10/23/24 First Frost, Season’s Change
Finally we had our First Frost last Friday, and another even lighter frost this morning. We are in the cool Atascadero Valley Bottom, and over the years we’ve chatted with other farmers over and over and found that we’re almost always the coldest farm in the county. This is great on hot days and allows us to grow great greens, but the last and first frosts can be hard on us. Until 2020 we almost always had our first frost right at or before Autumn Equinox, but the last few years it’s been mid and late October.
This frost, was absolutely the end of our field Summer Squash (the most delicate of our crops), some of our zinnia and dahlia subsumed but most of our other crops were fine at the moment. It was a little strange having such a light first frost, last year for instance our first frost was six nights with lows between 26 and 32, a definite end to ALL summer crops. This one just touched things. However it has really slowed their production between Friday and today. As a result, we are really stretching to make our last Summer Rotation, as you notice, I’m calling Summer’s End Rotation and it includes the very last of our Cucumbers, Summer Squash, Peppers, Eggplant and likely Tomatoes. Say goodbye to these lovelies. We may still have a few tomatoes, but the others, the plants on the list to be pulled out between today and next Monday.
The one exception to Summer Crops being done is Basil. We have a crop of Basil that is still producing. We’ll see if we can keep it going next week still. Our first week of Basil was mid-May and going through mid-October. We feel pretty good about that!
As the season changes we welcome the new season and all that brings with it. For us, this week was a busy week of planting mid-winter light greens. Tomorrow we’ll be picking up the new structure of a Caterpillar Tunnel which we’ll start erecting right away (to have more and even better light winter greens this winter). We’ve been seeding more and more carrots for February but also spinach, arugula and baby kale both in the hoop houses.
We’re also continuing our harvest of Winter Squash! we have a bigger harvest of Winter Squash than maybe ever. We’ll have a round of Delicata and Red Kuri coming to you in the next month or so followed by Butternut, a few Kabocha (we lost most of this crop) and quite a lot of Black Futsu (Japanese Butternut).
We are often asked but we do not grow Jack-O-Lanterns and other decorative squash. They take up too much space and we need our space to grow food crops, we wish we could.
And yesterday we had a big day of making Dried Forever Bouquets for the winter. All Flower Members will receive a Forever Bouquet either this week or next… we’ll continue to have on our Add-Ons until we run out (they make great gifts for the holidays).
Lastly, we started seeding Cover Crop into our lowest beds on the farm this week. I’ll write more about Cover Crop and why we do that in next week’s newsletter.
Produce Notes & Recipes
This Week’s Box
Arugula (Classic) OR Mini Romaines (Family)
Carrots
Broccoli (Classic) OR Black Futsu Winter Squash (Family)
Summer’s End Rotation (see below)
Brussels Greens
Herb: Basil (SR) OR Parsley (WC)
Mixed Pears
The Summer’s End Rotation is really a little bit of everything: 10 of you have Shishito Pepper pints, 13 of you have Eggplant, just 4 have Cucumber, 9 have Bell Peppers, 4 have Jimmy Nardello long, skinny sweet peppers, 43 of you have Tomato baskets, and 36 of you have either Strawberries or Cherry tomatoes (still being harvested at the time of writing).
This week we’re giving you the first of our Brussels crop for the year. Years ago we grew Collards, but then we found that Brussels Greens filled the same niche and we think they taste better! They have a very slight Brussel taste. Plus this seems to help the Brussels Crop grow taller and have better circulation to avoid pest pressure.
There are no recipes for Brussels Greens because they are not something that is common BUT here’s our favorite easy way to cook them as well as a full recipe from a long time member.
Braised Brussels Greens with Apple and Bacon
Wash and de-stem Brussel Greens
Cut into about 1/2 - 1 inch squares
Chop 1-2 Apples
Chop crosswise 4-6 pieces of bacon. Fry. Take Bacon out of skillet and add Brussels Greens and Apple. Add a splash or apple cider, water or apple cider vinegar for more of a zing.
Note: For a vegetarian version use butter or coconut oil instead of Bacon.
Brussels Sprout Leaves with Cheesy Polenta and Crispy Fried Eggs (via CSA pick-up host Elizabeth Riddlington)
10 fresh Brussels sprout leaves, washed, stacked, then cut into 1/4 inch ribbons
2 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped
1/2 c thinly sliced red onion
1 c cornmeal/corn grits for polenta (not instant)
3 c water
2/3 c ricotta (optional)
1/4 c grated Parmigiano Reggiano
1/4 c whole milk (optional)
eggs (at least one per person)
extra virgin olive oil
sea salt
freshly ground pepper
Bring 3 cups of water to a boil in a 1 quart lidded pot, then add 3/4 tsp of sea salt. Add cornmeal and stir well with a wooden spoon, then lower heat to a simmer and cook uncovered. Stir occasionally until cooked through, ~ 10-20 min. When cooked to your liking, add ricotta (optional) and Parmesan and stir well . Cover and hold on the lowest setting until ready to serve. If it gets too thick, stir in some milk before serving.
Heat 12″ sauté pan over medium heat and add 2 Tbs olive oil. Add red onion and sauté until it starts to become translucent, ~ 2-3 min, then add the garlic and stir for 1 min. Add sliced Brussels sprout leaves and stir well. Add 2 Tbs water, salt and pepper, and cover with a lid to wilt the greens. Lift the lid and toss the greens every few minutes until they’re limp and tender, but have not lost their color, about 10-12 min.
Heat 1-2 Tbs olive oil over med heat in a heavy 12″ skillet. When hot, add eggs one by one, adjacent to one another. Your pan may only hold 3-4 eggs, requiring you to work in batches, or add a second skillet. Salt and pepper the eggs and cook until the whites are solid and crispy on the edges and the yolks are still liquid. Remove from the heat and cover briefly with the skillet lid if you’d like the centers to set up some more.
Assemble the dishes by spooning polenta onto each plate or bowl, adding a mound of sautéed Brussels sprout leaves, and topping with an egg. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and serve immediately. Encourage everyone to break the yolk and use it as a sauce.
We didn’t have enough Broccoli for everyone this week, so Family Members are getting the first Winter Squash: Black Futsu! NOTE: this squash was only just harvested two weeks ago and isn’t fully cured (3 weeks is recommended). Curing squash is important as it enhance flavor and improves shelf life. So we recommend using it as decoration for a week before you carve into it! They are quite unique looking squash. Once cured this squash can last for up to 8 months so there is no hurry in eating it! In fact we’ll have it in the add-on store but it will not make an appearance in the CSA boxes until 2025.
Specifically Black Futsu is an heirloom Japanese Butternut type squash. The flesh has a nutty rich flavor. We simply roast and add butter.
This week’s Mixed Pears are the last, they are a mix of round Asian Pears, Bartlett Pears and brown Bosc Pears.