So here we are, at the final week of the 2016 Lucky Moon Farm CSA. I always find the end of the season to be bittersweet. It's been an intense summer full of long days and lots of hard work, so in some ways I look forward to the season being over, but I also love those long summer days and working outside all day, every day. I enjoy my winter work as well, but it's nothing like the satisfaction of the growing season. We had a hard frost at the farm last night, but we picked all the outdoor tomatoes and peppers yesterday and got them all in the barn before it got too cold. We dug a bunch of leeks to give out this week, and have some beautiful savoy cabbage as well. But I'm getting ahead of myself!
Here's what's in your bags:
Salad Mix
Leeks
Tomatoes
Cherry Tomatoes
Kale
Kennebec Potatoes
Green Peppers (or their equivalents: purple or light green)
Czech Black Hot Peppers- wicked-looking little black or red peppers. They are moderately spicy.
Shallots
Garlic
Mixed Onions
Savoy Cabbage
Winter Luxury Pie Pumpkin
Butternut Squash
Phew!
So hopefully this will keep you supplied with veggies for a while, but if you run out, keep in mind that Sue and Claude have a farmstand open at their place from Friday through Sunday, 9 AM to 6 PM. They'll be keeping it stocked until the weather gets too cold, but most likely through October and into November, unless we get a real blizzard or something. And once the winter has truly arrived, you can keep getting veggies from them at the Poolville and Cazenovia winter markets. Poolville is on the 2nd Saturday of the month and the Caz market is on the 3rd Saturday of the month starting in November from 10 AM to 1 PM. It's held in the American Legion Building on Chenango Street. It's a great place to stock up on local produce for your holiday tables and you can find some really nice gifts there as well!
Most of the veggies this week are self-explanatory, but here are few comments:
1) Green Peppers are not-fully-ripe peppers, but despite their name, they aren't always green. We offer "Green Peppers" that are lavendar, dark purply-black, yellow-green and dark green. But you can use them all the same way
2) The Czech Black peppers are hot, small, and shiny black. The do eventually turn red, so you may have a few red ones mixed in. Remember to use gloves when cutting hot peppers, or at least don't touch your eyes afterwards! I did that once... I don't recommend it.
3) Savoy Cabbage is a beautiful late-season cabbage. It's frilly leaves elevate the lowly cabbage to a vegetable with real panache! It's particularly good sliced thinly in soups or stir-fries.
4) Pie Pumpkin (Winter Luxury or Long Pie varieties). Don't be scared of the pie pumpkin! It's really quite easy to cook and you can make a truly great pumpkin pie (or cheesecake or pancakes or bread or muffins or puree...) with some locally grown, organic pumpkin! Believe me, it's a fun point to brag on at the thanksgiving dinner table. So like the other winter squash, you want to cut off the stem, then cut the pumpkin in half from top to bottom. Scoop out the seeds and stringy bits, then bake it in the oven at 350 for about an hour. Or maybe longer. But the trick is to cook it long enough so that the flesh is really smooth. If you find that your pumpkin seems stringy, then you probably need to cook it longer. A fork should easily pierce the skin when it's done, and the flesh should easily whip up into a puree by hand. That puree can be frozen or used right away in whatever pumpkiny thing your heart desires.
Here are a couple of recipes to try:
1) Potato Leek Gratin (omg, this is delicious...)
2) Potato Leek Soup classic and heartwarming
3) Some ideas for using your cabbage: http://cookingwithamy.blogspot.com/2010/03/all-about-savoy-cabbage.html
Happy cooking everyone! And I wish you all a safe, happy, healthy winter and I hope to see you again next year. Local, sustainable, organic farming is only possible with the support of people like you. So thanks for your patronage and we hope you consider sharing another growing season with us in the future.
All the very best,
Sarah VanNorstrand
for Lucky Moon Farm
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