Farm News November 5, 2024
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The farmstand continues through November!
Tuesday & Thursday: 2 - 5:30 PM
Saturday: 9 am - 12:30 pm
Our LAST farmstand day will be Tuesday, November 26.
* Online ordering begins on Saturday, Nov. 30, for Friday pickups through early January.
New Milford Farmers’ Market: the last market is November 23, 9am to noon, on the green.
Westport Farmers’ Market: goes indoors on Nov. 14. This Thursday is the last week outside!
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Crisp nights followed by sunny, clear days have been with us so long now that I find myself desperately wishing for a rainy day so the powder dry soils in our area can recover. Rebecca and I can’t recall a stretch of fall weather this dry in the 3 or so decades that we have been farming and gardening. Thanks to a little irrigation, the amount of food still in the field is unprecedented. We have recorded nights as low as 23F but tucked away under a few layers of row cover we have beautiful lettuce, salad mix, bok choy, chard, radishes, salad turnips, kohlrabi (try it!) and gorgeous fall spinach in abundance. Even more remarkable, crops like collards, kale, cabbage, and brussels sprouts ride through those cold nights, thaw out the next day, and taste sweeter for the experience when we harvest them.
Don’t forget to exercise your right to vote after your visit to the stand today!
Adam and Matt spent the better part of a day rearranging the coolers so we could make space for all this abundance. We created appropriate storage spaces for the long-term crops, which all have different storage requirements. So now the winter squash and sweet potatoes have their own cooler repurposed as a warm storage room, separated from the potatoes, carrots, and beets which like it cooler and moister.
The freeze over the weekend did end our epic run of dahlias, and we had to let the peppers and eggplant go as well. Before the knockout freeze, we did an extra hard pick in the pepper and eggplant patch so we will have them this week. Make sure to thank Faye for the wonderful dahlia patch this year and keep an eye out for our dahlia tuber store on our web site, opening in mid-January.
Matt taking down some bodacious Brussels sprouts.
With large bulk harvests of carrots, potatoes, and beets wrapped up in the field, we’ve started to think about garlic planting. Notice we are just in the thinking stage, because with early November highs of 78 in the forecast, we are now planting garlic almost 2 weeks later than we did just 25 years ago. This is mind blowing to think about. Connecticut’s climate is warming so fast that in just a few decades we’ve had to dramatically change planting dates. We used to try to be done planting by Halloween, so the garlic would sprout roots but not shoots. If we planted at Halloween this year, we would have garlic sprouts 4 inches high by now, which would stand a good chance of winter killing on some windy, freezing January night with no snow. To be honest we are in unchartered waters and are just waiting until we don’t see anymore 70 degree days in the 10 day forecast to begin planting.
So while we are enjoying the warm fall weather, a foreboding sense of “this ain’t normal” creates a strong buzz kill. This election day, we hope everyone will consider voting for candidates who recognize the threat posed by Climate Change and who have a plan to decarbonize our economy in the next decade or two. Our ability to eat may depend on it.
We hope to see you at the farm or a farmers’ market soon,
Paul, Rebecca, and the Fort Hill Farm crew
Featured veg:
Sweet Winter Spinach: while it’s tricky to get spinach to germinate and subsequently survive pathogen die-back, we resowed it after the first failure to immense success. The beautiful fall weather has helped push forth this abundant crop, and we’ve put it on SALE this week! Fall spinach has unparalleled sweetness (pro tip: make sure to eat the sweet, sweet stems). 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.
Blackberry potato: This new release has the deepest purple flesh we’ve seen yet, and is rich in anthocyanins. It stains your hands just like its namesake, but also retains its color when cooked. It’s a moist potato with great flavor for roasting. Try it out! Store in a cool, dark place, but not in the fridge.
Also available:
Head lettuce; salad mix; arugula; sweet winter spinach; 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; sweet fall carrots; limited romanesco; German Extra Hardy garlic; red and yellow storage onions; jalapeño, cayenne, poblano and shishito peppers; red bell peppers: limited sweet red Italian and orange snacking peppers; limited Classic Italian, Graffiti, and Rosa Bianca eggplant; Dark Red Norland, Magic Molly, LaRatte Gold and Pinto Gold fingerlings, White and Gold potatoes; leeks; celeriac; fabulous fall fennel; collard greens; escarole; radicchio (round and Treviso); fresh ginger; Honeynut squash; sweet potatoes; Murasaki Japanese sweet potatoes Butternut squash; Koginut squash; Brussels sprouts; certified organic parsnips and Gilfeather Turnips from Picadilly Farm, NH (farmstand only)
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
Dahlias:
The peaceful, joyful, Dahlia Meadow has been transformed by Sunday’s 23 degree night, and now sends its energy downward to the tubers for next year. What a season it was! Stay tuned for our Dahlia Tuber Store in mid-January.
Recipes
Suggested by Rebecca Batchie
Not into this particular recipe? For more recipes outlined by crop, check out the Fort Hill Farm Recipe Database.
Superfood Spinach Salad with Blue Cheese and Purple Potatoes
Renee Goerger of Kudos Kitchen
INGREDIENTS
▢ ¾ pound baby purple potatoes halved or quartered depending on size
▢ 1 tablespoon avocado oil
▢ ½ teaspoon kosher salt
▢ ¼ teaspoon black pepper
▢ 6 cups baby spinach leaves washed and dried
▢ ½ cup red onion thinly sliced
▢ 3 cups cooked chicken chopped
▢ ½ cup bacon bits
▢ ⅓ cup blue cheese crumbled
▢ ½ cup chopped pecans
For the dressing:
▢ ¼ cup balsamic vinegar
▢ ¼ cup avocado oil
▢ ½ tablespoon Dijon mustard
▢ 2 teaspoons poppy seeds
▢ ½ teaspoon honey
▢ ⅛ teaspoon kosher salt
▢ ⅛ teaspoon black pepper
INSTRUCTIONS
Preheat oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit.
Place the potatoes in a large bowl and toss with 1 tablespoon avocado oil, salt, and pepper.
Spread the potatoes on a rimmed baking sheet and roast in the oven for 17 minutes (or until fork tender). Remove, cool, and chop into bite-sized pieces.
Layer the spinach, red onion, chopped chicken, bacon, blue cheese crumbles, chopped pecans, and purple potatoes in a large salad bowl.
To make the vinaigrette:
Place all the dressing ingredients into a jar with a lid and shake well to combine.
Top the salad with a drizzle of vinaigrette (or to taste), serve chilled, and enjoy!
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