Hi everyone,
Get ready – this newsletter’s a long one. Please bear with me.
First, shares will be delivered on Friday. Lisa and I are heading to New York for a friend’s Wedding so there will be a bit of a shift in the schedule. We’ll be targeting to deliver the shares Friday evening, between 5pm and 7pm. Please let us know if there are issues and we can coordinate.
As we come up to the penultimate share of the season, it feels like we’re fully past the last sprint of summer and things are winding down now. At Nichols Farm the cooler days have been appreciated as they work to harvest carrots, sweet potatoes, parsnips, potatoes and other storage crops that they will have available all winter long.
I was hoping to be able to announce our plans for the winter in this newsletter but to be honest, we just haven’t quite made those plans yet. The closer and closer we get to the end of the season, the more and more I find myself looking forward to a break. We are definitely planning towards a second CSA Club season next summer but we’re going to keep it a little less structured over the winter. We’re hoping to use this time to gather ourselves and plan towards next year. But don’t worry, Gard Mo won’t be completely silent; we’re hoping to winter markets, pop-ups, dinners, and other fun (if not entirely yet planned) things this winter so keep an eye out.
We’ll also still be keeping close with Nichols Farm and other local growers and producers throughout the winter. With that, we will have knowledge of and access to whatever is available so if you find yourself looking for any local groceries in particular, reach out! If someone asks you where you got those delicious veggies, you’ll be able to say “I got a guy”.
Anyways, enjoy the veggies this week!
-Ben
A mix of different colored carrots. There’s orange, ruby, yellow, and (going from outside in) purple-yellow-orange carrots. All very tasty.
Another squash for the centerpiece (or for noshing).
This variety of winter squash was bred at Cornell University and made famous by Dan Barber (chef/author of Blue Hill and The Third Plate). It’s like a butternut squash, but just concentrated down into a smaller package. Super sweet and with a deep squash flavor, they don’t need much more than a simple roast. And with their small size, a roasted half looks pretty on a plate.
Mutsu apples are a golden delicious cultivar, first grown in Japan. In Japan, there are three kinds typically available: Sun, Red, and Silver. Each kind differ in color based on how much sunlight they receive. These from Nichols are a pale yellow-green with red blush, almost a mix of three varieties.
SnowSweets are a University of Minnesota variety. U of M describes SnowSweets as “almost buttery….. sweet with a slight tart balance and rich overtones.” I think they taste like a caramel apple without any of the tacky candy sticking in your teeth.
Parsnips are in the same family as carrots and parsley. Before the introduction of potatoes from the New World, parsnips were an important staple crop in Europe with the variety grown today having been developed in the Middle Ages.
Like potatoes or carrots, parsnips do well roasted. Peeling the skin can make them a little less bitter, but we usually don’t bother. Parsnip puree is another classic preparation.
The same variety of blue potatoes that we saw earlier in the season. A casserole or au gratin with these might make a fun Halloween dish.
We saw red kale earlier in the season, but that was a different variety. This Redbor kale is thoroughly red (purple) with not even a peek of green.
The sprouts are starting to get larger further into the season. If you’re looking for something different, try making a slaw, thinly slicing the brussels sprouts in place of cabbage.
Fresh ginger isn’t something you’ve likely seen at the grocery store. It doesn’t have the brown papery skin typical to cured ginger. This makes it easy to peel, simply scrap off with a spoon. The greens can be used the same way as the rest of ginger, or used like green onions towards the end of cooking for a burst of gingery freshness.
I love how peppery this arugula is. On a sandwich, in an omelet, or as a simple salad, it is delightful. If you don’t like the spicy zesty-ness of raw radish, you might not like raw arugula as much. In that case, try roughly chopping and sautéing it with some leek. I’m a little torn on which way I like it more.
Celery leaves, dehydrated and ground with salt. The bright green color is a stark comparison to the drab brown that any celery salt you’ll find at the grocery store will be. Use to season popcorn, meat, or a Chicago-style hot dog.
