By Cecilia
Our irrigation pond is completely full for the first time in a few years. It is incredible to see how much water is rushing in and out of it. Yesterday I walked up to one of the highest points on the farm and looked down onto the whole valley. There seemed to be water everywhere. If you walk around the farm you will also see that our last growing field is flooded. While we hope this happens every year, it is a turning point for harvest. Some things will continue growing, like the chard, chicories, and celeriac. The cabbage we will have to get out of the field before it splits, and the kale might all die back. Brassicas do not hold up well to flooding. This means that going forward through the winter we start to rely more and more heavily on tunnel production and storage crops. Some of our tunnel plastic ripped off in one of the storms last week, so Jesse and Danny scrambled to tape it back together for a quick fix. The crops in those houses become increasingly valuable as we get deeper into winter.
I mostly wanted to spend my time on the blog this week talking about sugarloaf. I have a problem where I say that every single chicory we grow is my favorite chicory. Usually, whichever variety I am holding in that moment will be the one I claim as my favorite. But really, at the end of the day my favorite is the sugarloaf. Maybe I just hold on to it as my favorite because it was my gateway chicory. When I first started growing them I wasn’t really sure how to use them. I didn’t fully understand how to highlight their bitter flavor in whatever I was cooking. The sugarloaf is so mild compared to the other varieties, which makes it a great place to start. Now I prefer chopped sugarloaf to lettuce in my salads. The name comes from the fact that it has a sweeter flavor, and because it is shaped like a baguette, or a loaf of bread. We are soon approaching the final harvests of our early season type called Nettuno. But do not fret! There is much more sugar loaf on its way. We have a whole untouched planting of a later season type called Borca.
CSA barn hours:
Winter: 2:30-6 pm (starts the week after daylight savings in November)
Summer: 2:30-6:30 pm (starts the week after daylight savings in March)
Pick List:
Eggs
Red Norland, Yellow Finn, and La Ratte Fingerling Potatoes
Elyse Sweet, Shallots, and Monastrell Red Onions
Leeks
Rhonda Beets
Yaya Carrots
Joan Rutabaga
Hablange Parsnips
Mars Celeriac
Purple Top Turnips
Bora King Daikon and Watermelon Radish
Calypso Celery
Primo Green Cabbage and Ruby King Red Cabbage
Kossack Kohlrabi
Castelfranco, Rosalba, and Sugarloaf
Joi Choi
White Russian Kale
Ruby Red Chard
Spaghetti, Butternut, Tuffy Acorn, Tetsukabota Winter Squash, and Pie-Pita Pumpkin
Sonora wheat flour and wheat berries
Herbal Tea Blends, Ground Chiles, and Whole Dried Chile peppers (Please bring your own jars!)
Pick your own flowers and herbs
Saltonstall Olive Oil (Please bring your own jars!)
Chicory Salad Dressing
My recipe for this week is the salad dressing I like to use for chicory salads. I think vinegar balances the bitterness of the greens and the savory miso flavor holds up even to stronger chicories like Treviso. It’s a super simple 3-ingredient recipe, which is also why I like it so much. I can’t really remember where or when I first read about it. I’ve never forgotten it though because the ratios are so easy to remember. I make large batches of this in a mason jar and keep it in my fridge.
1 tablespoon miso (I use any type of miso that I have on hand. Right now I have a traditional red miso)
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
3 tablespoons olive oil
(salt and pepper to taste)
It’s not technically part of the dressing, but I always add LOTS of chopped herbs to my chicory salads. In the summer I love dill, but right now I’m using a lot of parsley and cilantro.