Winter CSA Flies By

So far, from the farmer perspective, we are finding the Winter CSA to be pretty low key. The vegetables are doing nicely in storage. Just hanging out and waiting for us to pack them up and bring them to the members. The stress of wondering what the weather will do to us is over for the season and now we get to sit back and share the fruits of our labors.

Hopefully the members are enjoying things as much as we are :)

This week's fruits include the following: Brussels Sprouts, Onions, 5 lbs Carrots, 4 lbs Potatoes, Spaghetti Squash, 2 Honey Bear Acorn Squash and Dried Tomatoes.

This will be the last of the spaghetti squash and Brussels sprouts until next fall, so you should probably savor them. To help you with that task I have come up with a spaghetti squash twist on one of my old standby recipes. (Sesame Noodles is the twisted recipe, if you are wondering)

Not to toot my own horn or anything, but I think it may be the best spaghetti squash recipe in the entire world.

I have a little spaghetti squash aside to get out of the way before I get to the recipe. I've been trying to determine whether I like roasting spaghetti squash whole or halved better. For this particular recipe, I went with whole. I made that choice for two reasons. 1. The internet would have me believe that roasting whole leads to longer, more noodle like squash strands and this recipe is one of those rare occasions in which I'm using spaghetti squash as a noodle stand in. 2. This recipe is meant to be made with cold spaghetti squash, and it seemed easier to stick a whole baked squash in the fridge than two halves.

I very carefully considered these two potential advantages when cooking this squash dish today, because I wanted to answer this question once and for all. (And because I don't have much stuff to carefully consider during the winter.)

I came to the conclusion that I prefer to halve the squash. The whole squash was much wetter than halved squash tends to be and I'm not really sure that the strands were of a noticeably different length. It was probably easier to stick into the fridge after cooking than two halves would have been, but it was a bother to separate the seeds from the good stuff which kind of balanced that out.

It's interesting to peel a whole baked spaghetti squash and it starts out promisingly tidy.
But once you start taking the innards out it turns into a smush of seeds and strands and messy fingers.
I don't care for messy fingers.

Now that that's settled. Here's the recipe.

Sesame Spaghetti Squash

• 1 spaghetti squash, baked until soft and cooled
• 2 carrots, peeled into long noodle like strips or shredded
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 1/2 Tablespoons peanut oil
• 1 Tablespoon soy sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon rice wine vinegar or white wine vinegar
• 1 teaspoons sesame oil
• 1 teaspoon sugar, or other sweetener of your choosing

Combine the spaghetti squash strands and carrot in a serving bowl and set aside.

Stir together the remaining ingredients with a fork until well combined. Pour the resulting sauce over the squash and carrots and stir to coat.

Then devour it. We ate all of ours up while we waited for the steelhead to
finish baking in the oven. It was really really good.

Early Winter

I don't need to tell any of you guys that winter came early this year. I'm sure you've noticed all on your own.

It's kind of hard to miss.

This photo was taken this morning out front of the
Northwinds Co-op in Ironwood.

Incidentally, if you have concerns about municipal snow removal in the U.P. as we head into this daunting winter, you might want to consider signing the petition at the link below. It was started by Eva Smith-Fergason, a long time Wintergreen Farm CSA member and the manager of the Northwinds Co-op. She is trying to get the challenge of snow removal in the U.P. on the political radar before it becomes insurmountable this season.

 Click here to sign the petition regarding snow removal in Ironwood and get some attention for the issue of snow removal in the U.P.

You wouldn't think it, but this snow actually has a silver lining for the vegetables. We were unable to get every single carrot we grew this year harvested before the season shifted (though we do have a generous ton in storage). We had a feeling that would happen, so we'd made a deal with one of the hay farmers in the area to deliver a few round bales this fall so that we could mulch them. Carrots keep very well in the ground over the winter, as long as their shoulders are insulated so they don't freeze. Unfortunately, the fields were too wet this fall for our hay farmer friend to make his delivery. There was a bit of hand wringing on our part as we tried to figure out how to mulch the carrots before the temperatures dipped low enough to damage them.

Then this happened.

Carrots tucked under several inches of nature's best winter insulator.

And we breathed a massive sigh of relief.

Your carrots will be safe all winter long :)

After getting a lot of feedback from you (thanks everyone!) about the first winter share, I believe you're all happy to hear that the carrots aren't going anywhere. I think you'll also be mostly happy to hear that we are reducing the carrots this week from 5 to 3 pounds and increasing the quantity of onions we distribute.

The full share includes: Brussels sprouts, 3 pounds carrots, 3 pound onions, 4 pounds potatoes, 2 honey bear acorn squash, 1 delicata squash, 1 sweet dumpling squash, two heads of garlic and rutabaga.

Happy Squashgiving :)

If you want to try a squash recipe that doesn't involve roasting as the first step, I suggest trying it with the delicata. As in this recipe. Though to be honest, I would never put marinara on delicata squash. That sounds wrong.

Roasted Rutabaga Fries sound right though. I would and have made them, and you should too. Even if you receive one of the massive bagas this week, it will disappear quickly if you use it to make fries.

Roasted Rutabaga Fries 

If you wanted more traditional fries you could break out the peanut oil and deep fry the rutabaga, but that sounds complicated and messy to me. These roasted fries are easy and delicious.

• 1 rutabaga, peeled of any tough skin and cut into quarter inch strips
• olive oil
• salt
• seasoning of your choosing (I used dried oregano and lemon peel for this batch, other good bets are cumin, garlic, or curry powder)

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees

Toss the rutabaga pieces until they are evenly coated with olive oil and seasonings,

 Spread the rutabaga out in a single layer on a baking sheet. Roast at 400 degrees, stirring occasionally, until the rutabaga begins to brown, about 15-20 minutes.

Like this.

A New Beginning

We've never started a CSA season in November before. It's kind of...exhausting...in a good way :)

When we initially decided to offer a winter share this year, we imagined a bigger break between the end of the summer share and the beginning of the winter share. But the weather had other ideas.

So, though our bodies crave their usual fall rest, we are scrambling to get all the produce into storage before the cold gets it. We're doing okay so far, but if you notice Scott looking a little sore at pick-up you'll know why. He has to carry all the heavy boxes.

Luckily, we have our members to help us with some of the labor.

I didn't have my camera at the bean party, but one of the members did. Thanks Keren!

Saturday's bean party was a huge success. Not only was it fun, it was productive.

We didn't get through anything like ALL the beans (the photo on the top left shows
our mounds of drying bean plants) but we did get a lot shelled. The jars in this
photo are half gallon.

Many hands make light work. Thanks everyone who came out and helped us!

We have to finish shelling to be sure, but it looks like we have enough that members will be seeing beans in their shares at least once this winter.

This week members will receive: 5 pounds carrots, 5 pounds potatoes, 1 pound beets, 2 Brussels sprout stalks, a winter luxury pie pumpkin, a spaghetti squash, kale, hakurei, celeriac, and onions from Dignity Farm.

Our onions were a major failure this year, so we are trading carrots for onions with Dignity Farm, a family farm in Calumet that follows sustainable growing methods similar to ours at Wintergreen. Please feel free to ask me lots of questions if you want to know anything about their growing methods.

The kale is loose, rather than bunched as you usually get it. We have a ton of nice smaller leaves right now that would be a challenge to bunch. They may grow bigger before they suffer too many freezes to taste good, but it is more likely that we would lose the chance to harvest them if we wait until they reach a more bunchable size.

Plus, the loose kale is kind of gorgeous. 

In case you were wondering, I did not randomly insert the words winter luxury into the list of items you'll be receiving this week. A winter luxury pie pumpkin is a particular kind of pie pumpkin. They are extremely gorgeous pumpkins, and some people seem to find them tastier than other pie pumpkins. I still like the baby pam better. I'd love to hear what you think. If you want to learn more about winter luxury pie pumpkins, check out this post by the see saver's exchange.

And, please, if you want to know anything about the food in your shares, remember that you can always ask me. A lot of you do already, and lately I've been getting a lot of questions about the beets. It seems that not everyone knows what to do with them.

Here's an idea.

Beet Kale Salad with Cinnamon Citrus Dressing

You could make this with roasted Brussels sprouts rather than kale. Just roast the sprouts alongside the beets, uncovered. Check frequently because they will probably be done much sooner than the beets are.

• One pound beets, trimmed and cut into equal sized pieces
• 1/4 pound kale
• 1/4 cup freshly squeezed orange or tangerine juice
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Place the beets in a single layer in a shallow baking dish (like a lasagna pan), covered with tin foil. Bake at 400 degrees until the beets are just tender, about 30 minutes.

While the beets are roasting, stem the kale (the easiest way to do this is to grasp the base of the stem firmly in one hand and use the other hand to sort of push the tender leafy parts off the tough stem--it's fast and you lose less than if you try to try the stems out with a knife) and chop it into bite sized pieces. Put the kale in a salad bowl and set it aside.

Stir together the juice, oil, salt, and cinnamon until the mixture is pretty well emulsified.

When the beets are done, pour the dressing over them and stir to ensure the beets are coated. Then add the beets and dressing to the kale and toss to coat the kale with dressing. Let the salad sit for about a half hour before eating it for the best flavor and texture.