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From Field to Table
What's Happening Now at Magicland Farms
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Volume Two, Issue Twenty-One
Sunday - October 3, 2010
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Greetings!
Welcome to the Magicland Farms' newsletter for the week beginning October 4th. We hope to keep you up to date with the happenings at our farm,
along with providing
you with some of our favorite recipes and other
information we think you might find of interest. If you know of someone
who might be interested in receiving our newsletter,
you can forward it to them by using the forward link at the end of this newsletter. |
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This Week at Magicland Farms - October 4th to October 9th |
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This week we are featuring PUMPKINS-from massive 400
pound GIANTS to 8 ounce MINIATURES!
Also, sugar snap peas, radishes, beets,
parsnips, red Caribbean Habanero and Jalapeno peppers, sugar (pie) pumpkins, acorn, butternut,
buttercup, spaghetti, hubbard and Heart of Gold winter squash, Red LaSoda
potatoes, sweet potatoes and more.
Visit
our Pumpkin Patch for pumpkins, gourds, Indian corn, corn stalks and more!
We accept both the Bridge Card and Project Fresh. |
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From The Kitchen | If you have been down to the stand recently, you can see that we have tons of winter squash for sale. I also have been getting lots of questions about what the different squashes are and what they taste like. So this week here is a quick summary of the different types of squash we are selling.
This squash's color can range either from ivory to yellow or orange in color. Its flesh is bright yellow or orange.
When raw, the flesh is solid and similar to other raw squash; when
cooked, the flesh falls away from the fruit in ribbons or strands like spaghetti. Many people serve it as a substitute for pasta using spaghetti sauce or a parmesan/butter sauce.
This is one of our most popular varieties of winter squash. It is shaped like an
acorn. and
has sweet, slightly fibrous flesh
It has a sweet, nutty taste similar to that of a pumpkin and is often used as a substitute in pumpkin pies. It has beige-tan skin and orange fleshy pulp. This squash is easy to peel.
This squash takes its name from its shape, which some say resembles an upside-down acorn with an undersized cap. The buttercup's dense flesh is dark yellow-orange, sweet
and creamy. This squash is much sweeter than other winter
varieties.
This squash is a cross between Sweet Dumpling and Acorn squash. The outer skin is cream colored with dark
green stripes. The orange flesh is fine grained with a sweet rich flavor
The extra-hard
skins make them one of the best keeping winter squashes. These are very
large with a skin that is warted and
irregular. The yellow flesh of these tends to be very moist and
longer cooking times in the oven are sometimes needed.
This variety is one of the most popular
Kabocha squashes sold in Japan. It has a flattened globe shape with a golden flesh, that is very sweet and delicious. This is a very dry squash.
A long oblong-shaped squash with a cream colored, green striped outer skin and a golden smooth inner flesh. This squash is also called sweet potato squash as its flavor can be very close to that of a sweet potato. The thin skin is also edible.
Depending upon the variety, squash can be kept for between several weeks to six
months. It should be kept away from direct exposure to light and should
not be subject to extreme heat or extreme cold. The ideal temperature
for storing winter squash is between 50-60°F.
We put some photos of the squash into a photo album on drop.io. Click on the link below to view pictures of these squash varieties.
Squash photos
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Specials In The Spotlight |
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Winter Squash:
$5 for a half bushel or $8 for a bushel.
Sugar (Pie) Pumpkins:
$7 for a bushel.
If you are purchasing a bushel, it is helpful if you bring your own containers.
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The Boss's Corner
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Did it frost this morning?
Yes and perhaps no. Away from
inland lakes there was frost reported on roof tops of unheated buildings and on
grass in low areas not protected by the foliage of trees. However, it doesn't look like it was a
genuine killing frost (32F or lower air temperature) which would officially
mark the end of the growing season-most areas away from inland lakes and away
from your normal cold spots--got down to only 34F. One must keep in mind frost often forms on
windshields of cars parked in open areas when the air temperature gets down to
37F or 38F and no damage is done to plants.
Why does this happen?
Simple! Clear sky-night or day,
summer or winter-has an effective temp of below -100F! (Of course the clear sky
we are talking about isn't close to the sun-the sun itself would measure around
10,000F if you pointed a high temp infrared thermometer at it.) If you pointed
an infrared thermometer (like I have) at the clear sky away from the sun you
can verify this. Also, if it wasn't for
the 20 miles of air between us and outer space an infrared thermometer would
show a temp close to -458F, which is close to absolute zero!
Tonight, the forecast is for a genuine killing frost as it
is forecast to get down to 30F. Since we
planted some late crops such as beans and very late tomatoes that are just
starting to ripen, we are attempting to protect a limited amount of our
tomatoes, beans and peppers. We are
using low tunnels for the tomatoes and some peppers and using sprinkler
irrigation for part of our last bean planting. Right now we plan on sending out a special email postcard to subscribers
on Wednesday to let them know on what happened frost wise. Since October 1st is
the normal fall frost date, I won't be surprised if it does frost tonight and
kill all unprotected frost susceptible crops like tomatoes, beans, corn,
zucchini squash, peppers, etc. However,
our sugar snap peas, radishes, parsnips, broccoli, cabbage, beets, turnips and
more should come through just fine. Since the next two weeks look like an extended Indian Summer period
with sunny skies and warm temperatures, it will be a bit sad to see the warm
season veggies disappear despite the fact they are growing on borrowed time!
While we may no longer have a good supply of warm season
vegetables for sale (although we should have a small quantity of tender green
beans and tomatoes available for several weeks since we are attempting to
protect them from the frost) we do have a great supply of freshly dug red
LaSoda, white Kennebec and russet Norkotah potatoes, all types of winter squash including acorn, butternut,
buttercup, Heart of Gold and Hubbard, a moderate supply of fresh sweet potatoes
and sugar pumpkins for pies. We also are
continuing to harvest beets, parsnips, broccoli, cabbage and radishes and will
soon start picking sugar snap peas, turnips and turnip greens. Make sure you
also come down and stroll through our Magicland Farms pumpkin patch for
pumpkins from several ounces to two hundred pounds and more as well as
decorative gourds and corn stalks. By
the way, yesterday we picked a wagon load of Nature's Pottery (Bottle,
Birdhouse, Bushel and other gourds that are used to make things once they are
dried!) Unlike man-made pottery,
Nature's Pottery is tough-real tough. You can drop it from a two story building to a lawn and it probably
won't be damaged!
Nashle!
Tom
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We appreciate your business and hope to see you this week at Magicland Farms.
Sincerely,
Tom and Annemarie Fox
Magicland Farms |
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