Firmly Rooted Winter CSA Week 5
Administration
We’ve arrived at the halfway point for your winter shares: 5 weeks in, 5 weeks to go. I hope you’ve been enjoying your vegetables thus far.
Here's a quick vegetable storage rundown for you to make your veggies last:
Cool, dry, dark: Winter squash, sweet potatoes, potatoes, garlic, onions. If you are stockpiling these be sure to check on them periodically and use up any with soft/ bad spots.
Cold, moist, fridge: Most everything else. Fridges remove moisture from things so it's important to wrap up your veggies to keep them storing well.
Store salad greens in the bags they come in, make sure they don't touch the sides of your fridge or they could freeze. Remove the stems from kale and swiss chard to save space, and place the leaves in bags or storage containers. Remove tops from root vegetables (carrots/ turnips/ etc.) and store the roots in bags or storage containers (make sure you place loose roots in bags/containers). If you do this then salad greens should last a week or more, cooking greens closer to 2 weeks, and most root vegetables will last several months.
What to Expect in Your Shares
We are offering our purple daikon radishes for the first time. These gorgeous radishes are crisp and mild in flavour. If you enjoyed the watermelon radishes, or wish you had tried them, I’d highly recommend these. Throughout the remainder of the winter share we will be alternating offering these winter radishes, as in watermelon one week and daikon the next. This just makes packing a little easier for us.
Parsnips are back on offer this week.
Storage cabbage and Brussels sprouts will be available (in slightly limited numbers) for the next several weeks. If you don’t see them in your customization email, don’t fret, they will appear soon. If you are really keen to get them be sure to customize as early as possible.
Sweet potatoes and red radishes are off the list this week but will be back next week.
On the Farm
We had very cold temperatures this past weekend followed by wind and our first taste of snow. Some vegetables are looking a little battered but for the most part we were able to cover, harvest, or generally preserve them. We are hoping this last blast of summer warmth will coax our winter greens to size up in the hoophouses. They are looking healthy but a little smaller then I would prefer. We are nearly at November 10th, when daylight hours are reduced to the point that things slow significantly in their growth. Cross your fingers for us (and for your future salads).
That’s all for now, happy eating until next time.
Tamara
