October 27, 2015          Common Thread CSA
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Dear Common Thread CSA Members,

It's the last week of CSA distribution!  It feels good to have completed another season with plenty of good food distributed.  We hope you have been well nourished and enjoyed your connection to the farm.  Thank you all for being a part of the farm!  We would also like to thank Common Thread Farm Apprentices Sophia, Tiffany, Dan and Bianca for all of their hard work and good learning on the farm this season.  There are many others to thank as well: the rest of our part time and seasonal workers, everyone who vounteered on the farm this season, everyone who helped spread the word about the CSA, our CSA pick up hosts, our neighbors, our parents, our fellow farmers.  And of course the soil, the water, the air, the sun. We are grateful that we could all converge in community around food and farm.

Thanks also to those who have signed up for a winter share.  We still have some available so it's not too late to send in a form: 
Winter shares start in just over a week, next Thursday, November 5.  We have enough people to do the deliveries to Utica and Dewitt, as well as the on-farm pick up in Madison.  We'll be contacting winter CSA members with information on the pick up in the next several days.

Its time to sign up for the CSA for 2016!  Receiving forms this time of year is very helpful to our preparation for 2016 - we greatly appreciate fall sign-ups.

We will be emailing out a member survey in the next couple of days to collect your feedback and ideas to plan a great 2016.  

It's a busy week on the farm as we wrap up the regular season CSA and prepare for winter shares.  In addition to harvest, we are moving two "caterpillar" tunnels from covering tomatoes to covering kale and spinach for December harvest (see Asher and Sophia in the picture above covering the spinach). We are also continuing to cover and store winter share crops and to clean up the fields as the growing season ends.  Before we did winter shares, our main focus this time of year was "putting the farm to bed" but now it feels more like a shift to a different season. 
You can find out what the vegetables for the week are by going to our "What's In" page on our website and checking out the PYO page on our website.  

We have pulled Jester Squash out this week.  It is the shape of an acorn and a similar patterning to delicata squash and tastes like a cross between the two as well. It's great for stuffing and roasting.  Here are a couple easy recipes from epicurious.com:
ACORN SQUASH WITH KALE AND SAUSAGE
INGREDIENTS
2 medium acorn-type squash, halved down the middle, seeds removed
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Olive oil cooking spray
3 teaspoons olive oil, divided
8 ounces hot Italian turkey sausage, casings removed
1 large leek, white and light green parts only, halved and sliced
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
4 cups tightly packed torn kale
1/3 cup reduced-sodium chicken broth
1/4 cup chopped walnuts
2 tablespoons grated fresh Parmesan
2 tablespoons panko breadcrumbs

PREPARATION
Heat oven to 375�. Cut a thin slice off round side of each squash half to create a stable base. Sprinkle with salt and pepper; coat with cooking spray. Place squash flesh side down on a baking sheet lined with aluminum foil; bake until golden and tender, 30 minutes. Remove from oven; flip squash and set aside. Heat broiler. In a large nonstick skillet over medium heat, heat 1 teaspoon oil. Add sausage; cook, breaking into coarse pieces, until brown, 6 minutes; transfer to a bowl. To same skillet, add remaining 2 teaspoons oil and leek; cook until leek is soft, 3 minutes. Add garlic; cook, 30 seconds. Add kale and toss; add broth. Cover and cook until kale is tender, 5 minutes; stir in sausage. Divide kale-sausage filling among squash. In a bowl, combine walnuts, Parmesan and panko; sprinkle evenly over squash bowls and coat with cooking spray. Broil until panko is golden, 2 minutes.

 
We're dismantling all the tomatoes and as a result have Green Tomatoes.  Fried green tomatoes are the favorite recipe for these but they can also be used in salsa, in soups, in quick breads.  In a search online, I see all kinds of creative ideas for green tomatoes: pickled, relish, scalloped, added to mayonaise for burgers, in a BLT, grilled, in muffins.  

Fennel is another less commonly used vegetable that is quite versatile.  It's very tasty raw in salads, especially when cut very finely.  It's also very tasty cut up into small pieces, tossed with oil and salt, roasted and sprinkled on almost anything, yum.  It's also great in a scalloped potato dish.  Here are a couple easy recipes from marthastewart.com:
Orange, Fennel, and Olive Salad with Red-Pepper Flakes
INGREDIENTS
  • 1 fennel bulb, trimmed, reserving 1 to 2 tablespoons fronds
  • 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
  • 2 oranges
  • 1/4 cup small olives, such as Nicoise
  • 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
  • Coarse salt and ground pepper
  • Red-pepper flakes
DIRECTIONS
  1. Halve, core, and thinly slice bulb (preferably on a mandoline). In a bowl, toss fennel with 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice.
  2. Slice away peel and pith of oranges and cut flesh into segments. Add to bowl with fennel and stir in small olives such as Nicoise, reserved fennel fronds, and extra-virgin olive oil. Season with coarse salt, ground pepper, and red-pepper flakes.

Baked Fennel with Parmesan and Thyme
INGREDIENTS
  • 3 fennel bulbs
  • 1 tablespoon softened butter
  • Coarse salt and ground pepper
  • 1/3 cup grated Parmesan
  • 4 sprigs thyme
DIRECTIONS
  1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Boil 3 fennel bulbs, trimmed and split lengthwise, until tender, about 15 minutes. Drain fennel, cut side down, on paper towels, 5 minutes. Place fennel, cut side up, in a buttered 8-inch square baking dish and brush with 1 tablespoon softened butter. Season with coarse salt and ground pepper and top with 1/3 cup grated Parmesan and 4 sprigs thyme. Bake until cheese is golden brown, about 20 minutes.

Yours in the field,
Wendy and Asher