Fall Reflections: Nothing New Under the Sun

Farm Update

I just had to stop and take a picture of these Easter Egg
Radishes as we were setting up for the Mt. Pleasant drop-off
on Tuesday.  Look at those colors! :-)

Hi everyone!  We are really winding down the season now!  Most of the farm tasks that we do continually all summer (weeding, planting, working the ground, moving around irrigation) are pretty much done for the year.  We're still irrigating in the coldframes, but that is a lot less time consuming than field irrigation, so the main thing we're really still doing is harvesting for the CSA and the stores and restaurants that get vegetables from us.  We have two more weeks left of the CSA, and then we'll be closing down for the winter.  But never fear!  We're starting to sign people up for next year, so if you're interested in joining for the 2018 season, just let me know, and I'll put you on the list!  The cost will be the same as this year ($300 for a half share or $550 for a full share at our regular drop-offs, and a little more if you have home delivery).  There's no hard and fast deadline for sending in a payment, but it definitely helps us to have at least part of it before the new year, because we incur a lot of large farm expenses in January and February.  So sooner is better than later, and sending in at least a partial payment locks in your share for the year in the event that we sell out of shares.  So if you want to sign up for next year, just let me know!  We so appreciate you being with us in the CSA this year, and we would love to see you again in 2018!

What to Expect in your Share this Week

Lettuce, kale, and rainbow chard are still growing well in
one of the coldframes.

If you are picking up at one of our regular drop-offs (Alma, Mt. Pleasant, and Midland) this week, here are the options you’ll find at each station!  If you have a half share, you’ll choose one item at each station, and if you have a full share, you’ll choose two.

Carrots or Brussels sprouts
Potatoes or sweet potatoes
Acorn squash or butternut squash
Spinach or lettuce
Celery root or large onion
Bok choy, cabbage, or bag of shallots
Kale, beets, or radishes

And if you’re having your share delivered or picking up in Lansing, Okemos, or the Midand hospital, here are your options.  If you have a half share, choose either share A or share B, and if you have a full share, you get to choose two.

Share A:                               Share B:

Carrots                                  Brussels sprouts
Sweet potatoes                      Potatoes
Butternut squash                   Acorn squash
Spinach                                 Spinach
Large onion                          Celery root
Cabbage                                Bok choy
Kale                                      Beets

Fall Reflections:  Nothing New Under the Sun

Inevitably every fall, as soon as the air becomes chilled and the leaves start to turn from green to brilliant red and yellow, I get a little sentimental.  There is something about this time of year and the preparations for the long winter ahead that make me think about the generations of people before me, doing these same actions, canning applesauce and putting extra blankets on the beds, and how no matter how humanity progresses some things never change.  Bringing in the final harvests of the year and putting away the abundance of the season to last through the cold winter always reminds me that there is nothing new under the sun. (Except of course, that the advent of grocery stores with shipped-in food means that the seasonal frenzy of canning is more of a hobby than a necessity, which itself is absolutely unprecedented in most of human history.)

I was reflecting on that yesterday as I canned applesauce.  While our apple trees did really poorly this year due to a late frost in the spring (and, truth be told, to the fact that trees as old as ours are a little bit unreliable and not well-suited to organic production), a friend of ours had an abundance of apples and gave us several bushels.  As often happens, after a few weeks of sitting at room temperature, they started to get a little wrinkly, which pretty much means it’s time to make applesauce.  Once they lose that delicious crunch, no one wants to eat them plain anymore, and you have to doctor them up a bit.  So I was making applesauce yesterday, and I was thinking about my grandma Kitty.  She passed away a week and a half ago after a long downward health spiral, but while she was healthy, she canned applesauce every year.  When my mom and my aunts were preparing her home to be sold after she went into a nursing home a few months ago, everyone was going through and picking out things from around the house that they especially wanted, and my mom pulled out grandma’s old applesauce sieve for me.  Now, I’m not a super sentimental person in general, and I’m kind of a minimalist too, so when my mom gave that to me, I was dubious about how much I would actually use it.  After all, I already had a perfectly good blender, so why clutter up my house with two tools that do the same job?  But I pulled it out a few weeks ago when I made my first batch of applesauce of the season, and it turns out that my mom was totally right.  That applesauce had the best texture of any I had ever made, and although it looks like kind of a hassle to use, it was actually really easy.  There was also something really comforting about using only a simple tool and my own arm power to make applesauce (no electrical outlets required), and I was hooked.

Then Grandma passed away, and making my second batch of applesauce yesterday, using the same tool that she had used for decades to preserve the abundance of apples for the winter took on a whole new meaning.  Suddenly I wasn’t just making applesauce.  I was connecting.  Not only with the memory of my grandma, but with generations of people who have used similar tools at this time of year for the exact same reason.  And I realized that that connection is what makes the type of farming we do different.  In an age where most people not only don’t know what farm their food came from (or what country, for that matter), they don’t even really know their neighbors or the people they pass every day as they go about their lives.  So I love that by growing food for local people we actually get to see from week to week, we’re helping to re-establish that sense of connection with the food we eat, our own native place, our neighbors, and the communities we live in.  And that is worth preserving, in the same way that the apple harvest is worth preserving even though I could get applesauce at the store.  Because it has quality and soul in a time when so much of what we consume doesn’t.  So let time march on.  But next October, you’ll find me right here making applesauce with my old hand tool, probably thinking these same thoughts again.  Nothing new under the sun. J

Recipes

I can almost hear you reading through the list of what will be in the shares next week and saying, "Okay, what the heck is celery root?"  Celery root (also called celeriac), is a really weird-looking, really wonderful root vegetable with a nice celery flavor.  Traditionally, it was one of those winter storage vegetables that people would be able to keep through the winter in the pre-refrigeration days, but you don't see it very much anymore.  It's great in soups and stews, and here are also 10 (Yes, 10) Things to do With Celery Root from Six Burner Sue.  These are some fantastic recipe ideas for a veggie that is probably unfamiliar to most modern cooks, but that you will be so glad you tried!