Walnut tree leaves changing and falling in the wind ...
Saturday morning, we flipped to the next month on our calendar and then turned to build the season’s first fire (the latest we can remember!). Without a doubt, November puts us in the second half of fall and at the beginning of the darkest, dreariest third of the year (November – February). Change is all about us, being blown in on these cold, wet winds, tearing yellow leaves from trees and littering the ground.
Amidst all this seasonal shifting, other shifts are happening at the edges of our life as well. Perhaps we are just paying better attention than at other times, but it feels like this fall has brought with it quite the wave of endings. So many people we care about are closing significant chapters of their lives. My father has retired, after decades years of practice as an anesthesiologist. While this represents a loss to the community as a whole (he is such a skilled doctor), we are overjoyed to have him here on the farm full-time now.
Yet, as joyful as such big transitions can be (because they almost always point to new adventures and opportunities), they can still be disorienting too. The earth shifts a bit, and we all have to learn new ways of being and understanding changed relationships and lives. Much more disorienting to Casey and me this fall has been the news that many farming friends are calling it quits — either totally or in some significant fashion. Some of these farmers started their enterprises a year or two before or after — they are people who feel like we’ve shared our farming journey with and we are so sad to lose that special form of companionship (although we know the friendship will transcend their first link).
Quite frankly, it’s also eye-opening and sobering to realize that we’ve been farming long enough now that it could be its own good-sized chapter of our lives already. But, while we celebrate our farming friends’ choices to seek new adventures, Casey and I are going to keep on with this one. Farming continues to feel like The Work of Our Lifetime (not to mention that this farm represents both our livelihood and our home!). So, while we bid so many farmers blessings in their next steps, we stay put, feeling our way through this dark season and savoring a bit of the nostalgia it brings to our days. We can, for the moment, peacefully reflect on so much, while we sink into these restful months and find next year’s momentum hidden like a seed under the darkness of winter’s soil.
And momentum we shall have. Because with all this change in the air, we are reminded that even a continued adventure such as our farm must offer growth and change in order to be sustained.
After this week, we only have two more weeks left in our 2014 Vegetable CSA (the last pick-ups are Nov 18/19). So, amidst all these feelings of change and shifts and nostalgia and seeking of deep rest, we are also pondering our own growth pattern in terms of 2015. Our goal is to publish our 2015 CSA materials and sign-ups by next week, giving you time to ask us questions in person before we take our winter break. We also hope that a large number of you will be ready to commit for 2015 by the end of this season.
In order to get those materials to you soon, we’ll be spending many of our early morning dark hours reflecting on the changes that make sense for our farm. Like I said, we feel change in the air. Change that can bring the best components of our farm together into something slightly new, slightly old, and totally awesome. Lots to work out on the front this week. Thank goodness for November’s cozy fires, warm tea, and pumpkin soup. The season has set the mood for us to reflect and dream — something about all this dark and decay makes it easier to let go, to change, to shift. The world is actively letting go of this year in preparation for next year, and it is time for us to do the same. You’ll hear more from us next week!
In the meantime, enjoy the growing dark and all the gifts it does bring to our homes and families — that forced rest that can feel unwelcome but is a necessary complement to summer’s wakefulness. Savor it and dig in deep while holding onto that promise of light. Before too long, we’ll turn again, but for now hold onto your lanterns, and enjoy this week’s vegetables!
Your farmers, Katie & Casey Kulla
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“Paleo Spaghetti” — This week you have in your share the ingredients to make one of our family’s all-time favorite meals. We call it “Paleo” spaghetti. This is a reference to our family’s primary “diet” choice, which might be called “Paleo” by some (i.e. we don’t eat grains or beans or much sugar, blah blah blah …). Anyhow, it’s really just an amazing dish on its own, but the flavors and textures (and satisfaction level) reminded us once-upon-a-time of spaghetti and the name stuck. This dish is best when it has had plenty of time to cook, so allow 1-2 hours (this is low maintenance time, for the most part).
In a deep, wide saute pan, saute an onion in butter. Prepare to use lots of butter if you want your dish to be awesome, ok? Next add chopped garlic and tomatoes. Use plenty of both. When I am cooking with fresh tomatoes, personally I don’t bother to peel them. I find that the peels from chopped tomatoes just curl up and mostly disappear, and I’d rather just cook lots of food and eat it than stand around peeling tomatoes all day. You may prefer to blanch, shock and peel yours. I’m sure that would be delicious too! Anyhow, let your tomatoes, onions, and garlic simmer together in butter over medium heat for a bit. Once it’s starting to smell yummy, start adding finely chopped cabbage. If you let this cook long enough to be amazing, your cabbage will cook down a lot, so I recommend using a whole cabbage (also this dish makes great leftovers). After adding the cabbage, I often put the lid on my pan to help aid the cooking down process. Ultimately, you’re going to want to simmer off most of the liquid from the tomatoes and cabbage so that you eventually the cooked cabbage is frying in butter (again, lots of butter helps this whole dish). Depending on my patience level, I may turn the heat up to high and stand at the stove stirring more carefully, or I may lower the heat so I can just come and stir every few minutes without worrying about burning. A thick bottomed pan helps with this too.
We usually add pre-cooked meat to this dish as the cabbage is cooking down. Any kind is awesome. I like to cook a lot of roasts dry in the slow cooker and then keep the cooked meat in the fridge for use later. Our favorite meat for Paleo Spaghetti is chopped pork shoulder roast (so good!). I have to be careful to not add too much meat at this stage, because the cabbage will keep cooking down and we like there to be substantially more cabbage than meat in the final product. You could probably add other vegetables too, but we like it plain for the ultimate comfort food quality.
As the cabbage cooks down and the moisture simmers off, lower the heat to low or medium-low and keep cooking until it’s sweet perfection (or until it’s dinner time). The cabbage will begin to caramelize eventually. That’s how we like it. Salt to taste (we like lots — remember, this is comfort food!). For a truly divine experience, top your “spaghetti” dish with dabs of good quality chevre (soft white goat cheese, such as made locally by Briar Rose Creamery — that’s our favorite). Enjoy!
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Meet this week’s vegetables:
- Tomatoes
- Peppers
- Salad mix
- Cabbage
- Chard
- Delicata winter squash
- Carrots
- Potatoes
- Garlic
