CSA Newsletter for Week 1 of the 2023 Season

Farm Update

The potato plants are looking strong
and healthy! It is nice to see them looking
so good after their recent battles with frost
and insect pests!

Hi everyone!  The CSA starts next week, and we are excited to see everyone again!  If you are new to the CSA, and you missed my post a few weeks ago about what to expect at your first drop-off, you can check that out here learn everything you need to know about the first drop-off! This season has been up and down so far, between the late frosts and the drought we've been experiencing for about the last two months, but we finally have enough abundance and variety of vegetables to start the CSA.  We're also supposed to get a good rain in the next few days, which we could really use!  It's looking like we're going to get rained on for most of Sunday and Monday, and while I don't love the idea of getting rained on at the first CSA drop-off of the year, I'll take it.  Once we get a good rain, so many crops that have been held back from growing will take off, and we'll have even more variety for the next few weeks.  Also, we've been experiencing a lot of pressure from insects, which attack our plants even more ferociously in really dry periods.  Because we've been irrigating our plants like crazy with our drip irrigation system, they look a lot better and greener than any other plants that are around in the wild, and naturally, the bugs want to eat the healthiest plants.  So once all the other plants in the ecosystem get the water they need, our plants will be proportionately less attractive to the bugs, and we won't have to fight them as hard.  

The upside to the drier weather is that the weeds really haven't gotten as out of control as they usually do this time of year, because their growth has also been stunted by the drought.  When we irrigate our crops, we use a drip irrigation system, which is basically a series of little flat perforated hoses that run right along the rows of crops and drip water only where it is needed.  This uses a lot less water than overhead irrigation systems, and it also keeps the weeds at bay by watering (mostly) only the plants we want.  Now that we're past those late frosts that damaged so many of our plants in May, and since we've been irrigating so much, there are a lot of things that are looking really good around the farm.  It was pretty discouraging for a while to see everything looking so beaten down after we worked so hard to take care of it, but now things are starting to look really healthy.  The hoophouses are verdant with zucchini and cucumber plants and tomato vines, and our plantings of carrots look really strong and beautiful.  The potato plants are growing large and nice, and we pulled up a potato plant yesterday to see how the potatoes themselves are developing.  They're looking good so far, and Fred and I ate those first delicious little potatoes with our lunch yesterday.  We are so excited that we finally have so much variety coming out of the fields and hoophouses, and we've definitely been enjoying all the abundance in our own kitchen!

Our drip line irrigation on a new planting
of onions, carrots, and spring mix.

We have made it through the first big planting push of the spring, and now there are just a few beds that have yet to be planted.  Since we didn't get any rain over the last few months, there is still so much cover crop in those beds that we can't plant until we get some rain and the winter cover crop starts its normal process of composting.  Once that happens, we're going to plant those beds pretty aggressively with some of the veggies that will be in the shares in late summer.  We always need to have plants that are at the right stage to harvest, so we plant new crops every few weeks.  It's definitely an art and a science, because you need to have open beds to plant, you have to have the right weather conditions for planting, and you have to have the right amount of time before you intend to harvest those plants so that you don't ever have a week where there is too much or too little coming out of the fields.  Too much, and we risk not being able to harvest everything (which is hugely wasteful), and too little, and we feel bad that we don't have as much variety as we'd like for the CSA.  There is a lot to manage, including a lot of factors that are out of our control.  But the best we can do is make an educated guess, control the factors we can can, and be ready to pivot around the ones we can't.  

Fortunately, we have a really great crew this summer, and unreliable labor is not an issue this year as it has sometimes been in the past.  With farming, the work needs to be done when it needs to be done.  There is no such thing as getting to it later, so there were a lot of years where Fred just had to work nonstop in order to keep everything from falling apart.  Having reliable, enthusiastic, capable workers this year has been such a joy and a relief!  A huge shout out to Abby, Ander, and Amy, who have been wonderful to work with!  I am so looking forward to doing this whole season with them!  

And with that said, here we go into the first week of the 2023 CSA season! 

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 for everyone!
• Carrots for everyone!
• Cucumbers or radishes
• Oyster mushrooms, snap peas, or zucchini
• Kale, Swiss chard, or bok choy
• Kohlrabi, microgreens, or frisee
• Green onions or garlic scapes

There might be some stuff on this list that you're unfamiliar with, so if you want to learn more about what any of these are, just click the link to read more!

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
• Carrots
• Oyster mushrooms
• Kale
• Frisee
• Radishes
• Green onions

Share B:

• Spring mix
• Carrots
• Oyster mushrooms
• Swiss chard
• Kohlrabi
• Cucumbers
• Green onions

Share C:

• Spring mix
• Carrots
• Zucchini
• Bok choy
• Microgreens
• Cucumbers
• Garlic scapes

Look at these lovely tomato vines in flower!
They have a bunch of green cherry tomatoes
on them, which will make their way into 
the shares when they ripen in a month
or so.

Recipes

The start of the CSA season is always exciting, and especially if you're new, you may encounter some veggies you've never cooked with before!  Kohlrabi is one I always get questions about, so if you've never tried kohlrabi, you are in for a treat! It's very fresh tasting, and while you can find many kohlrabi recipes on the internet (I'll link to some below), we've been making a really simple and delicious salad with it lately in our kitchen!

Fred's Asian Kohlrabi and Carrot Salad

This salad is really simple, and you can play around with amounts and ingredients as you see fit.  To start, grab a handful of spring mix and put it on a plate.  Then grab a cheese grater, and use the large grating holes to grate some carrots over the spring mix (however much you want!  We generally use a lot!).  Peel the outer skin off the kohlrabi and discard.  Take the peeled kohlrabi and use the large grating holes of your grater to sprinkle some shaved kohlrabi over the salad (again, however much you want!).  Then, grab any Asian inspired sauce, vinaigrette, or dressing you have on hand, and sprinkle liberally over your salad.  We use a mix of sesame vinaigrette, soy sauce, and teriyaki sauce, but you could also use Thai peanut sauce, a soy/hoisin sauce mix, or any other dressing you like.  Enjoy as a small side dish, or you could also add little bits of grilled chicken, venison, or other meat to make it a main dish!

If you just want to check out a whole bunch of kohlrabi recipes to get your creative juices going, here are 10 Fun Kohlrabi Recipes from A Couple Cooks!  And honestly, I also like just cutting them into sticks and munching on them raw with ranch dressing. :-)

Here is the Swiss chard that will
be in the shares this week!

Swiss chard is more mainstream now than it was when we first started the CSA in 2011, but it is another thing that you may never have cooked with before, especially if you haven't ventured much into leafy greens.  (Do it!  Leafy greens are so good for you, and they are also delicious!) Chard is fantastic in omelets!  Here is a great base recipe for a Chard and Onion Omelet from the Food Network, but you could also play around with different cheeses, herbs, and veggies.  The thing I love about omelets is that you can put pretty much whatever you want in them, so have fun with it! 

What to Expect at Your First CSA Drop-Off!

Our little cucumbers are coming along, and there
should be a lot of them ready to harvest in a few weeks!

Hi everyone!  The start of the CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) is getting closer, and if you haven't been part of the CSA before, you probably have questions about how it works!  So here is a rundown of what you need to know in order to feel prepared for your first CSA drop-off!

The first thing is that we have two pretty different types of drop-offs.  If you are picking up at our Alma, Mt. Pleasant, or Midland drop-offs, those are what we call "market style" drop-offs.  Here's how those ones work:

You'll pull up to the drop-off location between 5 and 6 PM on your drop-off day, and we'll have some long tables set up with all of the produce options for that week!  At the beginning, we'll have a sign-in sheet where you'll initial next to your name, and if you have anything you want me to know about (like that you'll be out of town the following week), you can also write me a note on the sign-in sheet.  Then there will be seven different "stations" at the table, and each one will have a choice and a sign telling you what to do.  The signs will say something like, "Spinach or Spring Mix:  Half Share, Choose 1.  Full Share, Choose 2".  Each sign will tell you what the options are for that station and how many items to choose.  And at the very end, we have our Trading Station.  Before each drop-off, we put a variety of items at the Trading Station so that if there are any stations where you don't want or can't eat those items, you can trade for something you like better.  So if you don't like onions, for example, you can trade your onions for something else at the Trading Station.  

Here are some pro tips for the market style drop-offs:

-The drop-off starts at 5 PM, but people often start lining up before that.  There is usually a pretty long line at the beginning of the drop-off until about 5:15, but after that, you don't generally have to wait in line.  The upside to getting there early is that all of the varieties of veggies are still there.  Because we harvest the right amount of produce for the people we know are coming, sometimes if everyone wants a particular item, that item can be snapped up before the end of the drop-off. If you don't mind standing in line, we always have the maximum variety at the beginning of the drop-off. But if you don't like standing in line and you don't have your heart set on a particular item, getting there after 5:15 is the way to go!

-We can also prepack your share for you at the farm for no extra charge if you are on a tight schedule or if you won't be able to get to the drop-off by 6 PM.  We do prepacked shares for our Lansing, Okemos, St. Johns, and home/workplace delivery folks, and even if you pick up at one of our regular drop-offs, you can have us prepack your share.  In the CSA newsletter each weekend, I'll let you know what the options are for the prepacked shares (Share A, Share B, or Share C), and you can let me know which one you'd like us to pack for you.  Then you can just swing by the drop-off, grab the bag with your name on it, and be on your way without having to wait in line.  Just let me know by noon the day before your drop-off if you want to go with that option!

-We'll have plastic grocery bags available at the drop-off, but it's better if you bring a reusable bag.  It's more environmentally friendly and allows us to go through less plastic, but if you forget your bag, we'll have some there!

-If you're stuck in a meeting or your kid's sporting event, and you realize that there's no way you're going to make it to the drop-off in time, no worries!  Just call or text me at 517-896-6884 and let me know, and I can pack up a share for you and leave it at the drop-off.  Then you can just swing by and pick it up when you get done with what you're doing.  :-)

The cherry tomato vines are starting to get nice and
long, and there are plenty of unripe tomatoes on them!
Pretty soon, they will all ripen into a beautiful yellow color.

And if you're picking up at our Lansing, Okemos, St. Johns, or hospital drop-offs or you have home/workplace delivery, here's how it works for you:

Each weekend, I'll send out a CSA newsletter with farm news, recipes, and most importantly for you, what the veggie choices will be for the upcoming week! It will say something like, "Share A has these seven items, Share B has these seven items, and Share C has these seven items."  If you have a half share, you'll choose one of those options, and if you have a full share, you'll choose two of those options.  I'll have a link to a quick form for you to fill out and let me know which choice you prefer, and then we'll pack up your preferred share in a bag with your name on it and bring it to your drop-off location on your pickup day.  If you forget to fill out the form, no worries!  We'll still bring you a share, and we'll just put in whatever we think you'll like.  If you want to specify a preferred share, just make sure to get that form in to me by noon on the day before your drop-off.  I generally make the harvest list the afternoon/evening before your drop-off day, so I can't guarantee that I'll see any requests that come in after that.  If you do get your request in late, I might still be able to get that on the harvest list for you, but I can't promise it.  So it's best to send in your requests early!

And then, you just arrive at your drop-off location during the pickup time frame, tell the folks at your location your name, and they'll go get your bag for you!  For those of you picking up at Mert's Specialty Meats or the Soup Spoon Café, I always say that you can start picking up your share at 4:30, but I often drop-off the shares before that.  I'm going to set up at text to let you all know when your shares are ready for pickup, but if you'd like to opt out, just send me a quick email at michele@mforganics.com and let me know that you'd prefer not to get those texts.

And if you have home or workplace delivery, you just get to sit back and wait for me to drop-off your share on your doorstep!  You don't have to be there when I deliver the shares, but if it's especially hot or especially sunny, I'd recommend setting out a cooler by your front door for me to put your veggies in so they don't get all wilted in the heat.  

And here is some good information to know, whether you are picking up at one of our market style drop-offs or getting a prepacked share:

-If you know you won't be able to make it to a drop-off because you have an appointment, are out of town, etc, you have a few options.  You can either have a friend pick up your share, you can arrange to pick up your share at a different drop-off that week, or you can just postpone your share that week and get double when you get back.  For example, if you usually pick up in Mt. Pleasant on Tuesdays but you're out of town until Wednesday, you can just let me know by the previous day that you want to pick up in Midland on Thursday.  Then I'll just put you on the list for Thursday instead, and you can still get your veggies that week. Or you can postpone your share and make it up when you get back.  If you have a full share, it is totally fine to split up your makeup share so you don't get totally overrun with veggies!  And if you're having a friend pick up for you, you don't have to let me know ahead of time.  Your friend can just sign for you on the sign-in sheet.

-If your normal drop-off day falls on a bank holiday like Independence Day or Labor Day, the drop-off will still be occurring as usual!  However, if you have plans and can't make it, just let me know by the day before, and we can postpone your share or you can pick up at one of the other drop-offs that week.

-If you realize later in the evening sometime that you totally forgot to go pick up your veggies, never fear!  Just email or text me, and while I can't necessarily put you down for an extra share the following week, chances are good that I can still get you some extra veggies the next week to make up for what you missed.  We generally overharvest a bit, so once the main rush goes through (after about 5:15), I'll have a good idea of how much extra we'll have, and I can probably send you home with an extra share at that point.

-If you need to get in touch with me on the day of your drop-off, texting is the best way to do that! I don't check my email a ton during the day, and I am often packing veggies or doing something else that makes it hard to answer the phone.  But if you text me at 517-896-6884, I'll get back to you as soon as possible.  In fact, go ahead and put my number in your contacts right now!  I bet you'll need it at some point! :-)

So that's it!  Just let me know if you have any questions!  As of right now, we still haven't nailed down an official start date because it all really depends on what the weather does over the next few days, and alas, we can't control Mother Nature.  We're really hoping to start the week of June 19, but based on the drought we've had, we might have to get started the week of June 26. I'll let you know as soon as we know for sure!  Keep your fingers crossed!  

This drought we've been having has been pretty rough 
on our poor plants.  As you can see, some of them are
definitely looking the worse for wear. 

Projected CSA Start Dates for 2023!

Farm Update

The tomato plants are really taking off in the coldframes!

Hi everyone!  Summer is finally here!  As is always the case in June, there is more to do than we can actually stay on top of comfortably, but it is better this year than most because we have a really great crew of one part-time and two full-time employees this year.  So we are keeping our heads above water better than most Junes, but there is still plenty of work to be done!  It has been so dry lately that we have been irrigating non-stop to keep all of our little plants doing well.  One good rain is worth about a month of irrigation though, so we could definitely use some rain!  The upside is that the weeds have not been getting the water they need either, so there are a lot fewer of them than usual.  That means that we are spending less time weeding and more time moving irrigation lines around, so we end up breaking even in the end.  We made our first major planting push over the last month, and while the planting has slowed down, there are still a few things we are getting in the ground.  Our shipment of sweet potato starts arrived the other day, so starting later this morning, we will be planting 3,000 sweet potato plants.  Last week, we got the rest of our seed potatoes into the ground, which, if all goes according to plan, should produce between 13,000 and 18,000 pounds of potatoes for us to give out throughout the season.  

It looks like we are finally past the frosts for the year, which is a relief, because that last frost we had earlier this week did some damage to a few of our crops.  Most of them will pull through, but they are definitely looking worse for wear.  Surprisingly, our kale was the crop that fared the worst.  Over the years, kale is the one crop we can generally count on to take a frost without so much as a shrug, but a frost this hard when the plants were so young seems to have been too much for about half of our kale plants.  Fortunately, we always plant way more than we'll need for the CSA, simply because we know that these things happen.  But we are going to need to form a plan to regroup in the kale department, and that plan will probably involve replanting about half of the plants.  Our broccoli and cabbage have really taken a hit as well.  After those several hard frosts weakened the plants, a bunch of opportunistic insects flocked to the vulnerable plants and did yet more damage.  And since it is so hot and dry (and since we've been irrigating so much), our plants look better to the bugs than anything else they can find around, so they've been really taking a toll on our cabbage-family plants in particular.  

While some of our plants are looking the worse for wear because of the extreme temperatures and lack of water they've experienced lately, many other crops are looking really fantastic!  Our spinach, lettuce, beets, snap peas, and carrots have been looking extra good, so we're really focusing on keeping those crops looking awesome and growing up strong!

The new greenhouse is under construction!  It's going up bit by bit as we can
fit it in around other tasks, but we're making real progress.

Aside from planting, irrigating, and moderate amounts of weeding, we're also constructing the new (old) greenhouse we bought at auction back in November.  We had hoped to get that put up much earlier in the spring, but we ran into a labor snafu in March, and were unable to make that happen.  But now we've got some great employees working for us, so we're getting the greenhouse put up a bit at a time in between the other farm tasks that keep everything running.  We've also been doing deliveries to some of our stores for a few months now.  While we don't have enough variety yet to start the CSA, we have been able to keep GreenTree in Mt. Pleasant, the Argus Farm Stop stores in Ann Arbor, and ELFCO in Lansing supplied with spinach, spring mix, green onions, baby leeks, green garlic, asparagus, and the like.  We also supply some larger multi-farm CSAs that are coordinated through the Allen Neighborhood Center in Lansing and St. Joe's hospital in Ypsilanti with a few items for their CSA boxes.  So we've definitely been keeping busy with the harvesting, washing, packing, and delivering the veggies, but it will get even busier when we start the CSA later in June!

Speaking of which, we don't have official CSA start dates yet, because so much depends on what the weather does between now and then, but our projected start dates are in the third week of June.  I'll let you all know for sure as soon as we know, but in the meantime, you can mark your calendars with the following dates:

Alma:  Monday, June 19th from 5-6 PM out in front of His Place, downtown on Superior St.

Mt. Pleasant:  Tuesday, June 20th from 5-6 PM behind Herbs Etc, downtown on Broadway.

Lansing:  Wednesday, June 21st anytime from 4:30-9 PM at the Soup Spoon Café on Michigan Ave.

Okemos:  Wednesday, June 21st anytime from 4:30- 6 PM at Mert's Specialty Meats on Grand River.

St. Johns:  Wednesday, June 21st anytime after 3:30 PM on the front porch of a CSA member who lives close to downtown.  I'll be sending you St. Johns folks an email separately with the details, so be on the lookout for that in the next week or so!

Midland:  Thursday, June 22nd 1from 5-6 PM in the back parking lot of the Eagle Ridge Church of God on Waldo Ave.

Midland hospital drop-off:  Thursday, June 22nd anytime after 4 PM at the delivery turnaround behind the Center for Women's Health.  This one is only for hospital employees due to hospital regulations.

So if you have any questions about that, just let me know!  Again, these dates are tentative, but I will let you know for sure as soon as we know!  And if you know anyone who is interested in the CSA, we do still have some spots available, so they can still sign up!  They can check out all the details about the CSA on our website, and just fill out this sign-up form to get on the CSA list for this year and start getting delicious organic veggies in just a few weeks! :-)

And stay tuned for next week's CSA newsletter, which will be all about what to expect at your first CSA drop-off! 

Fred has just finished loading up the delivery vehicle for our 
Ann Arbor delivery route last Monday.  The new (old) vehicle looks
pretty wacky, but it can haul a lot of vegetables!