Hello CSA members!

This week we hope to bring you one acorn squash, Italian eggplant, beans, green peppers OR roasted chilies, red tomatoes OR seconds tomatoes, and arugula OR spicy salad mix. Large share members will also receive garlic, Hakurei turnips, and pea shoots. Fruit share members will receive Honeycrisp apples, Gala apples, and pears.

In this week’s newsletter:

• Harvest Celebration Coming Up!
• 63rd Street Happenings
• Making Chili for the Harvest Celebration
• Winter Squash 101

Harvest Celebration Coming Up!

Mark your calendars for our second annual Harvest Celebration!

• Where: Red Wagon’s 63rd Street Farm
• When: Sunday, October 14th from 3pm-8pm
• More details to come!

We have recently started preparing for our end-0f-season CSA celebration. The Harvest Celebration this year will include a potluck dinner (please bring an entree, side dish or dessert to share!), walking tours of the farm, hayrides, pumpkin painting, a straw bale maze, visits with the animals, an evening bonfire (provided there is no fire ban), and more!

Mo is already busy preparing vegetarian chili and we will be providing beer and non-alcoholic beverages. It should be a great time and I hope to see everyone there!

– Maddie

63rd Street Happenings

Posted by Maddie

I hope everyone’s week is off to a great start. If you haven’t had a chance, be sure to stop by our new farm stand in Longmont at the corner of Oxford Road and North 63rd Street. Visiting the farm stand is a great way to get a peak at the farm where we are growing most of your late summer veggies as well as fall crops like pumpkins and winter squash. The farm stand is open from 10am to 6pm every day and is a great place to pick up anything you may not receive in your CSA share like corn and peaches or other fruit.

When you stop by, ask the folks at the farm stand for some old corn or other treats to feed the animals. Our goats, llamas and alpacas love visitors!

Photo Credit: Blair Bost

It has been amazing to see the variety of crops we have growing on the farm all at once. Last Friday, while I was picking zucchini and cucumbers (yes, we still have these!) I noticed that our pumpkins are really starting to look ready. Amy says that the pumpkin patch at 63rd Street will be opening in the next week or so, so stay tuned!

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Making Chili for the End-of-Season CSA Party

Posted by Mo

Mark your calendars for the second annual Red Wagon End of Season CSA Party. Last year we made a big batch of vegetarian chili from our farm vegetables to share with our CSA members. It was a big hit so we decided to do that again. We could get a freeze any night now so last week I started to gather frost-sensitive food for the chili I want to make for you.

I got a couple of boxes of seconds tomatoes.

I need to freeze most of the food because the party isn’t for a few weeks. I have a machine that separates the skin and seeds of the tomatoes and just leaves the pulp. I don’t even need to core the tomatoes, so I got through two boxes pretty quickly. I’ll put the pulp in big Ziploc bags and freeze them.

This is what it separates out and I discard.

I went to the Farm Stand and had Lauren roast some Anaheim peppers. I separated the charred skin and seeds and chopped the peppers. These are in the freezer with the tomatoes now.

I thought roasted sweet peppers would be great in the chili too, these are about to be roasted.

Then I diced up some different color bell peppers and froze them.

I blanched some corn and removed the kernels and froze it too. I think this will look really pretty with the peppers in the chili. I can’t decide if I am going to make black beans or mixed bean chili yet.

Phew. That’s done.

Winter Squash 101

I love winter squash. Love, love, love it. I love it all, the gnarliest Calabazas, the sweetest Delicatas,  the formidable Hubbards, to the humblest acorn.

That yellow spot was where the squash was sitting on the soil in the field. We lift up the squash to see if there is a yellow spot. If there is, the squash is ready to harvest.

All winter squash except acorn, delicata, and sweet dumpling benefit from a curing time. Curing is simply keeping the squash at room temperature, around 70˚F to 75˚F for 10 to 20 days. After that the squash will keep for months at around 50˚F to 55˚F. Pretty much if you keep your squash in the garage or an unheated room,it will be ok. The weather in the fall naturally takes care of the curing temperatures and time. So, any squash you get from us will keep for months if you put it in your garage or a cool room. Don’t keep your squash on the counter or in the refrigerator. Too warm and too cool.

The basic cooking of any winter squash is about the same. Baking time will depend on the size of your squash, so keep that in mind.
Preheat your oven to 375˚F. Cut your squash in half and clean out the seeds and any stringy membranes. I always save the seeds to roast alongside my squash. Just rinse the seeds off and separate the membranes and discard the stringy stuff.

I put a little olive oil and salt and pepper on the seeds and maybe some curry powder or another seasoning.
I put the seeds on a little piece of foil because the seeds will get done before the squash and it makes it easier to remove from a hot pan.

Put your squash cut side down, with your seeds in the hot oven and set the timer for 20 minutes.
The seeds will be done after 20 minutes but your squash will need longer.

Take the seeds out and turn your squash cut side up and you can brush it with butter or oil and add honey or sugar at this point. I used about a tablespoon of butter and the same amount of honey.

Back in the oven for 35 or 40 minutes. Big squash might take longer. Here it is done.

Now, you can serve it like this. Scoop out the flesh and use it in any recipe calling for cooked squash, or freeze it for later. Stuff it with grains or vegetables. This is a starting point. Have fun with it.

Until next week.
-Mo