Half way through the season and todays share had parsnip, scorzonera, carrots, radicchio and leeks. There were also mustard greens, a bit of frisée and escarole and winter radishes on the farm stand for anyone who wanted to supplement the slightly stripped down, root heavy share this week. Scorzonera is one of the more unusual crops we grow, closely related to salsify but with black skin. Both are also known as oyster root and maybe they have a hint of oyster flavor when boiled. The flavor is pretty mild in any case, and a bit sweeter if roasted or fried. They can be a little messy to prepare in the sense that when the skin is scraped or when they are cut they ooze a sticky latex that turns brown pretty quickly. To counter this you can put it in acidulated water (water with lemon or vinegar) immediately after cutting it up. Instead of peeling it with a vegetable peeler I find it easier to just scrape the thin skin off with the back of a knife (I do this with carrots too).
The weather continues to be unseasonably warm and dry. With the exception of the wind today that made it very pleasant working in the field. Mostly we were harvesting but there’s always clean up to be done and today was no exception. Yesterday I got the website updated with the sign up information for spring through fall 2026 shares, and winter 2027. I also ordered the first round of seeds and we’ll be starting those soon! I’m sure as soon as we need to start preparing beds for planting it will start raining and finally get cold. Until then we’re enjoying sunny harvest days.
Cully Neighborhood Farm 