Wellspring CSA Newsletter Week 19

Noticeable Nineteen

Hello Members! It's nice to be back to the newsletter after a three-week share 19 break. I hope you all enjoyed reading the newsletters by our guest authors as much as I did. It's clear we have a multi-talented crew here at Wellspring.

It's Sunday as I write this, and not Tuesday as usual, because late this afternoon the crew and I are embarking on a field trip to the Western part of the state to visit a couple of other vegetable farms. We will be visiting a place called Hog's Back Farm where yours truly worked last season, and another farm in the area called North Creek Community Farm. We will tour the farms, work alongside the crew and pick the brains of each of these established farmers to further our own skills and knowledge. Farming is definitely one of those occupations where there is always more to learn, which is one of the reasons I love it so much. I strongly believe that one way to become a better farmer is to learn from those who are more experienced than yourself, so that is what we are off to do!

As for happenings out here on the farm, a big Thank You to all who came out to Harvest Fest yesterday. What a bustle of activity that was, and what wonderful weather we had! I really enjoyed meeting new people, driving the tractor for hay rides, listening to the tunes and soaking up the fall sun.

Things are really starting to wind down now for field work; the only big jobs left are harvesting all of our remaining fall crops, tearing down the last bit of infrastructure and planting the garlic.

Lastly, we've fallen a bit behind on the "anticipated share contents" emails and facebook post, so I've decided to give my anticipated list here instead. Next week's probable box contents include: yellow onion, red onion, garlic, celeriac, carrots, butternut squash, brussels sprouts, spinach and broccoli raab.

What's In the Box and Where Does it Go?

Crop Fridge? Notes/Variety

1 butternut squash No

1 head of purple cabbage Yes

2 yellow onions No

1 red onion No

3 bulbs garlic No Chesnock Red

a bag of carrots Yes back for the last 4 weeks!

a bunch of radishes Yes Watermelon or Black Spanish

a bag of brussels sprout Yes see note

a bunch of arugula Yes

a bag of shell beans Yes see note below

a singe pepper No see not below a bag of braising mix Yes see note below

A note the shell beans: (same note as last week) I had never grown Shelling Beans (or "shellies" as I understand they are called in some parts of the country) until last season when I was farming in Western Wisconsin. The family I was working for were great fans of these, and I believe they are somewhat of a delicacy. The basic premise is that shell beans are the stage in-between the green bean (or string, wax, pole bean) that we eat fresh and the dried bean (like black or kidney) that we cook for hours or get from a can. The edible part is the bean itself and not the pod (like dry beans) but they are only cooked for a short period of time, not simmered for hours. Here are some links I found on the subject, some w/ recipes:

http://localfoods.about.com/od/shellingbeans/tp/aboutshellingbeans.htm

http://www.whistlingtrainfarm.com/4.shellbeans.html

http://www.latimes.com/features/food/la-fo-shelling-beans-s,0,1547852.story

http://www.fieldsofplenty.com/recipes/shell_bean_gratin.php

So, if you haven't guessed by now you do have to shell them. However, if you have kids, I have found that youngsters are actually quite good at shelling these things. If not, they will stick around in the fridge until the weekend when you might have 20 minutes more to spare!

A note on brussels sprouts: Truthfully, I'm a bit bummed out about this succession/variety of brussels at the moment. We had some strangeness happening with our fall brassica transplants and many of them went in late and stunted. It hasn't mattered so much for some things like kale and cabbage, but the brussels were rather affected by it and have been a bit behind all season long. I had hoped to give them out on the stalk, but most of you received a bag instead, and a small bag at that! I think we will have one more week like this but I'm hoping that the second succession to be given out sometime in the last two weeks, and maybe both weeks, will be nicer and can go out on the stalk.

A note on the braising mix: This is a mix of several greens we have here on the farm, (kale, chard, hon tsai tai and mustard greens) but instead of putting them in a big bunch we've cut them all at a younger stage of growth. This means they are more tender and you don't have that stem to contend with when preparing and cooking them. I like the braising mix concept because I think it's a really simple way to get all of those good for you leafy greens in one dish. You can chop this up fine and add it to a salad, or leave the leaves larger (maybe giving it a course chop after you've washed it) and give them a quick saute in some olive oil or butter. Add some seasoning of your choice and you've got a quick side dish. They can also be added to a soup or thrown in w/a roast at the last minute.

A note on the peppers: Last of the season! We managed to scrounge up one more pepper for everyone, and if it's not quite ripe just put it on your counter to ripen up a bit. Hope you've enjoyed those!

Thanksgiving Share!! Only 37 left!

We are now selling shares for the Thanksgiving Day box - sort of the
Wellspring version of a Winter Share Delivery. It will include a variety of fall veggies, amounting to many pounds of food, such as winter squash, perhaps a pie pumpkin, beets, potatoes, sweet potatoes, carrots, onions, leeks, shallots, rutabaga, celeriac, parsnips, brussels sprouts, turnips and frost-sweetened kale. There will also be some traditional Thanksgiving additions that we don't grow here on the farm, like Wisconsin cranberries and Riveredge Nature Center (our Woodland Harvest Permaculture Partner) maple syrup. If not used for Thanksgiving, many of the veggies will continue to keep for you in the fridge into December!

The shares will be delivered to the Outpost on East Capital in Milwaukee, or can be picked up here at the farm on Thursday November 17th. (The week BEFORE Thanksgiving.)

You can purchase one on our website (wellspringinc.org) or by calling 262-675-6755 or by clicking on this link to PayPal.

Thanks!

Sensational Celeriac Cooking Class

To be held at Wellspring, Wednesday, October 19th from 6 to 8 pm.

Don't even know what celeriac is??? It's like celery without the strings and it is coming to a CSA box near YOU very soon! In fact, it will be in the box on October 19th - perfect timing to come out to Wellspring and see what all the fuss is about!

Come join us as KC Thorson of KC's Kafe shows us how tasty celeriac can be. $20 will give you an evening of good company, great recipes, and a glass of wine (or two), $25 day of event.

Visit our education page for complete class series info.

Recipes to include:

Celeriac and Sweet Potato Puree
Celeriac Salad Piquant
Simply Celeriac Remoulade
Celeriac Au Gratin

Call or email to register: 262 675 6755 or wellspringeducation@gmail.com or register and pay online at our website - www.wellspringinc.org or by clicking on this link.

Recipes!

First, I thought I'd share this link I found with many tasty looking brussels sprout recipes courtesy of good ol' Martha Stewart:

http://www.marthastewart.com/275510/brussels-sprout-recipes/@center/276955/seasonal-produce-recipe-guide#/156306

Brussels Sprouts with bacon and lemon juice from the brain of Farmer Alissa:

I saw this recipe (or something very similar) in a magazine a couple of years ago and have been making it from memory ever since.

Ingredients:

some brussels sprouts (like the ones on your stalk)

a few piece of bacon (use your judgement - one per person? two? Your call.)

a lemon or two, juiced

a bit of thyme, dried or fresh, chopped

Slice whole brussels sprouts into 1/8 in pieces, essentially shredding them into bits that are easily sauteed. Don't include the tougher ends where they attach to the stalk. Rinse in cold water and let dry in a colander. While the sprouts are drying, cook up that bacon. Now, eventually you will want the bacon in pieces, but you can decide to cut it up first, then cook it, or cook it first and then crumble it later. I usually prefer to cook it whole and crumble later, but that's because I hate turning all of those little pieces in the pan. Remove the bacon and add the chopped sprouts to your pan. Saute them in the bacon fat until they are tender, remove from heat and add a tablespoon or two of lemon juice and the thyme. Mix well and enjoy!

Braising Mix with pecan or walnut dressing from the brain of farmer Alissa

braising mix (about a pound)

2 T balsamic vinegar

2 tsp. honey

1 T Dijon mustard

2 tsp. vegetable oil

½ cup pecans, roughly chopped or broken

Wash your braising mix, dry thoroughly, then give them a rough chop until they are about salad greens size. In a small bowl, combine the vinegar, honey and mustard. Heat the oil in a skillet until hot but not smoking. Add the vinegar mixture and pecans/walnuts and cook, stirring regularly, for 2 to 3 minutes. Pour over the greens and serve at once.

Roasted Butternut Squash

This is about the simplest way to prepare butternut squash that there is...

Ingredients

2 medium butternut squash, halved lengthwise and seeded

4 teaspoons butter

4 teaspoons brown sugar

Salt and pepper

Directions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Place butternut squash halves on a large baking sheet flesh side up. Place 1 teaspoon butter in the middle of each squash. Sprinkle brown sugar over each squash. Season with salt and black pepper. Roast 25 minutes, until flesh is fork-tender. Reserve 2 halves for future meal.