April on the Farm!

Farm Update

Here are some of the wild ramps Fred harvested
over the weekend.  They have been so delicious!

Hi everyone!  

Wow!  What a crazy last few months it's been!  On one hand, life feels completely different right now.  Our kiddos are out of school and I'm working from home, and we're doing the social distancing thing.  My usual frenetic pace of life has slowed way down, and I don't remember ever having this much downtime or flexibility of schedule in my adult life.  So naturally, I've painted my whole house, done a bunch of repairs and projects I always said I'd do "when I get some time", and started training for a half marathon in September that hopefully won't be cancelled.  I've also learned how to homeschool. (Kind of.  Let's face it, it's really my kids' actual teachers who are doing the real work here, gathering and posting materials and recording video lessons.  I'm just supervising.)  And yet, life at the farm feels pretty much like every other April, except for I'm not out there working alongside Fred this year.  (Sadly, social distancing includes our beloved grandma/baby-sitter, so I'm home with the kiddos instead of out in the field.)  

But nature doesn't know there's a pandemic going on.  Fred and a few employees have been planting like crazy, putting in onions, potatoes, and transplants that we started in the greenhouse.  And they've had a great attitude about this ridiculous weather too, not even complaining that much about planting onions into actual snow the other day.  Planting time is the first of the annual work frenzies, and this year is no different.  Fred's usually out at the farm every day from just after sunup to right around sundown, excepting when he pops in for lunch, and that will likely be our schedule for the next few weeks of planting.

We just had some beehives delivered to the farm
to help out with pollination.  

We're starting to transition our coldframes from early spring veggies (like radishes, spinach, spring mix, and arugula) to planting the hot weather items like tomatoes and zucchini.  Fred and our farm workers just started planting zucchini in one of the hoophouses so it can get a good start growing, and it will be ready to harvest and eat way earlier than zucchini from the field.

We also recently had several hives of bees delivered to the farm to help pollinate things, and they are buzzing around all over the place looking for food sources!  Alas, the bees (and the honey) belong to someone else so we won't be able to include honey in the CSA, but we're glad to have all those little pollinators out there!

Aside from planting, we've also been harvesting a bunch of stuff for our local stores.  We've been delivering things like spinach, spring mix, arugula, carrots, and microgreens to Greentree Co-op in Mt. Pleasant and Argus Farmstop in Ann Arbor, as well as contributing veggies to CSAs run by The Farm at St. Joe's in Ypsilanti, the Allen Neighborhood Center in Lansing, and Red Haven's Harvest Boxes in Okemos.  (Don't worry, we're being really careful, wearing gloves and masks, and not standing near anyone!)  In fact, Fred went out and harvested ramps in our friend Willie's woods over the weekend, and we took a pretty large order of wild ramps down to Ann Arbor and Ypsi this afternoon.  The woods were just going crazy with ramps, and although he harvested 165 pounds, you could barely tell afterward that he had harvested anything, there are still so many left!  

Normally we deliver to many of our favorite local restaurants in April as well, but that hasn't been the case this year, for obvious reasons.  Fortunately, the sales we haven't been making to our restaurants have been made up by our stores, who are finding that they need a lot more produce than normal.  It's encouraging to see that so many people are taking this opportunity to make some excellent meals at home, and that they're supporting smaller local shops!  For all of you who are going to Greentree and Argus and getting local farm products from us or other farmers, THANK YOU!  That supports the whole local food community, and that is awesome!  

If you're hoping to line up some great free range chicken over the next few months, we can help you out with that too!  Some folks in the Amish community near Blanchard are raising free-range, non-GMO, non-hormone chickens, and they're currently taking orders.  The chickens will be ready in about 8 weeks, will weigh around 5.5 lbs, and they'll be $12 per chicken.  You can buy a whole chicken, or they can cut it up for you for free, whatever you want.  If you're interested, you should check in with Corina Thomas at 989-304-0077.  She's not actually the lady who raises the chickens, but she's a neighbor with a telephone (since the producers are Amish) who agreed to take phone calls regarding chicken orders.  So you can check in with Corina for more information about the chickens!

All sorts of radishes, packed up and ready to head
out to the Allen Neighborhood Center, Red Haven,
the Farm at St. Joe's, and Argus Farm Stop earlier
today.

It's also really encouraging to witness the surge in popularity that CSAs are seeing right now!  There's a convergence of factors occurring that has caused many people to sign up for their first CSA this season, or to jump back in after taking a few years off.  Because many farmer's markets are closed for the foreseeable future, and I've heard that grocery store produce has been generally sad lately, a lot of people want to make sure that they have access to good fruit and veggies this summer.  We're expanding the number of shares that we offer so we can accommodate all of the interest, and also because it seems unlikely that we'll be selling much to our restaurants this summer.  So thank you for supporting local farms, whether that's us, or any of our friends with CSAs, or any local farms who are transitioning from farmer's markets into the realm of Community Supported Agriculture.  You guys are helping keep so many farm families in business during this time of uncertainty, and while I can't speak for any other farms, we definitely thank you from the bottom of our hearts! 

And as always, if you want to sign up for the CSA and haven't done it yet, just send me an email!  Full shares are $560 for the season, and half shares are $305 if you pick up at any of our regular drop-offs, and we also offer home delivery if you'd rather stay home.  Just let me know your address, and I'll get you a quote for the delivery fee!  We're planning on being flexible about that too, so if you want to have your share delivered at first, and then jump into picking it up at the regular drop-off if/when the Covid threat diminishes, that's totally fine.  We don't know exactly what the future will bring, but it's likely that we'll start the season with all prepacked shares (even at the Alma, Mt. Pleasant, and Midland drop-offs), and then transition back to our regular setup when it becomes safe to do so.  We'll let you know as soon as we have an official start date (probably the second or third week of June), and in the meantime, we'll keep you posted!  Thanks so much!  We can't wait to see you (whether that's figuratively or literally) in June!

Coronavirus Update: What We're Doing to Help Everyone Stay Safe and Healthy!

Farm Update

We've begun doing deliveries for the
season!  You can currently find our
produce at GreenTree, LaLonde's, or
Argus Farmstop!  Bonus: If you're
concerned about limiting your contact
with people while the Coronavirus is
in full swing, these are all small stores
with fewer people inside!

Hi everyone!  It's funny how you can be living your life and making plans as normal, and then suddenly something happens that changes everything.  This Coronavirus thing has definitely caused some major changes to our lives in the near future, and I bet it has for you, too.  For one, most of the people I know are working from home for at least the next few weeks, myself included.  If you have kids, they likely have an unexpected three-week vacation from school.  And we're suddenly looking around at ways to pare down our daily physical contact with other people to the bare minimum necessary to keep life humming along in a (mostly) normal fashion.  With the pervasive sense of uncertainty that surrounds us, it's easy to get caught up in fears about the future.  Fred and I did a little bit of catastrophizing ourselves yesterday evening, talking about any fears that came up in our minds, both rational and irrational. "What if none of our restaurants need our vegetables because people aren't eating out?"  "What if people don't sign up for the CSA this year, either because of financial constraints with the economy suffering, or because of all of the contact people have with each other while standing in line at the drop-off?"  The conclusion we came to is that we would have an extremely rough year or two financially.  We were feeling nervous because we've already incurred most of our major farm expenses for the year, and if we have drastically lower revenue this season, that would be devastating to our farm and our family.  I did a little bit of internal freaking out, and I imagine that many of you have had similar conversations around your kitchen tables as well.
   
But this is where I have to remind myself to take a deep breath and focus on controlling the things I can control, and not get sucked into worrying about the things I can't.  I can't control how this situation will affect our restaurants.  I can, however, let our CSA members and the folks who buy our produce at GreenTree, LaLonde's, and Argus know what we're doing to help keep everyone safe and healthy.

So in case you're wondering, here's what we are doing or plan to do during this CSA season in light of the current pandemic:

• We're making sure we're healthy before we come into contact with the veggies.  So far it's just Fred out there at the farm, but he's been taking his temperature as a preliminary screen before he starts work, and we'll do the same with any other employees once we have them out there.  I know that's not a hard and fast measure, but it certainly helps to make sure no one has an elevated temperature.  We also have ordered gloves for everyone to wear while harvesting, washing, and packing our produce.  Unfortunately, there are no masks to be had online or in stores, so we'll have to wait on that until we can get some, but that will be a forthcoming measure once they're available.

• We hope that by June, this whole scare will be over.  But in the meantime, we want to make sure everyone knows about our prepacked share option!  The folks who pick up at the Lansing, Okemos, St. Johns, and Midland hospital drop-offs already get prepacked shares, but that option is available to everyone at the regular drop-offs too!  You might have noticed in the newsletters last season that we offered A, B, and C share choices that each included 7 or 8 fruit and veggie items.  If you have a prepacked share, you can just email or text me your choice each week, and we'll pack it up for you at the farm.  So if you're concerned about standing in line at the drop-off and coming in contact with a bunch of people, we can prepack your share for you, and we'll deliver it right to your car when you get to the drop-off, so the only person you'll come into contact with is me. :-)

• We also wanted to remind you all of our home delivery option as well!  If you'd rather stay home, we can deliver your veggies right to your door, as long as you live within four miles of where we're already driving.  If you're curious about this option, just send me an email with your address, and I'll make sure you're within our delivery radius and get you a quote for the delivery fee.

• We're planning on being flexible!  We know that people's preferences may change as the health threat increases or decreases in severity, or goes away completely.  If you initially start the season getting a prepacked share, but want to switch to picking out your own veggies a few weeks in, that's totally fine!  Or if you decide partway through that you want to switch to home delivery, we can do that too!

• In order to avoid places with large numbers of people, and in the spirit of supporting local businesses so we can all ride this out together, we're going to be doing our shopping at smaller local stores.  I'm not going to tell you guys where to shop, but I know that during this time of uncertainty, I want to make sure that places like GreenTree in Mt. Pleasant, LaLonde's in Midland, Argus Farmstop in Ann Arbor, Campbell's Market Basket in East Lansing, and Mert's Specialty Meats in Okemos still see plenty of customers.  They have always been great partners for us to work with, and I want to make sure they are supported during this time.

It's hard to know what the next few months will bring.  Will global supply chains get interrupted to the point that it's hard to find produce in stores?  Will the price of produce (organic or conventional) skyrocket due to supply and demand?  Who knows?  What I do know is that this is a time when we all need to look out for each other. We need do our part to keep everyone safe and healthy, and help keep the lives and livelihoods of our local community as stable as possible so there's minimal fallout when this is all over.  We're going to do our part by continuing to provide you guys with immune-boosting veggie goodness so you can stay healthy, limiting our contact with people in the near future, and introducing increased safety protocols when handling your produce at the farm.  If you have any questions about any of that, just let me know!  And as always, if you want to sign up for the CSA, just send me an email!  The cost for a full share is $560 and a half share is $305, and if you are interested in the home delivery option, just let me know your address and I'll get you a quote!  Also, the delivery fee goes down the more shares get dropped off at a particular address.  So if you have any neighbors who also want to have shares dropped off at your house, that would be a good way to save money and reduce everyone's need to go to the grocery store.  So just let me know!  It's getting crazy out there, but we've got your back! :-)

CSA Newsletter for January: Winter on the Farm

Farm Update

The new hoophouse project is almost done!  Fred
put most of the plastic on yesterday, and we just
need to get the ends of the structure covered
before we can start planting crops in there
in a few weeks!

Hi everyone!  Normally this time of year things are pretty slow around the farm, but it's definitely been busier than usual this year!  Fred has been working on various construction and repair projects, so he's been outside in the cold weather getting things done pretty much every day lately.  This week, he put up our new 30x72-foot hoophouse, which was quite a big job for one person to do!  He put the frame up last week, and he got most of the plastic on yesterday, so it should be ready to plant with an early crop of carrots around the first week of March.  

We were also glad to see that the big drainage project we did in December was a success!  If you've ever been around our farm in spring or fall (or after a heavy rain in summer), you know that our driveway and areas of the front field can get to be a muddy mess.  Fred did a major drainage tile project a few months ago, and it was proved successful when the snow melt we've experienced over the last few months drained so much more effectively than it used to.  This gives me high hopes for our ability to get around the farm more easily once the season starts!

Pretty soon, Fred plans to start working on a project to turn the new tiller we got for our tractor into a reverse-tine tiller, which will improve the state of the soil in our seed beds and increase yields.  In the past, reverse-tine tillers have been prohibitively expensive, so we bought a much cheaper front-tine tiller that has the capability of being turned into a reverse-tine tiller with a few minor tweaks. 

We've now discovered just how much snow load the caterpillar tunnels we put up in November can hold, because many of them have had portions of the tunnels collapse.  The carrots inside are still looking good, even though the tunnels themselves look a little worse for wear.  We'll be making structural changes to the tunnels later in March so that next year, they'll be able to handle more snow without collapsing.  

Throughout the winter, our family of farm cats has
been guarding the hoophouses from mice, but once
we start planting crops there, the cats will have to
avail themselves of the warmer weather and find
one of the many other interesting places around
the farm to hang out.

Aside from structures and equipment, we're also doing work with actual plants!  All of the seeds we ordered last month have arrived, and they'll be ready to plant when the weather permits.  We also just got 60 new laying hens, so we're retiring our older batch, who haven't been laying as many eggs as they used to.  So our new group, who are pullets now (young hens whose eggs aren't that big yet), will be laying full-sized eggs by the start of the CSA.  We've given most of our older chickens to someone who wants a backyard flock and isn't super concerned about how many eggs they lay, but we've kept a few of the grannies around so we'll have enough eggs for our family until the new girls start laying more consistently.

We have started to see the first crops of the year coming out of the greenhouse!  We harvested the first arugula of the year, and we brought some of it down to Argus Farm Stop in Ann Arbor last week, which was exciting!  The green garlic has just started to peak out of the soil in the coldframe, and the overwintered lettuce and spinach are starting to grow again after being in "sleep mode" for the last few months.  But now that we are starting to get more daylight, our overwintered greens are slowly starting to get back into growth mode.  Just about everything in the hoophouses is too small to harvest just yet, but around the first week of March, we expect to have some spinach and freshly-dug carrots!  It has been so nice to have the few fresh carrots we've been able to harvest throughout the winter, because their flavor has just been awesome!  We're usually relying entirely on storage carrots most winters, and they start to get a little soft and spongy by March.  So when our new carrots hit Argus in Ann Arbor and Greentree in Mt. Pleasant next month, you'll definitely be able to tell the flavor and texture difference between those and the storage carrots you've probably been eating all winter from the store!  And a few weeks later, you'll start seeing our spring mix again in your local shops.  So even though there is still more winter to go, we'll be harvesting the first of the spring veggies throughout March.

And if you haven't signed up for the CSA this season yet and you want to, now is the time!  The cost for a full share is $560 and a half share is $305 at our regular drop-offs, and I can also get you a quote for home and workplace delivery if you're interested!  So just send me an email, and I'll get you all signed up!  We're really excited to be starting a new farm season, and we hope that you'll come along for the (probably crazy, certainly interesting, definitely delicious) ride!

What's New for 2020?

Farm Update

Fred got to rent an excavator to dig
up our old drainage tile, which pretty
much made his week! :-)

Hi everyone!  The weather lately has definitely been warmer than what we're used to this time of year, so we've been able to get some good work done at the farm!  Fred undertook a significant excavation project a few weeks ago that involved digging up and re-doing some drainage tile.  There is an area in our front field that has a tendency to stay pretty wet if we get a heavy rain (or when the snow melts in the spring), so this project will help that area drain more quickly this season.  We also had another hoophouse that needed to be constructed, and because of the wet, nasty spring we had, we just weren't able to put it up before the start of last season.  So Fred was able to get everything laid out for that and get the foundation posts in the ground.  That way, even if the ground freezes up entirely (which it will, because it's winter in Michigan), we can still put up the rest of the coldframe.  It will just be a really cold job for Fred!
     Even though production slows way, way down in the winter, we do have a few crops biding their time until they're ready to harvest.  We have some arugula in one of the hoophouses that is looking promising even though it's still pretty small, and we have some carrots under our caterpillar tunnels that are getting pretty close to harvestable.  We've brought a few home already although they're on the small side, and they taste amazingly sweet!  I'm pretty used to awesome carrots, but these are the sweetest carrots I've ever tasted.  I can't wait until they get a little bigger, and we can harvest more of them!  We have some plantings of spinach and baby lettuce in the coldframes that are pretty much in sleep mode, but they look really nice!  They're kind of in a holding pattern right now, but once we get into February, they'll likely start growing pretty fast.  The green garlic we planted last month is also now well-rooted in one of the coldframes, and will start to poke its greens out any day now!
     

Look at the arugula we have growing
in our coldframe!  Doesn't that just
look like summer?  But that's a picture
we took last week!

Along with the outdoor stuff we've been working on, we've also spent plenty of time inside by the fire, making plans for next season and getting our seed orders together.  Fred gets super excited every winter about all the possibilities for the next season, from new crops to grow, to improved seed varieties, to new growing techniques to try.  He's especially enthusiastic about the new plans for the 2020 season, so be sure to read about them below!
      And if you haven't signed up for this season yet, now's the time!  The cost for a full share is $560 and a half share is $305, so just send me an email, and I'll get you all signed up!  If your new year's resolution for 2020 is to eat healthier, eat more deliciously, help the environment, or buy local, use the momentum you have now in January to make a great decision on behalf of your June-October self, and sign up for the CSA!  Your future self will thank you for it!  :-)

What's New for 2020?

Here is Fred's report on all of the things he's geeking out over for this season!

New crops we're growing:

• Asian Green Stem Cauliflower:  A newer, better tasting, more tender version of cauliflower.
• Ethiopian Kale: Rich tasting yet mild in flavor, kind of a mix between kale and mustard greens.
• Verigo and Rubygo: Lettuce, mostly added to the spring mix, that is a frilly, crunchier baby leaf lettuce.
• Malabar spinach: A warm-weather plant with thick leaves that are very similar to spinach.
• Parsnips:  A root vegetable that is kind of halfway between a carrot and a potato.  It's very delicious and will make an appearance in late fall.
• Rutabaga:  A turnip-like fall root crop with light orange flesh.
• Honeynut Squash:  This is actually a second try after our difficult squash year last year.  It's a really delicious personal-size squash that is an even better tasting version of butternut squash.
• Galahad and Celebrity Tomatoes:  An old variety and a new variety of red slicing tomatoes that are highly rated for flavor.
• Citrine:  A new round orange cherry tomato that should rival all of the tomatoes in our current mix for flavor.
• Mint:  It will probably be towards the end of the season before we have some ready to harvest, but we are starting a perennial mint planting for the future.
• Ginger:  It seems crazy to grow ginger in Michigan, right? But it looks like we have the space in our coldframes, and we wanted to give it a try since it can be fairly productive, and it's extra delicious when it's harvested fresh.

Things we're hoping to have this season, but they're still in question: 

• Asparagus:  We should finally be able to harvest the asparagus we planted three years ago!  It will be interesting after a year of prolonged soil saturation to see if the asparagus can still thrive after a season of tough weather.
• Blackberries:  New breeding improvements have made blackberries a real possibility to succeed this far north, and we are looking seriously at putting in a sizable planting.  This will likely require acquiring some new sandier soil, which is something we are still trying to work through.
• Rosemary:  We love using this great herb at home, but it is typically not winter-hardy this far north. We are considering a potted system that can be brought indoors when the weather gets cold.

These are some of the carrots we
harvested from the caterpillar
tunnels.  So delicious!

Usually a couple new things we try each year don’t work out in the end, but we are excited to try these new items along with all the old favorites!  This season, with our new caterpillar tunnels, we will have over 60% more covered space than last year (for a total close to ½ an acre)  so we are looking forward to a longer season for the CSA on potatoes, cucumbers, red and green peppers, carrots, and beets in particular.

Last season had some of the worst weather of any season we have experienced, so we are looking forward to hitting the reset button and seeing what 2020 has in store!

This year we'll also be reshuffling some of the equipment we bought when we first started the farm, and that we've outgrown over the last nine years.  At first we thought we might even have to upgrade our beloved green tractor to a larger model, but we're going to stretch its life with us for a few more years with some creative use of different implements.  We will also likely be a part of a research project from MSU that will bring some other equipment to our farm.

We never know what a new season will bring, but we are really excited about all of the new changes we're making for the 2020 season, and all the possibilities this year holds!

CSA Newsletter for December

Farm Update

We're already planting ahead for next
season!  Under the straw is next year's
garlic, and to the left of the garlic, we
have spinach overwintering under the
plastic tunnel.  To the left of the
spinach, there is a taller caterpillar
tunnel, under which are some carrots
we planted earlier in the fall.

Hi everyone!  Well, it's definitely winter out there!  The winter weather came abnormally early this year and ended our farm season rather abruptly with a hard freeze during the second week of November.  It's been pretty miserable outside at the farm with the freezing rain, so instead of the outside projects Fred usually does this time of year, he's been using his time to tackle all of the home improvement projects that have been building up.  He's also been poring over the seed catalogs that have been arriving at the house over the last few weeks, which is one of his favorite December activities.  It's pretty fun watching him get all geeked out about new varieties of kale and squash, and we're planning on unveiling in the January newsletter all of the new vegetable varieties we'll be growing next year.  Fred is also going to the New England Fruit and Vegetable Growers Conference next week to talk with other growers and learn about new techniques that other farms like ours are using.  Most of the farms on the East Coast are on the cutting edge of season-extension and organic production techniques, so he's really excited to learn all he can at the conference.  It will be good to look forward and make plans for next season, because this season definitely didn't go the way we hoped and expected.  With the cold, rainy spring and the cold, rainy fall, we experienced more crop loss than we have in any other year.  Every year, we have one or two crops that don't do so well, but this year, quite a few of our crops fell short of our expectations.  We so appreciate all of our CSA members being with us throughout this season.  Your continuous support and encouragement have been huge for us, and we can't thank you enough!  I was reflecting over Thanksgiving about how grateful I am for all of you, who sign up for the CSA every year and put your faith in us, and make our farm possible.  You are really the ones who allow us to keep doing what we do and provide good, high-quality organic veggies to the community. So THANK YOU!  We so appreciate it!
     And just in case you were interested in signing up for next season and haven't done it yet, don't forget that anyone who signs up and puts down at least a half payment by December 31 saves $5 on their share!  The cost for a full share will be $560, and a half share will be $305, but if you send in a payment before the end of the year, you can just subtract $5!  So if you have any questions or want to sign up, just send me an email!  We would love to have you in the CSA again for the 2020 season!

Recipes

It's a tricky December for Michigan locavores this year.  Most years, you can still find all sorts of potatoes, carrots, cabbage, beets, onions, celery root, sweet potatoes, squash, kale, and lettuce at indoor farmer's markets, co-ops, and local grocery stores.  But pretty much all of the Michigan farmers I've talked to are in the same boat as we are, and they have a lot less food than usual for this time of year.  So what's a person to do if that person happens to be committed to eating local(ish) this December?  Root vegetables to the rescue!  Many farmers still have some potatoes, carrots, and beets in storage, so they'll be the stars of the show this winter!  Root vegetables can be stored for a long time after harvest as long as you keep them in temperatures similar to what you'd find in a refrigerator, so people relied heavily on the root cellar throughout the winter before the advent of modern produce shipping.  So if, like your great-grandparents (or any hard-core locavore), you're relying on whatever food your own community can produce, here's a wonderful recipe for Delicious Ham and Potato Soup!  It's great as written, or you can add in whatever else you might have on hand, like kale or carrots!  I'd just trade out the chicken bouillon the recipe calls for in favor of a quality chicken stock, and then adjust the quantity of water accordingly.  So put on a big pot of soup, build a fire in the fireplace, and settle in with a cozy blanket and a good book, because it's time to embrace the winter!

CSA Newsletter for Week 20 1/2 :-)

Farm Update

The farm kitties love to sit on the soft onion skins that
 gather around our onion cleaner!

Hi everyone!  Welcome to week 20 1/2, which is the final week for the Alma and Mt. Pleasant drop-offs!  Since we started the Monday and Tuesday drop-offs the week after the Lansing and Midland drop-offs started, the folks who pick up in Alma and Mt. Pleasant get an extra week of veggies!  So we'll see you guys over the next few days for your final drop-off!

What to Expect in This Week's Share

If you are picking up at the regular drop-offs this week, here are your options:

• Potatoes or a bag of small onions
• Lettuce
• Squash or sweet potatoes
• Beets, leeks, or cabbage
• Radishes, kale, or turnips
• Baby carrots or Brussels sprouts
• Onion

If you have your share delivered to your home or workplace, here are your options this week:

Share A:  Potatoes, romaine lettuce, squash, leeks, kale, Brussels sprouts, and a red onion.

Share B: Bag of small onions, romaine lettuce, squash, cabbage, turnips, baby carrots, and a red onion.

Share C:  Potatoes, spring mix, sweet potatoes, beets, radishes, baby carrots, and a red onion.

             

Recipes

Is it just me, or when the weather gets like this, do you just want to eat hot soup for pretty much every meal?  Here is a great recipe for Smokey Sausage, Kale, and Sweet Potato Soup to warm you up!  This is a great way to use many of the fall veggies that are available this time of year, and it's so versatile that you can switch out ingredients and throw in other items that you have kicking around in your kitchen.  Enjoy and stay warm! :-)

CSA Newsletter for Week 20

Farm Update

Don't all of these colorful beets just make you
smile?  Not only are they delicious, they are
also totally pretty!

Hi everyone! Here we are in week 20!  This is the last full week of the CSA, and the last time we're going to see the Lansing, Okemos, and Midland folks this year.  The Alma and Mt. Pleasant drop-offs will have another week after this, because technically this is only the 19th week that they've gotten veggies.  As you might recall, we started the Wednesday and Thursday drop-offs the first week, but didn't start the Monday and Tuesday drop-offs until week 2, so you Alma and Mt. Pleasant members will actually get veggies in the first week of November! 

It's always bittersweet to wrap up the CSA for the season, because I love getting to see everyone at the drop-offs each week, and I won't get to see most of you until June.  But on the other hand, when the weather gets cold and rainy and generally nasty, that's nature's signal that it's time to give the fields a rest and head inside to a nice warm fire.  And I'm definitely looking forward to that too.  Thank you all for another great CSA season!  We are so grateful to all of you who have supported our farm this season, and especially to all of you who have come back year after year.   You make this whole crazy farm thing possible, and we really couldn't do it without you.  So THANK YOU!!!

And if you're interested in signing up for next year, just let me know!  The price is going to remain the same next year ($560 for a full share and $305 for a half share at the regular drop-offs, and just hit me up for a quote if you are interested in home/workplace delivery).  And anyone who puts down at least a half payment by December 31 gets $5 off their share price.  So if you know you want to join again next year, let me know, and I'll sign you up!  

What to Expect in This Week's Share

If you are picking up at one of our traditional style drop-offs (Alma, Mt. Pleasant, and Midland), here’s what the options will be at the different stations.  If you have a half share, you’ll choose one item at each station, and if you have a full share, you choose two items at each station!

• Baby carrots or beets
• Bag of small onions
• Potatoes or cabbage
• Lettuce or Brussels sprouts
• Squash or sweet potatoes
• Radishes, kale, or cooking greens
• Microgreens, shallot, or onion

If you have a prepacked share (Midland hospital, St. Johns, Lansing, Okemos, or home delivery), here are your options.  If you have a half share, you’ll choose either share A, B, or C, and if you have a full share, you can choose two of them.  So just email me by lunchtime the day before your drop-off to let me know which share you want for this week!  If I don't hear from you, I'll just choose for you. :-)

Share A:  Baby carrots, bag of small onions, potatoes, lettuce, sweet potatoes, radishes, and microgreens.

Share B: Beets, bag of small onions, potatoes, lettuce, butternut squash, kale, and a shallot.

Share C:  Baby carrots, bag of small onions, cabbage, Brussels sprouts, Tetsukabuto squash, cooking greens, and an onion.

             

Recipes

This time of year just calls for Roasted Root Vegetables!  This is a delicious, hearty, and WARM way to enjoy all of the awesome root vegetables in your share this week!  And the recipe is so easy, even the kitchen-phobes in your family can help make it.  We like to use rosemary as our herb of choice with roasted root vegetables, but parsley or thyme would be pretty good too.  (And I am now going to have that song in my head for the rest of the night.  Oh well.  There are definitely worse things than some Simon and Garfunkel, haha!)