CSA & Market Report for October 14th
It's getting cold here, folks. Saturday morning marked the inaugural wearing of corduroy for this frumpy foodie (I'm a generation Xer: I have always had, and will always have, an affinity for corduroy; although my flannel fixation pretty much died with Kurt Cobain). The markets were thin this week, both in the farmers and the crowds, and they were both filled with pumpkins, gourds, apples & apple cider, and decorative ears of corn. I toyed with the idea of making a cold storage area in the old boiler room in my basement (what I like to affectionately refer to as my "wine cellar," although we're lucky to have 25 bottles at any given time), but I haven't done it, and I'm not sure if I will - somehow I don't picture myself lugging 100 pounds of squash onions home just to test out my storage ability, but who knows.
We are in that fleeting time of year when all of the greens and root vegetables, because of the chill in the air, are remarkably sweet and delicious. Not to mention lovely to gaze upon. Witness this radish:
My CSA box this week included radishes (pictured above), baby greens, lettuce mix, tiny heads of red cabbage, bok choy, eggs, scallions, mixed gourds, garlic, and a pumpkin! I still have four weeks of my CSA left and only now am I finally to the point where I am putting everything to good use, even if it all goes into the pasta bowl (I did another one of those today, but I'll spare you another garbage-bowl pasta redux). I am planning to subscribe to the Elizabeth Telling CSA again next year, and I would recommend it to those of you who have been a little disappointed by the lack of variety in some other CSAs. Not that I am knocking any other farmers, of course, but I think Elizabeth Telling is perfect for adventurous but small families - there won't be pounds and pounds of beans or anything, just about enough to feed one or two people, but there's always a nice variety. Enough preaching. On with the slim pickins of the rest of the market (pictured below is my lovely gourd selection):
From Wayward Seed farm at the North Market I bought a little more salsify, since I know I probably won't be seeing it again until this time next year. It's actually quite tasty raw. Husband cooked it into beef stew last week and I didn't document it, but I will try to cook some up this week to give an idea of how to use it. I also bought these lovely, fat little carrots whose name I've forgotten. They look like little tops. We discussed the sweetness of carrots due to the cold, and I have been very happy with my carrot purchases from numerous farmers over the past few weeks, so I'll note it for next year: carrots are best in late September through October. I might even have a little carrot-salsify saute for dinner, who knows.
That was about all for the markets. I swung through the Worthington market with the express purpose of picking up my weekly dose of Honeycrisps - another thing to get better with the cold are these sweet and juicy apples - one a day keeps me a healthy girl! I also stopped by Wishwell farms for a jar of their great hot sweet pepper relish and a few pounds of redskin potatoes, now that Arbor Hill Organics has packed it up for the season. It's hard to believe that something like a potato could taste so differently when purchased from a farmer, but this past week Husband bought a bag of potatoes from a (reputable) grocery store and we both agreed they tasted strangely like dirt, and not in a good way. I am going to miss the pounds of wonderful potatoes I've purchase all year from my farmers. Maybe I should think about that cold storage area after all . . .
