Broadsheet #14
what's in your share / what's in season
fruit 'Wolf River' apple
fruit 'Nero' aronia berry
fruit 'Golden Anne' raspberries
fruit tomatoes
('Sub-Arctic Plenty', 'Black Krim', 'Hawaiian Pineapple', 'Kellogg's Breakfast', 'Ruth's Perfect Red',
'Aunt Ruby's German Green', & 'Thessaloniki')
fruit cherry tomatoes
('Lollipop', 'Sweetie', 'Pearly Pink', 'Sungold Select X', 'Black Cherry' & 'Principe Borghese')
fruit salad tomatoes
('Imur Prior Beta', 'Bloody Butcher', & 'Sungold Select X'')
fruit tomatillo mix
'Cisineros' and 'Purple'
root 'Marris Piper' potato
root carrot mix
'Chantenay', 'Chantenay Red- Cored'@, & 'Yellowstone'@
herb 'Aristotle' basil
herb wood sorrel
herb parsley
herb lavender&
spice carrot seed heads#
vegetable kohlrabi mix
('Superschmelz' and 'Vienna Early Purple')
vegetable serrano peppers
vegetable jalapeno peppers
vegetable poblano pepper&
vegetable 'Italia' sweet pepper
vegetable summer squash mix
('White Scallop' patty pan@, 'Dark Green Prolific' zuke,
'Lemon' summer squash@, 'Yellow Crookneck' squash)
vegetable 'Lemon' cucumber&
# Wild foraged.
@ Random rotation
& Naturally grown item from family gardens
+ + +
Use first Ripe tomatoes, herbs, hot peppers
Best keepers Carrots, potatoes, zucchini, kohlrabi
Room temp All tomatoes & peppers, carrot seed heads
Dry it Lavender & parsley, serranos
End of season Basil, zucchini, and summer squash
Quick Picks
Salsa variations Tomatoes, tomatillo, sweet peppers, hot peppers + lime, garlic, onion, & salt
Half-mashers Potatoes carrots (or potatoes plus any other root: Jerusalem artichoke, rutabaga, or turnip)
Baked-then-fried potatoes One, bake potatoes. Two, chill. Three, slice. Four, drag through milk. Five, dredge in flour-based breading with finely ground cornmeal or Arboria rice plus salt and freshly ground pepper. Six, fry in butter. Or, substitute carrot seeds for black pepper.
Tea-pickled peppers Serranos, jalapenos + Lapsang Souchong smoked tea, salt, & garlic
Coleslaw Kohlrabi, apple, carrot, parsley, wood sorrel, ground carrot seeds + herbal vinegar & salt
Lavender lemon bars Lavender and wood sorrel + eggs, sugar, & pastry crust
Apple-aronia tart with lavender Apple, aronia berry, lavender + sugar, lemon juice, & pie crust
Aronia syrup Aronia berry + lemon juice, sugar & H20
Wolf River apple
Also known as the whole pie apple or the one-pound apple, this is the first crop that we knew we'd be serving and enjoying one day at Broadacre Farm. This variety of apple originated in northwestern Wisconsin in 1870, as a wild tree with unusually large fruit and has gone on to win pie-making contests and be coveted by dessert chefs ever since. The harvest dates we've found are all over the place, so we started harvest small at the first frost, and expect to resume harvesting before they start to fall and damage themselves. Pardon their blemishes, but also recognize their value - commercially grown apple trees are sprayed far above and beyond almost any other crop with up to two dozen different chemical residues found on supermarket apples. Our apples are all apple, with no weird sprays, no funky chemicals, and no unidentifiable (but probably petroleum-based) waxes.
'Nero' aronia berry
This largely unknown berry has been showing up on beverage labels and cereal ingredient lists since I learned about it about five years ago. In a lot of ways, it's like a blueberry - dark blue, grows on a bush, same size, similar blossom-end rosette. But they are indeed different fruits. Aronia berries start out as very tart and astringent, but lose astringency and gains sweetness upon ripening. They aren't juicy and so don't squish quite like blueberries, but they don't require specialized soil, water, nutrients, and fussiness like blueberries either. Aronia is also known as chokeberry, which authors like Sam Thayer (Wisconsin forager extraordinaire) have bemoaned sounds and reads just like chokecherry. So let's just say aronia, eh? Best paired with other fruit - and don't forget the sweetener (sugar, stevia, or otherwise).
Golden Anne raspberries
So glad these survived frost - have a first taste of next year's fall standard with these pillowy, mild, and a little-beat-up raspberries.
Tomatoes
We got frosts - two or three of them this week - but the damage was minor. Cooling weather plus diminishing sunshine from cloud cover and the fall-angled sun means beefsteaks will begin their slow decline. Salad tomatoes and cherry tomatoes didn't seem to be injured and maybe started ripening even faster. Our goal is to continue having tomatoes in the last four shares of the season, but all that could change with the first freeze. Before that day (which could be slated for September 29 or 30), we plan to harvest all our tomatoes, be they green or halfway or ripe. The flavor of pre-picked tomatoes simply doesn't compare to vine-ripened tomatoes in August, but to have a supply of fresh tomatoes readying as you rake leaves or start the fireplace for the first time … it's a sublime enjoyment.
Maris Piper potato
This is a new variety for us. We skipped the Kennebecs and Norlands this year to try something a little different and found Maris Piper to have staple qualities with a different character. It's an English heirloom which is reputed to have a high dry matter / lower moisture content making it suitable for French fries, roasted, baked, or mashed. Really pleased this yield surpasses that of Purple Peruvian fingerlings - the weed pressure in the potatoe patch has been fearsome.
Carrots
Carrots are turning out nice - sizing up and succeeding each other. Chantenays are big and blunt, while the Yellowstones have an identifiably spicy scent. The smaller wedge-shaped roots are supposed to be Chantenay Red Cored, but I think something went awry and I'm not sure what they are besides delicious.
Herbs
Basil Frankly, not even sure if this will make it into the share as of writing. There is a bit of frost-blackening across the top, but the globe shaped plants protected the inner growth. This is certainly the last basil of the year, and I'm happy for it - it has been a terrible year trying to grow enough good basil. (There's never enough basil.) Wood sorrel tart little shamrock leaves appear to be prone to frost, but we have a few protected places for this week's harvest, plus one more? Parsley to bring a sharp, mineral flavor to your dishes. Lavender, from Joe's folks' garden - thanks to Sheila for cutting us a few sprigs to share. I don't know how she grows such nice lavender - mine is about 4 inches high after an entire season.
Carrot seed heads
Before getting into flavor, you must know that some professionals warn against women who are pregnant or who are seeking pregnancy. First, I am not a doctor, but I will say that carrot seeds are counterindicated for considerations toward a woman's fertility. If you're male, younger, older, or otherwise not looking to expand the family, feel free to enjoy this third edible part of the incredible carrot, after the root and the greens. The flavor has a bit of citrus following behind a vibrant black-pepperiness (as opposed to mustardy-pepperiness). I harvest the seed heads whole because of a vague memory that threshing seeds is considered a processing step. Processing is a no-no in the raw produce business unless you have a commercially licensed kitchen, so we offer unthreshed seed heads already in a threshing bag for your enjoyment.
Kohlrabi
Never said this before but don't forget to peel it! Kohlrabi - the cabbage with a lump in its throat - is back for a second and final time. Just as they were sizing up, many started to crack. I'm pretty disappointed in our brassicas this year, as we've pretty much lost hope in broccoli, cauliflower, or cabbage being included in any share this year. Even kale has been bad, bitten into oblivion. We're strategizing how we can include more brassicas next year, as we recognize they're a staple on the dinner table.
Hot peppers
Serranos are now beating jalapenos in the size department, with a few about four inches long. Jalapenos are still squatty, with shoulders and more width. If you make salsa, you're running out of time as our peppers could be nixed by a freeze at any time.
Sweet peppers
Poblano Let's thank Joe's mom Sheila again sharing a few of her peppers! Our Anaheims are slow, slower, slowest so these blocky morsels are a pleasure to behold. Italia has borne the brunt of weeds, strangely acid soil, and encroachment by squashes, and the cold and rain is doing no favors. Next week, they'll stop.
Zucchini and squashes
Succession coming on just to get nipped by frost. These could also end at any time, plunging us into fall.
Lemon cucumber
Pale yellow, round, and the last of them! Special thanks to Christy and Sheila for rounding out our final shares!
Preview of next weeks 'Silverton Russet' potatoes, beets, eggplant, more tomatoes & more peppers
- Barrett Johanneson