2007 CSA Week 17

News from Windy Willow Farm: 2007 Week 17

This week’s share includes:
1 Butternut Squash – We finally got a great harvest of butternut squash! These winter squash are big and beautiful, and they get sweeter with storage.
1 Acorn Squash – This is a new variety of acorn squash- it’s bigger and should be easier to cut through. Even so, a secret to winter squash is to cook it for a while whole, then cut it in half when it’s softer, and scoop out the seeds. We didn’t have a great harvest of these, so we won’t see too many more.
1 Sunshine Squash – This is our favorite winter squash; if we only grew one variety, this would be it. It’s a buttercup type, and has bright orange flesh inside. It looks like a pumpkin, and tastes nice and sweet. Like all of our winter squash, it stores nicely.
½ pt raspberries – Can you believe we have more raspberries? These bushes just keep giving and giving. This variety is called “Autumn Britten” and is beautiful.
12 ears sweet corn – Enjoy the last of these ears. Again, they’ve been “field tested” by Jason, who trails behind me in the corn patch demanding more and more raw ears of corn. The dogs trail behind him, knowing that at some point he’ll drop the partially-eaten ears on the ground for them. We are quite the motley corn train in the garden!
3 small heads garlic
3 sweet onions, two red and one white
sweet peppers: 3 Italian red frying peppers
1 bunch beets – So, this is what happens when you plant a bunch of beets and ignore them the entire season! They are just enormous! For those of you who don’t like them so big, dig through the bin for the more medium sized ones. I figure the bigger they are, the less work of cutting them up!
1 bunch carrots – few days of rain made digging these much easier. I still managed to break and stab them; some things never change. Several of you asked about our carrots, I’ll include them for the remainder of the shares. To freeze: scrub them (no need to peel) for dirt removal, cut into appropriate-sized pieces and blanch for a minute and a half. Store in bags in your freezer. They are great for mixing with other veggies (like corn) and adding to soups and stir fries.
1 Qt Brussels sprouts – don’t forget to “fix” these: cut off the bottom and peel off one or two layers of leaves on the top.
1 Qt white potatoes
Best guess for next week’s share: more winter squash, potatoes, sweet potatoes, onions, leeks.

My garden advisor (Mark) has predicted a hard frost for this weekend. A frost will effectively kill our sweet corn, herbs and raspberries, so enjoy these this week. On the other hand, a frost will make carrots and Brussels sprouts even sweeter, so we’ll look forward to this. Slowly I’m cleaning out the garden, with my next job being the tomato rows.

We’ve made some plans for fall vacations to Lake Placid, Burlington, VT and to a friend’s wedding reception in New Jersey. We’re also looking forward to the beginning of October, when the pigs and lambs go off to be processed. We strive to go through the winter with the fewest number of animals to feed through the winter. This year we’ll have 3 sheep, 15 chickens, 1 horse, 2 dogs and 4 cats. We’ll be processing the turkeys shortly as well as I can’t wait to taste my own turkey for Thanksgiving. We love our growing season, but enjoy the cold weather slowdown.

Our family is going through a major transition: Sarah started school this week! It’s only pre-K, but still it has spun everything in a dither. Jason gets upset when we drop her off at school, but then they are at eachother’s throats all afternoon. Sarah loves her school (especially when they had cookies for snack the first day(!)), and comes home to tell me all about it. I was a little sniffly the first day, when she walked in without a backward glance. I think all will settle down nicely, and I’m figuring out ways to make the snacks (and the birthday treats) more healthful. Do you think anyone would notice if I brought in zucchini muffins for her birthday?

Mark also tells me that tomorrow is the “big day” and is surprised when I ask, “what big day?” Tomorrow is the day that National Grid installs our net meter and we start to make our own electricity! We were bummed to have to turn our furnace back on over the weekend, but these cloudy days do not make much hot water. If it’s sunny during our picnic, I’m going to invite everyone over to admire the meter spinning backward!

Thanks, as always, for your support!
Gwen, Mark, Sarah and Jason

© 2007 Gwen Hyde

Orange you glad it's thanksgiving Soup
(I think this a Rachel Ray recipe, but the comments are from a friend. It comes highly recommended)
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 medium onion, finely chopped
4 carrots, finely chopped
Salt and pepper
1/2 cup pulpy orange juice
2 boxes frozen butternut squash puree (NOTE: I almost NEVER use FROZEN... I bake fresh ones, mash it and then put it in... I like a thicker soup... so that's perfect for me...)
2 or 3 cups chicken broth (Works with Veggie Stock... but I don't like it as much..)
Salt and pepper
Grated nutmeg
1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme leaves, for garnish
1 tablespoon orange zest, for garnish

Heat a soup pot over medium-high heat. Add 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil and 1 tablespoon of butter. When butter has melted, add the onion and carrots and cook until vegetables are soft, about 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Deglaze with the orange juice and simmer for 1 to 2 minutes, scraping the bottom of the pot with a wooden spoon.
Transfer the mixture to a food processor or a blender. Puree the mixture until smooth, then return to pot over medium heat. To mixture, add the frozen butternut squash puree and the chicken broth and stir to combine. Adjust the seasoning. Bring to a boil, then lower the heat and let simmer for 10 minutes. Grate some fresh nutmeg and stir to combine.
Ladle soup into bowls and garnish with chopped thyme and orange zest.

Dr. Zhivago’s Russian Stew
1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
2 large onions, chopped
3 medium potatoes, scrubbed and grated coarsely
4 medium beets, peeled and grated coarsely
1 large carrot, scrubbed and grated coarsely
1 medium celery stalk, diced
Handful celery leaves
1 cup fresh orange juice
Juice of 1 lemon
2 tablespoons minced fresh dill or 2 teaspoons dried dill
1 teaspoon dry mustard
salt and freshly-ground black pepper to taste
Vegetable broth as needed
Sour cream for garnish (optional)

1. In a large soup pot, heat the olive oil over medium heat, then add onion and sauté until golden. Add all the remaining ingredients (except sour cream) and just enough vegetable broth to cover the vegetables. Bring mixture to a simmer and cook gently, covered, until vegetables are tender, about 45 minutes.
2. Remove stew from heat and allow to stand for an hour or so, then reheat and serve with a scoop of sour cream in each bowl, if desired.
Serves 6 to 8.
HELPFUL HINTS: Grating the vegetables with the coarse-shredder disc on your food processor makes this a snap to make.

Maple-Roasted Acorn Squash
2 acorn squash
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
4 tablespoons maple syrup
3 teaspoons minced fresh ginger (optional)
4 tablespoons chopped pecans (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 400F. Slice a thin piece off both ends of the squash, including the stem. Cut the squash in half crosswise (perpendicular to the ribs). Scoop out the seeds with a sturdy spoon.
2. Line a pan in which the squash can fit snugly with foil or parchment paper. If you use foil, rub with butter to prevent squash from sticking.
3. Set the squash halves in the prepared baking pan and smear the flesh with the softened butter. Sprinkle with the salt. Drizzle maple syrup over the cut edge of the squash and into the cavity (most of the liquid will pool there) and sprinkle with the ginger, if using.
4. Roast the squash halves until nicely browned and very tender when pierced with a fork, about 1 hour and 15 minutes for a small to medium squash (larger squash may take longer); add the pecans, if using, for the last 10 minutes of cooking. Do not undercook. Serve warm with a spoon.
Serves 4.