Blog Archives

Crop Planning Season

11/29/2014

Planting season is over for now but planning season is in full swing. While the vegetable crew continues to harvest and pack vegetables and rolls up miles of drip tape from the soggy fields, I'm sitting in front of a computer screen that looks exactly like the screen shot above, three spreadsheets all open at once holding all of the details of next year's vegetable fields.
I started by sitting down in multiple meetings with everyone on the farm to get feedback on how much of what we should grown and when in 2015. We've gone back through surveys, comments, records and notes and now I'm working all of that into a big master spreadsheet that contains the details. From that sheet I'll generate a seed order, a chart of seeds to start in the greenhouse, a schedule for working the fields into seed beds, a planting plan for the field, and numerous other small sheets to come up with labor projections and supplies we'll need.
So far I've only made it through celeriac, but I'm starting to gain momentum now. I'm guessing we'll end up with something in the neighborhood of 600+ unique plantings planned for 2015 as the crop mix continues to grow a bit and we expand the production in the fields.
I'm excited to add in a few new crops like hunchback cardoons, which I saw growing in Tuscany last month. I'm not quite as excited about adding in salad mix (it's relatively complicated to write a plan for), but everyone else on the farm loves salad mix so you can look for that in the store in the spring (maybe even in the winter with a little luck and help from our hoop houses).
Once the plan is in place I'll try to make up a simplified calendar of what vegetables we're planning on producing, month by month so you can start planning all of your meals for next year.

Josh Volk
Prodigious Planner

Holiday prep

11/26/2014

Happy Thanksgiving week and subsequent holiday season to everybody!! We recently took the dive into holiday preparations around the farm and farm-stand, as I'm sure you have too. Stringing lights, making decorations, drinking hot drinks, harvesting kale, rolling up drip tape, you know, the usual stuff that everyone does to get ready for a little time off with friends and/or family. I wanted to show you a picture of one of us rolling up the drip tape because it's kind of a cool process that helps us be able to reuse it next year but I forgot to snap it. There's still more of it to do though, so next week.

Yesterday Karen and Colleen were having a little too much fun when they got together to make some wreaths for the store. They used holly Colleen brought, pine and cedar boughs from the property, plus some dried flowers from Karen's garden, and they turned out amazing. They will be decorating the store for the holidays, as well as be available for purchase. You should come check out the apple/cranberry sauce that Brenna made too, it's also amazing. Everyone be safe and have a wonderful meal tomorrow. Happy Thanksgiving!!

Til' next time,
Louis

What to do with Chicories

11/18/2014

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In October, the weather starts to get too cold for lettuce and so we switch over to harvesting chicories for the CSA shares. I use the term "chicory" loosely to include escarole (pictured above), endive, radicchio, sugarloaf, castlefranco, and catalogna. These are all loosely related to lettuce, and there are actually many more types of chicory (genus Cichorium), as well as many varieties of each type, but I'm going to give some tips that work well for all of the chicories, in my experience. I'll also give some variety specific notes and background below.

Escarole was kind of my gateway for really starting to appreciate chicories. It's the most similar to lettuce, but like all of the chicories, it really is best when the weather gets just a little too cold for lettuce, and it is much more versatile than lettuce. The typical characteristics of chicories is that they have some level of bitterness, but in the right growing conditions (cold weather), that bitterness can be largely overwhelmed by sweet crunchiness. Cooking the chicory (something not done much with lettuce) also moderates bitter flavors.

Bitter flavor isn't something that is common in American cuisine, but it is definitely appreciated in other places and I've really come to love it, in the right setting and matched with the right flavors. The bitterness of the chicories we grow vary with the type and weather, but typically it is subtle and only part of the flavor of the leaves. I find it goes particularly well as a foil to other strong flavors, like the acid of lemon, or strong saltiness, or oiliness, or even sweet. I also like it best in the fall as the weather turns colder; for some reason it's not as appealing to me in the summer time.

The basic fresh salad that I make with most of the chicories is very simple. I shred the leaves and then soak them in cold water (ice water if you have it, I don't usually have ice) for about 5-30 minutes (depending on how patient you are or what else you're doing). Then I spin that dry and dress it generously with olive oil, lemon juice, and coarse salt. Typically the dressing is about 2 or 3 parts oil and 1 part lemon, but you can experiment. I add enough dressing to coat the leaves completely.

I first had this with escarole on a farm just outside of Siena and it was a significant part of the best meal I had while I was in Italy, very simple and very fresh and maybe one of the only salads I had while I was there (vegetables aren't served fresh commonly for some reason). Sometimes I'll add anchovies, or grated pecorino cheese, or a berry jam to the dressing. Sometimes I use vinegar instead of the lemon.

All of the chicories can also be cooked in a variety of ways. One typical preparation for the radicchio and sugarloaf is to cut the heads into wedges, sprinkle them with oil and salt, and then grill, broil or bake them until they are soft. This really brings out the sweet flavor and softens the leaves, which are a bit tougher than lettuce. With catalogna, I frequently add chopped up leaves to stew, especially something like ribollita (which was another part of that great meal I had in Siena).

A variation on the fresh salad approach that I use above is to not soak the leaves or cut them so small (or at all) and to sauté them in hot olive oil and then add the other flavors. Both soaking in cold water and cooking reduce the bitter flavors. Chopping finely and cooking both make the more fibrous leaves easier to chew.

Of the chicories we're growing, escarole and frisee are the two best for straight salads. Radicchio, sugarloaf, and castlefranco are all somewhat similar with tighter heads, and thick, sweet, crunchy ribs. Catalogna is the outlier, looking a bit like dandelion and having the strongest flavor of all. With all of the chicories, I think of the white parts of the ribs as the real treat and the inner, blanched leaves as the best for salads. I often cook the outer leaves and make fresh salad from the inner rosette. On many of them the core is very small, but when there is a significant core, it can be quite sweet, especially when cooked.

On my recent trip to Italy I went on an amazing tour of two chicory farms in Chioggia and learned a lot about how they are grown and used there as well as some of the history of variety selection. I'm hoping to experiment with some of the techniques I learned there and to improve our selection of offerings through the winter.

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A Beautiful Day for CSA

11/17/2014

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Hello wonderful CSA members. Today was cold but gorgeous out on the farm. We were all very happy to be harvesting while simultaneously basking in the sun. Another new chicory this week as well as a lovely fall radish.

MISATO ROSE RADISH
This watermelon radish variety is characterized by scarlet red flesh with a green/white skin. The flavor and texture is sweet and turnip-like, with a mild radish finish. Makes a fantastic ingredient for kim chi, is beautiful when shredded with cole slaw and carrot, or sliced into winter salads. This is my favorite new radish. I love slicing them thin and putting them on fresh bread with butter and salt.

CORNET DE BORDEAUX ESCAROLE
Originally from Italy, this light green, bittersweet crunchy heading endive is almost like sugarloaf chicory but with wavier leaves, smaller size and an escarole texture. Very succulent and delicious. Great in salads or braised.

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Hoop House Hangout

11/13/2014

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Hey Everybody! Crazy weather, huh? The cold winds have been blasting away at the farm all week, but we've been (for the most part) toasty and dry in our hoop houses putting the winter starts in the ground that will be filling your CSA bags in no time. Remember the photo from my last post where we had just cleared out all the tomato and cucumber trellising? Well, this is the same hoop house (currently 1 of 2 on the farm) after we've re-prepped those same beds and then planted kale, various chicories, parsley, mustard, and onions. When this time of year rolls around we all start looking for excuses to work inside the greenhouses. You'll notice all the sweaters and jackets strewn about the pathways... once the layers start to come off you know it's going to be a pretty hard sell to get anyone to go back out into the field.

But, as far as staying truly warm and dry this week, we were pretty lucky with Monday's harvest and getting stuff done in the hoop houses until that darned freezing rain decided to show up before, during, and after CSA harvest today. Here's Karen next to an ice covered bed pulling out parsnips after I've forked them up. Fortunately we were forward enough in our thinking to pre-harvest the stuff for today we knew wouldn't have made it through (celery), and covered the stuff that would've gotten damaged in the event of a hard freeze (chicories). But everything else is either a root and is protected by the soil, or is hardy enough to take the wintery beating. Let's just hope this cold front passes quickly so we can get back to just plain, old, 40 degree, winter-in-the-Pacific-Northwest, rain. Stay warm and have a great weekend.

Til' next time,
Louis

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Basking in the fall sun

11/10/2014

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Two new items in the share this week as we continue to enjoy this beautiful fall...

COLLARD GREENS
These beautiful, dark green leaves from the Brassica family are much like kale but definitely need to be cooked. Whether you choose to sautée, braise or roast they are delicious. I like them braised with olive oil and garlic. Josh likes to boil them with tamari!

PARSNIPS
These roots are my absolute favorite. Related to carrots, parsnips are a bit sweet and have an almost spiced flavor, reminiscent of nutmeg and cinnamon. They are very versatile and can be roasted, steamed, boiled, grated and I'm sure the list goes on. I love to steam them and then make a mashed potato equivalent with them, yum! They are also great with just a bit of olive oil and herbs in a roasted dish.

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Winter Approacheth

11/9/2014

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We did it ya'll!!!! We built it and they came, you came, in droves, to support your local and regional agricultural community!!!! We can't thank everyone enough for all the support and enthusiasm you've showed us, it was all of you that made Saturday so special! So make sure ya'll come back now, Wed-Fri 10am-7pm and Sat-Sun 10am-6pm.

And now, with the building done and the grocery store open to all of you wonderful people, I got to spend my first days back in the dirt with the most excellent of vegetable crews. Harvest and pack-out are a little different than they were a year ago now that we have all our new facilities. So, I got to spend my first day back feeling like a newbie again as I learned the ropes of how the orders come in, how we fill them, and how they go out. We're far from the days when we just filled CSA bags, and I'm loving seeing everyone thrive in this new, complex environment filled with new and exciting ventures.

Spending the last 8 months outside the "farm circle" definitely gave me a unique perspective of the farm, but now that I'm seeing it from the inside for the first time I can really appreciate the organization and effort put in by all our CoOp players to make this place hum. It's not an easy job, and I'm glad we have the people that we do because they're really incredible at what they do. I'm honored to be rejoining them.

In field-work news, we are busy busy getting all things prepared for our winter production and clean up phase. All irrigation has to come out of the fields to get drained and stored. And, all the trellises in the hoop houses that did so well holding up our tomatoes, squash, and cucumbers had to come down so we can start prepping the soil for winter crops to go in: kale, chicory, and lettuces will all hole up together from the wind and rain so we can continue to stock the store, the kitchen, and fill your winter CSA shares.

Our list of winter chores is a pretty big one this year. Lots of clean up, maintenance, and we're building two more hoop houses to increase our extended season crop production even more. But you won't hear me complaining. Having stable work year 'round is something that not all farmers get to have and is something that I'm am very grateful for. So with the store open year 'round as well, you'll have to come on out and see us, we'll all be here doing what we do best.

Til' next time,
Louis

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It's November!

11/3/2014

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We introduce another new chicory this week...Bellesque frisée. The name frisée comes from the French word for endive. The delicate, extra frilly leaves are smooth and finely ribbed. The mild flavor is perfectly balanced by a hint of tartness. Like the other chicories frisée can be eaten raw in a salad or sautéed.

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