WINTER CSA // BOX #1

PRODUCER SPOTLIGHT: High Ground Gardens // Crestone, CO

High Ground Gardens is a family run business that produces heirloom, open-pollinated garden seed that has been adapted to arid, high altitude, short season climates. While especially suited to challenging environments, our seed is bred to be adaptable and we have found that gardeners in different climates do well with our seed. Although we have not yet pursued organic certification, all our production practices are pesticide free and sustainable.
We are pleased to be able to offer 56 varieties of vegetable, flower and herb seed for 2016. Our multiple production sites are from 7500' to 8500' above sea level in the beautiful and pristine San Luis Valley of south-central Colorado. We are also pleased to offer 14 varieties of certified organic seed grown by our friends at Hobbs Family Farm,  in Pueblo County, Colorado. They specialize in premium onion seed, carrot seed and a wide variety of peppers, eggplants, tomatoes, cucurbits and garlic.
We have been feeding our family with our produce for over a decade, and the production of our own seed has always been important as well. Our family is happy to support your family in the quest for food sustainability.
highgroundgardens.com

WHAT'S IN THE BOX?

Dear CSA Shareholders,
Part of the excitement of local food is about the unknown.  Sometimes we just don’t know how a crop will perform, when a catastrophic hailstorm will destroy a crop, or what crop will grace a CSA box. Now I say this as a CSA shareholder, for a producer the unknown could be easily left off the list of desirables!  
A last minute call from Bryon from High Ground Gardens in Crestone with an offer of a Hopi Orange squash is a part of the polychromatic surprise of this particular Winter CSA box.  A sad selling of Brightwater Farms (sad for us, good for them) allows us to go big on their living awesomeness: basil, spring mix lettuce, and arugula.  Thank you Robert and Andrew Toews for your hard work!  The Weathervane Farm geothermal greenhouses are still thriving and we have tomatoes in November!  The excellent root crop harvest from Weathervane has kept us in the amazing purple carrots.  Just yesterday I tested the Brix (a measurement of sugar content) on Weathervane’s orange carrots and they came up with a remarkably high count of 11.  Standard grapes would be 16-20.  The Brix gives us a window into the vitality of the food, its nutrient content, its storage capacity, and its flavor.  Where does a crop acquire a high sugar/Brix number?  It is the high mountain Colorado soils rich with biology and micro-husbandry, snowmelt irrigation water, and the important diurnal temperature change from day to night.  Eating with your food shed is not just good for business, community, and the Earth, it also has more living vitality because YOUR food shed just plain rocks!  Happy Thanksgiving and healthy eating to you and yours!   -Nick

Tomatoes, Weathervane Farm, Buena Vista 1.5 lbs
Basil, Genovese, Brightwater Farms, Monte Vista 0.1 lbs
Arugula, Brightwater Farms, Monet Vista 1 each
Lettuce, Spring Mix Heads, Living, Brightwater Farms, Monte Vista 1 clamshell
Potatoes, Red, COG, White Mountain Farm, Mosca 5 lbs
Onions, Red, Francisco's Farm, Alamosa 3lbs
Orange Carrots, Weathervane Farm, Buena Vista 2lbs
Purple Carrots, Weathervane Farm, Buena Vista 2lbs
Acorn Squash, Tierra Sana, Alamosa 3lbs
Garlic, Chesnok Red, Absmeier High Altitude Garlic, Alamosa 0.5lbs
Sqaush, Hopi Orange, High Ground Gardens, Crestone 3lbs
​Purple Radish, Arkansas Valley Organic Growers, Avondale 1lbs
Beans, Anasazi, Adobe Milling, Dove Creek, CO 1 bag
Apples, Fuji, Austin Family Farms, Paonia 1 lbs

RECIPES

Stuffed Acorn Squash

1 Acorn Squash
1 cup stock
1/2 cup anasazi beans, uncooked
1/2 cup rice, or any grain that you like
3 cloves garlic chopped
1 onion, chopped
3 carrots, chopped
Mushroom, sliced
Salt and pepper


1. Start by cooking the beans
2. Cook rice using stock
3. Saute carrots and onion
4. Add mushroom
5. Add garlic
6. Season
7. When beans and rice are done add all the sautéed vegetables and mix together
8. Cut squash in half and hallow out the middle - stuff with the veggie/bean mixture


Honey Glazed Carrots
1 bunch of carrots
1 cup vegetable or chicken stock
1/4 cup  butter
1/2 cup honey
2 cloves garlic
1 small knob of ginger
Salt and Pepper
1.Cut carrots into sticks or rounds 
2. Blanch and shock carrots - carrots only need to cook for a few minutes
3. Melt about 1 tbsp of butter and sauté garlic and ginger slightly in a large pan
4. Add stock and honey - let reduce for about 5 minutes
5. Toss carrots into the honey stock mixture
6. Let simmer about 10 minutes - until sauce has reduced
7. Season

Roasted Radish with Brown Butter and Lemon
1 bunch of radish, save the tops!    
(can also toss in other winter vegetables, potatoes, squash, carrots)
3 cloves of galic
1/2 cup butter
2 tsp lemon juice
2 tbsp Sunflower oil


1. Preheat oven to 350
2. Cut radish in 1/2, reserving the tops
3. If using any other vegetable cut to the same size as the radish so they all cook evenly
4. Toss vegetables and garlic with oil and spread evenly over a sheet tray, season with salt and pepper
5. While the vegetables are roasting, make the brown butter. 
6. Heat butter slowly over medium heat - butter will start to bubble and smell slightly nutty - it’s starting to brown
7. Keep stirring the butter and when it is slightly golden remove from heat
8. Chop radish tops finely
9. When vegetables come out of the oven, cover with brown butter and lemon juice - top with the radish tops and season as needed