The big autumn tasks of harvesting sweet potatoes and taro, sowing wheat seeds, and so on are over, and the busy farm work is finally coming to a close. This year, the cold weather has arrived quite late, so it feels like time is passing a little more slowly than usual. Living a farming life in the bitterly cold Hokuto region, there are many things I want to finish before the frost begins in November, but there is still no sign of frost... I can't quite prepare myself. I suppose this is normal in warmer regions, but it also feels a bit sad, as it is not typical of Hokuto.
However, the summer vegetables are still going strong, the autumn vegetables are growing well, the fruits from the prefecture are delicious, and if you go to the local small supermarket you can find lots of mushrooms that someone has picked from the mountains, so it's nice to know that there is still plenty to eat.
Now, here is the content of this week's vegetable set. Summer vegetables are finally coming to an end, and autumn and winter vegetables are starting to arrive.
This week's vegetable set
Contains 8 to 9 of the following vegetables:
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Wasabi greens It is a leafy vegetable with a beautiful frilly leaf shape and a tangy spiciness and elegant fragrance. It can be eaten raw in salads or as a side dish, or it can be quickly boiled for just one minute and drizzled with soy sauce to bring out its spiciness and make it very delicious. |
Crown chrysanthemum This year, the unusually hot and dry weather has made it difficult for the shungiku to grow, but as always, they are soft and not bitter, and are delicious enough to eat in salads. Please enjoy them raw. They are also great in miso soup, or boiled briefly and dressed with white or sesame sauce. |
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Mizuna Mizuna, a staple in autumn and winter, has thin white stems and a crunchy texture. If you boil it briefly, you can enjoy its spicy flavor and unique texture. On cold days, it is great in a chicken bone-based hot pot. |
Red Rias Mustard Greens This mustard greens has finely cut leaves and is characterized by its pungent spiciness. The beautiful leaves are soft and add a vibrant color to salads. It is similar to mizuna, so it can also be used in stir-fries and hotpots. |
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sweet potato You've all been waiting for this! It's that time of year again. We're bringing you the deliciously sweet Beni Haruka. We send you sweet potatoes that have been aged for two weeks after digging. They're absolutely delicious when baked, so we recommend them. You can also make them into a paste and use them to make sweets. They also go well with coconut milk stews and miso soup. |
Japanese white radish The daikon radish, which had completely stopped growing during the long summer heat, has finally started to grow. It's still small, but the flavor is coming through. Slice it into rounds and use it in stews or roasts, or boil it and then brown it in a frying pan to make juicy steaks. Slice it thinly and use it in salads or hot pots. |
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Yacon Although it looks very similar to a sweet potato, it is a root vegetable native to the mountainous regions of South America. Since it is freshly dug, please leave it wrapped in newspaper for about a week before eating. Just like sweet potatoes, it will develop a sweet flavor. Its subtle sweetness and crunchy texture are almost like a pear. We recommend peeling it, soaking it in vinegar water, and eating it raw in a salad. It is also delicious in tempura! |
taro The taste of autumn. Introducing freshly dug taro! Boiled taro is sticky, and deep-fried taro is fluffy and sweet. The skin of freshly dug taro is soft, so you can enjoy its deep flavor by deep-frying or steaming it with the skin on. |
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Turnip We deliver beautifully grown turnips! The skin is soft, so cut them in half and enjoy them in a stew or saute. The leaves are also highly nutritious, and you can get a lot of vitamins and minerals from them in salads, mixed dishes, blanched dishes, or stir-fries. They're perfect for this time of year when colds are more likely to occur! |
green onions As the temperature drops, the sweetness increases. Matsumoto Ippon Leek is a native variety of Nagano Prefecture that is suitable for cooking. Enjoy it in hot pots, simmered dishes, or roasted dishes. It can also be eaten raw as a condiment. |
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Red core radish The outer skin of this round radish is green, but underneath it's a vibrant pink! Take advantage of its color by slicing it thinly and adding it to a salad. It's also great roasted or sautéed. It's also vibrant when simmered. |
Shandong mustard This year, all of our Chinese cabbages were attacked by insects, but our Shandong cabbage, which doesn't form a head, grew well! It doesn't keep as long as Chinese cabbage, but it has thick white stems and light green leaves, and tastes just like Chinese cabbage. It can be enjoyed in a variety of ways, such as in light pickles, hotpots, and stir-fries. It's also delicious when coated with potato starch and used in shogayaki (ginger pork)♪ |
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Bonus: Apple mint
It has an apple-like scent and a refreshing coolness. Mix it into salads, steep it in water to make mint water, or boil it to make apple mint tea. The scent will last even if you hang it up to dry. |
The state of the fields
The other day, as part of a local activity, we cleaned up the community center, and collected a lot of fallen leaves from the cherry trees planted on the grounds. Normally, the leaves we collect would be thrown away as burnable garbage, but the people there recognized that I was a farmer and needed a lot of fallen leaves and grass, and they kindly offered to give them to me, saying, "Take them!"
The fallen leaves we received were piled up in our compost pit and also spread around the base of the fruit trees in our garden to help prepare them for the cold. Local clean-up activities are held regularly, and are essential environmental maintenance in the countryside, where there is a lot of nature, with grass growing in the summer and lots of fallen leaves in the fall. By working together in order to maintain a comfortable environment in which they live, local people strengthen their bonds, and naturally build relationships where they look out for each other on a daily basis and can help each other out when something happens. Neighbors also get to know each other, which helps prevent crime.
I believe that returning the resources collected in the community to the soil and using them to grow vegetables is a farmer's mission and a joy. I would like to give back to the people in the community with vegetables and contribute to creating a community where plants and hearts circulate.
Together with some fellow new organic farmers from the neighborhood that I met earlier this year, I borrowed a machine and threshed rice in Pitara Village. We were relieved to be able to successfully brown about 1 ton of rice. It makes me very happy to have more fellow new farmers of my age. I'm excited to see what many things we can achieve if we all work together!
notice
We are now accepting new orders for our vegetable set subscription.
We still have spaces available for our popular vegetable set subscription, so please share it with your friends, family, and colleagues.
・We plan to start accepting orders for the New Year's special vegetable set and smooth rice cakes from mid-November!
