Frog Holler Farm

  Billy King warming up for this season's Sweet Potato Bowl! And Keegen makes the catch! And then we tossed SWEET POTATOES into all of your boxes! Along with... CARROTS We had a grated carrot/watermelon radish salad this week - colorful! We added a miso dressing  - tasty! BEETS Boiled, baked, roasted or raw! Maybe Borscht weather is coming?  KOHLRABI Have you made "kohl" slaw? Martha Stewart has ! WINTER SQUASH - ACORN Nutty, dry flesh DAIKON/WATERMELON RADISH In stir-fry, salad or soup Watermelon in color only! ONION Did you know that inside one in every 3.14 onions is an opinion? GARLIC Garlic will keep for months if dry and at room temp. BEANS - ROMANO AND/OR GREEN But not yellow! POTATOES Why does Mr. Potato Head have a cell phone? In case Mr. Onion Rings! (sorry) KALE - CURLY, TUSCAN OR COLLARDS STORAGE TIPS: Nothing new except the potatoes and sweet potatoes can stay out of the fridge. If you don't get to them within the week, best to refrigerate them.  RECIPE...

   Winter Squash harvest almost complete - photo by Ashleh, who also helped pick them! RECIPE IDEAS:  In a completely scientific farm taste comparison (test sample of three), roasted beet flavor far surpassed the flavor of boiled beets. This analysis has been corroborated throughout the food blogs of the internet and this one from Tori Avey:  Every Day Inspired by the Past  for  Roasted Beets  seemed especially good. Most recipes call for wrapping the beets in aluminum foil, which works fine, but Ms. Avey is removing foil from her cooking and shows how you can achieve the same results with a Dutch oven or oven-proof pan with a cover. We applaud less use of aluminum foil in cooking as well as the appreciation of this delicious and nutritious vegetable! Ms. Avey includes a number of links to roasted beet recipes in this blog post as well - many many uses! Butternut Squash  is traditionally halved, baked and then used for pie or soup. Another way to ...

   Heirlooms gossiping. "Did you see those round red tomatoes? Bo-o-ring!" RECIPE TIPS The farm kitchen continued canning this week, interrupted only by the lack of canning lids! Apparently everyone who planted gardens in the spring is now preserving their harvest. Amazon promised shipment by October 26 - not helpful. So our smart next door neighbor Sandy went right to the source and was able to order directly from the Ball Corporation, the last word in canning supplies for decades. They might cost a little more, but they are available now. Ready to pack the jars Amazon did have available some rather lurid green lids. Maybe on a jar of canned tomatoes for a holiday present? Also available in blue! NOTES FROM THE FARM: Or rather the anagram of "notes" which is "stone". And that's what this section is about!  Deep deposits of rocks and stones are part of the geologic legacy of the Irish Hills, Michigan, where Frog Holler Farm is situated. This area is kn...

  Billy King built bat houses this week and he and bro Kenny installed them.  Bats eat a lot of mosquitoes and mosquito-sized insects and are said to be beneficial to have around. We are happy to provide them with a spot to roost, but we don't want them in our belfry!   NOTES FROM THE FARM:  A lot of kitchen time was spent preserving this week. Twenty quarts of tomatoes, three big batches of pesto, frozen green beans, and spaghetti sauce in progress. After a long day in the kitchen, it was very gratifying to slather some pesto on pita bread, add a slice of cheese and fresh tomato, and sit down! Sometimes simple is the best. Note about  Cilantro:  if Cilantro is relatively new to you, you might not know to  use the stems . They are just as tasty as the leaves and almost as tender; they can also add a slight crunch to a salad. You don't have to take the leaves off the stems - just chop it all together and enjoy the unique cilantro flavor. Years ago we ha...