Harvest #20 (Week B) should include butternut winter squash, leeks, kale, collards, spinach, Swiss chard, lettuce, savoy cabbage, beets with greens, broccoli, dill, cilantro, parsley, hot peppers, sweet peppers, eggplant, and tomatoes. Some items will be a choice. U-pick should include herbs.

This is the driest our soil has been all season long. We received just over an inch of rain almost 3 weeks ago and since then we've received .15 inches (which was almost 2 weeks ago). We added drip irrigation to the more sensitive water demanding crops of broccoli, cauliflower, and cabbage, mostly because they're all beginning to head up and reach maturity. Years ago I remember reading that the brassica family is less able to scavenge for moisture than, say, the lettuce family. Daily I think about adding water to all of the other crops but with this heat I'm a little worried that if I add water these late fall crops will grow too fast and reach maturity too soon. But, given the high temperatures and low humidity plus wind, crops and soil are drying out faster. For now, we wait and hope for some rainfall to take away this difficult decision.

Even though it is very dry, the sun is lower in the sky and is out for much less time than it would be in July. We also benefit from fields that face north, have high organic matter, and have good soil structure, properties that conserve moisture in the soil. As you can tell below, even after a hot and dry day the mature greens still look healthy and happy. That's a big field to have to irrigate!

If you still need to work your pledged hours please consider signing up for a workshift soon! In other words, when you joined the CSA you purchased a share "with work discount" instead of a share "without working". If you'd rather contribute financially to cover the work hour cost of your share please do so soon so that we can plan accordingly. And please don't feel guilty about it! The buyout option makes it fair for all members.

$60 covers the 4 hours for a Half Share; $90 covers the 6 hours for a Medium Share; and $120 covers the 8 hours for a Full Share. E-mail us at anchorruncsa@gmail.com if you have any questions.

Workshifts this week:

- Tuesday 9/26 10am-12noon
- Wednesday 9/27 10am-12noon
- Sunday 10/1 8-10am (in High Tunnel so rain or shine)

Workshift sign-up instructions may be found here.

Thank you!

Come see these talented musicians at the farm Saturday October 7th from 4 pm 'til dark for our season's end celebration potluck! Bring a dish to share that is large enough to feed 4-6 adults, your own place settings, beverages of your choice, as well as lawn chair or blanket. Local bluegrass/folk band Goose Creek Pioneers will serenade us during the evening and there will be a campfire to warm your bones by. Bring your s'more material and tools of the roasting trade, hope to see you there!

Membership is now available for the 2017 6-week Late Fall CSA (mid-Nov through mid-Dec) as well as the 2017-2018 10-week Winter CSA (end-Dec through end-Feb). Click here for more information and to sign up!

The fall provides us with a large variety of veggies that combine well with greens - find a couple recipes that are your favorites and then vary the ingredients based on what you have on hand. It is fun to experiment and find new flavor combinations.

This week I did quite a bit of cooking. I love hanging out in the kitchen and do so when the opportunity presents itself. Here are a few of the things I prepared:

Swiss chard, onion, garlic - this might be my new "go to" method for cooking greens. Heat olive oil/butter combo in a large saute pan. Add thinly sliced onion, cover and saute over low until tender. Add finely chopped garlic - a good amount - and continue sauteing until tender - add a little salt and pepper. Meanwhile, remove stems from chard leaves and chop - add them to the onion/garlic mix and cook until tender. Chop chard leaves and add to the pan and keep moving them around until wilted and tender. Add salt and pepper to taste and a squeeze of lemon if desired.

Eggplant, rosemary - I cut the eggplants in half longway and sliced through the flesh to make a cross hatch pattern. Brushed with olive oil, a little salt and pepper and a sprig of rosemary on each half. Then roasted in a 450 degree oven until the flesh was nicely charred and very soft under the char. Drizzled with some tahini that I had: crushed a little garlic into lemon juice, added to tahini and then added water until it was thin enough to pour. Yum!

Onion, hot pepper, tomatillo sauce from freezer, cilantro - made the Chicken Stew with Tomatillo Sauce from a batch in the freezer. I made mine in the pressure cooker and served rolled up in corn tortillas, with the sauce poured over and a crumble of local feta cheese and chopped cilantro.

Kale, garlic, cilantro - made the Kale Rice Bowl (a newly added recipe) that is one of our "go to" weeknight dishes. I discovered it a couple of years ago when we had a lot of baby kale during the late fall share and we have been eating it ever since.

Share with me how you enjoy your harvest by emailing me at lindadansbury@comcast.net.

Collards seem to be one of those greens that people either love or hate. Honestly, it hasn't been one of my favorites but when done right, the bitterness is lessened and they are almost creamy in texture - most people are aware of the Southern method of cooking them for hours with a ham hock or other smoked meat. But how do you do them so you don't have them going all day?

You can remove the stems, roll up the leaves and cut into a chiffonade - the way you would when making cabbage. By making the leaves small, they will cook faster - add them into greens recipes with other greens. We also have a few nice recipes on this site including Skillet Squash with Collards and Barley, Collard Greens with Lima Beans and Smoked Turkey and even Collard Pesto. Try them, they are too healthy to not eat them!

Collards store pretty well, keeping longer in the fridge than most other greens.

Fellow member Carolyn Diana sent me the following email. I love how this recipe sounds and I even purchased the coconut milk to make it, but haven't tried it yet. I hope to this coming week. Thank you Carolyn - it sounds delicious!

I wanted to share what I do when we get an enormous load of greens at the farm (my favorite type of pick up!! ;D)

Coconut Honey-Miso Greens
I first saute an onion with some garlic, salt, and pepper in coconut oil. Once the onion is tender, mix in about 3 tablespoons of a high quality yellow miso paste (I get ours from a local co-op, and the quality really does make a difference) and about half a tablespoon of raw honey. Mix thoroughly. Then add in whatever mess of greens you have available: kale, swiss chard, beet or dandelion greens, etc. Mix with a little tamari or soy sauce, and enough coconut milk to achieve the consistency you'd like. I add enough coconut milk to make it quite saucy and then serve over rice.