Pick List:

Kale - Cabbage - Winter Squash - Sweet Potato - Beets - Mint -

Green Pepper - Cauliflower - Lettuce - Purple Top Turnips - Onion - Radish

KITCHEN LIST:

Oatmeal Bread & SOUP

BONUS LIST: MINI BOUQUETS!

This week, we continued to pick vegetables, button up loose ends, tidy up around the farm and deliver packed produce around the Upper Valley. One might think the dark afternoons would give way to knocking off early, sitting by a wood stove, and eating soup- however there are lights in the barn and headlights on tractors therefor “can’t stop, won’t stop.” Truthfully, we have a ton to accomplish before November 20th. On November 20th our Jamaican crew heads back to their own homes and families and jobs and oxtail soup and goat curry and sunshine and warmth (sounds good, right?). But before they head south we’ve got big plans to continue stock-piling the pack shed with millions and bajillions of root vegetables so we can continue to supply the Coop Food Stores well past the New Year.

In other news, our little grape vineyard on River Road will be dug up this week, making its way to our farm in Cornish so Pooh can turn the hillside by the Summer Raspberries into wildflowers and I can have the fencing of my dreams come true.

TIPS - TRICKS - RECIPES

Seasonal eating: beetroot

(THE following excerpt from the guardian)

“Beetroot. The root of the beet. Beta vulgaris. Doesn't exactly resonate with romance, does it? But actually, since Roman times beetroot has been considered a potent aphrodisiac. Murals featuring beetroot have been found on the walls of Pompeii's brothels, and seeds and other traces uncovered in the excavations there (insert your own Vesuvius eruption gag here).

The plant's aphrodisiac qualities have been attributed to high levels of the mineral boron, which is thought to play a key role in the production of human sex hormones. So forget your oysters and your ginseng, beetroot is the true food of Aphrodite.

Now that we've rescued the red stuff's reputation from unfair associations with school food and murky jars of pickle lurking ominously in the darkest corners of unreconstructed pubs, we'll move on to the taste - and it is fantastic. Beetroot is sweet but earthy and goes perfectly with cheese, particularly the melty soft types like goat's cheese or mozzarella.

You can sauté it, roast it, grate it into cakes - it's incredibly versatile and, for those who are recoiling in horror, not nearly as scary as it looks. Well, apart from the Lady Macbeth hand scrubbing moment after you've peeled it. For a really simple treat, slice it really thinly, brush with oil and roast in a hot oven until you get sweet beetroot crisps, or bake it whole in the oven in foil with balsamic vinegar and serve with couscous.”

Borscht

Serves 4-6… Borscht - beetroot soup - is one of those recipes of which everyone has their own version. Do add the red wine vinegar and brown sugar, without them it's just a bit bland. Red wine also adds richness, and I've also experimented with adding shot of vodka at the end. This is one of those soup recipes that often tastes even better the next day.

4 large beetroots ½ cabbage 2 carrots

1 stick celery Bay leaves 2 red onions

2 cloves garlic 1 teaspoon caraway seeds

2 tablespoons red wine vinegar 1.2 litres of stock

Olive oil 2 teaspoons of brown sugar

Sour cream to serve Chives

Fry the onion, garlic and celery in olive oil for a few minutes, until soft. Add some caraway seeds and a bay leaf or two.

Grate the beetroot and carrot and shred the cabbage finely (your knuckles will thank you for using a food processor at this point). Add the beetroot mixture and stock to a large sauce pan, with the red wine vinegar. Simmer for around half an hour. Add the brown sugar to counterbalance the red wine vinegar (you may want to add more than the 2 teaspoons)

Some people liquidise it at this point to a thick consistency, but I think it's nicer served as it is, with a big dollop of sour cream, fresh chives and a few more caraway seeds sprinkled on top.

maple mustard roasted cabbage with almonds

Makes about 6-8 slabs

1 head of cabbage 1/4 cup stone ground mustard

2 tablespoon maple syrup 1/3 cup raw almonds

pepper to taste.

Preheat oven to 425. Slice cabbage into thick slabs about 3/4 inch thick. Try to get them roughly the same thickness so they roast evenly. Lay the cabbage on a baking sheet, not overlapping, and stick into the oven once it's preheated. Bake for 25 minutes or until the bottoms of the cabbage are crispy.

While cabbage is roasting, mix mustard and maple together and roughly chop the almonds.

After the 25 minutes, grab the cabbage from the oven and flip each piece. Cover the tops with the maple mustard and sprinkle on chopped almonds. Place back into the oven for another 10-15 minutes and roast until the cabbage is as crispy as you like it.

Remove from oven, sprinkle with good pepper, and serve. Extra maple muastd is welcomed to some. Any left over (but there won't be any) is great eaten cold before bed or tossed onto a salad for lunch the next day.

Roasted Kale and Beets with Honey-Horseradish Vinaigrette Serves 3-4

1 bunch kale (about 12 leaves)
4 medium-sized beets (any kind – red, golden, striped, etc.)
melted coconut oil or ghee
flaky sea salt
handful of pumpkin seeds, if desired
Honey-Horseradish Dressing

Honey Horseradish Dressing

3 Tbsp. cold-pressed olive oil
1 Tbsp. grated horseradish, plus more for garnish
1 tsp. raw honey (or maple syrup)
2 tsp. apple cider vinegar
2 pinches sea salt
Whisk all ingredients together.
1. Preheat oven to 375°F / 190°C. Rinse and trim off ends of beets. Wrap in foil and place on a baking sheet and bake until you can easily pierce through the beets with a sharp knife (time depends greatly on size of beets, but around 60 minutes). Remove from oven and peel back a corner of the foil to let some of the steam out. When beets are cool enough to handle, slide the skins off.
2. Wash kale and spin entirely dry (otherwise the kale will just steam in the oven). Drizzle with a little oil and rub to coat each leaf, sprinkle with salt. When the beets are nearly done, place them on the lower shelf of the oven and put the kale chips on the middle to upper wrack. Bake until crisp – about 15 minutes.
3. Slice beets into any shape you desire – I chose thin discs to show their interior pattern, but quarters or cubes is fine too. Toss with a little of the dressing and set aside.
4. To assemble, place a few whole kale leaves on each plate, add dressed beets and a sprinkling of pumpkin seeds if desired. Drizzle remaining dressing over the kale, and add more grated horseradish if you dare. Enjoy.