We repeat ourselves often, expressing our love for fall. We know. It’s just that it’s so easy to love fall around here. Fall is dominated by harvesting. Less planting, less soil and plant maintenance, less worry about disease overtaking a whole family of plants. The heat and humidity are so stressful in the summer that fall feels like a huge sigh of relief, followed by delicious meals from harvests that feel easy. Gratitude this time of year is so visceral for us.

Granted, it seems like we may have had a very short autumn this year, skipping on ahead to winter weather. But the enjoyment and gratitude remain. Our work days are unavoidably shorter. We get to enjoy food we canned in earlier months. And what other time of year can we simultaneously enjoy roasting sweet potatoes, squash, broccoli, and serving it with salsa verde (an generous name we use for a quick green tomato salad – chopped green tomatoes with garlic, olive oil, and sea salt).    
The main part of our growing season is nearing an end. The final share of our Farm Share CSA is next Wednesday’s pick up (just in time for Thanksgiving meals!). Market Share CSA members should be finishing up their balances in the next couple of weeks, because the vegetables are starting to freeze. (You have until Dec 31 to use any available credit, but we will not have many vegetables available in December. This ground is going to harden up!) 

Spy the brussels sprouts in the picture above? This is our first year growing them, and we’re not sure how much they will progress in this cold. Broccoli (below) is freezing in the field, but we have covered many rows of plants with ag fabric to keep them warmer. This may buy us a little extra harvest time. Unless the deer get in the fence and tear up this row fabric. (That’s when the fall is not a happy time.)


Garlic is now in the ground, cloves tucked under the soil to grow until next summer. This is our first season saving some of our own garlic bulbs to use as seed – an indication of a better crop of garlic than in years past.

Thank you, as always, to all of you who eat the food that we grow. You make this work possible for us. We look forward to seeing you at both markets this weekend (Brandermill opens back up for a pre-holiday market). We hope you will choose to offer your loved ones gifts from local vendors this year – including consumable goods! We will have our vegetables, as usual (any that aren’t frozen), as well as our bread, pepper jelly, salsa, and a precious few remaining Broadfork hoodies in children’s sizes.

Market Share CSA Members: Remember that your balance expires at the end of 2014, and we don’t harvest much at all in December (especially with the low temps of late). Plan to spend your balance by the end of November. After that, you may “order into the negatives” and settle up your balance with us after ordering. Thank you!

We are baking extra loaves of bread – two varieties – for this Saturday’s orders/markets!

This week’s Harvest includes:

Our Farm Share Bag (consisting of a farmers’ choice medley of produce, in one easy to order option), Beets, Broccoli (heads and greens), Carrots, Chinese and Traditional Cabbage, Escarole, Garlic, Ginger, Hearty Mix, Juicing Greens, Kohlrabi, Lettuce (three different types of heads), Microgreens, Jalapeno peppers, Salad Mix, Spinach, and Tomatoes (green), Turnips…plus our Pepper Jelly, Salsa, and naturally leavened Hearth Baked Bread (two varieties).

Enjoy ~
Janet, Dan, and the rest of the Broadfork crew

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Recipe Suggestions: (cataloged on our Recipe Page)
Baby Ginger – we felt obligated to test some cookie recipes using our fresh baby ginger. This Fresh Ginger Cookie recipe got great reviews from our family and crew. Next we will try this Triple Ginger Cookie. Remember also to put this ginger in any stir fry or soup, or ginger-lemon-honey tea, or freeze it for future use of these recipes. In February we hope you think of us when you pull it out of the freezer!
Broccoli – make Stuffing (feel free to sub real milk and mushrooms for the canned soup it calls for!) or Broccoli Cheese Soup
Sweet Potatoes – the holidays loom and sweet potatoes are usually featured well, but in case you need inspiration: Sweet Potato and Sausage Breakfast Burrito
Green Tomatoes – Baked Green Tomatoes with Yummy Dip  or Salsa Verde (put on those burritos listed above, and add Fermented Jalapenos to the whole affair!)
Radishes – we haven’t reminded you to roast them in a while. If you can resist putting them on top of a crisp and delicious salad, roasting them is the way to go. And – say what you want about Martha Stewart, but we love the recipes published under her name. Check out the link above – we love that it doesn’t even list quantities! Just use what you have and trust your inner chef.

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We attend TWO farmers’ markets this Saturday: South of the James in Forest Hill Park, from 8am – 12pm and Brandermill Green Market’s Holiday Market.

2014 Market Share CSA Members: Choose your selection through our Online Ordering to order for pick up on Saturday at our farm, at the Brandermill Holiday Market in Market Square, or at the South of the James Market in Forest Hill Park.