The F-Word

We are still taking orders for the 2027 season. Not sold out yet but you never know when it could happen (we have three orders so far)! To rejoin you can send in a $100 or order through our online store. For new members you’ll need to go through the online store. Let me know if you have any questions!

We have three weeks left including this week. Two weeks if you don’t include this week and only one week if you don’t include this week or next week, but why would you do that?

What will we have this week?

Sweet potatoes! Some call them yams but they are not yams and I’ll fight anyone who claims they are yams. Well, maybe not fight, but argue a while. Yams are a starchy vegetable found in temperate climates. They are typically not found in traditional grocery stores in the US but may be found in specialty stores. Sweet potatoes are the things we eat this time of year and are sweet and delicious. We don’t grow yams and probably never will though I could be persuaded if someone gives me a good recipe. We’ll also have more regular-style potatoes (Purple Vikings to celebrate the 4-0 start to the football season), winter squash, onions, shallots, garlic, peppers, eggplants, some tomatoes, some cherry tomatoes, hot peppers, some daikon radishes, some cauliflower, some Napa cabbage, lettuce salad mix, some arugula and some other things I am forgetting.

WinterShare this week is everything that you haven’t yet received. Plan to pick it up at your usual pick-up location.

FlowerShare is going to be ornamental corn and probably some bouquets on the farm since we don’t have enough ornamental corn for all the FlowerShares unfortunately.

‘ShroomShare is oyster mushrooms. Yes ‘shrooms again this week since we need to squeeze in 10 weeks and started the second week. Yay!

A Quick Note About Buttercup Squash

We are noticing the buttercup squash are not storing well. We had to toss quite a few this morning. So I recommend you eat these somewhat soon. I told you this was going to be a quick note.

Farm News

First, a big “Thank You!” to everyone who made it out for the garlic planting this past week. I think everyone had a great time, we finished planting all the garlic and we didn’t get wet. We couldn’t ask for better results! We still need to find straw to mulch the garlic — our usual supplier is no longer supplying. So if you know anyone who sells bales of straw let me know!

Next, we had the F-word this past week. For those who don’t know the f-word, it is frost. On Friday morning as I was taking Link out for his morning stroll we noticed a white substance on the grass in the more shady locations. This is a sure sign of frost. I also noticed the roof of the farm truck was covered with a similar white substance. So that kinda sucked. Frost was not in the forecast in the Twin Cities so we hadn’t planned on preparing for the frost. But wait, there is good news!

The frost didn’t kill anything. It seems like the only things that got frost were the truck and the grass. We might have lost a few leaves on the tomato plants but they all survived fine. Yippee! When we then looked at the forecast coming up we saw that Sunday night into Monday was forecasted to be colder than Thursday night. It also called for calm winds. The only missing ingredient for frost was a full moon. So we went into frost mode.

Frost mode is when we harvest everything that could be lost to frost that is worth harvesting. This is mostly warm season crops like eggplants, peppers, tomatoes and hot peppers. We spent all day Friday getting as many of these as we could. And we succeeded!

Fast forward to Monday morning, I go outside and again there is frost on the roof of the truck. But not on the grass. The temp was 38 degrees which is pretty close to freezing and as we know, the temp doesn’t have to be freezing to get frost. But there was no frost on the plants! And this week’s forecast calls for above normal temps with no chance of frost. So we did all that harvesting for not. Well, not exactly. We would have harvested everything at some point anyway we just cut short their time to grow so we likely harvested them smaller that they could ultimately get.

So we now have a bunch of peppers — mostly green — and a bunch of eggplants — a mix of sizes. We also have a ton of hot peppers! So we’ll be giving these out this week and next. In the mean time, any peppers or eggplants we left on the plants will continue to grow — though slowly with the reduced daylight — and someday soon we will do another frost harvest though this time I suspect they won’t be nearly as plentiful.

Recipe of the Week

Though we aren’t giving out butternut squash yet — we’ll start next week — I thought I’d put this recipe in this week’s newsletter so I don’t forget next week.

Oven Roasted Sausage and Squash

This is a great all-in-one recipe for those cold winter nights. You can use chorizo, Italian, Andouille or other spicy sausage. Butternut squash works quite well though other winter squashes could substitute if needed.

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 10 minutes mins

Cook Time 25 minutes mins

Total Time 35 minutes mins

Course Main Course

Servings 4 people

Ingredients

  

• 1 butternut squash peeled, seeded and chopped into bite sized pieces
• 1 lb spicy sausage cut into bite sized pieces
• ¼ c olive oil
• 1 Tbs lemon juice
• 1 15 oz can garbanzo beans rinsed
• 8 oz feta cheese crumbled

Instructions

 

• Heat oven and sheet pan to 425 degrees (insert sheet pan into oven while it heats).
• Peel, seed and cut squash into bite-sized pieces. Transfer to a large bowl.
• Cut sausage into bite-sized pieces. Add to squash bowl.
• Add olive oil to bowl and mix, coating the squash and sausage.
• When the oven is up to temperature, carefully pour squash and sausage unto heated pan.
• Roast, stirring occasionally until sausage is cooked and squash is soft. Approximately 25 minutes.
• For the final five minutes, add rinsed garbanzo beans to heat through.
• When done, remove from the oven and transfer to a serving bowl. Add lemon juice and crumbled feta cheese. Mix. Serve warm.

Notes

This recipe would work with other vegetables that roast well, such as potatoes, carrots , onions and sweet potatoes.

Keyword Carrots, Onions, Potatoes, Sweet Potatoes, Winter Squash

Here is another recipe that uses winter squash.

Thai Butternut Squash Red Curry

Here is a simple recipe I concocted while trying to find it on the internet. Once the squash is peeled and chopped everything else is quick! It can easily come together in 30 minutes or less, except if your chosen rice takes longer than 30 minutes to cook.

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Course Main Course

Cuisine Thai

Ingredients

  

• 1 butternut squash peeled and cubed
• 1 medium onion chopped
• 3-5 medium carrots cut into bite-size pieces
• 3 Tbs Thai red curry paste
• 2 cloves garlic minced
• 1 red bell pepper sliced into strips
• 2 Tbs coconut or other cooking oil
• 15 oz can coconut milk
• ¼ tsp turmeric
• ¾ c chicken broth or water
• 2-3 leaves kale roughly chopped
• 1 small handful of Thai basil optional
• cooked rice for serving

Instructions

 

• In a large pot or wok, heat oil, onions, carrots and squash until onion is translucent, about 8 minutes.
• Add curry paste, garlic and red pepper. Stir and heat for another minute or two until fragrant.
• Add coconut milk, turmeric and broth. Stir.
• Heat to boiling then reduce heat. Simmer for 10-15 minutes stirring occasionally until squash is tender.
• Add kale and basil. Stir.
• Heat for another minute or two until kale turns bright green.
• Serve over rice.

Notes

For a hotter curry, add Thai chilies when adding the curry paste.

For a Thai curry soup add more water or broth.

Garbanzo beans can be added for more protein. Add them before you add the kale to give enough time to heat them through.

Other possible ingredients include, but are not limited to, eggplant, green beans, cauliflower, really any vegetable that you cook.

Keyword Bell Pepper, Carrots, Cauliflower, Eggplant, Green Beans, Kale, Onions, Thai basil, Thai peppers, Winter Squash

Riddle of the Week

What is it that you throw away the outside and cook the inside, then you eat the outside and throw away the inside?

Sweet corn

As always, feel free to send in share orders, jokes, riddles, questions, suggestions, or anything else you deem of value.