Hello! I'm writing to you from snowy Utah! My sister moved to Las Vegas 3 years ago, and we are finally out for a visit. Her son, who is the same age as Harvey, doesn't have a school vacation in February, so we took a mini trip to Zion National Park during the week and it happened to be one of their biggest snow events in anyone's recent memory. We did sneak in one good hike before the snow. Harvey is a great hiker - we've got big dreams of doing overnight backpacking trips with him in the near future, and he asked for a camlebak water backpack for easter!

It's good to get perspective, but we are eager to get back to the farm and get spring on a role. We've already started our first lettuce, bok choy and cilantro seedings for the spring share, and Lindsay, Kerry, my Dad and Kevin's brother Luke have been helping to take care of the farm.

We hope you are still enjoying your winter share! I made a vegetable pot pie to donate to the local library pie fundraiser, and except for the fact that I added a little too much water to the pie dough (it was a little tough) it was delicious (at least, the second one I made was). I used a recipe similar to this one, but left out the heavy cream and used celeriac and rutabaga instead of celery and peas. I also put rainbow carrots in to make it extra colorful, and made sure to chop the vegetables into small bites (like 1/4"). Adding peas is delicious too. If you want to skip the crust, you can make the filling and serve it over biscuits!

We've still got lots of spinach, and new, fresh greens are on the way. We hope you enjoy a little more hearty cooking before winter fully winds down.

SHARE CUSTOMIZATION



Please use the button in your email to complete the customization form for your share.

Please complete the from by 7am Monday (I need lead time to plan/harvest/pack the shares)

There are instructions in the form - please email me if you have any questions. If you subscribed to the mushroom share the mushrooms will not be in your box - please make sure to pick them up in addition to your produce box.

Please plan to pack out your share at pick up if possible.

I know it might seem like just a box to you, but $2.75/box is kind of a lot when you add it up. Especially when these boxes can get many uses. To prevent waste, help us save some money, and double check that we packed your share correctly, please plan to pack your share into your own bags, or bring the box back at the following pick up. PLEASE DO NOT TEAR THE BOXES. These boxes are meant for multiple uses and do have the same structural integrity after they are torn. If you feel like the box is going to tear, stop what you are doing! Some day I will get around to taking a video of myself making and breaking down a waxed box to have on the website.

Recipes

Hi - Jess Girotti here. If you have a recipe that you love that you'd like to share with other members or if a recipe link isn't working for you, feel free to email me at jgirotti@live.com. (Please note that I can't re-print a recipe from a cookbook that isn't already online.) Don't forget to check out the recipe pages on the Upswing website if you need more ideas for your other veggies.

ROASTED CARROT DIP

We go through a lot of hummus at our house. I usually make my own and I'm always looking for ways to switch it up. This dip is similar to hummus (chickpeas but no tahini) and is loaded with carrots that have been roasted to perfection. Top it off with smoked paprika and you've got a snack that will make everyone happy.

ROOT VEGETABLE STEW

This stew calls for a combination of potatoes, carrots, parsnips, beets and turnips but I often include rutabagas and celeraic as well. If you use beets, go for golden beets as you probably won't love what happens to the color of your stew if you use red beets!

OVEN ROASTED BEETS WITH HONEY-RICOTTA

Fresh herbs add a complexity of flavor as well as a nice color contrast to this already beautiful side dish.

SWEET POTATO & BLACK BEAN CHILI

This superbowl had me thinking of chili. This one has sweet potatoes and black beans with the added kick of smoky chipotles.

SPINACH, GOAT CHEESE & ROASTED CARROT SALAD

This gorgeous salad has it all, crunchy nuts, crisp lettuce, creamy goat cheese and a zingy honey-mustard salad dressing to bring it all together.

GRATED CARROT-KOHLRABI & RADISH SALAD

This slaw-style salad is perfect for the winter share! Grate a mix of carrots, kohlrabi and radish through the large holes of a box grater until you have about 4 cups worth. In a separate bowl mix together 1 ½ cups water, 1 Tbsp sugar, ½ cup rice vinegar, ¼ to ½ tsp kosher salt and 2 Tbsp mint or cilantro until the sugar and salt dissolve and then pour it over the grated veggies.

Below is the contents of the first email sent in December

Hello and thank you for subscribing to our Winter CSA!

Your dedication to eating locally, year-round, and supporting our mission of creating a farm that is sustainable not only for the environment, but also for the people who work here (read: year-round employment) is recognized and appreciated.

Plus, you get things like extra sweet winter carrots, spinach, and lots of nutrient rich, hearty roots for warm winter cooking. If you are like me, the colder it is, the more you want to eat, and having healthy food that is fun to cook with is a great excuse to eat well.

Of course, you know this. It's why you signed up, but I just wanted you to know that you are seen and valued and we will do our best to make your winter share experience enjoyable!

CUSTOMIZATION

On the Friday before each pick up we will send an email with a form for you to customize your share. Because of freezing temperatures, we pack everyone's share and hand boxes out of the heated truck to protect the produce. If you forgot to customize your share, we will pack you a farmer's choice share.

The photo above is of a winter share from 2018. We used to do distributions just once/month in winter, but got feedback from customers that storing so much produce was overwhelming, so we switched to every-other week. This gives us a chance to give you more fresh greens (yum!) and keeps your fridge and pantry from feeling too packed.

2022 was the hardest growing season we have ever experienced. The extreme drought made growing storage crops incredibly tricky. We have enough, and we have plans to purchase from two other certified organic farms to supplement if we fall short on some storage crops: Red Fire Farm out in western Massachusetts and Brookford Farm in New Hampshire. We will also have potatoes available from our good friend Matt at Sparrow Arc Farm in Vermont. We love "local", but "regional" is really a more rational goal for a sustainable food system. If produce is offered from another farm, it will be labeled as such in the customization form.

Each week we will include recipes with the customization form so you can select items based on what you plan to prepare. I will include an asterisk next to items that would be helpful for the farm for you to eat, either because we need them to get used up and or because we have an abundance. Carrots will always have an asterisk this winter! Red onions, too. And sweet turnips (good sliced in salad or roasted)!

Your Farmers,

Brittany, Kevin and Harvey