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Dear Common Thread Winter CSA Members, 
 
The first winter share box pick up was today!  The vegetable list is on our website on the what's in page.  We also have a few hardy herbs left in the field that are open for pick your own for anyone who wants to come by when it isn't too dark or frosty.
We have quite a lot of hardy vegetables from the fields in this box (most were protected by row cover or plastic and made it through several nights in the mid-20s).  As the weather gets colder, a greater proportion of the box will be storage crops, but we are planning to have some hardy greens in the boxes through December.  Of course, this week didn't feel like winter.  Those 60 and 70 degree days were a beautiful gift.  The pictures above show Tiffany harvesting cilantro and Nezar harvesting brussel sprouts on one of those gorgeous I-can't-believe-it's-November days.  

The winter share boxes are planned to last for about 2 weeks so proper storage of your vegetables is important.  In general:
  • Greens will last in plastic bags in the refrigerator for about a week.  Cooking greens can also be easily frozen for later.  Just steam them for a few minutes, cool, pat dry and put in ziploc bags in the freezer.
  • Roots will last in plastic bags in the refrigerator for months
  • Winter squash should be kept dry and above 50 degrees and will keep a few weeks to a few months, depending on the variety (Butternut is a good storage squash; sunshine and pie pumpkins are not; delicata and jester are in the middle).  Squash also freezes well when cooked and mashed.
  • Onions and garlic should be kept in a dry place.  They will keep several weeks on the counter.  For longer storage they should be kept in a cool place (but not freezing).   
  • Potatoes should be kept in a dry, dark place.  They will start to sprout after a couple weeks in warm temperatures, so if you want to store them longer than that, they should be kept in a cool place (35-50 degrees).  It is important that they be in the dark so they don't turn green and become unhealthy to eat.
  • Cabbages will last quite a long time in the refrigerator and can also be made into sauerkraut which will keep a long time.
I am super excited about brussel sprouts right now.  We don't harvest them until October and they last until the nights start to get really cold - with a cover we hope to make it into mid-December - so now is their short season.  I love them roasted with a little olive oil, vinegar and parmesean cheese, maybe also a few raisins and pine nuts or sunflower seeds sprinkled in there.  If I'm too impatient for that, I pan fry them with some olive oil and garlic.  Looking at brussel sprout recipes, they are also often cooked with bacon.  Yum.

We didn't expect to have celery with winter shares but we still have some holding up okay in the field so we can keep eating celery for a little while longer.  My kids (and I) like it prepared as ants on a log, and as sticks to dip in dressing.  It's also great in soup, stir-fry, and salads.  

Swiss Chard is not a particularly hardy green but it holds up pretty well under row cover and plastic, so we should be able to keep eating it through November.  I really like it in egg recipes like frittata, omelettes and quiche.  I also like it just stir-fried with oil and vinegar with a few raisins thrown in.  I don't usually eat it - or brussel sprouts- raw but here is a recipe from marthastewart.com that makes me want to try it:

Autumn Greens Salad with Sunflower Seeds
INGREDIENTS
  • 1/3 cup raw sunflower seeds
  • 1 tablespoon whole-grain mustard
  • 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice (1 large lemon)
  • 3/4 teaspoon coarse salt
  • 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon pure maple syrup
  • 2 tablespoons sunflower oil, preferably cold-pressed
  • 1/2 pound brussels sprouts, very thinly sliced (3 cups)
  • 4 to 6 leaves of leafy greens such as Swiss chard and kale (preferably lacinato), stemmed and thinly sliced (3 cups)
DIRECTIONS
  1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Toast sunflower seeds on a rimmed baking sheet in a single layer until golden, stirring occasionally, about 10 minutes. Set aside to cool. Meanwhile, stir mustard, lemon juice, salt, and maple syrup together in a small bowl; whisk in oil until emulsified.
  2. Toss brussels sprouts, chard, and kale together. Stir in sunflower seeds and pour in dressing; toss to coat. Serve immediately.
It is also the season for winter squash. My favorite is Sunshine, an orange kabocha squash.  It has a sweet, creamy texture that doesn't need anything done to it after baking.  My kids love Delicata, which is also a sweet one great for eating as is.  Our daughter Klara who only recently started eating squash was willing to eat Sunshine when we baked it with butter, cinnamon and a little brown sugar. We've also been enjoying baking with Butterkin and pie pumpkins lately - we'll pull out the ultra-butternut in the next box so that you have plenty of squash for your Thanksgiving pumpkin pies.  Here is a tasty looking recipe from food.com that would work well with Sunshine or butternut: 

Sweet & Spicy Roasted Kabocha Squash
INGREDIENTS
DIRECTIONS
  1. Preheat the oven to 400°F Line a baking sheet with a silicon baking liner or parchment paper.
  2. De-seed and cut the squash into slices about 1/4 inch thick.
  3. Combine all the dry ingredients. Toss the squash slices in this until coated thoroughly. Add the soy sauce and toss well again.
  4. Spread the slices in a singler layer on the baking sheet and drizzle them with the oil.
  5. Bake in the preheated oven for 15 minutes, then turn over, drizzle with more oil and sprinkle more sugar, and bake for an additional 10-15 minutes.
  6. Serve hot or at room temperature.
Yours in the Fields,
Wendy and Asher