What do farmers do when market season ends? Of course it varies, but even we, as a year-round farm, find ourselves with some shift in our routine. If anything, this first post-market week was notable for cleanups of all sorts. Cleaning up some more field gear and beds, harvesting another last bed of carrots, cleaning out some common spaces in the barn….and more. As I type, Noah and Sabrina are cleaning out the largest chicken barn, empty of birds since the oldest laying flock, which had pretty much stopped laying, have transitioned to stewing hens (which are available by reservation here). (Two flocks, one new, and one 15-month old flock, are starting up again soon, so we hope to have record number of eggs later this winter, as soon as 2 weeks).
We prepare for winter in a host of ways: right now, we are entering the days of “last call!” for the first term of winter farm memberships, running November 10th to December 22nd. There is still time to sign up for one of the remaining spots, before the first pick-up this Wednesday. If you are curious what a weekly share includes, here’s the plan for this week—each share will include:
Greens: 1 bunch kale, 1 bag spinach, 1 bag mild winter salad mix, 1 Napa cabbage head
Roots: 10-oz bag of radishes (equivalent to a bunch), 2 lbs carrots, 2 lbs fingerling potatoes
alliums: 1 sweet onion, 1 white onion, 1 head garlic
2 Delicata winter squash
optional: decorative gourds, dried Thai chili and Thai basil
What do we think you can make with that? A veggie stir-fry (napa, carrot, onion, garlic, radishes, and green), or broth soup with rice noodles (especially for members who got stewing hens and have excellent broth available!); a crisp Asian-style slaw with Napa cabbage, grated carrot and radish salad, seasoned with sesame oil, rice vinegar, and optional Thai basil/ chilies combo. A modest batch of kimchi, if you like ferminting. Kale sautéed with sweet onion and garlic, served in a baked Delicate bowl. Roasted fingerling potatoes, or roasted root and squash medley; delicata squash “smile fries”, creamy soup of any leftover roasted roots and squash, spinach side-salads.
Cleanup extends to the home-life too, as we engage in our annual re-domestication, working to reform our feral, field-focused farmer selves into humans who live, at least partially, indoors. And so there were epic mountains of laundry (perhaps not Everest, but certainly at least Trapper Peak), of dishes, shoveling out of corners (yes, even a round home has corners) into which things have been accumulating since sometime in transplanting season. It may in fact be an all-winter project, but we do feel a little more human already.
And cooking returns….fueled in large part by a huge pot of chicken stock, an all-day simmer of several of those stewing hens and various “farmer grade” produce from the walk-in. We are all set up for a lovely round of rich soups as we dive into the last of the fall cleanup and our winter-growing routines.
We certainly hope that you will join us in the embracing the soup season and cozy dinner season! Regardless of whether chicken broth is your thing, the farmstore is truly loaded with good winter veggies, from roots to greens to squashes, and we are excited to help you eat well through the cold months.
Winter members, we are excited for your first winter-food pickup this week! Everyone else, feel free to stop in at the farmstore anytime this winter, and load on up.
Your farmers,
Mary and Noah, SweetRoot Farm