These should be called "Rainbow Beets". But they're actually a contrived "genepool", not really a variety, called 3 Root Grex.
THIS WEEK’S SUBSCRIBER MENU:
• “Table Queen” Winter Squash
• “Chioggia” or “3 Root Grex” Beets
• Carrots
• “Beira” Portuguese Collards or “Rainbow Lacinato” Kale
• Baby Bok Choy (aka Pac Choi)
• Cabbage
• Assorted baby heads of Lettuce
• Red Onions
Click on the links above for information and recipes about these crops.”T
COMING SOON:
Cliffside Orchard “Danjou” Pears
Arugula
Spinach
Japanese Turnips
Peppercress
Pie Pumpkin
We’ve been experimenting with our winter vegetables. Back in July we planted our fall/winter roots and sowed a new genepool along with our tried-and-true red, gold, and striped varieties. “Three Root Grex” is not really a variety, because it is a combination of three varieties of heirloom beet: “Yellow Intermediate”, “Crosby Purple Egyptian”, and “Lutz Saladleaf”. The gigantic leaves are definitely from the Lutz parent, we’ve grown those before. They also grow huge roots if given enough time before dark winter arrive. The cone-like, tapered shape is reminiscent of the more primitive beets—spherical beets are a new development. What we end up with is a jeweled mix of huge, beautiful beets. Enjoy them! We’ll be planting again next year.
New to our greens repertoire this year are two varieties: “Beira Tronchuda”, rumored to be a type of collard from Portugal. It’s an open-headed cabbage with thick, white ribs, and is supposed to be very cold tolerant, but I don’t know that it gets too cold in Portugal. Another experiment is “Rainbow Lacinato” Kale. Also more of a genepool than a variety, it’s a combination of Red Russian and Lacinato (Dinosaur) Kales. I’m not seeing a lot of rainbow-ness, but it is definitely covering the pink-purple-blue range in the kale spectrum for us.
“Table Queen” squash looks like an Acorn or Danish type. It too is an antique, not resembling the new black Acorn descendants. This one actually fruits up white to pale green and darkens as it ages. I don’t like Acorn squash—I find them boring and bland. But this one is different. It isn’t sweet (like other Acorns) but it IS nutty, like what I would imagine an acorn to taste like. Plenty of nutty, not sweet flavor to justify being grown for centuries.
You need Smell-o-vision to really get a sense of what the elusive Quince is all about. Reminiscent of pineapples and a perfume like pears, when they're ripe they fill a room with scent.
Our Quince trees have produced their largest crop yet. We planted the trees 6 years ago, and this year we harvested about 250 pounds. If you would like some let us know.
Beautiful jewels of Quince on our young trees. No broken branches this year.
Thanksgiving is next week, and we want to make sure you understand our schedule for these two weeks. We will do our usual pick-up/delivery schedule for Tuesday and Wednesday, but we have a more generous allotment for Saturday and Sunday pickup. There will be no pickup on the Saturday/Sunday after Thanksgiving. We are giving you two weeks of produce this weekend instead.
Have a wonderful holiday! We are so grateful to all of you who continue to have faith in us in providing food for you, and we are continually flattered that you choose us to feed your families.
Whistling Train Farm 
I am interested in getting some quince. Do you sell at the farmer’s markets? Or would I need to make another arrangement?
Monica, Mike will have them at the U District market and West Seattle market this weekend.
I would *love* to try some quince. I haven’t even seen them since I was a little kid in Ohio. I pick up in Greenwood. How do we arrange?
Look at those beets! The color is amazing 🙂 The quince smell pretty amazing too. I drug Killy to the U-district market last Saturday and Mike showed them to us. They smell heavenly. Elise at Simply Recipes had some yummy sounding recipes for quince: http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/quince/ I’m tempted to try the quince paste, especially if I can pair it with sheep cheese.
Just in time for Thanksgiving – Golden Squash Rolls, as promised Shelley!
2 pkgs. active dry Yeast
1 ½ C. warm Water
1/3 C. Sugar
2 tsp. Salt
2 Eggs
1 C. cooked and mashed Winter squash
7 -7 ½ C. Flour
2/3 C. Butter, melted
2 Tbs. Butter, softened, optional
In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Let stand 5 minutes, then add sugar, eggs, squash, and 3 ½ cups of flour. Beat well, adding melted butter. Gradually stir in remaining flour to form soft dough. Turn dough onto a floured board and knead until smooth (6-8 minutes). Place in a grease bowl, turning once to coat. Cover and chill for 2-4 hours. Punch down dough and let rest. Pull off small amounts of dough and roll into small balls. Place three balls to a muffin cup to form clover rolls, repeat until dough is used up. Let rise 1 hour, or until doubled in size. Bake at 400°F for 15-20 minutes. Makes 24 rolls or 32 crescents (to make crescents instead of rolls, divide dough in half after punching down. Roll each half into a 16 inch round and spread with softened butter. Cut round into 16 wedges and roll into crescents. Follow 2nd rising and baking instructions).
The squash in this week’s share should be just perfect, although you can really use any squash.
Thank you! I’ll try the squash rolls this weekend!