We tried the horse drawn potato digger to dig our sweet potatoes and it worked like a charm! The sweet potatoes are now curing in one of our hoop houses. They are different than any other vegetable because they need heat to get sweet instead of cold.
We are heading into the last few weeks of the 2013 Main Season CSA and I wanted to make sure everyone knew the last pick-up days and the date of the CSA Pot Luck:
Last Saturday Pick-up: October 5
Last Tuesday Pick-up: October 8
CSA End of Season Pot Luck: Sunday, October 6 – (2:00-4:00 p.m.) Bring food to share, plates, cutlery and lawn chairs. We will have horse drawn rides after the food.
After a backward cool spring it has turned into a bountiful year for the garden with record harvests of many crops. In our CSA, you as members, share the risk with us, the flip side is us sharing the bounty with you – so help yourselves to the “extras”.
Pick-your-own fall Raspberries will continue until the end of the season or until we have a killing freeze. We will be harvesting the first of the fall carrots on Saturday and they are the sweetest of the season. Yet to come are celeriac, rutabaga, parsnip, brussels sprouts, chinese cabbage and winter radish along with the full complement of squash and pumpkin. I have done a back search of some of the great recipes on our blog and linked to them for you to refer to. I think it is a soup time of year. When we give celeriac don’t be afraid of it’s ugly appearance, because it is truly lovely in soup. The Potato and Leek Soup #1 recipe also gives great directions for cleaning leeks. When the rutabaga and parsnip appear I always make Winter Warmer Soup. Even if you aren’t a fan of strong flavoured root vegetables, in this recipe they all blend together deliciously with a hint of ginger and lemon. These soups are always better the second day, after the flavours have had a chance to blend, so you can make them ahead and enjoy them later when you are too busy to cook! Pumpkin Honey is a lovely spread on pumpkin muffins. It has the consistency of apple butter with lemon/pumpkin goodness. Pumpkin Custard is one of Ken’s favourites. It is like a good pumpkin pie without the soggy crust. Keep in mind that any pumpkin recipe can be made with squash. Kale Chips with Cashews are deluxe and also call for a red pepper. You can freeze peppers and use them in the winter in this recipe. No need to blanch them just take out the seeds and freeze. Chocolate Beet Cake is rich and moist and is also better the second day. I love the Roasted Beet – Arugula Salad. Really, I just love fall with the golden sunlight, harvesting the fruits of our labours and all the wonderful full flavours of the roots and greens. When the cold weather comes the starch in many plants turns to sugar and makes them deliciously sweet.
Ken and I are travelling to Vermont next week to attend 2013 Draft Animal Power Field Days, where Ken is giving a workshop on Horse Powered CSA. The apprentices will be running the show here at the farm. If you need to contact them please phone: 519-775-2670 for the pick-ups of September 24, 28 and October 1.
We have only 10 shares left in the 2013 Fall CSA. If any of you want to continue enjoying the rich tastes of the fall produce, and haven’t already signed up, now is your chance!