Growing for the Winter season means intentionally producing and storing fruits and vegetables to be enjoyed at a time when growing and harvesting don’t necessarily come easily. This is one of those days. After clear skies and deep freezing over the weekend, and the sun didn’t bust through the clouds until it was just about to set this evening, hours after the crew called it a day. This means that we still won’t be able to evaluate what will be thawed and therefore harvestable from our fields and greenhouses until tomorrow at the earliest. Weeks like these, it is good to have a couple of coolers worth of veg stored up and remember that we’re part of a really great local food system. I plan for times like these, the ones where we I could use to give and receive a bit of comfort and ease, in nourishment or otherwise.

So, this seemed like a good time to tap into the bin of Butternut Squash that I’d been saving for a Winter’s day when only the very easiest and most coveted squash would do. Butternut is an absolute darling. That oddball, oblong shape and smooth exterior make it easy to peel in long swathes, and the seeds sit in one tidy little burrow. This makes it a sinch to scoop out, cube up and cook with, and this is one of the reasons that there’s a disproportionate number of recipes published in cookbooks call for Butternut over all others. If only were as effortless to grow as it is to work with post-harvest. It takes so much longer than the other squashes and pumpkins, and this year might be as close as we have come to the sweet spot. We’ve taken the notes and will rinse and repeat for next year! It also seemed like kismet that I was able to source locally grown Broccoli Raab (Rapini) in quantity for the CSA this week. Being in NY rekindled just enough of our family’s love for these leafy, Italian Mustard Greens and we’ve been kicking ourselves for not sneaking in a rotation to grow our own sooner. It is fantastic in pasta, with squash and/or sausage, and it is one of my favorite comfort foods. I hope it brings you a bit of comfort too this week.

Take Care (and hope to see you this week…I’ve missed seeing you all!),

Katie