CSA Newsletter for Week 15

 

Farm Update

Hi everyone!  It's officially fall, and it definitely feels like it out there!  Our cool-weather crops (the leafy greens and the root vegetables) are doing great, and will likely continue to do well until the end of the season.  Our warm weather veggies (peppers, tomatoes, etc.) are still doing pretty well, but they'll start winding down as time goes on, and by the time the snow flies, they'll just be a memory of a warmer time.  Interestingly, sweet potatoes (which most people link inextricably with fall due to their prevalence on the Thanksgiving table), require a long and hot summer to meet their full potential.  Cool, cloudy summers produce small and spindly sweet potatoes, but they look great this year!  Fred and our three remaining part time workers (all of our teens are officially back to school, so we're down to a pretty minimal workforce right now) have been working on bringing in all of the sweet potatoes from the field this week.  Now is the time, because that significant frost we got last weekend effectively killed the sweet potato vines, and once the vines are dead, the roots (that's the part we eat) need to come in quickly so they aren't ruined.  So that means it's sweet potato season!  Fortunately, the frost that affected some of our veggies also finished off a lot of the weeds, so most of the weeding we'll need to do for the rest of the season will actually be in the coldframes.  I relish weeding in the coldframes in fall, because by the end of October, it's the warmest place at the farm to be!  But for now, the weather is still pretty nice even out in the field, and we still have five weeks of veggies ahead of us!  The last week of October will be the final week of the CSA, so if you were wondering about that, you can mark your calendars!  In the meantime, check out the options for this week's share, and we'll see you 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! 

Spring mix or arugula

Cherry tomatoes or squash

Carrots or sweet potatoes

Potatoes or Roma tomatoes

Radishes or kale

Pepper or onion

Leeks or 2 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:  Spring mix, cherry tomatoes, sweet potatoes, Roma tomatoes, radishes, pepper, and leeks.

Share B:  Spring mix, squash, carrots, potatoes, kale, onion, and 2 tomatoes.

Share C:  Arugula, cherry tomatoes, carrots, potatoes, kale, pepper, and leeks.

Recipes

It's soup season! If you're not sure what to do with kale besides making kale chips or sautéing it with olive oil and garlic (that's my favorite quick kale recipe!), check out this Vegetarian Kale Soup!  It's hearty, delicious, and perfect for this time of year! 

CSA Newsletter for Week 14

 

Farm Update

Last night's frost hit us pretty hard! 
This is what the lettuce looked like
when Fred went out to the field this
morning.

Hi everyone!  Last week was just a whirlwind of activity between harvesting, getting ready for the CSA drop-offs, doing deliveries, getting our records ready for our organic certification inspection, and prepping the farm for the significant frost we had last night.  Fred was at the farm until about 12:45 last night trying to get as many plants as possible covered to protect them from the frost, and fortunately, most of our crops made it through with minimal damage.  Most of the coldhardy fall crops still look pretty good, and only time will tell whether some of the summer veggies will maintain their quality.  The peppers are kind of on the edge, so we'll just have to wait and see what happens with them.  It's that part of the year where one by one, our summer crops run their course for the season and we say good-bye to them until next year.  Fortunately, we still have plenty of variety coming out of the fields this week!  We'll have the first sweet potatoes of the year in the shares this week, as well as more cabbage and arugula, and of course, our old friends tomatoes, potatoes, lettuce, and others!  So here we go into Week 14!  See you later this week! :-)

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! 

Tomatoes or cherry tomatoes

Lettuce

Arugula, kale, or cabbage

Potatoes or beets

Cilantro or 2 peppers

Squash, carrots, or sweet potatoes

Onion

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:  Tomatoes, spring mix, cabbage, potatoes, cilantro, sweet potatoes, and an onion.

Share B:  Cherry tomatoes, spring mix, kale, potatoes, 2 peppers, carrots, and an onion.

Share C:  Cherry tomatoes, romaine, arugula, beets, 2 peppers, squash, and an onion.

Recipes

When the weather gets cold, we naturally seek out foods that make us feel warm and cozy, and these Oven Fresh Seasoned Potato Wedges are the ultimate comfort food for a chilly evening!  

CSA Newsletter for Week13

 

Farm Update

Charlie harvesting cherry tomatoes
on Monday.

Hi everyone!   Wow, it got cold in a hurry, didn't it?  We're definitely into fall now, but we have high hopes that it won't be this chilly and damp for the rest of the season.  When the temperature drops, it really slows down the ripening of the tomatoes.  The upside to that is that we will have canning tomatoes again this week, because they didn't all ripen last week like we thought they would.  So if you're interested in romas or slicing tomatoes for canning, just let me know! They'll be $12 per half bushel.

The cold and wet weather also made harvesting a lot trickier than it is in warmer, dryer parts of the year.  The dampness in the air causes our cherry tomatoes to burst, which means we need to harvest a lot more of them to make sure that you are all getting the best cherry tomatoes without any splits in them.  So they take a lot longer to harvest, and a lot longer to package in those little pint containers, because a much larger percentage of them need to be tossed out.  Harvesting basically anything is also less pleasant in the cold, so we're really hoping the nice weather comes back soon!

The cooler fall weather has certainly been good for our lettuces though!  We finally have tons of spring mix again, and it is looking and tasting great!  We've also started harvesting the first of the sweet potatoes, and we've put the first round out to cure.  Like garlic, sweet potatoes need to cure for a little while so that they can last for long periods of time at room temperature.  This makes sweet potatoes one of the ultimate storage vegetables for winter, because if they've been properly cured, they don't need to go into the fridge.

In other news, we have our big annual organic inspection coming up on Friday!  We'll be putting in a lot of time this week making sure we have all of our records in one place, because our inspector will want to see everything from a detailed record of what seeds we planted on which dates, to our daily harvest records.  He and Fred will walk around the main farm, the blueberry patch, the orchard, and the barn (which is where our packing area and walk-in cooler are) inspecting a bunch of stuff.  It's usually a process that takes about six hours, plus all of the hours (and months) of record-keeping that lead up to the actual inspection.  So it's a time-consuming process, but after Friday, we can cross that off of our to-do list!  So wish us luck!  See you at the drop-off!

What to Expect in Your Share

• Potatoes or Roma tomatoes
• Spring mix or arugula
• Slicing tomatoes or cherry tomatoes
• Acorn squash or leeks
• Kale, Swiss chard, or a young romaine head
• Microgreens, dill, or 2 peppers
• Garlic, onion, or an heirloom tomato

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! 

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, arugula, slicing tomatoes, acorn squash, young romaine head, microgreens, and an heirloom tomato.

Share B:  Roma tomatoes, spring mix, cherry tomatoes, acorn squash, kale, dill, and an onion.

Share C:  Potatoes, spring mix, slicing tomatoes, leeks, chard, 2 peppers, and an onion.

Recipes

I love tomato season!  I miss tomatoes in the winter, spring, and early summer, and I just glory in them when they finally become abundant in late summer.  The only thing about tomato season is that there are just so. many. tomatoes!  But never fear!  If like me, you feel like you're swimming in tomatoes right now, this is the perfect time to make salsa!  Try out this Best Fresh Tomato Salsa recipe, and enjoy it with your favorite tortilla chips, put it on tacos, or use it to top some grilled chicken!

 

CSA Newsletter for Week 12

 

Farm Update

On Wednesday, I snuck up on Fred as
he was harvesting the last few handfuls
of kale for our cooking greens mix. :-)

Hi everyone!   Most people think of fall as harvest time, and while we actually harvest every week from mid-March to mid-December, it's certainly true that a much larger percentage of our time is spent harvesting in the fall.  Now that the pressure from weeds and insects is lower than it has been all summer, and we've slowed down on planting for the rest of the year, harvesting has taken center stage at the farm.  Aside from harvesting all of the veggies for the CSA shares this week, Fred also has spent a bunch of time getting all of our onions out of the ground.  Our onion crop wasn't as big as we would have hoped because they were planted in our back field, which was flooded out back in the spring, but now is the time to get them out of the ground before the fall rains start.  It's getting pretty close to sweet potato time too!  The vines are looking great, which bodes well for an abundant sweet potato harvest later in the month.  The carrots are finally starting to grow quickly as well, so we should have plenty of carrots for you all in a few weeks, and the greens are really starting to take off now that it's a little cooler.  I'm also especially excited to be back into tons of spring mix!  After about a month of eking out whatever we could after a series of unsuccessful plantings, it's starting to feel really abundant again at the farm, which is a huge relief.  September will probably be a golden month, full of all of the things we love about fall!  And then the rains will start in October, and our thoughts will turn toward wrapping up the farm season and coming inside for the year.  But for right now, we still have eight weeks of CSA ahead of us, and eight more weeks of fantastic veggies!

We'll also have canning tomatoes available this week!  They'll be $12 for a half bushel, and we'll have both Roma tomatoes and slicers available.  So if you'd like to get some canning tomatoes, just let me know what quantity you'd like and whether you'd prefer Romas or slicers, and I'll put you on the list!  If we get a ton of tomato orders, it will be first come, first serve, so it's best to let me know sooner rather than later.  Also, this Monday is Labor Day, so if you have plans that will prevent you from making it to the drop-off this week, just let me know.  You can either postpone your share and get a double share next week, or you can pick up at one of our other drop-offs later in the week if that works better for you.  I'll just need to know by Sunday if you're going to miss Monday, so I can adjust the harvest list accordingly.  Thanks so much, and we'll see you all this week! :-)

What to Expect in Your Share

• Lettuce

• Potatoes

• Cilantro, kale, Swiss chard, or sweet potato greens

• Tomatoes

• Small cabbage, 2 peppers, or microgreens

• Cherry tomatoes or delicata squash

• Onion or garlic

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! 

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:  Lettuce, potatoes, kale, tomatoes, 2 peppers, delicata squash, and an onion.

Share B:  Lettuce, potatoes, Swiss chard, tomatoes, microgreens, cherry tomatoes, and an onion.

Share C:  Lettuce, potatoes, sweet potato greens, tomatoes, 2 peppers, cherry tomatoes, and garlic.

Recipes

Several years ago, a CSA member who had been travelling told us all about the amazing sweet potato greens he had gotten at a farmer's market in Minneapolis.  Neither he nor we had ever heard of eating sweet potato greens before that, but we tried them at his suggestion, and he was right, they are fantastic!  They're milder than most greens, and they have a delicate sweet potato flavor.  The CSA member who first told us about them has since passed away, but every time we eat sweet potato greens, I think about Kelvin and I'm thankful that he took a chance on some unusual greens at the farmer's market.  And now here's your chance to try them too!After looking around the internet for recipes, I found that most of them require ingredients that would be hard to find, or preparations that are a little complicated for our purposes.  But at our house, Fred and I just cook them lightly in either olive oil or coconut oil in a pan over high heat, until they're starting to wilt just a little bit.  Then you can toss them in maple syrup (if you used coconut oil) or chopped garlic and pepper flakes (if you used olive oil), because they're great either sweet or savory.  Enjoy!