Kretschmann Farm Nov. 18, 2008
don@kretschmannfarm.com www.kretschmannfarm.com
Greetings from the Kretschmanns,
This
is the last week of our regular veggie season.
If you usually take your box home with you, transfer your veggies into bags and
leave the box.
Phase
change…water>>>snow…harvest/delivering>>>planning/relaxation. We’re at that seasonal cusp when you do a
double-take because it seems to be a different place. The fields are at rest, tractors in the
barn. Unless we have some specific
activity there, the hill on the other side of the pond is just to look at. Clothes
and footwear change. The pace changes
drastically--we start sleeping in late not just on Sundays (of course we’re
still scheduled by the sun). It seems
that we’ve been running at breakneck speed for as long as we can remember, hither
and yon, an efficient smooth running operation.
For the next six months, with our sense of urgency removed, we’ll be on
a completely different time schedule—not pressing tomorrow, it will be fine
next week…next month… By springtime we’ll only vaguely imagine what it was like
to keep up with the myriad of tasks simultaneously demanding our attention
which is life “in season”.
Enjoy
the yellow Goldrushes apples (red ones are
When
we opened the barrel of fresh sauerkraut, we thought of the hot rainy days in
early September when we shredded a bunch of cabbage which had been leftover in
the cooler, added salt and let it brew.
What a wonderful lacto-fermentation--certainly
part of our human food chain for millennia.
We consider ‘kraut to be prime when it attains a wonderful golden color
and appears as if it has been cooked.
There are numerous reasons this process is considered to be very
beneficial to our digestion and health. Pretty much the same process can be
used for many other vegetables too.
For those of
you who had indicated you were interested in “winter veggies”, we are beginning
to plan for boxes the two weeks before Christmas. We’ll send out an e-mail the week after
Thanksgiving to say what will be in the boxes and the cost. You can then opt in or not, for that box. We plan to have these boxes at least once a
month until we run out of things. We try
to have enough in the boxes to last your family for a month. Naturally, they will primarily contain items
which store very well. If you aren’t on
the list, just send us an e-mail note.
For now it’s rest and
relaxation time.
Thanks,
and Happy Thanksgiving from your Farmers --Don, Becky, and the Kretschmann farm crew
Apple topped “Bread Puddings”: Heat ½ c.
sugar in saucepan until it melts, add ¼ c. butter and 4 large diced apples and
simmer until apples are cooked, then add ½ c raisins and ½ c. cider. Simmer 5 min. add dash vanilla set aside and
cool. (this
next part is kind of like a rich French toast)
Beat together 2 eggs, ½ c. milk (or for a treat--cream), 3 tsp. sugar, ¼
tsp vanilla, ¼ tsp cinnamon, ¼ tsp nutmeg, 1/8 tsp cardoman. Cut your favorite hearty bread into small
squares—about 4/slice. (This can also be stale leftover bread as well) Soak bread pieces in pudding mix about half a
minute or until it’s well saturated. Fry
these in 2 tbs butter. Top each bread piece with
apple mixture and
sprinkle some candied walnuts on the top.
Sweet and Sour Red Cabbage: Shred 2# red
cabbage and saute in 3 Tbs. butter. Add 1/4 c. brown sugar or honey and 1/4 c.
vinegar and about 1/2 c. water and simmer until tender. If desired thicken the sauce by adding a tbs of flour mixed in 1/2 c. water just before
serving. Salt to
taste.
Portugese Kale Soup: Soak overnight 1/4 c. chickpeas and simmer
until tender. (or
use 1 can precooked ) Cut up 1/2 #
potatoes into 3/4 " cubes and simmer 1/2 hr in 2 qt. chicken stock with
1/4 tsp pepper, a dash ground cloves, a
dash ground alspice, 1 clove minced garlic. While this is cooking, fry 1/4 # hot sausage
and cut into 1/3" pieces. (loose sausage can be
fried as bitty meatballs) Break or cut
kale into bite size pieces (4-5 cups or as desired). You can break it into pieces, leaving the
larger ribs. These then can be cut up
and cooked a little longer. After the
1/2 hour of simmering the potatoes, add the kale, chick peas, and sausage and
simmer for 1 more hour. Add 2 c.(dry) precooked tubular pasta just before serving. Garnish to taste liberally with romano or parmesan cheese.
A
Thanksgiving favorite…Carrots with
Cranberries: Combine 1 grated apple, 4 c. grated carrots,
1 c. cranberries, 4 tbs
brown sugar, 1/2 tsp salt, and 1/2 c. cider. Place in buttered cassarole
dish and dot with butter.
Cover, and bake in @350
deg. for 40 min., stirring once.
Kale or Spinach Greek Fritatta: In large cast
iron skillet, saute 1 finely chopped leek or small
onion in olive oil 5 min. then add 2 c. chopped kale (remove thick ribs) or
spinach and sauté 5 more min. Scramble 4
eggs adding water and ½ c. crumbled feta cheese and pour over sauted greens. Cover
tightly and turn heat to low. After 5
min., finish frittata placing under broiler until eggs set, cheese sizzles and it’s golden brown in spots.
Help: We’re looking for help trimming fenceline trees and turning most of them into
firewood. We’d trade you for a share of
the firewood. It would require dragging
smaller brush into the adjoining woods, splitting the cut up logs with a
tractor mounted splitter, and stacking the wood in bin boxes for
transport. Physically
fit and good footwear a must. Timeline is from now until April.