Hi All,
This week’s newsletter comes to you from Packshed Manager Sarah.
Just a heads up this is your last farm share until January, since we take an extra week off for the holidays. Root crops and squash should all keep for a few weeks if stored properly, so feel free to stock up for holiday meals. We have a ton of extras available this week for that purpose.
Last week a construction crew came and built our new 10 foot high deer fence that encircles all of our fields. The large support posts were driven into the partially frozen ground with a hydraulic post pounder- it was fun listening to it work while Justin and I worked in the packshed washing the produce for your shares last week. The rhythmic pounding sounded something like the approaching Ork armies in Lord of the Rings. We’re looking forward to the absence of deer pressure next season, which should mean there are more veggies for you. We should also be able to do a better job keeping row cover on certain crops (because the deer won’t immediately destroy it); that should mean less insect pest pressure on tender brassica and lettuce family crops. Really seems like a win-win situation :) We’re grateful to the DNR’s Wildlife Damage Management Program for helping cover some of the costs of this project.
We are currently working on finalizing all the details for our 2021 Farm Share program. We’re hoping to open signups for both our Summer and Winter Programs late this month, so keep an eye out for e-mail and social media announcements.
Wishing you and your family a very happy holiday season!
Notes on items in this week’s share
Green cabbage is looking beautiful! Expect to receive either one small or one large head (size is specified in the product description).
Carrots are our standard sweet orange variety.
This is our first and only celeriac distribution of the year, so grab them while you can! The bulb size of these roots is smaller than usual due to the hailstorm defoliating the plants, and also somewhat variable in size due to irregular rainfall. We’ll be distributing either one medium or two smaller roots per share. Celeriac is a staple of fall soups. It’s also great roasted with other fall veggies and paired with a meat dish (it has a similar flavor profile to parsnips); remember to peel this gnarly looking veggie until you reach the cream-colored interior. Feeling creative? It shines in cupcakes- simply use a carrot cake recipe and swap out the carrot for celeriac. Top cakes with a peanut butter frosting.
Butternut squash was grown at our neighbor’s farm, which the hail storm mostly missed this summer. Some fruits may have a few healed hail pocks that won’t impact storage life.
Sweet potatoes are the smaller (think fingerling potato) or medium (think standard potato) in size (size is specified in the product description). We are saving our larger tubers for later winter shares, since they typically have a longer storage life than the smaller ones. You may have an occasional tuber with a cut surface- this is because they sometimes break off during the digging process. Both sizes of tubers work well for whole roasting. This Sweet Potato Mushroom Quiche is another delicious option, especially if you add a crust and some extra cheese.
Head Lettuce will be petite in size. You will receive either one medium or two small heads. High tunnel-grown, you’d be hard pressed to find sweeter lettuce than this.
Salad Mix is also high tunnel-grown this week. Think tender, sweet leaves.
This week's "Spicy Mix" microgreens is a blend of several types of mustards. It isn’t hot spicy, but rather a radish/herbal spice.
A limited amount of potatoes are available as an extra purchase. They’re the same variety we included in your previous share: they have pinkish skin and golden flesh, great for home frying or roasting. They’re small in size: think just a little larger than fingerlings.
This week's Hot Sauce/Salsa Add-on is 13 from Lucky’s, another local hot sauce maker who uses our hot peppers in his sauces. He describes it this way, “It’s one of my best sellers at the St. Paul Farmer’s Market. It’s citrusy/fruity in flavor. It’s made from a habanero variety called Paper Lantern and likely ranks in the 250-300,000 range on the Scoville heat scale.”
Subscribers to the Kimchi Add-on Share will receive a quart of their chosen spice level in their share this week.
Remaining Distributions:
Week 5: Jan 6 or 7
Week 6: Jan 20 or 21
Week 7: February 3 or 4
