Weir River Farm Blog 3/18

Happy Tuesday!  There are only two more CSA pick ups this season, so make sure you stop by and grab your final fall veggies. If you missed the last couple weeks, Des is pulling out all the stops and getting some mean greens out of the surprising October heat.  Before I paste the share info, a couple of notes for those interested:

- Garlic is still for sale and will be for the next two weeks, until the product has all been sold.  We've got about one hundred pounds left from the harvest of three hundred, so it's quickly depleting.  Come talk to me at CSA, or email me and I can bag some for you in advance and you can just come by and pick it up at your leisure.

- I'll be harvesting a limited amount of beet and carrot bunches this week for sale at the CSA. They are the final veggies we left in the Earth, and this is their last hurrah. There will be a very limited amount, so if you're interested you can guarantee some for yourself by emailing me in advance, or if you feel like throwing caution to the wind, feel free to just show up and try to buy some on the spot.

I can't wait to see ya'll at the CSA, here's Des with the share:

What's in Your Share (maybe):

Salad turnips
Arugula
Pac Choi
Salad mix
Broccoli
Radish
Bok Choi
Carrots
Winter Squash
Garlic
Potatoes
Pencil leeks/scallions
Kale/Chard

Recipes:

Ok. I've been hearing a lot about Arugula Pesto and telling a lot of folks about it and it is dreamy delicious and a great thing to FREEZE for later so grab some of this peppery green and make this! You can substitute pine nuts/sunflower seeds/cashews/pecans etc for the walnuts, but I love walnuts in this! I also put in a Tblsp of butter just because I love butter and it makes any pesto a creamy wonder.
Ingredients:

• 2 cups packed fresh arugula leaves, rinsed and dried
• 1/4 cup roughly chopped walnuts
• 4 medium garlic cloves
• 1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 1/2 cup finely grated fresh Parmesan cheese
• 2 teaspoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Throw all the ingredients in a food processor and pulse until smooth. Use anywhere you would use basil pesto for a peppery twist on an old favorite.

I made this the other night with ground turkey instead of beef and it was fabulous. We served it with rice and used our homegrown sriracha! Our fresh cabbage caramelizes so wonderfully that it makes stir fry just sing! This is from BudgetBytes.com

BEEF AND CABBAGE STIR FRY

SAVEPRINT

PREP TIME

15 mins

COOK TIME

15 mins

TOTAL TIME

30 mins

INGREDIENTS

STIR FRY SAUCE

• 2 Tbsp soy sauce $0.18
• 1 Tbsp toasted sesame oil $0.33
• 1 Tbsp sriracha* $0.05
• ½ Tbsp brown sugar $0.02

STIR FRY

• ½ head green cabbage $1.78
• 2 carrots $0.22
• 3 green onions $0.17
• ½ Tbsp neutral cooking oil $0.02
• ½ lb. lean ground beef $3.90
• 2 cloves garlic $0.16
• 1 Tbsp fresh grated ginger $0.13
• Pinch of salt and pepper $0.05

GARNISHES (optional)

• 1 Tbsp sesame seeds $0.08
• 1 Tbsp sriracha $0.05

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Prepare the stir fry sauce first. In a small bowl stir together the soy sauce, toasted sesame oil, sriracha, and brown sugar. Set the sauce aside.
2. Shred the vegetables so they are ready to go when you need them. Cut one small cabbage in half, remove the core, and then finely shred the leaves of one half the cabbage (4-6 cups once shredded, save the other half for another recipe). Peel two carrots, then use a cheese grater to shred them (1 cup shredded). Slice three green onions. Mince two cloves of garlic. Peel a knob of ginger using either a vegetable peeler or by scraping with the side of a spoon, then grate it using a small-holed cheese grater.
3. Heat a large skillet over medium heat. Once hot add the cooking oil, ground beef, garlic, ginger, and a pinch of salt and pepper. Cook the beef until browned (about five minutes).
4. Add the cabbage and carrots to the skillet and continue to stir and cook until the cabbage is slightly wilted (or fully wilted, if you prefer). Stir in the prepared sauce and the green onions. Top with a sprinkle of sesame seeds and a drizzle of sriracha, then serve.

NOTES

* 1 Tbsp sriracha makes a medium-spicy stir fry. If you don't like spicy, I'd start with 1 tsp. The sriracha adds flavor as well as heat, so I don't suggest skipping it all together.

Events:

SURPRISE! Given that our Harvest Fest was rained out (and thank you to all the hearty souls that ventured into the torrent to support us- we did have a fun day anyway!) we still have a ton of pumpkins left over and Southborough Recreation and the Rotary Club have rescheduled the annual Pumpkin Lighting Ceremony for October 30th. So on Saturday October 29th we are adding PUMPKIN CARVING to our Halloween Fun Run Event. You can enter the costume party style fun run and get a free pumpkin, OR you can just come buy a pumpkin for $5 (and these are FABULOUS JACK O LANTERNS!!!) and use our carving tools to carve a beauty to bring home or put up on the wall in town. 2k run starts at 10 am, fun run starts at 11 am and the Pumpkin part of the day is all day from 10-2. Come join us for treats, tricks and fun!

11/5 Join us for the Great Pumpkin Chuck! I will just say this.....TREBUCHET. yep. You got that right, we have a trebuchet on the farm. It is big and it is a riot to watch throw pumpkins across the fields. Bring your old Jacks and we will chuck them. There will be pumpkiny snacks as well. $5. Have a chucker of your own you want to bring to the action- think it can throw an old jack farther than ours. Challenge accepted, bring it on. Contact Kira for info on our chucking contest....