We had so much fun seeing so many of you on Saturday morning! We love getting to show off the farm, and all the hard work the crew has been up to lately.

We are down to our final two weeks of the CSA season, but the farming season will continue on until November (or until mother nature kills everything with snow). That means things are about to get extra busy for the crew.

Last week marked squash harvest. We spent a foggy morning, early in the week, clipping half the squash and all of the pumpkins from the vine. The other half of our squash got clipped from the vine on Friday. Some of our squash gets clipped early because it has a thicker, wet stem. These varieties need more time to dry out before we put them in bins to start the curing process for long term storage. We plan to store them until February or March so they can go in most of the Winter CSA boxes.

After the CSA season ends, we will be in full harvesting mode to get the rest of the vegetables out of the ground and into storage. In previous years, this would mean filling our cooler and potato room from floor to ceiling, and wall to wall with pallet boxes of veggies. Thanks to our new cooler space, we should have a little more wiggle room this year. We plan to use the new cooler space to store our dirty carrots until we wash them this winter. We wash as many carrots as we can in the fall, but harvesting is much faster than washing so we usually end up with at least half the crop to wash over winter.

In your share this week:

Pole Beans – Carrots – Celery- Cilantro – Cucumbers – Greens Mix – Melons – Onions – Red Peppers – Red Potatoes- Spinach – Squash – Tomatoes – Zucchini

A great way to use up some of the peppers and onions we have been sending you recently, is this pulled pork skillet. It’s a great mix of comfort food with the warm pulled pork and melted cheese, while still having a bit of summer flavor from the fresh veggies.

This Greek rice bowl has been on repeat at our house recently. This is a great recipe to use up an abundance of tomatoes and peppers. It’s also a great recipe to use up any other veggies you want to toss in. Celery would be a great addition to this recipe as well.

For the farm crew,

Jennifer

Last week was filled with more harvesting. We got the rest of our first planting of potatoes out of the ground. These will hopefully last us until close to the end of October when we will be ready to harvest the storage planting of potatoes.

We’ve also been harvesting carrots weekly to keep up with shares and wholesale sales. We are down to about 4 beds ( a third of the field) left of summer carrots. We’re hoping these summer carrots can last us to the end of October. We really like for our Fall carrots to go through a hard frost or two to help sweeten their flavor in preparation for storage.

Last week was also packed with visitors. We welcomed a tour group from the University of Minnesota Extension. They were here to learn all about local produce and how the farm operates.

Our seed rep. from Johnny’s Selected Seeds stopped by. He got to tour around the farm with Janaki so they could talk crops, diseases, and equipment. Our seed reps are super knowledgeable in all things related to seeds. They help us learn about new varieties that are hitting the market (and which of our old favorites will be discontinued), and teach us about which varieties would be best to meet our growing needs in our specific climate. We appreciate their help every year.

We were also super excited to see more construction crew activity last week. Electricians and refrigeration guys were out, so the cooler units should be operational by tomorrow. The garage door company came to put our two new doors on the front of the expansion. The construction team was out on Friday to put up the frame for the lean-to, and to frame out our new bathroom. The lean-to will be a great covered extension that we can park our delivery van under in the winter. Having a covered space is nice to ensure the van can continue making deliveries all winter long and to give us much needed storage for all of the supplies we use. The crew is most excited about the bathroom. It will be the first bathroom for the farm crew with electricity and plumbing. No more freezing in the outhouse in negative temps!

The visitors we’re most excited for is all of you! We’re having our open house this Saturday, September 27th from 10am-noon. There will we hayrides, farm tours, and lots of dog snuggles. It’s free and open to everyone. Bring your friends, neighbors, or the whole family. We can’t wait to see all of you and show you around.

In your share this week:
Lettuce – Winter Squash – Tomatoes – Potatoes – Carrots – Zucchini – Pole Beans – Broccoli – Cucumbers – Melons – Onions – Parsley – Peppers – Hot Peppers

It looks like we’ll finally get some sunshine and warmer weather this week. If you’re looking for one more warm weather salad recipe, this Cantaloupe and cucumber salad is a great one. The melons are ripening like crazy on the farm, and pairing that with a fresh greenhouse cucumber, it’s like summer on the plate. It’s sweet, crunchy, and a little earthy. Perfect on its own, or get a little wild and try it as a topping to some fish or tofu tacos.

This time of year, I tend to crave cozy meals, but always have an abundance of veggies in my fridge that need to be used. This vegetarian lasagna is a great comfort meal that’s packed with veggies. I also love it because the recipe gives you a great base of flavors to start with, but leaves room for you to make it your own. You could swap kale or chard for the spinach. You could use eggplant or winter squash instead of zucchini. You could add sausage or ground beef for extra protein. Skip a layer of marinara and swap it out with a layer of pesto. The possibilities are almost endless.

Last week was packed with harvesting. We got more potatoes, carrots, and cabbage out of the field. All of our shallots were brought in. They’re now on racks in the drying shed. They’ll stay here until they’re fully cured, or until the temps get too cold, whichever comes first. 

The farm is starting to look a lot different this time of year. At the peak of summer, about half of the fields have cash crops on them (edible crops that we sell for money), and half of the fields have cover crops on them(non edible crops used to improve the soil). This time of year, the fields are quickly changing from cash crops to cover crops. The cover crops are a great way to improve and protect the soil before winter arrives. We still have a few summer crops out in the fields such as melons, green beans, peppers, canning tomatoes, and zucchini that are hanging on and fighting through this gloomy, and cool weather. 

The majority of what’s left in our fields are storage crops. We’ve been slowly bringing in more and more of these vegetables as we get closer to October. Every time we bring the vegetables in, they get washed before being put into our coolers for storage. Every round of washing requires a lot of rearranging of our pack shed to move all of the equipment out, and make room for our elaborate set ups. Each round of washing, we bring up how grateful we will be once the pack shed expansion is done. Once completed, the washing equipment will have room to stay out rather than being put away after each round of washing. 

Speaking of which, we haven’t given an update on that in a while. Big things have been happening with the construction! The siding and roofing went on about a month ago, so now it all looks like one cohesive building. The cooler door went on a few weeks go. Once the cooler door was installed, the refrigeration team was able to come set everything up. The electrician was out last week to get new wiring added. The garage doors are going on this week. This new space is really taking shape!

If you want to come see it in person, make sure to mark your calendar for our farm event on Saturday, September 27th. 

In your share this week:

Basil – Green Beans – Red Cabbage – Carrots – Cucumber – Garlic – Greens Mix – Lettuce – Onions – Peppers – Potatoes – Acorn Squash – Zucchini – Tomatoes

When Fall rolls around, I love to bake things. One of my favorites is this Winter Squash Coffee Cake. It’s warm, moist, and packed with flavor. Plus, it has a crumb topping. I can never say no to a baked good with a crumb topping. The recipe lists a few squashes you can use, but my favorite is using acorn squash. It adds a nice nutty and earthy flavor that pairs so well with the ginger caramel sauce.

Whenever I find myself with leftover cabbage, and no idea what to do with it, I make these Cabbage and Carrot Fritters. They’re an easy snack to make that’s loaded with texture, flavor, and lots of great nutrients. The recipe is written for you to fry the fritters, but check out the notes above the recipe if you want to bake them instead.

It was wonderful to see so many of you on Saturday at Harvest Fest! If you missed getting to see us and meet some of our crew, don’t worry, you’ll have another opportunity in a couple of weeks when we welcome all of you to the farm for our annual tour. We usually do this in late August, but this year our schedule worked better for Saturday, September 27th from 10-noon. We’d love to have you out for coffee, treats, and to show off all of our hard work!

There’s no denying the seasons are changing. The crew has been pulling out their hats, lined pants, and thick socks. In this area we’re used to chilly weather, but usually we get until later in September before we have to worry about frost. It’s also unusual this year because we generally have one cold day in September, but it jumps right back to 70s the next day. Having multiple cold, cloudy days in a row has been hard on our warm season crops. The cucumbers and zucchini have slowed down, but we know they’ll bounce back this week with some sun and warmth. Our melons are slowly trying to ripen. Usually at this time of year, the share boxes are HEAVY with melons. We also hope these will get back on track with the warmer weather this week because they were already way later than usual.

Thankfully most of our cool season veggies are un-phased, or even getting better, from the cold weather. We have a pretty full box this week and need to dig more carrots this week, but they’ll be back next week and for the duration of the season. This time of year is our prep time to work out any kinks, and make needed adjustments to our equipment before the big push in October. We recently got a conveyor belt to help us get squash and cabbage from the field, onto racks or pallet boxes on a trailer. In the past, we’ve thrown the vegetables up onto the trailer. It’s super fun, but not as efficient and pretty hard on the body when you do it for a few full days. Our crew is excited to test out the new conveyor belt in the coming weeks.

In your share this week:

Tomatoes – Leeks – Potatoes – Bell peppers – Jalapenos – Green Beans – Cucumbers – Onions – Zucchini

When most people hear about leeks, their mind immediately goes to potato and leek soup. While that is delicious, sometimes it’s nice to switch things up. If you’re looking to enjoy your leeks in a fun and new way, check out this steak salad recipe. It’s the perfect salad to bridge the gap between summer and fall, and it will use up lots of veggies from this week’s box.

If you’ve ever wanted to try pickling something but are too afraid of full on canning, or maybe you just want a new green bean recipe, check out these pickled green beans. It’s a simple recipe that will make a fun snack or side dish. It will only take about 40 minutes. The longest ( and hardest part) will be letting these sit in the fridge for a couple of days before digging in.

This week is going to be an exciting week! This Saturday, September 6th is Harvest Fest down at Bayfront. It’s a really big farmer’s market style event. You can buy lots of fun produce, baked goods, canned items, and much more from local makers and growers. The Food Farm will be there with lots of your favorite veggies. Come down between 10am and 4pm to grab some veggies, and say hi to our awesome crew. Admission is free and it’s fun for the whole family. We hope to see lots of familiar faces there!

Last week was a busy transition week. We spent the beginning of the week getting the necks (stems) of the garlic clipped down, and cleaning up the bulbs to get them ready for storage. The bulbs still arent fully dry yet, so they’ve been moved to one of our work shops with a more stable environment. In the shop, we can add more fans, decrease the humidity, and give the garlic more space for optimal drying conditions.

Once the garlic was all moved to the shop, the crew quickly cleaned up any trace of garlic from the greenhouse, and set everything up to get ready for onion harvesting. 

Our onions and shallots have all flopped over, meaning their green tops are no longer standing vertically, they are now laying on the ground. This happens because the “neck” of the plant weakens and stops sending energy to the leaves. This indicates the onion is done growing and is ready for harvest. Our crew pulled almost all of the onions and shallots out of the ground, and laid them in nice neat rows on top of the plastic mulch. The bulbs will stay here for a few days to let the sun and it’s warmth begin the drying process. 

Over the next few weeks, we will begin bringing them inside to sit on racks and continue the drying process until they are fully cured.

In your box this week:

Carrots – Celery – Tomatoes – Broccoli – Zucchini – Jalapenos – Green Beans – Chard – Cilantro – Cucumbers – Onions – Sweet Peppers – Red Potatoes

With the cooler weather arriving, I know many people are excited for soup season. This Minestrone Soup is a delicious way to still enjoy summer veggies while feeling warm and cozy with a bowl of soup. Add some toasted bread or a grilled cheese on the side for extra comfort.

Wild rice harvesting season is happening right now in Northern MN. This Wild Rice Pilaf is a wonderful way to celebrate this special time of year, and mix your local produce with another local favorite. This is a perfect side to serve with fish, pork chops, or tofu.