Farm season survey, gift boxes, frosty farm

Hello from the farm,


These fall days are glorious for your farmers to work in! This week we've been putting a lot of things to bed for the winter. Law Reh (especially) and the farm crew have done an amazing job getting the overgrown blueberry patch cleaned out. We repaired the plumbing problem that was sending water across the parking area. The tractor, whose lift arm broke early this season, experienced the same breakdown once again. Thanks to Butch Bixler, we successfully tracked down an exaact original rod in Dallas, TX that should give us years of reliable use.
Our farm survey has been online for a few seasons, but this year we would like to give you paper to touch and to put your thoughts on for our planning for next season. We value your insights on this farm and food, thank you for taking the time. We are getting ready for making our gift boxes for Christmas and will have more information about them next week. Among other goodies, they contain Wilbur Buds and College Coffee Roasters coffee. 'Nuff said for now...



The morning frost paints the farm and crops icy white





Farmer Elizabeth is contemplative after mowing down the early morning frozen, blackened, eggplant foliage





The first tree of the bald cypress trio is showing its fall color. Bald cypress is one of the few conifer species that loses its needles for the winter.





The signs of the season are all around...



Suggestions for the Harvest


Oven Roasted Sweet Potato Chunks: My wife roasted some sweet potatoes, chunked and coated with coconut oil and sea salt, in a baking dish at 400 for 1-2 hours until soft and crispy-edged and they went over like melt-in-your-mouth chocolate confections.

Napa Cabbage: at its finest for kimchee making. See the recipe a few newsletters back, or search it on our farm blog, or find your own recipe online.

Bok Choi: this Asian cabbage was made for stir fries with soy sauce, peanut butter, or chicken or a combination of all three.

Butternut squash: your farmers find that the butternuts and Long Island Cheese squash are tops when it comes to baking and cooking winter squashes and pumpkins. Did you know that canned "pumpkin" at the store is usually squash due to its superior flavor and texture?
Black Radishes:

Black Radish Russian-style

First peel the black skin off. In a bowl, grate the radishes, chop or mince green scallion, grate a carrot and dice fresh cucumber...mix together with sour cream If you want more of a spicy tang, use less carrot and cucumber, if it's too spicy then use more carrot and cucumber. Use as a salad or eat on crackers. --adapted from chowhound.chow.com

Popcorn: our popcorn is very tasty--put oil in heavy bottomed pan and heat up the oil. Put a test kernel in when you think the oil is hot. When that one pops--pour in popcorn enough to cover the pan bottom and shake. Put a lid over the pan--but not tightly, so that steam can escape. Shake the pan as corn pops until popping slows. (it must be said that everyone seems to have a different method that works for them--and only them, perhaps ;-)

All Winter Squash: these hard squash will keep in cool and dry storage for months. Great for apple and squash bake, curried or sweet soup.

Cilantro: great in a sandwich, soups, salads, recipes from around the world Dill: great for pickling or with potatoes.

"Dessert Turnips": Our pet name for the sweet and mild white Hakurei salad turnips is dessert turnips. These are not your ordinary firm and strong purple top turnips. They are best eaten raw like carrot sticks with or without some kind of dip. Growing up, we had carrot, celery and turnip sticks at holiday meals.

Arugula: Yes, the arugula is back—cheers from all corners. This spicy green's nutty flavor jazzes up a salad or sandwich really well! Kind of zingy for most people--use as your palate prefers.

Ornamental/Flour Corn: feel free to shell your corn from the cob sometime and bring the kernels in to grind in the mill that we have here. Run it through once to grind coarsely and then tighten it up and run through again for finer grind for cornmeal for cornbread, cornmeal pancakes, muffins etc.

Potatoes: Yukon Gold potatoes are the farm favorite for French-fry making, hands down. Potatoes are a wonderful source of nutrients, versatile to cook with, and very satisfying to the eater--they even help you sleep well at night. (Potatoes not Prozac book)

Chard: Remove the lower portion of the stalk as it is usually tough. Sautee leaves in butter, olive or coconut oil, add salt, and red pepper, top with Parmesan cheese.

Mustard Greens: Known for their pungent flavor, these greens can be added to a salad for a mustardy hot punch, or can be added to soups or stir frys. Flavor mellows when cooked. Tatsoi: A mild green that is great raw in salad or cooked. We think of it as fall spinach.

Purple Mizuna: a unique mustard green from Japan that has mild flavor and is great in salad for color and flavor. Senposai: has a sweet and tender cabbage like flavor. Makes a great outer wrap for veggie wraps. Use raw or cooked.

Senposai: very kale or leaf cabbage like and can substitute for either.

Enjoy the fall bounty,


Scott

Hello from the farm,

The frost arrived at the farm this morning, and was lighter than expected. Although the weather folks would have you think that the growing season is finished with the first frost or freeze--au contraire, it is only the end of the warm season crops like tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, watermelons and cantaloupes.

Cold season crew members: broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, radishes, carrots, beets, kale, chard, senposai and such laugh at the cold and even get sweeter as their starches turn to sugar.


This week we made a lot of preparations for the cold weather--got all of the butternut squash out of the field to keep them from being freeze damaged, put up lights in the distribution area and over top of the wash sinks, brought in irrigation tubing and winterized outdoor plumbing systems. We welcomed back Elizabeth from her vacation and also got to give some attention the landscape areas which get skipped over in favor of vegetable care and harvest during much of the growing season. We mowed down the now derelict tomato patch with some satisfaction :-)




Lighting the way for vegetable washing on these darker days. Thank you Butch!




The distribution is now nicely illuminated for the days that turn to evening to quickly now. Thank you Butch!





Resident artist Bradley stopped by the other week for some pumpkin transformation.



Suggestions for the Harvest

Sweet potatoes: wow, these sweet potatoes are super good.

Oven Roasted Sweet Potato Chunks:
My wife roasted some sweet potatoes, chunked and coated with coconut oil and sea salt, in a baking dish at 400 for 1-2 hours until soft and crispy-edged and they went over like melt-in-your-mouth chocolate confections.

Butternut squash: your farmers find that the butternuts and Long Island Cheese squash are tops when it comes to baking and cooking winter squashes and pumpkins. Did you know that canned "pumpkin" at the store is usually squash due to its superior flavor and texture?

Black Radishes:

Black Radish Russian-style

First peel the black skin off. In a bowl, grate the radishes, chop or mince green scallion, grate a carrot and dice fresh cucumber...mix together with sour cream If you want more of a spicy tang, use less carrot and cucumber, if it's too spicy then use more carrot and cucumber. Use as a salad or eat on crackers. --adapted from chowhound.chow.com
Popcorn: our popcorn is very tasty--put oil in heavy bottomed pan and heat up the oil. Put a test kernel in when you think the oil is hot. When that one pops--pour in popcorn enough to cover the pan bottom and shake. Put a lid over the pan--but not tightly, so that steam can escape. Shake the pan as corn pops until popping slows. (it must be said that everyone seems to have a different method that works for them--and only them, perhaps ;-)
Winter Squash: these hard squash will keep in cool and dry storage for months. Great for apple and squash bake, curried or sweet soup.
Cilantro: great in a sandwich, soups, salads, recipes from around the world
Dill: great for pickling or with potatoes.
"Dessert Turnips": Our pet name for the sweet and mild white Hakurei salad turnips is dessert turnips. These are not your ordinary firm and strong purple top turnips. They are best eaten raw like carrot sticks with or without some kind of dip. Growing up, we had carrot, celery and turnip sticks at holiday meals.
Arugula: Yes, the arugula is back—cheers from all corners. This spicy green's nutty flavor jazzes up a salad or sandwich really well! Kind of zingy for most people--use as your palate prefers.
Ornamental/Flour Corn: feel free to shell your corn from the cob sometime and bring the kernels in to grind in the mill that we have here. Run it through once to grind coarsely and then tighten it up and run through again for finer grind for cornmeal for cornbread, cornmeal pancakes, muffins etc.
Potatoes: Yukon Gold potatoes are the farm favorite for French-fry making, hands down. Potatoes are a wonderful source of nutrients, versatile to cook with, and very satisfying to the eater--they even help you sleep well at night. (Potatoes not Prozac book)
Chard: Remove the lower portion of the stalk as it is usually tough. Sautee leaves in butter, olive or coconut oil, add salt, and red pepper, top with Parmesian cheese. Mustard Greens: Known for their pungent flavor, these greens can be added to a salad for a mustardy hot punch, or can be added to soups or stir frys. Flavor mellows when cooked.
Tatsoi: A mild green that is great raw in salad or cooked. We think of it as fall spinach.
Purple Mizuna: a unique mustard green from Japan that has mild flavor and is great in salad for color and flavor.
Senposai: has a sweet and tender cabbage like flavor. Makes a great outer wrap for veggie wraps. Use raw or cooked.

Goodbyes
Tomatoes: goodbye until next season.
Onions: If you have onions remaining at home, they will keep for several months in cool, dark, and dry storage.

Keep warm,

Your farmers

Post Deluge Harvest, Can you eat a Pumpkin? Black Radishes, Napa cabbage and Kimchee

 

 



Hello from the farm,

 

 

Things are drying out from last week's downpour which resulted in about seven inches of rain here, fields that were the consistency of chocolate pudding to work in,  and the pictures below.  It was great to see that our waterways are up to the task and did an excellent job of directing the water around the vegetable growing areas.  Farmer Elizabeth is on a well-deserved vacation so it is a mantribe this week. One member of the farm crew said that "it's going better than he thought" in her absence. Although things have not fallen apart, she is missed and we look forward to her return next week.  

 

Can you cook and eat a pumpkin?  I'm accustomed to roasting the seeds and I've often read that you can eat pumpkin, but I had not tried it until last evening.  Yes, I found it worthwhile, and here is a simple way to do it:

+ poke a few holes in the top of the pumpkin for steam to escape. 

+ place pumpkin on baking tray in 350 degree oven for an hour or until soft

+remove, cool it enough to handle, cut in half and use a large spoon to scrape up seeds and remove pumpkin flesh from rind.   Use for pumpkin bread, curried soup, or a sweet soup or anything that calls for pumpkin puree. 

 

 

Your farmers geared up for whatever may come!



water coursing along the pick your own field



The River Homefields running pell mell along the blueberry patch

Serving Suggestions for the Harvest

Napa cabbage:  this Asian cabbage is nutritious and lighter and crispier than standard cabbage. It really shines in kimchee, and here is a recipe.  It is not difficult to make. 



Who is that kimchee maker? 

Kim Chee Recipe:

This Korean spicy "sauerkraut" of a sort is outstanding. It is enjoyed in Korea and Japan. I like to get it from the Viet My Asian grocery across from McCaskey High School--the brand they carry is Kimchee Pride from NYC and the favorite of the kimchee I've purchased.

1 large head Chinese (celery or Nappa) cabbage
Salt--non iodized, esp. sea salt preferred.
4 green onions (including tops) --regular onions are too strong and smelly!
1 clove garlic, minced
1 dried hot red chili (about 2" long), crushed--you can substitute paprika so moderate the heat--keep adding and tasting until it reaches the bliss point.
1 tsp fresh ginger, grated

1. Cut cabbage into pieces, 1-inch long and 1-inch wide.
2. Sprinkle 2 Tbs salt on cabbage, mix well, and let stand 15 minutes.
3. Cut green onions in 1-1/2 inch lengths, then cut lengthwise in thin slices. Wash salted cabbage three times with cold water. Add the onions,garlic, chili, ginger, 1 Tbs salt and enough water to cover. Mix well.Cover and let stand for a few days.
4. Taste mixture every day. When it is acidic enough, cover and refrigerate up to 2 weeks.

Makes about 1 quart. --from http://www.cheriestihler.com/recipes/kchee.html


Black Radishes:

Black Radish Russian-style

First peel the black skin off. In a bowl, grate the radishes, chop or mince green scallion, grate a carrot and dice fresh cucumber...mix together with sour cream If you want more of a spicy tang, use less carrot and cucumber, if it's too spicy then use more carrot and cucumber. Use as a salad or eat on crackers. --adapted from chowhound.chow.com
Popcorn: our popcorn is very tasty--put oil in heavy bottomed pan and heat up the oil. Put a test kernel in when you think the oil is hot. When that one pops--pour in popcorn enough to cover the pan bottom and shake. Put a lid over the pan--but not tightly, so that steam can escape. Shake the pan as corn pops until popping slows. (it must be said that everyone seems to have a different method that works for them--and only them, perhaps ;-)
Winter Squash: these hard squash will keep in cool and dry storage for months. Great for apple and squash bake, curried or sweet soup.
Cilantro: great in a sandwich, soups, salads, recipes from around the world
Dill: great for pickling or with potatoes.
Fall Cabbage family crops: the broccoli, cauliflower and cabbage are starting to mature.
"Dessert Turnips": Our pet name for the sweet and mild white Hakurei salad turnips is dessert turnips. These are not your ordinary firm and strong purple top turnips. They are best eaten raw like carrot sticks with or without some kind of dip. Growing up, we had carrot, celery and turnip sticks at holiday meals.
Hakurei turnips (the white ones) Scarlet Queen are red and not as mild as Hakurei
Arugula: Yes, the arugula is back—cheers from all corners. This spicy green's nutty flavor jazzes up a salad or sandwich really well! Kind of zingy for most people--use as your palate prefers.
Ornamental/Flour Corn: feel free to shell your corn from the cob sometime and bring the kernels in to grind in the mill that we have here. Run it through once to grind coarsely and then tighten it up and run through again for finer grind for cornmeal for cornbread, cornmeal pancakes, muffins etc.
Sweet Peppers: almost finished for the season. Notice we didn't say bell peppers. There are other shapes that are sweet, too. Diced sweet pepper is great on a salad, or pepper strips on a relish are sweet and tasty, too. They also freeze well in strips or dices after core and seeds are removed.
Potatoes: Yukon Gold potatoes are the farm favorite for French-fry making, hands down. Potatoes are a wonderful source of nutrients, versatile to cook with, and very satisfying to the eater--they even help you sleep well at night. (Potatoes not Prozac book)
Eggplants: Asian eggplants are mild and sweet; dark Italian types are probably what you grew up with. Slice and put on the grill rubbed with oil, soy sauce, and miso paste. Tasty and easy to use.
Chard: Remove the lower portion of the stalk as it is usually tough. Sautee leaves in butter, olive or coconut oil, add salt, and red pepper, top with Parmesian cheese. Mustard Greens: Known for their pungent flavor, these greens can be added to a salad for a mustardy hot punch, or can be added to soups or stir frys. Flavor mellows when cooked. Tatsoi: A mild green that is great raw in salad or cooked. We think of it as fall spinach.
Purple Mizuna: a unique mustard green from Japan that has mild flavor and is great in salad for color and flavor.
Senposai: has a sweet and tender cabbage like flavor. Makes a great outer wrap for veggie wraps. Use raw or cooked.

Goodbyes

Tomatoes/Peppers/Eggplants: these heat-lovers are slowing down and getting smaller and more sparse. Frost will likely take them out in the next week.
Onions: If you have onions remaining at home, they will keep for several months in cool, dark, and dry storage.


Enjoy the October bounty,


Your farmers
.

Stay dry and enjoy those hearty warm meals of fall,

Cornmeal, Cornbread, GMO and Pawpaws

Hello from the farm,


Well, we've switched seasons since last week and the pump appears to have regained its prime. We are relishing the rain and even enjoyed being caught in the driving rain afield on Monday when we all made a run for the barn.
Even we are amazed at the amount of food that we are harvesting today, and there are still five more harvests after this week. This week we finished digging the sweet potatoes, harvested more squash, dealt with hydraulics, a broken hot water heater, and continued preparations for the gift box project coming up. We also removed the peach trees in the pick your own field to give more space for Sungold cherry tomates, cut flowers and herbs. We were hopeful about the peaches, but discovered that organically grown peaches in this humid climate were not the quality fruit that we wanted.



pick your own plantings will be increased in this space next season

On Cornmeal and Grinding:

Many of you have asked how to grind and use the cornmeal, so here is what we have been doing for several years that we are pleased with. When you are finished decorating with your ornamental/flour corn:

-pick out a row or two with your fingers, table knife or spoon.
-the remaining rows twist laterally off pretty easily then
-bring your corn kernels to the farm
-run them through the mill coarsely
-run them though again on fine by tightening the nut on the back side of the mill to create more pressure.


Lorena’s Kickin Cornbread (the best cornbread ever in my unbiased opinion)
1c butter
¾ c sugar
4 eggs, beaten
2c milk
2T lemon juice
1t baking soda
2c corn meal
2c flour
1t salt
1c cheese grated

Melt butter, remove from heat, stir in sugar.
Add eggs, beat well.
Combine milk and lemon juice, add to batter.
Stir in cornmeal, soda, flour and salt, and cheese
Pour into greased 9x13 pan.

**chill for one hour in fridge before baking to allow cornmeal to soften**

Bake 30-40 min at 375 degrees.


The Dirt On GMOs (Genetically Modified Organisms)

We receive a lot of questions about GMOs here at the farm. We have not grown any here and have no plans to at this point. So far, they are pretty much limited to commodity crops such as corn, soybeans, rice and cotton, what I think of as "industrial" crops.

You are probably aware that people throughout history have done basic plant breeding simply by selecting the reddest/tallest/spiciest/disease resistant types each year--whatever traits were important to them. Dog breeds would be another example--tall/short/color/strength/retrieving traits were encouraged by people.
Is GMO evil or a Pandora's box? Honestly, I'm not sure. It is in some ways an extension of what has been going on naturally for thousands of years in people's backyards. GMO may have legitimate application for helping the tomato plant fend off the late blight disease which annihilates a farmer's tomato crop, by finding the resistant gene and incorporating it in a lab environment whereas traditional breeding techniques might not be able to succeed because of bringing in unwanted characteristcs simultaneously. Where I think GMO technique crosses the line ethically is when it allows an herbicide to be applied to a crop without harm or implants transgenic material--like mammalian genes in a vegetable crop. So your farmers will keep our ears to the ground to see what unfolds, but we will not be planting any GMO crops in the foreseeable future.


About Pawpaws:

young pawpaw clusters


Eight years ago we planted pawpaw seeds from fruit that we gathered down by the river. This year they are starting to bear decently. What is a pawpaw? It is the only member of the tropical custard apple family (such as cherimoya) that can grow in our cold climate. A tree fruit, it is green-skinned and somewhat the shape and size of a green mango. It is native to most states east of the Mississippi River and five states have towns named Pawpaw. What does it taste like? Well, cut it in half, spoon out the soft yellow custardy flesh and try it--kind of like banana/avocado/vanilla--it's unique. Is it good? Yes, according to many people, no according to others. I like them and eat them daily. Give them a try, don't eat the skin or seeds, in fact, bury the seeds in a wooded edge or backyard where you'd like to have a native tree with September fruit.


Watermelon Radish:


These are our favorite radishes--they are eye-catching and fairly sweet and mild compared to most radishes.


Popping our Popcorn in the Microwave: We did it! After a few varied attemps at popping and burning corn in the microwave here in the barn, we know how to do it.
Shell the corn off of the cob
place a 1/4 c. in a small plain paper bag
close the bag and put the fold underneath as you place in the microwave
put on Popcorn setting or 2 minutes and observe--if it stops popping, starts smoking or a burnt odor starts to form, it is time to be done!

Serving Suggestions for the Harvest
Popcorn: our popcorn is very tasty--put oil in heavy bottomed pan and heat up the oil. Put a test kernel in when you think the oil is hot. When that one pops--pour in popcorn enough to cover the pan bottom and shake. Put a lid over the pan--but not tightly, so that steam can escape. Shake the pan as corn pops until popping slows. (it must be said that everyone seems to have a different method that works for them--and only them, perhaps ;-)
Winter Squash: these hard squash will keep in cool and dry storage for months. Great for apple and squash bake, curried or sweet soup.
Cilantro: great in a sandwich, soups, salads, recipes from around the world
Dill: great for pickling or with potatoes.
Fall Cabbage family crops: the broccoli, cauliflower and cabbage are starting to mature.
"Dessert Turnips": Our pet name for the sweet and mild white Hakurei salad turnips is dessert turnips. These are not your ordinary firm and strong purple top turnips. They are best eaten raw like carrot sticks with or without some kind of dip. Growing up, we had carrot, celery and turnip sticks at holiday meals.
Hakurei turnips (the white ones) Scarlet Queen are red and not as mild as Hakurei
Arugula: Yes, the arugula is back—cheers from all corners. This spicy green's nutty flavor jazzes up a salad or sandwich really well! Kind of zingy for most people--use as your palate prefers.
Ornamental/Flour Corn: feel free to shell your corn from the cob sometime and bring the kernels in to grind in the mill that we have here. Run it through once to grind coarsely and then tighten it up and run through again for finer grind for cornmeal for cornbread, cornmeal pancakes, muffins etc.
Sweet Peppers: almost finished for the season. Notice we didn't say bell peppers. There are other shapes that are sweet, too. Diced sweet pepper is great on a salad, or pepper strips on a relish are sweet and tasty, too. They also freeze well in strips or dices after core and seeds are removed.
Potatoes: Yukon Gold potatoes are the farm favorite for French-fry making, hands down. Potatoes are a wonderful source of nutrients, versatile to cook with, and very satisfying to the eater--they even help you sleep well at night. (Potatoes not Prozac book)
Eggplants: Asian eggplants are mild and sweet; dark Italian types are probably what you grew up with. Slice and put on the grill rubbed with oil, soy sauce, and miso paste. Tasty and easy to use.
Chard: Remove the lower portion of the stalk as it is usually tough. Sautee leaves in butter, olive or coconut oil, add salt, and red pepper, top with Parmesian cheese. Mustard Greens: Known for their pungent flavor, these greens can be added to a salad for a mustardy hot punch, or can be added to soups or stir frys. Flavor mellows when cooked. Tatsoi: A mild green that is great raw in salad or cooked. We think of it as fall spinach.
Purple Mizuna: a unique mustard green from Japan that has mild flavor and is great in salad for color and flavor.
Senposai: has a sweet and tender cabbage like flavor. Makes a great outer wrap for veggie wraps. Use raw or cooked.

Goodbyes Onions: If you have onions remaining at home, they will keep for several months in cool, dark, and dry storage.
Beets: I have fond childhood memories of eating these still warm from being blanched, prior to them being turned into pickled red beets. Great roasted with olive oil, grilled with oil and balsamic vinegar, or grated in salads.
Watermelon: These did better than expected, but not as well as hoped for. A friend from Lancaster South Rotary told me that watermelon growers in Delaware lost 3/4 of their melons. June was cool and cloudy and the honeybees slept in and did not pollinate the watermelon's morning access-only flowers.
Cantaloupes: We hope to have enough for everyone to get some across two or three week's time. A super great taste of summer. Try eating with a just a bit of freshly ground black pepper.
Cucumbers: The crop was really good this year--now finished Cabbage: We'll keep finding a few of these over the next couple of weeks. Cut into wedges and serve with a sprinkle of salt, make sauerkraut.
Summer squash/Zucchini: These are finished as well (some people cheer) stir fry, grate and use for zucchini bread or freeze for later.
Beans: The beans did well, and there is a chance we will have fall beans as well! Scallions: Goodbye until next year.
Bok choi and Napa: These have run their course and we will see them again in October and November--a great time to make kimchee with the cool weather.

Stay dry and enjoy those hearty warm meals of fall,


Your farmers

Hello from the farm,

It's a dry and warm October week at the farm. We are still irrigating as the September rains and hurricane remnants never materialized. This has been a growing season where the calendar and the weather have not been synchronized--like the wet July and dry September, cold May and very warm October. This is farming, so we work with what we have and no two seasons are the same.

This week we have been harvesting and curing sweet potatoes, spreading compost for next year's crops, harvesting more potatoes, bringing up the winter squash, bringing the weeder tool to the farm from the welding shop and just this morning doing some emergency plumbing when the water line at the veggie washing sink broke. The popcorn, cilantro, acorn squash and dill are new this week. We popped some in the microwave here and it did well.



the weeder that we are building for next season is close to completion


Popcorn: our popcorn is very tasty--put oil in heavy bottomed pan and heat up the oil. Put a test kernel in when you think the oil is hot. When that one pops--pour in popcorn enough to cover the pan bottom and shake. Put a lid over the pan--but not tightly, so that steam can escape. Shake the pan as corn pops until popping slows.
(it must be said that everyone seems to have a different method that works for them--and only them, perhaps ;-)


Winter Squash: these hard squash will keep in cool and dry storage for months.

Cilantro: great in a sandwich, soups, salads, recipes from around the world

Dill: great for pickling or with potatoes.

Fall Cabbage family crops: the broccoli, cauliflower and cabbage are starting to mature.

"Dessert Turnips": Our pet name for the sweet and mild white Hakurei salad turnips is dessert turnips. These are not your ordinary firm and strong purple top turnips. They are best eaten raw like carrot sticks with or without some kind of dip. Growing up, we had carrot, celery and turnip sticks at holiday meals.

Hakurei turnips (the white ones) Scarlet Queen are red and not as mild as Hakurei

Arugula: Yes, the arugula is back—cheers from all corners. This spicy green's nutty flavor jazzes up a salad or sandwich really well! Use sparingly.
Ornamental/Flour Corn: feel free to shell your corn from the cob sometime and bring the kernels in to grind in the mill that we have here. Run it through once to grind coarsely and then tighten it up and run through again for finer grind for cornmeal for cornbread, cornmeal pancakes, muffins etc.
Sweet Peppers: Notice we didn't say bell peppers. There are other shapes that are sweet, too. Diced sweet pepper is great on a salad, or pepper strips on a relish are sweet and tasty, too. They also freeze well in strips or dices after core and seeds are removed.
Potatoes: Yukon Gold potatoes are the farm favorite for French-fry making, hands down. Potatoes are a wonderful source of nutrients, versatile to cook with, and very satisfying to the eater--they even help you sleep well at night. (Potatoes not Prozac book)
Eggplants: Asian eggplants are mild and sweet; dark Italian types are probably what you grew up with. Slice and put on the grill rubbed with oil, soy sauce, and miso paste. Tasty and easy to use. Chard: Remove the lower portion of the stalk as it is usually tough. Sautee leaves in butter, olive or coconut oil, add salt, and red pepper, top with Parmesian cheese.
Mustard Greens: Known for their pungent flavor, these greens can be added to a salad for a mustardy hot punch, or can be added to soups or stir frys. Flavor mellows when cooked.
Tatsoi: A mild green that is great raw in salad or cooked. We think of it as fall spinach.
Purple Mizuna: a unique mustard green from Japan that has mild flavor and is great in salad for color and flavor. Senposai: has a sweet and tender cabbage like flavor. Makes a great outer wrap for veggie wraps. Use raw or cooked.


Goodbyes
Onions: If you have onions remaining at home, they will keep for several months in cool, dark, and dry storage.
Beets: I have fond childhood memories of eating these still warm from being blanched, prior to them being turned into pickled red beets. Great roasted with olive oil, grilled with oil and balsamic vinegar, or grated in salads.
Watermelon: These did better than expected, but not as well as hoped for. A friend from Lancaster South Rotary told me that watermelon growers in Delaware lost 3/4 of their melons. June was cool and cloudy and the honeybees slept in and did not pollinate the watermelon's morning access-only flowers.
Cantaloupes: We hope to have enough for everyone to get some across two or three week's time. A super great taste of summer. Try eating with a just a bit of freshly ground black pepper.
Cucumbers: The crop was really good this year--now finished Cabbage: We'll keep finding a few of these over the next couple of weeks. Cut into wedges and serve with a sprinkle of salt, make sauerkraut.
Summer squash/Zucchini: These are finished as well (some people cheer) stir fry, grate and use for zucchini bread or freeze for later.
Beans: The beans did well, and there is a chance we will have fall beans as well! Scallions: Goodbye until next year.
Broccoli: An awesome broccoli crop this year--will be back in the Fall.
Bok choi and Napa: These have run their course and we will see them again in October and November--a great time to make kimchee with the cool weather.


We hope you are enjoying the bounty of fall,


Your farmers