This Week at the Farm: Roots and The Importance of Healthy Soil

We got another big snowstorm this week, which kept some of us home and without power. It has snowed so many times this fall that we’re already starting to lose count – and it’s not even December yet!

With the shift in the weather, you may be starting to notice changes in available produce, too. So what’s in season right now? Root vegetables, potatoes, and winter squash! The good thing about winter storage crops is that they’ll keep for months if stored properly. We have tons available in the farmstand (you can even buy in bulk!) along with delicious frozen options like broccoli, corn, and garlic scapes for those of you who are missing summer veggies.

Get Creative with Roots

There’s so much you can do with root vegetables and storage crops besides roasting them. Our Kitchen Manager Theo recommends using them as a base for a frittata, incorporating them into your filling for stuffed tomatoes, or making a simple purée. (Parsnip and turnip purée is especially delicious!)

We’ve been getting creative in the kitchen, too. Here are a few things you’ll find in the farmstand this weekend:

• Butternut, parsnip, coconut soup
• Focaccia with carrot, garlic, and beet greens (they’re PINK!)
• Duchess potatoes
• Chocolate beet cake
• “The Beet Goes On” salad

On Saturday and Sunday, we’ll also have sticky buns, rugelach (a middle eastern cookie made with cherry, walnut, and apple-pepper jelly), and bread puddings, along with our normal fall weekend offerings.

If you’re interested in special ordering larger quantities of sweets, like scones, contact Theo. You can even order pre-portioned, frozen dough and bake them yourself at home throughout the winter.

Celebrate the Soil

Wednesday, December 5 is World Soil Day – a day to celebrate the importance of soil. Ninety-five percent of our food comes from soil and, perhaps not surprisingly, soil health affects plant health, human wellbeing, and even the future of our planet. Because of this interconnectedness, sustainable soil management practices are essential.

Here at the farm, we take soil management seriously. Our goal is to minimize our dependance on outside agricultural inputs like fertilizers, which can cause nutrient imbalances in the soil. This year we experimented with using different cover crops to “fertilize” the soil, as a potential alternative to agricultural inputs.

One success worth mentioning was our fall carrot harvest. No agricultural inputs were used on this field – just a cover crop of sweet clover prior to planting. The results were a better than average yield and tons of giant carrots.

Click here to read more about “Be the Solution to Soil Pollution”, this year’s World Soil Day theme.

In case you missed it…

On Giving Tuesday, we collected donations for our summer camp scholarship fund. Each year, we subsidize the equivalent of 10 full scholarships for families who cannot afford to send their child to camp. Thanks to many kind donations totaling $287, up to four children will get to attend a week of camp next summer when they otherwise would not have been able to. If you want to donate, it’s not too late – click here.

Upcoming

• Friday, Nov. 30 – Farmstand open (12-6), weekly
  
• Saturday, Dec. 1 – Farmstand open (10-3), weekly
  
• Sunday, Dec. 2 – Farmstand open (10-3), Knife Sharpening (10–2), weekly
  
• Sunday, Dec. 16 – Last day of the season, farmstand open 10-3