(CSA Newsletter: Week 42)
Meet this week’s vegetables:
Brussels sprouts — A tradition for many Thanksgiving dinners! We’ll be eating Brussels sprouts with our family this Thursday — fried in butter with onions!
Mustard greens — A delicious cooking green, mustards begin quite hot when raw (try a bite!) … but sautéing in oil mellows their flavor beautifully. Prepare as you would chard or kale — sautéed in butter or oil with onions, shallots or leeks. Mustards are especially delicious paired with pork. We enjoy eating them at breakfast with fried eggs and bacon or ham. They’re also great added to curry dishes. Just remember to cook them!
Parsley — Fresh parsley makes a lovely addition to Thanksgiving stuffing. Or, try pureeing with garlic, olive oil, and nuts to make parsley pesto — delicious on fresh bread or on top of pasta.
Carrots
Rutabaga — Rutabaga is in the category of ‘much-maligned-without-reason’ vegetables. Although they have a funny name and image, rutabagas are a delightfully mild root veggie that is lovely in roasted vegetable dishes, soups, stews, and more. To prepare, peel the rough outer skin and then cube or chop into useful sized pieces. Rutabaga is also yummy when eaten raw — slice into sticks and serve with your favorite dip!
Butternut squash — Another classic for Thanksgiving … start your meal with a simple yet elegant curry butternut soup!
Yukon Gold potatoes — It wouldn’t be Thanksgiving without mashed potatoes!
Leeks — Or, save your potatoes and make a simple potato leek soup to satisfy your hunger this weekend after the feasting is over.
Shallots — An extra special onion for using in any of your Thanksgiving dishes!
Each year at Thanksgiving, Casey and I sit down to reflect on the closing year and all the blessing we’ve received. Rather than just generally feeling thankful, we find it useful and uplifting to actually make a list of our gratitudes — specific things, people, places and items that made our year wonderful. Since many of them revolve around the farm and our life here, we thought we’d share some of the things we’re thankful for at the end of 2009:
• working together • a saner year • celery root • water • successfully growing seed • our CSA community • sweet potatoes • Katie’s healthy pregnancy so far • Katie being able to work during pregnancy • our interns Daniel & Erika • help on the farm from friends (Rebecca, Jeff, Carri & Lucy) • Kris’s help at CSA pick-up • hand trucks • time to hike on the weekends • new CSA members • veteran CSA members • discovering new recipes • surviving the June 4 storm • cover crops • our new flail mower • advice from wise farmer friends • new farmer neighbors • our new BCS tiller • fruit trees! • hope for the perennials • roasted broccoli & cauliflower • YCAP food bank • First Baptist Church • red clover • swimming in the river • surviving July’s extreme heat wave • row cover • the gator! • muck boots • water • best sweet corn crop ever • orange pumpkins • fun CSA open houses • mid-season visits to other farms • Mossback beef hamburgers for farm lunches • seed companies who are willing to buy our seed • surviving a rough spring • dairy manure compost • Chehalis silty-clay loam • Newberg fine sandy loam • Liberty Iron & Welding • irrigation trailers • more time on the farm • water • summer surfing trips • Silver Falls goat cheese on everything • Grundens rain bibs • our new bigger cooler • the variable speed well drive • Red Fox bread • biggest popcorn ears ever (to be given out next winter!) • sunny days • rainy days • starting the year with systems in place • our families’ support • lots of hope for the future • continuing to make our living exclusively on the farm income • & so so so much more
Between economic uncertainty, continued wars, and many other challenges, I know that 2009 has been a hard year for many families. Amidst our many gratitudes, we also had some deep sadnesses this year. But in spite of 2009’s trials, I hope that your list is also over-flowing. If you’ve never done so before, perhaps this would be a good year to make your own written list of the profound and the mundane delights in your life this year.
May you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving! Enjoy this week’s vegetables!
Your farmers, Katie & Casey Kulla
P.S. Remember to sign-up for the 2010 CSA! We’re still waiting on a few CSA commitment forms for 2010 … if you haven’t turned yours in yet, it’s not too late! If you have any questions or concerns that are keeping you from signing up again, please contact us. Thank you!
