In your boxes
We always do our best to make sure that all of the boxes of each size that we deliver in a single week have the same items.  Unfortunately, this is the second week in a row that we have failed to accomplish this goal.  As noted on the box list, every subscriber will find one "additional" item in their boxes this week of the appropriate value.  The item will be different depending on what size box you get and what day you get it. Our apologies.

We've been rotating our winter cooking greens through the boxes the last several weeks, and the "greens of the week" this time around is Collards.  Collards are a traditional part of Southern cooking, and historically have been slow cooked in a broth made with onions, garlic, bacon, and other flavorful ingredients.  Cooked this way, the chewy leaves soak up the flavors and soften.
There are other ways to prepare collards too.  Frying them in a wok or skillet on high heat will also soften them up sufficiently -- the vegetarian taqueria Gracias Madre in San Francisco makes great tacos filled with collards cooked this way.  Alternately, you can use the whole leaves (stems removed) instead of tortillas and fill them with other things.  Use the leaves raw for tacos or steam them for enchiladas.

I know I declared TFF's Tomato season over several weeks ago.  But a funny thing happened after the rain in early October cracked all the ripe fruit on the vines: we had several weeks of Indian summer.  As a result, we actually had a late flush of fruit ripen last week and we have found enough tomatoes in the field to put some in each of your boxes.  Enjoy them, because with more rain as well as frost in the forecast for the end of the week, these will almost certainly be the last of 2011.

This will also probably be our final week to harvest Peppers, since a frost is expected on Friday that will likely kill the plants.  With this in mind, we are harvesting mostly green or partially ripe peppers.  You may get peppers that are partially red, partially yellow, partially orange, or all green.  None are hot peppers.

Produce Spotlight:  Sweet Potatoes
Sweet Potatoes are one of our staple storage crops of fall.  We plant a single field in late spring and harvest it all at once in late September or early October.  Sweet potatoes are related to morning glory, and when growing, the field looks a lot like ivy. 

The tubers themselves grow quite deep underground --  we harvest them with our potato digger running it as deeply as possible, and yet still break off roots that are more than two feet deep.
Most commercial sweet potatoes are grown in sand, which means they are quite straight and smooth skinned.  At Terra Firma, we grow them in our sandiest soil, and yet they still end up somewhat gnarled and twisted.  Happily, this doesn't affect their flavor at all.
We grow a sweet potato variety called "Diane" with red skin and sweet, moist, dark orange flesh.  Although this type of sweet potato is often called a "yam", that is a misnomer.
Once the weather turns cold and wet, we stop washing the sweet potatoes we put in your boxes.  Once harvested, the roots do not like to be wet at all and we don't have the equipment to dry them.  We will bag the unwashed sweet potatoes to keep the mess to a minimum.  When you get them home, you can wash them and then dry with a towel or in a colander.
Sweet potatoes kept in a warm, dry location will store for several weeks.

Recipe -- Collard-Sweet Potato enchiladas
This recipe includes an enchilada sauce recipe but you can also use your own recipe or store bought.
For the filling:  Dice 1 onion, 1 sweet pepper, and 1 large or 2 small Sweet Potatoes.  Heat 3 T. olive oil in a large skillet and saute the onion and pepper until soft, then add 2 t. cumin powder and the sweet potatoes.  Saute over medium heat until the sweet potatoes are tender.  Season with salt.
For the sauce:  Toast 6 dried New Mexico chiles (mild) or Ancho chiles (spicy) in a skillet briefly, then boil in 3 C. water until they soften.  Remove the peppers, reserving the liquid, and allow to cool.  Remove the seeds and stem, then puree the peppers with enough of the cooking liquid to make a thick sauce.  Add 1 diced tomato and 1 minced clove of garlic and puree again.  Season with lemon juice, salt and pepper.  You will need 2 Cups.
Pour the sauce into a pan and simmer for 15 minutes.
To make the enchiladas:  Bring a larger pot of water to boil.  Remove the stems from 1 bunch of collard greens and dip them into the water one at a time using tongs, until they soften just a bit.  Remove and rinse or bathe in cool water, then drain.
Turn the oven to 350.
Chop 2 tomatoes.  Dice or crumble 8 oz. feta cheese.  Grate 12 oz. of jack or cheddar cheese.
  Pour 1/2 C. of the sauce. in the bottom of a baking dish.  Place the collard leaves in the dish one at a time and fill with 2 T. filling plus a sprinkling each of tomatoes and feta.  Roll up the leaf.  Repeat until all the leaves are stuffed and the pan is full.
Pour the rest of the sauce on and over the "enchiladas", then sprinkle with the grated cheese.
Bake until the sauce is bubbly and the cheese melted and starting to brown.