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CSA Week 24 of 26: Marathon Season Continues!
News
Notes From The Field
First Frost then Continued Warmth
By Derek McGeehan
The lovely days of this autumn continue. This past week felt like the best weather of the season. The needed rain of the prior week helped what is probably the last round of cover crops to germinate (shown above are oats and crimson clover). Though we're finished cover cropping we still have edible crops to direct seed in the next location for our movable high tunnel (2,880-sq-ft). Into there will go winter greens like arugula, baby kale, mizuna, tatsoi, and mustard greens. After seeding we'll let Tuesday's rain assist in germination then will slide the structure over top of the beds to protect them for the next 4 months. Since there are 5 raised beds in there we'll probably plant 3 now and 2 in two weeks to spread out maturity in December and January. Over the next 3 weeks we'll also transplant seedlings into the hoop house (1,170-sq-ft), hoop tunnel (3,024-sq-ft), and green house (1,152-sq-ft) for Late Fall CSA and Winter CSA harvests.
This past week we had our annual Organic Inspection and of course passed with flying colors! The Friday prior we also hosted a representative from Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture (PASA) to collect soil samples for a Cornell soil study. It feels good to see almost 10 years of our continued soil improvements impress folks in this business! We conduct soil tests every 3 years or so and of course they tell us about calcium, magnesium, phosphorous, potassium, sulfur, zinc, boron, etc., but simple observation of crops, cover crops, and soil structure is just as important, if not more so. You can feel and see the soil health here, now. That translates to healthy food for you and me.
Covering the replacement hoop tunnel, a family affair.
Expected Harvest
So Sweet Potato
By Derek McGeehan
Harvest #24 (Week B) should include sweet potatoes, garlic, leeks, scallions, cauliflower, a root choice (radishes, kohlrabi, turnips, celeriac, beets), kale, Swiss chard, spinach, lettuce, a greens choice (arugula, broccoli raab, mizuna, Italian dandelion, collards), and an herb choice (dill, cilantro, parsley). Some items may not be available during all pick up times.
Shares Still Available For Late Fall CSA and Winter CSA (2 seasons)!
by Dana Hunting
Fresh greens at the end of December 2016!
Membership is still 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!
Workshifts Scheduled for Week of 10/22/17
By Derek McGeehan
Sunday's workshift harvesting carrots on a beautiful fall morning!
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:
- Friday 10/27 10am-12noon
- Sunday 10/29 9-11am
Workshift sign-up instructions may be found here.
Thank you!
How I Enjoyed My Harvest
Enjoying Healthy Greens
By Linda Dansbury
Some weeks fly by so fast that I have trouble remembering on Sundays what I made in the past week - this is one of those weeks! Because we were away for 3 nights, I concentrated on consuming our greens, broccoli and cauliflower in the nights we had. If you have any ideas to share on how you enjoyed your harvest, please email me at lindadansbury@comcast.net
  • Broccoli, cauliflower - cooked up a lot of it for dinner one night and then made the leftovers into a salad with brown rice that I also had leftover.
  • Kale, garlic, cilantro - made the Kale Rice Bowl on this site. We use local ground pork, which makes all the difference in this dish.
  • Mixed greens (Swiss chard, dandelion, greens mix), garlic, leek, scallion - sauteed leek and garlic in a large pan, then added the Swiss chard stems and cooked until tender. Added the mixed greens that I had chopped. When almost tender I made holes in the greens and cracked an egg into each well. Covered the pan and cooked until the egg whites were cooked but yolk was still runny, about 2-3 minutes. Carefully plated the servings, keeping the yolks in tact until we could break them and make a sauce in the pile of greens.
  • Leeks, potatoes, carrots, a little garlic, thyme, greens - made a stewed chicken dish like my grandmother used to do. Brown the chicken parts and remove from pan. Add leeks and saute, then add a bit of garlic and saute until you can smell it. Add a little white wine to deglaze, scraping up all the little brown bits. Add chicken stock and thyme and bring to a boil. Place chicken back in pan, turn down the heat and cover and let simmer for about 15 minutes. Add carrots, little potatoes to pan, cover, and let cook until carrots and potatoes are tender and the meat is falling off the bone - about 45 minutes. You can stop here and enjoy, or I added a little bit of chopped spinach and mizuna and just let wilt for a couple minutes. Yum!
More about Greens
By Linda Dansbury
We receive a lot of greens each week. Several pounds in fact! I used to make a lot of pestos and freeze quite a bit (more on easy freezing method below), and that worked when harvests ended at Thanksgiving, but now that it continues well into February, I want to use as much as I can when fresh, or things sit in my freezer and eventually are tossed due to freezer burn. Some greens can be used in multiple ways so I sometimes split them up shortly after I receive them - for instance I will put a few dandelion leaves with the salad greens and put the rest in the cooking group.
My strategy is to group greens into how I will use them - salads, smoothies, cook, preserve (either freeze or pesto/pistou for me)
  • Smoothies - regular smoothie eaters know how they like theirs. I mostly use kale and Swiss chard but have also used mizuna and the greens mix.
  • Salads - lettuces, arugula, spinach, dandelion, small Swiss chard and kale leaves, mizuna, small greens mix leaves.
  • Cooked - Tat soi, kale, Swiss chard, greens mix, broccoli raab, mustard greens, dandelion. Find recipes on this site or others and remember that many of the greens are interchangeable so if a recipe asks for spinach to be added, save your spinach for a salad, and add any or all of this list to the recipe instead.
  • Pesto, Pistou - arugula, broccoli raab - I have found for the raab that if the garlic is roasted before using in the pesto it makes it less bitter. Blanching prior to use helps too.
  • Preserving - any of the greens listed in the cooked line. A fellow member shared a great method of preserving that is so simple! Bring a large pot of water to a boil. While the water is heating, prepare whatever greens you want to preserve - remove thick stems, yellowing leaves, and rinse well. Place a colander in the sink and fill with the greens. Carefully pour boiling water over the greens and allow to drain. When cool enough to handle, squeeze the water out and make the greens into balls. Place into freezer containers or bags and freeze. So easy to pull a ball or two out of the freezer to add to soups and stews!