Box 19, September 29, 2011

Items In Your Box This Week:   

Garlic

Mixed Onions

Baby Kale
Acorn Squash

Delicata Squash

Romaine Lettuce

Leeks

Tomatoes

Cherry Tomatoes

Herb: Parsley                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            `                                                                                               

Raspberry Rotation 

Happy autumn! We got a great soaking rain this week that will help carry the fall crops through to harvest and build up the water in the soil for over winter. The weather this week made us feel like the gray days of winter were already here.  The balance of the sunshine and warmer temps these next couple days are just what we needed to remind us that it is still autumn.

            There are officially three more boxes after today’s box. We are firming up our potato delivery for next week and hope to have a good amount in the last two boxes. The variety will be a red potato and you will be getting a couple good sized bags. You will also be getting a lot of onions in the next three weeks. No need to use them soon. They will all store for weeks if not months. Just keep them in a paper bag, dark, and cool. A basement or cool area in the kitchen is sufficient. Don’t store onions by potatoes. The onions will release a gas that will spoil the potatoes. It is the time of the year for storage food.

The winter squash you are getting this week and last week are good to store but not for more than a month or so. The butternut squash that are coming next week are a storage variety. They should stay in storage easily for two to three months if kept cool. The garlic should also stay fresh in storage as long as the onions and with similar conditions.  You can always throw onions and garlic into the crisper in the fridge if you don’t have a suitable place to store. They don’t need to be refrigerated but can be. Enjoy your produce and the weather.

Kelly Bratt & Andy Watson, Sprouting Acres

The leeks are in the onion family and have a more subtle onion flavor. They are not sharp like onions and are pretty sweet. They are from the same farm where we got the sweet corn. We are looking at getting some late carrots from them as well. The leeks are long and hard to find a bag to store them in. Just cut them in half and put them into a grocery bag. Wrap them tightly and place in crisper. They should last for a couple weeks in the fridge. If they look dried out if you forgot to use them sooner, just peel off the outer layer and eat as usual.

To clean the leeks before eating, just cut them up, soak them in some cold water, then take the leeks out of the water. Just don’t pour the dirty water back over the leeks.