This list may change, but here's our best guess of what you'll be getting in your share this week. l

 

 

 

DIGGING RUSHTON FARM

 

We've got a blog!  More recipe ideas, musings about the farm and more...join the conversation at Digging Rushton Farm.

 

   

 

 

 

WCT BIRD BLOG 

 

Keep up with what's happening at our banding station at Rushton Woods Preserve as well as other activities in our Bird Conservation Program.  Inspiring photos and words from our staff and supporters.

 

   

 

   

They asked me to do the newsletter this week because everyone else is too busy preparing for the Run-A-Muck.

What is the Run-A-Muck, you ask? As far as I can tell, it's a bunch of people taking a nice walk through the woods and fields around here, while a bunch of other people go running around all over the place. Afterwards, apparently, there's a bunch of food and prizes. This sounds like a really good idea to me. I mean, that's pretty much my ideal day, anyway, but on top of it there are going to be prizes!

The guy I live with even says dogs can come, as long as we are 'leashed'. I'm not sure what that last bit means, but I'm guessing it somehow relates to the prizes.

 

For your share this week the humans will be pulling things out of the ground, off of the plants, and out of the storage shed. All those things planted months ago are coming to fruition, I guess, and a lot of those things that grew back in the spring are growing once more, here in the Dog Days of Autumn.

   

Yes, you read that right. The Dog Days of Autumn, not August. I'm reclaiming the term. I mean, I don't find anything very doggy about 103 degrees and humidity! All I want to do in weather like that is lay under a tree and pant. Maybe take a nap.

But these days, these salad days, when the mornings rise cool and wet with dew, and your paws get soaked trotting out into the fields, and you almost feel a chill until the sun, like a hound stretching out its legs, finds its stride and gets you running warm through fields turned golden all day long, these are the Dog Days, my friends: the magic days, my favorite days, the harvest season's heart.

We can call August the 'Cat Days', or something.

 

Besides the Run-A-Muck this weekend, there's the Harvest Celebration coming up October 22. This thing is fun. There are hayrides, jack-o-lanterns, a bonfire, and owls. I will also be there and, in the spirit of the season, it is requested that all attendees bring me treats.

 

Peace and bones,

 

 

Max

 

   

I am a runner -I get up in the mornings to run with my husband before my workday at the farm. Recently I've had a hard time getting up and out of the house due to much darker and cooler mornings than I'd like. We're losing daylight and heat and losing it quickly!

 

I am not the only one noticing this trend - the plants are also complaining in their own way by growing more slowly. The vegetables that thrive in the heat and sun of summer (tomatoes, peppers, eggplant) are almost finished. Our last planting of Green Beans that we were expecting to be plentiful this week are just starting to produce, and we have to wait one extra week to harvest our first planting of fall carrots. So be patient, the vegetables will come, they're just a bit sluggish during these cooler and shorter days.

 

This past Friday we dug up most of the sweet potatoes we've planted and boy what a harvest! I think they're about three times as productive as white potatoes! Sweet potatoes are large storage roots and are in the same family as morning glory. Contrary to what their name suggests, sweet potatoes and are not related to white potatoes. Sweet potatoes also require six to eight weeks of curing after harvest to develop their delicious sweet flavor that we all love (we farmers ate some directly after harvest and were very disappointed - we should've waited). The sweet potatoes that we grow at Rushton Farm are more irregularly shaped and larger than the uniform sweet potatoes you find in the grocery store, and I'm hoping you'll enjoy their fun shapes and sizes as much as we did when we were harvesting them!

 

- Joanna

   

 

Fall Stew With Cinnamon, Cumin & Chili

 

2 t. butter

1 red chili, deseeded and chopped

2 cloves garlic, chopped

2 medium onion, chopped

2 t. ground coriander

1 t. turmeric

1 t. cumin

1 t. cinnamon

6 oz new potatoes, halved

15 ounce can of mixed beans

45 oz. can of chopped tomatoes (or equivalent fresh)

1.4 pint vegetable stock

2 cups cubed butternut squash

Salt & pepper to taste

1 small bunch of spinach or other greens , coarsely chopped

¼ cup cashews

 

Melt the butter in a large saucepan and add the chili, garlic, and ions. Fry for 3 to 4 mnutes until they get soft.

Add all the spices and the potatoes, fry another minute. Note the wonderful Christmas smell.

 

Stir in the tomatoes with the juice and the vegetable stock

Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and cover the pan

Simmer for 10 minutes, then add beans and squash and simmer another 10 minutes.

 

Season with salt and pepper.

 

Right before serving add spinach and cashews.

 

Eat with crusty bread for the juice. Tastes even better the next day!

 

-   Adapted recipe by Naomi Westlake