Blessing Falls Family Farm

Sweet potatoes are finally here! After enjoying the leaves for a few months we’re able to begin eating the delicious roots as well.  Here’s the expected harvest for week 3 of the Fall CSA season:

Full farm share: Sunflower sprouts (Saturday shares), Pea shoots, Wheatgrass or another portion of Pea Shoots, 4 squash, Cucumber, Tomatoes or black eyed peas, Sweet potatoes (double portion for Wednesday shares, single for Saturday shares), peppers, Eggplant, Sweet potato leaves (double portion), Garlic, Basil, Rosemary

Half farm share: Sunflower sprouts (Saturday shares), Pea shoots, 2 squash, Sweet potatoes (double portion for Wednesday shares, single for Saturday shares), Eggplant, Sweet potato leaves, Garlic, Basil, Rosemary

Blessing Falls – Week 3 Fall Farm Share

We hope you’ve been enjoying the sunflower sprouts and pea shoots! These tender, young greens offer a health boost of which not many other veggies can boast. The sprouts are a true labor of love, being extremely time consuming. After soaking the seeds, they are planted twice weekly, watered by hand daily and often take hours to harvest. We continue to experiment and seek to perfect our growing methods to increase production and lower labor requirements.

Some shares will receive Wheatgrass – here’s a video on how to juice it.

Recipe

Here’s a versatile recipe for you to try with your sprouts. You can mix and match ingredients to make your own delicious creation! I enjoyed making it this week with cantaloupe and sunflower sprouts!

Spinach Salad with Sprouts

Ingredients
Spinach
Fruits: chopped strawberries, blueberries or cantaloupe
Sprouts: sunflower or pea shoots
Toppings: candied pecans, sunflower seeds, slivered almonds, pumpkin seeds

Dressing:
3/4 cup Vegetable oil
1/3 cup Vinegar
1/4 cup Sugar
1 tsp. Salt
1 tsp. Dry mustard
1 Tbsp. Poppy seeds

Shake dressing ingredients together. Combine your choice of salad ingredients and toss with dressing. Enjoy!

Spinach Salad with Sprouts

We’re looking forward to a cool front later this week.  This should give us the right conditions to transplant cabbage, swiss chard, and kale we have growing in the greenhouse.  They’ll join the summer crops that continue to produce along with new squash and pumpkins that should mature soon.

Chinese Cabbage in the Blessing Falls greenhouse

Fall greens in the Blessing Falls greenhouse

Here’s our expected harvest for week 2 farm shares in our Fall CSA season

Full Share: Tomatoes or black eyed peas, Cucumber, Sunflower sprouts (double portion), Potatoes (Wed. shares) or Pea Shoots (Sat. shares), Sweet potato greens, Okra (double portion), 3 butternut squash, 3 spaghetti squash, Basil, Shallots, Garlic

Half Share: Cucumber, Sunflower sprouts (double portion), Potatoes, Sweet potato leaves, 2 Butternut squash, 2 Spaghetti squash, Basil, Shallots

Fall Season Week 2 -Blessing Falls Farm Share

Butternut squash is so delicious and versatile. It can be used in sweet or savory dishes and therefore the recipes available seem endless! We hope you enjoy trying a few new things with your squash. The squash this week is from our farming friend Alex Bernhardt, but we have lots of our own butternuts growing for you for future weeks! If fact, we’ve planted 10 varieties of squash over the past 2 months! The plants look great and are setting small fruits now so we’re hoping for a great harvest!

Butternut Squash at Blessing Falls

Fall Squash at Blessing Falls

Recipe

Here’s a tasty recipe for you to try!

Honey Butter Roasted Butternut Squash (source)

Ingredients:
1 lb butternut squash, peeled and roughly cubed
2 tablespoons melted butter
Salt
Freshly cracked black pepper
2 teaspoons finely chopped parsley leaves
2 tablespoons honey or maple syrup, or to taste

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 400°F.

Toss the butternut squash cubes with the melted butter, a large pinch of salt, black pepper, parsley, and honey in a big bowl, then transfer them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.

Spread out in a single even layer, and roast for 30 to 45 minutes, or until the squash is fork-tender and lightly browned.

Two seasons complete – 12 weeks of Spring and 10 weeks of Summer – and here comes the Fall.  This is a 12 week season that should take us up to the first frost in mid-November.  After the summer season where the end looked a lot like the start, we’ll see big changes in weather throughout these few weeks.  And as the weather changes, so will the harvest.  Summer produce of melons, eggplant, cucumbers, and okra will soon be joined by fall squash and sweet potatoes.  If all goes according to plan, the season will end with greens, lettuce and cabbage in abundance.

Here’s our expected harvest for week 1 of this Fall Season in our Austin area CSA:

Full share: Melon or Butternut squash, Spaghetti squash (2), Cucumber, Pumpkin or squash, Sweet potato greens (double portion), Sunflower sprouts, Peppers, Potatoes (triple portion),  Okra (Wednesday – double portion) or Okra and Pea Sprouts (Saturday), Basil (triple portion), Rosemary, Shallots, Garlic

Half share: Butternut squash, Spaghetti squash, Tomatoes or Black Eyed Peas or Cucumber, Sweet potato greens (double portion), Sunflower sprouts, Okra, Eggplant or Cucumber/Squash or Pears, Basil, Shallots, Garlic

Blessing Falls Farm – Fall CSA Full Size Farm Share, Week 1

Recipe

It’s the first week of our Fall CSA, but we’re still dealing with the heat of summer. Here’s a great recipe that combines the flavors of two seasons in one dish; summer herbs with fall spaghetti squash.

Spaghetti Squash with Feta and Herbs (source)

Ingredients
1 medium sized spaghetti squash
1 t. extra virgin olive oil
1/4 t. garlic powder
1/8 t. black pepper
1/4 t. kosher salt
1 T. fresh flat leaf parsley
1 T. fresh basil
1 T. fresh oregano
1 t. lemon zest
1/3 cup feta cheese, crumbled

Instructions
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Line a baking sheet with foil and spray it with cooking spray.
Cut the spaghetti squash in half lengthwise, spray the flesh with cooking spray, and sprinkle with salt and pepper.
Roast the squash on the middle rack of the oven for 35-40 minutes.
Remove the squash from the oven and let it cool long enough so that you can handle it.
Using a fork, scrape the flesh out and put it in a bowl.
Add the remaining ingredients to the squash and stir everything together.
Serve immediately.

Although hot, summer weather will very likely continue in central Texas for several more weeks, this is the final week of our “Summer” CSA season.  Our Fall season starts next week, running 12 weeks through mid November.  Our greenhouse is full of tender seedlings of kale, Swiss Chard, cabbage, and other greens.  Our Fall garden is already half full of various squash, pumpkins, and green beans we planted several weeks ago.  The sweet potato patch continues to thrive since planting several months ago.  The first several weeks of the “Fall” season we expect our Summer okra, tomatoes, melons, eggplant, etc. to continue, adding squash, pumpkins, and sweet potatoes near the middle, with the greens and lettuce ready to harvest later as the weather cools in October and November.  We’ll continue to add sunflower sprouts weekly until the garden greens are ready.

So for this 10th week of summer, here’s our expected harvest, though there will likely be changes throughout the week depending on conditions:

Full share
Sunflower sprouts (double portion), Melons (double portion), Okra (double portion), Squash or cucumber, Eggplant or black eyed peas, Tomatoes or pears, Basil, Garlic, Shallots, Sweet potato leaves (double portion)

Half share
Sunflower sprouts (double portion), Melons (double portion), Okra, Basil, Garlic, Shallots, Sweet potato leaves (double portion)

Some of the okra and melons this week are from our friends at Bernhardt’s Farm

Blessing Falls Farm CSA Full Share, Summer Week 10

We hope you’ve enjoyed the sweet potato leaves the last several weeks.  Some are calling these greens another “superfood”.   This from Prevention magazine:

Sweet potato greens as food may be getting more affection soon, thanks to a new analysis published in the journal HortScience that found the leaves have 3 times more vitamin B6, 5 times more vitamin C, and almost 10 times more riboflavin than actual sweet potatoes. Nutritionally, this makes the greens similar to spinach, but sweet potato leaves have less oxalic acid, which gives some greens like spinach and chard a sharper taste.

Recipe

That same article at Prevention recommends preparing greens like this:

Sautéed Sweet Potato Greens

1 lg bunch sweet potato greens (about ½ pound)
½ sm white onion, diced
2 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
Salt and pepper
1½ Tbsp maple syrup
1. REMOVE sweet potato leaves from stems and set aside. Remove smaller stems from the larger, tougher stems. Discard the larger stems and roughly chop the smaller stems.
2. HEAT olive oil in medium-sized pan over medium high heat. Add onion and sauté until just softened, about 3 minutes.
3. ADD stem pieces and sauté until tender, about 5 minutes.
4. ADD leaves, salt and pepper to taste, and maple syrup. Sauté until leaves are wilted, about 2 minutes. Serve.

Rain and cooler weather are in the forecast!  We’re looking forward to that as summer winds down.  The Fall CSA season begins in two weeks.  We have just a few whole/half shares of Fall produce remaining available, so let us know soon if you’re interested in the Fall season.

Here’s the expected harvest this week:

Full Share: Tomatoes, Pea shoots, Pears, Spaghetti squash, Melon, Eggplant, Sweet potato leaves (double portion), Okra (double portion), Black eyed peas or peppers, Garlic, Shallots, Rosemary, Basil

Half Share: Sunflower Sprouts, Cucumber or Squash, Spaghetti squash, Sweet potato leaves, Okra (double portion), Garlic, Rosemary, Basil

Blessing Falls Summer CSA, Week 9 Share

Recipe

Try out this super simple spaghetti squash Alfredo with your squash this week!

Cheesy Spaghetti Squash Casserole (source)

Ingredients:
2 spaghetti squash
1 jar (10-15 oz) Light Alfredo Sauce ( or try out MOMables Homemade Alfredo Sauce)
1 and 1/3 cups of shredded mozzarella cheese
salt and pepper to taste.

Directions:
1. Place squash on a rimmed baking sheet. Make 2-3 vents in the squash by poking deep slits with a sharp knife. Bake in oven for 60-65 minutes at 350 degrees. Remove from oven and let rest for 10-15 minutes.
2. Cut squash in half, length wise, and scoop out seeds.
3. With a fork, shred the inside of the squash, forming your “spaghetti noodles”. Season with a little salt and pepper.
4. Now add in 1/4 cup of Alfredo sauce to each squash half. Mix well until all your squash noodles are covered. Top with 1/3 cup of shredded cheese.
5. Place squash under the broiler for 2-3 minutes until bubbly and melted.
(Serves 4)