In Your Box:
- Carrots
- Celery
- Fennel or kale
- Garlic, “Chesnook Red”
- Lettuce
- Lunchbox peppers
- Onion
- Winter squash, “Fordhook” acorn
Farm News
Remember when the sun would come out once in a while? Our gloomy, wet weather pattern of late has left everything generally soggy and hindered my motivation to get much done. Even so, September will end up being one of the wettest months of this growing season and we’ll go into the fall with most of our rainfall deficit erased.
Our fields are finally thinning out, with the majority of our garden beds now done for the year and planted into cover crops over the winter. We still have a good variety and quantity available, so we should have an excellent finish to the farm season. We have just two weeks of delivery after today, so enjoy the fresh veggies while they last!
Don’t forget–we will be celebrating the harvest season here on the farm on this Saturday, October 3rd from 3-7pm. We have a good crop of pumpkins, gourds, and winter squash that we’ll be picking from 3-5pm, followed by a potluck dinner. Join us for squash picking, tours of the farm, and a celebration of the season. We’ll have free pumpkins for all the kids and hopefully adults too, depending on attendance. We are located at 17250 County Road 122 / New Germany. Hope to see you on the farm this weekend!
This week’s box
Our only new crop this week is a winter squash. The squash this week are an heirloom variety of acorn called “Fordhook,” with seeds sourced from Seed Savers Exchange in Iowa. These look much more like Nerf footballs than traditional acorn squash, but they can be used in the same way. This is our favorite variety for roasting, and they appear on our weekly pizzas from now until we run out late in the winter. To roast, just peel the skin, slice in half to remove the seeds, and dice into ½” cubes. Lightly coat with vegetable oil and bake at 350 degrees for 30-45 minutes. After that, they’re great on pizza or pasta.
Pureed Broccoli and Celery Soup
from New York Times Cooking
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- 1 medium onion, chopped
- 4 stalks celery, diced
- 2 to 4 garlic cloves, to taste, minced
- 2 pounds broccoli, mostly crowns, chopped; stems, if using, peeled and diced
- 6 ounces potatoes, peeled and diced, or 1/2 cup medium grain rice
- 2 quarts water or vegetable stock
- A bouquet garni made with a bay leaf, a Parmesan rind, and a couple of sprigs each thyme and parsley
- Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
- 1 ½ ounces kale or spinach leaves (1 cup, tightly packed)
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh herbs, such as parsley, tarragon, chives, for garnish
- Heat the olive oil over medium heat in a large, heavy soup pot or Dutch oven and add the onion and celery. Cook, stirring, until tender, about 5 to 8 minutes. Do not allow these ingredients to brown. Add a generous pinch of salt to prevent this from happening (the salt draws out liquid from the vegetables). Add the garlic and cook, stirring, until the garlic smells fragrant, 30 seconds to 1 minute.
- Add the broccoli, potatoes or rice, water or stock, bouquet garni, and salt, and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat, cover and simmer 30 minutes. Remove the bouquet garni. Stir in the Kale/spinach and let sit for a minute off the heat. Add freshly ground pepper, taste and adjust salt.
- Using a hand blender, or in batches in a regular blender, purée the soup. If using a regular blender fill only half way and cover the top with a towel pulled down tight, rather than airtight with the lid, because hot soup will jump and push the top off if the blender is closed airtight. Return to the pot and heat through, stirring. Adjust seasoning to taste with salt and pepper. Serve, topping each bowl with a sprinkle of chopped herbs and with other garnishes of your choice.
Coming up
We are expecting lunchbox peppers, chard, bok choy, carrots, red onion, parsley, spinach and butternut squash.
