Saturday, November 20, 2010

2010 Fall Share, Week Eight

November 20, 2010 newsletter

This week's harvest:

Butternut Squash
Sweet Potatoes
Salad Turnips
"Little Gem" Lettuce
Celery
Swiss Chard
Kale
Cilantro
Choose between: Arugula, Mizuna, and Red Mustard

This week's farm news:

So today may wrap up this year's fall share (boy, that went fast!) but there's no need to bemoan having to go back to the grocery story for your winter produce. We plan to bring fresh veggies to Nashville 3 times in December (the 4th, the 11th, & the 18th - please see our sign-up sheet for these dates plus watch for our emails) and then twice a month for the rest of the winter. Baskets will cost $23/small and $36/medium. There's a lot to look forward to: spinach, kale, Swiss chard, leeks, parsnips, celery, lettuce, and continued mixed greens, sweet potatoes, & butternut squash.

When the Smith family returns home from Nashville today, the farm is going to be a much quieter place. Jesse and Beth are each on their way to their next destinations. We completed our last harvest as a group on Thursday... Once they get to where they're going and after they have a nice (very long) hot shower, we hope they will look back & remember this season fondly! We surely will!

Monday, November 15, 2010

Kimchi recipe

Recently we received a comment asking for the Smith's kimchi recipe and they were happy to provide it:

We kind of follow Sandor Katz's recipe from his Wild Fermentation book (which we highly recommend!). Basic ingredients being Chinese cabbage, daikon radish, onion, garlic, hot peppers, fresh ginger. Almost anything else could be added like turnips, oh and carrots are great. And of course you need salt. So to start we shred the cabbage just by cutting it finely with a sharp knife. Then we chop up the radish and carrots and/or turnips and maybe some sweet peppers all maybe 1/8 or 1/4 inch thick. Then we mix all that together (cabbage, carrots, radish, peppers). Then we make a salt water brine which is made using 1 tablespoon per cup of water (one cup salt for one gallon water). I use warm water so the salt dissolves easier, and oh I like to use a quality natural salt, NOT Mortons! So stir the water till the salt is dissolved. Then we soak the vegetables in the brine for half a day or overnight. Be sure the brine covers the veggies. Make more brine if necessary. Then after soaking drain the brine but keep it handy. Make a finely minced medley of fresh ginger, hot peppers, and onions. Maybe one or two large or four small onions per head of cabbage. Maybe one big handful ginger and one or more(!!) hot peppers per head. We use a food processor to do the mincing. Then mix this potent stuff with your salty vegetables and firmly pack into a large jar or crock or food grade bucket. Place a small plate or something that fits right on top of the vegetables and weight it down with a water filled jar or something to force the brine to completely cover the veggies. Add brine if necessary. Put a cloth over top with a tight string or rubber band to keep flies out but let it breathe. Keep at room temperature for about a week. Taste it every so often to learn how it changes. When it tastes good and sharp transfer to a clean jar with a lid and put in refrigerator. Lasts a LONG time. Enjoy! Let us know if you need help as you go!

Sunday, November 14, 2010

2010 Fall Share, Week Seven

November 13, 2010 newsletter

This week's harvest:

Kale
Thick-Stemmed Mustard
Salad Turnips
Chinese Cabbage or Tatsoi
Arugula or Mizuna or Red Mustard
Sweet Potatoes
Butternut Squash

This week's farm news:

Today marks our 250th "deliveriversary" since we first began Bugtussle CSA nine years ago! Quite a few of you have been with us all of those years! We thank all of you for your support and your love of fresh veggies. This endeavor wouldn't be possible without you!

So next Saturday wraps up this season's fall share. We still have plenty of greens in the garden and plenty of sweet potatoes and butternuts in storage. We plan to take the Saturday immediately following Thanksgiving off, but then get right back into bringing you folks fresh veggies through December and then as much as we can throughout the rest of the winter. As we've done in the past, the winter baskets will be "pay-by-the-week." We'll have a sign-up list next Saturday plus we'll send out email reminders [I'll be posting those here] that you can reply to as well.

We want to keep you well-fed and nourished all through the winter!

Saturday, November 6, 2010

2010 Fall Share, Week Six

November 6, 2010 newsletter

This week's harvest:
Sweet Potatoes
Butternut Squash
Peanuts
Salad Turnips
Kale
Tatsoi
Choose between: Arugula, Mizuna, and Ruby Streaks Mustard

This week's farm news:

Well, the summer crops are completely finished now. Brrrrrr... It's gotten cold! I can't believe how long the peppers, tomatoes, and eggplant were able to hang on this fall. It's actually pretty impressive - still eating fresh summer veggies a week into November. But now that those crops are done for the year, we turn toward our annual project of kimchi (Korean sauerkraut) making which adds an element of "fresh" to our winter diet. We made our first batch last week filling a ten gallon crock and half of a five gallon crock. Once the initial fermentation is complete, we transfer it all to gallon-sized glass jars and store it in the cellar to be eaten throughout the winter. Our first batch yielded about 10 gallons, which we reckoned wasn't quite enough (!) once we send some with both Jesse and Beth once they depart. So, we made another batch this week. It will probably yield another 10 gallons (yes - we eat a lot of kimchi!) Which should be enough for the winter. One exciting new addition to our winter diet that we aren't used to having is all the fresh greens from the high tunnel! The crops in it look great - some of the greens and lettuces are practically to harvestable size already! We are feeling geared up and ready for winter!

Thursday, November 4, 2010

Reminder

This Saturday, November 6th, we will not be at the Farmers Market, but instead will be at the Nashville Friends Meetinghouse. The meetinghouse is on the west side of 26th Avenue North just 2 blocks north of Charlotte Avenue (on the Southwest corner at the intersection of 26th Avenue North and Torbett Street).

If you do not have a fall share, but would like a basket, feel free to just show up as we will have extras.

2010 Fall Share, Week Five

October 30, 2010 newsletter

This week's harvest:

Arugula
Daikon Radish
Sweet Potatoes
Butternut Squash
Red Mustard
Salad Turnips
Mizuna
Sweet & Hot Peppers
Eggplant

This week's farm news:

First of all, we need to remind all of you that this (today) is the last Saturday of the season that this farmer's market will be here in Richland Park. We understand that there are plans of moving the market just down the road to a bank parking lot for the month of November. (And maybe even indoors for the rest of the winter - more on that later.) However, we will be back at our old location (the Nashville Friends Meeting House on the corner of 26th Ave. and Torbett, just off Charlotte) for the remainder of the fall share. The pick-up time will remain the same: 8am to 12pm.

Our intern season is winding down for the year. This past week was Ben's last here on the farm. Jesse and Beth will each only be with us for a few more weeks. It's bittersweet when it comes time for our interns to depart... We have made good friends so it's sad to see them go, but we get to look forward to hearing about their next adventure in life. Ben is heading to a farm in Nicaragua for a few months. Beth is looking to purchase her own farm in the Chattanooga area A.S.A.P. And Jesse wants to spend another season with us in Bugtussle (yeah!) leading next year's intern crew and wading a little deeper into the farm scene. We can't thank them enough for all of their hard work & dedication throughout the season. Now's the time for us, the Bugtussle-year-rounders, to take a deep breath, reflect upon a great season, and throw another log on the fire.