CSA Newsletter for Week 12

Farm Update

All those lovely pears, just waiting to be harvested!

Hi everyone!  We finally have enough rain at the farm, that’s for sure!  We needed more rain for most of the season, but it can definitely stop now!  This week has been a fairly smooth transition from summer into fall as most of our employees went back to school.  Mary, Jewel, and Daniel all left this week to pursue their educational ambitions, so we’re down to Ben, Carson, and Danny.  Given that we’re down to half of our workforce, things were less crazy this week than we expected, so we’re super grateful for that. Weeding and harvesting definitely were the most time-consuming projects this week, but Fred was also able to put in a big planting of carrots, radishes, lettuce, spinach, and arugula this morning before more rain comes.  We were also pleased to have some surprise pears this last week!  Our orchard is extremely old, and most years it doesn’t actually do very well because such old trees aren’t well-suited to organic production.  Most years, we’re able to get just a few crates of apples and no pears, but this year, the apples have done better than I’ve ever seen them do.  The pears were quite a surprise to us last week, because we never expected to get any! We also weren’t sure about the corn, because the raccoons took out most of our first planting, but the second planting turned out really well!  We’re likely to have more pears and corn this week too, but they’ll be in smaller quantities in the surprise veggie category.

Just a reminder that Monday is Labor Day, and we are having the Alma drop-off as usual, but if you’re unable to make it to the drop-off Monday, please just let me know by Sunday so I can adjust the harvest list.  Then, you can either arrange to get a double share next week, or pick up Tuesday at our Mt. Pleasant drop-off instead, whatever works best for you.  We hope you all have an awesome holiday, and we’ll see you next week!

What to Expect in This Week's Share

If you are picking up at one of our traditional style drop-offs (Alma, Mt. Pleasant, or Midland), here’s what the options will be at the different stations.  If you have a half share, you’ll choose one item at each station, and if you have a full share, you choose two items at each station.

I just love looking at those endless rows of different
colored lettuce for our spring mix!  They seem
especially long when it's weeding time, but they
certainly look pretty! :-)

• Potatoes
• Cherry tomatoes or slicing tomatoes
• Snap beans or lettuce
• Surprise veggie
• Kale or a bag of small/medium onions
• Zucchini, leeks, or microgreens
• Green pepper

If you have a prepacked share (Midland hospital, St. Johns, Lansing, Okemos, or home delivery), here are your options.  If you have a half share, you’ll choose either share A or share B, and if you have a full share, you can choose two of them.

Share A:                               Share B:

Potatoes                                Potatoes
Cherry tomatoes                   Slicing tomatoes
Snap beans                           Lettuce
Surprise veggie                    Surprise veggie
Kale                                     Bag of onions
Zucchini                               Leeks
Green pepper                       Green pepper

Recipes

For us, breakfast is definitely a big deal!  Since farm work is so physically demanding, our habit is to power up with a hearty and healthy breakfast that will last us until lunchtime.  So Fred (who is definitely the chef at our house) always makes up something filling and delicious. Even if you're usually a piece-of-toast-while-you're-running-out-the-door type person, with the long weekend, you'll hopefully have time for an extra delicious breakfast!  To take advantage of the potatoes and green peppers in your share, try out this recipe for the Best Breakfast Potatoes Ever from Ree Drummond, and maybe even linger over a second cup of coffee. :-)