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The day length has just tipped back over 10 hours, which is when plants slowly begin to break their dormancy and we start to see growth again. This is particularly evident inside our high tunnels, where the over-wintered spinach suddenly wakes up and starts to put on new leaves. It's one of the very earliest signs that the new season is on it's way!  It may still feel like the depths of winter, but we assure you, spring is coming! We invite you to Sign up for a Full Season CSA Share before March 3rd to take advantage of our Early Bird pricing and also receive a $30 Root 5 Farm Market Card!
Believe it or not, we're only a few weeks away from starting up our greenhouses and sowing our first seedlings. We're busy in the office now planning for the upcoming season. Sign up for your CSA Share today so we can plan to grow for YOU!
Come to the Norwich Farmers' Market at Tracy Hall this Saturday 1/28 from 10am-1pm! This is our final market for the winter season! This weekend you can stock up on beautiful sweet potatoes, winter squash, cabbage, kohlrabi, onions, garlic, and sun-dried tomatoes.  You'll want to grab a bag of our sweet carrots and colorful beets, plus our freshly picked winter spinach! Pick up a quart of our kimchi, sauerkraut and honey too! See you at the market!
 With sub-zero temperatures in the forecast we harvested the last of our greens for the season this week from under the protection of our cold frame and high tunnels. We'll have some beautiful kale and spinach for our final CSA shares next week. We've also been busy buttoning up and protecting all our crop storage spaces to keep thousands of pounds of carrots, beets, and cabbage, and over 40 barrels of kraut and kimchi safely in storage through the winter.
We'll have a full table at the Farmers' Market on Saturday at Tracy Hall in Norwich from 10-1pm. Come stock up on delicious local foods for your holiday meals. Try our crispy kohlrabi, snappy carrots, amazing kale, the darkest green spinach, and the sweetest sweet potatoes! We have a plethora of seasonal recipes on our website to help inspire your next meal!  Thinking back to sunnier times... we're sending you warm wishes from our crew to yours for a happy holiday season! Thank you for your continued support and an incredible season in 2016!
Winter arrived suddenly and looks like it's here to stay! Our fields are covered in snow, and the temperatures are forecasted to drop to the single digets over the next week. The good news is that we still have plenty of delicious food to fill our CSA boxes and market table. Join us at the Farmers' Market this Saturday at Tracy Hall in Norwich from 10am-2pm. (Note extended hours for the holiday market).  Have you ever wondered why vegetables are so sweet this time of year? When temperatures drop and frost hits, only the heartiest of plants are equipped to survive. The adaptation that keeps them from dying in the cold also makes them sweet and delicious. Some hardy vegetables have the abiltiy to convert some of their starch stores into sugar, and this keeps the water in their cells from freezing. So, relish their survival skills and enjoy the sweet taste of our winter carrots, cabbage, kale, spinach, swiss chard, kohlrabi, broccolini, and even parsley! You can pick up these vegetables at our market table on Saturday!  Check out this remarkable radicchio! We harvested them this morning from underneath the snow! Radicchio can survive uncovered in the field even when it's 20 degrees outside. This member of the chicory genus is loved for it's bitterness and incredibly fresh, bright flavor during this cold, dark, and snowy time of year. One of the best and easiest ways to explore the taste of bitter is through chicories. Pick up some raddichio at the market and try one of these recipes from NYTimes Cooking this week.  Our CSA Shares are still going strong with two more weeks left to go! This week you may have been uncertain about the mysterious, big, round green vegetable in your box. If you're not familiar with kohlrabi, don't be afraid! Simply peel the skin off and slice a piece to try a taste. It's incredibly sweet and crispy, and it's very versitile in the kitchen. You can eat it raw, saute, or roast. Learn more about kohlrabi on our website.  We're excited to have a new batch of kimchi ready for market this weekend! Our kimchi is a truly a labor of love, we grow each of the ingredients- cabbage, carrots, scallions, onions, garlic, ginger, and hot peppers- and we hand chop, mix, and ferment the vegetables in small batches. Our favorite way to eat kimchi is right out of the container! Pick some up at the market this weekend!
The Norwich Farmers' Market moves indoors this Saturday! You can find us at Tracy Hall in Norwich from 10-1pm with a full spread of fresh greens, herbs, roots, sweet potatoes and more! We have some super healthy foods to help you get through the dark days of November. At the market we'll have plenty of leafy greens, brussels spouts, and sauerkraut!  Root 5 Farm Powerkraut is made using a traditional method of lacto-fermentation. We use only two ingredients: our own organically grown, freshly harvested green cabbages and Maine sea salt! Traditional sauerkraut is a natural pro-biotic food that has many well-documented health benefits. You can find out more about our Powerkraut on our website.  Our fresh, young ginger will be for sale at the market this Saturday! The ginger we grow at Root 5 Farm is juicy and plump, with a pink blush. It has a translucent skin that doesn’t need peeling. Just wash, trim the cut surfaces, grate, or chop, and enjoy. Ginger is a nutrient-rich food considered to be especially beneficial for health and well-being. You can find recipes and more information about young ginger on our website.  We also have a beautiful crop of fresh, young turmeric root available right now! Fresh turmeric's bright orange flesh is earthy and peppery and it has a livelier flavor than the dried, powdered version. Turmeric offers many health benefits since it has both anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidant properties. Boost your immune system by making your own coconut milk curry (using ginger and turmeric!) or try this recipe for golden milk.
See you at the market! This is the time of year when so many varieties of winter squash are available and at their best. Winter squash are some of the most delicious, nutritious, and versatile ingredients of the season. Winter squash are loaded with antioxidants such as beta carotene and vitamin C. They also contain folate and omega 3 fatty acids! There are so many ways to prepare squash and they're easy to store. You can extend the season just by keeping a box of squash in a cool dry space in your own home.  We'll have all of our winter squash varieties on display at the Fairlee Market on Friday 3-6pm and the Saturday Norwich Farmers' Market 9-1pm. These are our final outdoor markets of the season! Come try a new variety this week! You can also order additional quantities to store your own for winter by emailing Danielle.  We grow nine different varieties of winter squash because they each have their own unique cooking qualities and storability! You can find a simple guide to the many varieties we grow on our website.  Delicata squash is one of the first to ripen in the field and it doesn't keep as long as other winter squash, so we try to use them up first. Delicata is one of our fall favorites because it's so simple and satisfying to cook up for a weeknight meal. You don't have to peel the tender skin, you can simply slice them into circles and roast in the oven.  Another one of our favorite this season is this mini butternut called "honeynut". These are the perfect portion size, just slice in half, scoop out the seeds, roast in the oven and you've got a meal. The flavor and texture of this squash is really outstanding! We love the story of how honeynut came into being and we think you will too!  Kabocha is another amazing squash variety, not to be overlooked. This late ripening variety has very dense, dry flesh that's remarkably sweet with a nice nutty flavor. Kabocha squash is very versatile in the kitchen, it can be roasted, steamed, or simmered into a smooth creamy soup. The skin is also tender enough to eat if you don't want to peel it. One of our late winter favorites is "winter sweet" grey kabocha because they continue to sweeten and the flavors improve after two months in storage.  Check out Ali's latest recipe Squash Apple Cheddar Soup. This hearty fall soup will warm you up! We recommend trying it with Buttercup or Kabocha squash this week!
It's the height of the season, we've reached the pinnacle. That short but sweet time of year when we're loaded with the beautiful fruits of our summer labor- tomatoes, peppers, watermelons, and cantaloupe. It's a great time to stock up and cook it all down into sauces and salsas, and maybe preserve a bit of that sweet summer flavor to save for the colder months. Check out Ali's Super Simple Tomato Sauce Recipe.  We'll have flats of Roma tomatoes for sale at the markets this weekend: Friday 3-6pm in front of Chapman's in Fairlee, and Saturday 9-1pm at the Norwich Farmers' Market. CSA customers can order from our online store for pick up along with their weekly share. All the ingredients you need to make a delicious Salsa Verde are available right now: tomatillos, garlic, cilantro, hot peppers. It's so simple, you're going to love it! Check out the recipe here.  This is the final week of our Summer CSA Shares, but there's still much more to come! We have a few spaces open for our Fall CSA Shares. Sign up today and receive the best of our fall harvest for the next 16 weeks, until the end of December. Weekly deliveries or Half Share bi-weekly deliveries available for the fall season.  Join us on Sunday August 21st, 10-2pm. Stop by for a tour of our fields on Sunday anytime between 10-2pm. We'll also offer a tasting of some unusual vegetable varieties, and a pop-up market if you'd like to buy fresh vegetables or sauerkraut. Bring a hat and good walking shoes, and come take a tour of the farm at the height of our harvest season!
 Our tomatoes are at their peak, so it'll be a tomato party at market this weekend! Stop by our Fairlee Market in front of Chapman's Store on Friday afternoon 3-6pm or the Norwich Market from 9-1pm on Saturday. Pick up a 10 lb flat and make a batch of tomato sauce or salsa this weekend. This is a great time to do some canning!  August is a time of transitions at the farm. Most of our planting and weeding is done for the season and now we're focused on bringing the harvest in, setting our open fields to cover crops, and planning our fall projects. August is also the time when we say goodbye to some of our summer crew members. Sammy is heading back for her Junior year at Endicott College, and Lauren has made her way back to Rhode Island after graduating from VT Law School this summer. We're so grateful for all of the hard work and dedication of our amazing summer crew! Thank you Sammy & Lauren, best of luck to you both!!  Speaking of transitions... It's time to sign up for our Fall CSA Shares!! Our fall shares begin September 1st and go for 16 weeks until December 21st. Fall Shares still hold the best of the summer harvest with tomatoes, peppers, and melons extending through mid-October and fresh greens and herbs all the way until December. Check out photos of our Fall Shares and sign up on our website today!  Open Farm Day! Join us on Sunday August 21st, 10-2pm. Guided farm tours every 1/2 hour starting at 10am. Come see our vegetable farm at the height of harvest season. We'll also offer a tasting of vegetable varieties, and a pop-up market if you'd like to buy fresh vegetables or sauerkraut. Bring a hat and good walking shoes, and come take a tour of the farm! Interested in seeing more farms in the area? Check out the complete listings for Vermont Open Farm Week online.
This week we'd like to introduce Ali Price, a Root 5 Farm CSA member and local food educator. Ali provides group and private cooking lessons to folks in the Upper Valley. She's also an aspiring Health Coach and born and raised vegetable lover. This season Ali is creating a series of weekly recipes that work with the ingredients in her CSA box. Her recipes are clear and easy to read, with lots of step-by-step photos. We're excited to share these fantastic recipes with you on our website. Look for links in our weekly newsletter, or just check out Seasonal Recipes under the 'info' tab on our website.  Many people find that being a CSA member or shopping at the farmers' market and working with seasonal ingredients fosters a new approach to cooking. You can enjoy delicious meals and save time and money by adapting recipes to use what's freshly harvested and what else is on hand. Many recipes can be made successfully with substitutions or omissions, and vegetables are especially suited to this approach. When you're looking for a substitute, think about plant families. For example, main courses often call for at least one member of the onion family (scallion, onion, garlic, leek, chive, etc). Alliums can usually be substituted for each other with excellent results. Members of the diverse brassica family can often stand in for each other. Kohlrabi, for example, could fill in for broccoli or cabbage in a variety of situations, because their flavors and crunchy textures are similar.
Ali is working on a series of master recipes that use some basic staples and flexible combinations of vegetables and spices, rather than a fixed set of ingredients. Check out these delectable examples- Grilled Summer Vegetables and Simple Summer Bites.
If you want to learn more about keeping your produce fresh once you get it to your kitchen, check out the storage tips on our website. Not all vegetables should be stored in the same way. For example, did you know that the best way to keep basil fresh is in a glass of water on your counter top, not in the fridge? Or that if you take the tops off your fresh carrot, beet, and radish bunches and store the roots in a plastic bag in your fridge, they will stay crispy and keep for months? Or that tomatoes should never be stored in the refrigerator? Learn more about the ideal temperature, humidity, and expected storage time for different vegetables on our website.
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Root 5 Farm
Danielle Allen & Ben Dana 2340 US Route 5 Fairlee, Vermont 05045 (802) 923-6339 danielle@root5farm.com ben@root5farm.com |
