CSA Newsletter for July 3, 2015

Farm Update

Today Fred and Keegan laid
down a bunch of white
plastic for the newest cool-
season transplants.  Basically,
the plastic keeps the soil a
little cooler so our cold-loving
veggies don't get stressed from
the heat of high summer.

Hello everyone!  Happy 4th of July weekend!  Like most of you, we are actually going to be able to get away from the farm for Saturday and do something fun, so this is going to be a pretty short newsletter this week!  My guess is that you guys won't mind that much, because you'll likely be vacationing, cooking out, and generally enjoying the holiday.  Here at the farm, things are going pretty well.  It's been an abnormally cold beginning of July, which means that our cool season crops (like the lettuce and greens) are enjoying this part of the year a lot more than they usually do, but our warm season crops (think tomatoes and sweet corn) are getting a slower start.  The insect pressure is starting to drop a little, which has been nice, but the weeds are really flourishing (although they are meeting their end as I type this, because the weeding crew is out there right now getting things back in order).  We've also seen a little bit of disease on some of our lettuce, as plant diseases are more prevalent in cool, wet conditions.  So you win some, you lose some, and sometimes the best plan of action is to step back, breathe, and take a day off so you don't burn out.  (At least that's what I tell myself.)  So that is what we'll be doing tomorrow, and I hope you all get a chance to do the same!  Enjoy your holiday, and we'll see you next week!

What to Expect in Your Share This Week

At the regular drop-off:

• Choice of spring mix or large-leaf salad mix
• Carrots for everybody
• Choice of kale or chard
• Choice of radishes, onions, or bok choy
• Choice of cabbage or beets
• Surprise veggie!  (Basically, this means that we'll have a bunch of odds and ends becoming ready in the field, but we don't know what's going to be ready on what day.)
• Choice of kohlrabi or herbs (might be chives, cilantro, basil, or parsley.)

For home/office delivery:

A Share:
Spring mix
Carrots

Savoy cabbages, all clean and ready to go
to the drop-off!

Kale
Radishes
Cabbage
Surprise veggie
Herbs

B Share:
Large-leaf salad mix
Carrots
Chard
Onions
Beets
Surprise veggie
Herbs

Recipes

I often have people ask how to cook a particular veggie, and this last week the one I got the most questions about was the chard.  So if you're wondering how to use your chard to best advantage, here are a few ideas!

Sauteed Swiss Chard with Parmesan Cheese:  This is pretty similar to how we usually prepare chard at home, but gussied up a bit with lemon and onions!  This is such a quick and simple side dish!

Or try out these 24 Swiss Chard Recipes from Martha Stewart.  You'll never run out of great ideas to try here, and there is a great mix of recipes that run from simple to fancy, depending on your tastes, time available, and skill in the kitchen. :-)

CSA Newsletter for June 27, 2015

Farm Update

The squash blossoms are on the plants, so we
should start having summer squash for the CSA
pretty soon!

Hello everyone!  It's been another good and busy week at the farm!  With the fields being so wet after all that rain we've gotten, we couldn't get into the fields to cultivate, so we had to do quite a lot of weeding on Friday.  Fred was pretty glad to get that back under control.  The strawberries are winding down for the season, although we will still have some for this next week.  We've actually had a longer-than-normal strawberry season, prolonged by the cooler temperatures.  Indeed, it looks like it is shaping up to be a cool start to July as well.  The blueberries are looking pretty good on the plants; there are a lot of green berries on the plants, and we expect them to ripen up in about two weeks.  Despite the trouble we've been having with the new irrigation system, the berries are filling out pretty nicely, partly because of all the rain we got, and partly because Fred is watering them pretty heavily this weekend.  The tomato plants are growing quickly in the coldframes, and the zucchini plants have doubled in size since last week.  Fred actually brought home the first little zucchinis yesterday, so it's only a matter of time before they are ready for the CSA.  Just a reminder:  I know that a lot of people are going to be out of town this week for the holiday, so if you are one of those people, just let me know!  I'll plan on postponing your share for you and getting you a double share when you get back.  See you all soon!

What to Expect in Your Share This Week

At the regular drop-offs:

• Choice of strawberries, carrots, or snap peas
• Choice of kohlrabi or herbs (might be garlic scapes, cilantro, basil, or chives)
• Choice of spring mix or large-leaf salad mix
• Choice of radishes or bok choy
• Choice of savoy cabbage or bunched onions
• Choice of broccoli or beets
• Choice of kale or chard

For home/workplace delivery:

These lovely pearl onions
will be one of the choices
in this week's shares!

A Share:
Carrots
Kohlrabi
Spring mix
Radishes
Savoy cabbage
Broccoli
Kale

B Share:
Snap peas
Herbs
Large-leaf salad mix
Bok choy
Onions
Beets
Chard

This Week in Pictures

I know I've mentioned it before in a previous newsletter, but I always love when news sources run "This Week in Pictures" type articles.  I think it's fun to see what has been going on in the world in the past week through images people have captured.  So here is a small sampling of what has been going on at the farm this week through the pictures Fred has been taking.  Enjoy!

Here are some of our squash blossoms, bagged up and ready to go out to one of our Lansing-area restaurants on Thursday.

We've been seeing quite a few toads at the farm lately.  Here, a toad finds shade under one of our kale plants.

Jane and Jessamine came out to the field on Friday to survey the progress of all the veggies and ride on the tractor with Fred.

Saturday morning, Mary and Aram hand-transplanted a whole bunch of romaine and frisee into the field.  That was one of the many random tasks that Fred and the crew took care of on Friday and Saturday after a busy week of harvesting, packing, irrigating, deliveries, and CSA drop-offs.

The savoy cabbage is looking gorgeous!  We harvested the first of it on Thursday, and we'll be bringing it to the CSA drop-offs this next week.

 The lettuce for our spring mix grows up in long rows, which makes for easier weeding and harvesting.

The blueberry plants have plenty of little green berries on them right now!  In a few weeks, they will be blue, beautiful, and ready to eat!

Our edible nasturtiums grow in hanging pots in the coldframes.  We've got a mix of red, yellow, and orange blooms that go mostly to restaurants, but we've occasionally brought them to the CSA in past years as well.  Fred brings also often brings them home to put on our salads.

Fred harvested and brought home the very first potatoes today, and was surprised to find how big they are already!  It will be a few weeks before the majority of them are big enough to bring to the CSA, but it's encouraging to see that they are doing so well.

Recipes

Admittedly, I get really excited about each new veggie that comes out of the field, but I got especially giddy when I saw Fred bringing home the first sugar snap peas.  So in honor of one of my very favorite spring veggies, here is a super simple, super yummy recipe for Sugar Snap Peas.

CSA Newsletter for June 21, 2015

Farm Update

Fred harvests some of our
microgreens by hand.

Hello everyone! It's a busy time at the farm, but things are looking good.  This last week we had a lot of rain, and we were fortunate that we did not have much damage from flooding or rot, which is a big risk with so much rain.  As it was, we lost a few plants in the back field (which has a tendency not to drain as well as the rest of the farm) and lost a few strawberries in our older plantings.  It turned out the biggest hassle was just trying to wash the muddy soil off the veggies.  The chickens are doing well and our young hens are starting to increase their egg size very gradually, which is normal for young hens.   At the end of this rainy week we were finally able to get a lot of transplants planted into the ground, though the soil was a bit moist. The potato beetles have come out in full force after the rain, so we will be spraying them with our organic spray mix Sunday.  The blueberry patch has definitely enjoyed the rain and the berries are sizing rapidly.  Weeds are still growing fast with the moisture, but hopefully this week we can get them back under control. This time of year everything happens so quickly, but this early on in the season, we still have the energy and enthusiasm for all the running, and we're thrilled to be doing what we love!

What to Expect in Your Share This Week

At the regular drop-offs:

Mary harvests kale for the CSA
drop-off.

• Choice of strawberries or snap peas
• Choice of romaine lettuce or spring mix
• Choice of bok choy, cooking greens, or Chinese cabbage
• Choice of radishes, kale, or chard
• Choice of green onions, kohlrabi, or fennel
• Choice of broccoli or beets
• Choice of red head lettuce or herbs (might be basil, cilantro, or chives)

For home/workplace delivery:

A Share:
Strawberries
Romaine lettuce
Bok choy
Radishes
Green onions
Beets
Herbs

B Share:
Snap peas
Spring mix
Chinese cabbage
Kale
Fennel
Broccoli
Red leaf lettuce

June at the Farm:  A Typical Week

While harvesting for the various
orders and CSA drop-offs takes the
bulk of our time, we also spend
plenty of time seeding for future
weeks of veggies with our push seeder.

The month of June is the busiest month of our farm and our family life every year.  During the week Fred gets up to make breakfast for the family around 5:15-5:45 using mostly our veggies, eggs, and few other locally sourced items like bacon or bread.  After breakfast Michele does as much farm work as she can before our girls get up, answering emails, making drop-off signs, creating harvest lists, financial record keeping, etc.  At the farm Fred starts the farm crew out harvesting different items for both our wholesale accounts and the CSA.  Then as the veggies start coming up to the wash area, Mary, Aram, and Fred start washing, drying, packing, and doing quality control for the veggies we will distribute that day.   This is where we also bag the produce and then put it into our refrigerated delivery truck or the cooler that is attached to our small greenhouse. 

Harvest takes up most of everyone’s time out at the field, but after harvest (most of which happens in the morning), there is still a lot of work to do.  At that point there is plenty of weeding, cultivating, planting, spraying (organic sprays, usually made from plant extracts), and other maintenance work to be done.  Weeding especially takes a lot of time at the farm, as nature tries to cover bare soil areas of the farm with foliage.  With warm (but not scorching) temperatures and plenty of moisture, there are ideal conditions for both crop and weed seed germination.  Most weeds are taken out with tractor-driven cultivators, but weeding inside the rows of the crops by hand is what takes most of the time. 

With these warm air temperatures and adequate moisture comes incredibly fast growth, especially of plant foliage.  Since our farm’s specialty is leafy greens, June is a very heavy harvest month as hundreds of pounds of mostly leafy veggies go out to the CSA, restaurants, stores, and local distributors every day Monday-Thursday.   All of our leafy green harvesting is done by hand (usually with a knife) so our time into harvesting is considerable, but the quality is really exceptional compared with mechanical harvesting, which we have tried.  Everything is fast paced at the farm, occasionally bordering on frantic, as we try to meet delivery and pick up times under the heavy harvest load during this time of year.  

A lot of planting is also occurring in June as we try to seed more plantings for future weeks later in the year.  There is also a lot of transplanting going on (which is done by hand), especially of crops like romaine lettuce, broccoli, and cabbage. Transplanting is more labor intensive than seeding directly into the field, but it cuts down on hand weeding considerably since the weeds will be 4 weeks behind the growth cycle of the crop. 

Mary washes spring mix at our
wash station.

For the CSA drop-offs, Michele drops our little girls off at Grandpa and Grandma's and meets Fred at the farm to get everything packed, bagged, and organized, and then we head to the drop-off and set up.  Most places where we have CSA drop-offs, we also deliver to restaurants, stores, and our home delivery customers on the same trip, making timing critical on these fast-paced days.

With so many aspects of the farm moving so fast there are a lot of balls to juggle at the same time in June.  Getting all our workers, customers, crops, and equipment moving together in the same harmonious direction, and managing all the information that flows in and between, is a huge almost crushing undertaking this time of year. However, it is very gratifying to see so much of the planning, preparation, stressing, and short nights come to fruition to daily send off hundreds of pounds of truly good food to people who really value the food they are getting.  It is also great to have a farm where we can bring home really fresh food everyday and have closer connections with our community and the many personalities that make up our local food system.

Recipes

Beets are one of the new choices in this week's shares, and for us, they're kind of like an old friend.  Because we have them around for most of the year (the fall beets will even last in the fridge until well into the winter), we can kind of start to take them for granted.  So I'm always looking for new things to do with beets.  Check out this Cavatelli with Beets and Swiss Chard recipe from Martha Stewart for a delicious recipe to bring to your next potluck!  Just note that the first step does need to chill in the fridge for at least an hour before you can do the rest of the recipe, so you don't want to start it right before you leave for the party.  Or, for a very fast, very easy, and very delicious beet recipe, try our old standby:  Coarsely dice the beets, sautée them in olive oil until they are fork tender but not mushy, add some rosemary, and serve as a hearty side dish.  That's our go-to beet preparation, and it is always excellent!

Fennel is one of those things I always get a lot of questions about, so if you're not sure what to do with it, try out one of these Fennel Recipes You'll Make Over and Over Again.  You're sure to find several recipes you love in here, because there are ideas for every taste preference and skill level!

CSA Newsletter for June 13, 2015

Farm Update

The lettuce really appreciated this great rain we
got yesterday!

Hello everyone! We just had a nice much needed rain, and things are really growing right now! The fields were really dry, but fortunately now they have had a good soaking.  Fred was also happy to get a little break from the field work on Friday morning after an intense week at the farm. It seems we are now winning the fight against the flea beetles, though we did start to see our first cucumber beetles this week, so the respite from insect pressure will likely be brief.  Our potatoes are really looking nice, and things in general look very vibrant.  There are a lot of green strawberries, so we are hoping they dry out quickly after the rain, and that we get warm enough temperatures to ripen them quickly in time for the CSA this week.  This is a very busy time at the farm as the crops are growing quickly, and also because harvesting, planting, and weeding are all at their highest demand.  The next few weeks should be really crazy until Fred’s insane workload tapers off a little bit after the 4^th of July.  It is so great to finally have an abundance of fresh veggies and fruit here at home, and we hope you will enjoy it this week as well!

What to Expect in Your Share This Week

If you love green onions as much as I do,
you can look forward to some of these lovely
bunches of goodness as a choice in your share
this week!

At the regular drop-offs:

• Choice kohlrabi or green onions
• Choice of chives, cilantro, or baby fennel
• Choice of spring mix or large-leaf salad mix
• Choice of head lettuce or spinach
• Strawberries
• Choice of kale or chard
• Choice of bok choy or radishes

We'll also have fennel in the shares this week,
because some of it is getting big enough to harvest!

For home/workplace delivery:

A Share:

Kohlrabi
Cilantro
Spring mix
Head lettuce
Strawberries
Kale
Bok choy

B Share:

Green onions
Chives
Large-leaf salad mix
Spinach
Strawberries
Chard
Radishes

Veggie Spotlight:  Cilantro

Cilantro is often confused with parsley because
the leaves have such a similar look, but the flavor
is totally different.

Also known as coriander or Chinese parsley, cilantro is an herb that is very widely used throughout the world, and is actually thought to be the most widely used spice on the planet.  Here in the U.S. coriander is used to refer to the seeds of the plant (which have kind of an orangy flavor), and cilantro usually refers to the leaf and stem portion, which we most often find bunched in the supermarket.  Cilantro has one of the shortest shelf lives of any fresh herb, so it really is best to get it very fresh.  If you have ever confused it with parsley, you are not alone.  Though the taste is very different, the look is similar and botanically it is closely related to parsley.

If you happen to be one of those people who strongly dislike cilantro, you may have your genes to blame, because studies have shown that there is a strong correlation between genetics and finding it repulsive.  Apparently, the olfactory-sensor sensor gene OR6A2 is strongly linked to a strong repulsion to the aldehydes in cilantro, which give it its flavor.  A few of our teenage workers find it repulsive, as Fred did when he was a teenager, so maybe there is an age component to disliking it as well.

The history of humans and cilantro is long, and it is thought to be cultivated for over 5000 years.  Partly because it has been cultivated for so long, its origin is unclear, but it is thought to have been native to somewhere between the Southern Mediterranean and Southeastern Asia.  It has been found in ancient Egyptian tombs and other ancient burial sites throughout the world.  Coriander also was referenced in the biblical Exodus account (apparently manna had a coriander flavor to it), and in Arabian Nights. 

This is what cilantro looks like growing in the
field, long before you see it bunched at the store
or the CSA drop-off.

We grow cilantro every year at the farm, and we love to use it at home during the season.  Usually we grow cilantro by planting the seeds directly into the ground with our field seeder, and then harvesting about 40-50 days later.  This year we have mostly grown it from transplants, starting the seeds in the greenhouse and then transplanting it into the field when the plants were a little bit bigger.  Micro cilantro is also one of the microgreens we grow in the greenhouse.  Since we know we can plant them in the field later as transplants, we usually seed more micro cilantro than we think we will need in the greenhouse, and then transplant what does not sell at the micro size in the field so it can grow nice and tall to a size we can bunch.  It cuts down on weeding significantly, and also cuts the time down in the field to about for weeks instead of 40-50 days. 

Hopefully this leaves you a little more educated about the cilantro you may be eating this week, and you enjoyed learning more about this delicious herb as much as I did! Enjoy!

Recipes

Every year when people first see kohlrabi as one of the choices, it creates quite a stir, just because it looks so weird!  It kind of looks like a UFO, or one of those little green aliens in the claw machine on Toy Story.  But kohlrabi is actually really versatile, so try out one of these 5 Tasty Ways to Prepare Kohlrabi this week!

And if you are super excited to use cilantro in a new way after reading all about it, here are 22 Cilantro Recipes for the Herb's Biggest Fans!  Or if you're one of the cilantro haters, you might just want to ignore this one. :-)

CSA Newsletter for June 8, 2015

Farm Update

Fred harvested the first strawberry of the year a
few days ago, and there should be plenty in a
few days when the CSA starts!

Hello everyone!  It has been a flurry of activity around the farm and around our home office!  With all the craziness getting the CSA up and running, I didn't actually get a real newsletter out this weekend!  But I did want to let all of you know what to expect in your shares for this week at the Midland and East Lansing drop-offs.  (Alma and Mt. Pleasant folks will be starting next week on the 15th and 16th, so stay tuned for next week's newsletter!) So here is the extremely abbreviated CSA newsletter for this week!

What to Expect in Your Share This Week

• Choice of radishes or bok choy
• Choice of spring mix or large-leaf salad mix
• Green onions for everyone!
• Choice of kale or Swiss chard
• Strawberries for everyone!
• Choice of spinach or head lettuce
• Choice of cilantro, micro basil, or frisee

Apparently the deer are
getting a little too comfortable
at the farm!  This one walked
right up to Keegan last week
and started checking out
his hand.  Yikes!

So if you are at one of the regular drop-offs, these will be the veggies available at the various stations.  If you have a half share, you'll choose one item at each station, and if you have a full share, you'll choose two items at each station.

If you have home/workplace delivery (again, this just applies to the Midland and Lansing area people this week!), here are your choices for your prepacked shares.  Just let me know which option you prefer, and we'll bring it to you!  Or if you don't have a preference, we can just pick out your choices for you.

A Share:

Radishes
Spring mix
Green onions
Kale
Strawberries
Spinach
Cilantro

B Share:

Bok choy

Large-leaf salad mix

Green onions

Kale

Strawberries

Head lettuce

Micro basil

Recipes

Especially if you're new to the CSA, there were probably a few things you saw on the list and thought, "What in the world do I do with that?"  I usually get a lot of questions about the bok choy and frisee at the drop-offs, and our micro basil is new this year for the CSA, so I wanted to give you lots of ideas on how to use these awesome veggies to their best advantage!  Enjoy!

Stir-Fried Bok Choy with Ginger and Garlic:  Bok Choy is great in stir-fries of any type, but this one with ginger and garlic is especially tasty, and who doesn't love a recipe you can make in 10 minutes?  You can prepare it just the way it is in the recipe, or you can serve it over rice.

Frisee Salad with Lardons and Poached Eggs:  Frisee, which is also called French curly endive, is a great addition to salads.  It's kind of like a thin lettuce, but with a slightly more bitter taste.  You can add it in with regular salad greens for a salad with a little more depth, or you can make a salad featuring frisee as the main green, like this recipe.  For the bacon, let me recommend the thick-cut Walsh bacon that they have at LaLonde's Market if you're in Midland; that would be perfect for this recipe!  Also, you can substitute the green onions in your share for the shallots in the recipe, and it would be just as good. :-)

Micro basil is one of those things that you see in restaurants that serve interesting and/or innovative dishes, but you almost never see them in chain restaurants or on people's kitchen tables.  So it's pretty unfamiliar to a lot of people, but we use it a lot at home to fancy up basically anything.  You can sprinkle it on top of pork chops, or salads, or omelets, or stir-fries.  Basically anything where you want a subtle basil flavor, and you want it to look gorgeous!  So go crazy!  Put some of this lovely stuff on your omelet for breakfast, and it will automatically feel fancy.  I can't think of a better way to start the day!

CSA Newsletter for May 2015

Farm Update

Last week the apple trees were in full bloom and looking
gorgeous!  Only time will tell if the trees made it through
the hard freeze we got Wednesday morning.

Hello everyone!  The start of the CSA season is just around the corner!  We'll probably be kicking off the CSA during the second week of June, but we're not 100% certain about that yet, because it largely depends on what the weather does between now and then.  When we do know for sure, we'll send out an email to all the CSA members, and we'll request just a quick response to make sure you got the message.  Then, if I don't hear from you within a few days of the email, I'll give you a call so we make sure you don't miss out on your first week of veggies.  Also, if you are interested in some pre-season veggies or you just want to stop by and say hi, Fred will be at the Midland Farmers Market this Saturday!  We'll have spinach, spring mix, cilantro, and a few other odds and ends available, so come on by and see Fred at the market!

Mary, Daniel, and Aram plant
leeks in the field.

     We've been pretty busy at the farm lately as well!  We finally got our irrigation system finished in the blueberry patch, which turned out to be a bigger project than we thought it would, but we're thrilled to have a reliable water source for the blueberries.  It has been a much drier spring in general, so we may be shaping up for kind of a dry summer as well.  The lack of rain has been pretty beneficial so far; since the fields haven't been as wet as they usually are, we had a lot more leeway as to when we could plant, and we've had less pressure from weeds than we usually do this time of year.  We have had more trouble with flea beetles though, because they prefer to come out in dry weather.  We also had a pretty hard freeze in the wee hours of Wednesday morning, which is really unusual for this time of year.  We covered what veggies we could to insulate them from the cold, but we did sustain some light damage to many crops, and our green beans pretty much got wiped out.  Fred replanted them today, so we'll still have plenty of them this season, but they won't be as early as we had originally hoped.  What was also surprising is that we had quite a bit of damage to the kale, which is normally one of the cold-hardiest things there is.  We definitely didn't see that coming, but it should come back just fine in time for the CSA.  Today, Fred planted the sweet corn along with the second planting of green beans, and he'll be putting in a lot of our warm-season veggies (like tomatoes!) next week.  All in all, the world is coming back to life, and it is so nice to be back into our more active summer rhythm.  See you all in a few weeks!

What to Expect at the First CSA Drop-Off

These little lettuce plants are looking beautiful and vibrant!
These particular lettuces' slightly younger cousins will be
among the choices in your first CSA share.

Before the first drop-off, I always get a lot of questions from CSA newbies about how a drop-off works, and we have a lot of new folks this year!  So in case you were wondering, here is what you can expect at the CSA drop-offs!

The first thing you need to know is when and where your drop-off is happening.  At the Alma drop-off, that will be on Mondays between 5 and 6 PM in the parking lot of His Place, which is right downtown on Superior St.  The Mt. Pleasant drop-off  is on Tuesdays (also 5-6 PM) in the parking lot of Herbs Etc, which is downtown on Broadway.  The main Midland drop-off is on Wednesdays (also 5-6 PM) in the back parking lot of the Eagle Ridge Church on Waldo.  We also have a mini drop-off at the Midland hospital with pre-packed shares.  If you are signed up for that drop-off, you can pick up your share in the seating area behind the Center for Women's health anytime after 4:15.  In previous years, I've had Midland folks ask if they can pick up their shares at the hospital instead of the regular drop-off because the location is more convenient for them.  If you were wondering the same thing, I'm going to have to dash your hopes, because the hospital has regulations that only allow people who work at the hospital to pick up their shares there.  Sorry!  The final drop-off of the week is our East Lansing drop-off, which is on Thursdays from 5-6 PM outside the East Lansing Food Co-Op.  ELFCO is on Northwind Drive, right off of Grand River just a little east of MSU campus.  If you are signed up for home/workplace delivery, I'll be sending out a separate email to you explaining how that will work, so keep an eye on your inboxes!

The blueberry bushes are in bloom,
and the berries themselves should
 be ready for the shares in mid-July.

So once you're at the drop-off, here is how things will be structured.  We'll have a sign-in sheet with everyone's name on it and what type of share you have, and you can just initial next to your name when you arrive.  That's our way of knowing who has been there and who hasn't, because sometimes things get really busy and I can't remember if I've seen a particular person yet.  Once you sign in, there will be two long tables of veggies set up with seven or eight "stations".  It doesn't actually matter which table you choose, because the stations are identical; we mostly just have two tables in order to keep the line moving.  Once you are at the CSA tables, you'll see signs telling what the options are for each of the stations.  For example, at the first station, it might say "Salad Mix or Spinach:  Half share, choose 1.  Full share, choose 2."  So you'll choose either one or two items from that station depending on whether you have a half or a full share, and then you'll move on to the next station, which will have different choices.  By the time you get to the end of the table, you will have made seven or eight different choices of what veggies you want for the week.  We also have a Trading Station at the very end.  If you went to one of the previous stations and weren't crazy about any of the choices, you can actually take one of your items from another station and trade it for something you like better at the Trading Station.  Like, if you didn't really want salad mix or spinach, but you see that there are some extra carrots at the Trading Station, you can just put down your salad mix or spinach there, and take the carrots instead.  It's our way of making sure you don't end up with something you really don't like.

These bins of spinach are headed to the Midland Farmers'
Market tomorrow morning, along with several other
wonderful veggies!  Fred has been out harvesting all evening
so he can head out bright and early in the morning.

So that's the basic structure of a CSA drop-off.  Now for some tips and tricks!

Tip #1:  You'll want to get there a little early for the largest amount of choice, unless you want to avoid the lines, in which case, getting there 15 or 20 minutes into the drop-off is your best bet.  We normally have a big line of people start gathering 15 or 20 minutes before the drop-off, and the reason is this:  at the beginning of the drop-off, all of the choices from all of the stations are still there.  Later in the drop-off, sometimes some of the choices have been snapped up.  We try to anticipate what percentage of people will want which things, but that is a really inexact science.  It's more like educated guesswork.  So if everyone wanted spinach one week, the later people might get there to find that there is only salad mix left at that station.

Tip #2:  If you have a reusable bag or basket, bring it along!  We'll have fairly heavy-duty grocery bags there, but if you have your own bag, that allows us to not go through them as quickly, and it is a lot more eco-friendly.

Tip #3:  If you know you'll have to miss a particular drop-off, you have a few options:  You can have a friend pick up your share for you, or if you let me know by the day before the drop-off, we can actually postpone your share and get you a double share when you get back.  Also, it has happened many times that someone realizes later at night that they completely forgot about the drop-off.  If this happens to you, here is what we usually do in situations like that.  Just send me an email and let me know!  We can't necessarily harvest an extra share for you the following week, but we will likely have some extra veggies left over at the drop-off anyway.  So if you forget to pick up your share one week, if you come by during the second half of the following week's drop-off after the main rush, we'll have a pretty good idea about how much extra we're going to have, and you can take some extra veggies to make up for the ones you missed the week before. :-)

Tip #4:  Most weeks, we'll have some extra non-CSA items available for purchase, such as eggs from our free-range chickens, or extra blueberries, strawberries, etc.  Those will be at the beginning next to the sign in sheet, and if you're interested, it's best to get there early.  We usually sell out of eggs in the first 15 minutes or so, and sometimes a lot faster!

So that's it!  If you have any questions, definitely let me know, and we'll see you at the first drop-off!

Recipes

Thai Curry Soup:  Normally I'm not interested in recipes that will require me to leave the house to pick up ingredients; I usually favor things that I can make from what's in the field and standard in my freezer and pantry.  But this Thai Curry Soup is worth a trip to the store, and it includes spinach and cilantro, both of which are coming out of the fields and coldframes right now!  Try it out!

Grilled Asparagus Salad:  If you are going to be grilling this weekend, give this Grilled Asparagus Salad a try!  It is a great side dish with whatever you a making for your Memorial Day cookout!

CSA Newsletter for April 2015

Farm Update

We've been harvesting our own spinach already, which was
overwintered under plastic row cover in the coldframes.

Hello everyone!  We are really getting into the season now, with the first of our spring veggies up and ready to harvest!  We've been enjoying our own salad greens, spinach, and radishes at home over the last week, which is so nice after a long dark winter of store produce.  These days, Fred is pretty much working from early morning until he runs out of sunlight, getting things up and running for the main part of the season, although he was able to work at a more leisurely pace during the cold snap we had a few days ago.  CSA sign-ups have been really strong this year, so we only have a few more shares left before we sell out.  If you're interested in signing up this year and haven't done it yet, better let me know soon!  I expect we'll have shares left for the next two weeks or so, and after that we'll begin our waiting list.  In other exciting news, we'll be growing more than just fruits and veggies this year.  We are also expecting our third child in November!  That's pretty much perfect timing, because right now while I'm at the mercy of morning sickness and exhaustion, most of my work is computer-based, and therefore I can do it from the couch.  Then by the time the main season starts, my energy and my ability to keep food down should return, and the baby will be born conveniently after the harvest is (mostly) done for the year and the CSA season has ended.  So when you guys see me in June, I should be sporting the very beginnings of a bump.  We are really looking forward to the beginning of the season, and we can't wait to see everyone!

This Week in Pictures

I always enjoy when news sources offer up "This Week in Pictures" type articles, because you get a collection of poignant, quirky, thought-provoking photos that demonstrate some of the big and small things that humanity has been experiencing this week.  Our version will likely not be that poignant or thought-provoking, but nonetheless, it is a fun sampling of what we've been doing at the farm this week, told in pictures.  Enjoy!

Right:  Trever hand-plants onions and leeks.  Altogether, the guys put in over 10,000 onion, shallot, and leek plants, which should start to be ready for harvest toward the middle of June.

Left:  And for one of our quirky news items, Fred and the guys were startled by a humongous three-foot-long garter snake who was sunning himself in the greenhouse.  He seemed in no hurry to move, even with the guys working right next to him.  I guess he knows a comfortable spot when he sees one. :-)

Right: We're making modifications to our cooler/packing area for this season so that the packing process will flow more smoothly this summer.  On Thursday, Fred took out part of the wall of our indoor packing area so that we can slide bins of veggie from outside to inside easily along a new packing bench he's building.

Left:  Josh harvests some spinach in the coldframe on Thursday.  This particular spinach made its way to the East Lansing Food Co-Op, so if you bought our spinach at ELFCO over the last day or two, this is probably it!

Right:  Our flats of lettuce transplants are ready to plant in the field as soon as the soil is ready for them!  We seeded and raised them in the greenhouse, then we put them outside for a few days to acclimatize them to the outdoor air temperature before planting, and now they are ready to go into the field!

Left:  One of the first French Breakfast radishes emerges from the soil.  We've started harvesting them already, and we'll continue to have them for the next few months.  They'll be among the choices for the first week of the CSA!

Recipes

I am beyond excited about the return of fresh local produce to Michigan after the long winter!  In honor of the spring's first harvestable veggies, here are some recipes for the stars of late April: salad greens, spinach, and radishes!

Avocado, Radish, and Snow Pea Sandwich: Try out this lovely (and easy!) recipe from Real Simple to celebrate the arrival of spring!  And add some spring mix for even more green goodness!

Quick and Easy Sauteed Spinach:  This is one of the many ways we do spinach at our house, and it's one of our go-to favorites for a fast and easy side dish!