Fall CSA Newsletter: Week 6

It’s Week Six

Welcome! We are hope that you had a fantastic fifth week and that you were able to use everything in your bag.

In Your Box This Week and How to Store Them

CARROTS - Store carrots in the refrigerator in a plastic bag or container. Cut tops off prior to storage. They can store for several weeks and sometimes even months $5

CELERY - Place the celery in the crisper drawer of your refrigerator, which should be set to high humidity. Don't wash or cut the celery until you're ready to use it. I would recommend storing in an open plastic bag. $4

CAULIFLOWER - keep it in the refrigerator in a perforated bag in the crisper drawer, stem-side up, to keep it dry and allow for air circulation $6

HEAD LETTUCE - Store in a plastic bag loosely in your refrigerator. The ideal temperature for storing lettuce is at or near 32 degrees. Wash prior to use. Lettuce stores normally for UP to two weeks. $5

GREEN TOMATOES - The best way to keep green tomatoes is one of two ways. You can store them on the kitchen counter at room temperature and turn them shoulders down.  60 to 65° is an ideal temperature for storing and we recommend placing your tomatoes out of direct sunlight or stick them in the fridge. You are not losing flavor with green tomatoes by putting them in the refridgerator like you would ripe tomatoes. 1lb $3

TOMATOES - The best way to keep summer tomatoes fresh and full of flavor, store them on the kitchen counter at room temperature and turn them shoulders down.  60 to 65° is an ideal temperature for storing and we recommend placing your tomatoes out of direct sunlight. $3 (3/4lb)

WINTER SQUASH - Dealer’s choice, (meaning me, I’m your vegetable dealer if you didn’t know) Most likely Spaghetti squash but, if I’m not absolutely swamped at the market you’re welcome to pick your favorite $5 (2.5lbs)

Veggie of the Week

Green Tomatoes

Photo Credit: Caitlyn Bensel and Rebecca Cummins

I know green tomatoes are not always a family favorite…. well, they are for me and as my CSA customers you must love them too!!

Green Tomatoes believe it or not can be a versatile ingredient. They can be used for fried green tomatoes - my number one reason to love them, in salsa, and chutney. They can also be pickled or roasted for a unique twist on classic recipes

I know we are trying to promote healthy eating through our CSA but, just do it… fry the green tomatoes.

Fried Green Tomatoes Recipe (southernliving.com)

A few others to try:

Easy Green Tomato Chutney Recipe • Lovely Greens

Green-Tomato Chutney Recipe (nytimes.com)

Green Tomato Salsa Verde Recipe (nytimes.com)

Additional Recipes

Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup Recipe - The Forked Spoon

Roasted Carrots Recipe - Love and Lemons

Roasted Parmesan Cauliflower

What’s Been Happening Here

We are in fall clean-up. Ripping out tomato vines, cultivating fall weeds that still want to come up, cleaning our garage/wash pack area in preparation for our final markets in Sedalia. We planted all the strawberries and so far so good. As a matter of fact last week I picked a full quart of strawberries. The extra warm weeks in September and early October had a few plants thinking it was time to produce berries. It was a nice fall treat to pick and eat fresh berries. We have pulled out final apples and sweet potatoes this week and we are starting cauliflower and cabbage (yeah!)

We are in our final stretch of summer markets with only 2 left in Sedalia and 1 Columbia. We will tip-toe into the winter market in Columbia with the plan to continue at as many markets as we can into late January and early February. The farm is nearing it’s time of rest and we are pushing it as far as we can. We are however ready for a break. We have had 18 weeks of CSA this year, attended 75+ farmers markets since the beginning of May and we tried to squeeze in a few farm tours and mini-family vacations. Going down to one market a week and settling in to a bit of winter rest sounds like heaven.

I can hardly believe we are already in week 6. We've successfully completed 18 weeks of our Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program this year. This wouldn't have been possible without the unwavering support from both our new and returning customers who have consistently shown their commitment week after week, and year after year. We are immensely grateful—thank you!

We sincerely hope you’ve enjoyed this year’s CSA, It’s our hope to welcome all of you back next year. Stay tuned for updates in the future as we aim to expand our CSA program even further!

We appreciate you and your support of small farms, small business and our small family!

Warmly,

Matt, Kim and Kids