Summer 2022 CSA - Week of September 12th

Full share: 2 Cucumbers, bunching leeks, carrots, collards, heirloom tomato, basil, cherry tomatoes, italian dandelion greens, fennel

Half share: 1 Cucumber, bunching leeks, carrots, collards, heirloom tomato, basil, summer squash

Hello CSAers! 

As the air turns cooler and the mornings roll in a few minutes later each day, we find ourselves in the final stretch of Summer CSA. With four weeks (including this one) remaining and with outdoor time slightly more limited you can really make the most of the last of summer produce. 

Recipes you’ve been meaning to try? Make them! Experiments you’ve been dreaming up? Go for it! Veg you loved from that one CSA box last month you haven’t been able to stop thinking about? Stop by the market stand and chances are we’ll have it in stock or be able to point you towards a worthy substitute. Which brings me to notes and updates:

  • New market stand hours! Tuesdays are the same, 12-6pm. Thursdays are now 3pm-6pm and Saturdays are 9am-3pm. These hours will go through the end of the month and will change again once Fall Festival starts.

  • Fall Festival begins Friday, September 30th! We’ll have the pumpkin patch and hayrides going Friday-Sundays and the market stand will be open Tuesdays-Sundays with updated hours TBA.

  • We did experience a frost last week, but only a light one. A few crops and flowers didn’t make it and others were affected more mildly. Carrots, collards, leeks and more all benefit from a light frost as the cold weather leads them to turn their starches into sugars. Fall harvest is here!

  • Winter CSA goes on sale tomorrow! Winter CSA begins in November and runs through January and is full shares only. Sign-up and info here.


Produce:

  • Heirloom tomatoes: Beautiful, delicious, mysterious, umami! Heirlooms are so good on their own (sprinkled with salt and pepper, added to sandwiches or made into a simple caprese salad) that cooking them feels almost sacrilegious, but I liked this little tomato blurb from the book Umami Bomb by Raquel Pelzel (donated to the lending library by a lovely CSA member -- accepting cook/food related books always!): “The combination of acidic, sweet, and savory -- specifically glutamic acid -- is especially high in tomatoes, and as tomatoes ripen, the amount of glutamates increases as well. Now, cook those tomatoes and you concentrate all of that savory deliciousness, intensifying the sweet along with it… roasted tomatoes lend themselves particularly well to tarts, salsa, and even tomato butter.” Tomato jam is also a personal favorite. We are drowning in tomatoes over in the market stand so stop by this week to get your fill!

  • Carrots: Farm carrots are another personal favorite, and are probably the veg that I get the most comments about. The sweetness of fall carrots is unparalleled and cooking them brings the flavor out even more. I really love this recipe for spicy carrot dip, and was intrigued by this one, too. Play around with herbs and spices! 

Recipes

Now you’ll hear from Adam. Vermont native, fourth year crew member, founder of our education program, and an all around stand up guy. Stay tuned for pictures of his farm infused wedding at the end of this month!

My name is Adam, I am the Education Director here on the farm, but my job allows me to spend a good amount of time farming in addition to teaching our campers and farm schoolers.  I get the great pleasure of writing the first post-frost newsletter, which is a very special time of year in the cycle of farming, a time of year marked by coming together and celebration.  In the fields throughout the summer us farmers tend to spread out.  A few of us here in the snap peas, others there in the herbs, and way out beyond the row of trees a couple folks bent over pulling scallions.  After work and on weekends the trend continues.  Some folks hike that peak, others go backpacking in those mountains, while others stay and fish the river on the farm.  We mingle in and out of one another’s lives but maintain our own courses through the summer heat.  But then the frost comes, the squash leaves freeze and turn brown, the nights come cold and early.  On the farm, the camaraderie begins.  Where there once were dozens of different crops to be harvested, now there are just the bulk crops, demanding a whole team of farmers to bring them forth from the earth.  So today, rather than sending little groups spreading throughout the farm, we all march in celebration to the onions and we dance the festival of the squash harvest.  Outside of the farm, the cold draws us together for potlucks, music, and dancing.  And so, with this week’s CSA, think about how you would like to celebrate the changing of the seasons and the bounty of the harvest.  With a whole season of CSA cooking under your belt, harness your creativity and cook something to share.  And if it moves you, let the tasty food carry your evening forwards, towards the music, and dance.

Enjoy this triptych of Adam with unofficial mascot of RCF, Teddy.

Jacy Rothschiller