December 2023
Gathering in the darkness to honor the light.
December Farmer’s Market Schedule & Offerings
Join us this December to take care of your grocery and holiday shopping in one stop on December 9 and December 23, 9am-1pm, at the Lewiston Artisan Farmers Market’s indoor market at 505 Cayuga Street in Lewiston.
This month, our table will be filled with:
arugula; fall salad mix; and signature salad mix
sunchokes
scallions and cured onions
celery root; radishes; carrots; and turnips
curly kale; dino kale; and mustard greens
red and green heirloom, never-sprayed apples
in-shell English walnuts '
microgreens
We’ll also have hand crafted products from our farm that make a great gift for someone you love (including yourself!):
rustic Italian bread; sourdough bread; and sourdough cheese crackers
organic sourdough granola and unique jams and jellies
evergreen holiday wreaths and evergreen holiday arrangement/bouquets
Growing Together
I think it’s very common for farmers and customers to think that vegetables can’t be grown in our region (zone 6b) over the winter - that the only items you can find from local farms are dried onions, cured winter squashes, and apples from cold storage. But that’s not entirely true; and this year we are doing trails of vegetable varieties to see how they grow on our farm, throughout the cold, windy, and snowy winter months.
For some larger or older businesses this may not be a stretch - there is plenty of data to show that different varieties can grow in heated greenhouses and unheated high tunnels. However, we don’t have that infrastructure on our farm yet.
Instead we are experimenting with winter growing in 3 foot high “low tunnels” and 5 feet high “caterpillar tunnels.” Our crops are covered being kept about 10 degrees warmer than the outside air temperature by a woven fabric cover (row cover) and a 6 millimeter greenhouse plastic film.
And we are growing varieties that are cold hardy - arugula, kales, mustard greens, asian spinach, and lettuce varieties. It’s a new venture for us and we hope it will inform us for next season so that we can grow even more fresh, local produce for our customers throughout the winter months.
If you want to follow along in our winter growing journey or have questions, watch our Instagram Story Series on “Winter Growing.”
Recipe Share
One of the coolest native, perennial vegetables that we have growing on the farm has got to be our Jerusalem Artichokes or Sunchokes. This vegetable grows underground as a tuber, like potatoes, and is native to North America, being cultivated by indigenous peoples for many centuries. The mildly sweet, crunchy, and nutty edible tuber is highly nutritious and, unlike potatoes, contains no starch, but rather carbohydrates in a form that is metabolized into natural sugar. So if you need to watch your sugar, sunchokes are a good alternative to potatoes.
Sunchokes require a careful washing before cooking because dirt can get trapped in all those knobby bits. You don't need to peel them before cooking them, though you can if you like (this skin is papery and thin). Once washed, cut them into thick slices or chunks and prepare them the same way you would potatoes. Sunchokes can be substituted in any recipe calling for potatoes. More tips for this unusual veggie here.
—> —> —> We plan on digging up our sunchokes to bring to the December 9 Lewiston Artisan Farmers Market (so long as the ground isn’t frozen).
P.S. If you’d love to grow these yourself, we ordered our tubers from Hudson Valley Seed Company in 2021.
Oven Roasted Sunchokes
2 pounds sunchokes
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 - 1 teaspoon salt
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Directions:
Pre heat oven to 425 F. Wash and slice sunchokes into 1-inch pieces.
Toss on a baking sheet or roasting pan together with olive oil and salt, coating well. Turn all the pieces so they have one cut-side down, which will help them become crispy and golden.
Roast sunchokes in the oven for 35 to 45 minutes, flipping once or twice during cooking, until easily pierce with a fork and golden brown. Season with a bit of extra salt and pepper, if desired.
Variations
For more depth of flavor, toss the sunchokes with 1 tablespoon of soy sauce before roasting.
For an herby spin, toss the sunchokes with a tablespoon or so of minced fresh or dried thyme, rosemary, or oregano (or a combination) before roasting.
Toss with a few tablespoons chopped fresh parsley after roasting and just before serving.
Earth Stewardship
If you’ve been buying from us, whether at the farmers market, online, or through our CSA, you may have noticed that we have a lot of paper bags.
I prefer to use paper bags to house our cherry tomatoes, green beans, cured onions, etc. vs. plastic because, well honestly, I’m a big, crunchy, tree-hugging hippie. I’ve been working for years to decrease the amount of plastic, especially plastic bag/plastic disposable containers, use in my personal household since 2018 when I did a deep dive into the “Zero Waste” movement.
When I started the farm, I didn’t want to revert to plastic bags just because it’s what I saw other farms doing, because it seemed easier, or because it’s what customers might expect when shopping for produce.
Utilizing paper bags in our packaging at the market and in our CSA seemed like a more positive, alternative route because our customers could:
recycle the paper bag in municipal recycling;
reuse the paper bag; or
compost the paper bag
Even the option to source a biodegradable plastic/vegetable plastic bag felt like it was less of a eco win, since I know many of our customers do not compost or have access to municipal composting facilities where the bags could decompose. Throwing out a biodegradable plastic is just like throwing a plastic bag in the trash - it will never decompose in a landfill because of the lack of oxygen.
So if you’ve ever wondered why we have so many paper bags on our table at the market, now you know!
Spotify Wrapped - Farm Edition
Thank you so much for being a part of our farm community! I appreciate everyone who reads to learn more about local agriculture, who tries a shared recipe, shops with us at the market, or shares this newsletter.
Wishing you and yours a happy holiday season and a healthy 2024! - Aurora
