Open Serendipity

Fall is a lovely time of year – the beginning of the green season here in Santa Clara Valley, with colorful fall leaves and early blooming bulbs and other flowers.  But it is also the end of the Two Small Farms Community Supported Agriculture season, no more veggie boxes until March 19!!!  I will miss them.  My son gleefully welcomes the sudden absence of “green stuff,” though he enjoyed the strawberries, apples, carrots, onions, etc.

I will read The Ladybug Letter during the winter season since I wont be getting it on the one-page insert, with recipes on the back, that comes with the veggies.  But living in the moment, I can rejoice that tonight we will feast on organic goodies: German Butterball Potatoes, Gold Beets, Erbette Chard.

I’ll save the leeks and one of the two perfect butternut squashes for a delicious Squash Leek Tart using the recipe that a friend gave me.  The other I’ll keep for a while, based on this information from the weekly CSA newsletter of September 29:

Here’s a hint; squash from the Cucurbita pepo group, like Sugar Pie pumpkins or Delicata squash have about as much sugar as they’re ever going to have right after harvest. They’ll keep well for a couple of months, but after that their starches begin to change to starches and they get to tasting flat. On the other hand, squash from the Cucurbita moschata group, like Butternut, taste starchy right after harvest, but over time those starches turn to sugars and the flavor gets better and better. Butternut squash are great keepers, and if they are stored out of direct sun, and if they aren’t cut into or nicked, they can last for a very long time. This year I grew Sugar Pie pumpkins, Delicata squash, and plenty of Butternut.

We love Delicata squash, one of the many veggies we discovered through this CSA.  The above confirms our theory that when we bought it at a farmers market once, one of them must have been older than the others.  We roasted them all sliced in half, and one was almost tasteless, while the others were as sweet and delicious as the ones we get from “our” CSA farm.

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Life by marla