Harvest Notes - Week 15

Acorn Winter Squash The summer squash petered out just in time for winter squash season to begin! Winter squash are in the same plant family as cucumbers and zucchini but they are quite different culinarily. They store for weeks and don’t need to be refrigerated. Think of them more like a pumpkin than a zuke. The easiest and most delicious thing to do with these specialty, striped acorn squash is to slice them in half, coat with a little olive oil, and roast until tender (about 45 minutes) in the oven.

Kale A small bunch of Red Russian kale this week- much more to come throughout the fall! Try a kale chip recipe, or toss your kale into tomato sauce, stuffed squash, or a pepper and greens saute.

Oregano This fresh herb would be delicious in sauce from your paste tomatoes. If you want to preserve it, hang it upside down in a well ventilated area. Crumble into a jar once fully dried (2-4 weeks).

Tomato Tomatoes are beginning to wind down. Try cooking the paste tomatoes down to sauce with fresh oregano. Remember you can freeze it for the winter in ziplock bags or can it in mason jars.

Sweet Peppers We grow red bells as well as yellow and red long Italian sweet peppers. All are incredibly sweet and can be used interchangeably.

Carrots Rabbits nibbled the tops of many of these, so you may notice some broken or gnawed carrots in the bunch. They still taste just as sweet!

Onion These can be stored in a cupboard rather than the fridge.

Lettuce This is French heirloom butterhead. Its outer leaves are red while its’ white-green inner leaves have red speckles. The elongated center of the head is due to a switch in its’ growth stage from generative to reproductive- it was getting ready to make seed. We generally avoid this issue by harvesting sooner but this variety got a bit ahead of us. The flavor should still be delicious.

Potato This blue fleshed variety is particularly flavorful. We washed the potatoes this week so they won’t store for quite as long as the dirty potatoes. Store in a dark bag and/or cupboard.

Garlic We bought enough of these small heads of garlic from a neighbor to distribute several times since our garlic crop failed. Enjoy!

Jalapeño While green bell peppers ripen to be sweet colored peppers, green jalapeños ripen to be especially hot when they turn red.