The Pastures of Rose Creek: This Week's Harvest



Sincerely, 
Dan Matthews



Date: Thu, 24 Oct 2013 23:22:26 -0400
Subject: The Pastures of Rose Creek: This Week's Harvest
From: pastures1051@gmail.com
To:

Hi everyone!  Well, if the weatherman proves to be accurate this season, we should expect our first frost tonight.  And right on schedule - to the day - for the average first frost dates for Athens area.  October 25th…curious…

So, make sure to do one last harvest for those lingering summer things, pull down your warm, cozy clothes, and crank up the heater!

Although our summer garden suffered this year, this fall we are turning over a new leaf - so to speak.  Our garden abounds with glorious greens and ravishing root veggies. 

Of late, our table has flourished with ruby red beets crested with resplendent emerald crowns.   This week, I take a page from Tom Robbins (the master of anthropomorphization and metaphors) as we explore that mysterious, hermetic root food - the beet.

"TODAY'S SPECIAL"
Chapter One. "Jitterbug Perfume" by Tom Robbins

The beet is the most intense of vegetables.  The radish, admittedly, is more feverish, but the fire of the radish is a cold fire, the fire of discontent not of passion.  Tomatoes are lusty enough, yet there runs through tomatoes an undercurrent of frivolity.  Beets are deadly serious.

The beet is the melancholy vegetable, the one most willing to suffer.  You can't squeeze blood out of a turnip…

The beet is the murderer returned to the scene of the crime…The beet is the ancient ancestor of the autumn moon, bearded, buried, all but fossilized…

An old Ukranian proverb warns, "A tale that begins with a beet will end with the devil."  That is a risk we have to take.

This is one of my favorite writings of any food, and of many writings for that matter. It is somehow perfect for the season and the advent of Halloween – as the beet that Robbins describes can only be the protagonist and narrator of Edgar Allan Poe's "The Tell-Tale Heart."  A great pre-Halloween tale and of course leads my train of thought on to our affable scarecrow, Skedgar Allan Crow….and what's more autumn-ish and Halloween-y than a scarecrow?

Anyway, back to beets – such a sweet, earthy, ancient food and a paragon of health…beets have a place in old wives tales the world over.  

If you're in the Czech Republic and craving beets – you may be pregnant…oh, and it's a girl.  

If you're in Amish country and eat beet dyed pickled eggs on New Year's Eve, you will have a lucky year.  

The Romans considered beets to be an aphrodisiac and the belief that a man and woman eating from the same beet will fall in love is one that persists today in Italy.  

And in the Ukraine?  Well, as Robins has said, "A tale that begins with a beet will end with the devil."

It's a risk I'm willing to take!  And here's why…

  • ·      Beets contain betaine – a naturally occurring substance that relaxes the mind and is used to treat depression (funny for such a deadly serious, melancholy vegetable!)
  • ·      It also contains the same tryptophan found in chocolate that creates a sense of wellbeing.
  • ·      Beets are an excellent source of folic acid and is therefore recommended to women pregnant or planning to become pregnant
  • ·      When cooked, beets become a great source of folate that can protect you against high blood pressure, Alzheimer's, and dementia


So, there you have it, if anyone out there needed a reason to eat beets…

This week, try our beautiful ruby red gems roasted and served over a salad, boiled, or shredded and made into "pancakes" with rosemary, sautéed and served over a bed of mashed taters…oh!  And the greens are great sautéed or fresh!  Yum…..

What we have this week.

  • ·      Beef
  • ·      Eggs
  • ·      Beets!
  • ·      Arugula
  • ·      Kale
  • ·      Turnips and turnip greens
  • ·      Cucumbers
  • ·      Zucchini
  • ·      Peppers
  • ·      Pottery


Hope to see you all Saturday!

For the love of community and all things farming,

Your local farmers,

Will, Matt, John & Dana
The Pastures of Rose Creek, LLC
1051 Rose Creek Drive
Watkinsville, GA 30677
706.254.9391
575.613.2029

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