Red Wagon Farm

Frozen Greens

Posted on December 16, 2013 by Amy

Remember a couple of weeks ago when the temperature did not go above freezing for a handful of days–and we were all miserable? Well, our greens were miserable, too. We had two hoop houses full of beautiful arugula, lettuce, bok choi, and kale. Our hoop houses should offer just enough protection to keep greens alive. But apparently not when the overnight low is -10 degrees. All of those beautiful greens turned to slimy mush. Boo.

Beautiful Red Lettuce Before the Cold

Slimy Red Lettuce After the Cold

Mushy Bok Choi

We also had a few thousand pounds of winter squash stored away. We tried to use heaters to keep the squash from freezing, but it was in a shed and the heaters just couldn’t keep up with the sub-zero temperatures and the squash all froze solid.

We had root vegetables like carrots and turnips stored in coolers inside our walk-in refrigerator. We put heaters inside the refrigerator and that paid off. Hooray! At least we were able to save the roots.

This is a reminder to us of why we don’t try to produce a lot of vegetables for the winter months. It can be done, but it isn’t easy.

Posted in 2013 | 1 Comment

Rutabagas and Storing Winter Squash

Posted on October 28, 2013 by mo

Rutabagas might be new to some of you.

rutabaga

Rutabagas are a cross between a cabbage and a turnip. I think they taste a bit like broccoli, but they have a completely different texture than brocolli. I use them like I would a potato. Mash them, roast them, or add them into soups and stews with other root vegetables. Rutabagas add a great taste and texture to mashed potatoes. I posted a blog about rutabagas last year here http://redwagonorganicfarm.com/2012/10/23/root-vegetables/ you might want to check out.

Rutabagas will store in your refrigerator for a long time so don’t feel like you need to use them right away if you are overwhelmed with vegetables right now. They will be just fine a month from now.

Same with the winter squash you have been getting, they will store until at least Christmas. I sometimes hear people at pick-up saying, “I haven’t used up my squash from last week so I think I’ll swap mine this week”. Don’t swap it! Take it!! Winter squash will keep for a long, long time. This is how I store my squash.

storing squash

On a little shelf, off the floor in the garage. Don’t put them on the floor in the garage. It gets too cold and the squash will start to rot where it is touching the floor. All these squash will store for at least 2 or 3 months in a cool dark area in a garage, or a cool area in your house. If you have pumpkins they won’t store as long, so you might want to use the pumpkins before you use your winter squash. You can almost always interchange pumpkins for winter squash in most dishes.
Some houses I have lived in have a cool closet by the front or back door. That would be a good place to store you squash, until you use it, if you don’t have a garage.
However you use them, take them, store them, enjoy them! They are one of my favorite foods. I have lots of recipes here to use your winter squash up and there are tons more ideas and recipes out there.

Well, I guess this is really it. The end of a great season. Cheers, thanks, stay warm, have a restful off season and hopefully we will see you back here next year.
Thanks for reading my posts and all the great feedback!
Mo

Posted in 2013, Recipes, Rutabagas, Winter Squash | Comments Off

Spiced Pumpkin Soup

Posted on October 21, 2013 by mo

I was going to post a ubiquitous “winter squash soup”, one you can customize with the ingredients you have on hand. I was telling my daughter this and she reminded me of her favorite pumpkin soup.

So, I changed my mind. Out with ubiquitous and in with ‘something a little different’.

Spiced Pumpkin Soup

You will probably have most of these ingredients, squash or pumpkin, carrots, onions…wait…banana?! Yes, this soup recipe calls for a banana.

These are her notes and changes to the original recipe;
“Veto the condensed milk and add 1-2 T brown sugar sub any roasted winter squash you have for canned pumpkin. Really caramelize all the vegetables, don’t just sweat them, and make sure you toast the spices with the vegetables, don’t just add them in without toasting them or the flavor is flat. Grilled cheese sammiches dunked in this soup is the best Fall meal ever”.
My notes are;
“Grilled cheese sammiches dunked in any soup are the best meal ever. :-)

I used A LOT more roasted pumpkin than the 2 cups called for, probably twice as much. I added some cayenne and cumin too, and fresh sage and didn’t add any sugar.

I cooked my soup, after blending the coconut milk in, for about an hour longer than the recipe called for. Maybe I didn’t caramelize my vegetables enough in the beginning. Even after blending I felt the vegetables were still too ‘solid’ so I cooked the soup until it was silky.

The banana and coconut milk add a nice mouth feel that most vegetarian/vegan dishes lack”.

spiced pumpkin soup

If you back out the banana, and the curry and sub 1/2 & 1/2 or milk for the coconut milk, guess what? You have a basic ubiquitous Winter Squash Soup!”. So, there you go! Happy soup making!

Posted in 2013, Recipes | Comments Off

Pumpkin or Squash Puree

Posted on October 14, 2013 by mo

This is a basic method of cooking any winter squash or pumpkin to make a puree for pie or soup or any recipe calling for squash or pumpkin (aka canned) puree.

Select a pumpkin or squash preheat your oven to 350F and wash your squash or pumpkin before you cut it, like you would any other vegetable you are eating.

winter luxury pumpkin

This pumpkin weighs about 3 1/2 pounds. I have found that, as a general rule, 1 pound of squash or pumpkin yeilds about 1 cup of puree. So, I would expect to get about 3 1/2 cups of puree from this pumpkin. When you have a large squash you are going to get lots and lots of puree. This will freeze beautifully. So maybe get a bigger pumpkin that you need for right now an freeze some for later.
Oh, more trivia, most pumpkin pie recipes call for 2 cups of pumpkin puree so get a pumpkin that is at least 2 pounds if you are making a pie.

Ok, back to the puree. Lop off your pumpkins head and scoop out the guts. You don’t have to get out every string and seed. Just most of them. Save those seeds to roast them later!!

gutting the pumpkin

Cut up the pumpkin, or squash into smaller pieces. You can leave it in bigger pieces but it will take longer to cook and it will dry out a little more in smaller pieces. This will concentrate the flavor of the pumpkin. I am making pumpkin pie with this pumpkin so I will just cook it with no seasonings. If you like you could rub your squash with any oil and add any herbs or spices now to season it for whatever you are using yours for. You could also add sugar, or maple syrup or honey. Go nuts. Ginger or garlic are good too.
Put your (seasoned or plan) pumpkin on something that can go into the oven. This cast-iron skillet is all I have right now. I am living in my garage…long story…I usually have a large baking tray but it is packed away in a POD somewhere. Use what ever pan you have to roast your pumpkin in, I did.

seeded and cut

Depending on the size of your pumpkin or squash it should be done in 45 minutes to an hour or so. Longer won’t hurt it. You just have to be able to slide a knife into the flesh easily to make sure it’s done. Check on it after 45 minutes or so.

roasted squash

Mine was done right at 45 minutes. I am going to let it cool for a minute before I peel the skin off.

skin roasted squash
Skin off and ready to mash or puree.
ready to puree

I usually puree my squash and pumpkin with an immersion blender or a Cuisinart. Both of those are packed away in the POD with my baking pans and everything else.
So, I mashed mine with a fork this time. You can make this a day or two ahead of when you need it. This made about three cups.

mashed pumpkin

Not too pretty now but it will be fine in a pie, and so much better tasting than the canned pumpkin you buy.

Happy Fall!

Posted in 2013, Recipes, Winter Squash | 2 Comments

Canning Class and Thank You!

Posted on October 14, 2013 by mo

This time of year I always find myself emotional with gratitude and awestruck because of the bounty. Every year presents different challenges in growing, and every year somehow, in spite of everything, food thunders from the ground.

I am humble and grateful beyond words for all the food brought fourth this season, to Wyatt and Amy, to all the farm workers, all the CSA volunteers, to our friends Frank Silva, Matt at Cottonwood Creek Farm, Hazel Dell, Ela and First Fruits, and Organic Fair Trade Coffee.

Thank you CSA members too. Thank you for ‘walking the walk’ when it comes to supporting local, organic food. For coming out week after week and being so positive and supportive of the work we do.

It would be great to hear about what you liked, if you have any food questions, or if you have some ideas of what we can do better, or if you would like to see us do something new.
Leave a comment here or just email me at mo@redwagonorganicfarm.com I promise we take everything you say seriously.

I wanted to let you know I will be teaching a basic canning class on October 20th at St. Aidan’s Episcopal Church 2425 Colorado Ave, 3:30-5pm. To register email boulderjewishcsa@gmail.com. Registration is free to Tuv Ha’Aretz members and Red Wagon CSA members.

canned goods

I will be teaching basic water bath canning method used to safely can any high acid foods. Water-bath canning is the easiest method for preserving high-acid foods like fruits, tomatoes, and pickled vegetables.

This will be a demo, you will learn;
What tools you need and how to use them
Steps to water bath canning from start to finish
When you finish this class, you should be able to follow any standard water bath canning recipe to make your own tomato products, pickled vegetables, and canned fruits.
Hope to see some of you there.

Posted in 2013, Farm | Comments Off

Thanks for another great season!

Posted on October 13, 2013 by Amy

How did it get to be October?!? I can’t believe how fast this season has flown by!

Wyatt and I want to express our gratitude to all of you for making another farm season possible. We truly couldn’t do it without our CSA members. You are the core of our farm and make it possible for us to grow a huge variety of vegetables each year. I’ve said many times that having our CSA makes it so much easier to keep our farm in business. I’ve tried to articulate the reasons many times. But I still don’t think any of you realize how important you are to us. We really couldn’t do it without you!

This was our 7th CSA year and our 10th year of farming. We successfully fed 425 CSA members this season. We take our commitment to all of you very seriously and feel like it is a huge success when we get to the end of the season and have fed you for 22 weeks. You have no idea how much thought and energy Wyatt puts into making a crop plan to make sure we have a great variety of food for you each week. For any of you home gardeners, just imagine how much energy it would take for you to grow all of your CSA vegetables each week and not have any weeks where the only thing you have to eat is zucchini.

Each farm season seems crazy and this one was no exception. In March we were feeling panicked because we thought we would be heading into a record-setting drought year. Then in April we had record snows and while this greatly improved our water situation, it was too cold and wet to plant anything. It was another hot summer, followed by the devastating floods that affected so many of us. Our farm has thankfully recovered from all the rain in September, but it was difficult to have such a huge disruption at the peak of our harvest.

We had a great farm crew this year to do all the work that is involved in bringing you your food each week. We have about 20 people who show up at the farm at sunrise each day to work long, hard hours growing food. We try to pay them as well as we can, but farm work just doesn’t pay that great. Our farm crew works unbelievable hard and most of them do it for the love of feeding people. Speaking of loving to feed people, we owe a huge thanks to Mo for telling us what to do with our CSA veggies each week. Her passion for food really comes out in her weekly recipe posts. We also had a handful of amazing volunteers to help with logistics like handling missed CSA pickups and redesigning our web page. The Tuv Ha’Aretz core committee also did a tremendous amount of work behind the scenes. Thank you so much to all of you!

Our fields still have a lot of food growing, so we plan to have our Mini Fall CSA again this year. And we are currently working on putting together our first ever Winter CSA. We’ll send out details soon. And of course we’ll keep you posted on signing up for our regular season CSA for 2014.

Once again, you have our sincerest gratitude and we hope to see all of you again in 2014.

Amy & Wyatt

Posted in 2013 | 5 Comments

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