CSA Newsletter for Week 11

 

Farm Update

   Hi everyone!  It's starting to look like fall out there!  We transplanted lettuce we started in the greenhouse into the field for the last time this season.  This is the first of the "lasts" of this year, to be followed by many others:  the last field planting, the last coldframe planting, the last weeding spree, the last CSA drop-off.  This last transplanting ushers in the slow decline of the growing season and marks the point in the bell curve of work where the line starts to dip slightly.  There are still many farm tasks to do, but there is a little less of each job.  We're still weeding, but not as much as we used to.  We're still planting in the fields, but there will come a time, probably in late September or early October when anything we plant in the field won't be harvestable by the time the snow flies.  We've also pulled out all of the dying zucchini and cucumber plants from the coldframes, and replanted the space with lettuce for the fall and carrots for November deliveries to the stores and restaurants we work with.  Another signal that the season is starting to wane is the return to school of most of our workers.  At the height of the season, we had ten employees on the payroll, most of them teenagers.  Many of them are returning to school next week and either reducing their work hours or saying good-bye to the farm altogether for the year, so we are glad to have a few adults working for us at the farm who will be sticking around to help us finish out the season.

But even as the season shifts from summer to fall, we still have a lot growing!  We're pretty much at the height of cherry tomato season right now, and the field tomatoes are ripening really quickly!  We'll have a new head lettuce in the shares this week, a variety called Verigo, which is bright green, thicker like a romaine, and has kind of a dramatic spiky look, so that will be fun!  We had a few really good rains this week, and now all of the crops, from kale to lettuce to sweet potatoes to squash, have perked up considerably.  When the dry soil gets a good rain, it's a relief to crops and people alike, because it means we don't have to spend as much time irrigating.  And anything that saves us time is a good thing, because like many of you, our family is also transitioning back into the school year!  This year will look pretty different than most since our kids will be distance learning, but that also means an added responsibility on this mama's plate.  For all of us who are trying to navigate going back to school this year, I offer up a hearty "Good luck!"  I think we're going to need it!  But at least we'll all be able to eat some great meals while we're figuring it all out! :-)

What to Expect in Your Share

If you are going through the line 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! 

• Spring mix
• Cherry tomatoes
• Potatoes
• Delicata Squash or 3-4 tomatoes
• Kale, Swiss chard, or leeks
• Onion, garlic, or green pepper
• Okra, microgreens, or Verigo head lettuce

If you have a prepacked share, 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 fill out this Google form 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:  Spring mix, cherry tomatoes, potatoes, 3-4 tomatoes, kale, onion, and Verigo head lettuce.

Share B:  Spring mix, cherry tomatoes, potatoes, Delicata squash, kale, green pepper, and microgreens.

Share C: Spring mix, cherry tomatoes, potatoes, 3-4 tomatoes, leeks, green pepper, and Verigo head lettuce.

 

Recipes

How cute is this green pepper octopus?!?

If you've got kids going back to school this week, either in the classroom or virtually, they might enjoy some of these super cute veggie snacks!  Let's kick this school year off right with some healthy food that is both yummy and fun!  But don't let the perfect-looking foods cause you stress or put pressure on you, because we already have enough of that.  So if the cute Octopus doesn't come out as cute as the picture, or if you're too busy and just cut up pepper slices instead, that is still a win!  Go forth and be awesome! :-)

CSA Newsletter for Week 10

 

Farm Update

Hi everyone!  This week, we are officially halfway through the CSA season, and we're starting to feel a change in the air.  You know how around mid-August, there's something about the air that feels just a little bit like fall, even though it's still really hot out?  We've noticed that change recently.  I think of it as back-to-school weather, and it always makes me want to buy school supplies and walk around MSU campus drinking orange spice tea.  But maybe that's just me. 😂

We are officially done with our massive potato harvest!  That was a huge job, but it is done for the season!  The humongous amount of weeding has also finally subsided, and now we're basically just doing maintenance weeding.  We'll be starting our large onion harvest this week, which should also be a big job.  Remember those 60,000 onion plants we put in the ground in March?  Now they all have to come out of the ground, so I expect that will take up a major portion of the next few weeks.  After the onions are harvested, we'll lay them out to cure in one of our coldframes that isn't currently planted.  Onions that are intended to be stored for long periods of time at room temperature need to be cured first so they don't rot after a few weeks, and the empty coldframe is just the right place to do it!  

New this week, we're finally into our green peppers!  I'm especially excited about our green Carmen peppers, which are an elongated sweet pepper variety with a fantastic flavor.  They kind of resemble hot peppers because they're longer than your traditional green bell peppers, but they're actually sweet instead of spicy.  So if you've never tried them before, you're in for a treat!  We're also on the verge of having a ton of slicing tomatoes! Right now we're getting the first trickle of red, ripe slicers, and we've got plenty of tangy green tomatoes on the vine (which will be making an appearance in the share this week!  Yum!) But as the week wears on, a lot more of them will be ripening, and we'll probably be fully into tomatoes next week.  Then we'll start drowning in them and eating them for every meal, and by October I'll be pretty content to never see another tomato again until next summer.  And then next July, I'll be counting down the days until the tomatoes are ready again.  I know this, because that is what has happened pretty much every year since we started the farm 10 years ago.  There is a very cyclical nature to farming, and while each growing season is unique, there are some things that don't change, like weeds in June, rain in October, and feeling like you can take on the world in February.  And lots of tomatoes in September.

So welcome to week 10 of the CSA!  See you guys at the drop-off!

What to Expect in Your Share

If you are going through the line 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
• Cherry tomatoes
• Beets, kale, or a bag of small onions
• Leeks, okra, or 2 green peppers
• Romaine lettuce
• Microgreens, basil, or green tomatoes
• Garlic, onions, or slicing tomatoes

If you have a prepacked share, 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 fill out this Google form 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:  Romaine, cherry tomatoes, potatoes, beets, 2 green peppers, onions, and microgreens.

Share B:  Romaine, cherry tomatoes, potatoes, kale, leeks, garlic, and microgreens.

Share C:  Romaine, cherry tomatoes, potatoes, bag of small onions, okra, slicing tomato, and basil.

 

Recipes

About 15 years ago, microgreens were the fancy thing that all the cool restaurants were using to convey how hip they were.  Now they're a little more mainstream, and even regular home cooks have access to these flavorful tiny versions of the vegetables we know and love!  And now that we're all eating at home more, what a perfect time to fancy up our everyday meals and make every dinner a celebration!  If you've never really worked with micros, here are 8 Ways to Kick up Your Meals with Microgreens from Urban Cultivator.  Fred and I regularly use micros in some variation of all of these ways (except the pesto, because we have tons of basil), and it definitely makes a regular dish feel special.  So check it out and give some of these a try! 

CSA Newsletter for Week 9

 

Farm Update

Hi everyone!  Hope you're all doing well!  As always, there's a ton of work to be done, but these days we're able to keep up with it a lot better!  We're continuing to do a ton of weeding, which has paid off because the plantings we put in over the last few weeks are looking great!  If all goes well, we're going to have a lot of really nice veggies for you in a few weeks!  We've hit a leaner week as far as variety goes because we had a series of unsuccessful (or partially successful) plantings last month, so you'll probably notice that there is less variety this week.  The first of our new lettuce plantings will start being available this week though, and we're starting to get our first red slicing tomatoes too!  Our bell peppers and delicata squash will be coming in soon, and I am beyond excited about that! While the squash vine borers we've been battling have done a number on many of our winter squash varieties, they miraculously don't seem to have caused trouble for the delicata squash, which is good, because delicatas are my favorite squash!  We were having some trouble with flea beetles eating our kale, but right now it's looking pretty healthy! We're also getting to the end of our massive potato harvest!  What a huge job! But it's so gratifying to see all those bins of potatoes stacked up in our walk-in cooler.  That's the food that will get us through the rest of the year, and as I think about that, I am so grateful to have the kind of life where we coax our food from the earth by the sweat of our brow.  Each season there's plenty of sweat, and also some blood and tears, but loading the delivery truck down with good food every day, and seeing thousands of pounds of potatoes in the cooler, it makes it all worth it.

   I won't be seeing those of you at the Alma drop-off on Monday, but I'll see the rest of you this week!  Fred is flying solo on Monday evening so I can catch up on some paperwork/maintenance stuff that has built up over the last few weeks.  But for the rest of you, I'll see you next week!  Here we go into week 9 of the CSA!

What to Expect in Your Share

If you are going through the line 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! 

• Green beans
• Cherry tomatoes
• Potatoes
• Kale, beets, or Malabar spinach
• Basil, microgreens, or onions
• Two ears of sweet corn
• Young romaine lettuce

If you have a prepacked share, 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 fill out this Google form 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:  Green beans, cherry tomatoes, potatoes, kale, basil, sweet corn, and romaine lettuce.

Share B:  Green beans, cherry tomatoes, potatoes, beets, onions, sweet corn, and romaine lettuce.

Share C:  Green beans, cherry tomatoes, potatoes, kale, onions, sweet corn, and romaine lettuce.

 

Recipes

My favorite recipes are the kinds that include lots of fresh ingredients, require only a skillet and a stove, and take less than 10 minutes!  That's why I love this Green Beans with Lemon and Garlic Recipe from the Food Network!  Check it out if you're looking for something really yummy to do with your green beans this week! 

CSA Newsletter for Week 8

 

Farm Update

Hi everyone!  It was another big week at the farm last week, and we got several huge projects done!  We harvested and brought in about 5,000 pounds of potatoes, and now they're taking up almost our entire walk-in cooler!  All in all, it took our crew about 24 man hours to accomplish it, but we were able to knock it out before Fred hit the road for the Midland drop-off on Thursday!  The crew also got done several major weeding projects this week, taking care of plant beds that had gotten out of hand, but are thankfully now back under control.  Fred did plenty of planting this week as well; he was able to get the next round of carrots, cilantro, dill, cabbage, and lettuce into the ground for future weeks of the CSA.  As always, there's still a mountain of stuff that needs to be done, but it feels so good to be making progress instead of getting deeper into the hole.  And thank you to all of you guys for coming along for the ride!  We so appreciate all of the encouraging words and well wishes you guys have sent our way over the last few weeks!  Despite being in the CSA for a while, many people don't realize that the acronym stands for Community Supported Agriculture.  And this is a perfect example of how the community support keeps us going through all of the crazy stuff a farm season can throw at us!  Thanks so much, and we'll see you all in week 8!

What to Expect in Your Share

If you are going through the line 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 or beets
• Potatoes
• Cherry tomatoes
• Kale or Swiss chard
• Leeks or fresh bunched onions
• Basil or microgreens
• Garlic or mini cabbage

If you have a prepacked share, 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 fill out this Google form 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, kale, leeks, microgreens, and garlic.

Share B:  Carrots, potatoes, cherry tomatoes, kale, onions, basil, and garlic.

Share C:  Carrots, potatoes, cherry tomatoes, Swiss chard, onions, microgreens, and mini cabbage.

 

Recipes

I'm so thrilled to finally have a ton of cherry tomatoes!  They're one of my all-time favorite veggies, and there is so much more you can do with them than throw them in a salad!  If you're looking for ideas, check out these 21 Cherry Tomato Recipes from Rachael Ray! 

CSA Newsletter for Week 7

Farm Update

What could this crazy stuff be?  It's actually 
our garlic, laying out to cure!  You can see
the heads of garlic overlapped with the alium-
shaped garlic flowers on the other end of the
stalk.

Hi everyone!  Hope you're doing well!  Despite being crazy busy, it was a good week at the farm!  Since I was handling the deliveries and drop-offs myself last week, that freed up a bunch of hours for Fred to get the farm back in working order!  One of the main orders of business was to get the weeds under control.  Fred actually mowed down some ragweed that was taller than him, if that's any indication of how bad some sections had gotten!  He was able to mow down a bunch of weeds and take the cultivator through other areas, which is basically a weeding attachment for our tractor that can take out weeds in between the rows of veggies, but doesn't get close enough to damage the veggies (or the weeds that are right in with them). To get right into the rows of crops requires weeding by hand, which Fred and the crew also did a ridiculous amount of this week.  A huge shout-out to Fred's brother Charlie, who worked for us at the farm for years when he was in college, and came back to help us out in a huge way this week even now that he is a grown-up with a legit career.  He's been helping out twice a week throughout the summer now that much of his work is from home, and this week he devoted his whole week to the farm and really took charge of managing our teenage crew.  So a huge thank you to Charlie, without whom we never would have been able to accomplish what we did this week!

We also got a bunch of seeding done!  We did some direct seeding (which is when we plant seeds directly into the field), and we seeded a bunch of flats that will grow for a few weeks until we are ready to transplant them into the field.  Among the things that were seeded this week are the lettuce that will be in the shares in September, and a bunch of multicolored carrots that will make their appearance in October.  We actually planted a new variety of carrots than the one we've traditionally used, because the seed for our normal Mokum variety was unavailable with everything going on.

Before Fred could plant in the field, there were a bunch of crop beds that had to be mowed down and turned under into the soil.  When we turn under an old planting, all of the organic matter in the plant goes into and builds the soil, making it healthier.  Then when the old planting is turned under, it looks like bare soil that is ready to be replanted.  Normally we let it rest for a little bit before replanting (mostly to let any weed seeds in the top few inches of soil germinate so we can get rid of any emerging weeds before planing the crops), but right now, we just really needed to get the next plantings into the ground.

So we were able to get a bunch of stuff done along with the normal harvesting, washing, and packing of veggies for the drop-offs, and we're feeling really good about that!  I'm going to be doing most of the drop-offs by myself over the next few weeks so Fred can continue with the forward progress, but we're making our way out of the woods (another idiom!)  So wish us luck as we enter another busy week!  See you guys at the drop-offs! 

PS:  If anyone is interested, our friend Jonas has 70 chickens to sell that he raised for an order that fell through!  They're pasture-raised, free-range chickens that didn't have any gluten in their supplemental feed, so if eating meet without gluten is a priority for you, these are your chickens!  They're $3 per pound, and if you're interested, you can call Corina Thomas at 989-304-0077 to ask questions or place an order. :-)

What to Expect in Your Share

If you are going through the line 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
• Carrots or beets
• Cabbage, Swiss chard, or kale
• Cherry tomatoes, blueberries, lettuce, or green beans (this part may change a little throughout the week, because we don't know how long the blueberries will be harvestable.  Just a heads up!)
• Garlic, fresh shallots, or okra
• Basil, microgreens, or summer savory
• Zucchini, cucumbers, or leeks

If you have a prepacked share, 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 fill out this Google form 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:  Potatoes, carrots, chard, cherry tomatoes, garlic, basil, and cucumbers.

Share B:  Potatoes, carrots, chard, garlic, microgreens, leeks, and a surprise veggie! (Surprise veggie could be either blueberries, lettuce, or green beans).

Share C:  Potatoes, carrots, cabbage, cherry tomatoes, fresh shallots, basil, and leeks.

 

Recipes

Oh, potatoes!  I think they are pretty much the ultimate comfort food, and we all have a favorite way to prepare them, whether they're mashed, fried, baked, or made into homemade potato chips!  If you're looking to try something new with potatoes this week, check out these Greek Lemon Chicken and Potatoes from Chef John on allrecipes.com!  (I basically love all Chef John's recipes, and this is no different!)  And just so you know, if you're getting summer savory in your share, you can use that in place of the oregano in the recipe, because their flavor is so similar.  Enjoy! :-)