CSA Newsletter for Week 8 of the 2023 Season

 Farm Update

Hi everyone!  Hope you're doing well!  Unlike much of modern life, which mostly moves ahead in straight line with one thing leading to another, the farm is cyclical in nature.  While no month in any farm season is the same as the last month, from year to year, most Aprils are similar to the other Aprils, most Junes are similar to other Junes, and October will almost always find us harvesting leafy greens in the rain and handing out bags of root vegetables at the CSA drop-offs.  There is something beautiful about that cycle; while it's not fun to be overrun with gigantic weeds in August or harvest in a chilly October rain, there is comfort in knowing what to expect from each month, year after year.  And this year is no different.

Like most Augusts, the weeds are making a really valiant attempt to swallow up everything at the farm, and until this week, it was starting to look like they might win.  In every crop bed, there is a best time to weed, when the weeds are small and can be taken out easily.  In a perfect world, we'd be able to weed each bed at the right time, and then pass back through every few weeks to keep everything looking tidy.  Even if you've never gardened before, you probably have heard that weeds are the bad guys when you're trying to grow food or flowers, but you may not know why.  For one thing, they compete with the plants we want for scarce soil nutrients and water.  For another thing, if they get too tall, they can shade out the crops and keep them from getting all the sunlight they need to grow.  They also make it a lot harder to harvest the veggies.  Since we harvest everything by hand, it's hard to see what we're doing if the weeds are in the way, and it also makes it harder to keep weeds out of the spring mix.  Weeds are just generally a nuisance, and this year, we had a lot of weeds in the back field get away from us.  We weren't able to get back there to weed at the right time because we were too busy with other things around the farm.  And then it got really hot and really wet, and the weeds just took off in those tropical rainforest conditions.  So last week, we spent every spare moment trying to hack down the weeds so we don't loose a bunch of plantings.  We plant everything in long, straight beds that vary from 200 to 600 feet long, with a few feet of soil in between each bed.  Well, the weeds in between the beds got so large that some of them towered over me and looked like mini trees.  They were smaller and more manageable in the onion beds (you can see the difference in the picture above between what I had already weeded and what I hadn't gotten to yet), but they got really out of control around the peppers and Brussel sprouts.  So we got the heaviest duty weed whacker the tractor supply store had to offer, and went to town hacking down the insanely large weeds.  It took a lot of time and a lot of strength, and truth be told, my whole body was pretty sore by Friday.  But the back field is looking a lot better, and we've rescued the onions, peppers, and Brussels sprouts... for now.

This is also the part of the year that starts what most people think of as "the harvest season".  While we actually started the earliest harvests of overwintered leafy greens back in March, and have been harvesting four days a week since June, now is when we start to bring in the large harvests of storage vegetables that will last through the fall and winter.  This week, we will be bringing in thousands of pounds of potatoes in the margins of time around harvesting for the CSA, washing and packing the veggies, and bringing all of the veggies to you all at the drop-offs.  If you've ever seen those huge potato harvesters driving around in large fields, bringing in thousands of pounds of potatoes may not seem like a big deal to you.  However, we are a much smaller farm, and we don't have that kind of equipment, so it's actually a much more daunting task.  Fortunately, we have our handy dandy potato digger, which makes harvesting potatoes a much easier and more efficient process than digging them up by hand.

Basically, the potato digger is a contraption that we hook onto the back of the tractor (you can see it in the picture to the right), and it has a metal plate that digs into the soil and loosens up about the top foot of earth.  Then the potatoes and dirt are propelled up a series of metal grates and fall out the back of the machine, where they lay on top of the soil and wait for us to pick them up.  Then we collect them by hand and put them in large wooden bins in our walk-in cooler in the barn with the dirt still on them, and then wash them up as needed when it's time to bring them to the CSA.  Leaving the dirt on until we are ready to distribute them helps them stay in peak condition for longer because it acts as a protective barrier from the air, which would begin to dry out the potatoes if they were left exposed to the air for a long period of time.  

Speaking of protective barriers for your veggies, I had some folks recently ask me about the best way to store everything from the CSA so it will last as long as possible.  So here's a quick tutorial on how to store your CSA haul when you get home from the drop-off!

The first thing to know is that we do clean your produce up at the farm before we bring it to you.  There are regulations about calling produce pre-washed, so we can't label them as such or tell you that you don't have to rewash your veggies when you bring them home.  But I can say that whenever I bring things into my own kitchen, I don't rewash them.  If you do want to rewash the items, do it right before you use them, because if you do it as soon as you bring your veggies home, you'll really decrease their lifespan.  

The next thing to know is what to keep out on the counter and what to put in the fridge.   It's generally best to store things like tomatoes, onions, and garlic that has the papery skin out on the counter.  If you get tomatoes that come in a plastic bag, it's best to take them out and just leave them in the open on the counter.  People are often surprised to learn that basil does much better at room temperature as well, and that if you put it in the fridge, it might get blackish after a few days.  I usually just leave it in the bag it came in out on my counter, and it usually lasts up to a week that way.  I store other fresh herbs in bags in the fridge, but I know plenty of people leave them in a cup of water on the counter, so play around with what works best for you when it comes to dill, parsley, and cilantro.

Most everything else, like root vegetables and leafy stuff, does best in the refrigerator.  And you know how I mentioned that leaving the dirt on the potatoes acts as a protective barrier between the potato and the air?  Leaving your veggies in the bags they came in will do the same thing, and they'll last a lot longer than if you take them out of the bag.  And if it's a leafy item and it doesn't come in a bag from the CSA, like kale or chard, I'd put it in a plastic grocery bag when you put it in the fridge.  If your leafy veggies get exposed to that dry refrigerated air, they'll get wilty a lot faster, but if they're in a bag, they'll last about a week and a half in the fridge.  Root vegetables like potatoes, carrots, and beets will last a really long time, like several months, if you leave them in the bag.  If you have any other questions about how to store your veggies, just let me know!  

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. 
 

• Leeks or tomatoes
• Potatoes or beets
• Carrots or cabbage
• Green beans, spring mix, or cherry tomatoes
• Kale, chard, or cucumber
• Basil, cilantro, or parsley
• Onion or microgreens

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:

• Leeks
• Potatoes
• Carrots
• Cherry tomatoes
• Kale
• Basil
• Microgreens

Share B:

• Tomatoes
• Potatoes
• Carrots
• Green beans
• Cucumber
• Basil
• Onion

Share C:

• Tomatoes
• Potatoes
• Carrots
• Spring mix
• Chard
• Parsley
• Onion

Recipes

I love pretty much all veggies, and when people ask me what my favorites are, I never know how to answer.  It usually comes down to what I haven't yet had ample opportunity to eat this season.  So I was pretty excited when Fred said we were going to be able to bring leeks to the CSA this week, because I definitely haven't had enough leeks yet.  If you've never worked with leeks before, they are delicious and oniony, and they are great sautéed, grilled, in soups... there are so many delicious ways you can cook leeks!  This Vegetarian White Pizza with Shaved Vegetables and Pesto recipe caught my eye, both because of the leeks and also the basil... and because pizza.  Some of the veggies on the pizza are no longer in season, but you can switch out the asparagus and peas for things you do have on hand, like tomatoes or even microgreens.  That is the beauty of pizza; it is endlessly customizable!  Another super customizable and delicious idea for your leeks is this Farro and White Bean Salad with Seasonal Vegetables.  You can include any veggies you have on hand if you have something you want to use up, and you can even change up what types of beans or grains you use.  But really, anything you make is bound to be great with the bounty of late summer! Enjoy!