Share 21 - week of Oct 20th
In the share this week:
1 bunch/bag carrots
1 head napa cabbage
2 watermelon radishes
2 lbs sweet potatoes
Mixed sweet peppers
1 bag baby kale
1 bunch mustard greens
Thoughts from Farmer Anna:
The harvests are very green and leafy these days! The vegetables are really loving these moderate temps and the farmers are enjoying the dry, blue-sky days. In the pic above you can see a field of cover crops sprouting in the back right. The tarps on the left are covering beds that will get planted to overwintering onions and garlic. We just cleared pepper plants and carrots out of the hoophouse on the left and will direct seed some spinach into those beds. That spinach should be ready for first harvests early in February. The farm is slowly getting cleared out and cleaned up for the off-season. We did experience our first frost on Sunday morning. It was a fairly light frost and we didn't see any crop damage. We did spend some time on Saturday afternoon covering potentially sensitive crops with row cover - a lightweight fabric that helps hold in heat and can give us about 5 degrees of temperature protection. Right now, the extended forecast looks favorable in that these mild temps should continue through the end of next week and the end of the regular season!
This share feels like classic fall. It feels great to have sweet potatoes to share with you again this year. This week we are giving exclusively orange sweet potatoes grown either right here on our farm, or down in Robertson County on Cole's property - what he likes to call Feral Earth Farm, although he is always coming up with other creative names for his place. Cole is a long time Rains and Sun team member and is hoping to expand his plantings in years to come. We love to be able to support other local producers and bring their offerings to you!
An easy and beautiful side dish (or part of a main dish if you beef it up with some protein) this week would be a roasted veg tray with carrots, sweet potatoes and watermelon radish. Just chop these veggies into even sized pieces (about 1 inch cubes), coat with oil and sprinkle with salt and then roast for about 30 minutes at 350 or more depending on your oven temp. I'm always amazed at how delicious this simple preparation can be. And I'll tell you that we are down with anything easy and simple to prepare these days. October has been a full month for our family!
In addition to the radical root veggies, you have a lot of gorgeous greens in your share this week too! It seems like a crunchy, sweet and tangy Asian slaw may be in order. You can combine your Napa, carrots and sweet peppers in something like this recipe below:
We are happy to have some baby kale to share since our fall planting of full size kale hasn't produced as well as hoped. This baby kale is great for salads, but of course can be used in any way you'd regularly use kale. You can combine it with the mustard greens and add to a stir-fry or a soup as well. Lots of versatility in these greens!
Well, I hope you all enjoy the rest of your week and these absolutely gorgeous weather!