Category Archives: CSA

The CSA we belong to offers members a bonus share if they renew their membership by a certain date. We made the deadline, so Saturday morning I bundled up and headed over to Stanfordville. I was really hoping for some cabbage (I’ve had slaw on the brain since I made burgers last week), but it seems that the crop was hit particularly hard by some kind of bug this year. Sigh… Oh well. We still recieved a generous amount of late-season veggies and if I were cooking Thanksgiving dinner I’d surely be all set!

Here’s what we got: spinach (there was a variety of other greens, but I did not feel like chard or arugula), onions, potatoes, garlic, turnips, sweet dumpling squash, butternut squash, carrots, and parsnips. I skipped celeriac and rutabega. (Confidential to Dad: I am so glad I gave you those three garlic cloves. Check it: four cloves in this share!) I’ll be bringing the butternut squash, turnips, and parsnips to my mother-in-law later this week. I might make stuffed squash with the sweet dumplings, and I plan on making onion soup this week since I have tons of onions.

It’s so funny to think that the next time I head over to the farm I will be days away from giving birth! Crazy!

All good things must come to an end. And such is the case with this year’s growing season at Sisters Hill Farm. Being part of community supported agriculture has been a wonderful experience — and a learning experience, to be sure! Some weeks it was a challenge not only to figure out how to prepare the vegetables, but how to preserve them as well. Some summer shares yielded far more than we could easily consume (all those tomatoes and eggplant come to mind!).

But I’m ready for a bit of a break, I admit. I skipped a few items yesterday. I passed over beets (I have two bags of puree in the freezer, and how many beet cakes will I realistically make?), celeriac, and greens (we are just not fans of chard, kale, et cetera — once in a while, yes, but I knew we would not be using them within a week). Here’s what I did take: 2 butternut squash, potatoes, onions (I took slightly less than our alloted amout), broccoli, a rutabaga, turnips, lots of green peppers, a head of garlic, 2 red chile peppers and 2 green chile peppers, carrots, parsnips (again, I took slightly less because I still have a bunch from last week), and 2 heads of lettuce.

I still have to send in our enrollment form for next year, but I think the bi-weekly shares will be such a great option for us. (Though I still plan on getting my canning equipment!)

Today I picked up our second-to-last share. It was pretty rainy and cold, so I just breezed through quick. I skipped the PYO flowers (there’s not much left honestly) and parsley (the only thing left of the herbs — I never use parsley anyway). I also passed over the tat soi, mustard greens, and choice of kale or swiss chard.

Even still, I think it’s quite the share. We got potatoes, onions, delicata squash, carrots, parsnips, a bell pepper, a head of garlic, radishes, broccoli, celeriac, a head of lettuce, and arugula. I still have a couple squash in the fridge so I think I’ll bring a couple down to my mother-in-law this weekend, as well as some potatoes and onions because we’re just overloaded with them. Though, tomorrow I do plan on cooking up a bunch of home fries and making a batch of breakfast burritos. I’ve made this recipe several times and they are so good! They freeze well and you just need to take them out to thaw before bed if you want them for breakfast. Once they’re warmed, I like to press them on my “panini press” (a.k.a. Foreman Grill) so they get crispy. Delicious!

Over the last week, the frost has killed any remaining tomatoes, zucchini, or cucumbers, so we are truly at the end of the harvest season. This week’s share included red potatoes, butternut squash, beets, radishes, peppers, parsnips, garlic, sweet potatoes, celeriac, broccoli, broccoli rabe, lettuce, and PYO cilantro, dill, and flowers. I’m tempted to call celeriac the “new eggplant” because I keep getting it and don’t know what to do with it. A couple weeks ago, I was going to make a puree with it, but I never quite got around to it. So now I have three enormous celeriacs in my fridge. I hate wasting food, but I think I’m going to have to throw one out into the woods. I’ve just been really tired lately and lacking a whole lot of motivation to search for new recipes for esoteric vegetables, and I don’t know if I want to go through the hassle of freezing the celery root. I still have to finish processing apples and pumpkins (and I’m sure I’ll freeze some of that broccoli — wow!). I am losing steam (as well as freezer space) when it comes to food preservation.

We’re down to the final weeks for our CSA. This week’s share included potatoes, delicata squash, radishes, green beans (and a couple “red noodle” purple yard-long beans) spinach, garlic, onions, peppers, lettuce, celeriac, two tiny eggplant, and a head of broccoli. I’ll bring my parents a squash (as well as some onions and maybe some spinach) this weekend. I’ve already blanched and frozen the broccoli. I still have the celeriac from last week (or was it the week before?), so if I don’t get around to using them next week, I’ll freeze those as well and use for soup down the road.

Our last regular pickup is on the 28, and there is a “bonus” pickup on November 22nd. I imagine that is extra root vegetables, but I’m not sure. In this week’s newsletter we learned that the farm needs to increase prices next year. That didn’t really surprise me, but the extra $100 would make the weekly shares cost-prohibitive for us. I don’t really want to split a share (2.5 radishes? 1/2 a garlic bulb? LOL…). But lucky for us, there will be a new option for next year: a bi-weekly share for $325-ish. We were thrilled to read that because I think it will work out great for us. As you’ve seen, the shares are quite big and almost always lasted us more than a week. I froze a lot and gave some produce to family members, too. It will also cost us less than we paid this year for the weekly distribution, so that is great too. I really like eating local food and supporting local farmers, and organic is certainly nice too so I’d hate to have to give it up. Hopefully they’ll have sign-up information soon.

Want to know a sure sign of autumn? I bet you’re thinking about that cute little pumpkin right? Well, kind of. But I was thinking more along the lines of my skin going crazy. Seriously, every time the season turns from summer to fall and winter to spring my skin harkens back to my teenage youth, breaking out uncontrollably. I’d be searching for acne cures if I didn’t know it was so short-lived. Hopefully it will all balance out soon.

But on to more exciting fall happenings, like yesterday’s farm share. Yes! We got another pie pumpkin. It is almost too cute to eat, but eat it we will, especially since I still have last week’s. I borrowed a Shaker cookbook from the library and it has an interesting recipe for baked pumpkin. I think I might try that. I also got a head of lettuce, carrots, fennel, zucchini (last of the season… sniff!), radishes, a delicata squash (so yummy), Japanese eggplant, garlic, broccoli, cabbage (which I chose over beans), turnips (which I chose over beets), peppers, tomatoes, onions, and PYO flowers and herbs. I just took a bit of basil and a bit of cilantro.

All in all, this will be a really easy share to use up. While I was hoping there’d be butternut squash for the choosing this week (I know they picked some!), I’m still happy with the delicata. That variety is so delicious and buttery! I had no idea how much I loved squash until I met this guy. The funniest part is, I remember one night when I was a kid (maybe I was nine or ten?), and I had this blob of mashed squash on my plate and I thought it was just the grossest thing ever. Mom didn’t usually give us veggies that we hated, but I think I was being especially nasty that day 😉 At any rate, I do love squash now. I still have the daikon radish from last week. Maybe I’ll slice it up along with radishes, the last zucchini, broccoli, and some carrot sticks this weekend and serve it with a yogurt dip to nibble on one afternoon. I think I’ll be playing it mostly by ear.

It was a little sad to wear my wool sweater to the farm yesterday, see the leaves falling from the trees, and to see the crops turning and realize that harvest season is winding down. I learned so much about storage and preservation this summer, though. And I also tried quite a few veggies I was unfamiliar with, but discovered that I love (kohlrabi, for example). But it’s not over quite yet, so I’ll enjoy the next couple weeks.

Tuesday’s share was a fun one! I was really excited about the pumpkin and the daikon radish. I’ve never had one before, so I’m looking forward to cooking with it. Lots of good, healthy stuff that we’ve all been enjoying. I can’t imagine taking an appetite supressant like Phentermine when my fridge is full of food and my head swimming with ideas! Also in this week’s share: one head of lettuce (not pictured because we ate some of it with dinner that night and it just got put back in the fridge), turnips, beets, braising greens, tomatoes (a few nice heirlooms this week, last week was was mostly romas), peppers, fennel, celeriac, yellow squash, a huge head of broccoli, onions, radishes, and the usual PYO stuff. I still have a bunch of herbs from last week, so I just picked some flowers. They didn’t last more than a day though. Clearly, oh so clearly, summer is over.

Last night I made homemade French Fries with the Adirondack Blue potatoes we got last week. They are more purple than blue, but the boys got such a huge kick out of them! I even got out my old Fry Daddy to make the fries, somehow managing to NOT scald myself with oil. I can count on one hand the number of times in my life I’ve deep-fried anything, so I was a little nervous. But I might slice the rest of the potatoes thin, and slice the beets the same way and make some chips. Not today, but maybe this weekend. The bad thing about the deep fryer is that I have to do it outside, because the smell just lingers and I can’t stand it.

I think our CSA goes until November — I haven’t heard an official final date, but I am already wondering how we’ll get through the winter. We have been spoiled by taking part in this. That’s for sure.

Beautiful colors this week! (As always, really). We got 2 heads of lettuce, 3 leeks, 3.5 lbs. tomatoes, 3 lbs. (I think…) of red potatoes, 2 lbs. or so of onions, 2 zucchini, 1 winter squash, 3 peppers, 1 bunch of turnips, 1 cuke, 1 head of garlic, 1 eggplant. I skipped on the greens this week (didn’t see us fitting them in, honestly) as well as the PYO stuff (because it was all wet and muddy in the fields).

I don’t have grand plans for anything, really. Some roasting. Some sauteeing. Some salads. Etc. I spent last Saturday morning peeling, slicing, and making pickled vegetables (zucchini, carrots, and peppers). I had grand plans to lactoferment some cucumbers into pickles, but I wanted to use whey (a la Nourishing Traditions) instead of salt. I only had two small cups of plain yogurt in the fridge, and draining them even until Monday didn’t result in enough whey to make a jar, so I’m putting that project back on the shelf for another time. I will probably give sauerkraut a try soon, as I know we’ll be getting cabbage in the next couple weeks. I’m looking forward to that!

It’s Thursday, isn’t it? Wow… what a crazy week it’s been! Saturday we picked up the boys from my parents. Sunday Drew’s mom and aunt visited. And Monday and Tuesday we were in the Adirondacks on a spur-of-the-moment vacation. Yesterday I was trying to do laundry, fill out paperwork, make a lunch and snacks, and get everything ready for Jake’s first day of school (today!).

At any rate, in this week’s share we have carrots, lettuce, leeks, arugula, peppers, tomatoes (6 pounds!), zucchini, squash, onions, garlic, and cukes, plus PYO cherry tomatoes, herbs, and flowers. I ate horribly over the weekend, and I am really looking forward to some healthy veggies! Next week Drew and I are starting South Beach again, too. For me it’s better than any diet pill because it gets me back on track with healthy eating. But I have a couple more days to indulge a little so today I plan on making carrot cake cookies from a recipe I got at Woodloch back in February. Plus, I thought that would be a nice treat for Jake when he gets home 🙂