3rd Week of Winter CSA: Feb 10–12
This Week’s Availability
This week we will have yellow onions, red onions, garlic, celeriac, yellow beets, red beets, carrots, red potatoes, yellow potatoes, watermelon radish, green cabbage, red cabbage, sweet potatoes, spinach, and mesclun mix.
This week’s greens limit:
Mini shares: 1 greens item
Small shares: 2 greens items
Medium shares: 2 greens items
Large shares: 3 greens items
Super shares: 3 greens items
You do not need to use the order form if you are coming to the farm to pick out your veggies from the display cooler.
All delivery days and times are provided as a reminder at the bottom of the newsletter.
Reminder to sign up for a Spring Share now.
We will probably need to turn our Spring CSA signup into a wait list in a few weeks, so sign up now if you haven’t already.
Farm News
Feel free to stop reading anything below here.)
The grow room continues to see new seedlings emerge, waiting their turn to be transplanted out when space becomes available as greens get harvested from the high tunnel. And the pile of storage crops in the root cellar continues to diminish each week.
I got the opportunity speak to the Vermont legislative agriculture committee as the farmer representative to discuss the impact of the Everyone Eats program that has been part of the state's Covid relief efforts. If you are unfamiliar with this program, it's a well designed stimulus and relief program that provides funds for local restaurants to make weekly meals using local ingredients to distribute to local families facing food insecurity. In this area, the program is run through the Vermont Farmers' Food Center. They have done an incredible job with many of their Covid support efforts, predominantly fueled by volunteers. In all the charitable food programs we have worked with over the years, this one is unique and especially thorough in that it simultaneously helps farms, restaurants, and families. Funding for the program was extended at least for the first several months of the year, but there are many service providers trying to figure out how to potentially model longer term food security initiatives off this project.
This week's Black History Month highlight is the author and cook, Jessica Harris and her most recent book, High on the Hog. With lifetime achievement awards from the James Beard Foundation and Southern Foodways Alliance, she is also a professor and lecturer with 12 books relating to the cuisine and food history of the African diaspora. The agriculture world and culinary world are so deeply intertwined that she is worth reading if agricultural Black history (or eating, or delicious new food ideas, or culinary history), is interesting to you. High on the Hog is a book that documents the culinary history of African American food from Africa, through the slave trade routes, and through early and contemporary American history. Her book goes into great detail on how the ingredients, recipes, and food customs of early enslaved Africans are now staple parts of contemporary American food customs. I have been enjoying reading it also for new food ideas. I have literally been putting the book down to use the internet to look up recipes for traditional dishes she discusses, and look forward to bringing new flavors into our kitchen as I finish this book.
Have a great week,
-ESF Team: Kara, Ryan, Molly, Katie, Grace, Taylor, Cindy, and Sam
Sautéed Red Cabbage
Some of the fun recipes I have been checking out, inspired by Jessica Harris’ book celebrate more summer produce, that don’t make sense to highlight in the newsletter this time of year. So instead enjoy this sautéed cabbage dish that has been a favorite winter treat that we learned about years ago.
1 red cabbage, core removed, finely sliced
2 small onions (red or yellow)
2-5 garlic cloves (crushed)
1 TBSP rosemary
1/2 cup toasted seeds or nuts
1/2 cup crumbled blue cheese or feta cheese
1 TBSP lemon juice
1 TBSP olive oil
1 tsp balsamic vinegar
1 tsp maple syrup
salt and pepper to taste
Sauté the onions, garlic, red cabbage, and rosemary in olive oil until they are fully cooked. Then mix in the lemon juice, balsamic vinegar, and maple syrup, and let sit at room temperature. Meanwhile, toast your preferred nuts or seeds so they are a light brown. When the cabbage dish has cooled to room temperature, add the seeds or nuts, crumbed cheese, and salt and pepper to taste. We enjoy these leftovers cold right out of the fridge as well. Enjoy!
How to get veggies during the Winter CSA Share
All online orders are due by noon on Tuesdays. Harvesting winter greens requires many factors to be just right, so we need the flexibility to know exactly what we are harvesting as early in the week as possible.
Oh no, I missed the order deadline! No worries. (I would probably miss it pretty often myself.) You are welcome to come to the barn on Wednesdays between 9 am and 7 pm to pick out your veggies. Or send us an email, and we will pack whatever we are able to deliver. It just might not include any greens if the many harvesting conditions don’t allow after the order deadline.
Pickup at the farm: The display cooler will be set up to pick out your veggies from 9 am to 7 pm on Wednesdays. Shunpike Road can be narrow during the winter months, and slippery on actively snowy days. If you are not comfortable coming to the farm any week, consider getting a pre-packed bag at either Stewart’s or Pierce’s in Shrewsbury, or in Ludlow or Rutland. We will try to make a note of Wednesday’s projected weather each week in the newsletter. (So far it looks like it won’t be snowy this Wednesday for pickup.)
Pickup at Pierce’s Store in Shrewsbury: Fill out the weekly order form by noon on Tuesday and pick up your bag from Peirce’s Store on Wednesday between noon and 6 pm.
Pickup at Stewarts Maple Marketplace in Cuttingsville: Fill out the weekly order form by noon on Tuesday and pick up your bag from the Stewart Maple Marketplace on Route 103 on Friday between noon and 5 pm.
Pickup at the Rutland Area Food Co-op in Rutland: Fill out the weekly order form by noon on Tuesday and pick up your bag from the co-op on Wednesday or Friday between noon and 7 pm.
Pickup at Knight Tubs, Pools, and Spas in Ludlow: Fill out the weekly order form by noon on Tuesday and pick up your bag from Knight Tubs between 2 and 5 pm on Wednesday. They are curbside only, so call or knock when you arrive, and they will bring your bag out.
All of these pickup spots love supporting their community, like offering us this favor to use their spaces. If you have any trouble getting your bag, let us know.
