Moving here from the North, there were a number of farm favorites that I lost.  Brussels sprouts so sweet you can eat them raw, rhubarb by the armload for pies and jams, and crisp greens all summer long.  But it was a trade, and some wonderful vegetables have found their way into my southern life to replace the cool northerners I lost.  Among these are okra, peppers and tomatoes out my ears and, my favorite southern crop so far, the South American native sweet potato.  I always love the thrill and satisfaction of digging up potatoes from their summer lairs and piling them by the bucketful into the basement for our winter staple.  There is something even more thrilling for me about digging up the golden gems of sweet potatoes that seem to have preserved the summer sun’s life-giving energy so perfectly within their sweet, orange flesh.

Now my love affair with this crop cannot end with poetic statements in the setting sun.  Next, this tuber must come into my home and kitchen to nourish my family through the colder months ahead.  How do I handle and prepare this delicious gift?

Sweet potatoes, unlike their regular potato counterparts , are damaged by temperatures under 50 degrees.  They store best above 60 degrees and below 70 degrees, making them easier to store in the winter.  It is also important that they be stored in a dry place as excess moisture may cause them to sprout prematurely.

Sweet potatoes can be prepared in an infinite number of ways.  My favorite is to bake them whole in the oven or toaster oven at 350 degrees until cooked through.  With this simple preparation, they can them be eaten warm with butter or cold as nature’s push-up pop.  Simply cut the sweet potato in half width wise and gently squeeze.  The yummy, sweet center will emerge upwards for you to eat!  This is a great snack for kids!

There are an infinite number of recipes involving sweet potatoes, from main dishes to sides to desserts to breads.  Here are a couple simple ones to keep the sweet, southern sun singing in your kitchen this month and all winter long.

Cajun Roasted Sweet Potatoes

1 – 1 1/4 pound sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1-inch chunks

2 TBL canola or sunflower oil or lard

2 TBL bottled Cajun seasoning

Heat oven to 400 degrees.  Toss sweet potatoes with oil and seasoning; spread in a single layer on a baking sheet.  Roast until cooked through and browned in spots, about 25 minutes.  Makes 2-4 servings.

(from From Asparagus to Zucchini, a guide to cooking farm-fresh, seasonal produce)

Hot and Sweet Gratin

3 lbs sweet potatoes, sliced into very thin rounds

2 TBL butter

1 cup chopped onion

2 TBL flour

1 cup milk

1/3 cup half and half

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp ground black pepper

2 tsp (or more) diced hot peppers or pureed chipotle in adobo sauce (canned)

1 1/3 cup grated queso blanco, divided

Boil sweet potatoes in a large pot of water until barely tender, about 5 minutes.  Melt butter in a saucepan over medium flame, add onions, and cook, stirring often, until translucent, about 8 minutes. Stir in flour, then slowly whisk in milk and half and half.  Add salt, pepper and hot pepper.  Remove from heat and stir in 1 cup grated cheese.  Heat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease an 8-by-8-inch baking pan.  Layer 1/4 of the sweet potatoes in the dish, sprinkle lightly with some salt, and pour 1/4 of the sauce over this first layer. Continue layering this way until all potatoes and sauce are used.  Top with remaining grated cheese and bake until browned and bubbly, 35 – 45 minutes.  Makes 6-8 servings.

(adapted from From Asparagus to Zucchini, a guide to cooking farm-fresh, seasonal produce)

This past Sunday your Bio Farm was visited by the Crop Mob!  As you may have guessed from my enthusiasm, the Crop Mob is not a sinister group of people trying to steal crops from under our noses.  In fact, quite the opposite is true.  The Crop Mob is a diverse group of volunteers that descends one Sunday a month on a small, local, sustainable farm to help out in whatever way they can.  They are dedicated to supporting the labor-intensive efforts of small, sustainable farms so that these farms can flourish and continue to bless our region’s economy, environment and palate with their wonderful work.

The main work that the 50 plus Crop Mob volunteers accomplished was harvesting over six beds of sweet potatoes.  In addition, they planted three long beds of garlic and harvested peanuts.  They worked from noon until 4 and then were fed a hard-earned meal of fresh baked pizzas, salad and chili.

This kind of event is an incredible act of hope.  The organizers and participants are passionate about the beauty, power and necessity of farms like the Bio Farm at this time in history.  They want to see these farms flourish and are putting “their money where their mouth is” so to speak.  Their energy and efforts directly benefit our local food system by assisting farmers with tasks that may seem insurmountable without their help, while at the same time Crop Mob participants are learning valuable sustainable agriculture skills.  Thank you Crop Mob for your work, your vision and your passion!

To learn more about the Crop Mob or to get involve visit their website at cropmob.org.—

Check back next week for more information on the amazing tropical tubers that are sweet potatoes!

Green Soup - everyone loved it!

By Elizabeth Thompson

As we anticipate our first frost this week or next, the warming goodness of soups is even more on my palate.   A good friend shared his abundant patch of stinging nettle with me last week and I created a delicious nettle soup with it.  It was sweet and creamy and delicate.  This soup could be easily adapted to use any kind of green and it also uses a good number of this week’s Bio Farm vegetable bounty!

1 TBL butter

1 TBL olive oil

2 smallish potatoes

2 smallish sweet potatoes

1 medium carrot, chopped

2 – 4 cloves garlic, mashed

small piece of jalapeno diced (optional)

5 cups stock

one handful of greens (wild preferred, but any green will do)

2/3 cup milk or cream

salt and pepper to taste

Place butter and oil in skillet over medium heat.  Add potatoes, carrot and jalapeno (if using).  Saute for approximately 5 minutes.  Add stock and garlic and simmer for approximately 15 minutes.  Add chopped greens and simmer another 5 minutes.  Remove from heat and puree with a stick blender or food processor until smooth.  Add milk or cream and season to taste with salt and pepper.  Serve with sour cream if you’re a cream lover like me and enjoy with warm, crusty bread if available!

• salad mix, arugula, and braising mix
• bok choy/pac choi
• beets, radishes, salad turnips
• kale, chard, senposai
• edamame
• sweet peppers
• okra, eggplant, a few more green beans, summer squash and cherry tomatoes
• tobago seasoning peppers (mild heat, lots of flavor)
• hot peppers: poblanos, anaheims  & jalapenos
• cilantro and parsley

6 cups water or stock

¾ tablespoon salt

½ cup finely chopped carrots

¼ cup chopped green bell pepper, divided

½ stalk celery, chopped

1 medium beet

½ cup canned peeled and diced tomatoes

3 potatoes, quartered

1/3 cup butter

½ cup chopped onion

3 cups finely shredded cabbage, divided

¼ cup heavy cream

3/4 cup diced potatoes

1 tablespoon dried dill weed

¼ teaspoon ground black pepper to taste

salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Place water, salt, carrots, ½ of the bell pepper, celery, beet, tomatoes, and quartered potatoes in a large stock pot over high heat. Bring to a boil.  Melt 1/3 cup butter in a separate skillet over medium heat. Sauté onions in butter until tender, approximately 5 minutes. Stir in tomatoes, reduce heat to medium low, and simmer for 15 minutes. Remove ½ cup of sauce from skillet, and set aside. Stir half of the cabbage into the skillet with remaining sauce and continue simmering 5 minutes more, or until tender.

Remove beet from boiling liquid and discard. Remove potatoes with a slotted spoon or tongs, and place in a bowl with remaining 1 tablespoon of butter and the cream. Mash together until smooth.  Return the ½ cup of reserved onion-tomato sauce to the stock pot. Stir in diced potatoes, and simmer until just tender but still firm, approximately 5 minutes. Increase heat to a low boil, and stir in remaining cabbage, tomato sauce, and mashed potatoes. Reduce heat and simmer a few minutes more. Stir in remaining bell pepper, season with black pepper, and serve.

• salad mix & arugula
• braising mix, kale, senposai, chard, and bok choi
• parsley, cilantro
• hot peppers & tobago seasoning peppers
• sweet potatoes and winter squash
• salad turnips, delicous raw on salads or cooked in a stir fry
• beets
• radishes
• edamame
• green beans
• okra
• eggplant
• sweet peppers

butter or oil for greasing the pan

3 acorn squash (or similar)

½ cup grated Parmesan cheese, divided

½ tsp salt, divided

½ tsp freshly ground black pepper

1 ½ TBL olive oil

1 large leek, chopped (about 2 cups)

4 cups coarsely chopped kale

1 cup vegetable or chicken stock

½ red bell pepper, cored, seeded, diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 TBL butter

1 apple (or pear) peeled, halved, cored, cut in ½ inch pieces

Preheat oven to 375 F.  Lightly grease a 13”x9” pan with butter or oil. Cut squash in half, scoop out seeds and put the squash halves cut-side down on a baking sheet. Bake until tender (30-45 minutes).  Turn the squash halves over and sprinkle with ¼ cup Parmesan, ¼ tsp salt and ¼ tsp pepper. Bake for 5 more minutes.  Heat oil in a large skillet over medium high heat.  Add the leeks, sauté until soft, about 5 minutes.  Add the kale, stock, bell pepper, garlic and remaining  ¼ tsp salt and ¼ tsp pepper. Bring to boil, cover and cook for 5 minutes. Remove cover and increase

heat to medium-high. Cook, stirring frequently, until kale is tender and the liquid evaporates (8-10 minutes). Transfer mixture to a bowl and set aside.  Melt butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the apple, sauté until lightly browned and tender but not mushy, 2 to 3 minutes. Add the apple to kale mixture and stir well. Spoon the kale and apple mixture into the squash halves. Top with the remaining ½ cup Parmesan. Bake for 10 minutes.

This week we are harvesting:

• salad mix & arugula
• kale, senposai, and bok choi
• parsley
• hot peppers – try stuffing and roasting the poblanos or anaheims
• sweet potatoes and winter squash
• salad turnips – delicous raw on salads or cooked in a stir fry
• beets
• edamame – so simple to prepare, make sure to ask at pick-up if you haven’t tried this yet
• green beans
• okra
• eggplant
• cherry tomatoes
• sweet peppers

Rich in folic acid and vitamin C, the beet is a colorful, vitamin vegetable that has been enjoyed for many, many years, with beet remains being excavated from the Eygptian pyramids.  The beet is native to the Mediterraean region where the beet greens, which mirror the sweetness of the root, were eaten for centuries before the root came into vogue in the 1800s.  Try using the greens as you would swiss chard or spinach.  It makes a delectable and thrifty alternative if you buy beets with the greens attached.

I use to shy away from dealing with fresh beets because  of the inherent mess involved.  Two discoveries led to my now wholehearted embrace of the red root.  The first was this simply way of preparing and skinning beets.  Place scrubbed beets in a crockpot with about an inch of water.  Cook about 6 – 8 hours on low.  Allow to cool slightly, then run beets under  cold water while rubbing the skins off with your fingers.  The skins slip right off!  The second discovery was that if some of the beautiful beets juice should splash onto my clothes while preparing the beets, I simply had to soak the garment in cold water overnight and – viola – the red was gone the next morning!  I hope these discoveries will allow you, too, to indulge in beets more often this fall and the next!

Here is a recipe that uses both root and green in one sweet dish.

Sautéed Beets and Greens:

• 2 lbs beets w/ greens

• 1 large shallot

• 1 Tbs olive oil

• 1 tsp fresh Rosemary

• coarse salt

Roast Beet Roots: Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Remove greens for the beet roots and set greens aside.  Poke holes in the beet roots with a fork. Place on baking sheet; bake until beets are slightly soft to the touch, 45 minutes to 1 hour depending on their size. Cool beets slightly, then rub off skins.

Prepare the greens: Cut greens stems into ½ inch lengths. Thinly slice green tops. In large skillet, heat 1 Tbs. olive oil over medium heat. Add 1 large minced shallot; cook until tender, 2 to 3 minutes. Add stems and sauté for 5-7 minutes. Add sliced green

tops; cook stirring often, until wilted, about 5 minutes. Add beets, cut into ½ inch wedges, and 1 tsp. chopped fresh rosemary. Season with coarse salt. Cook, stirring, until beets are just heated through, 2 to 4 minutes.

The seasons are finally making a change towards the cooler, crisper and slower.  Down here in the warm south, though, we are still enjoying a late summer harvest coupled with the beginning of the cool weather crops.  It is a delightful combination and, for me, brings some fabulous opportunities of creative sandwich making!  So, bring out the bread maker, grill up some eggplant, lay on the salad mix and herbs and slather on the mayonnaise.  Does the mayonnaise end of that equation sound like we’re taking the health out of the sandwich?  Well, mix up this recipe for fresh, enzyme-rich mayonnaise and enjoy the creative bliss of sandwiches this fall.

1 whole farm fresh egg, at room temperature

1 farm fresh egg yolk

1 tsp Dijon-style mustard

1 ½ TBL lemon juice

1 TBL whey, optional (you can strain your yogurt through a cloth to get whey and a

firmer, greek style yogurt as a bonus!)

¾ cup – 1 cup extra virgin olive oil or expeller pressed sunflower oil (or a

combination)

generous pinch salt

In a food processor place egg, egg yolk, mustard, lemon juice and salt and optional whey.  Process until well blended, about 30 seconds.  With the motor running, slowly pour in the oil.   Taste and check for seasoning.  You may want to add more salt or lemon juice.  Store in fridge.  Will keep 2 weeks.

Variations:

Add a handful of fresh herbs at the end.  My favorite is cilantro, but parsley is another nice one.

You could use dried herbs if fresh are not available, or even spice mixes like curry powder.

From Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon