To view Farmer John’s latest update, click here.

This week’s share will include:

• Veggies: Swiss chard, choice of arugula or broccoli raab, cilantro, leeks, salad turnips, beets, cauliflower, broccoli, Brussel’s sprouts, sweet dumpling squash and fingerling potatoes.
• Add-on shares:
  • Fruit:  Pink Lady apples and red D’Anjou pears
  • Flowers: not mentioned in this week’s update, I believe we have completed all 10 weeks
  • Mushrooms: expected every week unless we hear otherwise
  • Eggs: expected every week unless we hear otherwise
• For those with half shares, this is “A” week.

Serving Suggestions:

• I saw dumpling squash on tomorrow’s list and my mind first went to stuffing it (Thanksgiving is only two weeks away after all). So I went searching for inspiration for a few stuffing ideas that are far from “traditional” Thanksgiving flavors. Start with some sauteed aromatics (onion, garlic, leek, shallot, etc), add that to a big mixing bowl with your dried bread/stuffing cubes, moisten with a flavorful liquid like broth, and then gently stir in the below ingredients before stuffing and baking off your par-roasted squash until super tender…
  • Blue cheese crumbles, walnuts, dried cranberries
  • Crispy pancetta, rough chopped broccoli rabe leaves, shaved parm
  • Slivered almonds, golden raisins, zaatar

To view Farmer John’s latest update, click here.

This week’s share will include:

• Veggies: spinach, choice of arugula or tatsoi, baby bok choi, lettuce, garlic, carrots, cauliflower, broccoli, sweet potatoes, rutabaga, Honeynut squash, and choice of an herb (cilantro or dill).
• Add-on shares:
  • Fruit:  paused, final fruit will be next week
  • Flowers: not mentioned in this week’s update, I believe we have completed all 10 weeks
  • Mushrooms: expected every week unless we hear otherwise
  • Eggs: expected every week unless we hear otherwise
• For those with half shares, this is “B” week.

Serving Suggestions:

• In all my years of writing CSA emails and website updates, I don’t think I have ever shared any information in Serving Suggestions about the humble rutabaga. The rutabaga is typically in the Stock Up share, but this week we get the uncommon treat of having it included in a regular share. By my count this is only the second time in the last ~8 years that we received rutabaga. 
• So, what is a rutabaga? It’s sort of a cross between cabbage and a white turnip. It seems common to English/Irish/Scottish environs, and is even commonly carved as a jack-o-lantern in Britain. It’s one of the traditional ingredients in a Cornish pasty. It’s often served boiled and mashed, sometimes combined with other roots like carrots or potatoes.
• What should you do with one? Here’s what the internet thinks:
  • All Recipes
  • Spruce Eats
  • Tasting Table

To view Farmer John’s latest update, click here.

This week’s share will include: 

• Veggies: peppers, spinach, kale, lettuce, rainbow carrots, acorn squash, radishes,cauliflower or kohlrabi, sweet corn, shallots, sweet potatoes, and choice of an herb (parsley, thyme, or oregano).
• Add-on shares:
  • Fruit:  Fuji apples and Hosui Asian pears (John has asked members to bring back the reusable Amazon bags they use for fruit to avoid having to use plastic bags)
  • Flowers: not mentioned in this week’s update, I believe we have completed all 10 weeks
  • Mushrooms: expected every week unless we hear otherwise
  • Eggs: expected every week unless we hear otherwise
• For those with half shares, this is “B” week.

Serving Suggestions:

• Please consider signing up for a Stock Up Share as it helps the farm use up stored veggies and provides an infusion of cash to help pay for bills over the winter. My family has done the Stock Up Share the last few years and each year we split with two other families to make it more manageable. The timing just before Thanksgiving is perfect for making traditional sides like mashed potatoes, roasted squash or glazed carrots with your CSA produce. If you have any questions about the Stock Up Share let me know and I would be happy to help. At some point in the near future we will begin a list of those who want to sign up. To view this year’s Stock Up Share info, click here.

To view Farmer John’s latest update, click here.

This week’s share will include: 

• Veggies: purple potatoes, mixed onions, lettuce, sweet corn, Swiss chard, green peppers, beets, daikon, cauliflower or kohlrabi or Napa cabbage, flageolet beans, delicata squash and choice of an herb.
• Add-on shares:
  • Fruit: paused this week
  • Flowers: not mentioned in this week’s update
  • Mushrooms: expected every week unless we hear otherwise
  • Eggs: expected every week unless we hear otherwise
• For those with half shares, this is “A” week.

Serving Suggestions:

• This week’s Serving Suggestion is courtesy of Stacey Gold, one of our CSA members:
  • “This was a big hit at our family’s holiday dinner this week and used our napa cabbage,” said Stacey. Here’s the link: Napa Cabbage Slaw with Mustard & Apple Butter Vinaigrette. Looks like a great way to use up a head of cabbage that’s a bit different than a typical summer-style slaw. Apple butter tends to be something I buy for a specific recipe, use two tablespoons, and promptly forget about in the back of the fridge. I never thought to incorporate it into a dressing. Thanks for sharing Stacey!

To view Farmer John’s latest update, click here.

This week’s share will include: 

• Veggies: zucchini, spinach, lettuce, radishes, leeks, rainbow carrots, sweet corn, edamame soybeans, Napa cabbage, baby bok choi, choice of an herb and ornamental gourds.
• Add-on shares:
  • Fruit: Jonagold apples and Devoe pears
  • Flowers: not mentioned in this week’s update
  • Mushrooms: expected every week unless we hear otherwise
  • Eggs: expected every week unless we hear otherwise
• For those with half shares, this is “B” week.

Serving Suggestions:

• This week’s email from John starts as it often does — with an update about the rain at the farm — but what I didn’t expect was for John to be worrying about our first freeze. It looks like we’ll be fine, at least according to my weather app, but I was surprised to see the forecast show us dipping below 40 degrees one night next week! Sounds like soup weather — good thing we have leeks and corn coming. Here’s a recipe for a soup that I’d be glad to warm up with next week.

To view Farmer John’s latest update, click here.

This week’s share will include: 

• Veggies: Lettuce, beans, zucchini, kale or chard, choice of arugula or broccoli raab, salad turnips, broccoli/cauliflower, yellow onions, sweet potatoes, spaghetti squash, colored peppers (this week or next), and choice of an herb.
• Add-on shares:
  • Fruit: paused until more apples ripen
  • Flowers: TBD
  • Mushrooms: expected every week unless we hear otherwise
  • Eggs: expected every week unless we hear otherwise

For those with half shares, this is “A” week.

To view Farmer John’s latest update, click here.

This week’s share will include:

• Veggies: swiss chard, beans, radishes, garlic, beets with tops, zucchini, broccoli or cauliflower, bok choy, peppers or eggplant, white acorn squash and choice of an herb.
• Add-on shares:
  • Fruit: starkrimson pears & hardy kiwi berries
  • Flowers: TBD
  • Mushrooms: expected every week unless we hear otherwise
  • Eggs: expected every week unless we hear otherwise
• For those with half shares, this is “B” week.

Serving Suggestions:

• One crop that typically returns in volume once the warmest weather passes is garlic. For the first time in forever I recently roasted a bulb and was happy I did. I didn’t have a use for it immediately in mind so I saved it in the fridge. A few days later I was doing a clean-out-the-fridge stir fry and decided to throw it in. It added a nice touch that I may not have noticed without having cooked the dish myself but knowing it was there I could find the flavor. I decided to click around to a few food blogs for other ideas to add roasted garlic to, some are obvious while some are inspiring:
  • Pizza (I’d probably mix in the sauce so it’s protected a bit by the cheese)
  • Mayo (quick aioli)
  • Homemade salad dressing (shake up some oil, balsamic, Dijon, roasted garlic, s&p)
  • Hamburgers/Meatloaf/Meatballs
  • Cream cheese (for a deeply flavorful bagel schmear)
  • Softened butter (either use right away or put back in the fridge rolled in parchment for a sliceable compound butter)
  • Potato salad (a very easy way to spruce up a store bought tub)

John also shared information about the Hardy Kiwi:

Hardy Kiwi (actinidia arguta) also known as Siberian Kiwi is a
native of Northern China, Korea and Russian Siberia. It is similar
inside to the fuzzy tropical kiwi, but has smaller seeds and a smooth
green skin with only a bit of vestigial fuzz on the blossom end.
It is super nutritious being 5 times higher in vitamin C than oranges
and with twice the vitamin E of avocados. It is also rich in potassium,
B-6 and B-2. The fruit we have comes from Dave Jackson of Kiwi
Korners, Aka, Kiwi Organics in North central PA. A retired Rock
drummer, Dave has been working with Kiwi for over 30 years and
developed his own varieties. The fruit is eaten like a grape with the
skin. You may pull out the previously noted bit of fuzz before popping
them into your mouth. You will receive them in a fairly hard unripe
state and will need to keep them out on the counter to ripen for a day
or two. They are best and sweetest when they are very soft and the
skin begins to darken and get a little wrinkly. In the refrigerator
they will continue to ripen but very slowly. You may want to leave
some out and keep some in the fridge, and you should return ripe ones
to cooler if you are not ready to eat them right away. They are quite
delicious but avoid the temptation to eat too many at once as they
are also quite acidic.

To view Farmer John’s latest update, click here.

This week’s share will include: 

• Veggies: beans, salad turnips, leeks, red-skin potatoes, choice of tatsoi or arugula, lettuce, zucchini or delicata squash, green cabbage, eggplant or peppers, and choice of an herb.
• Add-on shares:
  • Fruit: on hold while more apples/pears ripen
  • Flowers: none this week
  • Mushrooms: expected every week unless we hear otherwise
  • Eggs: expected every week unless we hear otherwise
• For those with half shares, this is “A” week.

Serving Suggestion:

• This week we may get our first delicata squash of the year. I couldn’t help but see flashbacks to one of my all-time favorite CSA dinners that I shared here in 2018. You may not have all the same ingredients on hand that I did, but that’s kinda the point: halve them and fill up with whatever you have lingering in your pantry.

To view Farmer John’s latest update, click here.

This week’s share will include: 

• Veggies: swiss chard, beans, carrots, shallots, red fingerling potatoes, butternut squash, shishito peppers, radishes, Napa cabbage and choice of an herb.
• Add-on shares:
  • Fruit: hardy kiwi berries and gala apples
  • Flowers: sunflowers
  • Mushrooms: expected every week unless we hear otherwise
  • Eggs: expected every week unless we hear otherwise
• For those with half shares, this is “B” week.

Serving Suggestions:

• This week, John ended his update declaring “it is feeling like soup weather.” As I write this, watching Monday Night Football with the windows wide open, I couldn’t agree more! Yesterday I made a big batch of potato soup with the CSA potatoes I had collected the last few weeks. You could easily adapt to add or subtract whatever you have on hand. Here’s my basic “recipe” I follow each time I make potato soup…
  • Crisp some pancetta or bacon in a big, heavy pot. Use a slotted spoon to remove it so you leave behind the fat.
  • Sweat some chopped onions (and/or scallions whites, leeks, shallots) in the fat, adding olive oil if needed. Add some seasonings — I keep it simple with salt, pepper and smoked paprika.
  • Sprinkle in some flower to make a roux with the fat, let it cook two minutes until the bottom of the pot dries.
  • Deglaze with a cup of water/broth, stirring and scraping vigorously. You will literally see the starches gelatinize. Don’t use too much liquid or you won’t be able to stir aggressively and you won’t get the right effect. It’ll look separated for awhile, keep stirring until it comes together.
  • Add 2/3 of your chunked potatoes before adding the rest of your liquid, that way you’ll limit splashing. (I don’t bother peeling them but definitely rinse them, CSA potatoes have a lot of dirt!)
  • Add the rest of your liquid, 4-6 more cups worth depending on how many servings you are aiming for.
  • Cook until your potatoes are soft and mushy. Use an immersion blender to buzz the soup until smooth. Add your reserved potatoes and cook in the pureed soup until soft, about 20min. This would be a good time to add anything else you want to stay bite-able in the final soup, like carrot chunks. If you want to add something quick-cooking like corn, wait until the final few minutes.
  • Serve topped with the reserved crispy pancetta/bacon, sliced scallion greens, sour cream, shredded cheese, or whatever else you like to pair with a baked potato.

To view Farmer John’s latest update, click here.

This week’s share will include: 

• Veggies: swiss chard, beans, red onions, beets, spaghetti squash, shishito peppers, bok choy, red-skin potatoes, sweet corn, and choice of an herb.
• Add-on shares:
  • Fruit: Sweetie apples and Santa Rosa plums
  • Flowers: sunflowers
  • Mushrooms: expected every week unless we hear otherwise
  • Eggs: expected every week unless we hear otherwise
• For those with half shares, this is “A” week.

Serving Suggestions:

• Looking back through old CSA posts, I believe this is only the 4th time in the last 5+ years that we received shishito peppers. One of them was earlier this year but it was a “B” week so those like me with a half share missed them. I’m looking forward to give them a try since they are not something I have much experience cooking. I plan on keeping it very simple… Toss them with oil, throw them in a fully preheated heavy skillet, cook until they blister and have some dark splotches, sprinkle with some crunchy finishing salt. Sounds like a great chef’s treat while dinner cooks!