Six brave souls joined Casey in the fields today for some extremely wet and mucky harvesting! Everyone was soaked through and smiling at the end of this very dark, stormy day.
Meet this week’s vegetables:
- Castelfranco — This is one of our favorite winter salad greens. It is related to radicchio but is much sweeter. You’ll find the texture a bit thicker than lettuce, but it is quite tender (especially when dressed). We recommend chopping it into small strips or bit size pieces before dressing.
- Brussels sprouts — A holiday classic!
- Celery — We have been absolutely loving the celery this fall. It’s amazing what a difference it makes in stocks and soups for flavor. We’re planning to have this crop year-round if we can, because it’s so wonderful!
- Sweet peppers — Yes, we still have sweet peppers hanging on! We also are still snacking on some remaining cherry tomatoes in our greenhouses. I think this high water will be the end of both though.
- Carrots
- Potatoes
- Pie pumpkins OR butternut squash
- Shallots
It’s been a busy few days out here. Over the weekend, Casey attended a milk production tour/talk on Saturday and helped my mom process her batch of Thanksgiving turkeys on Sunday. The busyness will continue over the next few days too, as we prepare for two CSA pick-ups on one day, plus holiday harvest. Oh, and also, we’re in the midst of the season’s first big storm (wind and rain and possible flooding — oh my!).
The river is predicted to rise eleven feet between today (Monday) and Wednesday at midnight. This will get our low ground thoroughly wet. We’ve got lots of veggies in this ground, so today we’ve got six people out here working to harvest as much as we possibly can (two of them brand new employees!). We knew this day would come and had hoped to have more out by now, but things like babies and surgery got in the way (we have harvested lots already, but there is much to go!).
This week’s veggie list is in part inspired by the flood warning — we figured it made the most sense to harvest the things that were in our low ground for this week’s share!
We’re just crossing our fingers that the current predicted crest (22+ ft) is the final prediction. As often happens, the predicted high water level has been raised several times as the storm approaches and becomes real. Oh, the joys of living on river bottom land!
Anyhow, this week is also Thanksgiving, which has become one of our favorite holidays of the year. It marks the beginning of our brief winter rest period (December is busy, but less so than the rest of our year). And, the spirit behind the holiday is so real to us as farmers — at this point in the year, we have worked so hard and harvested so much. The celebration of plenty, abundance, and gratitude is appropriate and welcome. And the food is usually really good too!
We like to make a list of our things we are grateful for this time of year. It used to become the basis for our family’s Christmas card, but I’ve dropped that in recent years. Nevertheless, it’s a useful way to reflect and be thankful for our many, many blessings.
Here’s this year’s list, which as always is not exhaustive, because life is very rich and full of wonderful things.
As 2012 comes to a close, we are thankful for:
each other • Rusty • Dottie! • our families • our friends • surviving many hard lessons • plums • people who show up • dinosaur stickers • experienced midwives • meals from friends • Acres USA book catalog • ewe mutton • our kids’ grandparents • fresh milk • the river • Katie’s knitting group • good fats • skilled doctors • strong bodies • yogurt • kind words • our CSA community • Wendell Berry (always!) • family next-door • water • our house in all seasons • farmer friends • Jersey cows • healthy pregnancy and healthy baby • apples • the new land • our neighbors • sleep (when we can get it!) • fresh cream in our coffee • the library • Chinese herbs • our covered porch • ravens • the cabin • life • you!
May your list this year and next be as long as ever! Happy Thanksgiving! Enjoy this week’s vegetables!
Your farmers, Katie & Casey Kulla
P.S. Next week is the last CSA pick-up for 2012!!!! Have you signed up yet for 2013? Now is the time! Full Diet and veggie CSA folks will be receiving confirmation information from us in the upcoming weeks.
