Beets, turnip, tomatoes, sweet peppers, chard, radicchio, escarole, arugula and leeks. A mix of things that are still hanging on from summer, things planned for later, and a few of the items we expected. The tomatoes and sweet peppers have held on for longer than expected due to the warm nights we’ve been having. It looks like that will end this weekend, and the reality is that they’ve slowed down so much now and the forecasted cold weather means that this is almost certainly the last we’ll see of them this year. The turnip in this week’s share is from a section of winter turnips we needed to thin, and it’s a very different turnip from the salad turnips, which weren’t ready for a second harvest – unfortunately when we uncovered that section of winter turnips we also found a lot of damage from pests, likely also partially due to the warm weather we’ve been having. Another result of the warm weather, the earliest radicchio is ready a few weeks before planned. That meant two of my favorite chicories in the shares – escarole and radicchio!
Pictured in the share photo is a Verona radicchio type, but we also had Lusia and Chioggia types for some of the shares. For any newcomers to the chicories (radicchio and escarole this week), I tend to think of them as winter lettuce, but they’re actually much more flavorful and versatile than lettuce. Like lettuce they’re good in salads, but they’re far less delicate so strong salty, sweet and acid dressings go well with them. They benefit even more than lettuce from soaking in cold water before using them and it helps reduce any excessive bitterness and improve their crunch. With both lettuce and radicchio I think the ribs of the leaves are really the best part, perhaps even more so with the chicories. Chicories are also very good cooked and are often sautéed or roasted or added to soups or risottos and even baked goods. Especially when cooking them the core, and even root, can be the sweetest part (and it’s the part that rodent pests love to eat when they’re in the field).
Speaking of the fields, we’ll have to see how cold it actually gets this weekend and if that has an impact on what we have in the shares next week. As long as it doesn’t frost to heavily we should have a very similar mix, but you never know. Meanwhile, in the field work world we’re still cleaning up from the summer weeds and a small portion of the day was spend cleaning up irrigation systems to protect them from any freezing damage over the winter.
Cully Neighborhood Farm 