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Your Final Week from Valley Flora!

Beet Box -

Your Final Week from Valley Flora! The last one!
What's Fresh from Valley Flora this Week...
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In This Week's Beet Box Newsletter:
  • The Last Week!
  • 2018 CSA Sign-ups
  • Tamales this Week
  • Farmstand Still Going - This Week and Next!
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Your Share This Week:
  • Red Onions
  • Carrots
  • Green Cabbage
  • Bulk Kale
  • Celeriac
  • Delicata Squash
  • Red Potatoes
  • Hakurei Turnips?
  • Brussels sprouts
  • Parsnips
For recipes and ideas, check out these links:
 
Valley Flora Recipe Wizard
Our own collection of recipes gathered over the years.
 
Epicurious
A vast collection of recipes, searchable by one or multiple ingredients
 
Full Belly Farm
Recipes from one of my favorite farms in California, pioneers of the organic movement since the 80s.

Farm Fresh to You
A storehouse of recipes, searchable by ingredient.
 
Helsing Junction Farm
A Washington farm that has a good collection of seasonal recipes geared toward CSA members.
 
The Last Week!
This is it! Your final CSA delivery for 2017 couldn't come on a more beautiful December week (cold, but oh that full moon and crystal clear sky.....!). I am always surprised by the lingering abundance at this time of year; the totes are not only replete but also colorful. We've managed to "eat the local rainbow" for another  season, from before the longest day of the year until almost the shortest day (happy winter solstice to all!). And for those of you who are embarking on the winter CSA adventure with us starting in January, the seasonal fare will continue!

A ginormous thank you to everyone for showing up to support our little local family farm this year. For suffering through the ugly potatoes with us and enjoying one of the best sugar snap pea years we've had in a decade. Every season is a roller coaster ride for us, but this year was particularly challenging at times, starting with the eleven feet of rain we got last winter. That cold, wet spring was the hardest we've endured and by June I already felt like I'd had the stuffing punched out of me. Then, on cue, we had our bizarre-o string of little disasters in a single week: the pump burning up - twice; the electric tractor croaking; a car crashing through our farmstand; a trip to the ER with our daughter. I mumbled more than once, "If ever there was a year to quit, this would be it..."

But buoyed up by the encouragement and generosity of all of you, we didn't quit. And then the peas came on in all their glory, followed by big fat ears of corn, sweet peppers, tomatoes and all the rest, and sure enough happy farm amnesia overtook us and we forgot all about our early-season woes. That's the beauty of living by the seasons; they're always changing and you're always forgetting :)

The thing we never forget though is how lucky we are to be supported and cheered on by a community of folks like you. I say this every year, and I'll never get tired to reminding you: we wouldn't be here as a farm without you, our CSA members. You're the bedrock of our farm financially and the source of our greatest farming inspiration (my passion for keeping your Harvest Basket colorful and diverse each week is what drives all the crop planning, trials and experimentation at Valley Flora).

Happy winter to everyone. Cross your fingers for a kinder one this year, and I hope we can count you among our 2018 CSA members next season (more on that up next)!

XOXOX!
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2018 CSA Sign-Ups
We will begin sign-ups for the 2018 CSA in January. If you were a member in any capacity this season (you got a Harvest Basket, eggs, salad and/or tamales), you will be included in our priority sign-up process. That means that you'll be guaranteed a spot in 2018 so long as you sign-up within our priority sign-up window in January/Februrary. After that we'll open it up to folks on our waiting list until we're sold out.

We'll contact you via email in January with sign-up details. If your email has changed, please be sure to let us know so we can reach you when sign-ups begin!
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Tamales this Week!
This is the final delivery of tamales! Be sure to grab your share out of the marked blue coolers at your pickup site this week, and double check that you take the bag with your name on it. A special thanks to Juana for the 1,680 tamales she cranked out for our CSA members this year!
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Farmstand Still Going - This Week & Next!
We are open this week and next week on Wednesday from 10 am to 2 pm, rain or shine. Next Wednesday, December 13, will be our final farmstand for 2017. Come stock up on fresh and storage crops to see you into the holidays!
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Farmstand Fall Hours:
Wednesdays from 10 am to 2 pm, rain or shine!
Fresh Produce
Homemade Jam & Hot Sauce
Copyright © 2017 Valley Flora, All rights reserved.


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Week 27 of 28 from Valley Flora!

Beet Box -

Week 27 of 28 from Valley Flora! Winter Spinach, Asian Pears & Sunchokes!
What's Fresh from Valley Flora this Week...
View this email in your browser


In This Week's Beet Box Newsletter:
  • Almost-December Surprises
  • Beware - Bitter Pumpkin Alert!
  • Next Week is the Last One!
  • Fall Farmstand Hours
-->
Your Share This Week:
  • Carrots
  • Leeks
  • Chicory
  • Sunchokes
  • Festival & Acorn Squash
  • Spinach
  • Bunch Beets
  • Asian Pears
On Rotation:*
*This means that some pickup sites will receive it this week; others in a future week.
  • Nothing this week
Please Note: All of our produce is field-rinsed, not washed. We recommend you wash all of your produce before eating it.

The Valley Flora Crystal Ball
What might be in your share next week (no promises!):
  • Red Onions
  • Green Cabbage
  • Carrots
  • Bunch Greens
  • Celeriac
  • Red Potatoes
  • Winter Squash
  • Brussels sprouts
  • Parsnips
For recipes and ideas, check out these links:
 
Valley Flora Recipe Wizard
Our own collection of recipes gathered over the years.
 
Epicurious
A vast collection of recipes, searchable by one or multiple ingredients
 
Full Belly Farm
Recipes from one of my favorite farms in California, pioneers of the organic movement since the 80s.

Farm Fresh to You
A storehouse of recipes, searchable by ingredient.
 
Helsing Junction Farm
A Washington farm that has a good collection of seasonal recipes geared toward CSA members.
 
Almost-December Surprises
For it being the cusp of December, there are some never-before-seen surprises in your tote this week:

Winter Spinach: We are doing some late-season and over-wintering spinach trials this year, both outdoors and in a high tunnel. The spinach is delicious thanks to the chilly weather, but be forewarned: there might be a little bit of Valley Fauna to go with your Valley Flora. The slugs and cabbage loopers are no dummies - they're living it up in that cozy greenhouse, making for some holey spinach (not to be confused with holy spinach, which is difficult to grow without divine intervention). We gave the spinach a dunking in the wash tub, but be sure to give it a more thorough wash at home unless you want protein-enhanced gritty spinach salad.
Asian Pears: This is our latest-maturing Asian pear variety, Shinko. Mild, sweet and juicy. Store them in your fridge to maintain their crisp texture.

Sunchokes: Here they are, your token annual dose of Jerusalem Artichokes. Many of you have heard my spiel about how sunchokes are a sunflower native to North America and are supposedly a great starch alternative for diabetics because they are high in inulin....yada yada yada. BUT, what's probably more important to mention is that sunchokes make some people fart. Really bad. Note I said "some," not all. The moral of the story if you've never had them before: eat them in safe company, or alternatively, binge on them if you hope to win a tournament of fart tennis with your roommate (didn't everyone do that in college?). Here are some good recipes to start with.
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Beware - Bitter Pumpkin Alert!
We've had two customers report that they've gotten a bitter pumpkin from us. If you haven't used your pie pumpkin yet and you plan to, be sure to taste or lick the raw pumpkin before you turn it into an entire pie! You will know immediately if you have a bitter one; the taste is horrible.

We've never had this problem arise on our farm, but it's a relatively common issue that afflicts the Cucurbit family (winter squash, summer squash, melons, cucumbers). Cucurbits contain a group of chemicals called cucurbitacins, which are responsible for the bitterness you sometimes encounter in cucumbers - and in our case this year, pie pumpkins. That bitter taste is a survival mechanism in plants to keep things from eating them, and it works!

There are two possible reasons for elevated cucurbitacins: 1) environmental stress like extreme temperatures or water shortage (more common in summer squash than winter squash), or 2) seed genetics due to cross pollination with other Cucurbits (i.e. a contaminated seed lot). I have an inquiry in to the seed company to find out if they've had any other reports of bitter pumpkins with this seed lot.

Over a decade ago when I was working at Sauvie Island Organics, we had a CSA member who took her entire share one week mid-summer and made a huge veggie soup. It was completely inedible. It turned out she had gotten a bitter zucchini from us. We knew we had to find the rogue plant to prevent a similar tragedy befalling anyone else's soup pot, so at harvest we combed through the 1/4 acre of zucchini and licked the cut stem of every single squash we picked. After an hour of that, you can imagine how our tongue's felt! We never found the culprit, so we ended up abandoning the entire zucchini planting for the rest of the year. In that case, it might have been environmental stress. One thing's for sure: a quarter acre of abandoned zucchini plants makes for some fun giant zucchini pranks.

Around that same time, one of our favorite local seed companies that grows our Delicata squash variety, Wild Garden Seed, suddenly had reports of bitter Delicatas coming from all their customers. They had to dump their entire seed stock because they determined that it was genetic contamination causing the bitterness. It could have been tragic had they not had a stash of seed in their freezer that pre-dated the contamination. They were able to grow out those seeds and rebuild their seed stock - thank goodness for all of us, because their Delicata strain is far and away the best we've ever tasted!

My hunch is that we're dealing with a genetic issue, and it may just be one single plant in our entire planting. Hard knowing, so be sure to do the lick test before you make an entire pumpkin soup or pie! And I'm really crossing my fingers that we didn't ruin anyone's Thanksgiving dessert table this year! If you are the victim of a bitter pumpkin, you have recourse: let me know and I'll send you some sweet Delicatas!
ucurbits contain a group of chemicals called cucubitacins. It is these cucurbitacins that are responsible for squash that is bitter tasting. The higher the levels of cucubitacin, the more bitter the squash will taste. The most likely cause for a bitter taste in squash is due to an environmental stress of some sort, most likely a wide temperature flux or irregular irrigation.

Read more at Gardening Know How: Squash Is Bitter Tasting: Reasons For Bitter Squash Taste https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/edible/vegetables/squash/bitter-tasting-squash.htm
Cucurbits contain a group of chemicals called cucubitacins. It is these cucurbitacins that are responsible for squash that is bitter tasting. The higher the levels of cucubitacin, the more bitter the squash will taste. The most likely cause for a bitter taste in squash is due to an environmental stress of some sort, most likely a wide temperature flux or irregular irrigation

Read more at Gardening Know How: Squash Is Bitter Tasting: Reasons For Bitter Squash Taste https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/edible/vegetables/squash/bitter-tasting-squash.htm
Cucurbits contain a group of chemicals called cucubitacins. It is these cucurbitacins that are responsible for squash that is bitter tasting. The higher the levels of cucubitacin, the more bitter the squash will taste. The most likely cause for a bitter taste in squash is due to an environmental stress of some sort, most likely a wide temperature flux or irregular irrigation

Read more at Gardening Know How: Squash Is Bitter Tasting: Reasons For Bitter Squash Taste https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/edible/vegetables/squash/bitter-tasting-squash.htm
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Next Week is the Last One!
Normal CSA deliveries resume this week. Next week will be our final week of CSA deliveries. If you pick up at the farm or in Coos Bay, your last tote will arrive on Wednesday, December 6th. If you pick up in Port Orford or Bandon, we'll deliver your final tote on Saturday, December 9th.
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Fall Farmstand Hours
For the rest of the season (until December 13th) we will be open every Wednesday from 10 am to 2 pm, rain or shine (no Saturdays). The farmstand abundance is beautiful right now, with all kinds of fall bounty - including giant kohlrabis! Come stock up.
-->
Farmstand Fall Hours:
Wednesdays from 10 am to 2 pm, rain or shine!
Fresh Produce
Homemade Jam & Hot Sauce
Copyright © 2017 Valley Flora, All rights reserved.


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Happy Thanksgiving from Valley Flora!

Beet Box -

Happy Thanksgiving from Valley Flora! Food for Feasting!
What's Fresh from Valley Flora this Week...
View this email in your browser
In This Week's Beet Box Newsletter:
  • All CSA Pick-Ups are Today!
  • Food for Feasting
  • It's Not Over Yet!
  • Fall Farmstand Hours
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Your Share This Week:
  • Carrots
  • Shallots
  • Brussels sprouts
  • Celery
  • Celeriac
  • Lacinato Kale
  • Rosemary
  • Parsnips
  • Red Kuri or Delicata Squash
  • Yellow Potatoes
On Rotation:*
*This means that some pickup sites will receive it this week; others in a future week.
  • Nothing this week
Please Note: All of our produce is field-rinsed, not washed. We recommend you wash all of your produce before eating it.

The Valley Flora Crystal Ball
What might be in your share next week (no promises!):
  • Leeks
  • Chicory
  • Carrots
  • Sunchokes
  • Kohlrabi
  • Beets
  • Winter Squash
  • Spinach
  • Asian Pears
For recipes and ideas, check out these links:
 
Valley Flora Recipe Wizard
Our own collection of recipes gathered over the years.
 
Epicurious
A vast collection of recipes, searchable by one or multiple ingredients
 
Full Belly Farm
Recipes from one of my favorite farms in California, pioneers of the organic movement since the 80s.

Farm Fresh to You
A storehouse of recipes, searchable by ingredient.
 
Helsing Junction Farm
A Washington farm that has a good collection of seasonal recipes geared toward CSA members.
 
All CSA Pick-Ups are Today!!!
Happy Thanksgiving! Don't forget to pick up your CSA share TODAY!
  • Coos Bay: No change (12-5 pm)
  • Valley Flora: No change (9 am -4 pm)
  • Port Orford: 10 am - 5 pm
  • Bandon: 10:30 am through the weekend (open-ended pickup, but we always encourage you to get your food ASAP).
If you already contacted me we are holding your share in our cooler for farm pick-up at a later date.
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Food for Feasting
I love packing the Thanksgiving share each year. Raw materials for the feast to come. Over the years the seasonality of our produce has given shape to our Thanksgiving tradition. There's always some new experimental dish with Brussels sprouts or winter carrots on our table, plus the must-have Roasted Winter Squash and Parsnips with Maple Syrup Glaze and Marcona Almonds. Mashed potatoes, of course, and shallot gravy. Homegrown celery and celeriac in the stuffing. Abby's pumpkin pie and cranberry sauce. Maybe some braised greens like kale or collards to green up the plate. It's the sweetest way to celebrate our season of hard work and abundant harvest: in the kitchen together all day, and around the table by night. Cozy. Luxurious in the knowledge that we have a couple days off from harvest. We welcome the short, stormy days, happily.

We loaded you up with extra spuds today so you'll have plenty for mashing (apologies again for the Year of the Ugly Potato). We also stripped the celery patch down to nubbins, so even though there's not a lot of celery in your share there is celeriac (celery root) to make up for it. It's your first taste this year....a creamy, nutty, rooty, celery sister. Some of you are getting a Red Kuri kabocha squash - big enough to stuff and bake, or mash, or roast; some of you are getting Delicata (also equally versatile).

We are really and truly grateful for you. We love our CSA members. We love planning for you starting in January, and growing for you all season, and harvesting for you every week, and filling those totes up. It brings us joy and satisfaction. Thank you for being part of this work.
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It's Not Over Yet!
Thanksgiving week always feels like finals week for us, in all the hustle-bustle to harvest and pack all hundred CSA totes in two days instead of four - with a little mini-vacation to follow. But no, we're not done yet! There are still two more weeks of CSA deliveries to come after Thanksgiving. Please mark your calendars so you don't miss out on the grand finale!

Normal CSA deliveries resume next week, the week of November 27th. Our final week of CSA deliveries will be December 4th. If you pick up at the farm or in Coos Bay, your last tote will arrive on Wednesday, December 6th. If you pick up in Port Orford or Bandon, we'll deliver your final tote on Saturday, December 9th.
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Fall Farmstand Hours
For the rest of the season (until December 13th) we will be open every Wednesday from 10 am to 2 pm, rain or shine (no Saturdays). The farmstand abundance is beautiful right now, with all kinds of fall bounty - including giant kohlrabis! Come stock up.
-->
Farmstand Fall Hours:
Wednesdays from 10 am to 2 pm, rain or shine!
Fresh Produce
Homemade Jam & Hot Sauce
Copyright © 2017 Valley Flora, All rights reserved.


unsubscribe from this list    update subscription preferences 

Email Marketing Powered by MailChimp

Week 25 of 28 from Valley Flora!

Beet Box -

Week 25 of 28 from Valley Flora! Giant Kohlrabi! Dry-Farmed Butternut!
What's Fresh from Valley Flora this Week...
View this email in your browser


In This Week's Beet Box Newsletter:
 
  • Quintessential Fall Veg: Kohlrabi, Butternut Squash & Chicory!
  • Thanksgiving Pickup Schedule (PLEASE READ!!!)
  • Fall Farmstand Hours
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Your Share This Week:
  • Carrots
  • Yellow Onions
  • Sugarloaf Chicory
  • Bunch Beets
  • Kohlrabi
  • Red Cabbage
  • Butternut Squash
On Rotation:*
*This means that some pickup sites will receive it this week; others in a future week.
  • Cauliflower
Please Note: All of our produce is field-rinsed, not washed. We recommend you wash all of your produce before eating it.

The Valley Flora Crystal Ball
What might be in your share next week (no promises!):
  • Shallots
  • Brussels sprouts
  • Carrots
  • Celery
  • Kale
  • Celeriac
  • Red Kuri Squash
  • Celeriac
  • Rosemary
  • Parsnips
For recipes and ideas, check out these links:
 
Valley Flora Recipe Wizard
Our own collection of recipes gathered over the years.
 
Epicurious
A vast collection of recipes, searchable by one or multiple ingredients
 
Full Belly Farm
Recipes from one of my favorite farms in California, pioneers of the organic movement since the 80s.

Farm Fresh to You
A storehouse of recipes, searchable by ingredient.
 
Helsing Junction Farm
A Washington farm that has a good collection of seasonal recipes geared toward CSA members.
 
Quintessential Fall Veg
Dense, large, round: just a few adjectives that sum up this week's share. You're gonna find hefty purple cabbages banging around next to giant kohlrabi, kissing shoulders with earthy beets and some jumbo yellow onions. The only thing that's smaller than normal in this week's assemblage of vegetables are the butternut squash. Small, but still dense. More on that later.

I know it's been a few months, but all of you should be well-practiced kohlrabi-eaters by now. The variety you're getting this week is called "Kossack," aptly named given that most of them weigh in at well over 3 pounds. I know they look intimidating, but once you peel back that light green skin you're in for the most tender, tasty kohlrabi experience there is. Kossack is a storage variety and it will indeed keep for months in your fridge. Above all, I love this variety peeled and cut into sticks for some crunchy crudites. It's a proven favorite with kids, too.

There's also a head of sugarloaf chicory in your share. Once the weather turns nasty and shuts down our head lettuce production we switch to chicories. They are tough little plants that can withstand hail, frost, pelting rain, and all manner of abusive winter weather. Peel back a few layers of wrapper leaves and voila! there's a blanched beauty of a salad inside. Sugarloaf chicory belongs to the same family as radicchio and endive, so it has a slight bitterness. This variety is the least bitter of all the types I've tried, and if you're at all sensitive to it try slicing your chicory into ribbons and soaking it in cold water for 10 minutes before you make your salad. I also like to include sweet ingredients in my chicory salads, like sliced apples or candied nuts, or make a honey-ed salad dressing of some kind. It balance the flavors nicely. People also cook with chicories, although I'm not a fancy enough chef to have ventured down that road so far.

OK, about those diminutive butternut squash: we accidentally dry-farmed them. Yup, that's right, these little squashies grew all season without a drop of irrigation water. Big whoops. After a summer of wondering what the deal was with those few rows of butternut squash that seemed kinda stunted (!), I did a little detective work and discovered that the irrigation header that was buried in weeds next to the fenceline had come undone, probably way back in June when we were cultivating the squash with the horses. On one of our passes through the field we hooked the irrigation header with the cultivator and must have yanked it apart at a coupler near the fence.

The good news is that what they are lacking in size these little butternuts make up for with flavor. Dry-farming always concentrates plant sugars (in tomatoes and tree fruit also) and results in a more intense flavors. It's maybe not such a bad trade-off, plus I always love seeing what plants can do without irrigation just in case that day eventually comes when there's not as much water to be had (hard to imagine today as the rain comes down in buckets, I know...).
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Next Week is Thanksgiving!
Our Delivery Schedule is Different!
PLEASE READ!!!

Thanksgiving is nearly upon us and everyone needs to mark their calendars because our delivery schedule is different Thanksgiving week. Here's the plan:
  • We will deliver ALL Harvest Baskets and Egg Shares on Wednesday, November 22nd.
  • If you are a Bandon or Port Orford member, you will pick up that week's share on Wednesday, 11/22, instead of Saturday, 11/25. There will be NO 11/25 Saturday delivery that week.
  • Delivery times on Wednesday, November 22:
    • Coos Bay: No change (12-5 pm)
    • Valley Flora: No change (9 am -4 pm)
    • Port Orford: 10 am - 5 pm
    • Bandon: 10:30 am through the weekend (open-ended pickup, but we always encourage you to get your food ASAP).
If you will be out of town for the holiday and want us to hold your share for later pickup from our walk-in cooler at the farm, we are happy to do so! Please email me your name, pickup location, the items you will pick up, and the date you plan to pick up your share from our cooler at the farm. We ask that farm pickups occur during daylight hours. Thanks!

Please mark your calendars or set a reminder so that you don't miss out on your Thanksgiving food!
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Fall Farmstand Hours
For the rest of the season (until December 13th) we will be open every Wednesday from 10 am to 2 pm, rain or shine (no Saturdays). The farmstand abundance is beautiful right now, with all kinds of fall bounty - including giant kohlrabis! Come stock up.
-->
Farmstand Fall Hours:
Wednesdays from 10 am to 2 pm, rain or shine!
Fresh Produce
Homemade Jam & Hot Sauce
Copyright © 2017 Valley Flora, All rights reserved.


unsubscribe from this list    update subscription preferences 

Email Marketing Powered by MailChimp

Winter CSA from Valley Flora!

Beet Box -

Winter CSA from Valley Flora!
Valley Flora Winter CSA!

* Eat from the Farm Year-Round *
We promise not to put any toddlers in your Winter CSA Share. Giant Kohlrabi? Well, maybe....

 

Our 2017 CSA season ends in a month, but never fear! For those of you who wish you could eat Valley Flora veggies year-round we're offering limited WINTER CSA SHARES.
 
  • The Winter CSA will start in mid to late January 2018.
  • We will pack shares every other week from January through mid-May, for a total of 10 shares during the winter/spring months.
  • Shares will include any and all of the following as the season progresses: carrots, beets, potatoes, leeks, onions, shallots, micro-greens, chard, kale, purple sprouting broccoli, cabbage, asparagus, artichokes, lettuce, asian greens, spinach, winter squash, rapini, herbs, and frozen strawberries.
  • Winter CSA Shares will be available for pickup from the farm only. We do not plan to make deliveries off the farm at this time (that could potentially change if there is a critical mass of interest in Bandon or Port Orford).
  • Cost: $350






Email us

if you are

interested in

signing up for the

Winter CSA.


Space is Limited.


 
Space is limited. Email us soon!

Copyright © 2017 Valley Flora, All rights reserved.


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Week 24 of 28 from Valley Flora!

Beet Box -

Week 24 of 28 from Valley Flora! Brussels Sprouts!
What's Fresh from Valley Flora this Week...
View this email in your browser


In This Week's Beet Box Newsletter:
 
  • First Frost, then Brussels Sprouts!
  • Thanksgiving Pickup Schedule (PLEASE READ!!!)
  • Fall Farmstand Hours
-->
Your Share This Week:
  • Carrots
  • Red Onions
  • Cauliflower
  • Radishes or Hakurei Turnips
  • Head Lettuce
  • Rainbow Chard
  • Celery
  • Yellow Potatoes
  • Brussels Sprouts
On Rotation:*
*This means that some pickup sites will receive it this week; others in a future week.
  • Radishes
  • Hakurei Turnips
Please Note: All of our produce is field-rinsed, not washed. We recommend you wash all of your produce before eating it.

The Valley Flora Crystal Ball
What might be in your share next week (no promises!):
  • Onions
  • Sugarloaf Chicory
  • Carrots
  • Leeks?
  • Beets
  • Celeriac
  • Butternut Squash
  • Red Cabbage
  • Asian Pears?
  • Kohlrabi
For recipes and ideas, check out these links:
 
Valley Flora Recipe Wizard
Our own collection of recipes gathered over the years.
 
Epicurious
A vast collection of recipes, searchable by one or multiple ingredients
 
Full Belly Farm
Recipes from one of my favorite farms in California, pioneers of the organic movement since the 80s.

Farm Fresh to You
A storehouse of recipes, searchable by ingredient.
 
Helsing Junction Farm
A Washington farm that has a good collection of seasonal recipes geared toward CSA members.
 
First Frost, then Brussels Sprouts
How many of you are convinced that you hate Brussels sprouts? Well, you're not alone. If you type in "brussels sprouts" in the epicurious.com search bar, the very first recipe in the line-up is called "Brussels Sprouts for People Who Think They Hate Brussels Sprouts" (and yes, it looks like a convincing recipe, even if it doesn't call for bacon).

I've known plenty of folks who emphatically detested them, until, well, they ate ours. Not to sound over-confident (our friend and farm angel, Tom, still insists that he hates them after all these years), but there seems to be a difference in flavor between the everyday Brussels sprouts you'll buy in the store (most of which come from the central coast of California, where it doesn't get very chilly) and those that are locally grown in colder climes. The flavor of Brussels sprouts - like most of the cabbage family - benefits from cold weather, and even better, freezing weather. Freezing temps raise the sugars in the plant, which mitigates some of the stinky-gym-sock-funk of cruciferous plants that some people are sensitive to.

We had hoped to put Brussels sprouts in the share this week and that impulse was confirmed when we got our first frost on the farm over the weekend. Thanks to that frost, we may even get a couple of Brussels sprout converts out of the deal this week.

Foodie folks have been taking Brussels sprouts to new heights in recent years, so don't think the only way to eat them is overcooked, mushy and bland. If you don't already have a go-to favorite prep for them, go to this online treasure trove of Brussels sprouts recipes and find your inspiration. Last Christmas I made the Brussels sprouts with Bacon Jam as an appetizer and we about made ourselves sick on them before our traditional seafood paella feast on Christmas night.
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Thanksgiving Pick-Up Schedule
PLEASE READ!!!
Thanksgiving is a mere two weeks away, and man-oh-man would I like to put one or two of the wild turkeys that are decimating my cover crop and Abby's salad mix on the dinner table! Instead, I find myself chasing them off like a crazy lady, screeching at them and brandishing my harvest knife until they take wing and clear the fence.
BUT, I digress...

Thanksgiving is nearly upon us and everyone needs to mark their calendars because our delivery schedule is different Thanksgiving week. Here's the plan:
  • We will deliver ALL Harvest Baskets and Egg Shares on Wednesday, November 22nd.
  • If you are a Bandon or Port Orford member, you will pick up that week's share on Wednesday, 11/22, instead of Saturday, 11/25. There will be NO 11/25 Saturday delivery that week.
  • Delivery times on Wednesday, November 22:
    • Coos Bay: No change (12-5 pm)
    • Valley Flora: No change (9 am -4 pm)
    • Port Orford: 10 am - 5 pm
    • Bandon: 10:30 am through the weekend (open-ended pickup, but we always encourage you to get your food ASAP).
If you will be out of town for the holiday and want us to hold your share for later pickup from our walk-in cooler at the farm, we are happy to do so! Please email me your name, pickup location, the items you will pick up, and the date you plan to pick up your share from our cooler at the farm. We ask that farm pickups occur during daylight hours. Thanks!

Please mark your calendars or set a reminder so that you don't miss out on your Thanksgiving food!
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Fall Farmstand Hours
For the rest of the season (until December 13th) we will be open every Wednesday from 10 am to 2 pm, rain or shine (no Saturdays). The farmstand abundance is beautiful right now, with all kinds of fall bounty - including giant kohlrabis! Come stock up.
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Farmstand Fall Hours:
Wednesdays from 10 am to 2 pm, rain or shine!
Fresh Produce
Homemade Jam & Hot Sauce
Copyright © 2017 Valley Flora, All rights reserved.


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Week 23 of 28!

Beet Box -

Week 23 of 28! Pretty Parsnips! Manly Mustards!
What's Fresh from Valley Flora this Week...
View this email in your browser
In This Week's Beet Box Newsletter:
 
  • Pretty Parsnips! Manly Mustards!
  • Beautiful Fall, in Photos...
  • New Fall Farmstand Hours
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Your Share This Week:
  • Carrots
  • Yellow Onions
  • Gold Nugget Squash
  • Romanesco
  • Radishes or Hakurei Turnips
  • Head Lettuce
  • Mustard Greens
  • Parsnips
  • Parsley
On Rotation:*
*This means that some pickup sites will receive it this week; others in a future week.
  • Tomatoes
  • Radishes
  • Hakurei Turnips
Please Note: All of our produce is field-rinsed, not washed. We recommend you wash all of your produce before eating it.

The Valley Flora Crystal Ball
What might be in your share next week (no promises!):
  • Onions
  • Head Lettuce?
  • Carrots
  • Cauliflower?
  • Celery
  • Potatoes
  • Butternut Squash
  • Brussels sprouts
  • Chard?
For recipes and ideas, check out these links:
 
Valley Flora Recipe Wizard
Our own collection of recipes gathered over the years.
 
Epicurious
A vast collection of recipes, searchable by one or multiple ingredients
 
Full Belly Farm
Recipes from one of my favorite farms in California, pioneers of the organic movement since the 80s.

Farm Fresh to You
A storehouse of recipes, searchable by ingredient.
 
Helsing Junction Farm
A Washington farm that has a good collection of seasonal recipes geared toward CSA members.
 
Pretty Parnsips! Manly Mustards!
Holy cow, we have FINALLY managed to grow some reasonably pretty parsnips after 10 long years of trying! All of you who've been with us for awhile are used to my annual kvetch each fall about how I'm going to divorce parsnips for good, what a terrible vegetable they are (ugly, hard to dig, ungrateful for all the hard work we put into them, yada yada yada...). WELL, after our umpteenth frustrating tussle with parsnips last fall I decided to ask my network of farmer friends what the heck I was doing wrong. I wanted to grow the kind of parsnips that I wouldn't have to apologize about. I got all kinds of input (many of them said, "Parsnips, oh we don't bother with THOSE!"). But there were some useful tips: 1) Plant them a little later (June instead of May), 2) dig them a little sooner (before they get oversized and begin to crack and turn uber-ugly, which is why you're getting them this week and at Thanksgiving, instead of later), and 3) maybe add a trace amount of boron to the field.

We did all three things and WOW, did I get an oxytocin rush when we harvested the first ones a week ago! They are actually white! They are only a little bit cracked! They even look like something you might want to cook with! To do so, you could cut them up and roast them, or steam and puree them (they make a lovely mash!), or soup, or latkes! Just google it...there are lots of inspired recipes both simple and fancy to be had.

Also in your tote this week, a bunch of mustard greens in lacy maroon and frilly green. I was thinking it'd be fun to mix it up and have a bunched green other than our usual kale/collards/chard in the tote this fall, so we did an experimental seeding. They have a spicy kick (hence the "manly"... ok, semi-desperate attempt at alliteration, I admit...). You can eat them raw to spice up a salad or steam/sautee them like any other bunched green.
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Beautiful Fall, in Photos...
Rainbow Chard next to the Brussels sprouts forest
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Sunrise over newly-seeded cover crop in the summer corn patch
Evening harvest in the kale patch
Blueberry bushes aflame
Pinova apples backlit by evening light
The last of the grapes
Cover crop ground, rolled and ready for rain
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New Fall Farmstand Hours
Regular Fall Farmstand hours begin this week. For the rest of the season (until December 13th) we will be open every Wednesday from 10 am to 2 pm, rain or shine (no Saturdays). The farmstand abundance is beautiful right now, with all kinds of fall bounty - including giant kohlrabis! Come stock up.
-->
Farmstand Fall Hours:
Wednesdays from 10 am to 2 pm, rain or shine!
Fresh Produce
Homemade Jam & Hot Sauce
Copyright © 2017 Valley Flora, All rights reserved.


unsubscribe from this list    update subscription preferences 

Email Marketing Powered by MailChimp

Week 22 of 28 from Valley Flora!

Beet Box -

Week 22 of 28 from Valley Flora!
What's Fresh from Valley Flora this Week...
View this email in your browser
In This Week's Beet Box Newsletter:
 
  • Giant Pumpkin-palooza!
  • October Farmstand Hours
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Your Share This Week:
  • Carrots
  • Red Onions
  • Sweet Peppers
  • Festival Squash
  • Leeks
  • Beets
  • Radishes or Hakurei Turnips
  • Head Lettuce
  • Lacinato Kale
  • Red Potatoes
  • Tomatoes!
On Rotation:*
*This means that some pickup sites will receive it this week; others in a future week.
  • Radishes
  • Hakurei Turnips
Please Note: All of our produce is field-rinsed, not washed. We recommend you wash all of your produce before eating it.

The Valley Flora Crystal Ball
What might be in your share next week (no promises!):
  • Onions
  • Head Lettuce
  • Carrots
  • Romanesco?
  • Parsley
  • Peppers
  • Gold Nugget Squash
  • Radishes or Turnips
  • Parsnips
For recipes and ideas, check out these links:
 
Valley Flora Recipe Wizard
Our own collection of recipes gathered over the years.
 
Epicurious
A vast collection of recipes, searchable by one or multiple ingredients
 
Full Belly Farm
Recipes from one of my favorite farms in California, pioneers of the organic movement since the 80s.

Farm Fresh to You
A storehouse of recipes, searchable by ingredient.
 
Helsing Junction Farm
A Washington farm that has a good collection of seasonal recipes geared toward CSA members.
 
Giant Pumpkin-Palooza
Every now and then farming gets to be about something completely silly and completely about our kids (and our inner kids). This year: giant pumpkins. Last January I ordered a pack of Dill's Atlantic Giant Pumpkin seeds, a variety that has produced the Guinness Book world record-holder: a 2000 pound pumpkin. My seeds came with instructions: to achieve largest pumpkin size, give each plant at least 70 square feet of space. Plant in rich, fertile soil. Provide ample water. Thin to one pumpkin fruit per plant. And if you really want to win the State Fair, inject milk into the stem throughout the summer.

In May I started 6 seeds and got three healthy plants. In June, I planted them into an old compost heap along our fence, ran some drip tape, and then stood back and watched. Slowly, surely, over the course of the summer, those vines grew. And grew. And grew. Through the fence and into the county road. Towards the asparagus patch and into the sunflowers. The pumpkins began to swell. At the end of August the kids all chose one and carved their name into it, leaving it to grow another couple months and scarify the name into a raised welt of letters. I forgot to inject the milk. They still grew. I figured we could have a "guess the weight of the pumpkin contest" at the farmstand, until it dawned on me that we didn't have a scale big enough to weigh them...
Pumpkins lurking and swelling in the vines...
Uma enjoying a snack atop her very own pumpkin in early October...
Monday evening we decided it was time to bring in the harvest. But how to move them? Tarps? A pulley? Straps? We finally resorted to the bucket loader and some good old 7 year-old brawn:
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Pippin and Cleo, kind of like football practice...
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It always helps to pick your nose while moving giant pumpkins with the tractor...
Pumpkin-palooza 2017! Feel free to come take your picture with these behemoths. We won't be moving them again anytime soon!
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October Farmstand Hours
We are slowly easing into Fall Farmstand hours. For the month of October we will be open every Wednesday and Saturday from 10 am to 2 pm, rain or shine (instead of 9 am to 3 pm). The farmstand abundance is beautiful right now, as summer and fall food collide in a crash of color.
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Farmstand & U-Pick October Hours:
Wednesdays & Saturdays from 10 am to 2 pm, rain or shine!
Fresh Produce
U-Pick Strawberries and Flowers
Homemade Jam & Hot Sauce
Copyright © 2017 Valley Flora, All rights reserved.


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Week 21 of 28!

Beet Box -

Week 21 of 28! Pie Pumpkins! Acorn Squash! Hakurei Turnips!
What's Fresh from Valley Flora this Week...
View this email in your browser
In This Week's Beet Box Newsletter:
  • The Scurry Before the Rain
  • Pie Pumpkins and Acorn Squash
  • New October Farmstand Hours
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Your Share This Week:
  • Carrots
  • Yellow Onions
  • Sweet Peppers
  • Acorn Squash
  • Pie Pumpkins
  • Savoy Cabbage
  • Hakurei Turnips
  • Head Lettuce
On Rotation:*
*This means that some pickup sites will receive it this week; others in a future week.
  • Cauliflower
Please Note: All of our produce is field-rinsed, not washed. We recommend you wash all of your produce before eating it.

The Valley Flora Crystal Ball
What might be in your share next week (no promises!):
  • Red Onions
  • Head Lettuce
  • Carrots
  • Beets
  • Brussels Sprouts?
  • Peppers
  • Festival Squash
  • Radishes
For recipes and ideas, check out these links:
 
Valley Flora Recipe Wizard
Our own collection of recipes gathered over the years.
 
Epicurious
A vast collection of recipes, searchable by one or multiple ingredients
 
Full Belly Farm
Recipes from one of my favorite farms in California, pioneers of the organic movement since the 80s.

Farm Fresh to You
A storehouse of recipes, searchable by ingredient.
 
Helsing Junction Farm
A Washington farm that has a good collection of seasonal recipes geared toward CSA members.
 
The Scurry Before the Rain...
October is reminiscent of spring in many ways: green shoots of grass popping up; Hakurei turnips in your CSA share; the compulsive need to check the weather forecast three times a day. Not unlike springtime, there is so much to do that depends on good weather - and on good rain - that we live and plan by the 10-day forecast. This week we have been scurrying ahead of today's storm to get orchard fruit picked before the south winds knock it all down, to prep ground for cover cropping (tearing out spent cash crops like zucchini, eggplant, strawberries and salad greens to make space for winter cover crops), rolling up drip tape, bringing in sprinkler pipes, digging potatoes, and perhaps most importantly - seeding our winter cover crops on every bare corner of the farm and rolling them in with our antique horsedrawn cultipacker. The transition from the farm's summer appearance to its fall-winter look is abrupt at this time of year. The space we are harvesting from gets smaller every week and the bare ground expands. With this perfectly timed rain, we should see acres of cover crop greening up the farm by next week.

The one significant difference about fall and spring is that the scurrying takes place with the full, luxurious knowledge that these urgent bursts of activity are some of the last big to-do's before we wind down into a slower time of year on the farm: winter! Every farmer's favorite season!  And every farmer's husband's favorite season, right Danny :) ?

My husband really does put up with a lot: a wife who barely fits the definition of one; who stays out late almost every night from May through October (at least I'm in the field not at the bar); who comes home grubby and doesn't wear perfume (although I personally LOVE the eau de parfum of horse sweat); and who leaves most of the cooking to him during the busiest months (albeit he gets to use some pretty nice produce that I had a thing or two to do with....). He's not a farmer so it's probably a longshot that he'll ever fully understand this life that I am so in love with, and will probably continue to chafe at the fact that we will never eat dinner by six pm, and feel frustration at the fact that the weather forecast trumps everything in our lives. Given all that, thank you, Danny, for all the waiting you have done over the years, and for bending to the seasons that have me so fully in their grip. I hope you will continue to put up with me.
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Pie Pumpkins and Acorn Squash
There are some big roundish things in the tote this week, in addition to the huge cauliflowers and big savoy cabbages we packed for you. The sugar pumpkin is a variety we grow especially for pie-making, but always feel compelled to give it out before Halloween in honor of the spooky pumpkin season upon us. You could carve your little pumpkin, but I'd recommend going the distance to make a real, homemade pumpkin pie.

The dark green, lobed squash are Acorn. They're often cut in half, seeds removed, and then baked face down. You can turn them into soup bowls!
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New October Farmstand Hours
We are slowly easing into Fall Farmstand hours. For the month of October we will be open every Wednesday and Saturday from 10 am to 2 pm (instead of 9 am to 3 pm). The farmstand abundance is beautiful right now, as summer and fall food collide in a crash of color.
-->
Farmstand & U-Pick October Hours:
Wednesdays & Saturdays from 10 am to 2 pm, rain or shine!
Fresh Produce
U-Pick Strawberries and Flowers
Homemade Jam & Hot Sauce
Copyright © 2017 Valley Flora, All rights reserved.


unsubscribe from this list    update subscription preferences 

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