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Basking in Sunny Fall Days

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Basking in Sunny Fall Days
Reminders & Announcements
  • This week, we deliver to weekly Fall Vegetable Shares members.
  • October Pizza Night Canceled - We hoped for 60s and sunshine, but with a chilly, rainy forecast for Sunday (not so good for rolling pizza dough or eating outdoors!), we are canceling the October Pizza Night on the Farm. Thank you to Pizzeria DeVille for creative, delicious farm pizzas, to our talented musicians friends, Ryan Herrick and Bruce Moon, and to everyone who joined us for an evening on the farm this summer! We had a great time visiting with you and look forward to hosting at the farm again soon. Please stay tuned for future farm events!
This Week's Vegetable Harvest:
  • Parsnips 
  • Celery Root
  • Green Cabbage
  • Cilantro
  • Leeks
  • Japanese Salad Turnips 
  • Green Tomatoes 
  • Beautyheart Radishes 
  • Curly Kale
Farm Photo Journal
Good sunny morning from the farm!
Fall mornings take a slower start with late sunrises and frost-covered fields. Jeff captured the foggy morning that occurs in hoophouses, as the sun warms the more humid, hoophouse air. The sunny warm up helps the winter spinach grow steadily. Soon the plants will go into a more quiet state as temperatures dip and the days get shorter.
Once the plants are warmed, the morning fog has lifted and the crew's fingers are thawed, we dive into the weekly list of projects in the warmth of sunshine.
Last week, our farm crew spent the day planting nearly 7,500 cloves of garlic to grow into next year's garlic and green garlic crops. Jeff seeded oats, cover crop, beside the garlic rows which serve as our "living walkway" keeping the soil nourished and protected from windy fall days.
We started this specific cover crop rotation with oats, as they establish quickly. Later this week we will seed a more winter hardy cover crop (such as rye or vetch) into the oats to grow through the winter and into next year.
We generally see garlic sprouts emerge after the snowfall melts from the warm, mulched spring soil. Before you know it, we'll be harvesting in the field again. Until then, we relish the last field planting projects of the season and enjoy working (and basking) in the beautiful, warm fall sunshine.
Enjoy this week's sunshine and your share of the harvest!

Your farmers,

Jeff, Jen and the farm crew
Notes from the Farm Kitchen
Cabbage takes on its best flavor in fall due to the cold frosts and daytime warmup cycles that occur in the fall time. Cabbage can store well in a refridgerator drawer. You can put the cabbage in a plastic bag to help retain moisture but it isn’t totally necessary. If you use only a partial head, make sure to tightly wrap the remainder and put into the fridge. When properly stored, cabbage can last from 3 weeks to up to 2 months in your refrigerator.
Parsnips are closely related to carrots, though they have a nutty-sweet taste and hearty texture all their own. Jeff and team dug these parsnips this fall, so they are young, delicate and particularly well-suited to sautés, mashing or roasting. They will store well wrapped in plastic in your refrigerator and here's a great piece to inspire your parsnip cooking.
Celery root, also known as celeriac, is a funny-looking but delicious relative of celery. Use a sharp kitchen knife to trim the outside layer from the bulb before chopping it. Because celery root has a mild celery flavor, we use in place of celery in soups, stews and roasted vegetable medleys. The bulb will store for weeks to months in a plastic bag in the refrigerator.  
2019 Prairie Wind Farm Share Registration Open!
Early farm share registration helps us to better plan our fall plantings and spring work for the upcoming season.

We appreciate your early commitment! As a thank you, we're offering our renewing members 5% off Spring/Summer/Fall Vegetable Package Share and/or the Summer Fruit Package Share through November 30th. Please use discount code renew at checkout.

Sharing food with our community is at the heart of our farm. Your membership and support makes this possible. We look forward to sharing the 2019 harvest with you!
Farm Kitchen Recipes

Fried Green Tomatoes with Crispy Cornmeal Crust
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cornmeal, flour or combination
1 1/4 teaspoons salt plus more to taste
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper plus more to taste
3-4 firm green tomatoes, cored and cut into 1/4 slices

Line a plate with paper towels. Put the milk into a shallow bowl. Put the cornmeal/flour in another shallow bowl and stir in salt and pepper.

Fill a large skillet 1/4 deep with oil. Heat over high heat until the oil just begins to smoke about 3 minutes.

Dip each tomato slice into the liquid, then cornmeal/flour. Carefully place tomato slices into oil and cook until golden and soft (but not mushy), 3-4 minutes per side. Adjust the heat to prevent burning. Transfer to paper-towel lined plate to drain. Season with salt and pepper, and serve.
(from Farmer John's Cookbook)

Pasta With Caramelized Cabbage, Anchovies and Bread Crumbs
5 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
4 anchovy fillets
½ cup coarse bread crumbs
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh sage
¼ teaspoon black pepper, plus more, to taste
Kosher salt, to taste
1 pound dry penne
⅓ cup extra virgin olive oil
½ teaspoon red chile flakes
8 cups shredded cabbage
⅔ cup grated pecorino or Parmesan.
 
Mince one garlic clove. Melt the butter in a small skillet over medium heat. Add the anchovies and cook, mashing with a spatula, until they dissolve into the butter. Stir in the minced garlic and cook until fragrant. Stir in the bread crumbs and sage and cook until bread is golden brown, about 2 minutes. Season with black pepper.
 
Bring a large pot of heavily salted water to a boil. Add the pasta and cook according to package instructions until barely al dente. Drain.
 
While the pasta cooks, heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the remaining garlic and cook until golden brown. Add the chile and cook until fragrant. Stir in the cabbage and cook, stirring occasionally, until it begins to caramelize, about 10 minutes. Toss in the pasta and bread-crumb mixture and heat through, then quickly toss in the cheese and remove from heat. Season with salt and more pepper, if desired, and serve immediately.
(NYTimes.com)

Maple Glazed Turnips & Carrots -  I've sautéed the turnip greens with garlic to use as a bed for this sweet, fall dish. 
1 bunch salad turnips
2 large carrots, peeled
1/4 cup chicken stock or water
2 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon grade A or B maple syrup
salt and freshly ground black pepper
 
Scrub turnips and cut into quarters.  Slice the carrot at an angle into ½ inch-thick pieces.  Put the vegetables and stock in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil.  Cover and cook until the turnips are barely tender, about 7 minutes.  Reduce the heat to medium-high and add the butter and maple syrup.  Stir to coat the vegetables and continue to cook uncovered until the vegetables are glazed and beginning to caramelize around the edges, about 2 minutes.  Season with salt and pepper and serve.
Next Week's Harvest (our best guess)...beets, dill, butternut squash, lettuce, red onions and more!

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