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In the share this week: 1 bag carrots 1 bunch hakurei turnips 1 bag baby salad kale 1 bag baby mustard greens 1 lb mixed onions 1 lb small sweet potatoes 1 bunch swiss chard Thoughts from Farmer Anna: We had our first legitimate fall frost this past Saturday morning. It's seems like that is just about right on time for our area. Some years we don't get a major frost until November, but it's more likely to happen in mid to late October. We had covered a few beds that could have taken a bit of damage and everything came through just fine. There were even some salad mix lettuces that were completely uncovered (we had already cut from them once or twice) and were totally fine. I'm always amazed at how well lettuces can tolerate the cold. They certainly aren't as cold tolerant as kale or spinach, but many varieties can handle frosts and even some amount of hard freezing. I'm banking on the cold tolerance of our salad mix lettuces this winter, as we've planted a good amount of these our hoophouses. Last year we planted some in late February and had a 15 F night soon after. We covered the planting with two layers of row cover + plus the protection of the hoophouse plastic and they came through beautifully. If our winter isn't too cold, we should be able to have salad mix available through most of it! Well, we are down to the last four weeks of shares. I do feel the count down toward the end at this time of year. Even though we will continue to harvest a bit after the end of the CSA season, it does feel like the last week of shares marks the conclusion of a long season and the beginning of some well deserved rest. Our fall crops are looking better this year than they have in several seasons. I think it's partly due to the drier than usual weather, which has staved off fungal disease which tends to be a problem in the fall. The aphids have been less of a problem than usual too. All in all, I feel like we have an abundance of fall greens and roots to share with you over these last four weeks. We will also be harvesting our ginger crop later this week and I'm hoping we'll have lots of beautiful fresh ginger for you in the next couple of shares. This week's share is a nice mix of solid root veggies and greens along with some onions to round out your meals. Our spring swiss chard crop didn't fare well this year, so I'm happy that our fall planting is looking good and that we have enough of these greens to share with you this week. If you've never cooked with chard before, you can use both the stems and the greens. I typically chop the stems and saute them along with onion or garlic before adding the chopped greens. Chard is great as a side dish (see Maria's greek style greens below), added to soups, or cooked into a quiche or frittata. If you want to cook up a mess of greens, you could combine the chard, kale and mustard greens this week. Most greens freeze well if they are blanched first. Blanched and frozen greens are good for adding to soups or any recipes that calls for something like frozen spinach. Chard is my favorite cooking green and I hope you like it! I love the idea of using your root veggies in a nice warming soup (see recipe below). Those roots will all keep nicely if you want to hold onto them until you get some fresh ginger from us next week. You could definitely add sweet potato to the carrot, turnip mix too. The baby kale is from a new planting and it's really perfect for salads. We like to mix greens for hearty salads and the mustard greens + kale would be quite good with some toasted nuts, some strong cheese , dried fruit and a vinegary dressing. You could fry an egg and top your salad with that as well. I also like to add some cooked grain like brown rice or quinoa for a filling meal. Adding a grain also dilutes out some of the stronger flavors of the greens if you aren't a big fan of the those flavors. There are so many options with greens! Recipes from Maria: Carrot, Hakurei Turnip and Ginger Bisque Ingredients 3 Cups Carrots, Peeled and Diced 2 Cups Hakurei Turnips, Peeled and Diced 1/8 to 1/4 Cup Fresh Ginger, Peeled and Diced 2 and 1/2 Cups Chicken Stock (*or stock of choice) 1 Cup Heavy Cream (*and little extra for topping) (*just a reminder you don’t need to add the cream if you’re looking for an earthier flavor) Microgreens Black Pepper Instructions Combine your diced carrots, turnips, ginger and stock in a large soup pot/pan. Cook on medium/medium high heat for 15 to 20 minutes until vegetables are tender and can be easily pierced with a fork. Turn off the heat and carefully transfer your vegetable/stock mixture to your blender (you can use a ladle to do this or gently pour everything in). If desired, pour a cup of heavy cream on top of everything once it’s in the blender. Use the blender to puree the mixture, and pour everything back in your pan. Turn the heat on medium if needed to reheat the soup slightly. Drizzle the top with heavy cream, sprinkle with black pepper and add microgreens if desired. Enjoy warm! Greek Style Sauteed Greens (served with grilled salmon or poached eggs) Ingredients 1 bunch kale 1 bunch chard (or you can use any combination of most greens such as collards, mustard greens, broccoli rabe to equal one pound) 4 tablespoons olive oil 1 medium shallot, coarsely chopped 3 medium garlic, finely chopped ½ teaspoon lemon zest ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes ( or aleppo ) ¼ teaspoon sea salt 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice Optional Garnish: Dukkah , Zaatar Spice, toasted pine nuts or almonds Instructions Trim the stalks and ribs from the greens, if they are more than ¼ inch thick. Chop the stalks and ribs into ¼ inch slices. Put the chopped stalks in a large sauté pan with 1 tablespoon of olive oil and sauté about 5 minutes on medium heat stirring every now and then while you prep the remaining ingredients. When tender remove from pan and set aside. Cut the destemmed greens into ¼ to ½ inch ribbons. Add remaining olive oil to the pan over medium high, add chopped shallots. Sauté 3 minutes, add garlic and red pepper flakes stirring for a minute or so. Then add the greens and turn the heat to medium low. Give it a stir every few minutes for about 8-10 minutes. When the greens are wilted and tender add the sautéed stems stirring a minute to rewarm, turn heat off and add lemon zest, salt and lemon juice. Stir to combine. Taste and adjust flavor if desired. Serve with Dukkah for added crunch. Dukkah Ingredients Almonds Pecans (hazelnuts are most common in traditional Dukkah) Sesame seeds Coriander (ground or whole seeds) Cumin (ground or whole seeds) Fennel (ground or whole seeds) Salt Black pepper Use any nut or combination of nuts you have on hand. Add other spices such as sumac , Aleppo, smoked salt, dried thyme, smoked paprika…. there is no right or wrong here. Just play around, create and have fun! Instructions Pulse nuts in a food processor Place them in a dry skillet and toast, 4-5 mins. Add spices, continue toasting until fragrant and golden. Let cool completely and store in a sealed jar. If you have a nut allergy it is perfectly fine to stick with seeds (pumpkin, sunflower) and feel free to use only one type of nut or use as many as you want. Up to you -as long as you use 1 cup total!

In the share this week: 2 fennel bulbs 1 head napa cabbage 1 head mini red romaine 2 lbs sweet potatoes 2-3 sweet or bell peppers 1 bunch carrots 1 bunch sage Thoughts from Farmer Anna: The kids were on fall break Friday and Monday. I took Friday morning off and we went to visit a local dairy farm for some fall festival fun. They spent the night with my parents Sunday night, so I was able to harvest with the crew Monday morning. We are all well rested and ready to start school again tomorrow morning. The crew has been adapted really well to taking care of harvest while I help the kids with school most mornings. It's been hard for me to give up some oversight and control of the harvest, but it's also been great to delegate those tasks to some very capable hands. I didn't realize when we started along this farming path, that one of my most important roles would be that of a manager. Luckily for me, I enjoy having a lot of different types of work to do, and while learning to be an effective manager has taken some time and concerted effort, it's become a rewarding part of what I do here on the farm. Hopefully I'm getting better and better at it too :) As the season winds down, I'm really looking forward to getting into planning for next season. It's really important for us to sit down and take stock of the current year's season and decide what went well, which crops failed or did poorly, and what changes we'd like to make for next year. This was a really stellar growing season for us, so we are feeling especially good as we take stock of the year. I would also like to get some feedback from all of you. I often send out a short survey at the end of each season to hear what worked well for you as a CSA member and what we could improve upon. I'll be putting that together to send out during the last week of shares, so stayed tuned. Your opinions and feedback really help us to improve each year! The share this week has a lot of awesome fall veggies. Napa cabbage (pictured above) is a new item this week, and we have a couple other items that haven't been around for awhile: fennel and mini romaine lettuce. The Napa and Fennel are just especially awesome. We haven't been able to grow nice napa cabbage for several years due to disease and insect pressure. This year it is huge and amazing. If you haven't cooked or used napa cabbage before, it can be substituted for regular cabbage, but it's a bit lighter in texture which makes it great for raw salad applications. I also really like adding it to soups and Maria's pasta recipe which includes napa sounds delicious. If you are feeling ambitious, you could try fermenting the cabbage to make kimchi (a korean spicy sauerkraut). There are lots of tasty options! These fennel bulbs are the nicest we've had in awhile as well and quite large. Fennel has a nice light anise flavor and is great cooked or raw. Simple ideas would be to roast chunks of it along with other root veggies or to thin slice in salads. The potato gratin dish including fennel below uses several items from the share and would be an excellent way to use your fennel. This is the last week for sweet and bell peppers (although we'll probably have some left for swaps or additions next week), as we are taking out these plantings to make room for winter crops. I hope everyone has a great week! Recipes from Maria: Pappardelle with Cabbage, Prosciutto, and Sage 8 ounces pappardelle or some other wide pasta 1 tablespoon olive oil 1 onion, sliced Kosher salt and black pepper 1/2 head Napa cabbage -- quartered, cored, and sliced (8 cups) 1 cup low-sodium chicken broth 1/4 pound sliced prosciutto, cut into strips 2 tablespoons unsalted butter 2 tablespoons chopped fresh sage Instructions Cook the pasta according to the package directions. Meanwhile, heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the onion and 1/4 teaspoon each salt and pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, 4 to 6 minutes. Add the cabbage and broth and cook, stirring occasionally, until the cabbage begins to wilt, 2 to 3 minutes. Stir in the prosciutto, butter, and sage and cook until the butter has melted. Serve over the pasta. Red, White, & Sweet Potato Gratin with Fennel & Sage 1 cup grated comte cheese (or other semi-firm nutty cheese like gruyere or emmental) 1/2 cup grated parmesan 2 cups heavy cream, can substitute half the cream with whole milk 1 tablespoon coarse kosher salt (sounds like a lot, but this is a lot of potatoes) 1 1/2 teaspoons ground black pepper 4 cloves garlic, minced or crushed 1 1/2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh sage 2 teaspoons finely chopped fresh thyme 1 lb red potatoes 1 lb white potatoes 1 1/2 lbs sweet potatoes 1 large to 2 small fennel bulbs (about 1/2 to 3/4 lb) 2 small to medium onions (about 1/2 lb) 2 tablespoons butter, softened Instructions Preheat oven to 400F and adjust rack to the middle of the oven. Toss cheeses together in a medium bowl to combine. Transfer about 1/3 of the mixture to another bowl and set aside for later use. Back in the first bowl, add cream, salt, pepper, garlic, sage, & thyme; and stir or toss to combine. Set aside. Using a mandoline slicer, slice all the potatoes, unpeeled, into 1/8 inch thick disks and place into a very large bowl. The larger the bowl, the easier it will be to toss the potatoes with the cream without making a mess. Slice the onion(s) and fennel bulb(s) to the same thickness and add to the potatoes. Pour cream and cheese mixture over the potatoes and toss toss toss to completely coat each slice of potato with cream. Use your fingers to separate any potatoes that may have become stuck together, so that every single slice is coated in the cream mixture. Butter the inside of a large casserole, or 12″ cast iron skillet. Organize handfuls of potatoes into neat stacks, along with some slices of onions and fennel, and line them up in the casserole with their edges aligned vertically. Continue placing stacks of potatoes into the dish, working around the perimeter and into the center until all potatoes have been added. Potatoes should be tightly packed. If necessary, slice an additional potato, coat with the remaining cream mixture, and add to the casserole. Pour the remaining cream mixture evenly over the potatoes until the mixture comes about half way up the sides of the potato slices. You may not need all the liquid. Cover dish tightly with a lid or aluminum foil and transfer to oven. Bake for 30 minutes. Remove lid/foil and bake for 30 minutes longer. Carefully remove from oven, sprinkle with remaining cheese, and return to oven to bake until deep golden brown and crisp on top, about 30 minutes longer. Remove from oven, let rest for at least 15 minutes, and serve.

In the share this week: 3 lbs sweet potatoes 1 bunch red russian kale specialty pepper mix (banana, poblano and jalapeno peppers) 1 bunch french breakfast radishes 1 bag salad mix 1 bunch green onions Thoughts from Farmer Anna: The shell of the pack shed is now nearly complete. We are waiting on a bit of trim, gutters, and the overhead door to be installed. After that we need to think about what kind of plumbing we need in the building and how we'll get that installed, and then get a concrete floor poured. Then we'll be ready to outfit the pack shed with sinks, tables, and storage shelves. We'll be running electric up the hill so we can build another cooler for the new space. Whew, it does feel a bit overwhelming thinking over everything that needs to be done to make this a functional space for next year, but at least we are headed into winter which gives us more time to research and plan for these tasks. I think I promised to tell you more about our plans for winter growing this week. We now have four unheated high tunnels (or hoophouses) that we are filling up with greens for the winter. Our mix of winter greens includes kale, spinach, swiss chard, salad mix, green onions, cilantro, and asian greens. We have grown kale and spinach reliably over the winter these past few years, and we are excited to see if we can get a few other crops to make it through the cold weather protected with extra row cover. Initially we were considering offering winter CSA shares over the 20/21 winter season, but recently the Ft. Thomas Farmers' Market has decided to host a winter market. Their first session will run until December 9th and the second session will begin in early March at the latest and possibly in February. We will be sending out weekly emails whenever we have crops to harvest so that you'll have the opportunity to place a pre-order to pick up at market or at the farm. It's possible we may add another pick up location or offer some limited delivery if folks are interested. The first sweet potatoes of the season are coming in shares this week. We do not wash the potatoes after harvesting because they are supposed to keep better if you don't mess with them too much. If you'll be storing yours for awhile, they do best in a cool dark place. We routinely have sweet potatoes store until the next summer if yours last that long :) Maria has a couple of recipes using these tasty tubers below. We'll be giving another good amount of these again next week, and then a bit more in the last two shares of the season. More radishes again this week, but this planting has been so wonderful that we've had an abundance of nice roots coming out of it. I roasted a mix of radishes, turnips, and carrots as a side dish with our lunch today. My ten year old really loves the roasted radishes! Recipes from Maria: White Bean and Pesto Stuffed Sweet Potatoes Ingredients 4 baked sweet potatoes Walnut Pesto 2 cups tightly packed herbs such as basil, parsley, cilantro, and/or mint (can also use carrot tops, baby spinach, arugula, etc.) 1/2 cup (56) walnuts 3 garlic cloves, peeled 1 small lemon, zested, then juiced 1/4 - 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt Freshly cracked black pepper to taste 2-3 tablespoons nutritional yeast or parmesan cheese 6 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (can substitute up to half with water) White Beans 1 (15-ounce) can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed thoroughly 2 teaspoons olive oil 1 teaspoon dried thyme (or 1 tablespoon fresh chopped thyme) 1 tablespoon white sesame seeds 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt Juice of 1/2 medium lemon Optional toppings Chopped radishes Green onions Chopped tomatoes Diced avocado Tahini Instructions Make the Walnut Pesto. Place all of the ingredients except the olive oil and water to a food processor. Blend until a paste starts to come together. With the motor running, stream in the olive oil, scraping down the sides as you go, until you have a thick, relatively smooth consistency. Taste for salt and acidity, adding more salt or lemon juice as needed. Make the White Beans. Heat a large 12-inch skillet with the 2 teaspoons olive oil, and ensure the entire pan is coated with the oil (I use a paper towel to evenly distribute the oil). Add the rinsed and dried beans in small handfuls and spread them out in a single layer. Let the beans cook undisturbed for 3 minutes. Then use a flat spatula to flip the beans and cook for another 3-5 minutes, or until the beans are browned and blistered. Add the thyme, sesame seeds, salt, lemon juice. Reduce the heat to medium-low and cook for 2-3 minutes to allow the flavors to blend. Assemble the Sweet Potatoes: Stuff each baked sweet potato with the 2 tablespoons of pesto and 1/4 of the White Beans. If desired, add additional toppings to each potato, and drizzle with a bit of tahini. Southwest Scramble Stuffed Sweet Potatoes Ingredients 4 baked sweet potatoes 5-Minute Salsa 1 pint cherry or grape tomatoes, halved 1/2 cup finely diced red onion 1/2 cup diced red, orange or yellow bell pepper 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice 1/2 cup loosely packed cilantro, finely chopped 1/2 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil, plus more to taste Kosher or sea salt and freshly cracked black pepper to taste Egg Scramble Chopped poblano and banana pepper 6-8 Eggs scrambled 1 tablespoon olive oil 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast or parmesan cheese 1/4 - 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/4 teaspoon EACH: garlic powder and cumin Kosher or sea salt and black pepper to taste 1 (15-ounce) can black beans, drained and rinsed Optional Toppings Chopped radishes Green onions sour cream Diced avocado Instructions Saute the peppers before adding the eggs to scramble, while cooking prepare the 5-Minute Salsa. Mix together all of the ingredients in a bowl and stir to combine. Add salt and pepper to taste. If the salsa is too acidic, add a bit more olive oil. Assemble the Sweet Potatoes: Divide the Egg Scramble, 5-Minute Salsa, and black beans evenly and stuff into each baked baked sweet potato. If desired, top with additional toppings.