Smoke from the smoldering fire hangs cold in our valley on this perfect autumn morning.  We are harvesting roots.  Parsnips, celeriac, leeks, onions, potatoes, turnips.  We are also wading through our brussel sprouts, looking for stalks without aphids.  It is incredibly troubling to tend to a crop from february to october and to be taken over by bugs in the final hour.  I am very sorry if you found last week’s stalks inedible.  I’m not sure if we’ll see any more this year.  At least the pigs and chickens will appreciate them.  We also continue to have broccoli.  Our broccoli has been quite clean of bugs this year, but if you found any green worms, the best way to get rid of them is to soak your broccoli or cabbage, in cool, salted water.  At least you know your food is organic when it comes with some grubs.

ITS TIME TO SIGN UP FOR NEXT YEAR’S CSA!!

I hope that you have all had an incredible season of fresh, whole, real, organic foods.  While it is fresh in your mind and the tomatoes are running strong, I’d love for you to make a commitment to the farm for next year.  And as a thank you for doing so, I’d like to offer you a 10% discount if you sign up before the end of the season.

You can go to our CSA form link: https://rainshadoworg.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/CSA-form-with-credit-card.pdf

Print the form, fill it out, be sure to sign it, and bring it to CSA.  We have just two weeks left!  If you can’t pay the whole membership now, a deposit and payment plan is quite acceptable.

 

 

 

 

Our last Longtable dinner was a such a wonderful success.  More photos to come.  But please check out the blog of one of our guests.  Play the music and enjoy some really gorgeous pictures of the farm in full bloom

Our next dinner, October 15th, is sold out, but let me know if you would like to be on the waiting list.  We are considering a few themed winter meals… I’ll be in touch with details soon.

https://featherandneststyle.wordpress.com/2012/09/24/farm-to-table-terrebonne-oregon/

 

 

 

 

I’d like to give a big thanks to Debbie Newport and her kids from Brown who come out on Thursdays to help with stuff on the farm.  They have helped move the hoses out of the field so we can get ready for winter cover crops.  They have also helped save bean seeds, move long tables, and much more.  Thank you!!!

 

 

 

 

Roasted Roots this week!!!

Ingredients

  • baby turnips, peeled
  • potatoes, scrubbed and cut lengthwise in halves
  • parsnips, peeled, trimmed, and cut diagonally into 1-inch-thick slices
  • medium onions, trimmed, peeled and halved, each 1/2 cut into quarters
  • large beets, peeled and cut into thick wedges
  • kohlrabi bulbs, peeled and cut into thick wedges
  • celery root, trimmed and halved, halves cut crosswise into 1-inch-thick slices
  • whole head garlic, separated into cloves, unpeeled
  • 2 or 3 sprigs fresh sage, or thyme
  • Salt
  • Freshly ground black pepper
  • Extra-virgin olive oil

Directions

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Put all the vegetables and the herb sprigs in a large baking dish. Season well with salt and black pepper, drizzle generously with olive oil, and toss them with your hands to coat them evenly.

Put the baking dish in the preheated oven and cook, stirring the vegetables occasionally, until they are tender and golden brown, about 45 minutes. Serve the vegetables from their baking dish or transfer them to a platter to accompany a roasted main course.

 

 

While the tomatoes you have been getting are ripe ripe ripe.  You might have some green ones at home… plus, I’ll be clearing out at least one tomato house next week and I’ll provide plenty of green tomatoes for this recipe….

South of the Salt Line in Alabama, a unique culture exists where old and new dwell in conflict and harmony, and where conformity is the appearance but thumbing your nose at the world is the occurrence.  Eugene Walter, a native of Mobile, Alabama, was a true child of this land.  A poet, writer, artist, performer, cook, bon vivant and savior of cats, Eugene’s endless talents and credits include… one of the creators of The Paris Review, acting credits in the films of Felleni and Saturday Night Live, and author of many novels and cookbooks.  His cookbooks are as much about the stories around the cooking as the actual cooking, hence the lack of measurements in his recipes.  Be creative as Eugene was.

GREEN TOMATO PIE (from his cookbook “Delectable Dishes from Termite Hall”)
Line a pre-baked crust with cream cheese. In a skillet melt some unsalted butter, two strips of bacon chopped fine, one onion chopped fine, 5 or 6 green tomatoes cut in fingernail-size thin slices, pinch of salt, some freshly ground black pepper, dash of powdered mace, nice bit of dill, a little grated lemon peel. Chopped capers if you like. Cook this mixture until tomatoes are soft but not mushy, then pile all into pie crust. Put in moderate oven either open-face or with a bit of pastry lattice. If open-face, for 10 minutes; if lattice used, tomatoes need not be cooked all the way, but finished off in oven. You judge. 15 to 20 minutes.

Addendum from CSA friend Elizabeth, Mobile native and translator for all things southern.

What’s a moderate oven? Between 350 – 400° F, depending on your oven. 

Pie top? Open-face is good but why not add at least the lattice, or go with a full pastry on top. The more pastry you have on top that needs to be cooked, the longer the pie will be in the oven and thus the  less you have to cook the tomato mixture before filling. Follow the instructions that of with your pastry or until the top is a nice golden brown color. 
FINALLY, SOME WORDS FROM FARM MEMBERS
“The veggies this summer were – and still are – great! They get better and better each year, and we are all learning so much about new things. It’s lots of fun. I don’t know how you do it! We will definitely sign up for next year again.”  –Linda from Sisters
A text from Elizabeth from Redmond: “We’re on the road, doing lunch and talking about food.  Me:  Alek, do you know what vegetable pickles are made from?… Alek: Yes, from Sarahlee”