It seems so decadent to be giving out these luscious greens so deep in a Vermont December. Wasn't it yesterday that the high only made it into the single digits? We pre-wash our mesclun before it goes in your bags. Most of us at the farm are fine with this single wash and serve the greens in a salad straightaway. Store the greens in a loose plastic bag in your crisper drawer. If the greens seem damp, throw a cloth napkin or dishtowel in the bag with the greens to absorb any excess moisture.

Even though we pine for our greens all winter, when they come in full-force it can sometimes be overwhelming. This is especially true, when you include all the bonus greens that come attached to beets, turnips and radishes. It's a shame to let any go to waste! When you receive your share, don't forget to separate all the greens from any attached roots for storage. Now, take a quick inventory of all of the greens and try to realistically estimate what you'll be able to eat this week. Those that you plan to eat, store unwashed, loosely wrapped in plastic bags in your crisper. If there are extra greens that you don't think that you'll get to, think about freezing them for the winter, and do it now while they're at their freshest and most nutritious. I don't worry about mixing greens when freezing, as most will go into a winter lasagna, soup, quiche, pasta dish, etc. I just freeze them in portions that are easy to use. To save your greens: First, roughly chop the greens, removing any tough stems. Give them a good wash by soaking in plenty of cold water in your sink or a large bowl or tub. Lift the greens out of the water, leaving the dirt behind. If there is excessive dirt left in the water, change the water and repeat. Put greens in a large pot of boiling water. Boil just until the leaves wilt and begin to turn dark green. Immediately remove greens from hot water and plunge into an ice-water bath. Remove from the water bath, drain, package in freezer-safe plastic bags or containers, and freeze. If you have a pasta or other wire basket, this is ideal to carry the greens in and out of boiling water and water bath.

Our greens continue to get more diverse as the season progresses. Today's mix includes claytonia, lettuce, arugula, mustard, kale and tatsoi, as well as sunflower, radish and pea shoots. The bag is topped off with Tatsoi flowers. Try making a salad with grated carrots and miso dressing.

Store unwashed pods in the fridge. Wash in cold water just before using.

Together with our neighbors and buddies at High Mowing Organic Seeds we have a mission to figure out how to preserve some of the organic produce they grow for seed crops.  In order to harvest organic seed for their business, High Mowing grows lots of squash, melons and tomatoes (and many other crops).  Their normal harvest process for these vegetables is to harvest them in the field, and send them through a big crusher that screens out the seeds, leaving piles of squash, melons and tomatoes in the soil to compost. This past season, we brought their entire crop of OrangeGlo watermelons (one of the best flavored watermelons around) to the farm.  We crushed them here and scooped the watermelon flesh out and then the flesh was passed through our puree machine in our commercial kitchen.  The seeds came out beautifully intact and the remaining product is the delicious treat you will find in the week's share, pure sweet watermelon juice!  The juice comes to you frozen and you should keep it frozen until you plan to use it.  It won't have a long shelf life, a few days in the fridge at most.  But it won't last long either.  It's delicious on its own and terrific in seltzer.  Kids will love frozen watermelon ice cubes.

More yummy berries are in the share from Four Corners Farm this week. As a reminder, please keep the berries frozen until you are ready to use them. The green hull that is still attached is best removed by scraping off with a spoon while the berries are still frozen. If you allow them to thaw without removing the hull they end up being rather a mushy mess.

In the Fall we put up our year's worth of frozen squash puree. The annual making of our squash puree is a joint effort. High Mowing Seeds grows several super sweet varieties of winter squash in order to collect the seeds for their customers. They do the seed extraction at our farm and we take all the flesh of the squash and steam it to make the puree. We choose varieties with a very high sugar content like Butternuts and pie pumpkin varieties.  

This is just pure frozen winter squash goodness. Use this in recipes calling for pureed winter squash or pumpkin - particularly soups, pie, baked items like pumpkin bread, muffins or cookies, or for casseroles or rice dishes. Also fantastic just on its own sweetened with a bit of maple syrup, enriched with some cream and served as a side (for a side you may want to drain some of the water that separates from the squash when you thaw it. Your puree will then be a bit thicker). 


If your frozen squash puree has thawed a bit when you receive it, no worries. Just pop it back in freezer until you are ready to use.

With broad, pale green leaves escarole is less bitter than other members of the chicory family. You can tear some and add it to your salad. It also benefits from cooking. Try sauteing the escarole and adding it to your pasta. Or chop it up and add it to a soup. You can store escarole, loosely wrapped in a plastic bag in your crisper drawer for up to a week.

I'm trying to include these in your shares every 2 weeks or so until the hens molt and stop laying. Jen Linck, our animal manager, collects and washes them, putting them into the cartons (we'll try to peel off the weirdly Disney-esque label too). Scramble with a pat of butter and a splash of cream over low heat. Salt and pepper to taste and eat with veggies. How can you go wrong with that?