CSA Share: Week 14
Hey CSA Members
The deluges of rain we waited for day after day this summer have arrived with abundance. Yesterday during a rare event where all 6 members of our core crew gathered in the poll shed to share our updates and plan the remainder of this week, we could barely hear each other even in our close circle from the loud drumming on the metal roof. It sounded like hail from the power of the sound, but it was just huge, voluptuous, and fast rain like we haven’t seen at all this season.
I can feel the temptation towards cliché labels like “too little too late” while being drenched with rain after the intensity of this summer’s drought. But it feels so important to resist that and open up to receiving gifts that arrive whenever they arrive. I try to imagine the creeks filling up every time it rains this fall… to think that I’ll be out on my kayak soon or next spring, grateful for all of this water, separate from the desires of farming production. The trees and grass are suddenly so lush and this must be a true relief for any grazing farmers and their animals in our area.
Young ginger is one of the other gifts that is arriving at this late-fall time. The ginger you’re receiving in the share this week has traveled a long road to get to you! The mother rhizomes arrive to us in March from Hawaii; we unpack them and get them sprouting in a converted cooler that’s been outfitted for heat and humidity. The sprouting always happens quicker than we think, with green shoots suddenly heading for the ceiling in the dark cooler… searching for sunlight. This season the seed that arrived looked less happy than usual – a little banged up and evidence that it had pre-sprouted and died back, so we weren’t sure how it was going to do. We did lose some of the crop but what grew is glorious. I love working with the ginger plant almost more than anything else on the farm because every step of the process is done by hand. The aromatic scent of the leaves during harvest has become a seasonal relationship: familiar, comforting and tender. The first harvest is always like reconnecting with a familiar friend.
Ginger also signals that we’ve nearly made it to the end of the season, no matter what has occurred, what was won or lost. She’s here to mark the turn of the year and send us on with sweetness and warmth.
5 more weeks of CSA! Please enjoy these last weeks of produce from our farm to you!
Best wishes,
Lauren
Whats in the Share This Week?
Baby Ginger
Napa Cabbage
Baby Boy Choy
Carrots
Kale
Sweet or Poblano Peppers
What To Cook
Ginger... So many ways to enjoy fresh baby ginger! Lots of lovely recipes out there but here is an NPR article with a recipe that outlines a great pickling process from "Joy of Pickling". I like to leave just the pink parts of the ginger inside the jar for a light pink color (I wonder if a quick blanching of these pink ends, even if you aren't blanching the rest of the ginger, might help release the pigment... Ive tried it both ways and without blanching it doesn't seem to release the color as much!), or as the author suggests you can put a slice of beet into it too for a deeper pink.
Our farmer friend at Little Seed Gardens, Claudia Kenny, taught us to blanch baby bok choy al-dente in boiling salt water. You can drizzle sesame oil and soy sauce once it comes out, and even grate a little ginger over top, to finish the dish. As Samin Nosrat would say, make sure the cooking water is salty like the sea!
If your fridge is overwhelmed, pickling this week is a great way to put some goodness up for colder months. Napa, carrots, bok choy, and ginger are all great elements of a kimchi recipe.
Vegetable Storage Tips Baby Ginger
Separate the stems and chop them up to steep into an herbal tea with a little bit of the ginger root, some honey and a cinnamon stick. The rhizome can be left on the counter for the skin to dry, or use it within 2-3 days from your fridge. Keep the pink bits attached to the rhizome if you want to pickle it!
Carrots: Remove the tops immediately and keep the roots in a plastic bag in the fridge, they will keep for weeks! If you leave the tops on it contributes to dehydration in the fridge.
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