CSA Week Sixteen

News from the field:

The home stretch! By now, our weekly seedings and transplantings have ended. We aren’t trellising tomatoes each week, or worrying about prepping beds. Instead, we are plowing down fields for next year, working on a site for our new greenhouse, and wondering what we will do with ourselves when our Wednesday and Saturday farmer’s markets end in a few weeks.

Speaking of ends, a few folks have asked about when the CSA ends. For September CSAers, this Wednesday is the last pickup. For full season folks, the last pickups are October 12 (Wednesday folks) and October 15 (Saturday folks). That means after this week, there are still two more weeks – for a total of 18 weeks.

In the Basket:

Beets, broccoli and leeks - All very fall veggies. We’ve included a recipe for pasta and broccoli in the basket this week.

Collard greens - One of my all time favorites. I like to prepare them this way: slice out the stem by cutting down each side of it. Discard the stem. Stack the leaves flat, one on top of the other, roll up like a cigar, then slice thinly into ribbons. Saute for 3-4 minutes in very hot oil (olive or whatever) – till they turn bright green but are not yet mushy, season with salt and pepper and enjoy. Peter cooked them this way last night with leeks in the oil left in the pan after frying pork chops, and they were awesome!

Green peppers, sun golds and tomatoes - Peter picked the peppers green because we expect it to frost either tonight or Thursday night. If we get a hard frost, we won’t have any more sun golds either, though we will still probably have red slicers for a bit longer.

Potatoes – This is a very dry baking potato known as Green Mountain. They probably would not be good for potato leek soup. These were grown by Tunbridge Hill Farm, one of our neighbors at our Saturday market. (The ferocious potato beetles decimated our fall potatoes this year.)

Spinach and red onions - You certainly don’t have to serve these together, but we’re including both to give you the option.