Week #23 — What’s in the Bag

FULL VEGETABLE SHARE
Potatoes-2 pounds
Garlic-2 bulbs The flavor of the garlic this year is nice and strong although the bulbs are small.
Beets-2 pounds
Lacinato Kale-1 bunch
Brussels Sprouts-1 stalk
Celeriac-1 bulb
Kohlrabi-1 bunch The leaves are beautiful and are a cooking green. The greens are somewhat like a mild Collard. Remove the bulb from the leaves and use separately. The bulb can be eaten raw or cooked. The leaves used like any other fall green.
Carrots-1 pound
Sage-1 bunch
Pop Corn-6 ears
To pop real pop corn from the cob take the kernels from the cob. Start at one end and make path. The kernels next to the opening will pop off a little easier. Put about a tablespoon of oil in a pan with a lid. Do not forget the lid! Heat the oil and pour in 1/2 cup of kernels. Keep the pan on medium high until the popping starts. I usually turn the heat down a little once the kernels really start to pop. Remove from the heat once the popping stops. Add melted butter and salt or what ever you like on pop corn. What a treat. I have heard that you can pop the kernels in a paper bag in the micro wave but have never tried. There is just something really wonderful about popping the corn on the stove. Pop corn will keep for a very long time on the cob or off. A member just wrote that they just popped the corn from last season and it was great.

FRUIT SHARE
1 bag with Bosc Pears, Fuji and Golden Delicious Apples
Fruit grown by Klein’s Kill Orchard

MUSHROOM SHARE
Oyster
Mushrooms grown by Bulich Mushroom Company

Week #23 — A Note from the Farmer

Dear CSA Member

At long last Garlic. We know that members have been waiting for garlic. Last winter was very difficult for garlic. The extreme cold weather temperatures along with very wet conditions before the cold set in were less than ideal growing conditions. The bulbs are small but pungent and the total harvest was considerably less than our usual harvest. A large percentage of the harvested garlic was needed to be saved for seed to plant for next season with the hopes that Mother Nature will be a bit less brutal over this winter.

Each year a portion of the garlic harvest is used for seed for the next seasons crop. The Garlic bulb cloves are separated and each clove planted individually. The clove overwinters in the ground and will then produce a bulb the next summer. Garlic is planted in November, over winters in the garden, pushing the garlic scapes early in the spring time. The bulbs are harvested in July and the bulbs are hung to dry and cure in the barn, divided and then seeded in November. And the garlic circle continues.

There is still time to order Maple Syrup, Coffee and Chocolate from the CSA Marketplace. There are also Bulk Vegetables and Bulk Fruit available.

Enjoy the harvest,
Deborah for everyone at Stoneledge Farm
There is a photo on the Farm Blog on the website and also on the farm FaceBook page of most of our crew from the 2014 season. Missing is Luis who is now in the US Navy and Candice who we couldn’t track down for the photo. It is not an easy task to get everyone together and standing still for a photo.