We're organizing this for 3 weeks from now.  It will be as outlandish and great as the participants make it.  Spread the word if you know of anybody that preserves goodies.  One could certainly come with some baked goods if they had no food put up.  Label everything you bring and be prepared to make offers.

-flip-

p.s. much enjoyed the meal last night. dingleberries take the cake.

!L!a!s!t!!D!i!s!t!r!i!b!u!t!i!o!n!

Morning everyone,

*Today's veggies are good to go.  Final pickup today.  Bit sad!  The garden is tranquil now, compared to the bustle in September.  There's a moderately intimidating to-do list that we're ticking off items one by one from.

*The brussel sprouts snap right off the stalk.  Their growth is like a mini cabbage, so any junkier outer leaves can be peeled back.  Pan frying them with garlic and butter is tasty. Halve them if you want a faster saute.  

*We haven't tried the parsnips yet this season, hopefully they're sweet. I enjoy roasting them; sliced into round coins and adding them to cubed beets, shallots, whole garlic cloves and potatoes tossed in oil, salt and pepper (sage or rosemary optional). That's just a flavor combo that works for me, you can add any roots or alliums you have.
*Also there's shallots, dino kale, bok choi or tatsoi, delicata squash, yellowstone carrots and potatoes (fresh shares).

*Reminder: There's more hardy greens in the garden for U-pick.  Come by before your Thanksgiving meal.  Contact us if you want to go to the garden together. 
*We're heading out to the garden now to continue tackling chores.

SEE YOU TOMORROW AT THE POTLUCK AT ROSA AND CHRIS'S!

kudos to everyone.  keep in touch, flip

canned oregano carrots (special fave)

This tastes good.  No need to blanch the carrots first, and thus the finished treat is nice and crunchy.  This recipe is for 2 pints.  I actually multiply it by seven to make 2 full cannerloads, but I'm giving out the original in case folks aren't planning on preserving large quantities. 

OREGANO CARROTS

2 pints 

3 Tbsp chopped fresh oregano or 2 Tbsp dried

2 Tbsp chopped red pepp (optional) -i include the sweet peppers when i'm canning this recipe earlier in the season, they're long gone now

2 Tbsp chopped green pepp (optional)

1/4 tsp red pepper flakes or 1 lit' hot pepper per jar

2 cloves garlic

1 lb carrots

1 1/2 cups vineger

1/3 cup sugar

1/3 cup water

1 tsp pickling salt

15 minutes

These are sealed in a hot water bath.  This is not an entire tutorial on that method of preservation, but we can answer questions if they come up for you.  Ample, clear working surface makes this run more smoothly.  Including on the stove.  3 burners are necessary between the canner, vinegar brine and sterilization of caps and bands.

Fill your canner half full of water and put it on a large burner on med or hi.  If it comes to a full boil before you're ready, lower the heat so the water is not boiling off for long periods of time.

Meanwhile, line up your clean jars on the counter.  In each goes: 1 Tbsp dried oregano, 1Tbsp red pepper, 1 Tbsp green pepper, pepper flakes/a little whole hot pepper and 1 or 2 cloves of garlic.  Clean your carrots and cut them to your desired size.  Depending on their size and shape, I generally make the pieces smaller so I can fit lots of carrots without lots of gaps between them.  Before packing the carrots into the jars, put your brine on the stove to heat while you're working on the carrots.  That's the vinegar, water, salt and sugar.  At the same time, sterilize your lids and bands by putting them in a pan of water to boil.

Fill the jars with carrots, stuffing them full.  Leave the top 3/4 inch clear of veg.  At this point you need all your pots of liquid to be boiling.  If they are, start filling the jars with the brine to within 1/2 in of top.  Put hot lid and band on jar.  Screw on tighly then loosen slightly to allow aire to escape during canning.  When the jars are ready, put them into a canning basket and lower them simultaneously into the boiling water.  Allow canner to come back to boil and then process for 15 minutes. Remove from water and allow to cool before handling.  I generally leave the bands on overnight and check the seal the following morning.  The lid should be sucked down and you should be able to pick up the entire jar, holding onto only the lid.

Wait at least 2 weeks before opening to allow flavors to meld.
We have a spare canner available for short-term loan.

enjoy, flip

E-mail if you'd like some or more smaller carrots for preserving.

       GIVING THANKS

+ big shared meal at Chris and Rosa's house + 
 + closing whizbang potluck of the season! +

      +this SATURDAY the 13th +

          + 6pm +     
       + 40 state street +  
+ bring a savory dish, beverage or appetizer +

  GAMES to FOLLOW DINNER (may get rowdy) 
    + rsvp'ing is cool +

      + families welcome +

doug jones! and such

Morning all.  We're ready for pickup over here on 27.  We're headed out to the garden now for a soggy outdoor project.

One of the greens you'll be receiving today was bred by a founder of Birdsfoot, Doug Jones.  He lived in this area for many years, sharing his excitement about organic gardening.  It's called 'senposai select,' and is the thick, broad collard-esque looking one.  Here's what Fedco seeds had to say about it:

 A stabilized selection of interspecific hybrid Senposai by Doug Jones in North Carolina. Jones has rogued out non-typical leaf shapes, early bolters and weaker plants. We found it to be just a tad less tender than commercial Senposai, but much more bolt resistant. Inspired by the Restoring Our Seed project to explore his muse as a plant breeder, Jones presents us here with some good first fruits.

It's neat to see an old North Country dude, show up in the seed catalogues.


There's all manner of roots in your baskets today as well.   Turnips, rutabagas, daikon, carrots, black radish.  For the whole shares you may have multiple bags of carrots or beets.  Their graded by size, and the smaller ones can be eaten first, juiced or canned.  I'll attach my favorite canned carrot routine later on.


For now, adios- and enjoy the food,
Flip

final distributions for the season

topping carrots

We're wrapping up the year on the river.  All in all, October was pretty damn mild.  It allowed us to get things out of the ground at a relatively sane pace.  There were no mad dashes mid-month due to severe weather.  Even last night the forecast was calling for 22 degrees.  I wish we'd had a Hi-Lo thermometer out in the field, because it seems the river buffered us and it didn't hit that low.  We'd left some test squares of various greens out, and the majority were still standing tall: spinach, chinese cabbage, lettuces, bok choy etc...  We had been expecting last night to be the final curtain call on a bunch of that stuff.

Next Friday November 12th will be the final pickup of the year.  All in all, there were 21 weeks of distribution for the fresh shares (as opposed to the 18 weeks we'd originally planned).  The whole shares were out picking greens 6 weeks before that. We'd intended to switch to bi-weekly pickups for fresh folks in October, but ample food was in the field so we opted to continue making it available.  This week the whole shares will be receiving more of their storage roots; which includes carrots and turnips.  

Who knows where the temperatures will go from here.  But as long as there are hardy greens in the garden, they will be available on a U-pick basis.  We're talking kale, collards, spinach and some lesser known greens.  The kale and collards are straight ahead when you walk in the front gate.  There is enough kale in there for some go-getters among you to get it and freeze it for winter soups and such.  Past and just in line with the shed.  If you prefer to pick when we're there, call or e-mail ahead of time.

We thank you all for joining us in this tremendous growing season.  Each one is different, and always eventful.

If you have any questions....

-flip-

roots in the drain rack, that's a BLACK storage radish

And keep your ear to the ground about next Saturday's giving thanks CSA dinner over at Rosa and Chris's.