Meet this week’s Mac veggies:
- Romanesco/turnips/radishes — Your choice between these various fun fall crops (all of which we’d hoped to have in larger quantities, but these things happen …).
- Castelfranco/palla rossa radicchio — These are both “chicories,” in the same greens family as radicchio. They can be prepared the same way. They make great salads, especially when chopped into fine strips and pre-dressed to wilt.
- Brussels sprouts
- Butternut/delicata squash — Your choice between these two delicious winter squashes!
- Savoy cabbage
- Carrots
- Celery root
- Leeks
This week marks the end of our 2011 CSA season — Newberg ended the week before Thanksgiving and now the McMinnville pick-up will be done too.
Thus begins our seven-week-long holiday “break.” Yes, we will take some extra time off over the next few weeks — primarily to rest, but also to spend much needed time with friends and family at holiday gatherings.
But, this period also allows us to get caught up and then ahead on some of the brainstorming and project type of work on the farm. Some of this has already begun. Last week we received the first of the 2012 seed catalogs, and this weekend Casey and I started browsing through them, thinking about next year’s season in more detail.
But, new to us this year, we also started pursuing the info in new (to us) kinds of catalogs offering animal fencing, chicks, and more!
The expansion of our land base (to about 100 acres total!) certainly opens up so many new diverse possibilities for our farm, and right now we are enjoying being in the dreaming/brainstorming phase of growth. We’ve been going on regular walks with Rusty to the new land, where he enjoys throwing rocks into puddles and we spend hours talking through field placement, crop rotations, orchards, infrastructure and more.
There are moments when all this “possibility” feels overwhelming (and more than a little bit “crazy”), but for the most part we are savoring every moment and feel quite rich with opportunity.
So, figuring out some more of the details (and starting to work on them) will be our main project for the break (along with the usual end-of-year paperwork!).
We hope that you have a wonderful holiday and will be joining us again in 2012! If you haven’t signed up yet (which many of you have!), you’ll find the form again on the back of this newsletter.
Sign up now, and we will send you an invoice with payment reminder just after the new year. The first payment is due by January 23, and the first Mac pick-up is on January 24!
Hopefully we will see you then, if not sooner!
Enjoy this week’s vegetables!
Your farmers, Katie & Casey Kulla
P.S. A few more thanks for the end of the year:
Big thanks to the Saturday Market for hosting us these last two years. It’s been an awesome space, and we’re excited to be here again next year.
Big thanks to our employees Jesse and Emily, who made this year absolutely AWESOME and are both coming back next year! Yay!
And, also one last thanks again to all of you, our lovely CSA members. None of this goodness would be possible without you!
~ ~ ~
December holiday harvest!
Worried about how you’ll get through the break without the CSA? Want to order special veggies for your Christmas holiday meals? Check on the website in mid- to late-December for information about a special holiday harvest. It will work just like the Thanksgiving one we just had. We aren’t sure what day it occur yet, but it will be in the week before Christmas. Call or email if you have any questions!
