Lots of interesting stuff this time of year. Learn more after these brief messages.
Don’t forget to sign-up for 2022! Existing members can bring/send in a check for $100 (or use PayPal and my email address). New members should order through our online store. Choose “Deposit plan” at check out if you want to only pay the $100 deposit to reserve your share. Credit cards have to pay the total due do (heh, heh, he said, “doo doo”) to how the software works in my store.
Two more weeks in the season (counting this week). Please plan accordingly.
Farm News
First, this week we will be giving out popcorn. It most likely isn’t dry enough to pop yet. Pull back or remove the husk and leave it out to dry for a few more weeks. When it is dry enough the kernels will typically come off with a little bit of effort. If it takes a lot of effort you should wait a few more weeks. Before committing your whole stash to the popcorn popper try a few kernels to test. If they pop the rest of the popcorn should as well. I’ll test a few in the upcoming weeks and report my results in a future newsletter.
Second, we harvested all the sweet potatoes and were quite surprised. There were more down there than we thought based on our preliminary test dig last week. When sweet potatoes come out of the ground they are like some former Presidents — fragile, thin skinned and orange. So we cure them in our sweet potato curing chamber aka the greenhouse. We do this by heating it to 80-85 degrees and keep them there for 7-10 days. This will heal any wounds from harvest, dry them up a bit and make them less susceptible to mockery damage. Too bad this doesn’t work on former Presidents. Anyway, we will give them out next week after they are cured.
Third, with no frost yet and none in sight (I think this will change soon) many of the warm season crops are still growing. In a typical year the workload would have been reduced as the frost kills off the plants. This season no such luck. So we are harvesting both the usual fall crops and some of the summer crops. It is far more work than we have time for but we are harvesting as fast as we can. The hoop house tomatoes are still producing a reasonable amount. The eggplants are going crazy and the peppers are still turning ripe. However since the sun is lower in the sky and sticks around for less than half a day the plants are slower than we see in the summer months, so that is a little less work. Still it is nice to harvest tomatoes, eggplants and peppers in mid October!
What will we have this week?
BS! For those new to the farm that stands for Brussels sprouts, one of two vegetables with a capital letter! We also have potatoes, tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, daikon radishes, watermelon radishes, kale, shallots, popcorn!, some tomatillos, broccoli, some okra, some kohlrabi, a few cauliflower, some Swiss chard (the other vegetable with a capital letter) and a few odds and a few ends.
We also have fruit, eggs, mushrooms, coffee and flowers. The flowers are still slowing down so the bouquets are smaller, but we’ve never had bouquets this late in the season before!
Speaking of mushrooms, here is a message from Jeremy the mushroom farmer:
“This week we have a mix of log-grown Nameko and Oyster mushrooms for you. Nameko only grow in the fall and they suddenly started busting out everywhere a few weeks ago. You’ve had Oysters from us this summer, but Nameko have an earthy, forest flavor and they have a bit of an orange-brown color. There is a layer of naturally occurring gelatin on the cap which makes them great in soups or sauces that need a thickener. They would also be great on their own or mixed with oysters in dishes like risotto. Your Nameko mushrooms may be dirty, but it’s not dirt – it’s bits of bark. They really like to grow under the bark of the logs and the bits of bark get everywhere. You will want to gently wash them off – but do this just before you cook with them. Enjoy your mushrooms!”
Recipe of the Week
I was going to write a bit about Brussels sprouts and the many ways you can roast them (my favorite approach) but this web page does a good job. For those who don’t like to click links, here is the Readers Digest version. Wash the sprouts. If they are large cut them in half (we do have some large ones for once this year!). Spread them on a baking sheet. Coat with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Put them in a 400 degree oven for about 20 to 30 minutes. If you like garlic, cut garlic into chunks (not too small or it will burn) and roast it with the bs. If you like balsamic vinegar, drizzle some on the sprouts when they are close to done. Why not throw some Parmesan cheese on them? Great idea, with about 10 minutes left on the sprouts. The possibilities are endless!
Joke of the Week
Two brussels sprouts One day two brussels sprouts, who were best friends, were walking together down the street. They stepped off the curb and a speeding car came around the corner and ran one of them over. The uninjured brussels sprout called 911 and helped his injured friend as best he was able. The injured brussels sprout was taken to emergency at the hospital and rushed into surgery. After a long and agonizing wait, the doctor finally appeared. He told the uninjured brussels sprout, “I have good news, and I have bad news. The good news is that your friend is going to pull through. The bad news is that he’s going to be a vegetable for the rest of his life”.
That is all for now. As always, feel free to send in your questions, comments (thanks to those who commented last week!), jokes, brain teasers and other sentences made from words.