CSA Newsletter for Week 12

Farm Update

Our farm kittens are getting cuter every day!
Tiger and Holly are just two of the six kittens
that were born last month at the farm.

Hi everyone!  It's been another busy week at the farm!  We started out the week a little shorthanded, and it felt like we were running to keep up for the rest of the week, but now we've hit the slower-paced part of our farm week.  We're still out there working a lot, but on days when we don't have a drop-off, there's no tight deadline and no race against the clock, just the steady stream of work that keeps the farm going.  Today Fred is planting the lettuce, carrots, and spinach that you'll see in your shares during the last few weeks of the CSA, and he'll be putting some more crops in the ground tomorrow as well.  He also spent a fair amount of time today cursing the existence of the group of raccoons that came through last night and took out about 2/3 of the sweet corn planting that we were going to harvest this week.  We were really disappointed about that, because we were hoping to bring you guys some more corn this week, and now we can't promise it in the shares.  We'll likely have some on the trade table, but its absence from the choices below just annoys us to no end.  So next time you see a raccoon, feel free to shake your fist at it.  Those guys are just the worst.
    But not all the animals at the farm right now are annoying.  You may recall that our barn cat, Molly, had kittens last month, and they're getting bigger and cuter by the day!  These days, they're exploring the barn, playing, and learning from their mama how to catch mice.  For the longest time after they were born, we didn't think any of them survived, because we stopped hearing their little kitten noises about a week after they were born.  So imagine our surprise when, a few weeks later, we found six kittens living underneath our germination chamber!  They had been living right under our noses the whole time, just being extremely silent, until they were ready to come out and explore.  We were amazed that they survived, and now we're having fun watching them play alongside us while we work in the barn.  So here's a cute kitten picture to brighten your day!
     Also, in case you were wondering, the Alma drop-off on Monday will be happening as usual even though it's Labor Day!  If you can't make it to the drop-off, that's totally fine, but just let me know by Sunday so I can take you off the harvest list for this week.  Then we'll plan on getting you a double share next week when you get back.  We hope all of you enjoy your weekend, and we'll see you at the drop-off!

What to Expect in This Week's Share

If you are picking up at one of our traditional style drop-offs (Alma, Mt. Pleasant, and 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!

• Tomatoes
• Potatoes
• Lettuce
• Onion or pepper
• Kale, cabbage, basil, or microgreens
• Carrots
• Cherry tomatoes or beets

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, B, or C, and if you have a full share, you can choose two of them.  So just email me by lunchtime the day before your drop-off to let me know which share you want for this week!  If I don't hear from you, I'll just choose for you. :-)

Share A: Slicing tomatoes, potatoes, spring mix, onion, kale, carrots, and cherry tomatoes

Share B:  Slicing tomatoes, potatoes, romaine, green pepper, microgreens, carrots, and cherry tomatoes

Share C:  Slicing tomatoes, potatoes, spring mix, green pepper, cabbage, carrots, and beets

             

Recipes

It's tomato time!  For a tomato lover like me, it felt like it took FOREVER for the slicing tomatoes to ripen this year, but now they're ready and I just can't eat enough of them.  If you're looking for a yummy idea for how to use your tomatoes this week, check out this super easy recipe for Baked Tomatoes with Mozzarella and Parmesan!  Don't those look fantastic?

CSA Newsletter for Week 11

Farm Update

It's tomato season!  These lovely tomatoes were
waiting to be brought to Midland for Thursday's
drop-off, then from there to people's kitchens to
become dinner!

Hi everyone!  It's been a pretty eventful week at the farm!  Most of our employees (who I call our farm kiddos, even though they're pretty much all taller than me) are headed back to school, so now we're down to just Fred, Carson, and Nolan.  A huge thanks so much to Mary, Max, and Brayden for all your hard work this season!  So naturally, between our farm kiddos leaving and Carson taking a much-deserved fishing trip for a few days, it was definitely a hurry-up offense to get all the necessary harvesting, washing, packing, seeding, planting, and irrigating done this week, but we made it through.  We were also kind of biting our nails about having the Midland drop-off at a different location, thinking about everything that could go wrong.  (What if everyone forgets about the change?  What if there's no shade and the veggies wilt?  Etc...) But it went off without a hitch, so we breathed a huge sigh of relief when that was over.  And here we are, officially entering the second half of the season!  

We're kind of on the edge between summer and fall right now.  We still have many of our late summer veggies (cherry tomatoes, green beans, and bell peppers), but there is definitely a chill in the morning air, and we're starting to ease into more fall veggies, like cabbage and beets.  The change in the air feels like a subtle reminder to can tomato sauce from the leftover bits of tomatoes, and freeze the stray green beans.  Because as they say, winter is coming.  So let's fully enjoy these last few weeks of summer, and then we'll relish fall when it rolls around in its turn.  :-)

What to Expect in This Week's Share

If you are picking up at one of our traditional style drop-offs (Alma, Mt. Pleasant, and 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!

• Cherry tomatoes
• Romaine or spring mix
• Green beans or beets
• Carrots or potatoes
• Kale, microgreens, cabbage, or basil
• 2 tomatoes or 2 green peppers
• Onion, garlic, or shallot

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, B, or C, and if you have a full share, you can choose two of them.  So just email me by lunchtime the day before your drop-off to let me know which share you want for this week!  If I don't hear from you, I'll just choose for you. :-)

Share A: Cherry tomatoes, romaine, green beans, carrots, basil, 2 slicing tomatoes, and garlic.

Share B:  Cherry tomatoes, spring mix, green beans, potatoes, microgreens, 2 green peppers, and an onion.

Share C:  Cherry tomatoes, romaine, beets, carrots, kale, 1 green pepper, 1 slicing tomato, and a shallot.

             

Recipes

Chef John's Stuffed Peppers

Every week I completely geek out about whatever new thing we have coming out of the field or coldframes, and this week is no different!  Right now, I am mega excited about green peppers!  There are so many things you can do with green peppers, so if you're stuck for ideas, here are a few!  There are Chef John's Stuffed Peppers (and if you're ever on allrecipes.com and you see anything by Chef John, you know it's going to be fantastic.  He just has really great recipes).  Or you could try out these Bell Pepper Egg Rings, which are really good on toast with a little cheese sprinkled on top.  Or if you have a bunch of veggies in the fridge you need to use up, there are few things better than a stir-fry to use a ton of veggies at once, and green peppers are amazing in stir-fry.  The possibilities are endless!

CSA Newsletter for Week 10

Farm Update

Bringing in the potato harvest!

Hi everyone!   It's starting to feel like fall!  This is the time of year where we begin the slow shift from summer mode to our autumn rhythm at the farm.  We're starting to get more consistent rain (yay!), which is a sure signal that fall is on its way.  And this week we brought in a huge three-ton potato harvest (which is currently taking up about half of the space in our big walk-in cooler)! If a huge harvest of root vegetables doesn't say fall, I don't know what does!  Along with the potatoes, we also harvested a ton and a half of onions in one really intense, hard-hitting spurt on Friday.  It just about left Fred and our crew falling down with exhaustion, but we got it done.  The thing about farming is that there is a right time for everything, and you have to make hay while the sun shines, so to speak.  

It's pretty fortunate that the time to do all of these major harvests is in mid-August, because most of our crew goes back to school at the end of next week!  Because our work is seasonal, we hire a lot of students to help out at the farm, which is a win-win.  We get a bunch of strong, enthusiastic young people who work hard all summer and don't need year-round employment because their primary job is being a student.  So at the end of this week, Max and Brayden will be returning to high school, and Mary will be returning for her senior year at Spring Arbor to finish her nursing degree.  Fortunately, we'll still have Carson and Nolan for the rest of the season, for which we're so grateful, because there is still a ton of work to do, and those guys are awesome!

Another piece of important news, just in case you missed it last week:  Our Midland drop-off is going to be at a different location for this week only!  The Eagle Ridge Church is having their parking lot resurfaced, and it's going to be all torn up on Thursday, so we're going to have our drop-off this week from 5-6 PM at Trinity Lutheran Church on the corner of Jefferson and St. Andrews.  You can check out the map here.  So don't go to Eagle Ridge this week, because we won't be there!  Fred is going to be doing the drop-off by himself next week, so if you need to get in touch with him, you can call or text him at 517-449-9886. :-)

What to Expect in This Week's Share

If you are picking up at one of our traditional style drop-offs (Alma, Mt. Pleasant, and 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!

• Potatoes
  

  

  This week's carrot harvest was brought
  to you in part by Jane and Jessamine,
   who clearly didn't know they'd be
  harvesting carrots when they got
  dressed that morning, but who were
  good sports about it! :-)

• Kale or cabbage
• Sweet corn or slicing tomatoes
• Cherry tomatoes
• Broccoli or lettuce
• Carrots
• Basil, onions, or microgreens

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, B, or C, and if you have a full share, you can choose two of them.  So just email me by lunchtime the day before your drop-off to let me know which share you want for this week!  If I don't hear from you, I'll just choose for you. :-)

Share A: Cherry tomatoes, carrots, potatoes, broccoli, sweet corn, kale, and microgreens

Share B:  Cherry tomatoes, carrots, potatoes, lettuce, sweet corn, napa cabbage, and onions.

Share C: Cherry tomatoes, carrrots, potatoes, broccoli, slicing tomatoes, cabbage, and basil.

             

Recipes

It might be starting to feel like fall, but we're still in the middle of cherry tomato season!  If you're looking for something new to try with those lovely little jewels of summer, check out these 21 Cherry Tomato Recipes from Rachel Ray!  So many yummy things to do with cherry tomatoes... that is, if you don't eat them all in the car on the way home from the drop-off!  I tell you what, those things are like candy! :-)

CSA Newsletter for Week 9

Farm Update

Fred and his new truck!

Hi everyone!   It's been another big week at the farm!  We finally got some much needed rain, and the farm's veggies and people alike are breathing a sigh of relief.  The crops are definitely starting to look more vibrant, and we're able to plant again because we're not spending so much time just trying to keep everything alive.  We weren't able to plant for a few weeks there due to the lack of rain, so it feels like there is a little less variety in the shares last week and this week, but that should be coming to an end soon as our recently planted crops reach maturity.  

Another exciting thing this week is that Fred was finally able to replace his worn-out old pickup truck (which was pretty much on its last legs) with a nicer, newer truck!  We got our old truck the same week we got our daughter Jessamine seven years ago, and it's served us well, towing heavy loads of compost, bumping around in the fields, and driving hundreds of thousands of miles.  And now it's pretty rusty and having a host of really-old-truck issues, so it's being put out to pasture... literally.  We're going to continue to use it in the field for as long as it survives, to spare the new truck all of the wear and tear that accrues to a field truck.  While the new truck is not actually new, it's a lot newer than we're used to, and it's not covered in rust, so we're going to try to keep it nice for as long as possible.  Fred is beyond excited about it, because he's really wanted to replace the old one for years, and we were finally able to make it happen today!

In other news, we just found out that at on August 22nd, we're going to have to temporarily relocate our Midland drop-off at Eagle Ridge because they're going to be tearing up the parking lot at the church.  We haven't 100% nailed down where we're going to have the drop-off that week, but we wanted to give all of you Midland folks the heads up so you could put reminders in your phones, etc. not to go to Eagle Ridge on the 22nd.  We'll let you know as soon as we know for sure where we're going to have the drop-off that week!

Also, we've noticed that a lot of people are arriving significantly early to our Lansing and Okemos drop-offs to see if the shares are there yet.  While the official drop-off time is 4:30, we do often get there a little earlier than that, so I'm planning on starting a group text to let you know when we're there.  If you'd like to opt in to the text, you can just text me at 517-896-6884 from your preferred phone number, and just include your name in the text.  Then I'll put you on my list, and I'll let you know when we drop off your share on Wednesday!

What to Expect in This Week's Share

If you are picking up at one of our traditional style drop-offs (Alma, Mt. Pleasant, and 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!

• Carrots
• Potatoes
• Cherry tomatoes
• Green beans
• Kale, Cabbage, or basil
• Cucumbers or zucchini
• Onions, microgreens, or shallots

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, B, or C, and if you have a full share, you can choose two of them.  So just email me by lunchtime the day before your drop-off to let me know which share you want for this week!  If I don't hear from you, I'll just choose for you. :-)

Share A: Carrots, potatoes, cherry tomatoes, green beans, kale, cucumbers, and onion.

Share B:  Carrots, potatoes, cherry tomatoes, green beans, cabbage, zucchini, and microgreens.

Share C: Carrots, potatoes, cherry tomatoes, green beans, basil, zucchini, and shallot.

             

Recipes

August and Caprese salad go together like... well, peanut butter and jelly, or tomatoes and basil... pretty much anything that goes together really well.  And the great thing about this classic is that there are endless ways you can change it up, just by adding a new ingredient or two.  If you've never had a Caprese salad before, here is a recipe for a pretty standard one as a jumping off point.  And once you have the basic mozzerella/tomatoes/basil/olive oil thing down, you can be creative with endless variations!  You can add grilled chicken or thinly sliced steak.  You can try out different sauces to drizzle on top.  Or you can try out the Caprese salad variation that Fred made for dinner tonight! First start with a bed of microgreens, then layer fresh mozerella slices on top, followed by halved cherry tomatoes and chopped basil tossed in a mixture of olive oil, balsamic vinegar, thinly sliced onion or shallot, and lots of minced garlic.  It was so fantastic, I just had to share it with all of you!  

CSA Newsletter for Week 8

Farm Update

If you've never tried okra before,
you're in for a treat!  This is our
first year growing it, and I'm so
glad we gave it a try, because
it's delicious!

Hi everyone!   Hope you're all doing well!  I know I sound like a broken record, but we still really need rain.  Fortunately, as I'm writing this I can hear thunder in the distance and there are some beautiful dark clouds overhead, so I've got my fingers crossed that those clouds will start pouring down rain.  We've had our hopes dashed in situations like this before, so I'm being a little superstitious and purposely not looking at the weather radar, but it's looking good for some precipitation!  Because of the mini-drought (the end of which I hope we'll be celebrating soon!), the variety in the shares this week feels a little more limited, but I'm still happy with the good stuff we'll be bringing to the drop-offs.  The onions and potatoes are maturing like crazy right now, and so are the weeds!  Yikes!  Those weeds are a never-ending battle, but I'd still choose the Sisyphean task of keeping them under control over winter any day of the week.  We're starting to see some increased insect pressure at the farm as well, because they come out in droves when the weather gets too dry, but it's a lot better than most years, so I'd call that a win.  

Hooray!  It's raining!!!  Excuse me while I go and dance outside in this beautiful rain, because it's time to celebrate!!!

What to Expect in This Week's Share

If you are picking up at one of our traditional style drop-offs (Alma, Mt. Pleasant, and 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!

• Blueberries or cherry tomatoes
• Lettuce or cucumbers
• Kale or cabbage
• Carrots or zucchini
• Potatoes or fennel
• Onion or shallots
• Basil, shiso, or okra

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, B, or C, and if you have a full share, you can choose two of them.  So just email me by lunchtime the day before your drop-off to let me know which share you want for this week!  If I don't hear from you, I'll just choose for you. :-)

Share A: Blueberries, cucumbers, cabbage, carrots, fennel, onion, and okra.

Share B:  Cherry tomatoes, romaine, kale, carrots, potatoes, shallots, and basil.

Share C: Blueberries, romaine, kale, zucchini, potatoes, onions, and okra.

             

Recipes

I'm chuckling to myself as I write this, because I can just see you guys reading down the list of what's in the shares this week.  "Hmmm... blueberries or cherry tomatoes.  Sounds yummy.  Some pretty good stuff, some more normal stuff, and ... wait...  Shiso?  What even is that?  And what do I do with collards?"  So never fear!  Here are some ideas for those two potentially unfamiliar items this week!  

Shiso (which is also sometimes called perilla) is a delightful leafy herb whose flavor falls somewhere between basil and mint, so you can use it in a similar way to either of those.  Or you can check out these Japanese Shiso Leaf Meatballs for a new spin on an old favorite!  How awesome do those look?

I actually only had okra for the first time within the last year (having been born and raised here in the north, it wasn't a staple of my diet growing up, the way it was for many of our CSA members with southern roots).  But now I'm making up for lost time, because I really love it!  Try out this Easy Baked Okra for a fantastic easy side dish!