Month: October 2016

Hi everyone! It’s a very brisk week on the farm but so beautiful. The fall colours are out in all their splendour and when lit with a little sun, are a truly marvellous sight. We are still harvesting some things from the fields: kale, spinach and cilantro‎ remain, and some items that have been growing since the spring: Brussels sprouts and Jerusalem artichokes. Cutting down the Brussels sprouts is like cutting down a tree, at least for the larger ones. Some of you will get leeks instead as some of the Brussels sprouts are still growing and won’t be ready until November or December!

Jerusalem artichokes may be new to you. They’re not like other artichokes. In fact, they are a tuber like potatoes and send chutes from an artichoke planted like a seed to form several more artichokes from each plant. From the sunflower family, they grow all year, are very tall (5 or more feet!) and bloom a sunflower like flower just before they are ready for harvest.

So why would you want to eat these odd, almost ginger-looking tubers? ‎http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/vegetables-and-vegetable-products/2456/2

They are a great source of iron, thiamin, ‎potassium, and niacin. It can be tough to find good plant sources for iron (spinach and baby bokchoy are awesome for this as well), and potassium is something that we need to be getting all through the day as no one source gets you all you need or even close. Why do we need potassium? For our muscles to contract, including that all-important muscle: the heart, for maintaining healthy blood pressure, and for our body to function well at the cellular level. So eat up on potassium rich foods!

The banana, famous for it’s potassium content, only has 23 percent of your daily value and Jerusalem artichokes are not far behind at 18 percent. This means you should be eating potassium rich foods all day long, like Jerusalem artichokes and bananas, spinach, avacadoes, sweet potatoes, kefir or yogurt,  white beans and pepper squash.

Hope a little information inspires your healthy eating. I like to make a creamy soup with Jerusalem artichokes, slice (don’t peel) an Sautee with garlic and olive oil or butter, or roast along with carrots, beets and squash.

I sincerely hope you have enjoyed each bite of your organic, local eating experience, and perhaps discovered some new nutritional powerhouses that you never knew existed! With the abundance of choice we have in our food today (and so many of them poor ones), it’s wonderful to trust the goodness of organic veggies in their natural state (no label required). We thank you for taking on this culinary adventure and hope you’ll be eager to enjoy it again next year.

From all of us at Zephyr Organics

‎In your final box of the season:

-butternut squash

-beets

-cabbage (green)

-baby bokchoy

-red kale

-Brussels sprouts or leeks

-jersalem artichokes

-celery

-spinach

-carrots

-‎green peppers

-eggplant

-delicata squash

-pepper squash

-leeks

Greetings from the farm! Heavy frosts are finally hitting here so the games changes out there in the fields. We have to bid farewell to lettuce, swiss chard, tomatoes, tomatillos, and all of the more sensitive souls out there in the fields. Our beans were carefully covered so they survived the frost! What a treat for this time of year. If you are sick of beans, blanch and freeze them and take them out on a rainy day for a quick veggie side.

You may be overwhelmed with those big gorgeous bunches of cilantro. A fellow customer advises me she freezes them in olive oil with a dash of salt in ice cube trays, pops them into freezer bags and has a burst of cilantro flavour ready for weeks to come in her freezer.

You may be wondering what is up with that funny, tiny and dry corn you received. No, we didn’t send you terrible corn. It’s popping corn…as in pop corn! You can pop it right on the cob in your microwave (or I’m sure in the pot as well). Gather your spouse, the kids (even the teens). This is just plain cool! Just butter the kernels on the cob, place in one paper bag and then another (in the other direction forming a closed bag), and pop in the microwave for about 3-4 minutes. I like to listen for when the popping sounds are spaced a few seconds apart to know when it’s done. Here’s a youtube video for you visual folks: ‎https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=IawMV4Ll1Ao

A friendly reminder to remember to put out your boxes and ice packs please! Time is running out for us to collect them. On your last delivery, you will receive a cardboard box that does not need to be returned. Feel free to re-use, recycle or use it as kindling!

-butternut squash (makes an amazing creamy soup)

-carrots

-popping corn

-eggplant (great noodle substitute in lasagna!)

-spinach

-red radish (roast them if you don’t dig the spicyness)

-apples

-cilantro

-beans

-saladette tomatoes

-green peppers

-baby boy choy

-celery

-green kale

-red cabbage

We had a red cabbage recipe sent to use from one of our customers, we are so grateful for those who take the time to share old childhood favorites.  This she said is from the Netherlands, which is neat since my husband and his family are dutch!

Quarter the cabbage, cut out the core, then cut into thin 1/4inch strips.  Put in pot, add about 1 cup water, or more as it evaporates, so there’s about an inch of water in bottom all the time.  Add 5-6 whole cloves.  Cook until tender, about 30-45 minutes.  In the meantime, in a separate pot, boil about 5-6 potatoes, quartered.  When both cabbage and potatoes are cooked, mash them together to make a delicious red cabbage stew.  Add salt and pepper to your own taste. Serve with smoked sausage or other meat or by itself.

The same method can be used to cook savoy cabbage (Green Cabbage Stew).  However, instead of cloves used in the red cabbage recipe, add some chopped garlic (if desired) and cook together with quartered potatoes in the same pot.  Add salt and pepper to your own taste. Then mash together and serve with sausages or smoked meat or by itself.

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

I hope you can see abundance in your life. This thanksgiving I am thankful for access to medical care. It’s been a crazy week with 2 trips to the hospital (don’t worry, everyone will be ok). I am thankful that there are hospitals, doctors and nurses there to help us when we can no longer manage on our own and we don’t have to worry about whether we can afford the care. Also, I am thankful for good foods that can help keep us out of the hospital (most of the time). Hope you enjoy these thanksgiving veggies with your family and take a moment to reflect on your blessings (even if it’s in the midst of trying times).

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Ps. I’m also thankful for an abundance of beans (a real treat in October), and this gorgeous monarch that apparently doesn’t mind being photographed. (see photos)

-beans

-carrots

-sweet peppers

-onions or leeks

-beets

-cabbage

-lettuce

-pumpkin

-snow peas

-sage

-grape tomatoes

-red delicious apples

-bok choy

-leeks and onions

-field tomatoes

Every year I like to share my favorite pumpkin pie recipe.  This year is no different, if you haven’t ever made a pumpkin pie from scratch I HIGHLY recommend doing so.  It’s a bit of extra work getting the puree from the pumpkin but the results is OUT OF THIS WORLD.  If you don’t like pumpkin pie, like myself prior to making one from scratch-try this out.  Not even on the same planet as store bought pies or canned ‘pumpkin’ (which I’ve heard is actually squash).

Here’s the recipe homemade pumpkin pie from a REAL pumpkin.