In the Box

• Carola Potatoes (Yellow)
• Red Peppers
• Sungold Tomatoes
• Pea Shoots
• Yellow Onions
• French Breakfast Radishes
• Tomatillos
• Cilantro
• Hot Peppers
• Butternut Squash
• Braising Greens

We are starting to come full cycle in the season. We began with greens and radishes and now that the days are shorter and cooler, these crops are back.

We also have a new crop for you. Pea shoots are small pea plants. They taste like snow peas, especially the blossoms. The pea shoots are what I like to call a serendipity crop. After the peas were done in July, I tilled under the plants. But, due to the rain in August, I didn’t get back to till them again. Well, these pea shoots sprouted up from the peas that we had not picked. So they are a great treat. Try them raw in salads, or use in a stir-fry with the braising greens. They are also fantastic in a quiche with goat cheese. See the recipes.

Carola potatoes are new to your boxes. These are a great yellow-fleshed potato. If you like Yukon Gold potatoes, you will love these. Try them mashed, fried or baked. You should cut off any green parts of the potato before cooking. The green comes when the potatoes are exposed to the sun. So store your potatoes in a brown paper sack in a cool spot out of the sun. Do not store them in the refrigerator.

Butternut squash is the squash of the week. These are one of my favorites and they are so versatile. You can bake them and eat them as is. Or they make great curry dishes and soups. They also make great pumpkin pie. In fact, most canned pumpkin pie is actually butternut squash.

The butternuts have some cosmetic problems. They have lots of brown marks on their skin. As far as I can tell, this problem is only skin deep. You should try to eat these in the next 2 weeks or so just to be sure.

The red pepper plants did a good job of protecting their fruits from last week’s frost even though the plants themselves were damaged. So that means we were able to harvest peppers for another week. I don’t know if we will have them for another week or not.

The hot pepper plants did not fare as well. This week you have a Serrano (hot, small and green or red), a Garden Salsa (hot, green and 3-5 inches long) and a Poblano. Poblano peppers are green or red. They look like a small pointy bell pepper. They are mild to medium hot.

This Week’s Recipes

• New Mexican Green Chile Sans Chiles
• Greens and Goat Cheese Quiche

Last CSA Pickup

Our last CSA boxes will be delivered on October 16th. So there are 3 boxes after this one. Please gather up all the empty boxes you may have and return them soon.

Riley Writes

Thanks to all my fans that have been emailing me. Mom has been a page hog lately. But now it is my turn.

I love this time of year. It’s a little cooler so I can run and run. Then I can collapse in the sun and take a nap. Plus some of the leaves have started falling off the trees and I can chase them all over until they make me dizzy.

Also, the veggies are so good this time of year. I love broccoli and follow Mom through the patch begging for broccoli stems. I like the stems only, not the buds. If Mom is not looking I sometimes steal a HEAD OF BROCCOLI OUT OF A BUCKET.

Today I was stealing potatoes. They look like balls so I was taking them to play fetch with them. Potatoes make better balls than tomatoes. I bite on the tomatoes and they squirt all over my mouth.

I like squash a lot as well. I stole several of them and they are scattered around the yard. I like to eat squash. I will sit and hold one in my paws and eat right into the skin and through the squash. Yummy!