CSA Newsletter for Week 14 of the 2023 Season

Farm Update

Hi everyone! Happy fall!  It is officially autumn as of today, and the farm definitely reflects that right now!  We are very much in the middle of the harvest season, and while we finished bringing in all of our potatoes a few weeks ago, we are still working on bringing in the squash and onion harvest in the pockets of time when we're not harvesting, washing, packing, and delivering veggies for the deliveries and CSA drop-offs.  Fortunately, we've been delivering a lot of squash, and we've been sending it out the door almost as fast as we can harvest it.  That is a good thing, because it takes up A LOT of space, and the barn is already feeling pretty cramped as it is.  So as soon as I bring several crates of squash to the drop-offs, a few more appear to take their place.  In this way, we will probably work through most of our squash supply over the next six weeks of the CSA, and hopefully we'll still be able to move around the barn in the meantime.  We've also started harvesting the first of the sweet potatoes, and they are currently curing in the barn so that they will have the maximum shelf life out on your counter or in your pantry.  That is, unless you eat them as soon as you get them, because they are so delicious! 

Right now, harvesting takes up the majority of our time at the farm, but we are also doing some end-of-season planting.  We're still planting some things outside in the fields, such as some spinach, arugula, and radishes for the very end of the season, but most of our planting will move into the hoophouses now that the weather is starting to turn.  Fred planted the first hoophouse this week full of green onions, cilantro, dill, and spring mix to be harvested in October and November, and he plans to plant the second hoophouse this weekend.  (In the picture above, Fred is transplanting green onions in the coldframe with our paper pot planting system.)  The hoophouses (which are also called coldframes) are unheated greenhouses that allow us to extend the number of months each year that we can grow things at the farm.  They shelter the plants from wind, rain, and cold temperatures just enough to get another two months or so of produce in the late fall.  Then we are able to plant some especially coldhardy plants (like kale, spinach, and arugula) to overwinter, so that they have a head start growing when spring finally arrives.  That means we can start harvesting the very first veggies at the end of February or beginning of March, instead of two months later, which would be the very first harvests of anything from the field.  

The weather has been especially nice for this time of year!  Normally we expect it to rain most of October, but the extended forecast predicts a much drier fall than we're used to.  We've actually had to do some irrigating, which is extremely uncommon for this time of year, but I'll definitely take it.  The longer it stays sunny, the less we have to work in the cold October rain, which freezes you straight through and just kind of kills your soul after several weeks of it.  October rains also make it a lot more likely that our field crops will succumb to foliar diseases, which makes it a lot harder to plan for fall CSA shares.  So I will absolutely take the sun for as long as it sticks around, even if it does mean moving around irrigation lines a lot longer than we thought we'd have to. 

Today is the autumnal equinox, which means that today, the we have an equal amount of day and night.  That naturally means that starting tomorrow, the dark starts taking over little by little, coming earlier each evening, and staying later each morning.  When day length starts to decrease, the plants can't get the sunlight they need to keep thriving, and they eventually start to shut down for the season, and the soil gets a well-deserved break for the winter.  We still have several weeks before that happens, but when it does, the humans at the farm start to feel like it's time to wind things down and take a break as well.  

But for now, the sun is shining, it's surprisingly warm out, and the plants are happy and thriving.  So here's to six more weeks of excellent veggies!  Welcome to Week 14 of the CSA, and I'll see you at the drop-offs! :-)

What to Expect in the Shares this Week

 

If you pick up at our Alma, Mt. Pleasant, or Midland drop-off, here are the options for your shares!  If you have a half share, you’ll choose one item from each choice category, and if you have a full share, you’ll choose two.  And if there is something you don’t like or can’t eat, you can bring it to the trading station at the end and trade it for something you like better. 
 

• Spring mix or arugula
• Beets, cauliflower, or Carnival squash
• Cherry tomatoes, slicing tomatoes, or broccoli
• Potatoes or bag of small onions
• Kale, cabbage, 2 kohlrabi, or Swiss chard
• Acorn squash, delicata squash, or a small pie pumpkin
• Onion, green pepper, or 3 serrano peppers

If you pick up at our Lansing, Okemos, St. Johns, Midland hospital, or Alma hospital drop-off, or if you have home or workplace delivery, here are your options!  We have three different prepacked shares, and you can let me know which one you want by filling out this quick form by lunchtime the day before your drop-off.  If you have a half share, you can choose one of these options, and if you have a full share, you’ll choose two.

Share A:

• Spring mix
• Carnival squash
• Broccoli
• Bag of small onions
• 2 Kohlrabi
• Small pie pumpkin
• Green pepper

Share B:

• Arugula
• Beets
• Tomatoes
• Potatoes
• Cabbage
• Delicata
• 3 Serrano peppers

Share C:

• Spring mix
• Cauliflower
• Cherry tomatoes
• Potatoes
• Kale
• Acorn squash
• Onion

Recipes

Now that the evenings are getting decidedly chilly, it's starting to feel like soup weather!  If you're looking for something warm, filling, comforting, and tasty, try out this Cabbage, Sausage, and Potato Soup!  If you're getting a buildup of potatoes and you still have some carrots in your fridge from last week, this is a good way to use them up!  And if you still have leeks from last week, awesome!  Throw them in!  If not, you can substitute an onion.  That is the beautiful thing about soups; you can play around with the ingredients and proportions according to what you have, and you end up with something delicious and hearty comforting.  Just in time for fall! :-)