Serenbe Farms
  CSA Newsletter and Recipes 5-24

October 5th, 2010

Farm News from Justin-

Fall weather is upon us. We've been blessed with a break in the heat finally.  The transition seemed fast this year and somewhat un-organized on Mother Nature's end.  It seems our seasons now change in a day instead of the 'ol' gradual way it used to happen. 

Change in the seasons
What will this mean for you.  Certainly we all know that weather and temperature effect what we can grow and how well we can grow it.  As we move into the fall/winter season we will begin to see a drastic change in vegetables.  We will be giving more and more of the familiar fall 'brassicas'.  These include the massive ones like cabbage, cauliflower, and broccoli.  The brassica greens kale, collarlds, and asian greens are included also.  We have some amazing radishes coming on.  There will be tons of hakurei sweet turnips, sweet potatoes, and hopefully carrots and other goodies.    We hope you guys enjoy the transition and find all of these wonderful greens delicious. 

Turnips, Radishes, and Asian greens
   I wanted to shed some basic although seldom known knowledge about what kind of turnips, rasdishes, and asian greens you can expect in your share.  The fall turnips and radishes typically differ from the spring time ones because of the number of days it takes until maturity.  We always attempt some of these in the spring but they definetly prefer fall and thats when you will most likely see them.
Turnips --
   I wanted to offer some insight on the turnip varieties we grow and how they differ.  The one you are most familar with is the Hakurei.  It is an 'early' [meaning it takes only 38 days to full maturity].  It is charactarized by a sweet soft flavor.  It works well raw or cooked.  Another fall turnip we grow is Scarlet Queen.  It takes only about 10 more days to mature than the Hakurei.  It is known for its flat globe shape with red skin.  It is best cooked and has really nice greens.  Purple Top White Globe is the last turnip we will cover today.  It is known for that 'ol time turnip flavor'.  It is a compact globe shape with purple coloring at the top and a standard white base.  It takes 50 days before it reaches maturity and is known as the traditional southern turnip. 
Scarlet Queen
Scarlet Queen
Purple Top
Purple Top White Globe
Radishes --

   Hopefully you guys love radishes as much as we do.  The genus name for radish means 'quick appearing', which is very true.  Radishes are quick to germinate and some are mature in as little as 19 days.  Our most versatile radish is the Icecicle radish.  It's cultivation dates back as far as the 16th century.  It is known for it's resistance to pithiness and turns out to be one of the few radishes that can take the GA summer heat. 
   We can take advantage of the cooler temps and broaden our radish plantings in the winter.  We will be planting the french breakfast, davignon, and a couple other short maturity varities that you will see soon.
   We also plant a lot of long maturity radishes in the fall time.  These include watermelon, daikon, and black radish.  Many of these kind take up to 50-60 days for maturity and are more sizeable than the quick maturing short day kinds.  A new one we are trying this year is Shunkyo. 
Shunkyo


Asian Greens --

   Tatsoi, Yukina Savoy, Komatsuna, Tokyo Bekana, Mizuna, and Red Mustard.  Unfamilar names bring unfamilar flavor.  Most of us are familiar with arugula or other gourmet greens, but when we see these guys we don't know what to expect.
   Basics first.... These greens offer a change of pace from the norm.  The typically have nice crunchy flavors occassionally with a little spice.  Most work well raw or cooked.  Not many farmers bother growing these guys but we feel they offer some culinary education as well as some variety.  One of my favorite dishes to  make with these greens is a simple salad with sesame vinagrette.  Other dishes we make include steamed asian greens with tuna, stir fries, and using the asian greens as a lettuce replacement for our 'cobb' salad.  I personally love the flavor of Komatsuna and for a cooking green Tokyo Bekana accompanies fish and pork very well.  
  
Komatsuna
Komatsuna


Cheers,
Justin
Find recipes here.
 
This week's share (prediction):

collards


kale or other green

lettuce or arugula

yummy beans

sweet peppers

okra or eggplant

basil

sweet potatoes or
winter squash

garlic or onion

and more!

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Links
www.serenbefarms.com

www.georgiaorganics.org
www.slowfoodatlanta.org
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