In this week's CSA share:
- Fennel - fat and juicy, as good as it gets!
- Celeriac - featured Fall item this week! We turn to the Brits for inspiration in this creative and totally vegetarian twist on a burger: Celeriac Steak Burgers with Fennel Slaw
- Red Potatoes
- Head Lettuce
- Collard Greens
- Red Beets
- Carrots
- Leeks
- Delicata Squash
On Rotation:
- Cauliflower
Winter CSA Sign-Ups are Live - Priority Sign-up for Current CSA Members Ends Saturday 11/15!
If you're a current CSA member and want to sign up for our Winter CSA, now's your moment! You should have received a couple direct emails from us with a link to sign up. If you are currently a member and did not get an email, reach out so we can send you the link!
Our priority sign-up window ends this Saturday, November 15th, at which point we will offer any remaining Winter Shares to our farmstand customers and the general public.
Keep in mind we offer half as many CSA shares in the winter, so space is limited. We give our current CSA members first dibs on Winter Shares - so don’t delay, reserve your Winter Share today!
(Sidenote: our farmstand is closed from January to May and we scale back our deliveries to stores and co-ops, so the Winter CSA is the best way to get the full and freshest diversity of Valley Flora produce through the winter months).
Reminder: No CSA Deliveries the Week of Thanksgiving!
Mark you calendar, there will be no CSA delivery on Wednesday, November 26th or Saturday, November 29th. The farm crew will be on Thanksgiving break. Regular CSA deliveries will resume the week of December 1st.
Farm Photo of the Week
I've never seen a praying mantis in the act of creating her egg sac, but this Sunday while gathering apples for cider pressing the kids discovered this one high up on a south-facing fencepost:
I LOVE encountering praying mantises on the farm, both because they're the most regal of insect creatures and because they're wonderful allies as beneficial predators of other pests. We find their spray-foamy egg cases all over the farm in the fall and winter, but seeing one being laid inspired me to look it up on Ask Extension:
"The adult female mantis lays her massive egg case, known as an ootheca, on twigs, stems, rocks, or even the sides of buildings or fence posts. Ootheca comes from the Greek word "oo," meaning egg and the Latin word, "theca," meaning a cover or container.
For the female, the location requires only that it will hold her body weight and is somewhat vertical.
After laying, the ootheca quickly hardens in preparation for a winter slumber, and the mother will die shortly after. These egg cases, which we tend to find in fall and winter, are light brown, about 1.5 inches wide and look like foam insulation. Within each foam-like ootheca are dozens or hundreds mantis eggs that can survive the perils of winter because of their foamy insulation.
If they must be removed from a wall, transfer them to a sheltered place. Never put an egg case on the ground; the eggs inside will be consumed by ants.
When springlike temperatures greet us, we can expect some 100 to 200 praying mantids to hatch or emerge from each egg case, starting their journey to find insects, which may include their brothers and sisters. Most of the mantises that hatch from an egg case will die from starvation or cannibalism. They are territorial and by the end of the summer, usually, only one adult remains."
With those kind of survival odds, makes me appreciate every mantis even more! Also makes me kinda glad not to be one :)
