In Your Box:

• Brussels sprouts
• Cabbage
• Carrots
• Celery or Celeriac
• Garlic, “Purple Glazer”
• Kale, “Red Russian”
• Onion
• Pie pumpkin (full shares only)
• Winter Squash, Delicata

Farm News

Thanks so much for your support this year! This is indeed our last box of the growing season, and we hope you’ve enjoyed the experience. Overall, this has been perhaps the most enjoyable farm season I’ve had in 16 years. Not everything went perfectly and there were more than a few mosquitoes to work around, but this was possibly the most productive year I’ve ever had in the gardens, thanks mainly to abundant rain and limited weed competition. And I had fun! This year brought a lot of opportunities for expression and experiments in the gardens, and I never felt burnt out.

Thanks so much to my family for all of their support and patience throughout the growing year. And thanks to our five amazing families who have come out on Tuesdays this year to help wash and pack the vegetables. Your help and support mean so much!

If you still have boxes to return, please get them back to your delivery site by next week Tuesday (10/21). I’ll be making one more pass to all of the sites to pick up boxes to reuse next year. If you’re not able to make it back, you can return the box next spring if you plan to rejoin or just recycle it.

Once again, thank you so much for supporting local farms and sustainable agriculture! Your support enables me to live out my dream, growing healthy fruits and veggies in harmony with nature and treasuring the land I live on.

We hope you’ll consider joining next year for all that 2026 brings! I’ll reach out after the winter holidays with more info on our next growing season. Have a great winter!

This week’s box

This week’s box brings cabbage, a great fall vegetable that keeps well in the fridge for up to a month. We have a mixture of Napa cabbages as well as a savoy-leafed green cabbage.

We also welcome one of my favorite veggies this week: Brussels sprouts. I kept these on the stalk because they will store better and longer this way. Just store the whole stalk in the fridge or a cool basement or garage and the sprouts will keep well for a month or so. If you don’t have room to store them, you can just snap off the sprouts and store them in the fridge in a container. When you’re ready to use them, pop off the sprouts, snip off any extra material from the stem, and wash. 

Brussels sprouts can be cooked in boiling water for 4-5 minutes or steamed for 6-10. Be sure to check them regularly so they don’t get mushy. We also enjoy roasting them. Just toss the sprouts in oil and bake in the oven at 400 degrees for 20-30 minutes, until crispy.

Gingered Vegetable Soup

from mealsmatter.org

Ingredients:

• 6 c. veggie or chicken broth
• 1 large russet potato, peeled, cut into 1″ pieces
• 1 large yam or sweet potato, peeled, cut into 1″ pieces
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 2 large carrots, peeled and cubed
• 2 c. broccoli, chopped
• 1 large celery stalk with leaves, chopped
• 1 TB fresh ginger, peeled and chopped
• 2 c. chicken or tofu, cooked and diced
• 10 oz. Corn kernels
• 1/3 c. fresh parsley, chopped
• black pepper to taste

Directions

1. Bring broth to a simmer in a heavy large pot or Dutch oven over high heat. Add potato, yam, onion, carrots, broccoli, celery and ginger and bring to boil.
2. Cover pot, reduce heat to medium and simmer soup until all vegetables are tender, about 30 minutes. Add corn and cooked chicken/tofu and simmer until corn is tender, about 5 minutes.
3. Season soup with black pepper and chopped parsley.

Coming up

Next week I’ll be taking a nap. But we’ll be back in the spring–think salad and strawberries!