Mark and Blake are starting February with a soggy and gray harvest day, but the end result is anything but dismal--feast your eyes on that Braising Mix.

If you've ever wondered, or were afraid to ask, Braising Mix is blend of our hardiest overwintering greens that, because they're sturdy, are often used for cooking. But, you don't have to limit their preparation to braising. They can just as easily be chopped up and eaten raw, or wilted, steamed, sauteed or blended into a smoothie. Whatever floats your boat. In our case, it is a mix of different types of Kale, Collards, Chard, and sometimes tiny Brussels Sprout or Cabbage Leaves too. This Summer, when you see our great big rows of Kale out in the field, you might keep this week's Winter share in mind. The plants that we're harvesting from are the very same ones that produced nice big leaves for bunching last Summer and Fall; however, the leaves that we're harvesting now are much smaller and sweeter thanks to the cool temps. They're a welcome treat this time of year too. We're doing a nice big harvest for the Winter CSA this week, and in a few more, we might see some regrowth and bits of flowering "raab."

This week's offerings are quintessentially Winter. Cabbages, Fingerling Potatoes, Leeks and Rutabagas are solid Winter staples, and they push those comfort food buttons in a big way with minimal effort.

We were nervous about what the weather would bring for today (we saw everything from snow to thunder in the forecast), so Mark and Blake did a nice big harvest of Cabbage from our southernmost fields over the weekend. As it turned out, today has been a clear and gorgeous January day. You're welcome! Let's hope we're still this lucky in the coming weeks.

This week's offerings are quintessentially Winter. Cabbages, Fingerling Potatoes, Leeks and Rutabagas are solid Winter staples, and they push those comfort food buttons in a big way with minimal effort.

We're back at it and we're looking forward to celebrating the start of our seventh year in business with you this week! We're ringing in a new growing year with a decent little harvest of Purple Brussels Sprouts, Parsnips, Robin's Koginut Squash and Lettuce for the Winter CSA. It is a super fun share by January's standards, and it is the closest thing I can give you to a thank you hug--in vegetable form.

I don't know that I've ever been so grateful for (or in as serious need of) a break as the one we just had. Last year took a lot out of us, and by December, I was hanging on by my last thread and nerve. But we've spent the past month weaving things back together--recharging as a family, reading, repairing leaky roofs (that rain!), making messes in the kitchen, mulling over piles calendars and catalogs, scrambling to order seeds, bickering, hashing things out and creating (tentative) growing plans for the year ahead.