Butter from David Doud's Countyline Orchard for warm toast. But the spookiest add on of all is the kimchi! Ahhhh!
Kimchi is a traditional Korean banchan (side dish) made up of salted and fermented vegetables, which means that it is loaded with microorganisms that do spooky things in your gut like boost immunity, promote weight loss, and even slow down the body's process of aging. Our friend Sam at True Kimchi will be bibbidi-bobbidi-booing lots and lots of Napa cabbage into Napa kimchi over the next few months, and has done so to lots of Hawkins grown Korean radish already! If stir-fry is your thing (or scrambled eggs) then kimchi definitely for you.
This may be the last week of Spook-Tober, but the scary doesn’t stop in October. There’s nothing scarier than forgotten vegetables in the fridge, so when in doubt, just throw those extra veggies into a soup and have some fun with it!
Bwahahaha!
-Alex
