In This Week’s Beet Box:
- New Produce: Monster Kohlrabi & Scarlet Queen Turnips
- Tamales This Week!
- Stuff Some Stockings with Cranky Baby Hot Sauce!
- Last Two Weeks!
- 2014 CSA Sign-ups
In your share this week:
- Delicata Winter Squash
- Green Cabbage
- Kohlrabi
- Leeks
- Carrots
- Scarlet Queen Turnips
On Rotation:
- Broccoli
- Radicchio
- Chard
New Produce
Monster Kohlrabi: You’ve gotten kohlrabi from us before this season, but never any that were as big as a baby’s head. This is our late-season storage variety, and in my opinion, the best-tasting kohlrabi there is. Just like the other varieties, you need to peel the tough outer skin. What you’ll find inside is a tender, sweet, crunchy treat that is something akin to jicama crossed with broccoli stem. This is my favorite kohlrabi for raw-eating, plain or with dip. But you can also cook it up - steamed, sautéed, stir-fried or roasted.
This variety is intended for storage, so it’ll be fine in your fridge if you don’t get to it for a month or two. Our household stash keeps all winter long in the cooler, no problemo.
Scarlet Queen Turnips: It’s hard to resist growing a hot-pink vegetable, especially for this time of year when the palette of farm color has been diminished to mostly greens and browns. They’re a relatively mild turnip (like radishes, all the kick is in the skin). They should keep for weeks in the fridge.
Tamales This Week
Tamales shares go out this week. If you are a tamale member, look for your final tamale share in the blue cooler at your pickup site this week.
Stuff Some Stockings with Cranky Baby Hot Sauce!
A few years back, Bets endeavored to make the perfect hot sauce and she succeeded. Handcrafted with homegrown serrano peppers that are vine-ripened to a sassy red in the greenhouses, Cranky Baby strikes the perfect balance between hot, sweet and tangy. Think Tabasco, only 100 times better…
(Even if you don't like spicy stuff, it's worth investing for the label alone. That's our very own Pippin in the highchair, with a little help from PhotoShop...)
This year’s vintage is now available to our CSA members by the case (12-five ounce bottles per case for $48). It’s shippable if you want to mail it out, and you can fly with it if you’re traveling for the holidays. If you only want a bottle or two, it’s also available at our farmstand ($5/bottle) this week and next week.
To order your case, please email us your:
- Name
- Pickup Location
- Quantity of cases you would like
We’ll deliver to your pickup site.
(Cranky Baby is approved for farm-direct sale by the Oregon Department of Agriculture.)
Last Two Weeks!
We’re winding down. The cold snap that's moving in this week is adding some definitive punctuation to the end of the season. You’ll receive your final Harvest Basket/eggs/bread NEXT week, the week of December 9th. Final pick-up dates are as follows:
- Valley Flora: Wednesday, December 11
- Coos Bay: Wednesday, December 11
- Port Orford: Friday, December 13
- Bandon: Saturday, December 14
2014 CSA Sign-ups
This season is not even over yet and we are already knee-deep in planning for 2014: making next year’s field maps, teasing out the crop plan, and ordering seeds. (Believe it or not, we’ll be sowing next year’s onions, leeks and shallots in the greenhouse in less than 6 weeks.)
Many of you have been asking about signing up for next season. The plan is to do priority sign-ups in January. Anyone who was a member of the CSA this season – that being anyone who got a Harvest Basket, eggs, bread, salad share, and/or tamales this year - will be included in the priority sign-up process in January. If you are included in the priority sign-up process, you will be guaranteed a Harvest Basket if you want one. (Our Harvest Baskets are limited and always sell out so we give priority to returning members each year. There is usually no limit on eggs, bread, salad, or tamales).
We will send out a direct email to our entire 2013 membership in early January with specific sign-up instructions for 2014. Please be sure that we have your correct email address so you don’t miss out on your sign-up invitation.
Then, starting in March, we’ll move on to our waiting list and sign up wait-listed individuals until the Harvest Baskets are sold out.
The Valley Flora Crystal Ball
No promises, but your LAST TOTE of 2013 might include some of the following next week:
- Leeks
- Brussels sprouts or Romanesco
- Kale or chard
- Shallots
- Parsnips
- Potatoes
- Carrots
- Sunshine squash
Recipes Galore
Please note: all of our produce is field-rinsed, not washed. We recommend you wash all of your produce before eating it.
For recipes and ideas, check out these links:
http://www.valleyflorafarm.com/forum/4
Our own collection of recipes, where you can contribute and share your favorites
http://www.valleyflorafarm.com/content/recipe-searcher
Our website’s recipe “search engine,” where you can hunt down recipes by ingredient
A vast collection of recipes, searchable by one or multiple ingredients
http://info2.farmfreshtoyou.com/index.php?cmd=RE
A storehouse of recipes, searchable by ingredient
http://helsingfarmcsa.com/recipes.php
A Washington farm that has a good collection of seasonal recipes
