In this newsletter:
What is happening at the farm?
Other news and events
Looking forward: Fall / Winter CSA and more
Farm store and what is available this week
Weekly farm fun fact
What is happening at the farm?
Hello beautiful community and beyond! We're back from a little hiatus with an exciting newsletter and to announce the arrival of some fun veggies including Daikon radish and cauliflower!
Cauliflower, Daikon radish and Romanesco cauliflower
Over the last couple weeks, we planted and mulched our garlic field and started our bulk harvest of storage crops. These include carrots, leeks, beets, parsnips, rutabaga, daikon and watermelon radish, cabbages and more. These babies will feed us all winter long through our fall and winter CSA and via the farmstore, which will stay open throughout the cold season aside from a break from late December to end of January. We also "flipped" the greenhouse beds as in we started to replaced the hot weather crops (tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, etc.) with cold hardy crops ( fresh greens, lettuce, herbs, kale, chard, etc.).
Greenhouse flip and bulk carrot harvest
Cool early morning harvests are my favourite despite the cold wet hands that go with it!
Kale beds and farm fields in the early mornings
We held our little squash fest on Saturdays over the last month with cinnamon buns, soups, and other goodies and a "Guess the Weight of the Squash" raffle! The person who guessed the right weight 15.8 lbs and the winner of our Farmstore gift card is Joel Hernberger! Congrats Joel! It was a close one with several people guessing 15 and 16 lbs (roughly 7kg).
This week is our last summer CSA and we can hardly believe it! Since boxes are customizable, our last summer CSA included choices among:
Carrots
Garlic
Peppers
Cauliflower
Eggplant
Beets
Butternut Squash
Mixed cooking greens
Shallots
Radish
Apples
Ginger
Hot peppers
Cilantro
Dill
Parsley
Sage
Rosemary
Thym
Onions (red and yellow)
cooking greens
Chickory lettuce
Other news and events
We participated in Masham Mange! a community festival around local food in Masham and we had a blast! I love our community. Thank you all for joining us on that wonderful day!
Masham Mange festival
Jess has been working her magic with dried flower wreaths, garlic braids and dried flower bouquets. You can find these in the farmstore along with fresh eucalyptus bouquets!
I am also trying to get her to make more paintings so we can offer her art in the farmstore as cards and prints... If you like this idea comment below !
The CSA Facebook group has been incredibly active and inspiring as always! Here are some highlights from the past weeks:
Looking forward: Fall / Winter CSA and more
Our Fall CSA begins the first week of November and we still have a few spots open for you. Perks of cold season CSAs are eating with the seasons including fresh greens and staying connected with your farm community.
Cold Season Crops from the Greenhouse
Farm store and what is available this week
*I'm trying this new format to keep you informed on what is available. Let me know what you think!
Roots:
Beets
Carrots
Daikon radish
Garlic
Hakurei Turnip
Kohlrabi
Onions (red, yellow and shallots)
Parsnip
Potatoes
Radish
Rutabaga
Watermelon radish
Greens:
Arugula
Spinach
Salad mix
Kale
Chard
*bulk greens are available if you bring your own containers.
Chickory lettuce
Napa cabbage
Caraflex cabbage (a tender sweet variety great for slaw and amazing roasted !)
Herbs:
Basil
Rosemary
Thym
Sage
Cilantro
Dill
Parsley Curly and Flat
Other Veggies:
Celery
Leeks
Broccoli
Cauliflower
Fennel
Chickory lettuce (endive)
Squash
Classic butternut
Autumn Frost butternut (butternut flavour with a more pumpkin like texture)
Kabocha: sunshine and winter sweet (sweet nutty flavours reminiscent of roasted chestnut)
Testukabuto (low moisture content; rich notes of hazelnut and browned butter.)
Delicata (Edible skin makes for easy prep!)
Pie Pita Pumkin (great for pies/deserts and the seeds are especially tasty!)
Fruits:
Eggplant (Asian varieties)
Peppers (sweet - red, yellow, orange and green)
Hot Peppers (banana, jalapeno, habanero, chilli)
Tomatoes (red, yellow and green)
Zucchini
Apples from Peter in Wakefield! (Russet, Kidd Orange, Liberty, Super Nova)
Flowers:
Some of the last fresh fresh bouquets
Dried Flowers
Eucalyptus
Wreaths
Garlic braids
Farm-made preserves:
Salsa
Passata (Italian tomato sauce)
Kimchi
Chilero
Pickles (facto-fermented)
Lacto-fermented kohlrabi (great for charcuterie board and sandwiches)
Our version of a Sriracha hot sauce
Frozen soup: tomato
Other:
Decorative pumpkins and squash for my favourite month
Weekly farm fun fact
Our cauliflower has a purple tinge. It is not dyed! An antioxidant called anthocyanin is responsible for the purple colour (same as for red wine and cabbage). Cauliflower remains white from lack of exposure to sunlight, which does not allow chlorophyll to develop.
Keeping in touch
Our farm-store hours are
Wednesday-Friday 11h-5h
Saturday 10h-3h
*Check us out on Facebook and instagram to get a daily glimpse of the Roots and Shoots Farm life.
Happy October to all!
-The Roots and Shoots Farm Team
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