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.