Casey pulls bins down to start washing loads and loads of fall greens.
I apologize if I sound redundant, but oh, what a glorious October it has been! In every way, this month has been a gift — the sublime sunny weather, the warm color of the fall foliage, the brilliance of the evening star just after sunset, the V’s of geese flying overhead …
And, the food. Oh, fall, you bring us such wondrous flavors. I happened upon that very full farm truck on my way to the mailbox this week and hurried back with a camera. What could be more beautiful than a pick-up truck overflowing with kale? (In the white misty morning, no less?)
I love this season. I know this in my head the rest of the year — just the sight of orange pumpkins on the pages of a seed catalog gives me thrills of delight. But, in other seasons (which are so wonderful too), I forget the absolute depth of my love for fall. There are so many joys to be savored with abandon in this season, enhancing the satisfaction of work well done in the prior months of the year.
Oh, yes, and the food. Last week, I practically giggled gleefully as I prepared my family dinner: cabbage sauteed with onions and butter, served with beef and delicata squash. And, just now, as I typed this, Casey handed me a bowl of warm applesauce, fresh from the pot, topped with cream. These are comfort foods, warming my soul and filling my belly with goodness.
Beautiful Cortland apples
The fine folks who came out for our Pumpkin Patch CSA Open House this weekend were able to partake of a special fall treat: a sampler tasting of seven different varieties of apples we grow here on the farm. What fun it was to look and taste these apples side-by-side. People had many comments about the differences in texture, flavor and appearance. I loved hearing people choose their favorites and thought it was interesting that one apple in particular seemed to elicit love/hate responses from people (the apple we called “Mystery Green,” because it is growing in my parents’ yard and we don’t know the name). Whole conversations about apples! (There were other great fun things about the open house too, but the apple tasting was a highlight for me.)
This year in particular has brought our family new-to-us ways to enjoy fall and its flavors. For the first time in our life, we have decided to pay attention to mushrooms. They’ve always been around, popping up here and there at field edges, but this year we have begun actively seeking them out. I am always trying to think of activities for the kids and I to do outside, and a few weeks ago, I decided we should look for mushrooms. Little did I know, I was starting a bit of an obsession for all four of us. We have since gone on several mushroom hunts, collected dozens of different kinds to identify, and acquired several serious mushroom books. Mostly, we just enjoy the hunt and the excitement of finding so many different kinds of mushrooms, but we are being very conservative in deciding that they are edible. For example, we’ve found a patch of mushrooms in our yard that we know are in the genus Agaricus, but since about half of the species in that genus are delicious and the other half make you puke, we’re holding off on eating them for now.
Bear's Head mushroom & farmer hands
But, this weekend, we went on a fun-filled mushroom hunt here on the island and found a patch of Bear’s Head mushrooms. This is an incredibly striking mushroom — it grows like thousands of bright white icicles clumped together on a rotting log. When Casey spotted it, he cried out in astonishment even though he didn’t know what it was — it was just so gorgeous and unexpected amidst all the browns of the forest. We were even more excited when all of our guide books reported that Bear’s Head mushrooms are supremely delicious and have no known poisonous lookalikes and are great for beginners! Ok, then! So, we collected a bagful and brought them home to sauté with butter. We all ate big portions, and now Rusty is telling everyone he meets about how much he loves mushrooms.
This fall has just been so much fun, here on the farm and out and about. We hope that you too have enjoyed the gifts of the season and are welcoming the new flavors arriving in your CSA share. Enjoy this week’s vegetables!
Your farmers, Katie & Casey Kulla
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Meet this week’s vegetables:
- Broccoli
- Red cabbage — In our experience, red cabbage is best suited for eating raw in slaws and salads. It is beautiful chopped fine and combined with other veggies for this purpose — the purple of the cabbage combined with finely chopped carrots and/or kale … it’s a hard combo to beat! Dress with any kind of creamy dressing.
- Arugula
- Tomatillos — A lesser known relative of tomatoes, tomatillos are what are used to make “salse verde.” They are similar but different in flavor — definitely sweeter but with a twang. Peel off the outer layer and then use whole roasted with meat or boil down for a sauce — add simple Mexican seasonings for flavor (garlic, salt, peppers).
- Peppers
- Kale/chard
- Carrots
- Beets
- Summer squash
- Leeks/cooking onions
