Author: Adrian White

Adrian White is a certified herbalist, author, organic farmer, and freelance writer on subjects of health, wellness, nutrition, herbalism, and agriculture. Her book Herbalism: Plants & Potions That Heal was published through Arcturus Publishing and is available wherever books are sold. She is a past contributor to Healthline with bylines in The Guardian, Civil Eats, Good Housekeeping, and Rodale's Organic Life. Adrian is owner of Deer Nation Herbs and Jupiter Ridge LLC, an organic farm growing diverse vegetables, mushrooms, and herbs. On any given day you can find her jumping between writing or researching, reading books, experimenting with a new food or herbal creations, or tending to herbs, vegetables, or mushrooms on her farm in the Driftless Region of Iowa. Visit her Resume/CV page, hire her as a freelancer (writing, marketing, social media) for your projects, or book her for an herbal educational health consultation.
Butternuts | Jupiter Ridge Farm

Jupiter Ridge 2019 CSA | Week 19 (Final Week!)

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Hey CSA People!

It’s our last week of CSA already. Wow!

As promised (and as part of your subscription share), your last delivery will be a big DOUBLE share full of all the final offerings we can get you as our season comes to a close. (To be more specific: we will give you DOUBLE of all items we have, save shiitake mushrooms and a few specialty items we will be including!)

This will include:

  • Dried Shiitake Mushrooms
  • Dried Tomatoes
  • Dried Basil
  • Tatsoi Asian Greens New!
  • Double Share Potatoes (Kennebec and Fingerling Potatoes)
  • Double Share Mixed Squash (Two Acorns, One Butternut)
  • Double Share Winter Radish Medley (Purple & White Daikons, Watermelon Radishes)
  • Double Share Parnips
  • Double Share Baby Carrots
  • Double Share Rutabagas
  • Double Share Garlic
  • Double Share Yellow Storage Onions
  • Double Share Shallots

We hope all these foods arrive at the perfect time for your Thanksgiving cooking plans!

Onions | Jupiter Ridge Farm

Though we didn’t have greens for you last week (unless you count parsley as a green!), we’re ensuring that you have some greenery in your very last share to enjoy before true winter sets in (or, when true winter comes back, depending on how you look at it).

This week features tatsoi, an Asian green that is delicious cooked (much like kale) but can also be used raw in salads, much like spinach but with a sharper, cleaner flavor. It’s flavors combine well with ginger, daikon radishes, sesame, soy, and other Asian seasonings. We hope you enjoy exploring with it and working with it!

We also have some dried goods for you to enjoy thanks to our big industrial digital dehydrator!

Note: this last double Thanksgiving share will come in a food-grade wax produce box. This will be our last delivery to the Cedar Rapids area, so leaving your cooler out for us to pick it up one last time will save us a trip next week after the holidays!

Thank you – we super appreciate it!

Butternut Squash | Jupiter Ridge Farm

Stay tuned for more details about our Cedar Rapids CSA 2020 sign up for next year! We’ll be putting out a blog post with all the info you’ll need to sign up in advance (if you like) and keep the good stuff going for next year.

And on that note: for next year, we’re open to any feedback, requests, and comments on how to better improve our CSA!

We would especially be curious for would-be (and current) members next year if there is any interest or desire for a centralized CSA pickup in Cedar Rapids, if that would work better for some. (Even if you are just stumbling on this article and would like to sign-up for a centralized CSA pickup next year rather than a CSA doorstep delivery, get in touch and we can discuss details for next year!)

Thank you again so much for participating in our CSA. It’s been a huge pleasure growing local, organic, and healthy, whole food for our eastern and Driftless Iowa community! Your subscription, participation, and support is a huge help to us and we hope to continue going strong for years and years to come.

We love being your farmers. Happy Thanksgiving and Happy Holidays!

Warm Regards,
Adrian & Will | Jupiter Ridge Farm

Sunset on the Farm | Jupiter Ridge Farm
Dried Shiitakes | Iowa Herbalist

Jupiter Ridge 2019 CSA | Week 18

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Greetings CSA Members! Hope you are all doing a good job staying warm!

We’ll get right to it. Here’s what you can expect in your CSA delivery this week:

  • Dried Shiitake Mushrooms New!
  • Fingerling Potatoes
  • Bonbon Buttercup Squash New!
  • White Daikon Radishes New!
  • Parsnips
  • Baby Orange Carrots
  • Rutabagas
  • Garlic
  • Parsley
  • Yellow Storage Onion
  • Red Onions
  • Dried Basil New!

Again, a bit of a wintry lineup with plenty of roasty, toasty, tasty root vegetables!

And, since we have them on hand, we couldn’t resist getting our members one last taste of shiitakes before the end of the CSA season (and to your benefit: since they’re dehydrated, you can hang onto them for as long as you like, even for a special occasion later in winter!)

Dried Shiitakes | Jupiter Ridge Farm

We’re also excited to share a delicious new squash variety with you this week: a bonbon buttercup squash. This type has very smooth, fine-grained yellow flesh, quite a bit like a paler butternut, and is quite sweet. We hope you enjoy it.

And we’ll also be getting you a little taste of the summer we’ve preserved over the past couple months: dried basil! Make it last over the winter on pastas, on pizzas, or anything else you may want to try it with over the cold months!

And we have another new item for you…

White Daikon Radishes | Explanation and Tips

You’ve gotten purple daikons in your CSA so far this year…but you have yet to experience our white (or icicle type) daikon radishes!

White Daikon Radish | Jupiter Ridge Farm

Not all of them are nearly as large as the one pictured, but this can give you a good idea of how large these root vegetables can get.

So, how do you use them? You can use them a lot like all the other winter radishes and similar root vegetables you’ve received in past shares. These have a slightly lighter and crunchier texture than purple daikons, and for that reason, these guys are a great addition to short-term frying preparations: like Asian stir fries for example, a a popular dish that you’ll find these daikons in.

Again, like our other winter radish crops, slicing them raw for salads adds a bit of interesting spice, while roasting them up makes them as mild and tame as a turnip. As you can probably tell, the name “icicle” for these types of radishes refers to their very long and pointed shape. When eaten raw, their flavor is anything but cold or cool…these daikons can be spicy!

Over the years working at various organic farms around the country and growing these, they seem to be a popular addition to homemade juices (you know, of the ilk for “juice fasts” and that require a juicer). They’re crispy flesh and spiciness is a great addition to fruit and vegetable blends; some have claimed daikon radishes are great for the liver, though I don’t have any knowledge or sources to personally back that up. (They’re probably mildly detoxifying to some extent, at least, like a lot of veggies…)

Are you familiar with white daikons and have recipes to share? We’d love to hear them!

Feel free to email us your own recipes and ideas – we’ll happily credit you and share them. | jupiterridgefarm@gmail.com

Dehydrated Shiitakes | Jupiter Ridge Farm

That about wraps it up for the second to last week of CSA, leading up to Thanksgiving! It seems like our CSA season really has gone by fast.

It’s our pleasure to bring you these goodies leading up to the holiday. And don’t forget: on the very last CSA delivery next weekend, we’ll be delivering you a DOUBLE share, straight to your doorstep, and with tons of good stuff!

Until next time!

Warmest Regards,
Adrian & Will | Jupiter Ridge Farm

Roasted Root Medley | Iowa Herbalist

Jupiter Ridge 2019 CSA | Week 17

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Hi CSA Members!

Finishing up a late night prepping all your food for your CSA deliveries (as well as restaurant deliveries) to Cedar Rapids tomorrow. For this very reason, we’ll be keeping this newsletter a bit short (we’re tired!) but we’re happy to share this week’s upcoming CSA share list with you so you can know what to look forward to ahead of time…and hear a few updates on the farm, too.

What to expect this week:

  • Kale Mix (Small Leaf)
  • Spinach Bunch
  • Purple Potatoes
  • Acorn Squash
  • Garlic
  • Yellow Storage Onions
  • Parsnips
  • Orange Carrots
  • Winter Radish Medley
  • Rutabagas New!
Winter Radishes | Jupiter Ridge Farm

This lineup does indeed look like a wintery bunch, doesn’t it? Especially with the snow that’s been blanketing the ground as of late (though it’s come so early!) our CSA delivery this week is particularly chock-full of the more “classic” fall/winter root crops than ever before: parsnips, potatoes, squash, storage radishes, and our newest veggie for you to enjoy: rutabagas!

We hope you enjoy them all during this cold weather – and we highly recommend (most of all!) that you roast up a nice medley of these winter roots to warm you up on these cold nights – like the colorful one pictured below. It’s one of our autumn favorites!

Roasted Root Medley | Jupiter Ridge Farm
Sliced butternut squash, purple daikon radishes, chioggia beets, scarlet turnips, and watermelon radishes ready to go into the oven for roasting.

Or do you have your own recipes or ideas in mind? We’d love to hear them – and even post them here if you like!

We’ll see you tomorrow – and very much look forward to delivering to our awesome members for these last few weeks before Thanksgiving!

Warmest Regards,
Adrian & Will | Jupiter Ridge Farm

Parsnips | Iowa Herbalist

Jupiter Ridge 2019 CSA | Week 16

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Hello CSA Members!

This recent cold and snow (and even the colder temps in this week’s forecast) have got us thinking that winter’s here a little early! Wouldn’t you agree?

Though fall always feels like it goes by too quickly, we look forward to the rest and recuperation that the snowy winter affords us…even when it comes a little sooner than we think.

Here’s to a few more warmer days before winter hits us in full swing, and to lots more delicious vegetables to enjoy for the last few weeks of CSA. Cold or not, we’ve still got plenty in store for you….

Here’s what to expect this week:

  • Parsnips New!
  • Purple Daikon Radishes
  • Mushrooms (Shiitakes, Oysters, or Mix of Both – May Included Dehydrated Shiitakes)
  • Kale
  • Carrots
  • Carnival Squash
  • Green Peppers
  • Parsley
  • Red Onion
  • Sweet Onion
  • Garlic
About New CSA Item This Week: Parsnips!

We’re sure you’re probably at least a little familiar with parsnips, so we won’t spend too much time talking about them…but they’re sure worth touching on at least just a little bit.

Sliced Parsnips | Jupiter Ridge Farm

Clearly reminiscent relatives of carrots at first glance, you’ll have the opportunity to compare and contrast carrots with parsnips, since you’ll be getting both in your share.

Carrots are crisper, crunchier, and sweeter (especially the ones we’re sending out to CSA this time of year!). That’s not to say that parsnips aren’t also sweet, they’re just heartier in texture and more “aromatic” in taste.

Carrots can be an enjoyable snack raw, parsnips not so much (though to each their own, of course – I don’t mind munching in a raw parsnip, it’s pretty good). But still, parsnips love to be cooked. They’re right at home in most fall or winter soups or stews that would call for carrots, and could even replace carrots in most of these (though they would go great together in these dishes, too).

In my opinion (and from our collective experience, both Will and I, with cooking parsnips over the years), parsnips don’t just love being cooked – they also love seasonings and spice. If you taste a parsnip for that matter, you’ll notice how they have a low-key aromatic flavor that’s almost built right into them.

Parsnips | Jupiter Ridge Farm
This year’s parsnip harvest.

For this reason, spice them up! Especially for this time of year, parsnips go extremely well with classic fall seasonings. According to the Flavor Bible by Karen Page and Andrew Dornenburg, parsnips go great with chives, cream, garlic, ginger, maple syrup, nutmeg, parsley, sage, thyme, and many other ingredients. One of our farmer friends once prepared a pureed parsnip soup that featured cardamom – it was absolutely delicious, and I recommend using the spice with parsnip all the time.

Other great pairings with parsnips: butter, other root vegetables (especially turnips!), and apples. Yum…just, yum.

So, if you have any further questions about parsnips and what you can do with them, please let us know. Likewise, don’t be shy to share your recipes with us! | jupiterridgefarm@gmail.com

We hope you enjoy what this week’s delivery brings, parsnips and all.

Yours,
Adrian & Will | Jupiter Ridge Farm

Oyster Mushrooms | Iowa Herbalist

Jupiter Ridge CSA 2019 | Week 15

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Hi there CSA folks!

We can’t believe week 15 is already here. Though the cold is definitely shutting down and slowing production at the farm, we still remain pretty busy pulling all the last of our produce out from the field long before the first hard freeze appears on the forecast – and there’s still quite a bit out there! 

Just today, we pulled in several cases of kale and DELICIOUSLY sweet carrots, plus daikon radishes, parsnips (!), and more that you’ll be enjoying at some point in these coming weeks before CSA ends. By the end of next week, the fields should be empty – but our walk-in cooler will be stocked quite full for the winter with plenty of variety to deliver to you up until Thanksgiving!

This week for you, we’ll have:

  • Oyster Mushrooms New!
  • Black Spanish Radishes New!
  • Carrot Bunch
  • Kale
  • Baby Beets
  • Kennebec (White) Potatoes
  • Sweet or Green Peppers
  • New England Pie Pumpkin New!
  • Oregano Bunch
  • Garlic
  • Shallots

We like to keep every share exciting and fresh with some new items each week, and we have a good handful of brand-new veggies for you. Most exciting of all: you’ll be getting oyster mushrooms this week! They’re both beautiful and delicious, needing only light heat and a short time cooking, with flavor similar to oyster and chicken combined. Very tasty…

Oyster Mushrooms | Jupiter Ridge Farm
Oyster Mushrooms.

With the recent cold temperature dips, our oyster production has been going crazy. So we hope you enjoy these!

Also new in your share are some veggies we’ve had harvested and stored for a while due to the cold, and which are finally available in rotation: namely, Black Spanish radishes and pie pumpkin!

In the true spirit of autumn and Halloween this week (and with Thanksgiving not too far away), we thought pie pumpkin would be perfect. Yes, it looks like a pumpkin you could carve into a jack-o-lantern – but it’s actually a variety that’s better for eating (and making into pumpkin pies especially) rather than carving!

And, last but not least, no– they’re not beets. They’re black Spanish radishes! We’ll tell you a bit more about them below…

Black Spanish Radishes | Explanation and Wellness Info

Just like the watermelon radishes and purple daikon radishes you’ve received in CSA shares prior, black Spanish radishes are also a type of “winter radish.”

Black Spanish Radishes | Jupiter Ridge Farm
Black Spanish radishes pictured with watermelon radishes below.

This means that, unlike spring radishes, you can store them for a long period of time without perishing under the right conditions – in a dark, cool place, preferably your refrigerator (or a root cellar if you have one). You can even keep a few throughout the entire winter if you like, not unlike a turnip, rutabaga, beet, or potato.

Not sure how to use them? We recommend using them much like watermelon radishes (discussed here in last week’s CSA newsletter) or like purple daikons (from CSA week 12 here). To summarize quickly, they can be sliced and eaten raw (on salads, etc.) or roasted much like a turnip or rutabaga. (Try pickling them – they’re incredibly delicious that way, too!)

What stands out most about Black Spanish Radishes, though? Their very unique health benefits. Studies show this root vegetable has heavy duty detoxification capabilities (it can even remove heavy metals!), it has tons of antioxidants and protects the liver, and may even greatly reduce cancer risk, boost immunity, help you fight the common cold, and lots more (some basic benefits are outlined here at CureJoy).

A warning: when eaten raw, it is quite spicy! Not as spicy as a daikon radish, however – but again, roasting and cooking it will turn it into a mild and tame veggie with similar taste to a turnip.

For those who don’t mind spicy foods though (and also for those of you who are interested in home herbal remedies), my herbalist recommendation? Try using it in a homemade Fire Cider recipe. (For reference, here’s a really good one from the original maker herself.) 

Garlic
Garlic is an important ingredient in Fire Cider.

This concoction is a vinegar-filled (and sometimes fermented) combination of horseradish, garlic, hot peppers (usually cayenne), other cold-fighting herbs, sometimes ginger, and lots more, all geared towards keeping colds, flu, symptoms, and bugs at bay when taken a tablespoon at a time. Black Spanish radish was apparently a classic cold-fighting remedy back in the day, and I think its spicy, pungent flavors could be the perfect compliment to this creation (especially as a replacement for or compliment to horseradish).

Need more ideas for eating Black Spanish Radishes (or anything else, for that matter)? Want more health info? Have your own recipes to share?

Email Us! | jupiterridgefarm@gmail.com