Salubrious Solstice, Karmic Kwanzaa, and Welcome Back the Sun!

I like winter holidays, no matter what they are called. Christmas, Kwanzaa, even Santa Lucia Day, I like them all, though I’m not too fond of winter. Or, perhaps it’s because I’m not too fond of winter. It’s cold, grey, and miserable outside, so the only sensible thing to do is have a celebration to cheer us up.

Some of the traditions of the holidays are very, very old, coming from Solstice and Juul (Yule) celebrations, good old pagan holidays that probably started to keep people from losing their minds on the long, cold winter nights as much as to practice a little sympathetic magic, just to give the sun a nudge, to get it to come back so spring and the growing season would also return.

Others are new but have an old air about them, like Kwanzaa. Personally, I like it because it involves candles. I’m probably the only person in St. Teresa’s parish who faithfully lights a chanukkiah (a menorah just for Hanukkah) every night of the Jewish holiday of lights, and if I had a Kwanzaa candleholder, I’d light that nightly, too. Kwanzaa originated in the 1960s as a way to connect with African roots and has many traditional harvest celebration elements to it. Food and light: That’s what every good winter holiday needs.


We’re right in the middle of Roman Saturnalia, which was celebrated from December 17 to 23, and was a time of merriment, gift-giving, and making amends and new starts. Slaves weren’t punished, citizens were ridiculed, and there were parades, masked dances, and a King of Saturnalia--similar to the Lord of Misrule who turned up in the middle ages. They also ate a lot, special foods that might be generally hard to get.

I like that aspect of winter holidays, too. I always have enjoyed making old-fashioned foods for holiday feasts, maybe not Roman specialties, but things like mince pie and plum pudding and springerle cookies, and serve what were once special treats in the middle of winter, citrus fruits like kumquats, always found on our Christmas Eve table. As that fellow in “Fiddler on the Roof” once said, “Without our traditions, we’d be as shaky as a . . .” Well, you get my point.

Light a fire. Eat an orange or a cookie. Light a candle. Curse the darkness, if you need to. But celebrate the turning of the seasons, because the Solstice/Christmas/Kwanzaa/Hanukkah/New Year’s holiday also marks the sun’s return, and we can start counting the days until it’s time to sort seeds, then plant them in the Enright CSA gardens. Happy Solstice!

“Feed”back, So to Speak

I am tickled to report that the Enright CSA blog has gotten a little feedback from the entry last month that asked what people had made for Thanksgiving using farm produce, I am delighted to report. Another entry got a great response, too—“Remind me not read this when I am hungry!” Ah, then I must be doing something right, talking about all this great food we grow in Price Hill.

Now, for reports of what folks made with CSA or homegrown products for Thanksgiving—just to give you some ideas for Christmas, Hanukkah, or New Year’s feasts. It sounds like sweet potatoes were a common theme:

From Amy Stross: This year I made a sweet potato cake from homegrown sweet potatoes—turned out moist and delicious---perfect amount of sweetness.

Sweet potato cake—I never would have thought of that, but it sounds quite taste-tempting.

From Deborah Jordan: Still feeling the glow although slow to respond, but yes, I took a sweet potato dish to our family gathering - with cranberries and walnuts, etc. Love those sweet potatoes. And, on a preserve the harvest note, I finally bought a dehydrator so have been experimenting with that. Cheers!

I’ll add that on the preservation topic, I am definitely going to be making pickled squash again, with plenty of cloves in the pickling mix. They were a big hit at a night-after Thanksgiving leftover party we attended, as was the baba ganoush made from Enright eggplants. But the squash was really something different and very tasty, unique and delicious. I’m going to be ready for the onslaught of summer squash next year, because now that it’s all gone, I am wishing I had pickled more of it to enjoy all winter.

Now, keep those cards and letters coming, as they say. How are you enjoying the December bounty from the farm? I had some tasty steamed and sauteed mixed greens, or as we like to call it, "bacon delivery system," with dinner last night. And we had a nice salad the other day, made from lettuce and arugala with clementine segments and goat cheese. That would be tasty with the addition of roasted radishes or beets from the CSA, too. It's just wonderful to still have fresh local food to eat when it's almost the Solstice!

Playing with Your Food: Radish Reenactments and Twirled Turnips

I will admit that the only reason I am writing this blog entry is to use this great photograph at left. Someone who obviously had a few too many radishes apparently decided to carve a nativity scene from the roots, and this was the result, I guess. Since we're expecting radishes in our serendipitous December pickup, I thought I'd post the photo in case you too are looking to make Christmas decorations from farm products.

Of course, there are better things to do with the produce. Nancy Sullivan found an article about roasting radishes in the NY Times and though I love radishes raw with butter on them, I have to say that roasting them also sounds pretty tasty to me, for a holiday dinner garnish or just a nice snack.

Now, we're also expecting to get a few turnips in the pickup, and my mom and I were discussing mashing turnips with potatoes, which is kind of a way of hiding the fact that you are serving turnips. I have nothing against turnips myself, but some people do, and you can get them to eat them just by cooking them with potatoes, mashing them together, and adding some milk, butter, and salt.

Then I found a recipe for turnips mashed with sweet potatoes. Well, not exactly mashed with them, mashed separately and then swirled together. I like food that looks lovely, and I am picturing this looking very much like the orange and cream colored circus-themed bedroom my sister and I shared in the mid-1960s. Ooh, dating myself there. Anyway, I think I have to try this one; it's pretty easy and quick, too.

Sweet Potato and Turnip Swirl
1/2 pound turnips, peeled and cubed
2 sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed
1 teaspoon minced fresh ginger root
1 tablespoon butter margarine
1 tablespoon white sugar
2 teaspoons grated orange zest

Cook the turnips and sweet potatoes in separate pans over medium high heat with enough water to cover. Bring to a boil and cook until soft, about 15 to 20 minutes. Drain; transfer to a food processor and puree the two vegetables separately (turnips first, with a little butter and milk, then the sweet potatoes, and you won't have to clean out the food processor in between but the turnips will stay creamy white.

In a saucepan over medium heat, combine the ginger, butter, sugar, and orange peel. Allow butter to melt and mix ingredients together well. In a warm bowl, first add the turnip puree, then the sweet potatoes, then the ginger orange butter; swirl together and serve warm.

And--next post, I promise, will be about what people made from farm produce for Thanksgiving, just to give you some ideas for upcoming holiday meals. For now, don't forget the December pickup, Saturday, December 10, 10 am to 12 noon at the greenhouse.

December Bounty

The weather has been fairly lousy lately--lots of rain, and a little snow today, but apparently those warmish days in November were just what some cool-weather vegetables needed in the Enright CSA plots.

Turns out there were a few more crops growing, and they'll be at the greenhouse for pickup on Saturday morning, 10 pm to 12 noon. This is very exciting! There will be lots of greens, some broccoli, turnips, and a few surprises. I'm looking forward to anything that turns up--I've been having fresh local vegetable withdrawal the past couple of weeks. (Although those winter squash we got awhile back kept well, and we had some delicious homemade butternut squash soup last night; the recipe is in the Asparagus to Zucchini cookbook.)

And, if you need to make up some hours for 2011, or want to get a jump-start on hours for 2012, we could use some help getting the produce ready for pickup at the greenhouse on Thursday, December 8, from 1 pm to 5 pm. Help is also needed for packout/pickup on Saturday, December 10, beginning at 10 am.