October in the fields

The polls have closed! No, you didn't miss the mid-term elections, but we have a date for our end-of-season CSA Harvest Celebration: Yoga and Potluck Feast and it's Thursday, October 30th. Yoga class with Maureen St. Croix will begin at 5:30pm followed by a potluck feast beginning at 6:30. Can't make it to both? No worries! Come to either or both, no RSVP necessary. We'll be upstairs in the Yellow House for yoga class and down in the CSA room for the potluck. If your last name is in the first half of the alphabet, please bring a salad, soup, or appetizer; names in the last half of the alphabet, please bring an entree dish or dessert. Here's to the abundant harvest this year!

Fall work around the farm in October divides mostly between harvesting and putting the fields to bed. Our excellent crew members Casey and Maddie are gone for the season, leaving a pared-down field crew these days. Our harvest mornings are full-speed-ahead as we try to get everything in from the field in time. In the afternoons we work on breaking down the remnants of our summer crops and getting beds ready for their winter cover crops. Last week we started work on the other major fall project: planting next year's garlic. Garlic is a looooooong season crop and requires the frigid temperatures of winter to break dormancy and properly establish a strong root system. Garlic planting is slow work (and muddy with all the recent rain), but it feels good to be paying it forward to next season in the afternoon after a morning spent harvesting so many of this season's happy, healthy crops.

In your share this week: beets, carrots, lettuce, hakureis, leeks, chard, kale, another butternut squash from Langwater Farm in Easton, potatoes from Moraine Farm in Beverly, and Pick Your Own parsley from our PYO section.

Recipe of the Week
CSA member Lindsay Grimes (of the lovely and tantalizing blog I Will Feed You) is on a quest to become a beet lover this year. When we had beets in the share earlier this year she brought us some beautiful pink beet hummus that she had made--it was delicious! Her recipe is simple and the photos of the process on her blog are beautiful--take a look here.

Beet Hummus,
Lindsay Grimes at iwillfeedyou.com

4 large beets, stems and greens removed
2 – 15 oz. cans of chickpeas, drained, and rinsed, peeled if so desired
1 clove garlic
1/2 cup quality olive oil
zest and juice of 1 lemon
1 tablespoon tahini

sea salt and pepper to taste

photo: Lindsay Grimes, iwillfeedyou.com

Preheat oven to 425, wrap each beet in tin foil with olive oil, salt and pepper.  Bake for 40 – 45 minutes until tender. In the mean time, drain and rinse chickpeas. Remove the external layer of skin from chickpeas if you deem you have time. This step will yield a creamier texture.

Once the beets are out of the oven, let them cool to room temperature. At this point it should be easy to peel away the skins with your fingers. Once skinned, roughly chop the beets. In the bowl of a food processor blend the chickpeas, beets and any roasting juices, garlic clove, olive oil, lemon zest + juice, and tahini until well combined. Taste for seasonings and adjust. Check for any lumpy bits of beet that may have missed the blade. Garnish well with good Olive Oil.

Serve this eye catching dip with toasted pita chips or crisp vegetable crudité.  Beet Hummus will keep well in the fridge for 3-5 days and freezes beautifully if you want to save it for another day. Just be sure to give it another good whip once it thaws as it may separate a bit.

Enjoy your share this week!