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Week 20 from Valley Flora!

Beet Box -

Week 20 from Valley Flora! Romanesco! Nijiseiki! Sunshine Squash!
Thanks for eating locally from our family farm!
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What's Cookin' at the Farm...
  • Fall Faves: Romanesco, Nijiseiki Asian Pears & Sunshine Squash
  • Last Week of Salad Shares
  • Tamales this Week!
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What's In Your Share This Week:*
  • Red Onions
  • Head Lettuce
  • Carrots
  • Tomatoes
  • Romanesco
  • Nijiseiki Asian Pears
  • Sweet Peppers
  • Beets
  • Hakurei Turnips
  • Sunshine Squash
On Rotation:
(Some locations will receive it this week; others in a future week)
  • Broccoli
  • Cauliflower
*Harvest Basket contents may vary between pickup sites in a given week depending on what's ripe and ready on the farm. Don't worry - if something is on the list but not in your tote, you'll get it soon!

The VF Crystal Ball - What might be in your share next week...
  • Onions
  • Carrots
  • Savoy Cabbage
  • Lettuce
  • Apples
  • Tomatoes
  • Peppers?
  • Hot Peppers
  • Spaghetti Squash
  • Potatoes
  • Fennel?
  • Radishes?

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Fall Faves
No, you are not hallucinating. It's just romanesco cauliflower, in all it's awesome fractal amazing-ness! It also happens to be my favorite fall Brassica: better than broccoli, better than cauliflower, better than Brussels sprouts. We've had CSA members in year's past who couldn't bear to eat it because it was too cool to look at, so here's the solution: get out your phone, take a bunch of pics - maybe some selfies with you and the romanesco together - and then cut into that puppy! I like to try to preserve those minaret-styled florets in their entirety when I disassemble the head - purely for aesthetic reasons - but no matter how you slice it, it's still going to taste fantastic tossed with some olive oil and salt and roasted until crispy-tender in the oven.

Cousin to last week's Chojuro, you're getting Nijiseiki Asian Pears this week. They are light and bright and juicy and refreshing. Not quite as intensely flavored as the Chojuro, but a lot of people prefer them for their tender texture and juiciness. They're easy eating.

Some of you veteran CSA members might recognize the scarlet-orange squash in your share this week called Sunshine. We grew Sunshine in the early years and it was one of our favorites - definitely one of the top three most popular (Delicata, Butternut and Sunshine). We relied on it as our Thanksgiving squash because it stored well, the already-delicious flavor got even more delicious in storage, and you could stuff it like a turkey! But then one year we went to pack the Thanksgiving shares and most of the Sunshine squash had rot spots. We were crestfallen! We grew it another year but had the same problem. We finally gave up on it and have been trialing replacements ever since. The problem is, there just isn't a scarlet kabocha that tastes quite as good or is as pretty to look at. So, this year I decided we'd bring it back and simply give it out sooner, before it gave up the ghost in storage. Nobody at OSU can tell us why it's succumbing to storage rot so much more easily now, but it seems to be a problem ubiquitous to most farms in our network throughout the state.

One of the best things about Sunshine is it's versatility. It has an almost tropical flavor and nice dry firmness when cooked, which makes it a fantastic centerpiece in curry. For soup, I often reach for Sunshine before Butternut. In my pressure cooker, I'll saute up some leeks, drop in a cubed, peeled Sunshine squash, add a couple cans of coconut milk and some water, add a little salt, lock the lid in place, and we have soup for dinner 6 minutes later. You can also make pie with them, or just bake them and eat them as-is (butter always welcome).
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Last Week of Salad Shares
This is the 20th and final week of Abby's Greens Salad Shares. Salad will continue to be available in the coming weeks at the farmstand and various outlets (Port Orford Community Co-op, Langlois Market, Mother's Natural Grocery, Coos Head Food Co-op). Many thanks to Abby for her tireless dedication to producing the most beautiful salad greens in the world!
Tamales this Week!
Tamales are going out in marked coolers this week. Please double check the tags on the bags and make sure you are taking home the dozen labeled for you. Enjoy!
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October Farmstand Hours
 
Every Wednesday & Saturday (rain or shine)
10 am to 1 pm

Fresh Produce
Homemade Jam & Hot Sauce

Please bring your own bags and u-pick containers!

Directions to the Farm
For Recipes & Cooking Inspiration:
 
Valley Flora Recipe Wizard
Our own collection of recipes gathered over the years.
 
Epicurious
A vast collection of recipes, searchable by one or multiple ingredients
 
Full Belly Farm
Recipes from one of my favorite farms in California, pioneers of the organic movement since the 80s.

Farm Fresh to You
A storehouse of recipes, searchable by ingredient.
 
Helsing Junction Farm
A Washington farm that has a good collection of seasonal recipes geared toward CSA members.
Copyright © 2019 Valley Flora, All rights reserved.


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Week 19 from Valley Flora

Beet Box -

Week 19 from Valley Flora Asian Pears & Winter Squash!
Thanks for eating locally from our family farm!
View this email in your browser
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What's Cookin' at the Farm...
  • Winter Squash, with a Caveat...
  • Asian Pears!
  • New Farmstand Hours Start this Week!
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What's In Your Share This Week:*
  • Yellow Onions
  • Head Lettuce
  • Carrots
  • Tomatoes
  • Eggplant
  • Kale
  • Sweet Peppers
  • Cilantro
  • Asian Pears
  • Winter Squash
On Rotation:
(Some locations will receive it this week; others in a future week)
  • Nothing this week...
*Harvest Basket contents may vary between pickup sites in a given week depending on what's ripe and ready on the farm. Don't worry - if something is on the list but not in your tote, you'll get it soon!

The VF Crystal Ball - What might be in your share next week...
  • Onions
  • Carrots
  • Romanesco
  • Lettuce
  • Apples?
  • Tomatoes
  • Peppers?
  • Hot Peppers
  • Winter Squash
  • Beets
  • Potatoes
  • Radishes?
Winter Squash, with a Caveat...
We’re putting the first winter squash of the season in your totes this week, but there's a caveat. We trialed two new varieties of Delicata and one new variety of Butternut this year, all of which came out of the field two weeks ago. All three varieties were highly acclaimed and we’ve been excited to try them. But we’ve been dismayed to discover that while they’ve been curing in our greenhouse the past two weeks they’ve developed skin defects that are going to significantly shorten their storage life. Butternut and Delicata make up about half of our squash crop - because everyone loves them so much - so losing these varieties in storage would be a big hit. 
 
I took a gamble today and decided to send out our “ugly squash” this week, in hopes that you will use them ASAP and forgive us their leper looks! It chafed against every cell in my body to put ugly squash in your totes - especially for our kickoff winter squash week - but I think the eating quality is still good and I’d rather you have ugly, tasty squash than no squash at all. 
 
I’ve cut into dozens of them to see how deep the damage is and feel pretty confident that everything that is going out this week is afflicted only skin-deep. The butternuts will make great soup, and the delicatas should roast up nicely - all with the help of a peeler or a good sharp knife to take the skin off. After this round, you should see nothing but good-looking squash in your share!
 
And in case you’re worried, we’ve been handling the squash for two weeks and the leprosy doesn’t seem to be contagious. :)

(And I suppose if it is, well then we can all have a raucous party in our leper colony together, feasting on ugly butternuts till the cows come home…)
 
Thanks for your understanding. I hope you can see past their flawed exterior to the true beauty within.
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Asian Pears
A little gift from the orchard this week: everyone is getting my all-time favorite Asian Pear variety, Chojuro. It has a copper glow to the skin and tastes about as close to butterscotch candy as anything I've encountered in nature, only better. I like to keep my asian pears in the fridge so they retain their crisp texture and juiciness. I have a certain addiction to slicing them up and dredging them through hazlenut butter. Something about that combo sends me.
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New Farmstand Hours Starting October 2nd!
 
Every Wednesday & Saturday (rain or shine)
10 am to 1 pm

Fresh Produce
Homemade Jam & Hot Sauce

Please bring your own bags and u-pick containers!

Directions to the Farm
For Recipes & Cooking Inspiration:
 
Valley Flora Recipe Wizard
Our own collection of recipes gathered over the years.
 
Epicurious
A vast collection of recipes, searchable by one or multiple ingredients
 
Full Belly Farm
Recipes from one of my favorite farms in California, pioneers of the organic movement since the 80s.

Farm Fresh to You
A storehouse of recipes, searchable by ingredient.
 
Helsing Junction Farm
A Washington farm that has a good collection of seasonal recipes geared toward CSA members.
Copyright © 2019 Valley Flora, All rights reserved.


unsubscribe from this list    update subscription preferences 

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