Butternut Squash---This is a wonderfully sweet squash. Great for soups, it is also good baked and made into “fries.” Try the soup recipe, below. It is a well worn, well loved recipe from quite a few years ago. If you have any squash left over, make “fries:” peel and slice the squash into french fry shaped pieces. Put on lightly oiled cookie sheet and bake at about 400 or 425 for about 30 minutes, turning once or twice, or until tender and brown.
Rutabaga--- If you think you don’t like these, please give them a chance. They are sweet and really flavorful. They are outstanding baked up. Cube and do as above and bake, turning a few times, until brown and tender. Try sauteeing them if you don’t want to bake them. To do that, peel and slice into disks. Saute in butter until toasty and tender. One more idea: boil and mash like, or even with, potatoes.
Walnuts---A few for the soup. Where’s the tree you might ask? We have two old ones at our place in Windsor. There are also a couple at the other end of the Airport Blvd field, but these ones are from our home trees.
Parsley---Also for the soup. If you have any left, let dry and you’ll have nice dried parsley for the winter. Easy!
Chipotle---A bit of smoked chile for the soup. If you don’t make the soup add this to beans or stir fry for a nice smokiness with a bit of heat.
Marrowfat Fresh Shell Beans---Hooray! One more time. Shell and add to sauteed onion/ garlic/ shallot. Add water/ broth and simmer until tender to your liking, somewhere between 20 and 30 minutes should do the trick, but cook until you like them. Add these to soup or make a simple chile.
Pan di Zucchero---This means “sugar loaf” in Italian. An absolutely scrumptious member of the chicory family, it is less bitter than many of the other chicories. This may be an acquired taste. If you’ve never had it, give it a chance. It may need a couple of chances; it did for me at least. Now I LOVE it and even craved it last winter. It is slightly bitter when raw but loses much of the bitterness when cooked up. Chop and use for salad or chop and saute with garlic until limp. Eat as is or add lemon juice or chile powder. If you use for salad, a bit of vinegar may ease the bitterness.

Phil's Winter Squash Soup
1 Medium sized butternut or other squash

2 onions
1 or more Tierra chipotles

4 large garlic cloves, peeled
Chicken broth to cover cubed squash (about 6 to 8 cups)
1 cup (or less) half and half

1 tsp curry powder
1 tsp ground cumin

Juice of 1 lemon (save peel)

Gremolata:
1.) Lemon zest,

2.) 1/2 cup finely chopped walnuts or almonds

3.) 1/2 cup finely chopped parsley
4.) 2 garlic cloves, pressed

Peel the squash and cut into 2" chunks. Chop onions into same sized pieces. Cut the stem off the chipotle and break into pieces. Place squash, onions, chipotle(s) and garlic into a large pot. Pour in enough broth to cover the squash mix. Bring to a boil and simmer until the vegetables are very soft. Puree in batches in a blender or food processor. Add the lemon juice, curry and cumin, Reheat slowly and add the half and half to taste. The soup should not be too rich.
For the gremolata, combine the finely grated lemon zest, nuts, parsley and garlic. Stir to combine and allow to set for 30 minutes to incorporate flavors. Sprinkle the gremolata over individual servings of the soup prior to serving.

Celery Note: If you have celery left over, try roasting it up. I tried it the other night and it was really tasty. If you roast the rutabaga, chop up some celery and cook it right along. Yummy!

Gift Certificates: We will have Gift Certificates available for both the Farm Stand and CSA if you are interested for all your gift-giving needs. Share the word!

Wool Products: We have some gorgeous hand woven scarves and blankets/ throws from the WE Tierra Shetland Sheep. Stop in the Farm Stand for a look-see.




VOLUNTEERS STILL NEEDED: We could really use some help with winnowing the beans. It is a low key, rather relaxing experience consisting of helping to clean the beans as they are pushed over the “wind” of a fan. If
you’d like to check it out, call or come by the Farm Stand and we’ll show you how it’s done.




Come visit: Please all of you who pick up at drop off locations, come visit. We are open Saturdays from 11 to 6 and you are all more than welcome to come take a walk in the field and visit with your vegetables/ fruits.

HONEY: We’ve got honey from the field: Tierra Vegetables Estate Honey. It is really sweet and flavorful. Scott, our beekeeper at Nelson Family Apiary, is using it for his honey of the month! We can put it in your box. We’ve got two sizes: 10 oz for $8.50 and 20 oz for $12.00. Let me know.



PLASTIC BAGS; We need lots of CLEAN plastic bags, please. We go through a lot and are not ordering any more until we can get the non-GMO biodegradable ones.



PICKLE NEWS: PICKLES! We have pickles! For those of you who remember from last year, we have great old fashioned dill pickles. They are fermented in a crock the old fashioned way and are crisp and slightly sour. Come have a taste and get a few pickles.






PICK UP POLICY NOTE: We are experiencing an issue with boxes not being picked up at various locations, including the Farm Stand, on a timely manner. We understand that sometimes you forget or something comes up that you can’t get your box of vegetables. If this happens, please call me at 696-8148 and we will bag it up for those picking up at the farm or hold it at the drop off locations. Otherwise, boxes left over 24 hours will be donated or used by our hosts. Thank you.

Reminder: The Farm Stand is open Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays from 11 to 6:00.

VISIT THE FARM: Please come on in for a visit whenever you can and bring the kids!


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EGGS---Our chickens are starting to lay their eggs! Hooray. These beautiful and delicious eggs are available at the Farm Stand. Better watch out, though: the customers at the Ferry Plaza Farmers' Market would take them all if we'd let them. You all get priority! Come check them out and see what a really fresh egg looks and tastes like.




Calling all loyal CSA members. We would love to put your recipes in the Menu. If you have anything that you'd like to share, please e-mail me at evie@tierravegetables.com and most likely your recipe (or comment) will make its way to this little Menu.

Regular Season starts May 29th. If you want to sign up and you haven’t yet, please call or e-mail.

Reminder: The Farm Stand is now open Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays from 11 to about 5:30. Come on in. Bring the kids!