Final Farmstand (9/28), Fall Microgreens, & Spiced Sweet Potato Tacos
#61: Fall Happenings @ Featherstone Garden
Welcome to Featherstone’s Garden Happenings Newsletter. Each week we will share a rotating variety of garden updates: from heirloom seasonal produce features, to farm fresh subscriptions, plant-centered recipes, community partners, and more. As a subscriber, you will be the first to know about our Garden Happenings. If you’re not a newsletter subscriber but would like to be, click below to signup.
Our LAST Farmstand + FREE seeds for next year’s summer garden
When?: Wednesday, Sept 28 from 12-5:30pm
Where?: 4178 Lakepointe Street Detroit (map it!)
This week officially marks the last week of our summer farmstand. We loved having the opportunity to nourish our friends, families, neighbors and surrounding community during the summer months with our garden fresh produce, and we aim to continue to do so during the fall/winter months in some capacity, (more on that to come!).
For anyone who stops by our last farmstand today (9/28), we will be giving away FREE seeds, donated by Home Depot to our friends from Bees in the D. This is a perfect opportunity to begin your seed collection for next year’s summer garden. As our team begins to prep for the colder months, we’ll continue to share garden updates, new recipes, and ways to help support our garden and small business in our newsletters.
For today’s farmstand, our rotating variety of fruits, veggies, herbs and flowers from our garden and from local purveyors include:
heirloom cherry tomatoes (our specialty)
black beauty eggplant
sunflower shoots
habanero HOT peppers
Thai HOT peppers
collards
red and green okra
squash
corn
fruits from local purveyors: watermelon, apples, oranges
black currant & elderberry jam (from Three Sisters Garden)
a selection of greeting cards by Renee (Woodbine Studio Co.)
We hope to see you there!
Subscribe for GREENS 🌱
Beginning October 12, we’re launching our Fall microgreens subscription! The fall/winter months are a challenging time for our garden and small business and the best way you can support us is by singing up for our weekly microgreens subscription. As a reminder, our updated delivery radius includes MorningSide, East English Village, West Village, Indian Village, Grosse Pointe Park, Ferndale, Pleasant Ridge.
For those who are unfamiliar, adding microgreens into your diet is a great way to hit the amount of vitamins and minerals our bodies crave. For an extra boost of nutrition, we love adding these tiny but mighty greens to salads, sandwiches, tacos, veggie bowls, smoothies, and so much more. Microgreens flavor is generally considered to be stronger than your typical salad greens, and they pack a nutritious punch. According to a study in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, microgreens can be up 40 times more potent in phytochemicals than their mature counterparts. We’ll be sharing more about microgreens in next week’s newsletter.
Pickup & Delivery Options:
DELIVERY: Wednesday 4:00-7:00pm
Delivery is available for:
MorningSide, East English Village, West Village, Indian Village, Grosse Pointe Park, Ferndale, Pleasant Ridge.
PICK UP: Wednesdays 8:30am-5:30 pm
@ Featherstone Garden’s Nursery
1021 Manistique St., Detroit (map it!)
Kale, Farro + Spiced Sweet Potato Tacos
Yields: 2-3 servings
Ingredients:
1 cup dried farro
2 cups vegetable or mushroom broth (or salted water if you don’t have broth)
1-2 sweet potatoes, cut in small-medium chunks (skin on or off is fine, but potatoes will bake quicker without the skins!)
1/2 of a bunch of kale, massaged and torn (about 2-3 cups)
olive oil (1 tablespoon per potato)
2-3 scallions, chopped
1 radish, thinly sliced
1/4 cup fresh dill or cilantro
1 tablespoon cumin
1 tablespoon curry
1/2 tablespoon brown sugar
1/2 salt (plus more to taste)
1/4 teaspoon cracked black pepper (plus more to taste)
4-6 tortillas
Directions:
Step 1: Cook the farro
Add 2 cups broth + 1 cup dried farro into a large pot, stir. Bring to boil, then cover and turn down to low heat and simmer for 8-12 minutes, then stir and continue to simmer for another 5-8 minutes with lid off to reduce some of the liquid. Take off heat, and cover with lid until tender (up to 15 min.). Stir and fluff, then set aside. (Note: This is a general way to cook the farro we use at home. If your farro package includes directions, we encourage you to follow those because there are varieties of farro that require slightly different cook times.)
Step 2: Bake potatoes
Pre heat oven to 425ºF. Peel sweet potatoes and cut into small chunks, (note: I peel skins off for a quicker bake time. If you leave skins on, you may need to allow potatoes to roast for an additional 10 minutes or so). Drizzle olive oil over the potatoes, add salt, cumin, curry, brown sugar, and pepper. Bake for 30-45 minutes, until soft, slightly browned, and easy to pierce through with a fork.
Step 3: Prep veggies & combine ingredients
Rinse and tear kale into small pieces. Massage the kale for 6-8 minutes (I keep track by listening to 2 full songs). This is an important step! Massaging the kale breaks down the tough fibrous and allows for easier digestion. (Note: some people like to massage with olive oil and/or citrus, salt and/or pepper, but I typically massage the kale prior to adding anything to keep my hands clean.)
In a large bowl, combine the warm farro, sweet potato, and kale. Add more salt, pepper or spices if needed. Thinly slice the radish, chop the scallions, and de-steam and tear the dill or cilantro.
Step 4: Assemble & Serve
Heat flour or corn tortillas in a toaster oven or on the stovetop until warmed, then layer up your tortillas with your farro-kale-sweet potato mix, top with sliced radish, herbs, (optional) crunchy toppers, and serve with your favorite hot sauce.
Additional crunchy topper suggs: Chopped purple slaw & shaved toasted almonds.
Enjoy!
Thanks for reading!
For more about our garden, check out our website and follow us on instagram (@featherstone.garden). Feel free to email us or comment below with any questions or suggestions.
Have a great week,
Annie, Aaron, Renee + Chili & Bean (our farm cats ₍˄·͈༝·͈˄₎◞ ₍˄·͈༝·͈˄₎◞)
