CSA Week 15, 2020

CSA Week 15

We’ve received some emails asking when the last CSA pick ups are. Week 16 (the last week of CSA) begins Saturday October 03. So, If your pick up day is:
Saturday, your last day will be October 10.
Sunday, your last day will be October 04.
Monday, your last day will be October 05.
Tuesday, your last day will be October 06.
Wednesday, your last day will be October 07.
Thursday, your last day will be October 08.
Friday, your last day will be October 09.

This week you MAY have mustard greens,  apples, onion, peppers, kale, winter squash, sounds like some got leeks at the end of the week last week, so leeks are happening, potatoes…

Molly Delicious and now appearing, Redcorts, Cortland, Early Mac maybe Gingergold,  Honeycrisp, Sparkle or Rome

Red or Green Mustard. If you have some bunch of unidentified greens (purples?) in your bag, it is either Giant Red Mustard or Green Frills Mustard. We include a baby version of this in most of our mesclun mixes, so it is not completely foreign, but it is a little different and fun to try. This green mustard is pretty strong, so a little will go a long way as a fresh salad green. Yes, you can eat it raw, or you can enjoy it in anything that calls for bitter greens (though they are not really bitter, nor is chard…much maligned our yummy greens are ?)

Hard to say what will appear in the boxes, I don’t expect any surprises, meaning anything you have not seen already, but as always, let me know if you are unsure about something.

We grow several varieties of cabbage: green, red, savoy (crinkled leaves), red savoy, and Chinese – which you have seen already. They can all be treated the same – great in slaws, stir-fry, salads, soups, etc. If you are new to our farm, you will find that even the cabbage is sweet and delicious! A few times the kids have requested my Swedish Red Cabbage when there is no red cabbage left on the farm; they can totally tell if I bought cabbage from the store! I love me a good coleslaw – consider grating any roots (carrots, radishes, kohlrbi (not a root), etc) you may have laying around to bump it up.

At least one more week for most of you :)…Saturday people this is only week 15. :^0 UNLESS, OF COURSE, you signed up for the 2 week extension 🙂

Feedback this week:

Hey! You wanted ideas – I clean, dry, and roast delicata seeds just like pumpkin seeds. They are amazing! –ROXIE

Thanks for the input!

Must cover the mustard here. You could always remove the stems and heavy ribs and toss it with your lettuce. Taste it first, because some like the peppery bite to it and others do not. Cooking these greens will soften the flavor. But, I love the flavor, so I am going to jack it up!

Sautéed Mustard Greens
Wash the greens, remove any thick stems (this mustard is pretty young, so the stems are not tough, don’t worry about the ribs). Roughly chop leaves and leave clinging water on the leaves Heat 1-2 TB olive oil, add 2-3 whole cloves garlic (If you love garlic, you’ll want to mince the garlic) and a pinch or two of red pepper flakes (do you like mustard? Then also add 1 Tb mustard seed). Stir around a few minutes and when garlic starts to turn brown, discard it (if you went minced, don’t brown it), add mustard, sauté, cover and cook an additional minute or until tender. Stir from time to time to prevent sticking. Serve as a side, great with meats and fish.

Not sure about sautéed mustard greens? Omit the red pepper and optional mustard seeds from recipe above, sauté greens for 2 minutes, add ¼ cup chix stock and braise for another 10 minutes.

Still no? Make pesto. Yeah, you heard me, whir up the greens (stems removed) with or without your favorite nuts, some silky oil, garlic, parmesan, salt, and toss it with your pasta. So simple.

I make ricotta about every other week and subsequently make some other dish to use it up. This week I made a butternut lasagna. It was tasty! I blended about 2 or 3 cups of squash puree with a fat cup of ricotta, seasoned it with some nutmeg, paprika, s & p. Then made a ricotta mixture as with any lasagna (eggs, parm, mozzarella, herbs) and alternately layered the butternut blend with cooked noodles and ricotta blend, sprinkling more mozz along the way. Baked until bubbling. It was very Autumn satisfying 🙂

Wow week 15!!!! (yes, I know it is week 14 for Saturday folks)). We had a few nights of frost last week but saved what we could with row covers. Most of the fields up here did not see much frost, but the winter squash/pumpkin field got it hard enough to kill the leaves and vines. We had picked up most of the squash in anticipation of the cold. We are always hoping to escape any early frosts, of course, because we want to keep going with fresh, great produce for CSA and markets. Some years we have experience killing frosts only to have it warm up and be mild right through November. That’s SOOO annoying! We will let you know when it is gleaning time – hopefully not until late October 🙂  As usual, the gleaning announcement will be short notice, like the day or two before an expected freeze. New to our CSA? Gleaning is another little perk we offer to members only. You already know you are welcome to the farm to roam around and pick a few things, but gleaning is the activity or gathering anything remaining after the main harvest that will be killed by the cold. Peppers and tomatoes, for instance, will not survive a freeze (the way the cole crops do), so it is the time to pick every last fruit. This is the time of year, historically, people would make all the pickles and green tomato stuff 😉

Members only. We actually donate a tremendous amount of food, in addition the the unclaimed CSA bags, so we’d like to restrict any gleaning to our members and what they/he/she can use themselves. Please don’t ask for exceptions, it just makes us feel badly
I will post the gleaning times on facebook and perhaps send out a short email as soon as we think we’ll have a killing frost or some other damage…stay tuned.

The leaves are coloring up out this way and we all think it is going to be a great foliage season. The picture up above was take a couple years ago – there’s not that much color yet. The leaves changing reminds me of all the things I must ready before winter. We have been frustrated the past couple years with the roof leaking and dripping down the wall in the kitchen. I remember the first years at this house the water literally poured down the same wall (yes, inside), though at the time it was the kind of catch-all laundry, mud, tack room of the prior occupant. We roofed that section just before our wedding here, 27 years ago! This week the same roofer who fixed it last time, returned to do it again. It is a great security for us and the welfare of our historic home to have a new hat to brave the rain and ice and snow sure to come. We are having fun joking about our marriage lasting longer than the roof. Should be a funny sales pitch for a roofers guarantee, LOL.

Yes, it’s been unusually hectic, but we have truly enjoyed the CSA this year. Glenn has tried to keep it interesting with some different/unusual crops, though not too interesting 😉 We all know it is important to get food you are definitely going to use and not many weird things that might go wasted. This season has been like no other, and that has made the outreach from members, emails, visits, that much more special. If you still have not taken a moment to connect to the farm, please don’t be afraid to do so. We welcome you in our farm family. Hopefully, we never experience anything like we have this year again, but if we do, you know you are in our family and we will have food for you and your family. WE ARE IN THIS TOGETHER!

Eat well,

Geneviève Stillman   

Two more weeks of CSA extension option!

CSA is going so awesome, why not keep things rolling until Still Life Farm winter CSA begins!!! Add two more weeks to your 16!! We are offering an extension to current CSA members of an additional two weeks for $60. That way you will have your winter squash, Brussels sprouts, apples and other fall crops. It’s simple, just complete your purchase for 2 more weeks and we will keep you on your existing list. These two weeks will blend seamlessly filling the gap between our Summer CSA and Still Life Farm’s Winter CSA. MUST SIGN UP BY October 07, 2020.

With all the payroll increases, we are increasing the regular 16-week, CSA price to $500…

This is still far more competitive, price-wise, than many other area CSAs, especially when one considers the variety (including fruit) and value of what we so enjoy providing to you.

Since it is almost time to start signing up for next year, we are offering some bundle options. Curt and Halley Stillman, at Still Life farm, still have a few spots open for their wonderful Winter CSA (5 deliveries, once a month) More here

Here are the bundle options (please note– you must purchase bundled options at SAME TIME to qualify for bundle discount):

• 2 week CSA extension + 2021 16-week CSA for $476 (early discount of 15% off both the 16-week CSA and the two week CSA extension (that’s $75 off CSA and $9 off the two extra bags :))
• 2 week CSA extension + Winter CSA for  $350
• 2 week CSA extension + Winter CSA + 2021 16-week CSA for $766 ($290 for Winter CSA + early discount of 15% off both the 16-week CSA and the two week CSA extension (that’s $75 off CSA and $9 off the two extra bags :))
• Just interested in the Winter CSA right now? Then sign up directly with Curt and Halley for ease. Still Life Farm Winter CSAl

Coupon 15OFFCSA will be automatically applied at checkout for 2 weeks + Summer CSA (with or without Winter CSA)
Coupon 15OFFEXTRA will be automatically applied at checkout for 2 weeks + Winter CSA

Woot!

Don’t want any more CSA bags this year and not ready to sign up for next year? No worries! We will still be offering our 15% off discount to returning members through November. The early sign up discount offer will go out to members later in October. Also, you can always sign up for Still Life farm Winter CSA or Stillman Quality Meats meat bucks whenever…we just wanted to offer a special deal for right now. The special bundle offer expires October 07.