�첥��Ƶ

We’re beginning the home stretch of the CSA season. After this week, there are two weeks remaining. It’s been a wild ride and I’ll be sure to recap in the coming weeks. With an injured hand, I did my best to take it easy for a few days. I focused on continuing to prepare our garlic beds for our upcoming planting. I also spent some time making a list of things that need to be completed before the season is over and looking over my notes that I’ve made throughout the season. This is something that I don’t usually get to until after Thanksgiving, so it was nice to get a head start on that. But I am definitely itching to get these stitches out and regain full use of my hand.

We got a pretty good frost over the weekend that all the remaining crops made it through fairly unscathed. I was already planning on the green tomatoes in this week’s share before the frost to help speed up the ripening of the beefsteaks that have started to turn. They, along with the cherry tomatoes definitely didn’t enjoy the weather over the weekend but they are still trudging along. The frost definitely added some sweetness to the kale and baby carrots, so that’s a win right there. In addition to the kale, fennel and fall kohlrabi are making their long awaited debuts. If you’re new to fennel, we usually like to roast it and add it to salads. Since there’s baby carrots in the share, I found this  that fits perfectly with what’s in the share. The tops are still attached and the stems can be used in soup stocks and fronds go great in fish dishes, can be dried or used in tea. The kohlrabi in the share this week is a storage variety. It’s not as big as it normally could get but maintains the tenderness of the smaller varieties that will be available in the coming weeks.. I’m still a huge fan of adding kohlrabi raw in salads. Another simple dish to prepare with kohlrabi is to make a slaw with carrots. Of course, since it’s turning to soup weather, it can always be added to your favorite vegetable soup. In the last couple of weeks we have discovered a new vegetable that our daughter will eat, delicata squash. She’s given a name for the way we’ve been preparing it, “crispy maple smiley faces”. I’ve been halving the squash and pulling out the seeds and then slicing them in about 1/2 inch pieces. I then toss the slices in some olive oil, maple syrup and salt and pepper. That goes in the oven at 400 on a baking sheet (with parchment paper). After about 15 minutes or so, I flip the pieces and bake for another 15 minutes. And then you have crispy maple smiley faces.

Have a great week!