While I’m looking at a clear driveway at the moment, the next round of Winter Weather is due overnight. As of 5pm on Monday, I’m working on the assumption and sincere hope that we can open for business as usual this week on Tuesday and Wednesday. CSA Members can come on either Tuesday or Wednesday interchangeably, so if you typically pick up Wednesday and Tuesday looks better this week (or vice versa), go for it! If the situation changes and we need to close, I will notify and update folks using as many of the following methods as possible:

• Updating the farm Voice Mail Message (253) 778-6257

• Posting updates to our Facebook & Instagram pages

• Sending an Email Blast (if we have electricity and internet access)

• Posting an update to our Website (if we have electricity and internet access)
  … so feel free to check ahead before you make the drive if things look dicey.

Bigger, sweeter and there when we need ‘er—here’s to Winter Kohlrabi.
Unlike the smaller bulbs that we harvest in Summer, the winter varieties grow to a larger size without becoming woody on the inside. So long as we harvest them before a hard frost, and remove the leaves ahead of storage, they keep well alongside our roots in the cellar. And when the fields won’t thaw, it is time to make a slaw (or any number of other things, which I’ll get into shortly). But first, I want to address Kohlrabi’s intimidation factor. I get it. It is a very cool but very odd looking vegetable, and I think it only becomes more puzzling the larger and seemingly tougher the bulbs get. However, those are actually superficial qualities—you’ll want to grab your vegetable peeler or practice your paring skills to peel away the winter rind. But, once you strip away the gruff exterior, you’ll find a sweet, mild and crisp vegetable to eat in a number of ways. It is actually one of the more versatile vegetables that we grow, and that’s one of the things I appreciate most about Kohlrabi. There’s a lot of good food inside of those skins (particularly the big honkers that we harvest for Winter). We’re a big hummus household, so quite often, we slice it up for dipping and enjoy it that way. But, when I get to craving a crisp and refreshing salad, I might julienne or grate it into any number of slaws or salads (along with whatever other roots might be kicking it in the fridge). Conversely, if I want something warm, I might lean into the sweet broccoli stem-like flavor and make a stir fry. And when I’m in need of something savory and cozy, I turn to Melissa Clark’s Caramelized Kohlrabi Soup. I haven’t tried it yet, but one of our customers swears by these Kohlrabi Steaks.

Why do we bother growing all of these roots?

Weeks like this one-–that’s why!

Consecutive days of overnights in the twenties, with days lingering in the thirties mean that there are parts of the farm that will remain frozen indefinitely, and while it is true that many cold-hardy vegetables can withstand a certain amount of frosty weather, harvesting them while they’re frozen is a no-go.  Even the vegetables nestled under the cover of our greenhouses didn’t fully perk up until this afternoon, leaving us with a super short workday window before the sun started to go down again.  But thankfully, we invest hours on some of the longer days of Summer and Fall planting, tending, harvesting, washing and storing up an array of root vegetables with Winter in mind. We don’t always think of things like tomatoes and big roots being in the works at the same time, but they sure are.