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!