Winter News from Windflower Farm
Warm greetings from all of us at Windflower Farm!
What’s in your share?
- Carrots, red cabbage and kohlrabi loose in the box
- French Fingerling potatoes in a paper bag
- A bag containing yellow and red onions, shallots and German Red or White garlic
- A heap of sweet potatoes and two leeks loose in the box
- Freshly picked Red Russian, Lacinato and Red Ruffles kales
- Honey Crisp apples from Borden’s Orchard in a plastic bag
- A jar of honey from Harry’s Honey House
If you’ve ordered shares of eggs or maple items from the Davis Farm or grains from Kristoffer Ross, please ask your site coordinator where these can be found. A note from Kristoffer and a link to one of his family recipes can be found at the bottom of this page, along with site addresses and distribution times.
What’s new on the farm?
It’s Jan’s birthday but she is still the first to be up and out. She loves this season. We are harvesting your kales today and she wanted to sweep the new snow off the caterpillar tunnel tops so that the sun could more effectively warm their interiors. Soon Andrea and Daren will arrive to help.
Andrea reminds me that the kales do not keep equally well. Red Russian has the shortest postharvest lifespan. It’s best used within days of bringing your box home. Then comes Red Ruffles, which should be eaten within the first week. And, finally, Lacinato (aka Toscano or Dinosaur) kale, which could last close to two weeks. Wash, spin and place in the crisper drawer of your refrigerator for best results.
Even though the sun had shown for most of the morning, the snow didn’t melt, and it was cold inside the unheated caterpillar tunnels. Our first hour was spent sweeping snow off the harvest wagon, gathering knives and crates, removing row covers from the greens and picking up hoops. It took the five of us about four hours to harvest some 65 crates of kale, which was about all the time we had between when they thawed in the late morning and they began to freeze again in the early afternoon.
Next month’s greens – spinach and Lacinato kale – will come from our larger snow-proof greenhouses. They are also unheated, but they stay warmer by virtue of their size and extra covering layers.
We have not spent much time on social media this year, but Nate just posted images from this month’s harvest to Instagram. You’ll find some bird’s eye farm shots from his drone and see Jan at work clearing tunnels. Find them here: Instagram.com/windflowerfarm/.
Daren prepared braised red cabbage this week. It’s something you could do, too. Sauté onions and garlic and then, when the onions are translucent, add chopped pieces of cabbage and cook until they are wilted. The dish can be added to any number of things or served as a side. Daren added chorizo to his to round out the meal.
I made a potato-vegetable soup last week, and the hands down best ingredient was the French Fingerling potato you’ll find in this month’s box – dense and creamy. The carrots were a close second. Whatever you choose to do with your veggies, I hope you enjoy the second of your winter shares!
Wishing you and yours a happy holiday season, Ted and the gang
PS. Here is a note from Kristoffer about this month’s grain share.
Your Grain share item this month is a 1.5 pound bag of stone ground Oat Flour. Our family’s traditional Scandinavian pepparkakor (gingersnap cookies)have made their annual return, and Annie has been baking several batches to determine the proper flour ratio to replace all the wheat flour with oats. I must say that the results have been very popular! The recipe is on our website here:https://hickorywindfarm.net/pages/recipes. Enjoy your month, and if you celebrate, God Jul!
PPS: Please mark your calendars for the two remaining distributions: January 8th, and February 5th.
Your pick-up time and location is noted below.
Central Brooklyn (1251 Dean St., 4:30 to 6:00)
Please note:
1. A friend, family member or neighbor can pick up your share for you if you are not able to make it to distribution. Please ask this person to sign-in under your name.
2. Site hosts are not obliged to save shares for members who miss the distribution window. Any shares leftover after distribution will be donated to community fridges or food pantries and will help other community members in need.
3. The farm is not able to send you a make-up share if you miss a distribution. The farm will send your shares on the distribution dates only.
4. The farm will send you a newsletter a day or two before distribution. Please save these two emails to your preferred contacts list: windflowercsa@gmail.com and tedblomgren@gmail.com and check your SPAM folder if our newsletter does not make it into your inbox.
5. Watch for updates from site hosts on social media. Many sites post updates about the share on Instagram and Facebook.
Central Brooklyn CSA 
Not sure why I get these Can u confirm that I didn’t subscribe to winter share? Thanks Kate
Sent from my iPhone
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