Veggie and Lamb Blankets

 FALL CSA Harvest Week 7

Waxed veggie BOXES: Please return the waxed veggie boxes that your veggies come in.  Simply trade us an empty box for a full box each week. 

This is Week 7 out of your 8 week Fall Community Supported Agriculture membership. Next week is the last week of the Fall CSA. 

We are excited that we were able to grow a nice fall garden to share with you.  There is a little bit less for your box this week and next week, in order to make sure the average stays near $15 per week.  You’ll actually have a $17 a week average for the fall boxes, so you’ve been able to enjoy a bountiful harvest with us!

We’ve been covering many of the beds of vegetables with metal hoops and polyester “frost blankets.” Today the head lettuce got 2 layers of the frost blanket.  I hope the lettuces survive 3 cold nights in a row.

I also hope that none of our mama sheep have their lambs in this cold weather.  Sheep seem to have their lambs during bad weather.  Rain, wind, cold. Yep. Done it all.  We now have little lamb coats for them to wear for 3 days until they start making enough of their own body heat. I hope the little coats work; I know a dairy goat farmer who swears by them! I'll post pictures of lambs wearing coats when a ewe has the next newborn lamb.

Here's a cute little lamb from last winter.  He is about 6 weeks old in this picture.

Farm Fresh Harvest

Carrots- Sweet, crunchy, and juicy.  They’ve gotten sweeter each week with the colder weather.

Collards- Tender leaves, great for sautéing.  You don’t need to cook these tender leaves for hours, just prepare them like you would kale.

Hakerai Asian Salad Turnips- Slice or Grate and add to salads.  Or you can lightly sauté or roast them.  Enjoy their sweet crunchy taste.

Baby Lettuce “Salanova” type-Fresh salads!

Recipe

Check out the following info about collards from the World’s Healthiest Foods website. http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=138

”You'll want to include collard greens as one of the cruciferous vegetables you eat on a regular basis if you want to receive the fantastic health benefits provided by the cruciferous vegetable family. At a minimum, include cruciferous vegetables as part of your diet 2-3 times per week, and make the serving size at least 1-1/2 cups. Even better from a health standpoint, enjoy collard greens and other vegetables from the cruciferous vegetable group 4-5 times per week, and increase your serving size to 2 cups.
It is very important not to overcook collard greens. Like other cruciferous vegetables overcooked collard greens will begin to emit the unpleasant sulfur smell associated with overcooking. To help collard greens to cook more quickly, evenly slice the leaves into 1/2-inch slices and the stems into 1/4-inch pieces. Let them sit for at least 5 minutes to bring out the health-promoting qualities and steam for 5 minutes.”

You can use this great recipe to cook collards…

5 Minute Collards (with Mediterranean dressing)

Check out this link for a very simple collards recipe.  You’ll love it!

http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=recipe&dbid=323