The Best Kind of Putting Up

With temperatures dipping into the low 30’s recently, we are really feeling winter these days. The ground is producing less in this season and yet, our larders remain abundant. The practices of canning, preserving, pickling, freezing — or as our grandmothers used to say “putting up” — is how we take spring and summer’s surplus and continue to enjoy what the farm provides, year round. 

For the next few weeks, we’ll be seeing more and more of these preserved goods in the Winter CSA. In addition to the salad greens, fresh leeks and radishes this week, we also have bread & butter pickles, pickled peas and frozen strawberries from our Harpersville, AL farm.  If you were a member of the CSA this past summer, you remember how AMAZING those berries were; enjoying them again in December is pure pleasure. Bake them into a pie or simmer with a little Demerara sugar and a vanilla bean to turn into a compote to be ladled over vanilla ice cream. Another idea is to make a rosemary-strawberry simple syrup to add to a fancy cocktail like this one. 

Rounding out the basket this week is a fresh fresh fresh French bâtard from baker Corey Hinkel, green tomatoes (perfect for slicing, battering and frying), as well as fresh eggs and our award-winning goat cheese. We hope you enjoy what we’ve picked for you this week and look forward to hearing what you make! Be sure to share a few dinner pics with us on our group’s private Facebook page. 

ENJOY!