Author Archives: jennifermschoenrock

April Winter Share

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April is here…Spring is sort of here…and just like that, the Winter CSA season is officially over!

April is crunch time here on the farm. Janaki is finalizing our planting map so we know which crops are going in which fields. We are keeping a close eye on the extended forecast to know when it’s safe for us to begin planting out our cool weather crops such as broccoli, cauliflower, and cabbage. As of right now, it’s looking like these might get planted next week! Dave and Catherine have been busy in the greenhouse getting lots of seeds started. We have onions, brassicas, and greenhouse tomatoes all started and growing like crazy. Teri and I have been busy in the pack shed sending out the last remaining vegetables to our retail partners. We’ve also been organizing things, and putting away our winter items in preparation for Spring deep cleaning to start in the next few weeks.

Greens mix ready to harvest

Conversations are happening about when the new chicks will be arriving, we’re testing out new methods to hopefully streamline some of our pack shed processes, and we’re discussing and planning for farm improvements. Things never stop around here!

The next few weeks will be especially busy. We’ll start welcoming back crew members who spent their Winter off the farm, we’ll get to welcome a few new crew members, and the greenhouse will get even more full. We have plans to hopefully get brassicas in the ground next week, and onions by the end of the month. Green onions and carrots for early summer shares will get started in a high tunnel in the next few days. Another round of brassicas and outside tomatoes will get seeded today, and later successions really test the capacity of our germination chamber. Seed potatoes will be arriving the end of next week and will keep the crew busy for a few days as they cut and prep all of the potatoes for planting.

The busyness and excitement are felt all around the farm. We’re all ready to break out our Summer clothes, get our hands back in the dirt, and start soaking up some sunshine again. In order to enjoy all of these things, we must also say goodbye to slow mornings, enjoying our coffee while it’s hot, spending entire days in our pajamas, and saying, “We can deal with that later.” We also have to say goodbye to root vegetables and all the hard work that the 2024 crew put in to ensure we could have a bountiful and successful Winter CSA. I always imagine that this hello-but-goodbye-energy is why we try our best to get fresh greens mix in your last Winter CSA box. It’s the perfect way for us to say, “Thanks for enjoying all of our hard work from last year, now get ready for all the hard work and deliciousness of 2025.”

It’s important for us to always remember that we wouldn’t be able to do any of this without your support. Thank you for believing in us, and supporting us through the Winter. A huge thank you to all of our site hosts who kept the veggies safe and warm through the bitter cold. Thank you to all of our volunteers who bundled up every month to help lovingly pack each share. We’re sad to end the Winter CSA, but we hope to see all of you again next Winter…or in just a few weeks if you were lucky enough to snag a Summer Share before they sold out.

Our amazing packing crew boxing up the final Winter share

In your share this month:

Orange Carrots – Purple Carrots – Greens Mix – Rutabaga – Russet Potatoes

Yellow Potatoes – Baby Red Potatoes – Onions – Shallots – Garlic – Beets

This jalapeno popper potato salad from Happy Honey Kitchen Is a spicy take on a classic potato salad. It’s a great recipe for this month because you can use yellow potatoes, red potatoes, or both.

If you’re looking for a more adventurous way to eat your rutabaga this month, try out these tacos from Bon Appetit. The recipe tells you to top the tacos with a mix of kale and watercress. You could substitute some greens mix to further you use up things from your box this month.

If you aren’t ready for salads but need a creative way to use up your greens mix, try this quiche recipe. Your greens mix is delicious fresh or cooked up, so feel free to swap out the spinach or the chard, for greens mix.

For the farm crew,

Jennifer

March Winter Share

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Before we get into what’s going on on the farm, we have a little reminder for you all. If you’ve been thinking about ordering a Summer Share but haven’t yet, we only have 15 left, so hurry before they’re gone!

Things around the farm have been heating up. Both literally and figuratively. 

In the packing shed, Catherine, Teri, and myself are still hard at work packing vegetables for our weekly retail and restaurant orders. The vegetable quantities are quickly dwindling, and we’re pretty much out of wholesale produce so what’s left is all for CSA members. Once the coolers empty out, the crew starts deep cleaning not only the coolers but the entire packing shed. It’s the perfect time for us to reset not only our spaces, but also our brains and bodies (by doing something other than bagging and boxing veggies for hours on end) to prepare for the growing season ahead. 

Last week we planted the first seeds of the 2025 season! Dave and Catherine planted greens mix in the greenhouse. This is a little sneak peak into your box next month. If all goes well, everyone will get their first taste of Spring with this tasty greens mix. The first round of the onions were seeded, and the trays got placed in the germination chamber. This week, we will be seeding round two of onions. The germination chamber is an enclosed shelving unit with a steam heater. Once seeds get planted in the trays, the trays get a light watering and are placed in the germination chamber where they will remain mostly undisturbed for a couple of days until the seed germinate, and the green tops start poking through the soil. The combination of heat and darkness help the seeds to germinate faster than if they were left at room temp, in the light. 

Dave adding water to the germination chamber to keep things warm and toasty

Once the seeds have germinated, and the green tops are visible, we move the trays out of the germination chamber so they can start receiving light. If the trays are kept in the germination chamber for too long, the plants will begin searching for a light source causing the plants to become tall and weak. Most people know this as having “leggy” plants. We try our best to avoid having leggy plants because it makes the plants weaker causing them to be more prone to breaking and falling over once they’re placed outside.

A portion of onion trays all packed into the germination chamber

Due to the large quantity of onions we plant, we generally move the trays of seedlings out onto tables in the greenhouse. This allows the plants to soak in all the beautiful sunshine we’ve been getting lately. It also protects them from the elements, and thanks to a wood burning stove, keeps them warm and toasty no matter the weather outside. The onion plants will continue growing and thriving in their little trays in the greenhouse until early May when we put them in the field. 

Did you know that the largest onion ever recorded weighed over 19 pounds! That’s an un-peel-ievably big onion. 

In your share this month:

Russet potatoes – Baby red potatoes – French Fingerling potatoes

Green Cabbage – Rutabaga – Onions – Parsnips – Red beets

Chioggia beets – Orange carrots – Purple carrots

This recipe from Vegan Richa is a fun way to use up any root veggies you might have. It uses bright spices, incorporates any root vegetables you want, and gets topped off with a bright lemon dressing. It’s perfect for those days when you want something light, but full of flavor. If you’ve been struggling to find a fun way to use your rutabaga, this would be a great recipe for it!

If you love cabbage rolls and just want some variety, or you’ve never made them before but want to try, check out these Asian pork cabbage rolls from From A Chef’s Kitchen. The recipe starts by walking you through two different ways to get the leaves off the head of cabbage. These delicious bundles are filled with a pork, rice, and veggie filling. Then they’re topped with a sweet and spicy sauce that adds a burst of flavor. They also freeze and reheat really well!

For the farm crew,

Jennifer

February Winter Share

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Happy February! January always feels like the longest month of the year to me, and those VERY cold days we had didn’t help. Now that February is here, the farming anticipation is growing (pun intended), and we are extra busy.

On February 19th your farmers will be coming to town for the “The Rutabaga Giveaway,” which somehow has become an annual event for us! This is a great opportunity to not only meet other Food Farm members, but also to meet Janaki, Annie, and other farm crew folks. It’s also a great way for friends or neighbors who are interested in being part of the farm to meet us and have their questions answered. We’re holding it this year at the Whole Foods Co-op’s Denfeld location from 4-7 pm. Back in November when we harvested Rutabagas, we set aside the largest ones just for this event. Even if you don’t want to socialize, you might want to come down just to see how big they are!

Drum roll please for the other exciting thing about February…it’s the last month before we start seeds for next year! By the time you are reading this, we are only three weeks away from starting onion seeds and beginning the 2025 growing season. We are all excited thinking about warm, sunny days ahead, but we also aren’t quite ready to give up our slow days of drinking coffee in front of the fireplace. 

This month is also conference season. Over the next few weeks, Janaki and some of the farm crew will be traveling to La Crosse and/or Madison for the opportunityto learn about new/different farming practices, meet other farmers, and reignite our excitement about farming before the season starts.

Now is the time to join in that excitement, because 2025 share sign ups are officially open! They tend to go fast, so sign up as soon as possible. You should have gotten an email letting you know sign ups are open, but if you didn’t, or you can’t find it, you can sign up by going to the Food Farm website. 

Finally, we are still looking for a couple of seasonal crew members to join us on the farm this summer and fall. More info is available here if you know of someone looking for good work with good folks! Thanks!

In your share this month:

Yellow, Red, and Baby Russet* Potatoes – Red Cabbage – Beets – Orange and Purple Carrots – Parsnips – Red and Yellow Onions – Delicata Squash – Garlic

*The baby russets are perfect for hashbrowns! See our instructions in last year’s newsletter.

I made these Korean Lentils from Crumbs & Caramel for dinner a few nights ago, and can’t get over how delicious it was. It’s an easy meal that gets a lot of color on the plate, and offers room for creativity with the vegetables you use. This is a great way to use some cabbage, and I highly recommend adding some shredded carrot as well.

Potatoes are a delicious and inexpensive way to make soups and chowders more filling. If you’re a meat lover, or you want to make this soup extra filling, ground sausage is a great addition to this meal. The yellow potatoes in your box this month are begging to be used in this Roasted Poblano Corn Chowder by Whip & Wander, and I’m going to add a some parsnips to it as well.

For the farm crew,

Jennifer

January Winter Share

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Happy New Year! We hope you all had a wonderful holiday season, and are enjoying all the fresh snow.

One of the big tasks over the holiday season at the farm is packing vegetables for our grocery store and restaurant partners. If you’ve recently visited one of the grocery stores in the area that stocks our produce, you may have noticed that our carrot bags have gotten an upgrade! We ran out of our old printed bags last spring and have been putting individual stickers on bags while we waited for the new batch of printed bags to arrive. The new bags are slightly wider to make them easier to pack, and we made the size of the label smaller so it’s easier to see the carrots, and we simplified the logo and color scheme to reduce printing costs. They also have ventilation holes throughout the bag so the carrots don’t get too wet inside. It was quite a process, with a lot of back and forth with printers, including a misprinted batch of 50,000 bags (yikes!), but the crew is excited to not have to do so much stickering.

Last month I mentioned we had started ordering seeds already. The next few months will be filled with more crop planning, research, and lots of learning. Last week, Janaki was talking with one of our seed reps to discuss a new variety of zucchini. A seed rep works for a supplier and their main goal is to sell seeds to farmers, but they also provide additional knowledge and support as well. Most large seed companies will also assign reps to only work in certain regions or states that way they can be extra knowledge about a farmer’s specific growing zone and conditions.

The variety of zucchini we have been growing for a while has been discontinued. This meant research to find a suitable replacement. Janaki mentioned to our Johnny’s Seed rep that we struggled with proper pollination last year. Our rep recommended a new variety that has better pollination rates especially early in the season when pollination rates are usually lowest. The rep then went one step further and also sent along information about how to enhance habitat for the specific pollinators that target zucchini.

We were worried that part of the poor pollination last year was due to the fact that all of the bees seemed to visit the melons we had planted in the same field, and skipped right over the zucchini. The information from our rep taught us that the honey bees visiting the melons are secondary pollinators of squash. The primary pollinators of Winter and Summer squash are squash bees, which are specifically attracted to squash. They live in tunnels at the base of the plants, they come out really early in the morning to collect pollen as soon as the flowers open, then they do the cutest thing of all, and take afternoon naps inside the flowers. The article gave us tons of info about the squash bees, how to protect them, and how to keep them coming back year after year. It is likely that the primary cause of poor pollination this season was the cool, wet start to the year, but hopefully the new seed variety and the information about squash bees, will improve our ability to cope with poor weather.

In your share this month:

Delicata Squash – Winter Sweet Squash – Rutabaga – Beets – Onions – Parsnips – Orange Carrots – Purple Carrots – Red Potatoes – Russet Potatoes

Honey Roasted Beets and Carrots

INGREDIENTS
4 medium carrots, diced
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar                                                                                                                    1 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp clear honey
4 pre-cooked beets, quartered
25g pumpkin seeds (optional)
handful fresh herbs, such as parsley or basil to serve

1 : Heat the oven to 180c/gas 4.In a bowl, toss together the carrots, vinegar, honey and olive oil. Spread on a baking tray, then roast for 30 minutes.
2 : Remove 5 minutes before the end of cooking time, add the beetroot to the tray and return to the oven. Once cooked, remove form the oven and leave to cool a little, then toss with the pumpkin seeds and herbs.

Rutabaga Fries

Preheat the oven to 425°F and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper. Combine rutabaga fries with oil, paprika, garlic powder, salt and pepper on the prepared sheet pan, and toss until evenly coated. Arrange the rutabaga fries on the baking sheet in a single layer leaving space in between them. Bake for 30-35 minutes, flipping the rutabaga fries halfway through; until they are crisped on the outside and cooked through on the inside.

For the farm crew,

Jennifer

December Winter Share

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Now is the time of year when most people are flipping through store catalogs in hopes of finding the perfect gift to give their loved ones this holiday season. If any of you were curious, I’m a Queen Bee tomato seed packet. It’s a one size fits most so should be pretty easy to find. Figured I’d throw in some farming humor to lighten the holiday stress.

Here on the farm, we’re also flipping through catalogs, making our lists and checking them twice. This is the time of year when seed companies send out their catalogs.

If you’re thinking to yourself, “it is way too early to start thinking about seeds,” the farm crew would agree with you! The arrival of the seed catalogs is always creates a mix of emotions, from the dread we feel when a favorite variety is discontinued to the excitement of trying new and improved varieties, but mostly we’re not ready to start thinking about it yet with the harvest season only a few weeks in the rearview mirror. Onions and shallots, the first crops to be seeded, won’t be started for another 3 months, but farming never takes a break, so here we are thinking about what new varieties can provide better flavor, quicker maturity, better production, more disease resistance, or better drought tolerance. All of these qualities help us provide quality and consistency to members, and we’re grateful to the seed breeders who help us out, even though we’re not quite ready to turn our minds to spring. 

Thankfully this isn’t our first rodeo. At this point, we have a pretty good idea of what vegetables, and more specifically which varieties, we will be growing next year. This makes it a lot easier for ordering types and quantities of seeds. Every year there are a few new (or new to us) varieties that we trial. Those take a little longer for us to order since we like to do more research on each of the varieties to see which one will be the best fit for what we need.

When we aren’t planning for next year, the farm crew is busy in the pack shed bagging and boxing vegetables for our retail orders, washing carrots, or finishing up various tasks to make sure the farm is ready for winter.

In your share this month:

Delicata and Kabocha squash – Green Cabbage – Chioggia Beets

Fingerling and Russet Potatoes – Red and Yellow Onions – Carrots – Garlic

Beet Salad

▢1 tablespoon (15 ml) fresh lemon juice

▢1 tablespoon (15 ml) white wine vinegar

▢2 teaspoons (10 ml) liquid honey or sugar

▢¼ teaspoon fine sea salt

▢2-3 tablespoons (30-45 ml) extra-virgin olive oil, or use pistachio oil for a special treat

▢1 pound (450 g) Chioggia beets, peeled

▢¼ cup (40 g) thinly sliced red onion

▢4 cups (170 g) mixed salad greens

▢¼ cup (60 g) fresh crumbled goat cheese

▢2 tablespoons chopped pistachios

  • Whisk the lemon juice, vinegar, honey (or sugar) and salt in a small bowl until honey is dissolved. Gradually pour in the oil and whisk to combine.
  • Shave the beets into ribbons with spiral slicer, or into thin discs with a mandoline or sharp knife.
  • Put the beets in a salad bowl with the onion and greens. Drizzle with enough dressing to coat, about 2 tablespoons, and toss together. Sprinkle the goat cheese and pistachios over the salad. Serve with additional dressing on the side.

Caramelized Squash

  • 4pounds winter squash, such as acorn, butternut, honey nut, kabocha or red kuri
  • 4medium shallots
  • ¼cup extra-virgin olive oil
  • Salt and black pepper
  • ¼cup unsalted butter
  • ¾cup raw nuts, such as hazelnuts, pecans or walnuts, chopped
  • ½cup maple syrup
  • ½teaspoon ground cinnamon
  1. Adjust oven rack to the lower-third position and heat to 425 degrees. Halve the squash lengthwise and use a spoon to scoop out the seeds and any stringy bits. Cut each half into 3- to 4-inch wedges. Halve the shallots lengthwise through the roots, leaving the skin on.
  2. Toss together the squash, shallots and olive oil on a large rimmed baking sheet. Season with salt and pepper, toss once more and spread out the squash and shallots as much as possible. Roast until nicely browned and tender, 30 to 40 minutes total, flipping the squash and shallots after 15 to 20 minutes.
  3. While the squash roasts, melt the butter in a small saucepan over medium. Add the nuts and cook, stirring occasionally, until the nuts have slightly darkened and smell very toasty, 3 to 5 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in the maple syrup and cinnamon. (The toasted nuts may be made up to 3 days in advance and stored in a sealed container in the fridge. Reheat in a small saucepan over medium-low before serving.)
  4. Arrange the squash and shallots on a platter or large plate and spoon the toasted nuts and their syrup on top.

For the farm crew,

Jennifer

November Winter Share

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We love seeing our fields all tucked in with cover crops for the winter!

Welcome to all of our new members, and welcome back to our returning members. We’re so excited you have chosen to spend your Winter receiving the best veggies in town!

Boy oh boy has it been busy around the farm! I know I said that a lot this year, but this time I really mean it. November marks the busiest time of year here. Our Summer CSA season ended about a month ago, and since then, the farm crew has been hard at work. We said goodbye to all of the tomatoes, cucumbers, pole beans, and some herbs in the greenhouses. Rye got planted in their place to begin putting nutrients back into the soil to prepare it for next spring. We packed up and stored the last of the peppers and kale before we said a final goodbye to those plants as well. We got the 2025 garlic separated, planted, and covered with rye straw to keep it cozy through the winter. We moved onions and winter squash to their more temperature controlled, winter homes in the pack shed. Then we got to harvesting.

It has been all hands on deck, non-stop work, to get everything out of the field. Potatoes, cabbage, brussels sprouts, carrots, beets, and parsnips are all out of the field and crammed into the root cellar for storage. We emptied out the very last greenhouse with the harvest of lettuce and celery for the share boxes. The only things left in the field are rutabaga and daikon radishes. We need to make a little room in the root cellar first so we have space to put them. A wonderful and terrible problem to have. This time of year, our root cellars are filled floor to ceiling, wall to wall with pallet boxes of vegetables. It’s an amazing sight to see. It’s one of my favorite things to stand in the cooler and look around at all the boxes filled with vegetables that we lovingly (and reluctantly) seeded, planted, transplanted, weeded, thinned, hoed, watered, stressed over, and harvested. It’s a year’s-worth of hard work all packed and stacked into massive pallet boxes.

…and the crops all tucked into the cellar for storage!

The hard work doesn’t stop there. Once we get the last of the veggies out of the ground, we hope to take advantage of this nicer weather to get some various projects done around the farm, and clean up some last minute things before the snow starts piling up.

If I had to sum up this share box in two words it would be: Large and Lush. You’ll probably agree with this when you look inside. Thanks to all the rain this year, the carrots are HUGE! In early October, Janaki mowed off the top greenery of the plants in hopes the carrots would stop growing. The carrots didn’t seem to understand, and we harvested really large carrots. They’re still just as tasty as normal, but now, you don’t have to wash and cut as many for dinner. Win! Our friends over at Spirit Creek agreed to take the largest carrots, and a whole pallet box of super large beets as well. This means we can attempt to give you all normal-ish sized food. The weather was perfect for growing lettuce, so you all got one beautiful and lush head of lettuce. It is sturdy and tasty. If you’re not quite ready for cold and snow, this lettuce is the perfect time to make one last Summer salad. The only thing that isn’t large and lush is the celery. This got a slow start, so it’s smaller than the celery we normally send. The smaller size makes it more tender and less stringy. If you aren’t a fan of celery and don’t know what to do with it, did you know it’s a great treat for dogs? The fibers help to clean their teeth, it works to freshen their breath, and the high water content is hydrating. Around our house, we freeze the stalks so the dogs can’t chew through them as fast. Local produce can be fun and tasty for the whole family!

In your share this month:

Yellow Potatoes – Red Potatoes – Delicata Squash – Sunshine Squash – Beets

Carrots – Celery – Lettuce – Onions – Brussels Sprouts – Thyme – Rosemary

Persian Celery Stew

INGREDIENTS

  • 2 large onions, thinly sliced
  • 3 cloves of garlic, minced
  • 1 can of butter beans or kidney beans
  • 1 tsp of turmeric
  • 1 bunch of celery stalks (around 6-8 stalks) chopped into 3cm pieces
  • 250g of chopped parsley
  • 50g of chopped fresh mint or 2.5 tbsp of dried mint
  • 130ml juice of lime
  • ½ tsp of saffron dissolved in ¼ cup of boiling water
  • 1 tsp salt
  • ½ tsp freshly cracked black pepper
  • 1 vegetable stock cube
  • Vegetable oil of your choice

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Heat 3 tbsp of vegetable olive oil in a pan over medium heat. Add the chopped mint and parsley and fry for around 10-15 minutes until herbs start getting dark and release their aroma. Add more oil if necessary. The darker the colour, the better the flavour will be.

2. In a separate pot, fry the sliced onion in 3 tbsp of vegetable oil. When translucent, add 1 tsp of turmeric. Then add the garlic and celery pieces and saute for another 5 minutes on medium heat.

3. Add in the butter beans and sauteed herbs and cook for about a minute further.

4. Add in 3 cups of boiling water, followed by the stock cube, lime juice, saffron water, salt, pepper, and cover and cook for at least 45 minutes-1 hour on a very low heat.

5. Make sure it is not completely dry, we want the juice! Add more salt to taste.

6. Serve hot with steamed basmati rice and vegan yoghurt!

Carrot Tahini Soup

Ingredients

  • 2 large onions, thinly sliced
  • 2-4 garlic cloves, minced
  • 5-6 large carrots (about 3 lb. or 1200 g.), chopped
  • 2 tbsp. olive oil
  • ~ 7 cups water or vegetable broth
  • 2/3 to 1 tsp. salt
  • 1 tbsp. fresh or 1/2 tsp dried thyme
  • 1/1 tbsp. Italian seasoning herbs
  • 1 tbsp. smoked paprika
  • 1/4 tsp. chipotle powder
  • 1/4 cup (or a bit more) tahini + more for garnish
  • sesame seeds, lightly toasted, for serving(optional)
  • fresh thyme, for serving (optional)

Directions

  • In a large pot, heat the olive oil and sauté the onions with garlics, 5-7 min, until aromatic and translucent. Add the carrots and cook them for 5 minutes until start to lightly brown.
  • Add the water or broth to the pot along with the ginger juice, seasonings, and maple syrup (if using). Simmer at low-medium heat, covered and skimming the scum (if any appear) for about 12-15 minutes or until the carrots are soft.
  • At the end, stir in the tahini and off heat.  Let it cool a bit until easy to handle. Using an immersion blender, process until smooth. If the soup is too thick to your liking, add a little of hot water or broth. Try and adjust the seasoning (or maybe even more tahini!) if necessary. When serving, drizzle with extra tahini and sprinkle with the sesame seeds, if desired. Enjoy!

Thanksgiving Slaw

Ingredients

For the dressing:

  • 1/2 medium red onion
  • 1/3 cup vegetable or olive oil
  • 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
  • 2 tablespoons maple syrup
  • 4 teaspoons Dijon mustard
  • 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

For the salad:

  • 1.5 pounds shredded brussels sprouts
  • 1 bunch fresh parsley
  • 3/4 cup toasted, sliced almonds
  • 3/4 cup dried cranberries
  • Kosher salt
  • Freshly ground black pepper

Instructions

Make the dressing:

  1. Finely chop 1/2 medium red onion and add to a large bowl. Whisk in 1/3 cup vegetable oil, 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar, 2 tablespoons maple syrup, 4 teaspoons Dijon mustard, and 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt. Let sit for at least 10 minutes for the flavors to meld. Meanwhile, prepare the salad.

Make the salad:

  1. Shred the brussels sprouts. Pick the leaves from 1 bunch fresh parsley and coarsely chop until you have 2/3 cup.
  2. Add the shredded brussels sprouts, chopped fresh parsley leaves, 3/4 cup toasted, sliced almonds, and 3/4 cup dried cranberries to the dressing. Toss to combine. Taste and season with kosher salt and black pepper as needed.

For the farm crew,

Jennifer

Summer CSA Week 18

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Today marks the final Summer CSA delivery.  We are sad to see this part of our season come to a close, but what a wonderful season it has been. This year has been filled with seeding, planting, harvesting, learning, laughing, and gratitude. 

Our Farm crew shows up and works incredibly hard every day, but as the saying goes, many hands make light work. On Mondays and Thursdays we are grateful for our wonderful volunteers that help to lighten the load. This year we had quite the list of volunteers come out to help–if you braved the weather to come bag vegetables, harvest, weigh items, fill boxes, wash veggies, or cheer us on while we did those things, we appreciate you and your time more than words could express! Our CSA deliveries also wouldn’t be possible without our wonderful site hosts. Thank you to all of you who allowed us to use space at your home or business. This allows us to get local veggies onto the plates of more families by making pick up locations closer to their homes. 

Today may end the CSA season, but it doesn’t end the farming season. These next 3 weeks are crunch time for us. We still have lots of veggies in the field that can handle a light frost ( and remember from last week, some of them even taste better), but too much frost can damage the crops. We also had a hard start to the growing season with how wet this spring was, so the longer we can let the plants grow, the better.

We will start the harvesting with things that shouldn’t get too cold such as potatoes and brussels sprouts. We will finish the harvest with our most cold hardy vegetables such as carrots and parsnips. By the end of October, all of the fields will be empty and everything that shows up on grocery store shelves, or in the Winter CSA boxes has been carefully stored over many months. Vegetables can last for a very long time if they are properly stored. We are grateful for our root cellar that will soon get packed from floor to ceiling with vegetables. This year was finally time to admit that we might be growing more vegetables than we have storage for. Janaki applied for, and got approved for a grant that will allow us to expand our cold storage area. By the end of the project, we will have increased our cold storage by over 50%, and give us a bit more space to wash and pack those veggies as well. If the mild weather continues, the plan is to get the footings in place before snow flies. The rest of the project will have to wait until Spring, so check back for more updates. 

Another fun project we have in the works is adding another well. Up to this point, we’ve been using our household well to irrigate all of our greenhouses and tunnels, as well as a few of the smaller fields that don’t fit our larger irrigation equipment. This has required a careful dance to make sure everything gets watered and we still have pressure to wash and pack everything we need to. We hired a crew to come out a few weeks ago and dig the new well, and they’ll be coming back soon to install the pump and run new pipe to connect the buildings. We’re looking forward to having easy access and enough water pressure to provide water to the greenhouses, pack shed, and maybe even run a load of laundry at the same time.

Once November hits, we say goodbye to most of our summer crew. A couple people will stay on to fill retail orders, box Winter shares, wash vegetables (there isn’t always enough time to harvest and wash before the season ends) and do various tasks over the winter. The Summer crew will rejoin in late April or early May to start the cleaning process and take everything out of storage so we can do this all over again next year. 

Before we end this last newsletter, we need to say a big thank you to all of you. Thank you for supporting us. Thank you for believing in us. Thank you for being here with us through the twists and turns. Farming isn’t easy. We give up a lot of control to mother nature, and hope things work out how we want them to…and sometimes they do! Having your support makes the challenges a little easier. Thank you for putting your trust in us, for supporting your local farmers, and for allowing us to wake up each day and do what we love. We hope to see you all again next year!

In your share this week:

Arugula – Northeaster Beans – Beets – Brussels Sprouts – Cabbage – Carrots – Cucumbers – Lettuce – Onions – Peppers – Potatoes – Winter Squash – Tomatoes –

Egyptian red lentil soup

One large onion, chopped

One carrot finely chopped

4 to 5 garlic cloves, finely chopped

3 tablespoons olive oil

1 1/2 cups split red lentils

8 1/2 cups chicken or vegetable stock

2 teaspoons ground cumin

1 1/2 teaspoons ground coriander

One good pinch, hot pepper flakes

Juice of one lemon

Salt and pepper to taste

Soften the onion, carrot and garlic in the olive oil in a large pan over low heat for about 10 minutes. Add the lentils in stock to the pan bring to boil and skim off the foam that forms on the top simmer for 20 to 40 minutes until the lentils have disintegrated.  Stir in the spices and lemon juice and season with salt and pepper. Simmer for five minutes more – if the soup needs thinning, add water and bring to boil again.

Winter Salad

For the Salad:

  • 6 oz. shredded kale
  • 1/2 small lemon, juiced
  • 1 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
  • 6 oz. shredded vegetables, such as Brussels sprouts, cabbage, carrots
  • 2 medium apples, cored and diced
  • 1 1/2 c. candied pecans
  • 4 oz. crumbled goat cheese
  • 1 1/2 c. roasted winter squash
  • 1/2 c. pomegranate arils

For the Dressing:

  • 1/2 c. red wine vinegar
  • 4 tsp. whole grain or dijon mustard
  • 4 tsp. pure maple syrup
  • 1 tsp. kosher salt
  • 1/2 tsp. ground black pepper
  • 1/2 c. extra-virgin olive oil

Directions

  • Place the shredded kale in a very large salad bowl. Add the lemon juice and oil. Use your hands to massage the lemon juice and oil into the greens, about a minute or so. The greens should wilt slightly and take on a deep green color.
  • Add the other shredded vegetables to the bowl as well as the chopped apple.
  • Make the dressing by combining all of the dressing ingredients in a mason jar. Shake vigorously for 30 seconds and then pour it over the salad. Toss well to combine.
  • Add the pecans, goat cheese, squash, and pomegranate arils on top. Serve.

For the farm crew,

Jennifer

Summer CSA Week 17

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Last week was all about garlic and squash. 

The end of September marks garlic sorting time. This is when a few lucky crew members get to sort through each of the garlic bulbs to decide if they will be used as seed garlic, or if they will be sent to shares or sold. Last year we planted over 6,700 cloves of garlic. Every clove that you plant gets turned into a bulb that you harvest. That means over 6,700 bulbs of garlic were sorted one by one. We look at each bulb to see how many cloves it contains, the size of the cloves, and the overall appearance of the bulb. When looking for garlic that will be used as seed for this year, we look for bulbs that have 4,5, or 6 cloves in it. Any more or less and the bulb gets sent directly to the shares/sell pile. Once we’ve counted the cloves, we look at the size of each clove. We want the largest cloves that we can find. This is for 3 main reasons: 1) larger cloves have more energy in them to help the plant gets started. We don’t want the plants struggling and stressed from the very beginning. 2) larger cloves produce a stronger root system early in the growing season. This can improve their ability to access water and nutrients from the very beginning. 3) larger cloves are more resistant to frost. This allows them to better withstand our cold Minnesota winters, and it helps them recover more quickly if they do get a little too cold. For those reasons, anything with small cloves will get put in the shares/sell pile. 

As we’re looking at the size of the cloves, it’s also important to make sure that we are choosing bulbs with similarly sized cloves. If they are all different sizes, they have the potential to grow and mature at different rates. Since we are growing such a large amount, making sure everything is growing and maturing at the same rate is very important. 

The final inspection is the overall look of the bulb. We look for any signs of disease, internal mold, improper drying, and any other abnormalities. These all get pulled out and set aside for further inspection. planting bulbs with any of these “imperfections” could result in the cloves not germinating, or in them spreading disease to the soil and/or other garlic plants. We always prefer to be cautious and not chance it. 

Once we have all our garlic separated into the two piles, we then do the math to figure out how many cloves we will need for planting. We figure out the length of the fields, how many beds we plan to plant, how far apart each clove will get planted, and possible increase or decrease in crop yield. I say we as if all of us are doing this math, but in actuality, Janaki does all of this math for us so only one person has to hurt their brain crunching all the numbers. Thanks to all of your interest in our garlic preserving shares this year, and the fact that we are planning to plant on a longer field than last year, we increased our seed number by 15%. This means at the end of October, the crew will hand plant over 7,700 cloves of garlic. Anything not deemed seed quality, got set aside to be sent as preserving shares or will be saved for winter share deliveries. In past years we’ve also sold a fair amount to restaurants and other local outlets, but this year that’s not possible because we’re saving extra seed. 

As the same time garlic sorting was happening, the rest of the crew was out getting all the winter squash from the fields. This meant clipping, throwing, stacking, loading, unloading, counting, and organizing thousands of squash. This is a long process because 1) it’s a lot of squash! 2) the Squash are split into different fields. One is on the main part of the farm, and the other is across the road. We had all the delicata, acorn, and some sunshine squash on the main part of the farm. The delicata made up the majority of this field since it’s the squash we will send with every winter share until we run out. This is also the popular seller to local businesses, and a favorite for most of the farm crew, so we plant quite a bit. Across the road was the rest of the sunshine, the kabocha, and all of the pumpkins. 

It was a lot of work, but we got all the Squash and pumpkins out of the field by the end of the work day on Friday. Now we begin the curing process for most of the squash so they will stay fresh through the winter months. As for the pumpkins, those get to go home with all of you this week! As you’re carving your pumpkins, feel free to share these fun facts:

-the first vegetable to be carved into a Jack o’lantern was actually a turnip

– Pumpkins need honey bees to pollinate their flowers. The more honey bee visits a flower gets, the more perfect the pumpkin will be

– pumpkins are grown on every continent except Antarctica

In your share this week:

Hot Peppers – Red Peppers – Northeaster Pole Beans – Basil – Carrots – Celery

Onion – Potatoes – Rutabaga – Spinach – Winter Squash – Tomatoes

Salade Nicoise 

3-5 medium potatoes

1 cup your favorite vinaigrette (mustard vinaigrette is delicious for this!)

3 cups fresh green beans (cut the Nor’easters on the diagonal)

1 head butter lettuce or spinach

3 ripe tomatoes, quartered

1 cap of canned tuna (optional)

3 hard boiled eggs, halved

1/2 cup Mediterranean style olives

Fresh herbs

Boil potatoes until just tender.  Drain and rinse in cold water and slip off the skins.  While still warm, cut into 1/8″ slices and gently toss with about 1/3 cup of the dressing.  Just before serving, toss greens with vinaigrette and arrange on a platter.  Arrange all the other ingredients in clusters around the platter, drizzling on the remaining vinaigrette.  Dress the salad with the fresh herbs and serve.

NOTE:  you can add any veggie to this salad– carrots, celery, and peppers add depth and color

Rutabaga Hash

  • 22 ounces rutabaga, peeled and diced (about 1 large rutabaga)
  • 6 ounces green cabbage, chopped (about half a head of green cabbage)
  • 1 leek, cut into strips (white parts only, green stems removed)
  • 3 tablespoons avocado oil (or any cooking oil or butter)
  • 1 teaspoon salt 
  • ½ teaspoon black pepper 
  • 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning 
  • 8 ounces bacon, cut into pieces
  • basil for garnish

  • Preheat your oven to 425°F. Add avocado oil, followed by rutabaga, cabbage, leeks, and bacon to the cast iron skillet.
  • Season with salt, pepper and Italian seasoning. Mix until well combined.
  • Roast in the oven for 25 minutes, then take the veggies out, and mix around before returning to oven for another 20-30 minutes, because you want all the vegetables to get a little crisp on them.
  • Finally, garnish with basil if you want, then eat!

For the farm crew, 

Jennifer 

Summer CSA Week 16

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It feels like June was just a few days ago, and here we are in our 16th week of CSA shares! Maybe that’s because the weather the last few weeks have felt more like Summer than Fall. Sunday night’s chill was a nice reminder that it is indeed officially Fall, but we’re looking forward to another beautiful week to get things done.

For most people, this time of year means slowing down and getting cozy as the days shorten and the nights lengthen. For those of us lucky people in agriculture, we won’t be slowing down any time soon. The Fall equinox marks the start of the busiest time of year for us (and also the perfect time to sign up for a Winter Share)!

Over the next few weeks, we’ll say goodbye to our Summer crops such as melons, zucchini, and cucumbers. Those fields will soon go from green to brown, then back to green as we make our final harvests, till in the plants, and seed our cover crop. We will begin to say hello to more of our Fall and winter crops such as leeks, rutabaga, parsnips, and winter squash. This also means we will be spending lots of time cleaning and sanitizing storage space to put all of these crops for the winter. 

With the colder nights, this time also begins to signal a flavor change in the crops. The colder weather causes some crops to convert a portion of their starches into sugars. The addition of sugar causes the freezing point of the water inside the plant to be lowered. This now means the plant can withstand colder temperatures before it’s ruined. The plants most known for this are carrots, kale, and beets. This is one of the reasons why we have a spring/Summer planting and a fall planting of these veggies. The early planting becomes available at a time when we are all excited (and possibly a little desperate) to add some color back into our food after the long winter. The early plantings add more of an earthy flavor to dishes, while the later planting adds a little bit more sweetness. Getting to enjoy the flavor changes in the vegetables is one of the many beautiful things about farming.

Another exciting change happening on the farm is that our smaller hens have started laying eggs! For those of you with an egg share, you may have already noticed this last week when one or two smaller eggs showed up in your share. These are thanks to our little ladies who are just starting to lay. We got these hens back in early May. They’ve spent the last 4 months growing and exploring different areas of the farm. They start out in a fully enclosed shed to keep them warm, and protected from the elements. After about a month, we move them to a mobile chicken coop that we place over one of our fields we aren’t currently using. This allows them to start getting used to the wind and change in temperature while still being fully protected from the rain. It also introduces them to insects and vegetation. It’s beneficial for the farm because they are producing free fertilizer for us which adds nutrients back into the field. Once the hens get bigger and start showing signs of being adventurous (aka once they start trying to escape), we move them to a fenced off area with a larger mobile coop. This allows them to roam around in a larger area during the day, but still have a sheltered place to protect them from the rain and sun. The mobile coop also houses their egg boxes, food and water. It also is fully enclosed with a lockable door for protection at night. The Farm has a surprisingly high amount of coyotes, wolves, raccoons, and foxes close by, so keeping the chickens locked up at night is a must! 

In your shares this week:

Carrots – Cucumber – Northeaster Pole Beans – Leeks – Lettuce – Melons – Onions – Parsley – Red Peppers – Russet Potatoes – Winter Squash – Tomatoes – Zucchini

Winter Squash Crumb Cake

Streusel:

1/2 packed cup of light brown sugar

1/2 c flour

1 tsp pumpkin spice blend

1/4 cup unsalted butter cut into cubes

Cake:

1 cup light brown sugar

2 large eggs

2 cups pureed squash

1/4 unsalted butter, melted

1/4 cup neutral oil

1 Tbsp pumpkin spice blend

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 1/2 cups flour

1.  Heat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease 8″ square or 9″ round baking pan and line with parchment paper.

2.  Make the streusel:  in a small bowl, combine sugar, flour, spice and salt.  Add the butter then pinch the butter into the four mixture with your fingertips until the mix forms pebble-size crumbs.

3.  Make the cake:  in a large bowl, whisk the sugar and eggs until pale and foamy, about 1 minute.  Add the squash puree, melted butter, oil, pumpkin spice and salt.  Whisk until combined and smooth.  Whisk in the baking powder and baking soda then whisk in the flour. 

4.  Transfer the batter to the prepared pan, smooth the top and tap on the counter a few times to release any large air bubbles.  Sprinkle the streusel evenly over the top.

5.  Bake the cake until puffed and golden and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean (40-45 minutes).  Set the cake in the pan on a rack to cool.  After about 15 minutes remove the cake from the pan and set it on a rack to cool completely

Turkish- Style Braised Leeks

  • 3 large leeks, cleaned well and trimmed, whites and tender green parts sliced into ¼-inch rounds
  • 2 to 3 carrots, peeled and cut into ¼-inch rounds
  • 3 large garlic cloves, minced
  • Kosher salt and black pepper
  • 1 teaspoon cumin
  • 1 teaspoon Aleppo pepper
  • 2 tablespoons rice, I used Arborio rice, rinsed
  • Juice and zest of 1 large lemon
  • ½ cup chopped fresh parsley
  • Olive oil
  • In a medium saucepan heat ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil over medium-high heat until shimmering. Add the leeks, carrots, and garlic and season with kosher salt, black pepper, and the spices. Toss around and cook for about 5 to 7 minutes, stirring regularly as needed until the leeks and carrots soften just a bit.
  • Add 2 cups of water, the rice, and lemon juice. Bring the water to a boil, then lower the heat and let simmer for 15 to 20 minutes or until the rice is fully cooked and the vegetables are fully tender.
  • Let the leeks and carrots cool down to room temperature, then stir in the fresh parsley, lemon zest, and another good drizzle of extra virgin olive oil.

Tomato-Green Bean Salad with Chickpeas, Feta and Dill

salt and pepper

3/4 lb green beans (cut diagonally into 1in pieces)

2 Tbsp lemon juice

1 Tbsp red wine vinegar

1 garlic clove (or less), minced finely

3 Tbsp olive oil

2 cups tomatoes cut into bite sized pieces

2 cups cooked chickpeas (1 can), drained

1/2 cup crumbled feta

2-3 Tbsp roughly chopped dill

pinch of dried oregano

1.  bring medium saucepan of water to boil over high heat.  Add 1 tsp salt then green beans.  Cook until beans are tender-crisp (about 2 minutes).  Transfer to large bowl of cold water.  Drain in colander and blot dry.

2. Make dressing by combining lemon juice, vinegar, garlic, pinch of salt and some black pepper in a small bowl.  Whisk in the olive oil.

3.  In a large salad bowl, combine tomatoes, beans and chickpeas.  Season to taste with salt and pepper.  Add dressing and stir to coat.  Add feta and toss once more.  Let marinate for 10-15 minutes before serving.

4.  Before serving, sprinkle generously with dill and oregano

For the farm crew, 

Jennifer

Summer CSA Week 15

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Last week the crew was working hard to get more veggies out of the field. We have been slowly working to get onions out of the field and onto racks in covered areas to start drying for storage. We haven’t been in a rush to do this because last week and this week’s weather are the perfect chance for the onions to keep drying naturally in the sun. The warm, dry air helps to dry the onions and start creating the protective outer skin. Once we move the onions into sheltered areas, we point industrial fans on them 24/7 to ensure they dry properly. As a farm that always strives to be sustainable, using the sun and wind instead of all that electricity is huge for us.

Last week we also used the harvesters to dig up more potatoes and carrots. We got out red potatoes, russets, white potatoes, yellow potatoes, orange carrots, and the first of the purple carrots. This also marked an exciting time for the farm crew as it meant it was time to bring the forklift out of summer storage. We use our forklift in the root cellar to stack pallet boxes as a way to better conserve space, so we have enough room to fit all the veggies. In the Summer, we put the forklift in our shop to keep it away from the damaging humidity of the root cellar, and because veggies are being harvested only in the quantities we need, so nothing needs to be placed in the root cellar for extended storage. Now as we start to empty fields and get ready for fall harvest, the root cellar is filling up fast. Soon we will have pallet boxes of veggies stacked all the way to the ceiling.  

This week might still feel like Summer, but your box is starting to signal that Fall is coming. We are excited to introduce our Winter Squash! This crop was a little touch and go for a while. They didn’t appreciate the excess rainfall and cool early summer temperatures, but as things dried out the vines grew really large, and looking great. For a while, we were worried we might end up with 15 pound squashes. Our fears were soon squashed (there’s always time for food puns) as the vines developed powdery mildew. This is a common fungal disease that attacks many plants.  It appears as small, white-ish gray spores on the leaves of the plant. It starts out very small, so small it is sometimes hard to spot at first, but once the plant is infected, it can spread like crazy. Soon the small spots take over the whole plant, and begin to spread to neighboring plants. We mostly find this on our Winter Squash and our zucchini. Once the plant is infected, there is no way to cure it, you can only slow down the spread…for a while. The powdery mildew on the winter squash ended up spreading and killing all the foliage in the last couple of weeks, but the squash themselves appear to be absolutely the perfect size! 

Soon we will start the task of getting all the Squash out of the field. Once they are out, the majority of them need to cure first before they can be eaten. The curing process does two things for the squash 1) it hardens the outer skin which will allow it to last for multiple months in storage. 2) starches change to sugar and releases excess moisture which concentrates the flavor to make an even more delicious and sweet squash. Acorn squash is the earliest to mature of the varieties we grow, so it’s the first we send. In fact, if acorn squash is cured at high temperatures it can cause it to rot faster. This is why we are able to send this wonderful veggie to all of you now rather than making you wait for it. 

It is a very fun veggie to experiment with. Many people like to stuff it since the shape of it naturally looks like a bowl. Other people roast it for salads, puree it as an easy, veggie packed pasta sauce, or grate it up to add to muffins or other baked goods. My favorite way to make acorn squash ( or any winter squash for that matter) is to turn it into gnocchi. I’ve added my favorite recipe below if you’re feeling adventurous and want to give it a try.

In your share this week:

Northeaster Pole Beans – Basil – Beets – Broccoli – Red Cabbage – Carrots – Cucumber – Garlic – Lettuce – Melon – Onion – Hot Pepper – Sweet Pepper – Yellow Potatoes – Tomatoes – Zucchini

Acorn Squash Gnocchi with Basil Pesto

  • 1 medium sized acorn squash just shy of 1 lb.
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1/2 cup all purpose flour plus 1 tablespoon for the rolling and cutting gnocchi
  • 1 tsp kosher salt
  • 1/4 tsp ground black pepper
  • 2 tablespoons prepared basil pesto 

Roast Squash for Gnocchi

  • Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees. Line a baking sheet with foil. Cut acorn squash in half, on the vertical, and scoop out seeds. Drizzle olive oil onto the flesh side and season with salt and pepper. Place on baking sheet, flesh side down, and roast about 30-40 minutes, until squash is fork tender. Allow to cool at least 10 minutes before scooping out flesh into a bowl.

Preparing Gnocchi Dough

  • To prep the dough, bring a large pot of water to a low boil, season with salt like you would to cook pasta. In the bowl of roasted squash, stir together with flour until smooth. The dough should feel about as pliable as pizza dough, meaning it should still hold together but doesn’t feel dry. If the dough is too wet, add a little more flour (about a tablespoon at a time) until you get to that desired consistency. This will help in the rollout of dough.
  • Roll and cut dough: Working in batches, scoop up a loose handful of dough and roll out onto a lightly floured work surface. Roll the dough into the shape of a log, about 3/4 inch wide. Using a sharp knife, slice into 1 inch pieces and place on parchment. Repeat with the remaining chunks of dough until all gnocchi is cut.

Cooking Gnocchi

  • Working in two or three batches (depending on number of gnocchi), add gnocchi to the large pot of boiling water and allow to cook 2-3 minutes until the gnocchi floats to the top. Using a spider strainer (or slotted spoon), remove gnocchi and allow to drain on a baking sheet lined with paper towels. Repeat until all gnocchi are cooked.
  • Toss gnocchi together with a couple of tablespoons of basil pesto, using a little gnocchi water to thin out sauce as needed and grate a generous amount of parmigiano-reggiano. Enjoy immediately.

Apple and Beet Muffins

Instructions

  • First, cook the beets
  • Preheat the oven to 350℉. Line a muffin pan (if not using a silicone one) and set aside.
  • Using a hand or box grater, shred the cooked beets and apples.
  • In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the unsweetened applesauce, beaten eggs, olive oil, maple syrup, and vanilla extract.
  • In a measuring cup or separate bowl, combine the whole wheat flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt.
  • Add the dry to ingredients to the bowl with the wet ones. Stir to combine.
  • Fold the shredded beets and apples into the batter. Mix until evenly distributed.
  • Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin pan, filling each cavity about ¾ of the way.
  • Bake for 23 to 25 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean.
  • Let the muffins cool for a few minutes, then enjoy!

For the farm crew,

Jennifer