surrealestate: (Sentient Broccoli)
I thought my last post on the subject would be the last haul, but I was happily mistaken. Thanksgiving weekend, Steve let us known the fields were still open and there was plenty left out there, so JV and I headed over. Mark was going to come, too, but he'd run nine miles with me that morning and couldn't walk. So we gave him a pass on that one.

Weather was perfect for picking. We started in one of the satellite fields where frosts had pushed the giant turnips up to the surface, which made for blissfully easy harvesting. We could have brought home a truckload of turnips if we'd had a truck (and a reason to take that many). The field also had fennel, mustard greens, and arugula, though the latter two were already too bitter for my personal tastes. Back to the main fields, we found the pumpkin patch and rummaged through to find plenty, dug up carrots, parsnips, beets, and leeks, cut broccoli, chard, and purple caabbage, and found some of the sweetest lettuce ever. Steve also gave me some mushrooms he'd foraged. All in all, an absurdly productive afternoon.

Upon returning home, I took a long, hot shower and headed to a massage party with the intention of doing nothing but (possibly) getting worked on. Unsurprisingly, that wasn't exactly how it went down, but I had a great time and look forward to the possibility of more of the same.

Meanwhile, I still have plenty of veggies to deal with and have already signed up with Steve for next year.
surrealestate: (Sentient Broccoli)
Oops, Week 20 was in October and I somehow never got around to posting this. Better late than never and all that.

List back here )

Dried: maitake
Froze: arugula pesto, vegetable stock
Canned: applesauce
Fermented: sauerkraut, ginger carrots

As always post-share season, Steve invited us to come and harvest from his fields. Due to scheduling issues (and also being sick), I unfortunately had to miss that, but I did send along some apfelwein with Mark and Jonathan, who did get out there both to help and to pick.

Things they brought back include lots of pumpkins, butternuts, lettuce, spinach, carrots, turnips, beets, leeks, broccoli, chard, and whatever else I'm not thinking of. All together, several metric buttloads worth of food. Yay! It's sad for the season to be over, but I will be working by way through these fall crops for many more weeks, which is a nice bonus. I also still have some things to harvest from the garden, including kale and carrots.

I will try to recap the 2009 farm share season in a separate post at some point and also recap my harvest/preserving season in general. There is still plenty to be done with the latter, though, and more evil plans being formed. I mean good. Very good.

Meanwhile, could anyone out there accompany me to CostCo along with a membership card in the next day or two? I can potentially ply you with various goodies.

surrealestate: (Sentient Broccoli)
Last week, Parker Farm said that due to this year's horrid conditions, shares would have to be canceled for the rest of the season. I was, of course, quite sad over the news, but given the situation all over the state, it wasn't entirely surprising. A few days later, Steve changed his mind and announced that, with some small changes and understanding that hauls would likely be smaller, things would, in fact continue. Yay! Too bad he didn't just start out by saying there'd be no drop-off that week, which would have saved an assortment of annoyance on various sides.

Ironically, despite that, last week was the biggest total haul of the year, because my share partner and I went out to Red Fire on Monday to harvest and came home with a metric buttload, then I helped Steve a bit at the farmer's market Saturday which yielded as much as I could carry on my bike. A lot of CSA members had stopped by to say hi and offer support. It was good to see. And because Steve is awesome, he sent us all home with extras.

Week 16++ )

And on the food preservation front:
Canned: tomatillo salsa verde, more tomatillo salsa verde, roasted red pepper spread
Dried: tomatoes, apples, apple powder, oregano, parsley, rosemary, green & yellow beans, mushrooms
Froze: blackberries

I hope everyone who went for it had an easy fast (mine wasn't too bad).

surrealestate: (Sentient Broccoli)
I've decided to change formats and start posting the full share hauls. It's a better reference for me that way and more useful for people curious about what comes in, especially in conjunction with the new tags.

Week 13

  • 1 bunch mustard greens
  • 1 bunch arugula
  • 1 bunch cilantro
  • 3 onions
  • 1 bunch carrots
  • 6 green peppers
  • 1 head broccoli
  • 2 lbs tomatoes
  • 2 lbs green tomatoes
  • 2 lbs apples
  • 1 lb peaches
    --
  • 1 winter squash (I chose spaghetti)
  • 2 eggplant
  • 2 hot peppers (poblano)
  • 1 lb cukes
  • 2 lbs onions
  • 1 lb summer squash
  • 1 lb yellow wax beans
  • 2 lbs sweet peppers
  • 1 bunch kale or collards (I took the latter)
  • 1/2 pint cherry tomatoes
    --
  • 3 lbs peaches
  • 1 melon (honeydew)

In addition, due to my helping out all afternoon, I ended up with even more extra bonuses, including many peaches, tons of wax beans, more cherry tomatoes, jalapeƱos, winter squash, melons, and a huge bunch of kale. Whew!

This week, I've dried more tomatoes as well as pear slices and also froze: blackberries, green beans, roasted eggplant, and the best tomato sauce ever. I could have canned the sauce but I didn't want to acidulate and even moreso, didn't want to boil it to hell. I'm grateful for plenty of freezer space which gives me that option. I'll be making more sauce and it's so good that I'm tempted to buy bulk tomatoes to make even more. Will ponder.

I still plan to can, and besides the peaches and pears, I'll also do dilly beans, which is pretty much the easiest, fastest canning recipe ever, so I might as well try it since I've got all those beans. I'm thinking of getting out the juicer and funneling the pear abundance into some pear cider.

And speaking of putting food by, if you're interested in organic bulk ordering, read behind this cut )

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