CSA Newsletter for December 2023

  CSA Newsletter for December 2023

Hi everyone!  I hope you are all having a lovely holiday season!  Things have slowed down for us significantly at the farm, to the point where I'm barely out there at all, and Fred is generally out there for about six hours most days of the week.  It's a big change from the height of CSA season, and it's definitely a welcome rest.  We're still harvesting a few things for the GreenTree Co-op in Mt. Pleasant and the Argus Farm Stop stores in Ann Arbor, as well as the occasional restaurant order, but harvesting and delivering veggies is a lot fewer and farther between than during the main farm season.  Most of the veggies we have available now are storage crops (potatoes, carrots, and onions), but we do still have some leafy things growing under protective covering in the fields and coldframes.  The arugula in the picture to the left is outside in the field, but it is protected under a plastic low tunnel, which is essentially a small unheated greenhouse placed directly over the rows of veggies in the field.  It's constructed using bendable metal rods to form hoops that stick out of the ground, and then we cover it with plastic similar to what we use on our greenhouses, except that it's not as wide.  It protects the plants underneath from the wind and the harshest of the low temperatures, and then we just move it to the side when we need to harvest the veggies underneath.  We might be able to harvest in this manner for a short time longer, but then the plants' growth will slow down significantly, and we won't be able to harvest any more from the fields until the spring.  

Throughout the winter, we'll have some coldhardy plants like lettuce, spinach, green garlic, green onions, and mache overwintering in the coldframes.  Basically, we plant these hardy greens in the fall, but we don't expect them to actually grow much for several months.  They'll grow a little bit, but once the weather gets too cold and the day length too short, they'll just bide their time under layers of protective plastic.  They won't really grow, but they won't die either.  It's almost like a kind of hibernation, but for plants.  Then sometime around mid-February, they will start getting enough sunlight, and they'll start growing again, sluggishly at first, and then more quickly as the temperatures start to inch up.  Usually we can start harvesting these greens for deliveries to our restaurants and stores around the middle of March, and those first harvests always feel so celebratory.  I never appreciate spinach or arugula more than when I haven't had it for months, and when the only greens I've had for a while have been the sad ones from the grocery store.  The first salad to come out of the coldframes in the spring is always a very big deal.  Fortunately, we'll have our own greens for a few more weeks, and then we'll have to say goodbye to them for a few months while the farm goes into hibernation.

Although there won't be many vegetables growing over the next few months, you can still sign up for next year's CSA during this time!  If you already know you want to sign up for next year, you can just fill out this form, and I'll put you on next year's membership list and email you an invoice.  For anyone who signs up and puts down at least a partial payment before December 31, you lock in this year's price of $340 for a half share or $630 for a full share at one of our regular drop-offs, and after the new year, the price will go up to $345 for a half share or $640 for a full share.  (Just add $95 to that if you're signing up for home or workplace delivery.)  So if you want to get the early bird price, be sure to sign up soon so I can get you invoiced with plenty of time before the end of the year!  If it makes more sense for you to split your payment into parts instead of paying the whole amount at once, that is totally fine.  You can split it up however you want, and the final payment will just be due by July 1, 2024.  (And pssst!  CSA shares make great gifts for your loved ones!  Just saying.)

So that's it! I hope you all have a wonderful, festive, fun, and joyful holiday!  Just let me know if you have any questions, and I'll catch you again in January with another newsletter! :-)

Recipes

Doesn't December just feel like a dessert-y time of year?  Maybe it's all the parties, cookie exchanges, and the like, but I am way more apt to eat sugary stuff this month than any other month.  So if you're planning to lean in to all the December treats, here's a way you can do it in a slightly healthier way!  We all know that you can make some really yummy pies, breads, and pancakes out of pumpkin, but did you know that Butternut squash also makes some really excellent desserts?  If you have any Butternuts still kicking around, use one of them to make any one of these 12 Butternut Squash Desserts for your next holiday gathering!  

CSA Newsletter for Week 19! Final Week of the 2023 Season!

 Farm Update

The field is looking pretty bare!  These
beds were full of squash vines up until
recently, but the squash harvest is
done and the plants have been tilled under 
so the soil can rest for the winter.

Hi everyone!  Welcome to the last week of the CSA!  It is going to get a lot colder this week, which will make harvesting the veggies very challenging, especially with the leafy greens.  We are expecting freezing temperatures most nights this week, and while the leafy greens can often withstand some light freezing and thaw out just fine when the sun warms them up in the morning, we will likely have some freeze damage when it gets as cold as it's supposed to get this week.  Since you can't harvest greens while they're frozen, we're going to be harvesting more things ahead of time this week and keeping them in our walk-in cooler until we bring them to you.  Fred and Ander are out there right now harvesting celery root and carrots, and also some greens for the Monday and Tuesday drop-offs.  Fortunately, last week was really nice and we didn't experience any freeze damage to the greens, which means we still have some to bring to you this week!  The final week of the CSA is almost always when the variety of crops we have starts to really diminish, because the fields just want to stop production and go to sleep for the winter.  And fortunately, after this week we'll be able to let them for the most part.  Then we'll turn our focus to what we can keep going in our coldframes for about another month, and after that, the growing season will be done.

This part of the year feels like the last mile of a marathon.  The season has been long, and the energy we had in early summer is long gone, but we have to keep pushing just a little longer to finish the season strong.  And like the marathon, where the blisters and muscle fatigue and nutrient depletion make the 26th mile way harder than the first, the freezing, cloudy weather and will do the same thing for harvesting and washing all the veggies.  While I will be glad to slow down at the end of this week, I do look forward to seeing all of you one more time at the drop-offs, because that is definitely my favorite part of the CSA.  I really love chatting with everyone, distributing the veggies, and sending you all off with some top-notch ingredients to make delicious and nourishing food for the upcoming week.  I am glad to get to do that one more time before the farm settles in for its long winter nap.

This kale has survived the recent freezes
pretty well with minimal damage, but 
you can tell that there is a little bit of 
yellow frost burn on some of the leaves.
Kale is one of the more coldhardy greens
at the farm, and it usually survives colder
temperatures better than other veggies.

In more practical news, I had a bunch of people this week ask me if it was too late to get larger amounts of root vegetables for the winter!  We'll be selling potatoes, onions, and carrots in 10-pound increments, so if you want to get some of those, you can just fill out this form to put in an order.  But you'd better do it fast!  The deadline for placing an order is Sunday, October 29 at 5 PM, so I can get all my ducks in a row to get those to you at the final drop-off!  Potatoes will be $26 for 10 pounds, carrots will be $30 for 10 pounds, and onions will be $20 for 10 pounds.  Just let me know if you have any questions about that!

And if you already know you want to sign up for next year, you can do so whenever you like!  Just fill out this form, and I'll put you on next year's membership list and email you an invoice!  For anyone who signs up and puts down at least a partial payment before December 31, you lock in this year's price of $340 for a half share or $630 for a full share at one of our regular drop-offs, and after the new year, the price will go up to $345 for a half share or $640 for a full share.  (Just add $95 to that if you're signing up for home or workplace delivery.)

Here we go into the final week of the CSA!  We are so grateful that you have come along with us on this adventure that the 2023 season has been, and we hope to see you all again next year!  Thank you so much for being part of the farm this year, and for supporting us to continue bringing good food to the community!

What to Expect in the Shares this Week

 

If you pick up at our Alma, Mt. Pleasant, or Midland drop-off, here are the options for your shares!  If you have a half share, you’ll choose one item from each choice category, and if you have a full share, you’ll choose two.  And if there is something you don’t like or can’t eat, you can bring it to the trading station at the end and trade it for something you like better. 
 

• Spinach or Arugula
• Potatoes or brussels sprouts
• Winter squash
• Carrots or sweet potatoes
• Bag of small onions
• Radishes, kale, cilantro, or parsley
• Celery root or large onion

If you pick up at our Lansing, Okemos, St. Johns, Midland hospital, or Alma hospital drop-off, or if you have home or workplace delivery, here are your options!  We have three different prepacked shares, and you can let me know which one you want by filling out this quick form by lunchtime the day before your drop-off.  If you have a half share, you can choose one of these options, and if you have a full share, you’ll choose two.

Share A:

Our lettuces took a beating this week
with the hard frost!  Some of our lettuce
is still in good enough shape to harvest,
but after surviving a freeze like this, 
its lifespan in your fridge will be a lot 
shorter than before.  Since we don't 
know if the lettuce will still be in good
shape at the end of the week, we don't 
have spring mix in the shares this week,
but we could have some surprise lettuce
at the drop-off if it stays in good condition.

• Spinach
• Brussels sprouts
• Carnival squash
• Orange carrots
• Bag of small onions
• Parsley
• Large red onion

Share B:

• Spinach
• Oneida Gold potatoes
• Honeynut squash
• Rainbow carrots
• Bag of small
• onions
• Kale
• Celery root

Share C:

• Arugula
• Red Norland potatoes
• Honeynut squash
• Sweet potatoes
• Bag of small onions
• Radishes
• Celery root

Recipes

Now that it's getting cold outside, there is nothing better than sitting down to a warm, hearty soup!  This Root Vegetable Soup is flavorful, filling, sure to help you use up the growing stash of root veggies you might have in the refrigerator, and it's vegetarian to boot!  It's versatile enough to vary the ingredients depending on what you have on hand, and you can easily make it carnivore-friendly by using chicken or beef broth, or by throwing in those leftover venison scraps in the fridge.  Enjoy! 

CSA Newsletter for Week 18 of the 2023 Season

Farm Update

We have a really nice planting of spring mix,
and we're hoping it continues to look good despite
the likelihood of a hard frost in the next few days.
We've been covering it with protective plastic overnight
to help shield it from the cold nighttime temperatures.

Hi everyone!  It definitely feels like fall out there!  We've had a few light frosts at the farm, and we expect the first hard frost sometime in the next few days.  The first hard frost is the beginning of the end of the farm season.  We have some very nice looking greens in the field, so we are really hoping our lettuce, spinach, arugula, and kale comes through the first frost in good shape.  Depending on the nighttime temperature forecast, Fred will often go out in the evening to cover up the more tender spring mix, spinach, and arugula as best as he can with a layer of protective plastic, but beyond that, we mostly just have to cross our fingers.  Sometimes after a hard frost, some of the leafy greens can get frost burn that makes them yellow around the edges, so we are really hoping they'll come through all right.  

It's been very muddy and wet at the farm lately, which makes pretty much all field activities a lot more challenging.  All of the harvesting, weeding, ground prep, covering greens with plastic, and anything else we do in the fields this time of year is made harder by all of the mud, and there are some things we can't even do, because we can't get the tractor in to the field lest it get stuck in the mud.  These difficult conditions combined with the cloudy weather and shorter day lengths basically mean that we are really tired at the end of the day.  There is a natural end to the season, and we are approaching it.  We have two weeks left of the CSA, and after that, there won't be nearly as much going on at the farm.  We'll still be harvesting and delivering to a few stores, restaurants, and food hubs, but at that point, the farm will start its gradual slide into a restful winter.

But in the meantime, we still have two weeks of CSA left!  We've got a beautiful bounty of fall vegetables this week, including lots of root vegetables, squashes, and leafy greens.  One new thing we have this week is celery root!  If you've never tried it, celery root looks really weird and gnarly on the outside, but it has a really nice celery flavor.  Once you peel it, the inside has the texture of a potato, and it is really fabulous in soups and stews, or in a roasted root vegetable mix.  It also lasts for a really long time in the fridge, so it is one of those invaluable winter storage veggies.

And as a reminder, sign-ups for the 2024 season are officially open!  If you already know you want to sign up for next year, you can do so whenever you like!  Just fill out this form, and I'll put you on next year's membership list!  For anyone who signs up and puts down at least a partial payment before December 31, you lock in this year's price of $340 for a half share or $630 for a full share at one of our regular drop-offs, and after the new year, the price will go up to $345 for a half share or $640 for a full share.  (Just add $95 to that if you're signing up for home or workplace delivery.)  Just let me know if you have any questions!

And that's it for this week!  Welcome to Week 18 of the CSA, and I'll see you at the drop-off! 

What to Expect in the Shares this Week

 

If you pick up at our Alma, Mt. Pleasant, or Midland drop-off, here are the options for your shares!  If you have a half share, you’ll choose one item from each choice category, and if you have a full share, you’ll choose two.  And if there is something you don’t like or can’t eat, you can bring it to the trading station at the end and trade it for something you like better. 
 

• Potatoes
• Sweet potatoes or arugula
• Spinach or spring mix
• Small or medium squash
• Carrots or brussels sprouts
• Radishes, 2 green peppers, or kale
• Onion, celery root, or 3 serrano peppers

If you pick up at our Lansing, Okemos, St. Johns, Midland hospital, or Alma hospital drop-off, or if you have home or workplace delivery, here are your options!  We have three different prepacked shares, and you can let me know which one you want by filling out this quick form by lunchtime the day before your drop-off.  If you have a half share, you can choose one of these options, and if you have a full share, you’ll choose two.

Share A:

A new planting of green onions in one
of our coldframes.  It's too cold for them 
in the field this time of year, but they can 
survive the colder temperatures in the 
protection of our unheated greenhouses.

• Potatoes
• Sweet potatoes
• Spinach
• Honeynut squash
• Brussels sprouts
• Radishes
• Onion

Share B:

• Potatoes
• Sweet potatoes
• Spring mix
• Honeynut squash
• Orange carrots
• 2 Green peppers
• Celery root

Share C:

• Potatoes
• Arugula
• Spinach
• Acorn squash
• Rainbow carrots
• Kale
• Onion

Recipes

One of the wonderful things about fall is all of the root vegetables.  Traditionally, these potatoes, carrots, sweet potatoes, celery roots, beets, and onions were the vegetables that our ancestors who didn't have ready access to grocery stores and refrigerators would store to get them through the long winter months.  It is fitting that they make up the majority of what we are harvesting in the fall, because in generations past, this would have been the time to stockpile food for the months when the fields are covered with snow.  And one of my favorite things to do when we have a bunch of root veggies is make Roasted Root Vegetables!  You can use whatever roots you have on hand, which makes this recipe super flexible, but I generally go with the philosophy of "the more, the merrier".  I hope you enjoy this comforting fall staple as much as we do! 

CSA Newsletter for Week 17 of the 2023 Season

 Farm Update

Here are all the veggies unloaded from the truck
and ready to start getting set up on the tables for 
our Mt. Pleasant CSA drop-off on Tuesday.

Hi everyone! Hope you're all doing well!  The weather has definitely shifted at the farm, and we are fully into fall now.  The colder, wetter weather and the fact that it stays dark at lot longer into the morning have definitely made working out there a lot harder.  Fortunately, we are almost done with all of our large harvests; we finished harvesting the rest of our squashes this week, and we are almost done bringing in the sweet potatoes as well.  Once those major harvests of literal tons of storage vegetables are in, our workload decreases quite a bit.  That is fortuitous indeed, because that's right around the time the weather becomes decidedly uncooperative.  Working in the fields in June and July is one of the best, most joyful types of work, even though the hours are long and the pace is relentless, because we get to be out in the warmth and the sunshine, with the breeze and the sounds of nature around us.  Working out there in October, although the pace has slowed down and we don't have enough daylight to put in the kind of hours we worked in June, feels like much more of a slog.  Often, we're harvesting in a chilly rain with fingers that are a little bit numb from cold, battling to keep all of our freshly harvested greens out of the mud.  It's a much different type of work than it was during the summer, and we really relish the opportunity to come in for lunch, change into dry clothes, and eat something warm.  We also appreciate working in the coldframes a lot more this time of year, because it's warmer and dryer than it is outside.  We harvested the last of the tomatoes last week, and we're currently taking out all of our tomato vines from the coldframes so we can use that space to plant green garlic and leafy greens for overwintering.  When we pull out the tomato vines, it's an annual milestone that signals that the farm is getting ready to go to sleep for the winter and the season is almost done.  

Fortunately, even though the tomatoes are officially over, we are headed into one of my fall favorites, brussels sprouts!  Nothing says autumn like a plate full of brussels sprouts, sweet potatoes, and hearty winter spinach, and I am looking forward to the first brussels sprouts of the year for dinner tonight.  I have also been loving our radishes lately!  We've been eating a lot of simple salads with radishes sliced really thin on top, and I love the peppery flavor and pretty color they bring to every dish.  Most people go crazy for pumpkin spice everything when the weather turns colder, but to me, these are the real flavors of fall.

And as a reminder, sign-ups for the 2024 season are officially open!  If you already know you want to sign up for next year, you can do so starting now!  Just fill out this form, and I'll put you on next year's membership list!  For anyone who signs up and puts down at least a partial payment before December 31, you lock in this year's price of $340 for a half share or $630 for a full share at one of our regular drop-offs, and after the new year, the price will go up to $345 for a half share or $640 for a full share.  (Just add $95 to that if you're signing up for home or workplace delivery.)  Just let me know if you have any questions about any of that!

And here we go into week 17 of the CSA! 

What to Expect in the Shares this Week

 

If you pick up at our Alma, Mt. Pleasant, or Midland drop-off, here are the options for your shares!  If you have a half share, you’ll choose one item from each choice category, and if you have a full share, you’ll choose two.  And if there is something you don’t like or can’t eat, you can bring it to the trading station at the end and trade it for something you like better. 
 

• Spinach or spring mix
• Small or medium squash
• Potatoes or leeks
• Carrots, butternut squash, or Brussels sprouts
• Sweet potatoes or arugula
• Onion, green pepper, or 3 serrano peppers
• Radishes, kale, or cilantro

If you pick up at our Lansing, Okemos, St. Johns, Midland hospital, or Alma hospital drop-off, or if you have home or workplace delivery, here are your options!  We have three different prepacked shares, and you can let me know which one you want by filling out this quick form by lunchtime the day before your drop-off.  If you have a half share, you can choose one of these options, and if you have a full share, you’ll choose two.

Share A:

• Spinach
• Honeynut squash
• Leeks
• Butternut squash
• Arugula
• Green pepper
• Radishes

Share B:

• Spring mix
• Honeynut squash
• Potatoes
• Brussels sprouts
• Sweet potatoes
• Onion
• Radishes

Share C:

• Spinach
• Carnival squash
• Potatoes
• Carrots
• Sweet potatoes
• Green pepper
• Cilantro

Recipes

I am really appreciating radishes lately.  I love their peppery kick in my salads, but they are also really great cooked.  So if your kids won't eat them because they're "too spicy" (this is an oft repeated refrain in my house as well), there are a lot of really great ways to prepare them that bring out their natural sweetness and cook out the peppery flavor.  Check out these Garlic Roasted Radishes, and turn radishes into a delicious, warm comfort food!  Perfect with dinner on a chilly evening!  

CSA Newsletter for Week 16 of the 2023 Season

Farm Update

Hi everyone! The farm is beginning to slowly wind down to the end of the season, and signs of fall are everywhere.  The colder weather will settle in this week in earnest, and we will likely see the first frost some night this week.  Once that happens, our summer crops have a hard time swinging back from the shock they receive, and the season ends rather abruptly on any summer crops still out in the fields.  The ones in the coldframes will be protected, so we will still be able to harvest some summer veggies like peppers, but it is time to bid the tomatoes farewell for this year.  Fred and the crew are starting to clean the spent tomato vines out of the coldframes so we can replant that space with really coldhardy greens for overwintering.  So even during the winter when nothing is actually growing, we can still use that space to best advantage by using it to give some spring greens a head start growing. Right now, we're bringing in the rest of the squash harvest, and once we're done with that, we'll focus on the big harvest of sweet potatoes.  It always feels like the end of the season once the sweet potatoes are all safely in the barn.  In reality, we'll still have several weeks left, but that is right around the time the weather gets really yucky, and it is nice to have most of the things we are bringing to the CSA already in the nice dry barn, instead of having to harvest everything out in the cold rain.  

Speaking of all of the root vegetables in the barn, I have had a lot of people ask if they can order larger amounts of storage vegetables for the winter, and the answer is yes! If you would like to order carrots, potatoes, or onions to have even after the CSA ends, you can just fill out this form and let me know what you would like!  We'll be selling all these items in 10-pound increments, and you can order as many as you want.  The potatoes will be $26 for 10 pounds, the carrots will be $30 for 10 pounds, and the onions will be $20 for 10 pounds.  We'll plan on bringing them to you at the drop-off before the end of the season, so just let me know on the form if you're intending to be gone any of those weeks, so we can make sure to bring it when you're going to be there.  

And if you missed it last week, sign-ups for the 2024 season are officially open!  If you already know you want to sign up for next year, you can do so starting now!  Just fill out this form, and I'll put you on next year's membership list!  For anyone who signs up and puts down at least a partial payment before December 31, you lock in this year's price of $340 for a half share or $630 for a full share at one of our regular drop-offs, and after the new year, the price will go up to $345 for a half share or $640 for a full share.  (Just add $95 to that if you're signing up for home or workplace delivery.)  Just let me know if you have any questions about any of that!

Thanks so much, and I'll see you at the drop-off for week 16 of the CSA! 

What to Expect in the Shares this Week

 

If you pick up at our Alma, Mt. Pleasant, or Midland drop-off, here are the options for your shares!  If you have a half share, you’ll choose one item from each choice category, and if you have a full share, you’ll choose two.  And if there is something you don’t like or can’t eat, you can bring it to the trading station at the end and trade it for something you like better. 
 

• Potatoes
• Spring mix or arugula
• Small or medium squash
• Kale, cabbage, or beets
• Radishes or 2 green peppers
• Spinach or sweet potatoes
• Onion or 3 serrano peppers

If you pick up at our Lansing, Okemos, St. Johns, Midland hospital, or Alma hospital drop-off, or if you have home or workplace delivery, here are your options!  We have three different prepacked shares, and you can let me know which one you want by filling out this quick form by lunchtime the day before your drop-off.  If you have a half share, you can choose one of these options, and if you have a full share, you’ll choose two.

Share A:

• Potatoes
• Spring mix
• Delicata squash
• Kale
• Sweet potatoes
• Yellow onion
• 2 green peppers

Share B:

• Potatoes
• Spring mix
• Honeynut squash
• Cabbage
• Spinach
• Red onion
• Radishes

Share C:

• Potatoes
• Arugula
• Carnival squash
• Beets
• Sweet potatoes
• Yellow onion
• Radishes

Recipes

I love sweet potatoes!  But for the longest time, I thought I didn't, because the only time I ever had them as a kid was at Thanksgiving, when they were mashed and covered with marshmallows.  Which is probably my least favorite sweet potato preparation.  So if you're looking for something completely delicious and super easy to do with your sweet potatoes, check out this recipe for Roasted Sweet Potatoes!  It calls for just five ingredients, and once you get them in the oven, you can go do something else until they're ready.  Score! :-)

CSA Newsletter for Week 15 of the 2023 Season

 Farm Update

Hi everyone! Hope you're doing well and enjoying this lovely fall day!  As I write this, I am sitting at my deck table with a cup of coffee, trying to squeeze every last bit of nice weather out of this year.  Things at the farm are starting to get quieter and easier to manage.  While we are still weeding a little bit, the weeds grow a lot more slowly and are generally better-behaved than they were two months ago, when they were trying to swallow up the whole farm.  We're still bringing in the major harvests of what would generally be considered storage vegetables (squash, onions, etc.) for the winter, except that we don't intend to have a lot to store by the time we wrap up the season.  Just enough to keep our family in potatoes, carrots, onions, and squash until about February or March, until the first spring veggies start coming out of the hoophouses.

It's a bittersweet time of year for vegetables.  The tomato vines are definitely on the downswing, to the point where we never know exactly when they are going to be done for the year, but we know it's going to be soon.  We're going to keep harvesting the slicing tomatoes as long as they look nice and can refrain from cracking, but we don't have nearly as many as before.  I'm always sad to see the tomatoes go, because it's impossible to get a good tomato anywhere during the cold months, and they're one of my favorite foods.  But the upcoming fall plantings are looking beautiful and strong, and before we know it, we'll be back into spinach and some especially excellent fall carrots.  Right now, I'm really loving our arugula and cauliflower, which are special treats this time of year.  I asked Fred why our cauliflower is so much better than I remember cauliflower being when I was a kid, because I suspected it isn't just because I like vegetables in general a whole lot more than I did when I was young.  I was right.  He chose a special variety of green-stemmed Asian cauliflower that is sweeter, more tender, and just more lush than the standard varieties we grew up with, and you can definitely tell the difference!  

We have three new veggies making their debut this week, and I am super excited for the first sweet potatoes, baby amara greens, and radishes of the fall!  Last year was the first time we grew the amara greens, and they are so good!  They're like a slightly garlicky, mustardy baby kale, and would make a fabulous salad with apples and bleu cheese.  You could also sauté them lightly, but since they're a baby green, they would cook down pretty quickly into not much volume, so I'd definitely recommend enjoying them in their flavorful raw glory.  I am also super excited about sweet potatoes!  They feel like dessert for dinner, and I can't wait to have the first ones this week!  They'll be in the same station as the cauliflower at the drop-off, and this is one of the many times I am glad I don't have to choose one or the other.  But if you have a half share and that is going to be a really hard choice for you, here's a tip:  This week has a pretty strong possibility of being the end of cauliflower season (once the weather turns nasty, the cauliflower heads will go downhill pretty quickly), but we'll have sweet potatoes all the way up to the end of the season.  Just in case that helps you make your choice. ;-)

And, now for a big announcement!  Sign-ups are officially open for the 2024 season!  If you already know you want to sign up for next year, you can do so starting now!  Just fill out this form, and I'll put you on next year's membership list!  For anyone who signs up and puts down at least a partial payment before December 31, you lock in this year's price of $340 for a half share or $630 for a full share at one of our regular drop-offs!  (Just add $95 to that if you're signing up for home or workplace delivery.)  And just let me know if you have any questions about signing up for next year!  We would love to have you in the CSA again for 2024! 

What to Expect in the Shares this Week

 

If you pick up at our Alma, Mt. Pleasant, or Midland drop-off, here are the options for your shares!  If you have a half share, you’ll choose one item from each choice category, and if you have a full share, you’ll choose two.  And if there is something you don’t like or can’t eat, you can bring it to the trading station at the end and trade it for something you like better. 
 

• Potatoes or Delicata Squash
• Spring mix, arugula, or baby amara greens
• Carnival squash, butternut squash or leeks
• Cabbbage, kale, or beets
• Green pepper, tomato, or 3 serrano peppers
• Cauliflower or sweet potatoes
• Radishes, 2 kohlrabi, or 3 onions

If you pick up at our Lansing, Okemos, St. Johns, Midland hospital, or Alma hospital drop-off, or if you have home or workplace delivery, here are your options!  We have three different prepacked shares, and you can let me know which one you want by filling out this quick form by lunchtime the day before your drop-off.  If you have a half share, you can choose one of these options, and if you have a full share, you’ll choose two.

Share A:

• Potatoes
• Spring mix
• Carnival squash
• Kale
• Tomato
• Cauliflower
• 3 onions

Share B:

• Delicata squash
• Arugula
• Carnival squash
• Cabbage
• Green pepper
• Sweet potatoes
• Radishes

Share C:

• Potatoes
• Baby amara greens
• Butternut squash
• Beets
• 3 serrano peppers
• Cauliflower
• Radishes

Recipes

If you're looking for something yummy to do with cauliflower this week, check out this recipe for 20 Minute Sesame Cauliflower!  This is quick and flavorful, perfect for a busy weeknight dinner!  Enjoy! 

CSA Newsletter for Week 14 of the 2023 Season

Farm Update

Hi everyone! Happy fall!  It is officially autumn as of today, and the farm definitely reflects that right now!  We are very much in the middle of the harvest season, and while we finished bringing in all of our potatoes a few weeks ago, we are still working on bringing in the squash and onion harvest in the pockets of time when we're not harvesting, washing, packing, and delivering veggies for the deliveries and CSA drop-offs.  Fortunately, we've been delivering a lot of squash, and we've been sending it out the door almost as fast as we can harvest it.  That is a good thing, because it takes up A LOT of space, and the barn is already feeling pretty cramped as it is.  So as soon as I bring several crates of squash to the drop-offs, a few more appear to take their place.  In this way, we will probably work through most of our squash supply over the next six weeks of the CSA, and hopefully we'll still be able to move around the barn in the meantime.  We've also started harvesting the first of the sweet potatoes, and they are currently curing in the barn so that they will have the maximum shelf life out on your counter or in your pantry.  That is, unless you eat them as soon as you get them, because they are so delicious! 

Right now, harvesting takes up the majority of our time at the farm, but we are also doing some end-of-season planting.  We're still planting some things outside in the fields, such as some spinach, arugula, and radishes for the very end of the season, but most of our planting will move into the hoophouses now that the weather is starting to turn.  Fred planted the first hoophouse this week full of green onions, cilantro, dill, and spring mix to be harvested in October and November, and he plans to plant the second hoophouse this weekend.  (In the picture above, Fred is transplanting green onions in the coldframe with our paper pot planting system.)  The hoophouses (which are also called coldframes) are unheated greenhouses that allow us to extend the number of months each year that we can grow things at the farm.  They shelter the plants from wind, rain, and cold temperatures just enough to get another two months or so of produce in the late fall.  Then we are able to plant some especially coldhardy plants (like kale, spinach, and arugula) to overwinter, so that they have a head start growing when spring finally arrives.  That means we can start harvesting the very first veggies at the end of February or beginning of March, instead of two months later, which would be the very first harvests of anything from the field.  

The weather has been especially nice for this time of year!  Normally we expect it to rain most of October, but the extended forecast predicts a much drier fall than we're used to.  We've actually had to do some irrigating, which is extremely uncommon for this time of year, but I'll definitely take it.  The longer it stays sunny, the less we have to work in the cold October rain, which freezes you straight through and just kind of kills your soul after several weeks of it.  October rains also make it a lot more likely that our field crops will succumb to foliar diseases, which makes it a lot harder to plan for fall CSA shares.  So I will absolutely take the sun for as long as it sticks around, even if it does mean moving around irrigation lines a lot longer than we thought we'd have to. 

Today is the autumnal equinox, which means that today, the we have an equal amount of day and night.  That naturally means that starting tomorrow, the dark starts taking over little by little, coming earlier each evening, and staying later each morning.  When day length starts to decrease, the plants can't get the sunlight they need to keep thriving, and they eventually start to shut down for the season, and the soil gets a well-deserved break for the winter.  We still have several weeks before that happens, but when it does, the humans at the farm start to feel like it's time to wind things down and take a break as well.  

But for now, the sun is shining, it's surprisingly warm out, and the plants are happy and thriving.  So here's to six more weeks of excellent veggies!  Welcome to Week 14 of the CSA, and I'll see you at the drop-offs! :-)

What to Expect in the Shares this Week

 

If you pick up at our Alma, Mt. Pleasant, or Midland drop-off, here are the options for your shares!  If you have a half share, you’ll choose one item from each choice category, and if you have a full share, you’ll choose two.  And if there is something you don’t like or can’t eat, you can bring it to the trading station at the end and trade it for something you like better. 
 

• Spring mix or arugula
• Beets, cauliflower, or Carnival squash
• Cherry tomatoes, slicing tomatoes, or broccoli
• Potatoes or bag of small onions
• Kale, cabbage, 2 kohlrabi, or Swiss chard
• Acorn squash, delicata squash, or a small pie pumpkin
• Onion, green pepper, or 3 serrano peppers

If you pick up at our Lansing, Okemos, St. Johns, Midland hospital, or Alma hospital drop-off, or if you have home or workplace delivery, here are your options!  We have three different prepacked shares, and you can let me know which one you want by filling out this quick form by lunchtime the day before your drop-off.  If you have a half share, you can choose one of these options, and if you have a full share, you’ll choose two.

Share A:

• Spring mix
• Carnival squash
• Broccoli
• Bag of small onions
• 2 Kohlrabi
• Small pie pumpkin
• Green pepper

Share B:

• Arugula
• Beets
• Tomatoes
• Potatoes
• Cabbage
• Delicata
• 3 Serrano peppers

Share C:

• Spring mix
• Cauliflower
• Cherry tomatoes
• Potatoes
• Kale
• Acorn squash
• Onion

Recipes

Now that the evenings are getting decidedly chilly, it's starting to feel like soup weather!  If you're looking for something warm, filling, comforting, and tasty, try out this Cabbage, Sausage, and Potato Soup!  If you're getting a buildup of potatoes and you still have some carrots in your fridge from last week, this is a good way to use them up!  And if you still have leeks from last week, awesome!  Throw them in!  If not, you can substitute an onion.  That is the beautiful thing about soups; you can play around with the ingredients and proportions according to what you have, and you end up with something delicious and hearty comforting.  Just in time for fall! :-)

CSA Newsletter for Week 13 of the 2023 Seas

Farm Update

Hi everyone!  While we have a week before the calendar officially announces the fall season, all of the signs are pointing toward autumn at the farm!  We have a busy harvest week ahead of us continuing to bring in onions and squash, and quite a few of them are headed out on our delivery vehicle as soon as they come in from the fields and get cleaned up.  'Tis the season for fall veggies!  It's just as well that we don't have to store as many of our squashes, onions, and potatoes for long, because we're already pushing the limits of what our small space can handle.  This week is the perfect marriage of summer and fall veggies, and that means that we have a lot to harvest!  

Another thing that happens every year when the weather starts to look more like fall is that the deer start to act contrary to their best interest.  Once deer near their normal mating season, the young males especially try to enter the farm however they can, whether that's jumping over our deer fence, squeezing into cracks, or entering into the few places where the fence is the weakest.  We've definitely seen evidence of their presence the last few weeks, and Fred has been walking around the farm every morning and evening to scare them away.  Deer can do a surprising amount of damage to the veggies overnight, so we have to be extra vigilant this time of year so we don't return in the morning and find that they've eaten a week's worth of spring mix.  There is one yearling in particular who has been making his presence especially noticeable, and Fred has been quite intent on scaring him away for as long as possible.  I have taken to calling this young deer "Moby Dick".

We're still planting our fall greens, such as spinach and arugula, out in the fields, but the planting season is slowing down.  We'll still be harvesting for another two months, (or maybe even three, depending on the weather), but we won't be putting new seeds into the field for much longer.  We are nearing the time to slow down, and I'll definitely be ready when that happens.  But we continue to harvest a lot of onions and squash, and we have a large trailer full of pie pumpkins and winter squashes of all varieties curing in the shelter of one of our coldframes.  That will allow them to have a longer shelf life on your kitchen counter until you use them to make delicious fall dishes.  And there is nothing that says autumn like a big trailer piled with butternuts, spaghetti squash, delicatas, and pie pumpkins.  (You can see a picture of them above).  I hope you all enjoy them as much as we have been!  

And I guess that's it for this week!  Here we go into week 13 of the CSA, and I'll see you all at the drop-offs! 

What to Expect in the Shares this Week

 

If you pick up at our Alma, Mt. Pleasant, or Midland drop-off, here are the options for your shares!  If you have a half share, you’ll choose one item from each choice category, and if you have a full share, you’ll choose two.  And if there is something you don’t like or can’t eat, you can bring it to the trading station at the end and trade it for something you like better. 
 

• Potatoes or a bag of small onions
• Spring mix or butternut squash
• Pie Pumpkin, leeks, or delicata squash
• Carrots, cherry tomatoes, or beets
• Cabbage, kale, or Swiss chard
• Microgreens, 2 tomatoes, or 2 peppers
• Kohlrabi or a large onion

If you pick up at our Lansing, Okemos, St. Johns, Midland hospital, or Alma hospital drop-off, or if you have home or workplace delivery, here are your options!  We have three different prepacked shares, and you can let me know which one you want by filling out this quick form by lunchtime the day before your drop-off.  If you have a half share, you can choose one of these options, and if you have a full share, you’ll choose two.

Share A:

• Potatoes
• Spring mix
• Pie pumpkin
• Carrots
• Cabbage
• 2 peppers
• Kohlrabi

Share B:

• Potatoes
• Butternut squash
• Delicata squash
• Cherry tomatoes
• Cabbage
• Tomatoes
• Onion

Share C:

• Bag of small onions
• Spring mix
• Pie Pumpkin
• Cherry tomatoes
• Kale
• 2 peppers
• Kohlrabi

Recipes

It's pumpkin and squash season!  If you are one of the many many people who are not sure how to get the pretty pumpkin sitting on your counter into a form you can actually use to make food, never fear!  Here is a quick and easy tutorial on how to turn a pie pumpkin into pumpkin puree, and then you can make pies, pumpkin rolls, or whatever pumpkin goodies you like to make!  

We also have cabbage this week, which makes me really excited for fall veggies in general!  If you're not sure what to do with cabbage but want to try it out, here is a great recipe for Sautéed Cabbage, which is sure to answer your "What do I do with cabbage?" questions, and is super yummy for any meal of the day.  Enjoy! :-)