CSA Newsletter for Week 10 of the 2023 Season

  Farm Update

Hi everyone!  Hope you're doing well!  We've been busy at the farm this week bringing in the big potato harvest in the time that we're not getting everything ready for the CSA drop-offs.  Getting everything harvested, washed, and packed up for the drop-offs four days a week takes quite a lot of time on its own, and this week we've also been using every spare minute to get the potatoes out of the field.  At the farm, there is a right time for everything, and we're racing against the clock to get the potatoes safely in the cooler before they get burned by the sun, rotted by the rain, eaten by critters, or try to resprout.  So far we have 6,000 pounds stacked up in our walk-in cooler in the barn, and we have about 2,000 more pounds to bring in in the next few days.  Once the potatoes are all in the barn, the onions are waiting in the wings (or, in the ground) for their turn to be harvested.  That will also be a big job, but not nearly as big as the potatoes.  We are definitely in the harvest season now, with successive large harvests of potatoes, onions, winter squash, and sweet potatoes all occurring within a month or so.  And like all of our ancestors who spent this time of year preparing for leaner times in the winter, we'll be able to look into a barn packed with storage vegetables and be proud of a job well done.  Unlike our ancestors, we won't actually be storing all of that bounty to get us through the snowy months when nothing much grows; instead, we're bringing most of it to all of you.  (And just as well, because we do actually need to be able to move around in the barn, and that gets really hard to do with such a large volume of storage crops in there!)  But like those Michigan farmers who came before us, we will be storing a bunch of potatoes, beets, carrots, sweet potatoes, and winter squash to cook with in our own kitchen until the first spring veggies start coming out of the coldframes in March.  

But in the meantime, it is still very much summertime, even if it is the time of year I think of as "mature summer".  It's almost on the edge of fall, but still has those warm days and plentiful food coming out of the fields.  And right now, the tomatoes are the stars!  Late August is an amazing time to enjoy the sweetest, ripest tomatoes, and I hope you've been enjoying them as much as we have!  We'll have more tomatoes for you this week, along with a whole bunch of other delicious veggies to make wonderful summer food!

So welcome to week 10 of the CSA!  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. 
 

• Potatoes
• Carrots
• Cherry tomatoes or spring mix
• Tomatoes
• Kale, chard, or leeks
• Basil, parsley, or microgreens
• Onion or cucumber

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
• Carrots
• Cherry tomatoes
• Slicing tomatoes
• Kale
• Basil
• Cucumber

Share B:

• Potatoes
• Carrots
• Spring mix
• Slicing tomatoes
• Leeks
• Microgreens
• Onion

Share C:

• Potatoes
• Carrots
• Cherry tomatoes
• Slicing tomatoes
• Chard
• Parsley
• Onion

Recipes

I absolutely love peak tomato season.  We eat a ton of tomatoes at our house this time of year, prepared all different ways, because they just have such a great flavor.  Tomatoes that you get at the grocery store, which generally have been picked green and unripe and shipped across the country, just can't compete with a late summer vine-ripened tomato.  And fortunately, we have a bunch of those ripe, red, delicious gems this week!  If you have already had your fill of Caprese salads and BLTs, and you're looking for something new to try, check out Chef John's Gazpacho!  This chilled Spanish-style soup starts with tomatoes and cucumbers, and features a number of the veggies that are in the shares this week!  Enjoy!