magid

Apparently, it was much colder in western MA: the shares were boxed this week. More than half the people who picked up while I was there decanted their veggies immediately (I suspect it correlates to whether people had cars with them or not).

a big bag of spinach
2 heads of cabbage
2 biggish white daikon
5(ish?) pounds of carrots
3(ish?) pounds of sweet potatoes
3(ish?) pounds of white potatoes

First thoughts: no alliums, so I’ll have to fill those in. I have three weeks before the next distribution, so hopefully I’ll catch up; all of these are pretty easy to fit in. The daikon is trickiest for me: carrot daikon slaws in a variety of dressings, or with cabbage in okonomiyaki, or pickled (with or without carrots).

This week the share was boxed, because it’s colder in western MA than here, and we were told it will be a boxed share whenever it’s pretty cold. The box is not convenient for carrying, so I repacked into bags and my backpack; that’s why the description is more approximate than usual. Happily, there was still a swap box.

2 heads of cabbage
2 bags of spinach
3ish pounds of potatoes
4+ pounds of carrots
4+ pounds of sweet potatoes
2+ pounds of beets
6 ears of popcorn (swapped for more beets, because there weren’t any potatoes in the swap box)

First thoughts: saute all the spinach in the next few days, and freeze what I won’t get to soon. Roasted anything else, in whatever combinations. Pickle some carrots/beets/cabbage, whether solo or in relish. Cabbage-carrot slaw.

Bonus this week: Martin the site coordinator brought in a lot of wooden things he’s carved in the last years for sale. I’ve seen him carving spoons for years now, and he had so many, in various sizes, plus little tongs, and earrings using tiny offcuts. They felt really nice - he finished them beautifully, though with walnut oil, so not for those with nut allergies.

From this week’s farm email: ( Read more... )

3 pounds sweet potatoes
3 pounds beets
3 pounds carrots
3 pounds purple-top turnips
1 head cabbage (I chose a large one)
6 leeks
1 pound collard greens
1 pound spinach (swapped with LindaK for her turnips, because I still have spinach left)
take-what-you-want herbs (I picked up some sage and rosemary)

First thoughts: All of these are good, but I’m missing onions, potatoes, parsnips, celeriac, and rutabagas. Perhaps I’ll get some at one of the last farmers markets; I want mashed potatoes, possibly with some of the turnips, and celeriac to add to soup.
Roasted root veggies (or baked under turkey parts). Sauted leeks, sweet potatoes, collards, garlic, and (vegan) sausage. Cabbage and carrot slaw. If I get some mushrooms, make vegan ‘creamed’ greens with a mushroom white sauce.

I’m supposed to bring all the veggie sides for Thanksgiving dinner, and I haven’t decided exactly what that will entail. Mashed potatoes (with or without neeps) are likely, also roasted root veg (a mix of carrots, beets, sweet potatoes, turnips if they’re not mashed with the potatoes, and parsnips if I buy some). Cranberry relish is definite (I still need to get navel oranges). Roasted Brussels sprouts if I buy some.

What are your obligatory-for-Platonic-ideal Thanksgiving dinner side dishes?

3 pounds of carrots

3 pounds of sweet potatoes

2 heads of green cabbage

8 leeks

a bunch of Hakurei turnips with greens

a bunch of radishes with greens

2 big bags of spinach (I swapped one for 4 more leeks; I still have tons of spinach left)

0.75 pounds of mixed salad greens (a winter salad mix: there’s not-quite-young red kale leaves in there)

take-what-you-want herbs and jalapenos (still didn’t take any)
First thoughts: more slaws, more baked root veggies, more sauted greens, something deliciously leek-y (potato-leek soup? leek frittata? caramelized leeks with baked butternut squash?)

Also, I ran into Talia at the distribution; it was good to catch up. And then she saw me walking, and offered a ride (their new place is approximately down the street from me), so we had more time to talk, plus I didn’t have to carry the veggies as far: win!

The plan for the winter share is that it will be boxed if temps are below freezing, and the pickup window is only two hours, not three, but at the same location as the summer, and the same day of the week (yay!).

2.5 pounds of carrots
2.5 pounds of beets
2.5 pounds of purple-top turnips
4 slender leeks
4 tiny heads of cauliflower
1 bunch of medium-large Hakurei turnips with greens
1 bunch of enormous red radishes with greens
a medium-small head of green cabbage
6 small heads of garlic
1 bag of spinach (over 1 pound)
1 bag of mixed salad greens (also over 1 pound)
take-what-you-want jalapenos and herbs (I chose none, already having much bounty to deal with)

First thoughts: Mashed neeps (maybe get potatoes at the farmers market tomorrow to be able to make mashed tatties and neeps?). Fridge-pickled radishes. Sauteed turnip greens, radish greens, and spinach, with garlic, can be frozen for later. Roasted cauliflower. Various slaws (cabbage and carrot, radish and carrot, Hakurei turnip and carrot, etc.). Green salad.

From this week’s email from the farmer: ( Read more... )
I’ve signed up for the winter share, which is 11 distributions that are mostly every two weeks, except the first two are back to back, and there’s a gap at the end of December for the obvious reason.

4 pounds of sweet potatoes
4 pounds of starburst purple daikon
1.5 pounds of spinach
2 medium-small heads of cabbage
2 bunches of kale
3 pounds of carrots carrots
4 medium-small yellow onions
6 heads of garlic
4 tiny heads of cauliflower
1 pound of mixed salad greens
take-what-you-want herbs and hot peppers (I took some parsley)

First thoughts: this is not nearly enough onions for a couple of dishes, much less a week; maybe I’ll get more from tomorrow’s farmers’ market near work. Lemon-tahini kale salad with sunflower seeds. Cabbage-carrot slaw, or roasted cabbage. Carrot-daikon slaw (or maybe a ferment, though there’s really not enough room for more jars in the fridge unless I finish some other things off). Sweet potatoes and spinach with something spicy (hot sauce, sausage, berbere seasoning, etc). Roasted garlic. Roasted cauliflower. Sauted spinach and garlic (possibly to freeze for later).

2 pounds carrots
2 pounds beets
2 biggish butternut squashes
8 narrow leeks
2 heads of cauliflower
2 stalks of broccoli
6 sweet peppers (I chose a mix of bell and long shapes, and various colors other than green)
2 bunches of Hakurei turnips with greens
2 bunches of collards
1 pound spinach (half swapped for another head of cauliflower, because I know the winter share will have lots of spinach, and there are enough other greens, and I adore cauliflower)
take-what-you-want herbs and hot peppers (I took some of the latter, in the hope that I can find local ginger, turmeric, and hopefully horseradish, to start a batch of fire cider vinegar)

First thoughts: slices of butternut and leek baked on sheets of puff pastry, with rosemary or lavender. Roasted cauliflower. Possibly canning giardiniera with cauliflower, carrot, and peppers. Sauteed spinach and turnip greens. Vegetable soup with leeks. Sauteed collards with leeks, squash/carrot, and something spicy, possibly also beans. Roasted beets and carrots.

This week’s share is sponsored by the letter M, for my friend M who picked up on my behalf while I was away for the first days of Sukkot.

From this week’s email, useful information for people who might want to grow veggies at some point (all temps in F, not C):

There's a lot of variation in what temps matter to what plants, and actually most don't mind a frost. The crops that are sensitive to a light frost and will just die are nightshades like eggplant, peppers, and tomatoes. Tomatoes are already done, but if there is a real frost this will be the last week for sweet peppers, hot peppers, and eggplants. Some other frost-sensitive crops that are already done for the year are basil, squash, cucumbers, green beans, and flowers. Those sensitivities are more of an issue in the spring when we're transplanting, since they're usually gone by October.

Pretty much everything else we grow is hardier, but each plant has its limit. Lettuce and chard will die somewhere in the high 20s, salad mix can go down to low 20s, kale and collards can do single digits, and spinach can go well below zero, which is why we plant it in our high tunnels for the winter share. The big caveat to all this is that these plants need to thaw before harvesting! So what usually happens is they will freeze at night, the sun comes out in the morning and they slowly warm up, and they're ready to cut around 10AM.

The soil temperatures change more slowly than air temps, so light frosts don't really affect root crops. Once it starts to get colder for longer, then potatoes and sweet potatoes are the most sensitive (but they're usually out by now anyway). Beets are pretty tough and can usually survive temps down in the 20s, and carrots even seem to like hard frosts, getting noticeably sweeter when they thaw.

3 pounds purple-top turnips
2 pounds carrots
4 onions
2 heads of cabbage
2 bunches of radishes
6 small heads of cauliflower
6 small eggplant
10 green peppers
1.5 lb spinach
1.5 lb salad mix
take-what-you-want herbs and hot peppers

First thoughts: M is taking some leaves and hot peppers, yay! Roasted cauliflower. Pickled radishes? Roasted eggplant and peppers. Cabbage, carrot, and maybe turnip slaw. Or a carrot and radish slaw with mustard-based dressing (or both!). I’m in a rut for what to make, I think, but I’m still enjoying the things I’m making, so that’s fine.

2 pounds of carrots
2 pounds of daikon
4 medium yellow onion
2 heads of garlic
2 heads of cauliflower
6 green peppers
2 large bunches of kale
2 bunches of large beets with greens
4 small Italian eggplants
1.5 pounds mixed young red and green lettuce leaves
1.5 pounds large spinach leaves (half swapped for more beets)
take-what-you-want herbs and hot peppers (I chose hot peppers, mostly jalapenos)

First thoughts: jalapeno poppers (need to get cream cheese of some sort). Roasted peppers and eggplant. Tahini-lemon kale salad. Colcannon. Roasted cauliflower. Beet carpaccio if I’m feeling ambitious. Sauted greens with onion and garlic. Carrot-daikon slaw and/or pickles (a la bahn mi).

Gmar chatimah tovah to those observing.

Pickup was in the rain, so the veggies are drying out before I put them away. Also, the timing meant that I picked up during the waning hours of RH, which is definitely less than ideal. Ah, well.

2 pounds of carrots (I eyeballed it, not using scales on yomtov)
2 heads of cauliflower
4 onions
4 heads of garlic
2 heads of Napa cabbage
6 scallions
8 green peppers (I chose long thin ones over bell-shaped ones)
16 smallish tomatoes (I managed to get some yellow ones, not just all red)
2 huge heads of red-leaf lettuce
1.5 pounds of spinach (there was a bag already filled; I don’t know if it was the full amount or half, but again, not with the scales, so this is fine, whichever it is)
2 big bunches of French breakfast radishes with their greens
take what you want herbs and hot peppers (amusingly on the whiteboard as “hot peps”; there was a kind I hadn’t seen before, that the site coordinator (Martin) didn’t know either, sort of a longer, smoother habanero; in any case, I didn’t need more, especially not in the rain, so I chose none)

First thoughts: sauteed radish greens with spinach and garlic. Fridge-pickled radishes. Roasted cauliflower. Stir fried Napa with onions, carrots, and tofu, plus seasonings like ginger, soy sauce/miso paste, scallions. Scallion pancakes. Big green salads with lettuce and tomatoes (or open-faced sandwiches) to use the lettuce. Roasted peppers.

I think this is the heaviest share so far this year.

4 pounds of purple-skinned potatoes
4 pounds of sweet potatoes
4 yellow onions (I chose the largest I could see)
4 heads of garlic
2 medium heads of green cabbage
6 smallish Italian eggplants
6 big green peppers
4 large stalks of broccoli with their greens (large enough that I’d consider calling them heads)
24 small red tomatoes
1 pound of basil (half swapped for 2 more onions)
1.5 pounds of mixed salad greens
take-what-you-want hot peppers and herbs (I chose Hungarian hot wax peppers, jalapenos, and some cayenne, leaving the habaneros for those who don’t have Scotch bonnets in their fridges, also a bit of tarragon, a bunch of parsley, and some red shiso)

First thoughts: stir-fried broccoli with tofu. Chicken baked with onion, cabbage, and apples (I’d thought of this originally with red cabbage, but I’ll use what I have), maybe also the tarragon. Roasted eggplants, peppers, and tomatoes. Colcannon. Baked sweet potatoes. Some kind of dessert-like dish incorporating sweet potatoes and apples?

2 pounds of potatoes (mostly purple-skinned, some not)
4 yellow onions
6 heads of garlic
2 bunches of leeks
6 long green peppers
6 medium-small eggplants
30 small tomatoes
1.5 pounds of arugula
2 big bunches of French breakfast radishes with their greens
take-what-you-want herbs and hot peppers (I chose none)

First thoughts: yay, alliums! Sauted radish greens. Roasted eggplant and potatoes. Yet another ratatouille variant. Potato salad with arugula and diced pickles plus hard-boiled eggs. Caramelized leeks in a savory bread pudding, maybe with roasted tomatoes and peppers. Green salads.

3 pounds of new potatoes
2 pounds of orange carrots
6 medium-small Italian eggplants
2 big bunches of collards
2 green peppers (I chose long over bell shape)
24 medium-small red tomatoes
1.5 lb salad greens (lots of arugula)
10 thin leeks
take-what-you-want hot peppers and herbs (I only wanted some sage this week)

First thoughts: I’ll need to get some onions. More batches of ratouille variants. Tomato-based vegetable puree soup with barley. Potato salad with hard-boiled eggs, minced pickles, arugula, and dill and/or parsley. Colcannon with potatoes and collards. Beans and greens using collards and some of last year’s’ hot sauce, also some carrots for color. Green salad. Vichyssoise, if I have enough potatoes.

2 pounds of orange carrots
2 pounds of Chioggia beets
3 pounds of new potatoes (both yellow and red skinned types; I chose some teeny tiny ones, and some larger, aiming to avoid any that had some green, while internally doing the dance of happy potatoes)
6 yellow onions (I chose ones as large as I could find; there are never enough onions!)
6 heads of garlic
8 smallish eggplants (I chose regular Italian ones)
6 summer squash (I chose some zucchini, a zephyr (two-toned), and some pattypan ones that are wildly variegated green and gold all over; all medium to small)
1 ruffled Napa cabbage, medium (though I realized on the walk home that I was probably reading the wrong side of the list for this, and I should have picked up 2 (or, more likely, swapped the other one); ah, well)
2 bunches of cooking greens (I chose collards over purple kale or Swiss chard)
20 medium to large red tomatoes
take-what-you-want herbs and hot peppers (I took a few of each type of hot pepper (jalapeno, Hungarian hot wax, cayenne), plus parsley, sage, and some red shiso (also available: holy basil, thyme, and possibly others I didn’t notice))

First thoughts: there are never enough onions or potatoes; I’d be happy to get twice this amount, or more (and those with the small share got half of this!). Herb salts. Roasted potatoes with chopped sage. Collards with mashed potatoes. Stir-fried onions, carrots, and Napa with garlic, tofu, ginger, and soy sauce. More bouts of ratatouille. Pickled carrots. Pickled hot peppers. Fermented hot pepper sauce. Canned crushed tomatoes. Sauted onions and collards with some form of sausage (vegan or actual meat), also some carrots and hot sauce from last year’s hot peppers.

This week’s email let me know that there won’t be any ripe sweet peppers (only hots and green = unripe sweet peppers), because little worms that are the larval stage of pepper maggot flies showed up, and they nom on sweet peppers (but leave the others alone). Nothing to be done about them because the farm is organic, so if I want ripe bell peppers, to the farmers’ market I will go. (So lucky to have options!)

6 medium yellow onions
6 heads of garlic
6 summer squash/zucchini (I chose large-ish green zucchinis again)
8 medium eggplants (I chose a mix of Italian, light purple, and variegated purple-white)
2 pounds of orange carrots
2 pounds of Chioggia beets
2 big heads of romaine lettuce
22 medium-small tomatoes
take-what-you-want herbs and hot peppers (I chose some of the two types of hots (jalapeno and I think cayenne), plus a lot of parsley, some red shiso, and a bit of sage)

First thoughts: can some crushed tomatoes. Roasted beets and carrots. Roasted eggplant and zucchini. Green salad (for romaine, I think I should get some Parmesan and make some croutons). Bulghur with diced tomatoes and parsley (hrm, if I have bulghur right now). A vinaigrette salad of some sort or another. Some kind of eggplant-based Indian dish?

2 pounds of golden beets (I chose little ones, so cute)
2 pounds of carrots (I chose a mix of purple and orange)
2 small heads of green cabbage
6 small Italian eggplants
6 summer squash/zucchini (I chose large-ish green zucchini)
2 small heads of red-leaf lettuce
1 pound of basil
6 heads of garlic
20 large tomatoes
choose-what-you-want herbs, jalapenos, and Hungarian hot wax peppers (I chose some of each kind of pepper, plus some oregano)

First thoughts: tomato sauce. Tomato-pepper salsa. Green salad with tomatoes. Roasted ratarouille. Zucchini-fennel relish (I still have two fennel left). Roasted carrots and beets. Pickled carrots and beets. Cabbage and carrot slaw variants. Inauthentic okonomiyaki.

This week’s distribution featured a visit from a turkey hen.

2 medium-small heads of green cabbage
6 zucchini/summer squash (I chose golden zucchini again; these were none of them large)
6 pickling cucumbers (choosing small, as usual)
6 heads of garlic (cured)
2 pounds of carrots (the kind that are purple-red on the outside, but an orange core)
2 pounds of onions (a long skinny red (ok, purple) variety)
2 pounds of beets (I chose golden ones, medium sized)
2 bunches of Bright Lights Swiss chard
16 tomatoes (mostly regular red ones, medium sized)
4 Italian eggplants
4 large green peppers (I swapped 2 for 2 more eggplant)
take-what-you-want herbs (I took some flowering dill, and quite a lot of parsley)

First thoughts: a lot more roasted veggies, whether ratatouille ones or root ones. Cucumber salad. Tomato-cucumber salad. Chard in soup. Maybe a braised eggplant-tomato-chickpea stew? Parsley in yet another riff on ghormeh sabzi. Roasted cabbage. Cabbage-beet relish. Beet pickles. Carrot pickles.

This morning, I picked up half a bushel of Georgia peaches from the peach truck drop-off at Pemberton Farms, so I have a lot of peachy options to consider too. (Luckily, they’re freestone!)

2 heads of green cabbage
2 medium fennel
2 pounds of carrots
2 pounds of beets
2 pounds of uncured onions
6 summer squash/zucchini (I chose golden zucchini for all)
6 Italian eggplants (many on the smaller side)
1 pound basil (half given to friends picking up their smaller share, and half swapped for another 3 eggplants; the leaves looked a bit too end-of-life to be appealing when I already have a bunch of basil puree in the fridge)
20 cucumbers (half swapped for another fennel, and chose the smallest I could find for me)
16 tomatoes (I chose a mix of standard red and some heirloom variety or other)
take-what-you-want herbs (I wanted none, still having some left over from last week)

First thoughts: roasted ratatouille (eggplant, tomato, zucchini, onion, garlic, basil puree). Baba ganoush. Roasted fennel and lemon, maybe with tomatoes and olives and fish. Fennel-zucchini relish. Lots of tomato-cucumber salad. Oknomiyaki. Various cabbage and carrot slaws. Given the cooler weather predicted starting tomorrow, maybe a vegetable soup of some sort (using the corn stock from last week’s ears?).

If I get hot peppers at tomorrow’s farmers’ market, possibly peachy hot sauce, and/or salsa (peachy or not). Either way, I want to make a peach crisp, maybe some peach conserves with pecans (“Georgia sunshine” :-) ), and something canned with minimal sugar.

2 heads of green cabbage
20 pickling cucumbers (!! I would’ve chosen the smallest ones anyway, but this gave me greater incentive)
4 summer squash/zucchini (I chose medium, green zucchinis)
3 pounds of purple-skinned orange carrots
2 fennel
2 pounds of uncured onions
2 heads of red-leaf lettuce
2 big bunches of Bright Lights Swiss chard (I swapped for more fennel, in the hopes of making more relish, plus it’s got a longer shelf life)
10 ears of corn
16 tomatoes (::happy dance of unexpected tomato joy!:: It wasn’t in the email, so everyone arriving exclaimed over them)(medium ones, regular red)
take-what-you want herbs: flowering holy basil, flowering dill, thyme, mint, red shiso/perilla (with enormous leaves, some almost the size of my face!) (I chose dill, a bit of mint, and shiso)

First thoughts: this is salad week (especially given Friday’s forecast of Hell’s antechamber)! tomato-cucumber salad. corn-tomato salad with lime. minty cucumber salad. corn-zucchini-shiso salad [from a Clover email; see below for recipe]. lettuce with any and all of these. dilly cucumber pickles. cole slaw with cabbage and carrot, whether USian (mayo) or Asian-inspired (soy sauce, lime, sesame, etc).

Clover's Zucchini, Corn, Shiso Salad

Cut kernels off 4 cobs of corn. You can do this over a bowl or carefully on a cutting board. (Remember to save the cobs for stock!)

Cut 5-6 zucchini in half lengthwise. Lay the flat sides down on a cutting board. Then cut each half into 1/4 inch half-moons. Place the half-moons in a colander and give them a healthy sprinkle of salt. Toss so the salt gets all over the pieces. Set aside.

Stack 4-5 shiso leaves on top of each other and then roll them up like a cigar. Then slice the tip off the cigar so you get ribbony circles of shiso. Repeat. (You can buy shiso at H-Mart or if you're lucky, at a farmer's market this time of year. If you can't find shiso you can substitute mint or Thai basil.)

In a salad bowl, add a teaspoon of miso paste, a teaspoon of ketchup, a clove of garlic you've minced finely, 2 tablespoons of soy sauce, and 2 tablespoons of rice wine vinegar. While whisking vigorously, slowly pour in 6 tablespoons of a neutral oil (safflower, canola, grapeseed). The oil and vinegar should form an emulsion, with tiny droplets of oil suspended in the vinegar.

Taste the vinaigrette and adjust the seasonings. If it tastes too oily or bland, add a splash or two of vinegar or soy sauce. If it tastes too acidic, add a little more oil.

When you love the vinaigrette, add the zucchini and corn to the bowl. Toss so they get covered in vinaigrette. Sprinkle shiso leaves on top. Add more shiso if you like.

PS: This salad keeps well for a day or two - the zucchini gets kind of pickled by the dressing, making it even more delicious.

I got to the pickup on the late side, partly due to a department social, and partly because it’s so melty outside. This week, that meant I missed out on the preferred sizes of some things, and I got none of the parsley I was so looking forward to! ::sad panda::

2 big bunches of green curly kale
3 pounds of carrots (slender)
2 pounds of new onions with some of their greens (the shape of the bulb makes me think they’re not Ailsa Craigs)
4 purple kohlrabi with their greens
4 heads of uncured garlic
1.5 pounds of basil (except I looked at it and sighed about all the work it would be, so happily swapped it for four more heads of garlic)
6 zucchini/summer squashes (all the ones left were petite; I chose zucchinis)
10 pickling cucumbers (I tried for as small as possible, but these are larger than I prefer)

First thoughts: These are all easily used, and I still have salad greens (well, lettuce and frisee) from last week. Iron-booster salad (massaged kale with lemon-tahini dressing and sunflower seeds). Sauted kohlrabi greens with onion and garlic. Crudite of cucumber, kohlrabi, and carrots with hummus (or for better alliteration, a dip beginning with k/hard c, if anyone has suggestions?). Cucumber salad. Cabbage-carrot slaw, possibly also with kohlrabi. Roasted zucchini. Sauted zucchini, onion, and garlic, with crushed tomatoes from last year’s share, plus pureed basil and garlic scapes.

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