News from Windy Willow Farm2008 Week 20
This week’s share includes:
4 sweet onions: 3 white, 1 red: These will store for a couple months, especially the reds, but if you want 6-9 months of storage our storage onions are the way to go.
1 Qt white potatoes
1 bunch carrots – I got a little carrot digging instruction from my mother in law. Apparently, I was digging the carrots too close, and really needed to move the broadfork about 6-8 inches away from the carrots. It’s still slow going, but I was able to dig them today with much less cursing and very few broken carrots.
1 big bunch of beets – As an end of season send off, I picked an extra big bunch for your enjoyment. Beets are a mainstay of our growing season and always is a crowd pleaser.
1 Butternut squash – This squash only gets sweeter the longer it’s stored. Last year I cooked ours up in February and was surprised a how sweet they were.
1 bunch collards – These came back beautifully, and they like this cool weather. Collards are a fabulously healthy vegetable, see the sauté recipe below or just add it to almost any soup.
1 bunch rosemary
1 bunch cilantro – our last of our tender cilantro, sure to turn black this week with the freezing temperatures. I covered it with row cover during the last frosts, and it’s come back perfectly.
1 eggplant
1 head garlic
1 box raspberries – With all of the rainy weather we’ve been having, the raspberries have molded right on the vine. It’s heartbreaking to see the canes, loaded with raspberries, that can’t be eaten! Our late season raspberries are delicious, but very perishable. Please eat, refrigerate or freeze these immediately.
Photo Captions: 1) My newly planted greenhouse! The greens (mesclun, arugula, mizuna, claytonia and spinach) germinated in 2 days! Transplanted Swiss chard looks colorful in the background. 2) Our turkeys like to show off their feathers.
It’s hard to believe that this is the last week of the season, it’s flown by so fast. Every growing season is unique, with crops that do amazingly well, and crops that stall on their way to success. We are experienced growers and know that some crops will do well, no matter the season. This year we had some crops that excelled: tomatoes, lettuce (especially fall lettuce), beets, peppers, peas, potatoes, onions (have you ever seen them so huge??), cucumbers and garlic. I wish these crops had done better for us: winter squash, cabbage and broccoli. And I wish these had done anything at all: strawberries, edamame soybeans, sweet corn and Chinese cabbage. But such is the season, and next year’s list will probably look different from this year’s.
I’m looking forward to learning how to grow in a greenhouse, and during the winter. And I’m especially looking forward to eating the winter greens I grow! We very rarely shop in the produce aisle at the supermarket, so if I don’t have it in my basement or the freezer, we don’t eat it. And once they run out, we’re done with that crop until it’s harvested for the next season. This trains you to enjoy eating what’s in season, and to put up enough food to last you well into the following season. This is why I need to make sure our potatoes, garlic and storage onions are of high quality, because they need to last until next spring!
Thank you in advance for completing our survey! And also a huge thanks for your support, and for helping to make our 2008 season successful. We wish you a healthful winter season and hope you join us again next year!
Eat what you can, can what you can’t.
Gwen, Mark, Sarah and Jason Hyde
© 2008 Gwen Hyde
Sauteed Leeks and Carrots - Recipe
Adapted from The Vegetarian 5-Ingredient Gourmet, by Nava Atlas.
Carrots come out at or near the top of two different surveys. First, they’re ranked among the most nutritious vegetables, following closely behind dark leafy greens and sweet potatoes; Vitamin A and beta-carotene are their strong suits. Second, they are often named “favorite vegetable” by children. Sweet and crunchy, carrots are a vegetable worthhaving often, both raw and judiciously cooked.
Leeks and carrots both have a natural sweetness that mingles nicely. This is a mild and pleasant side dish, good with pasta, potatoes, and soy dishes.
INGREDIENTS1 tablespoon light olive oil
1/4 cup dry white wine
3 medium leeks, white and palest green parts only,chopped and very well rinsed
4 large carrots, peeled and sliced
Pinch of nutmeg, optional
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
1. Heat the oil and wine in a wide skillet. Add the leeks and carrots,cover, and cook over medium-low heat, for about 8 to 10 minutes, oruntil tender-crisp.
2. Uncover and sauté, stirring frequently, until the leeks and carrotsbegin to turn golden. Stirin the nutmeg, if desired, season with salt and pepper, and serve.
4 to 6 servings
Carrot, Ginger, and Beet Soup Recipe
Adapted from Vegetarian Planet, by Didi Emmons (Harvard Common Press, 1997).
You can’t do better than beets and carrots for sweet, earthy winter nourishment, and this zesty recipe combines them with ginger and a touch of orange rind to make an intriguing soup that will surprise and delight your whole family.
What a tasty way to get your beta-carotenes and minerals: this is borscht with a citrus and ginger twist, a sure-fire crowd-pleaser!
INGREDIENTS
3 medium beets (about 1 pound)
1 tablespoon canola or corn oil
1 cup chopped onion
1 pound carrots, coarsely chopped
1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger
1 large garlic clove, minced
6 cups water or vegetable stock
1 teaspoon grated orange rind
3/4 teaspoon salt
Freshly-ground black pepper to taste
4 teaspoons sour cream (optional)
1. Under running water (this is very messy otherwise), peel the beets with a vegetable peeler. With a chef’s knife, cut the beets in half, then lay them flat side down and cut them into large chunks.
2. In a stock pot over medium heat, heat the oil. Saute the onion until it is translucent. Add the carrots, ginger, and garlic. Cook for 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Add beets and water or stock. Simmer the soup, covered, for 50 minutes. Add orange rind, and stir well.
3. In a food processor or blender, puree the soup in batches. Transfer the pureed soup to a large container, and stir in the salt and pepper. Taste the soup, and adjust the seasonings, if you like. Serve the soup hot or chilled, garnished with dollops of sour cream.
Serves 4.
Here are some great ideas for your collards:
Here is my super quick favorite greens sauté method:
1. Heat olive oil in a large sauté pan.2. Add chopped fresh garlic and sauté over medium high heat until it starts to sizzle and turn golden.3. Toss in a handful of very dry mixed greens and stir a few times until they start to wilt.4. Continue tossing in a handful at a time. Adding them slowly will ensure that the water released cooks off before the next handful is thrown in—no soggy greens!5. When all your greens are added, toss them with some sea salt and fresh pepper and serve.
Granny’s Vegetable Barley Soup
Adapted from The Findhorn Book of Vegetarian Recipes, by Kay Lynne Sherman (Findhorn Press, 2003).
Imagine an iron pot hanging over an open fire, bubbling with this hearty, fragrant soup, so similar to the ones many of our ancestors used to make. It offers plenty of simple, healthful whole-grain and vegetable nutrition, and only needs a salad and a loaf of bread and maybe a wedge of good cheese to complete the meal.
This is the kind of nourishment, ease, and simplicity we crave in winter: many a Wise Woman knew how to make a steaming pot of Granny’s Vegetable Barley Soup to keep the cold away.
INGREDIENTS
1 onion, dicedInner stalks and leaves of a head of celery, chopped
2 tablespoons oil
2 1/2 quarts good-quality vegetable broth or water
1 cup barley
1 bay leaf
2 medium potatoes, scrubbed and chopped
2 carrots, scrubbed and chopped
1 large can (30 ounces) tomatoes, coarsely chopped, with juice
1 1/2 cups seasonal greens–kale, chard, collards–coarsely chopped
1 teaspoon dried basil
Salt to taste
1. In a large soup pot, saute the onion and celery in oil until tender and starting to brown. Add broth or water and bring to a boil.
2. Rinse barley under running water and then add to boiling soup stock. Add bay leaf and simmer one hour, until barley is tender.
3. Add potatoes, carrots, tomatoes, and tomato juice to soup. Simmer about 1 hour until vegetables are very soft. Add more water if necessary.
4. Just before serving, add greens and basil, cooking until greens are just tender. Add salt to taste.
Serves 10 to 12
