CSA Week 17

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend!  This blog post will arrive a little late in your inbox because we were having a lovely time celebrating and eating delicious food with both of our families!

This weekend also brought our first two frosts. And they were heavy ones! For perspective, we generally expect our first frost in mid-September. The frost killed all the heat loving plants in our caterpillar tunnels and outside. So the basil, peppers, tomatoes, eggplant, and chard are all finished for the season. We will enjoy the last of some of these in our shares this week. And if we're lucky, we may see some tomatoes in the trade-in bin next week. The volume of tomatoes this week is also down to where we started the season. But can you believe that we have had tomatoes for 8+ weeks?! This is something to celebrate :)

We will be spending this week packing up landscape fabric and prepping our garlic beds. Then, the garlic will be planted next week. With farming, we are always thinking weeks, months, and years ahead as we complete each task.

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Carrots are one of our 'backbone' vegetables in the CSA shares. They grow well in our soils, can be harvested through many seasons, and most everyone loves them! This year, our carrots got off to a slow start with the dry weather but they are now looking beautiful and tasting sweet and delicious. Although we include many weeks of carrots I rarely include carrot recipes here because I think most share members have no problem coming up with ideas for using the carrots. But I thought I'd include some today! Carrots are in the same family of vegetables as dill, parsley, celery, and even Queen Anne's Lace. While we all think of the quintessential carrot as being a vibrant orange, the first carrots were purple and light yellow. It wasn't until the 17th century that orange carrots become more common. Carrots are rich in beta-carotene and vitamin A as well as calcium and potassium.

Honey Glazed Carrots with Fresh Mint
1 pound carrots, sliced
2 tbsp butter
1 1/2 tbsp honey
Salt and Pepper, to taste
1 - 2 tbsp fresh mint, chopped 

Combine carrots, butter, honey, and 1/2 cup water in large skillet over medium-high heat. Bring to a simmer abd cook until carrots are tender and most of the liquid has reduced to a glaze, 10 - 15 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Sprinkle with the mint, toss, and serve.  Taken from From Asparagus to Zucchini by Fairshare CSA Coalition. 

Curried Carrot Dip
1 pound carrots, cut into chunks
1/4 cup sunflower seeds, roasted
2 tsp olive oil
1 clove garlic
1 tsp curry powder
1/2 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp salt
1 tbsp lemon juice

Bring a small pot of water to a boil. Boil the carrots for 7 - 10 minutes, until soft. Drain and let cool slightly. 

Place sunflower seeds in a blender or food processor and process into crumbs. Add all remaining ingredients, including carrots, and blend until smooth. Taste and adjust seasonings as needed. Cover and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes to let the flavours blend. Taken from Veganomicon by Isa Chandra Moskowitz & Terry Hope Romero.