Week 25 - Thanksgiving!

Week 25 - Happy Thanksgiving!

Remember to pick up your tote this WEDNESDAY!

All Harvest Baskets will be delivered on WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 21^st!

Specific times for pickup at each location on Wednesday, November 21st:

Valley Flora: unchanged – 9 am to 5 pm

Coos Bay: unchanged – 12 pm to 3 pm

Bandon: Wednesday, 11/21, starting at 12 noon (no end time)

PortOrford: Wednesday, 11/21, starting at 10 am (all day)

Remember, no EGGS this week!

Thanksgiving Recipe Extravaganza

Check this out for a mouthwatering array of Thanksgiving recipes, in case you want to shake up the old menu traditions a little!

http://www.epicurious.com/articlesguides/holidays/thanksgiving/thanksgiving

Big, Big Thanks

You might imagine that this is a bit of a wild week for us. We are packing all 106 Harvest Baskets in one day (instead of two) in order to deliver all the food to all of you on Wednesday. That might be enough pressure in a normal half-week, but of course we’re also experiencing gale force winds and a torrential downpour, plus Roberto is in Portland this week for the birth of his second son, Abraham (due out tomorrow…we are eagerly awaiting news)!

Needless to say, we are a bit short-handed and just a tad over-powered by Mother Nature right now. But thanks to an all-star team, we are pulling it off. My bottomless gratitude to Farm Angel Tom who weathered the storm with me in the field today, helping to harvest lettuce, herbs, broccoli and celery (he’s to thank for that pretty little bouquet of herbs in your tote this week…who knew that floral arranging was also in his vast repertoire!)! He also found time to move tractors and equipment to high ground in case the field goes under water (the creek is HIGH!), and he did some pinch-hit babysitting while my mom had to dash out in the storm.

Which brings me to my mom and John: Thank you for all the hours spent with Cleo so that I could be in the field. I know she had more fun with you than she would have with me, and even more importantly, she didn’t blow away! Huge thanks to my sister, Abby, who is standing in for Roberto to help pack all the totes. She needs a day off more than anyone I know – except maybe my mom – but she happily volunteered to help out.

And a much-overdue thank you to Monica, our delivery queen! She has lifted and lugged god knows how many pounds of produce this season, with a smile on her face the whole time. Without her, your food would never make it off the farm – and we are immensely grateful for her hard work (sorry about those heavy totes this week, Monica!).

Last but not least, all of you. Thank you. For eating weird-looking roots and foreign winter squash. For taking the time to cook real meals and eat lots of vegetables. I know it’s easier and faster to open a can or throw something in the microwave, but your willingness to go the extra mile, to pick up your food every week, to peel those gnarly celeriacs, to try a new recipe, to eat with the seasons – all of that means that we have people to grow this food for. It means that we can make a livelihood in the place we love best along Floras Creek. It means that we get the chance to raise our kids here, to return to the same ground where we ourselves were happy, free kids.

It’s a very full, very good feeling, and it wouldn’t be possible without you.

I hope you hear this and take it to heart: Thank You. Capital T. Capital Y.

Parsnips!

The white carroty-looking roots in your share this week are parsnips, another often-overlooked vegetable in our American diet. They have a sweetish, nutty flavor unlike anything else and roast up wonderfully. They also make wicked parsnip-pear latkes: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Parsnip-and-Pear-Latkes-236766

Or try them honeyed with rosemary: http://www.valleyflorafarm.com/recipe_search/results/parsnips

Or in this year’s not-so-boring stuffing!

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Sausage-Pear-and-Parsnip-Stuffing-100463

http://www.valleyflorafarm.com/content/cornbread-dressing-roasted-root-vegetables

Parsnips will keep in a plastic bag in your fridge for months, so no pressure to learn to love them this week if you’re already up to your eyeballs in your usual Thanksgiving fare.

This Week’s Squash: Sunshine

For those of you who stick to a vegetarian diet, Sunshine is the quintessential squash to stuff and bake for a turkey-free Thanksgiving: simply cut the top off like a carving pumpkin lid, scoop out the seeds, fill it with a stuffing recipe you love, put the lid back on, and bake it until soft. You can wing it on this one, but consider adding some texture and color to your stuffing: nuts, dried cranberries, aromatic herbs, caramelized shallots, sautéed celeriac, etc. Here’s a wild rice stuffing recipe that brings it all together (it’s meant to be stuffed into a giant blue hubbard squash, but a sunshine squash is just as ideal): http://www.sweetvegan.net/wild-rice-stuffing/

And if you’re not vegetarian, you can always stuff this puppy with a sausage-enhanced mix of ingredients. Here are 20 (count them, 20!) other stuffing recipes to choose from – some vegetarian and some not:

http://www.epicurious.com/recipesmenus/slideshows/stuffings-and-dressings-1061

OR, simply enjoy a little Sunshine (it’s in short supply these days!) simple and straight up: cubed, tossed with olive oil and salt, and roasted until crispy-tender! The Loft restaurant in Bandon is making an incredible bisque with sunshine squash right now, and Alloro Wine Bar in Bandon is filling homemade raviolis with it.

Sunshine squash is tropical-sweet in flavor (wowza on the flavor scale!), with a dry flaky flesh. It stores for a long, long time, so no pressure to use this one right away if your Thanksgiving menu is already full. Ideal storage is about 60 degrees and not too humid.

Spice up your stuffing with some Cranky Baby!

Bets’ homegrown, handcrafted hot sauce is the bomb-diggity! Available by the bottle, half case, or case:

$5/bottle (5 oz)
$27/half case (6 bottles)
$48/case (12 bottles)

To order, please email us your: name, pickup location, and the quantity of bottles you would like. We’ll deliver to your pickup site.

In your share this week:

Shallots (a staple in stuffing & gravy)
Broccoli (Surprise! The last bonus broccoli of the year!)
Aromatic herbs – sage, rosemary, oregano & sweet marjoram (bake them with your bird, or add them to your stuffing…)
Brussels sprouts (roasted, so divine…)
Carrots (2# this week, in case you need extra for your feast…)
Celery (the last of the season)
Head lettuce – the last of the season!
Parsnips (be brave! try them!)
Potatoes (mash!)
Sunshine squash (stuff!)