Farm News October 15, 2024
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FALL HOURS:
CLOSED FRIDAYS,
with reduced hours on the remaining open days
PYO & Farmstand Hours:
Tuesday & Thursday: 2 - 5:30 PM
Saturday: 9 am - 12:30 pm
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We’ve been enjoying the crisp fall weather so much that it’s easy to forget we’ve had less than half an inch of rain in almost 2 months. The soil is so dry we’ve had to water in our cover crop plantings, and the lettuce, bok choy, chard, kale, and sprouting broccoli are needing a weekly watering long after we’ve normally hung up the irrigation equipment.
James and I are both fans of the bitter greens and together we brought in the radicchio (Treviso and Chioggia types).
The dry weather has made harvesting a lot easier. We brought in the last of the beets last week and are chipping away at digging up a gorgeous crop of fall carrots. We have tons of butternut, honeynut, and koginut squash, and plenty of sugared up sweet potatoes. We got the last sweet potatoes out of the ground just in time for our first nip of frost Saturday night, but cold nights are forecast pretty much all week. We are doing our best to keep frost irrigating the dahlias, because warm weather is in the forecast for next week if we can just get them through this cold snap.
Nick and Kolade make sure to find all of the pumpkins hiding in the grass. Don't forget to try the Sugar Pie pumpkins for pie or simply for decorating.
We’ve got some great fruit from neighboring orchards rounding out the farm stand display this month. We are putting all apple varieties on SALE this week! Please note that our orchard partners are conventional growers.
From Averill farm (Washington) we have crisp Bosc and juicy Bartlett pears. Maple Bank Farm (Roxbury) has bright red Empire, some truly impressively sized and sweet Mutsu, and their own special strain of Golden Delicious. Hidden Gem Orchard (Southbury) has a great selection of apples and we’ve been able to source local favorites, such as Honeycrisp and Macoun, as well as my personal pick, Jonagold. They also have some flavorful heirloom varieties with very interesting names such as the slightly tart/sweet Esopus Spitzenburg and the tart/sweet Ashmead’s Kernal (Rebecca’s new favorites). Another popular new apple variety is Rosalee, which has a sweet/tart taste that’s a winner.
We hope to see you at the farm or a farmers’ market soon,
Paul, Rebecca, and the Fort Hill Farm crew
Featured veg:
*** BOGO 1/2 OFF SALE! *** (no limit on quantity at this time)
Fort Hill Farm Minced Ginger: To try this is to love it, because it offers all of the attributes of our fresh, young ginger in a form that makes it snap to use… for those days when you need to press the EASY button! Simply swirl a spoonful or two into seltzer, tea, and smoothies, or curries, stir fries and marinades (etc., etc. – see the recipe below) Its uses are endless! We hope you reach for it when you need a break or when fresh ginger is out of season. This limited time BOGO 1/2 off offer makes it easy to give one to a friend or bring as a hostess gift. The holidays are imminent!
Koginut Winter Squash: We are in love with this one! It was bred by chefs from a Kabocha and a Butternut, and its culinary prowess shows in the flavor and texture. The flesh is sweet, creamy and notably rich. It’s moist without being soggy - a good, meaty squash. You won’t be disappointed. Like all winter squash, prepare by cutting in half, scooping out the seeds, oiling the cut edges, and putting face down on a parchment lined baking sheet or in a baking pan with a quarter inch of water in it. Bake at 375F until a fork slides in easily. Don't forget to salt and roast the seeds!
Sweet Winter Spinach: It’s always tricky to get early fall spinach to germinate and then not die off from pathogens, but I dare say, we have a lovely crop right now! The cold temps the last few weeks give our fall spinach unparalleled sweetness (pro tip: make sure to eat the sweet, sweet stems). If all goes as planned, we should have plenty of this sweet stuff through January. Great cooked or fresh for salads - wash the greens and then spin dry in a salad spinner, and either store them in the spinner or move to a clean, dry, covered bowl in the fridge. Do not store salad or spinach for more than three days in the vented greens bag.
Also available:
Head lettuce; salad mix; pea shoots; curly and lacinato kale; rainbow & ruby chard; purple, red and French Breakfast radish; cilantro, parsley, red beets, chioggia beets and gold beets; red and green cabbage; baby Bok Choy; limited heirloom and beefsteak tomatoes; limited Sungold, artisanal, and red cherry tomatoes (at the farmstand); sweet fall carrots; limited romanesco; German Extra Hardy garlic; red and yellow storage onions; jalapeño, cayenne, poblano and shishito peppers; red bell peppers: Sweet Red Italian and orange snacking peppers; Classic Italian, Graffiti, and Rosa Bianca eggplant (farmstand only); Dark Red Norland, Magic Molly, LaRatte Gold and Pinto Gold fingerlings, Kennebec, and and Satina Gold potatoes; leeks; celery; celeriac; fabulous fall fennel; collard greens; escarole; radicchio (round and Treviso); kohlrabi; fresh ginger; Honeynut squash; Jester delicata squash; Brussels sprouts greens; sweet potatoes; Butternut squash; Koginut squash
Coming Soon:
Brussels sprouts
Pick Your Own:
Perennial Herbs:
There are HERB RINGS provided to establish the bunch size.
Chives and Oregano: trim long lengths from the base of the plant, leaving 1” behind
Sage: clip 4 - 6 inches from the largest stems
Thyme: clip 4-6 from the perimeter of the plant
Flowers:
The flowers made it through the night! We will do out best to irrigate the patch to protect it from frost; we hope you come and enjoy them now! Be sure to use the flower ring provided to establish the bunch size.
Recipes
Suggested by Rebecca Batchie
Not into this particular recipe? For more recipes outlined by crop, check out the Fort Hill Farm Recipe Database.
Spinach & Cheese Strata
By Jenn Segal, inspired by this strata originally published in Gourmet magazine
Layered with spinach, cheese, and bread, and soaked in a savory custard, this make-ahead strata is ideal for entertaining.
Servings: 8 to 10
INGREDIENTS
1 pound bag chopped frozen spinach, thawed and squeezed as dry as possible
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 large yellow onion, chopped (about 2 cups)
3 garlic cloves, minced
12 ounces (¾ pound) Italian sandwich bread, cut into 1-inch cubes (about 11 slices or 8 cups)
6 ounces (1½ cups) coarsely grated Gruyère
2 ounces (⅔ cup) finely grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
9 large eggs
2¾ cups half-and-half
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
1¾ teaspoons salt
¾ teaspoon black pepper
¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
INSTRUCTIONS
Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring frequently, until soft and translucent, 4 to 5 minutes. Add the garlic and drained spinach and cook 2 minutes more. Set aside.
Butter a 3-quart or 9x13-inch baking dish. Spread one third of the bread cubes in the dish and top evenly with one third of spinach mixture. (Try to break it up as much as possible so there are no huge clumps of spinach.) Sprinkle with one third of each cheese. Repeat layering twice, ending with cheeses.
In a large bowl, whisk the eggs. Add the half-and-half, mustard, salt, pepper, and nutmeg and whisk until well combined. Pour the custard mixture evenly over the strata. Cover the strata with plastic wrap and chill for at least 1 hour or overnight.
Preheat oven to 325°F. Bake the strata, uncovered, until puffed, set and golden brown all over top, 70-80 minutes. Let stand 10 to 15 minutes before serving. It will settle a bit as it cools.
Note: The cook time is based on the strata going immediately from the fridge to the oven. If it sits out at room temperature before baking, the cook time will be about 10 minutes less.
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