Once upon a time in Sweden, a cabbage and a turnip had a baby. They named it “Rutabaga,” and a nutritional superhero was born! This loveable hybrid is one of the most nutrient-dense root vegetables available in winter. It’s chock full of fiber, potassium, and vitamin C, and thanks to our farmer heroes at Just Peachy Farms, it’s going to be in the Central Texas Local Box next week!

Just Peachy’s rutabagas are small and tender, with a mild flavor. They are still in the ground as we speak, and farmer Billy Moore will be harvesting them over the weekend just in time for us to deliver them to you! In preparation for the harvest, Billy shared with us one of his favorite rutabaga recipes: Mashed Rutabagas.

Rutabagas are frequently prepared in a hash with other root vegetables, in pasties, or even alongside potatoes in stews. If you don’t feel like eating your rutabaga next week, no worries! These babies will keep for 2-3 weeks in the refrigerator crisper.

Besides being a potassium powerhouse, the rutabaga is a party vegetable! People in Ireland and Scotland have been carving them as Halloween lanterns for centuries, and legend has it that placing a carved rutabaga in your windowsill will keep evil spirits away. A little closer to home, the rutabaga is the star of the “International Rutabaga Curling World Championship” in Ithaca, New York.

Visitors to Angel House Soup Kitchen in Austin recently enjoyed nourishing soups made with local chicken stock, thanks to farmers Jane and Terry Levan of Dewberry Hills Farms. The Levans grow pastured, compassionately-raised poultry on their Lexingron, Texas, farm, and their broilers, ground chicken, and split breasts have been Greenling customer favorites for years.

When they began offering boneless, skinless chicken breasts through Greenling a few months ago, customers loved these cuts of local poultry. The Levans ramped up production of boneless chicken breasts, resulting in an abundance of stock bones. As the volume of stock bones grew in the Levan’s freezer, they decided to donate the soup bones to a local charity.

Dewberry Hills Farms reached out to Greenling to help with the donation, and we were thrilled to assist! We offered freezer space and transportation to make the donation possible, and last Thursday, we delivered 200 pounds of stock bones to Angel House Soup Kitchen.

Angel House serves meals to over 500 people each week in downtown Austin; their doors are open to all, regardless of race, religion, or ability to pay. Their volunteers cooked up the stock bones immediately, substituting nourishing, local broth for the canned variety.

We think stories like this epitomize what’s great about the local food system. Thank you to our farmer heroes at Dewberry Hills for making the world a more sustainable, healthy, and wholesome place to live.