Hi, everyone! This is Fall Program week 6 out of 8... 2 more weeks of goodness to go!
Happy Thanksgiving to you all! We know what a strange year this will be for many of you, and we hope that a delicious dinner will bring you some semblance of normalcy and joy. For many of you, this might be a valued opportunity to try some new recipes. We made the box Thanksgiving-themed so that you could enjoy the contents on Thanksgiving. For those of you who pick up on Saturday... hello, leftovers! In the spirit of Thanksgiving, we'd like to reiterate how much we appreciate you all and how much gratitude we have for your support. We wish you a very happy, healthy Thanksgiving and beyond!
If you ordered a Shaggy Coos Farm turkey, pickups will continue on Tuesday. Simply come any time between 10:30 and 6 and we'll bring your turkey out to you. Your $20 deposit will be subtracted from the final cost of the turkey, priced at $4.45 per pound.
Here is a link to 35+ Leftover Thanksgiving Turkey Recipes. It's also possible to freeze leftover turkey!
Centerpiece kit pickup will also take place Tuesday from 10:30 to 6. The link to the video tutorial can be found at www.laurelglenfarm.com/events
Here is a list of items we will most likely have in the store this week:
- Potatoes
- Kale
- Beets
- Carrots
- Leeks
- Sage
- Acorn Squash
- Spaghetti Squash
- Sugar pumpkins
- Turnips
- Rutabaga
- Lettuce
- Kohlrabi
- Spinach
- Garlic
- Onions
- Scallions
- Collard greens
- Cabbage
- Escarole
- Parsley
- Cauliflower (stock is low)
- Plus: milk, cheese, sausage, yogurt, frozen and dried pasta, honey, maple syrup and sugar, coffee, tea, and more for your cozy holiday.
Items you will NOT see in stock: Sweet potatoes, butternut squash, and delicata. Sorry! Hopefully this will help you to plan your meals accordingly.
We wanted to let you know that the free mugs for the early bird registration perks have been ordered and are set to come in on Friday! Look out for an email from us if you have registered for next season's subscription already about picking up your mug. (If you're a delivery member, we can absolutely deliver it before the season's up providing they have arrived on time.) We don't want to spoil what they look like, but we will say that they are classic and they are big enough to be soup mugs! Early bird registration ends this Wednesday, November 25th.
Believe it or not, Randy has already ordered bulbs for next spring's plant sale! We hope to double our hanging flower basket production this spring, as well as add some more flower pots to the mix, including some daffodils and tulips. All of the bulbs will be tucked away soon. Speaking of which, all of our garlic has now been planted! The last step is to cover the rows with a heavy mulching of leaves from a local landscaping company to keep them insulated from the winter elements. It's wild to already be thinking about next season, but we can certainly use some things to look forward to!
We're looking ahead to the future, but also appreciating our history. These receipts were shared with us by a family friend, who used to receive a Laurel Glen Farm milk delivery from Randy's great uncle Pete back when we were a dairy. These receipts are all from the 1960s! Check out the price of milk...
Turnips vs. Rutabagas
Turnips and rutabagas are similar in many ways, but very different in flavor. Turnips are a brighter white and purple color and rounder in appearance. In contrast, rutabaga is imperfectly spherical, sometimes more oblong, and a more earthy-gray shade of purple with an orange tinge. When cooked, rutabaga will appear orange. Both are turnip crops, but the rutabaga is a newer European cultivar - a cross between a cabbage and a turnip. As such, the rutabaga is a bit sweeter, and the turnip is spicier. In Scotland, rutabagas are called "neeps!" Neat, huh? Both need to be peeled well before cooked, though the recommended technique of cooking is the same: boiled or roasted, mashed or fried into pancakes, accented with butter and salt, sour cream, or cheese. Can you now tell the difference between the two below? Which is which?
The top image is... turnips! Rutabaga was on the bottom.
A Message from Randy:
The Uncrating:
Contents (In approximate order from shortest shelf life to longest):
Small:
1 bunch of kale
1 head of cabbage
1 lb. of rutabaga
1 lb. of turnips
1 bunch of sage
1 lb. of potatoes
1 onion
1 acorn squash
Large:
1 bunch of kale
1 head of cabbage
2 lbs. of rutabaga
2 lbs. of turnips
1 bunch of carrots
1 bunch of sage
1 lb. of potatoes
2 onions
2 acorn squash
Caring For Your Share:
Wash all before using:
Twist off the greens from the carrots and store them, the turnips, and the rutabaga in a Ziploc bag in the fridge. Save what you can of the carrot greens for soup stock.
Store the kale in a Ziploc bag in the fridge. Wash and spin out when ready to use.
Store the acorn squash, onions, and potatoes in a cool, dark place such as a pantry. Put in a location where they will get some air flow. Keep out of the fridge and keep the onions and potatoes separate. The acorn squash will last for months, but is ready to eat now.
Store the cabbage in the fridge as is, leaving the outer layers on for protection. Remove the outer layers if necessary when ready to use.
Wrap the sage in a damp paper towel and store it in a Ziploc bag in the fridge. You can also dry it if you don't plan to use it right away.
LGF Cooking Club:
Mashed Turnips and Sage:
Parmesan Crusted Crushed Turnips:
Brown Butter and Maple Glazed Turnips:
Mashed Rutabaga with Sour Cream and Dill:
Rutabaga Tacos with Kale and Queso Fresca:
Sage Stuffing:
Sage Rubbed Roasted Turkey:
16 Delicious Ways to Cook with Sage:
https://www.taste.com.au/quick-easy/galleries/16-delicious-ways-cook-sage/OI146K1h?page=4
Cranberry & Walnut Coleslaw (uses red onion!):
Balsamic Roasted Cabbage Recipe:
Gingery Creamed Kale and Cabbage Recipe:
Authentic Irish Colcannon (Admittedly not Thanksgiving-related, but one of my favorite ways to combine cabbage/kale and potatoes):
Sausage and Apple Stuffed Acorn Squash (substitute sage for the rosemary):
Roasted Acorn Squash and Potato Soup:
Cooking Tip(s) of the Week:
12 Creative Ways to Preserve Sage:
Biweekly Catch-up Time:
This newsletter seems so dreary these days. As I upload photos each week, I can look back at all of the photos from the season, and there's such a difference between the bright, sunny photos of colorful produce, and the mid-November photos we see today. Of course, we were spoiled with the weather earlier this month, and we'll see a pretty big shift in weather this week. As Randy and I made the list for the shares this week, we discussed which crops need to be harvested ASAP because they won't survive the cold. Arugula and broccoli rabe are a bit too tender and delicate, so this week you'll see them in your share. One pretty photo I was able to capture last Friday was of rain glistening on the red kale at sunset. Hopefully this brings you a sense of peace and calm when you see it.
As I mentioned last week, we have been hard at work planting garlic. Randy explains the process in depth in his video message below, so check it out for the details. Here he is with crew members Ethan and Tyler as they tucked in the last of it. The entire process is completed by hand, from start to finish. It's labor-intensive but with a big, flavorful payoff.
Another one of Randy's tasks has been working with his dad to frame our hardening house to be closed in as greenhouse #2! It's a lot smaller, but it'll be an awesome addition when we have our Mother's Day hanging pot sale in the spring and maybe give us a little more of a jump on some summer crops. In the background of this photo, you can see that they took down the gutters that were hanging in the hardening house and laid them out alongside greenhouse #1 to be herb beds next year. Here is Randy, laying down landscape fabric, which is a great semi-permanent weed suppression tool. This will help clean up these gardens, which have been in need of some TLC. This winter, he'll rebuild the rotten wooden raised beds and we'll seed more herbs and flowers next spring.
Would anyone like to help us deliver some produce to an organization in need this holiday season? If you know of an organization that can accept fresh produce and are willing and able to pick up from us and deliver to them, message us to make it happen. We've had quite a few community members reach out to us about this for Thanksgiving and would love to continue the trend into December.
A couple more photos to share: we find lots of things in the soil here, like this pottery. Plus, a view of the field from a lesser-seen angle alongside the leeks:
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