CSA Newsletter ~ Week 20

Louie taste testing the Fall and Storage carrots!

In the last week we have had two inches of rain! But while digging sweet potatoes on Sunday the soil told the real story, the water had only soaked down about 2-3 inches!

So here we are, the last week of our main season CSA! Neither of us at week 6 thought we would still be standing let alone get to week 20 or be able to run a small November CSA this year. 

This has been one of the toughest growing years physically, emotionally and mentally for us. As many know we had a drought in 2012 but nothing compared to this.  This has been the worst drought on record for this area.  2012 taught us so much and the work and investment made since then has helped us to be able to grow vegetables for our community over the last 20 weeks and also to be able to  offer a November CSA to a few "die hard" veggie fans and also to get some crops for storage.  Our bulk boxes will not have the selection as previous years but we will still be able to offer bulk vegetables and all being well fresh greens this winter!

A huge thank you to you our CSA families for your support this year and going forward.  For the members who have helped weed, harvest and plant, for the laughter and even the dinner that turned up on the doorstep, we have been humbled by your support this season and we thank you from the bottom of our hearts.  We really would not have got through this year without you.

Please do not forget to fill in this years survey after you have collected your last box of the season.  If you have deleted the e-mail with the link please let us know and we will forward it on to you.

From us both thank you for allowing us to be your farmers that fed your families this year.

This week basket:
Garlic
Kalettes
Kale
Onions

Schwarzer Runder Radish

Schwarzer Runder Radish - These are new for us this years.  I saw them in the seed catalog and thought we had to try them at least once! They have a very rich spicy flavour, excellent for salads and crudite.  They do have a coarse outer skin which can be peeled by hand if you do not like the taste of it.  They are often eaten in Germany as a beer radish, served thinly sliced with salt and paired with a light beer!
Arugula
Sweet Potatoes
Spaghetti Squash
Spinach
Hakurei Turnips - If you are not in the mood to eat these raw, try roasting them! Yum!
Leeks - This is another one of our favourite recipes for leeks and the spicy mustard and braising greens. The recipe calls for spring onions but we replace them with leeks just as well. Curried leeks and greens.
Carrots - One of my all time favourite soups carrot and cardamom soup by Michelle Tam it also uses leeks so if you are running out of ideas this is a great soup to make!