The Final Share:

Red Kuri and Delicata Winter Squash

• Salad Mix
• Collard Greens
• Celeriac
• Carrots
• Beets
• Parsnips
• Acorn Squash
• Delicata Squash
• Red Kuri Squash
• Pie Pumpkins
• Bintje Potatoes
• Onions
• Garlic
• Herbs

Announcements:

Celeriac, also knows as celery root, is closely related to celery, but grown for the bulbous, starchy softball-sized root. Our celeriac experienced a challenging season and the roots did not size up to their potential. The mini roots will still be tasty though, roasted or in a soup, and the rest of the plant – stems and leaves will add a rich flavor to stock – recipe below.

Notes from the Field: It’s a Wrap

What a fantastic season! Thank you to our amazing Farm Crew: Bryan, Courtney, Justin, and Mike. They seeded, planted, weeded, harvested, tended chickens, weeded, tended turkeys, and weeded; they got cold and wet, they got hot and tired; they got sore backs, sunburns, cuts and stitches. And all of these things they did with passion, dedication, good humor, and amazing team work.

And thank you Members for participating in Zenger Farm’s first ever Farm Share season! We are honored that you chose Portland-grown veggies, and that you chose to take time out of busy schedules to pick up your share each week at the farm, and to swap recipes or wrangle turkeys on the loose! Stay cozy this Winter, and we look forward to seeing you back for Farm Share 2012!

And finally, I am pleased to bring you a re-cap of 2011, by Crew Leader, Bryan “Sir Mix-A-Lot” Allan:

In the Kitchen with Devin:

This Week’s Share:

• Mixed baby lettuce
  

  It's a big one!

• Red Onions
• “All Red” Potatoes
• Butternut Squash
• Mixed Pepper
• Red & Green Tomatoes
• Garlic
• “Winter Bor” Kale
• Mixed Beets
• Parsley
• Leeks

Reminder:

Last Pick-up is Tuesday, November 22 (just before thanksgiving)

Field Notes from Bryan Allan, Crew Leader:

• maximize the educational value of the farm (clear labeling, wide variety of crops, organic methods, etc.)
• create innovative programs that bring local, healthy produce to nearby food-insecure neighborhoods (i.e. Zenger Farm Shares accepts food stamps)
• demonstrate that urban farming is a viable economic option for farmers
• educate the next generation of farmers (That’s us, the apprentices!)

I’m so excited that the farm crew, in just our second year, doubled our income from produce sales! We went from about $15,000 to $30,000! This includes sales to local restaurants, at Lents and Montavilla markets, and Zenger Farm Shares.

Striving for our financial goals

Justin rocks the last market, winning best costume as a carrot!

Despite these high hurdles, I have been so encouraged by the passion I’ve seen this year. The passion of the farm crew creates a synergy and keeps us working hard despite everything else that may be going on. The Portland area is blessed with so many passionate farmers. And these farmers are blessed with customers that have a better understanding of a farmer’s challenges than people in other parts of the country do. I’m encouraged to see a new kind of food revolution taking place, with Portland as an epicenter, and to have been part of it.

In the Kitchen with Devin:

This Week’s Share:

Up next week: Red Kuri Winter Squash

• Jalapenos
• Jimmy Nardello Peppers
• Stupice Tomatoes
• Bintje Potatoes
• Acorn Squash
• Brussel Sprout Greens
• Beets
• Carrots
• King Eggplant
• Onions
• Garlic
• Rosemary
• Bob’s Oat Groats

Announcements:

Dirty Spuds: The Bintje potatoes in your share this week are a Dutch heirloom beauty – versatile, with creamy flesh and exceptional flavor. You may have also noticed that they are quite dirty! Potatoes are one of those hardy storage crops that can last well into winter in the right conditions. They will keep best if they are not washed right away. At home, keep them in a cool, dark place – think cellar. A paper bag in the fridge will work too. Wash just before using.

Two more weeks to go!

Last Regular Season Pick-up: November 1st

Thanksgiving Pick-up: November 22nd

Field Notes from Farmer Justin, Apprentice:

I might have mentioned it before but one of my favorite things about farming is spending the major portion of my day outside. Being able to really experience and be apart of the changing of the seasons is enlightening. You participate in it with all your senses. You can see the fields become more and more empty as we harvest from them and the wetlands and sunflowers turn brown as the weather cools. You can feel the cool brisk air and the soaked soil sticking to your boots. You get to hear the sounds of the migrating birds and patter of rain on the roof of the barn. And you get to taste the amazing winter squash when it is first ready to eat.

Butternut Squash curing in the greenhouse

Another one of my farming favorites is winter squash harvest. Here is how it goes. Courtney, Mike, Bryan and I all pack into the truck and head over to Furey fields. We start out by hunting down the winter squash left in the fields, free them from their vines and consolidate the fruit to a few lines in the field. Now with hundreds of squash lined up in a few paths Courtney and Mike were skeptical about how we were going to get them to the greenhouse to store. “We should have brought a wheel barrel.” “This wasn’t very well thought out.” I’ve done this before farming on Sauvie Island so I tried to reassure them.

...and Delicata

So then the fun starts. We have the truck parked at the edge of the field and Mike and Bryan standing in the truck bed. Courtney and I pick a row and start tossing the squash to the truck. I’m getting further and further from the truck and am throwing from about 30 feet away. For the squashes sake Bryan suggests a fireman’s line. Bryan hops out of the truck and Courtney, Bryan and I get a few feet apart and start tossing. It gets really fun as we get further into the field and we are over 15 feet apart tossing a four pound redi kuri squash to the truck. In this way, nearly 1000 pounds of winter squash are loaded into the truck and delivered to the greenhouse to be cured. After a week or so, after the cut on their stems and any nicks have healed, they can be boxed up and stored for the winter.

In the Kitchen with Devin:

Recipes provided by Zenger Farm volunteer Alex Yost

This Week’s Share:

Delicata Winter Squash

• Green Peppers
• Red Peppers
• Jimmy Nardello Peppers
• Delicata Winter Squash
• Kathadin Potatoes
• Chard
• Red Ursa Kale
• Carrots
• Green Tomatoes
• Red Onions
• Garlic
• Thyme
• Bob’s Red Mill: Cornmeal

Announcements:

Three more weeks of Farm Share to go!

Regular Season: October 25th & November 1st

Thanksgiving Pick-up: November 22nd

Field Notes from Farmer Courtney, Apprentice:

Farming during the peak of the season demands your presence, your focus and your ability to bend when the unexpected arises—the unexpected always arises. In August and September we were juggling 12 things at once and when one of the balls dropped we quickly had to find a way to replace it, or fix it, and get it back in the air. Now that the air is cooler, the days are shorter and the rain had returned we have fewer balls to juggle and more room to think about what lies ahead.

Saving seed, step one.

Each of the apprentices has spent the last few weeks thinking and working on special projects that we didn’t have time for during the height of the season. I’ve been spending one afternoon a week collecting seeds that we can sow into next year’s crop. To save pure seed involves a lot of forethought: creating room for crops that you will save seed from and not consume; identifying which plants are the hardiest and tastiest throughout the season so you can save their seed; designing a plan where cross-pollinating plants are far enough away from each other to produce pure seed. Except for garlic, we haven’t deliberately saved seed at Zenger Farm before, so many cross-pollinating crops are planted too close together this year to produce a pure seed—although, we could have some awesome hybrids on our hands—and we didn’t plan for an excess, so most of the fruit was harvested before we could save the seed. My hope is that Zenger will incorporate a seed saving plan in the future, so that we can be more self-sufficient; we will be producing more adaptive plants that have been selected for hardiness, taste and climate tolerance, and we won’t be as reliant on large seed companies.

Preparing tomato seeds for saving

In addition to our projects, we have been winterizing the farm. We bundled up all the irrigation and have started tidying up the barn. These are reminiscent of our first tasks when we arrived at Zenger in April, and it feels very much like we are closing a circle, which is satisfying in its sense of completion, but also feels sad that our time at the farm is nearing an end. Once winter arrives, there will be a lot of space to reflect and in turn plan for the coming season. The nature of an apprenticeship is that you take what you learn and move forward. This winter I will be passing my time thinking and planning how I can build and contribute to our urban food-system and readying myself to begin accomplishing those goals in the spring.

In the Kitchen with Devin: