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

Summer CSA Week 14

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Can you all believe it, we only have 4 more weeks of our Summer CSA season!

The final weeks of the CSA season are busy, busy, busy! Mother Nature threw quite the curve ball for us on Friday night with her far too early, danger of frost. Usually we don’t have to start worrying about the dreaded F word until later in the month. We chose the mentality that if you don’t think about it, it won’t happen (it’s actually the only thing any of us thought about all week, but we had good intentions). Things worked out well for us. It did get really chilly on Friday night, but with the exception of a few melon vines the plants appear to have been mostly unaffected. We then had to pull out our warm-ish layers to get ready for our busy Saturday.

On Saturday, we were at Bayfront for Harvest Fest. It’s always a fun event to meet so many people in the community, chat with other local farmers, and show off some new things. If you stopped by our booth, you may have seen our mini carrots in their packaging. The bags arrived just in time for Harvest Fest, and will be hitting some grocery store shelves later this season, so be on the lookout for them. You’ll be getting this variety in your shares this week, but 2 pounds instead of the little bags for market.

In preparation for the remaining few weeks of the CSA season, Janaki starts taking inventory of all the vegetables we have sent to our members so far this season, and starts planning for when we will send the remaining vegetables.  You all have gotten lots of delicious veggies so far, but there are still quite a few things you haven’t seen in your boxes yet. Spoiler Alert: we still have leeks, rutabaga, parsnips, pole beans, red cabbage, winter squash, and brussels sprouts. This week we have a new addition to the line up with Carmen peppers. These peppers look intimidating because their shape resembles that of a spicy pepper, but they are not spicy at all. They are like a sweet red bell pepper but we love the thick walls and robust flavor of the Carmens.

Along with planning what else will go in the boxes for the remaining weeks, Janaki also starts creating a plan for our big Fall harvest that happens at the end of October. A big part of this is pulling out the carrot and potato harvesters to fix anything that got broken/damaged last fall or over the winter in storage, and to dust off the machines and the crew’s sorting abilities that haven’t been used in a year. We used the carrot harvester on Wednesday to get most of the third planting of carrots out of the field, and we used the potato harvester on Thursday to get russets and red potatoes out of the field to bring to Harvest Fest. This means that for the last 13 weeks, every vegetable you’ve received in your box has been lovingly harvested by hand by our hard working farm crew. 

It’s an exciting time when the veggies are large enough and mature enough to use the full sized harvesters. We weren’t able to use the potato harvester until now because the potatoes weren’t mature enough. Their skin was still too delicate for all of the rolling, shaking, and dropping that the potato harvester puts them through. The first two plantings of carrots were large enough and mature enough that we could have used the harvester. However, due to the disease, the carrots required a lot of sorting. This would have required the harvester to go slower so we would have time to sort more accurately. If we run the carrot harvester too slow, the harvester will skip over some carrots leaving them in the field. We actually enjoy hand-harvesting, but when we’re all geared up to go fast it gets pretty irritating in a hurry when things go wrong. 

Aloo Gobi

Ingredients

2 Tbsp. vegetable oil

1 red chili, diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 Tbsp. minced ginger

1 tsp. garam masala

1/2 tsp. dried turmeric

1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper

3 potatoes, peeled and chopped into 1″ pieces

1 medium head cauliflower, cut into florets

1 c. low-sodium vegetable broth

Kosher salt

Freshly ground black pepper

Freshly chopped cilantro, for serving

    • Directions

  • Step 1:In a large skillet over medium-high heat, heat oil. Add chili, garlic, and ginger and cook until fragrant, 1 minute. Add garam masala, turmeric, and cayenne and cook until toasted, 1 minute more. 

  • Step 2:Add potatoes, cauliflower, and vegetable broth and season with salt and pepper. Reduce heat and cook, covered, until potatoes and cauliflower are tender, 15 minutes. Garnish with cilantro to serve.

    • Melon and Cucumber Salad

    Ingredients

    • 1 cantaloupe, seeds removed and cubed
    • 1 large cucumber , thinly sliced
    • 1 large red bell pepper, thinly sliced
    • 1/2 large red onion, thinly sliced
    • 3 – 4 tablespoons apple cider vinegar (white wine vinegar ok too)
    • 1 tablespoon olive oil, optional
    • 1/2 teaspoon fresh cracked pepper, or to taste
    • good pinch of salt
    • fresh basil or mint, to garnish (optional)

    Instructions

    Cantaloupe: Slice your cantaloupe in half (doesn’t matter if you slice it horizontally or vertically). Scoop out the seeds with a large spoon and discard. Slice your cantaloupe halves into 5 or 6 slices. Using a sharp knife, cut from one end of the slice to the other as close as you can to the rind, slowly and carefully cutting the orange flesh away from the peel. Slice into bite size pieces.

    Cucumber: Slice off each end and using a vegetable peeler remove the outer skin (leave skin on for extra nutritional value and fiber). Slice the cucumber into 1/8 – 1/4 inch slices.

    Bell Pepper: Wash and core your bell pepper. Slice into 1/4 – 1/8 inch slices. Cut the slices in half.

    Onion: Slice the onion in half lengthwise. Cut off both ends of one of the halves and remove the outer layer. Place the sliced onion, end cut down and slice into 1/8 – 1/4 inch slices. If onion slices seem too long for you, cut them in half.

    Assemble salad: Place ingredients in a large bowl. Add apple cider vinegar, salt and pepper and mix well to coat. Cover and set in the refrigerator for an hour or so to chill and marinate, mix occasionally if you like

    Summer CSA Week 13

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    Last week I promised you all an official update on how the caterpillar tunnel experiment went. I know a few of you were heartbroken to learn that this was not in fact a fun tunnel that we let caterpillars run through all day, but instead it was an effort to save our sad looking tomatoes.

    At the beginning of the season, before we put the caterpillar tunnel up, the field tomatoes looked very stressed. They had gotten their leaves pelted by so much rain and the soil was soaked. As we hustled to get the tunnel up before yet another 2″ rain, we worried that it might be too late for them to recover. I am happy to report that the exact opposite happened. We put the caterpillar tunnel over the tomatoes, and in just a few weeks, they looked like entirely different plants. The leaves went from a dry, shriveled, brown color to a soft, vibrant green color. The plants started producing more leaf sets, growing taller, and eventually putting on flowers and fruit. We think the protection from the elements really saved them because the rest of the field tomatoes developed early blight.

    The fruit has been slow to ripen, but that could be because we pinched off the first one or two sets of flowers in an effort to convince the plant to focus on getting healthy rather than producing fruit. We have been able to harvest a few tomatoes, but most of the fruit on the plants is still green.

    The most important factor in determining if this tunnel was a success came down to the taste. First, for background, we haven’t been satisfied with our greenhouse tomatoes for a few years so this year we tested out new fertility sources. Previously, our nitrogen source was coming from fish fertilizer, and our potassium source was mineral based. Nitrogen is important for the chlorophyll formation in plants. Chlorophyll is what makes plants green which allows them to absorb sunlight through photosynthesis. Without adequate nitrogen, plants won’t be “green” enough to absorb sunlight thus stunting their growth, and possibly preventing them from fully maturing. Potassium is important for plants because it aids in regulating the rate of photosynthesis, and it is associated with the movement of water and nutrients throughout the plant. Without adequate potassium, plants have reduced yield, stunted growth, and poor flavor. 

    Our previous fertilizer mixture worked okay (though applying fish fertilizer through drip tape is a smelly hassle), but we wanted to see if we could do better so we tried an amino acid based nitrogen. This is beneficial to the plants because amino acids are immediately available for the plants to absorb. The fish fertilizer delivered nitrogen in the form of proteins which can take a while to break down so they can be absorbed by the plants. We also switched to using a plant based potassium source instead of a mineral based source. Mineral based sources can often lead to a build up of minerals at the roots of the plant, preventing the plant from being able to absorb other nutrients. We also added calcium and micronutrients to round out the program.  

    Farmer Janaki thought this new fertilizer combination made the greenhouse tomatoes taste significantly better than in previous years. This meant the caterpillar tunnel tomatoes had to be really great in order to earn the top spot for best tomatoes on the farm this year. We had lots of people taste testing, and we all came to the same conclusion: for our Geronimo (large slicing tomatoes) we compared one from our regular greenhouse and one from our caterpillar tunnel, and the greenhouse won. They both had a similar texture, but the greenhouse tomato had more flavor. We also compared an Early Cascade (small canning tomato) from outside and one from the caterpillar tunnel. In this test the caterpillar tunnel won. Again, they had similar textures, but the appearance and flavor of the caterpillar tunnel tomatoes was better. Oddly, the caterpillar tunnel fruit ripened later than both the high tunnel and field tomatoes. We only did a small sample so far, and this is just one year, so we are excited to keep this in mind and see if we feel the same again next year. In farming, there are so many variables that it’s hard to run true experiments that inform results year-to-year, but we keep trying to zero in on better ways of growing healthy food!

    In your share this week:

    Green Beans – Broccoli – Cucumbers – Zucchini – Tomatoes – Sweet Onions – Carrots

    Hot Peppers – Sweet Peppers – Potatoes – Melons – Lavender

    Marcella Hazan’s Tomato Sauce 

    2 cups of tomatoes with juices

    5 tablespoons of butter

    One onion, peeled and cut in half

    Salt

    Combine tomatoes and juices, butter and the onion halves in a sauce pan with one or two pinches of salt.  

    Place over medium heat and bring to a simmer. Cook uncovered for 45 minutes occasionally stirring and breaking up chunks of tomatoes with the back of the spoon.

    Discard the onion before pouring sauce on cooked pasta.  This recipe creates enough sauce for 1 pound of pasta.

    Marinated Vegetable Antipasto

    Vegetable suggestions: Blanched and chilled broccoli, cauliflower, and carrots.  Onion, celery, sweet peppers, zucchini

    Marinade:

    1/2 cup water

    1-1/2 cups wine vinegar

    1 cup olive oil

    2 tbsp sugar

    2 tsp fresh oregano, minced

    1/2 cup pitted olives

    Salt and pepper to taste

    Prepare appx 8 cups vegetables by cutting into bite-size pieces.  Bring marinade ingredients to a boil in a larger saucepan.  Add approximately 2 quarts of cut up vegetables – cover and cook 3 to 4 minutes, stirring once.   Uncover, cool and refrigerate for at least two hours. Drain before serving.

    Summer CSA Week 12

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    Thanks to everyone who spent their Saturday with us. We loved getting to meet so many of you, and having the opportunity to show all of you this beautiful space we love!

    Last week was BUSY here on the farm! We spent the beginning of the week getting the rest of the first two plantings of carrots out of the field and washed. We now have about 7,200 pounds of carrots in our root cellar waiting to be put in your weekly share boxes, and eventually hitting grocery store shelves and restaurant plates.

    Now that the first two plantings of carrots are out of the field and washed, we were able to turn our attention to other crops. We spent time pulling all of the onions, and laying them on the plastic mulch to begun the drying process. We leave the onions here for a week or two to let the sun and wind naturally start drying them out. After the onions have begun to dry and form their protective outer shells, we cut off the stem, move them to drying racks in the greenhouse and place them in front of fans to fully dry for winter storage. We usually dry the garlic and have plenty of time to put all the garlic away and clean up the greenhouse before it’s time for the onions to dry. However, if you haven’t caught it yet, this year has been a wild and unpredictable year on the farm. We had to pull the onions a little early this year because some of them had started to bolt. Bolting is when a plant prematurely puts on flowers.

    Onions are considered a biennial plant. This means in the first year, we plant the onions from seed and they will create the onion bulbs we all know and love. If we left them in the ground over winter, the next summer the onions would put on a flower and eventually that flower would create seeds (the same ones we plant to create this cycle). Every once in a while, the changes in the environment can confuse the onion into thinking it’s in its second year of growing and needs to put on a flower. Some of these environmental factors are too hot, too cold, too much water, or too little water. My research led me to learn that specifically when temps dip below 45°, the plant thinks it has entered “winter”, then when it warms back up, the plant thinks it has entered summer in year two leading it to put on flowers. Our best guess is that those few overnights in the end of June/early July that got down to low 40s, tricked the onions into believing they were in winter.

    When the onions start to bolt, it’s important to get them out of the ground sooner rather than later because the big, thick stems, has the possibility to prevent the onions from properly drying. We rely on the dried onions in the winter for our Winter CSA boxes, and for selling to local restaurants. This means this year we will be drying garlic and onions at the same time. The greenhouse space isn’t big enough to handle both at once (hence why we usually dry one then the other), so we’ve had to get creative clearing out some other spaces to house the onions for a while.

    We also picked the first tomatoes from our caterpillar tunnel. We’ve learned a lot from having this new tunnel, but the taste of the tomatoes is the most important part. Beautiful looking plants don’t mean as much to us if the fruit it produces doesn’t taste good. We are doing a taste test of the tomatoes this week. We plan to compare the regular greenhouse tomatoes to the caterpillar tunnel tomatoes to see if one tastes better than the other, or if they are equally delicious. We plan to give you all a thorough update next week on both the tunnel itself and the taste of the tomatoes, so stay tuned!

    In your share this week:

    Thyme – Onions – Kale – Basil – Green Beans – Carrots – Tomatoes

    Zucchini – Cucumber – Cilantro – Green Peppers – Hot Peppers – New Potatoes

    Lemon Thyme Shortbread cookies

    Ingredients

    • 3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened 
    • 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar, divided
    • 2 Tbsp. lemon zest, plus more for garnish
    • 1 1/2 tsp. chopped fresh thyme, plus more for garnish
    • 1/2 tsp. vanilla bean paste or extract
    • 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for work surface and cutters
    • 1/2 tsp. kosher salt
    • 2 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice (from 1 lemon)

    Directions

    1. Beat butter and 1/2 cup of the powdered sugar in a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment on medium speed until smooth, about 1 minute. Beat in lemon zest, thyme, and vanilla until combined, about 30 seconds.
    2. Whisk together flour and salt in a medium bowl until combined. With mixer on low speed, gradually add flour mixture to butter mixture, beating just until dough comes together, about 1 minute, stopping to scrape down sides of bowl as needed. Shape dough into a 6-inch disk, and wrap in plastic wrap. Let chill until firm, at least 1 hour or up to 24 hours.
    3. Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a large rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper. Roll out dough on a lightly floured work surface to 1/4-inch thickness. Cut desired shapes using lightly floured 2-inch cookie cutters. Chill, reroll, and cut dough scraps as needed. Transfer shapes to prepared baking sheet, spacing 1 inch apart. Freeze until firm, about 10 minutes.
    4. Bake in preheated oven until the edges are set, 14 to 16 minutes. Let cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes. Transfer cookies to a wire rack; let cool completely, about 30 minutes.
    5. In a medium bowl, whisk together lemon juice and remaining 1 cup powdered sugar until smooth. Dip, drizzle, or spread glaze over cooled cookies as desired. Sprinkle additional lemon zest and thyme over cookies. Let stand until glaze is set, about 30 minutes.

    African Peanut Soup

    • 2 tbsp olive oil
    • 1 medium onion, chopped (1 cup)
    • 1 tbsp ginger, minced
    • 1 jalapeño, seeds and ribs removed, diced
    • 4 garlic cloves, minced (1 tbsp)
    • 1/2 tsp pepper
    • 2 tsp cumin
    • 2 tbsp tomato paste
    • 14 oz crushed tomatoes
    • 4 cups chicken stock
    • 1 sweet potato, peeled and diced
    • 1 (14 oz) can chickpeas, drained
    • 1 cup creamy natural peanut butter
    • 4 cups kale, roughly chopped
    • 1.5 lbs skinless, boneless chicken breast, cooked, shredded
    • 1 tsp salt (to taste)
    • peanuts, crushed
    • cilantro, chopped (optional) for garnish
    1. In a large pot heat olive oil over medium heat. Add onions and sauté until softened, about 3-4 minutes.
    2. Add in ginger, jalapeno and garlic and stir until fragrant about 1 min. Add the pepper, cumin and tomato paste and cook for another 2 minutes, stirring, until paste darkens.
    3. Add the crushed tomatoes, stock, sweet potatoes, chickpeas and peanut butter. Bring to a boil and stir until fully combined. Turn the heat down to low and simmer for 15 minutes, until sweet potatoes are tender.
    4. Add in kale and shredded chicken and cook for another 5 minutes. Taste the soup before adding salt. Depending on how salty your stock and/or peanut butter was, it may not need anymore salt. If you use low sodium stock and salt-free peanut butter, it will need a full teaspoon salt, maybe more. Adjust to your own liking.
    5. Serve warm topped with cilantro and crushed peanuts. Enjoy!

    For the farm crew,

    Jennifer

    Summer CSA Week 11

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    We hope you’re ready! This Saturday, August 24th is our wonderful Coffee On The Farm event. We will have coffee, hay rides, dog pets, and farm tours from 10am-12pm. This is a great event for all, so bring your friends, family, neighbors, or make it a solo outing. We hope to see all of your smiling faces.

    Last week was focused on emptying out some more rows and fields, and dusting off all the washing equipment that hasn’t been used since January when we washed the last of the 2023 carrots. 

    We spent a muddy and rainy afternoon pulling the rest of the Spring/Summer beets out of the field. Seems that every time we do a big harvest of beets, it’s muddy and wet. Thank goodness for outside hoses so we can set up the “human car wash” and hose ourselves off before moving onto the next activity. We had been harvesting beets as needed which allowed the smaller beets to keep getting bigger, and it allowed us to send you the delicious tops along with the beets. It was time to pull the rest of the beets because even the small ones had sized up nicely. Restaurants like Duluth Grill and Ursa Minor will be very excited to receive such big beets that take less time and are easier to process than a handful of smaller beets. On days when we do big beet harvests, we take all the tops off while we are in the field. The tops will get tilled into the soil to add back organic matter to make the field even better the next time we use it. The beets get put into buckets and loaded on a trailer to be brought down to the packing shed. Outside the packing shed, we have our washing station set up. The buckets get dumped into our brush washer where a series of sprayer nozzles and brushes clean all the dirt off of the beets. They pop out the other side where we sort out any odd beets, and give them a final spray to get off any remaining dirt. Once the beets are all approved, they ride the roller table, which is a series of rollers that push the beets along. Eventually they drop into a pallet box where they will stay until they get packed up for CSA or retail orders. We filled one pallet box with the remaining spring/Summer beets which is estimated to be around 1,000 pounds of beets.

    We spent a few days last week across the road, starting to get the first two plantings of outdoor carrots out of the ground. Normally at this time in the year, we would just be removing the first outdoor planting, but disease has hit these carrots pretty hard, so it’s best to get them out sooner rather than later in an attempt to save some of the crop. Our carrots have gotten a disease known as Aster Yellows. A bug called a Leaf Hopper carries this disease. The Leaf Hopper gets the disease when it feeds on an infected plant, then spreads the disease when it starts feeding on a healthy plant. Once a plant is infected, there is no cure, so the only option is to remove the crops or plants before the disease gets worse. We knew the carrots had this because 1) when you touch the carrot tops, hundreds of Leaf Hoppers jump and fly around. 2) from afar, you can tell because it causes the carrot tops to turn a yellow color, and some even get purple and red tops. The really infected carrots will start getting “hairy” this is where they begin to grow extra roots out of the carrot. Once the carrots get hairy, they will also take on a bitter taste. 

    The first planting required lots of hand sorting to find the healthy carrots. We left quite a few carrots in the field, but we were still able to harvest and keep around 1500 pounds of carrots. That’s a lot of carrots, but a far cry from the 6,000 pounds that we should have harvested. The second planting looks a bit healthier, but is still pretty young, so get ready to receive some “baby” carrots in your shares. 

    The annoying thing about Aster Yellows and Leaf hoppers is that they are not exclusive to carrots. Leaf Hoppers can infect a long list of plants including house plants, flowers, and other vegetables. We struggled earlier with asters yellow on some lettuce in a few of our greenhouses. The insects cause the leaves to turn a yellowish green color, and it tastes bitter. We had to do the same thing as with the carrots where we harvested and kept what we could, and the infected lettuce went to our chickens as an unexpected treat. Thankfully, lettuce grows really quickly, so we got a new planting seeded right away, and our chickens were very happy.

    We’ve also found other diseases in our broccoli, outdoor tomatoes, the first planting of potatoes (not the big planting thank goodness), zucchini, and cucumbers. The good thing is, most of these diseases are “normal” for us, so we’ve done a lot of research on ways to slow down the spread such as harvesting infected plants last, and using different harvesting tools for healthy plants vs. infected plants. Janaki has also done a lot of research to see if any organic materials can be used in slowing disease. The downside is, just like Aster Yellows, there is no cure for these diseases. Eventually the plants will get too stressed and weak, causing them to begin either producing funny looking and strange tasting vegetables, or the plants will stop producing entirely. 

    I know this wasn’t as upbeat of a newsletter as normal, but farming isn’t always happiness and sunshine. Farming is all about how you manage and move forward. We’ve never given up when things get hard. We reach out to new resources and experts, we pour an extra cup of coffee, say a few colorful words, and get back to it. This time of year can be hard looking at all the veggies that didn’t make it, but it sure makes us appreciate the veggies that did make it. We hope that this week when you get your box, you take a moment to look at all the beautiful vegetables and know that each one of them was grown with love, sweat, and maybe some dog fur.

    In your share this week:

    Cabbage – Green Beans – Carrots – Celery – Cilantro – Cucumbers – Dill

    Green Onions – Green Peppers – New Potatoes – Tomatoes – Zucchini

    Mixed Salad

    Note:  ingredients are chopped or cut into very small pieces in order to absorb the dressing and each each others’ flavors better. 

    2 tomatoes

    2 small cucumbers

    6 olives

    large raw carrot, peeled

    raw beet

    1-2 avocados, peeled and pitted

    2 potatoes (boiled)

    1 large, mild onion

    1 pepper

    2 hard-boiled eggs

    Chop all the ingredients and cut them into a very small dice. Mix them together in a bowl.  Dress with the following tahini cream dressing and mix well. 

    Tahini Cream

    1 to 3 cloves of garlic (to taste)

    1/2 cup of lemon juice

    1/2 cup of tahini

    1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

    6 tablespoons chopped parsley

    Crushed the garlic with the salt. Mix it with a little lemon juice in a large bowl add the tahini and mix well then add the remaining lemon juice and enough cold water to achieve a thick smooth cream while beating vigorously season salt and cumin.  Add more lemon juice, garlic or salt (all to taste) until the flavor is strong and tart. 

    This dressing may be used for many salads

    For the farm crew,

    Jennifer

    Summer CSA Week 10

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    First things first, let’s get the business out of the way. It ‘s now August which means Coffee on the Farm is right around the corner. Please join us on Saturday, August 24th from 10am-12pm to have some delicious coffee, tour the farm, meet other CSA members, and taste some veggies straight out of the ground. This event is open to CSA members and those who are farm-curious. Bring your friends, family, neighbors, or anyone else you know who likes coffee and veggies!

    Now for the fun! Last week, Janaki enjoyed some much deserved time off with his family. Thankfully he has an awesome crew who keeps things going while he’s away. This annual vacation marks 2 important timelines on the farm: garlic harvest and what I like to call “crop transition”. This is the beautiful time of year where we say our official goodbye to early season crops, and welcome the vegetable abundance that comes with the warmer weather crops.

    We finished up harvesting all of the garlic, and it is set to spend the next few weeks drying away with the first group of garlic that we harvested 2 weeks ago. This marks the first empty field of the year. an exciting, but bittersweet moment.

    We spent the rest of the week giving our attention to the crop transition that comes with veggie abundance. This meant saying goodbye to spring and early season crops like snap peas, napa cabbage, and Pak Choi. This meant getting any of these vegetables that might be remaining, out of the field, and taking down the pea fencing so we can put it into storage until next year.
    Now we can start paying more attention to our warm weather crops such as outdoor cucumbers, tomatoes, zucchini, and peppers. It’s their time to shine, and thanks to that heat wave we got, the plants are thriving!

    Last week marked the first of our peppers going out. It was great to get some peppers off the plants so smaller fruit has more space to grow. You’ll get to enjoy green peppers for a while, and as the season progresses, so will the plants resulting in delicious red peppers. Did you know that a green pepper is a pepper at its first point of maturity? Most bell peppers start out green, and as they mature they turn red, yellow or orange depending on the variety. The Jalapenos are also loving the weather lately, and we are excited to introduce these to you all this week. Be warned: these beauties pack some serious heat, so a little goes a long way.

    Our zucchini got kind of a rough start this year, but looks like they’re finally coming around. When we first planted them, they immediately got attacked by squash and cucumber beetles. This left the plants weak and struggling. We put a clay spray on the plants to make them less tasty for the bugs, and it worked. The plants started growing and began producing fruit and flowers. The zucchini flowers need to be pollinated in order for fruit to grow. Ours weren’t pollinated consistently for the first few weeks, which results in strange and deformed fruit. These still taste okay, but they are unsightly and only last a day or two before they get wiggly or start to rot so we don’t send them to shares. We suspect the issue is that we planted the zucchini right next to a bed of melons, and the bees seem more interested in melon flowers rather than the zucchini flowers. This means fewer zucchini in your share, but hopefully lots of delicious and juicy melons later this month.

    The outdoor tomatoes are starting to ripen, and the greenhouse tomatoes continue to get bigger and ripen at rapid speed. If you get overwhelmed by tomatoes, a great option is to freeze them and use them later for sauces, stews, salsa, or many other things. If you freeze the tomatoes with the skin on, once they’ve defrosted, the skin slides right off. No boiling necessary. This is my favorite trick to be able to enjoy the delicious taste of fresh tomatoes in the middle of winter when we’re all thinking of warmer times.

    Another new introduction to your share this week is potatoes. You already got to try two of our other pre-storage crops with the green garlic and the onions. Potatoes are the next addition to this collection. We call them “new potatoes”. This means that they are young and not fully developed. They have a thin skin, and delicious flavor. We love sharing these with you as soon as possible. However, this means they aren’t fully mature. You’ll likely notice that their skin is really thin and flaky. This is because they haven’t been in the ground long enough to create the sturdy outer skin we are all used to. On the plus side, this means no peeling needed. On the downside, this means they won’t store as long, and they should be kept in the fridge. The outer skin protects the potatoes and allows them to be stored longer. Without the shell, the potatoes will turn brown and spoil quite quickly if left out at room temp for too long.

    In your share this week:

    Beets – Beans – Cucumbers – New Potatoes Zucchini – Baby Carrots

    Broccoli – Greens Mix – Cilantro – Cucumbers – Hot Peppers – Onions – Green Peppers – Oregano – Tomatoes

    Broccoli Pasta Salad

    Ingredients

    • 3 cups small broccoli florets
    • 1 cup cut green beans
    • 2 cups uncooked gluten free fusilli pasta
    • 1 small zucchini, thinly sliced and cut into half moons (or spiralized)
    • 1 cup sliced cherry tomatoes
    • 4 oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes, chopped
    • 8 fresh basil leaves, thinly sliced
    • ¼ cup pine nuts
    • sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
    • Lemon Tahini dressing: (can be made ahead)
    • 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
    • 3 tablespoons tahini
    • 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice, more for squeezing at the end
    • 2 tablespoon white wine vinegar
    • 1 garlic clove, minced
    • ½ teaspoon Dijon mustard
    • ½ teaspoon maple syrup
    • ½ teaspoon sea salt
    • 3 tablespoons water
    • Instructions:
    • In a small bowl, whisk together the olive oil, tahini, lemon juice, vinegar, garlic, mustard, maple syrup, salt and water. Set aside.
    • Prepare a large pot of salted boiling water and a large bowl of ice water. Drop the broccoli and green beans into the boiling water and blanch for 1-2 minutes, until tender but still bright green. Remove and immediately immerse in the ice water to stop the cooking processing. Keep in the ice water long enough to cool completely, about 15 seconds. Then, drain and and place on a kitchen towel to dry.
    • In a large pot of salted boiling water, prepare the pasta according to the instructions on the package, cooking until al dente. Drain and rinse with cold water.
    • In a large bowl, combine the broccoli, green beans, zucchini, tomatoes, basil and the pasta. Drizzle with the dressing and toss. Season to taste with salt, pepper, and squeezes of lemon, if desired. Sprinkle with the pine nuts and chill for 15 minutes. Can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 2 days.

    Veggie Fajitas

    SIMPLE PICO

    • 2 tomatoes, diced small
    • 1 garlic clove, minced
    • 1 jalapeño, minced
    • 1 lime, juiced
    • 1 small onion, diced small
    • 1/2 tsp. kosher salt
    • 1/4 tsp. black pepper
    • 3 Tbsp. fresh cilantro, chopped

    FAJITAS

    • 2 Tbsp. salted butter, divided
    • 2 Tbsp. olive oil, divided
    • 6 oz. white button mushrooms, halved
    • 1 small red onion, sliced
    • 1 Tbsp. steak seasoning
    • 1 bell pepper, sliced into strips
    • 1 poblano pepper, sliced into strips
    • 1 small yellow squash, halved lengthwise and cut into half-moons
    • 1 small zucchini, halved lengthwise and cut into half-moons
    • 2 limes, juiced
    • 1 Tbsp. honey

    Directions

    For the simple pico: Combine the tomato, garlic, jalapeño, lime juice, onion, salt, pepper, and cilantro in a medium bowl.

    For the fajitas: Heat 1 tablespoon of the butter and 1 tablespoon of the oil in a large heavy-bottom skillet over medium-high heat. Add the mushrooms and onions in a single layer. Let cook undisturbed for 2 to 3 minutes, allowing the vegetables to char. Season with half of the steak seasoning, and stir. Remove to a plate and set aside.

    Add the remaining 1 tablespoon butter and 1 tablespoon olive oil to the skillet and heat over medium-high heat. Add the bell pepper, poblano, yellow squash, and zucchini in a single layer. Let cook undisturbed for 2 to 3 minutes, allowing the vegetables to char. Season with the remaining steak seasoning, then stir in the reserved mushrooms and onions. Let cook until the vegetables are tender but still have some bite, about 2 minutes more. Stir in the lime juice and honey, and remove from the heat.

    Serve the fajitas with the simple pico, tortillas, cheddar jack, crema, lime wedges, and hot sauce.

    Summer CSA Week 9

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    Last week was an exciting week here on the farm. It was garlic harvest! Well, part one of two for garlic harvest.

    This is a much anticipated time on the farm. Garlic is the crop that takes by far the longest to go from being planted to being ready for harvest. Garlic gets planted in the Fall, usually by Halloween, and doesn’t get harvested until the end of July or early August. That’s almost 9 months of growing to create the beautiful bulbs that you all get to enjoy.

    A little background about garlic, there are two main types of garlic: hardneck and softneck. Hardneck garlic is what we grow on the farm, while softneck garlic is generally what you find in most grocery stores. Hardneck garlic gets its name from the hard neck or stem that grows in the middle of the bulb. This is actually where the garlic scapes came from (remember those from a few weeks ago?) making it two crops in one. If the scapes are left on the plant, it will eventually create a flower. However, this also results in a very small garlic bulb because the plant has spent all its energy on creating a flower rather than on creating the garlic bulb. By removing the scapes, we redirect the plant’s energy back to creating a big, beautiful bulb. Hardneck garlic needs to experience a hard freeze in order for the individual cloves to form. The freeze initiates the division of the cloves. Without a freeze, you end up with what’s called a “round”. This is one massive garlic clove. Makes for easy peeling, but really difficult to use since I’ve never found a recipe that calls for that much garlic at one time. This is why we have to plant the garlic in the fall, then wait so long before harvesting.

     We know the garlic is ready to harvest when about half of the leaves have started to brown and die. If the garlic is harvested too early, the cloves won’t be fully formed and you’ll end up with a small bulb.You also run into the possibility of air pockets between the skin and the cloves which could lead to moisture getting trapped and hindering the drying process. If we wait too long to harvest, the bulb will start splitting which exposes the cloves and prevents the bulb from being stored. It’s a delicate balance. Janaki wasn’t sure if the garlic was ready to harvest, so we decided to harvest half of the garlic that seemed further along, and leave the rest of the garlic for another week to give it more time to mature. 

    On harvest day, we mow off some of the foliage to make them easier to handle. Then Janaki uses a tractor attachment to gently loosen the bed so it’s easier to pull the bulbs from the soil. At this point, one crew jumps in and we start pulling all of the garlic bulbs out one by one. They get loaded onto a trailer, then moved over to the greenhouses to be washed. Another crew gently sprays off any excess dirt, and lays them on racks in front of industrial sized fans to begin the drying process.  After harvest, the garlic needs to dry for about a month (timeline depends on temps and humidity) in order for the papery, protective shell to properly form. You can eat the garlic before it’s dried, but it won’t store if it doesn’t get properly dried. After the garlic is dried, we save the biggest, best looking bulbs to use for next year’s planting. That’s right, garlic is the gift that keeps on giving. We harvest the garlic, dry it, select the best bulbs, break them apart into individual cloves, plant the cloves in the Fall, and repeat. Once you get garlic, you never have to buy it again because you can keep planting it over and over. Because you can keep using the garlic over and over to plant, I asked Janaki when the last time garlic was purchased to use for seed, and he said it had been so long that he couldn’t remember but knew it was long before 2010 (the year he and Annie took over the farm). That’s more than 14 years of the same garlic being used over and over! He did say that this might be the first year he may purchase more seed garlic since the garlic preserving shares sold this year were at an all time high. Thanks for all the garlic love!

    In your share this week:

    Cauliflower – Cucumber – Carrots – Green Garlic – Kale – Onion – Parsley – Green Pepper – Sage – Tomatoes – Zucchini

    Zucchini stuffed with sausage and sage

    INGREDIENTS

    • 2 to 3 pounds zucchini
    • 1/2 cup walnuts
    • 1 pound sausage
    • 1 onion, diced
    • 8 ounces mushrooms, diced
    • 3 to 4 cloves garlic, minced
    • 2 tablespoons minced fresh sage
    • 2 eggs
    • 1 cup shredded pecorino cheese, divided

    INSTRUCTIONS

    • Pre-heat the oven to 375° F.
    • Cut the zucchini in half lengthwise and scoop out the seeds. Leave an inch or so of zucchini. Set the zucchini in the baking pan cut-side up and season it with olive oil, salt, and pepper. Pour a quarter inch of boiling water into the pan, cover with foil, and bake for 10 minutes, just until the zucchini is no longer raw. Set aside to cool enough to handle.
    • Spread the walnuts on a baking sheet and roast them alongside the zucchini for 5-10 minutes, until fragrant. Chop into small pieces and set aside.
    • Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Brown the sausage, breaking it up into medium-sized bits as you go. Transfer to a bowl and drain off all but a teaspoon of the grease. Add the onions to the pan with a good pinch of salt, and cook until soft and golden. Add the mushrooms and another pinch of salt. Cook together until the mushrooms have turned golden and any moisture they released has evaporated. Stir in the garlic and sage. Cook for about thirty seconds until fragrant.
    • Combine the walnuts, cooked sausage, onions, and mushrooms in a large bowl. Beat the eggs together. Stir the eggs and 3/4 cup of the pecorino into the stuffing mixture.
    • Pat the zucchini dry and fill the cavity with the stuffing..
    • Drain the liquid from the baking pan, rub it with a little butter or olive oil, and place the stuffed zucchini back inside. Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes. Uncover, sprinkle the remaining cheese over the zucchini, and bake for another 10-15 minutes until the filling is bubbling and the cheese is crispy.
    • Allow the zucchini to cool slightly. Slice into portions and serve. Leftovers will keep refrigerated for one week

    Mediterranean tuna salad

    • 1 (5-ounce) can albacore tuna in water, drained
    • 1 small bell pepper, halved, cored, and finely chopped (1 cup)
    • 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
    • 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
    • 1 teaspoon grainy mustard
    • 3 tablespoons chopped capers
    • ½ cup chopped fresh parsley
    • Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
    • Dressed salad greens for serving
    • Sliced cucumbers and crackers, for serving

    Directions


    Place tuna in a bowl and flake with a fork.
    Add bell pepper, oil, lemon juice, mustard, capers, and parsley; stir well to combine and season with salt and pepper.
    Serve with salad greens, cucumbers, and crackers on the side

    Summer CSA Week 8

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    Last week the crew spent most of their time in the fields across the road. Most of our storage vegetables are across the road. These are the vegetables that we will keep in the root cellar to feed our Winter CSA members all winter, such as potatoes, carrots, beets, and winter squash. We’ve already given lots of love and attention to our potatoes in previous weeks, so it was time to focus on the carrots and beets.

    The crew spent last week doing what we call close weeding. This is actually the third type of weeding these plants will receive. The first type of weeding is called flame weeding. This is where Janaki puts on a tractor attachment that is about the same power as 9 handheld blowtorches. He drives the tractor over the beds right before the carrot seeds germinate to burn off all the tiny weeds that germinate more quickly. This is a fast way to get rid of all the weeds in the entire bed to give the carrots a jump start. At this stage, we have a pretty good idea where the plants will pop up, but it’s always best to be cautious.  Once the seeds germinate and plants start popping up through the soil, either Janaki or crew member Catherine will do what’s called basket weeding. This is where the tractor gets an attachment that looks like a few rolling wire baskets. Catherine or Janaki will then drive the tractor down the beds getting as close to the plants as possible. This is beneficial because it breaks up all the soil which disrupts any weeds that might be about to germinate, while also pulling out any weeds in between the rows that have already germinated. The downside of the basket weeder is that it leaves an untilled area about an inch and a half on either side of the row. This is where the crew steps in and performs the close weeding. We’ve taken old butter knives and steak knives, and bent the blades at a 90° angle. The crew members use the knives to scratch the soil around and in-between the plants to remove any current weeds, and disrupt any weeds that were about to germinate. This is very effective, but also quite time consuming. It’s effective because every single plant in every single row gets love and attention. However, it’s very time consuming because we are crawling along, giving every plant, in every bed, on 300-500 foot fields, love and attention. The crew can work pretty fast, this task takes a while for a farm of our scale.

    Cue the crew’s excitement (and immense gratitude) last Wednesday when some friends from the UMD Land Lab showed up to check out the farm, and spend the morning helping us weed all of the carrots. Almost doubling our usual farm crew allowed us to get through many beds in record time! We were able to close weed all of our storage beets and carrots last week.

    We will close weed these crops two to three times depending on how quickly the plants grow, and what the weed pressure is. We start weeding when the carrots are about an inch tall, with the goal of making sure we can finish before weeds begin to out-compete the vegetables for sunlight and nutrients. Once the plants are 3-4 inches or tall, Janaki can use other tools like rubber finger weeders to kill small weeds that are in the row without killing the crop. The crew gets the few weeds that survive this cultivation by spot weeding the field by walking through before harvest. We really focus on good weed control at the farm because it makes for a nice consistent crop, and it makes our harvesting equipment work better.

     Fun fact for all of you, it is estimated by the end of the week, the farm crew had crawled through and close weeded 56,760 row-feet of carrots and beets. That’s nearly 11 miles! 

    In your share this week:

    Basil – Carrots – Lettuce – Cucumbers – Napa Cabbage 

    Onions – Snap Peas – Tomatoes – Cilantro – Zucchini

    Swiss Chard Summer Roll

    Wraps and Filling:

    16 to 18 sheets of rice paper

    One bunch of chard, leaves only, thinly sliced 

    One bunch of basil, torn into bite-sized pieces

    Two avocados sliced

    Two carrots cut into 2 inch match sticks

    One cucumber cut into 2 inch match sticks

    Dipping Sauce:

    1/2 cup hoisin sauce

    1/4 cup soy sauce

    1.5 tbsp sugar

    1.5 tbsp sesame oil

    Finely sliced green onions

    To make the dipping sauce, combine all sauce ingredients in a bowl.  Whisk.  

    In a large bowl with warm water, dip the rice paper into the water for a few seconds until the whole sheet is moistened carefully lay the rice paper flat on your work surface and wait a minute for the sheet to become soft and pliable. Layer the chard, basil, avocado, carrots, and cucumbers on the bottom third of the rice paper.  Fold the bottom edge over the filling and roll the paper away from you folding the sides in towards the middle about halfway up to roll.  Repeat with the remaining rice papers and filling.   Serve roles with dipping sauce.  The rice papers will start to stiffen if left out for too long, so it’s best to wrap as you eat.  This is a great dinner to make with kids!!!

    Frittata with Napa Cabbage

    8 large eggs
    1/2 c creme fraiche
    1 c finely chopped napa cabbage
    1/2 c finely chopped red onion
    4 green onions, thinly sliced
    2 garlic cloves, minced
    2 T chopped cilantro, plus more for garnish
    1/2 t curry powder
    1/4 t cayenne pepper
    1/2 t fine sea salt
    1/2 t fresh ground pepper
    2 T butter
    1/2 c crumbled feta

    Position a rack in upper third of the oven and preheat the oven to 350.

    In a large bowl, combine the eggs, creme fraiche, cabbage, both onions, garlic, cilantro and spices. Beat with a fork to incorporate.

    Heat the butter in a 9-inch cast iron skillet over medium-high heat, tilting the pan to coat all surfaces thoroughly as the butter melts. When the butter starts to foam, pour in the egg mixture and cook undisturbed for 5 minutes. Top with the crumbled feta and transfer to the oven. Bake for 20 minutes, or until golden brown and pulling away from the sides of the pan. Garnish with cilantro leaves and serve warm.

    For the farm crew,

    Jennifer

    Summer CSA week 7

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    Last week felt like it was all about tomatoes here on the farm. This can only mean one thing, TOMATO SEASON IS HERE! Our crew member Catherine, and our lovely volunteer, Patricia, spend a lot of time in the Spring and Summer keeping the greenhouse tomatoes happy and healthy while the rest of the farm crew tends to all of the outdoor tomatoes. It’s helpful to dedicate specific people to each location since the tomatoes are grown in different ways, which requires different levels of attention. 

    In the greenhouse, we vertically trellis the tomatoes using the single leader system. In non-farm speak, this essentially means that we force the tomato plants to grow on one single stem, and we use a small circular clip to connect the twine to the tomato stem as a means of supporting the plant as it continues to grow. Tomatoes love to grow what we call suckers, also known as side shoots. These are shoots that sprout out from where the main stem and a leaf meet. If we left the suckers on the plant, they would eventually grow into another top, so the plant forms a bush. This sounds really cool because most people think it means extra tomatoes, but it can actually mean the exact opposite. By leaving the suckers, the plant then has more stems and leaves to distribute nutrients to. As the plants grow taller, this can take a lot longer for the nutrients to get past all the suckers and make its way to the top of the plant. This means more of the plant’s attention is put into vegetation rather than fruit. Too much foliage also reduces air movement which is one of the many ways tomato plants can get and spread disease. In order to achieve this, once a week, Catherine and Patricia spend time pruning off any suckers and adding clips to the plant to keep it supported. This week, Catherine also spent time taking off any of  the leaves that were growing below the first set of fruit. This does two things, it speeds ripening by allowing more light to reach the fruit, and creates better air circulation. With the hot weather we’ve recently been getting, and the plants being grown in an already hot greenhouse, more air flow is very welcomed by the plants. 

    The outside tomatoes are a whole different story. We don’t do any pruning on those tomatoes. Airflow is better outside, and space isn’t at as much of a premium, so we’re able to plant the tomatoes farther apart without causing disease or shading. Another major difference between the inside and outside tomatoes is how they are trellised. Since there isn’t a pole or wire above the tomatoes, and we aren’t pruning them to follow the single leader system, the easiest way to trellis these crazy tomatoes is to use what is called the “Florida Weave” or “Basket Weave” method. With this method, posts are evenly spaced between the tomato plants, and string or twine is tightly run, horizontally, on either side of the plant. This method works to compress the plant so it stays tight and tidy in its space. It helps to lift the leaves off the ground so they are less likely to pick up diseases from the soil splashing on the leaves when it rains.  Most home growers will use a tomato cage which creates a similar effect. However, with the cages, the plant will eventually grow over the top of the cage and run out of support, and cages are prone to falling over unless they’re large, which can make harvesting tedious. With the Florida Weave method, a new set of twine is added every week or so as the plant grows to continue giving it support. At this point in the season, the outdoor tomatoes have 3 sets of twine holding them up, and we plan to add another 3 or 4 as the season progresses. 

    The cool thing about these trellising methods is that they aren’t exclusive to tomatoes. You can use either method for trellising many other vegetables. On the farm, we use the single leader, vertical trellising for all of our greenhouse cucumbers. In the coming weeks, we will use the Florida Weave method as a form of trellising all of our pepper plants. 

    In your share this week:

    Beets – Broccoli/Cauliflower – Cilantro – Chard – Carrots Green Onions – Snap Peas – Juliet tomatoes (just a couple today, but more to come!) 

    Fried Rice

    3 tablespoons oil

    One medium onion, chopped

    1 clove garlic, minced

    One bell pepper, chopped

    Two carrots, chopped

    Broccoli or cauliflower chopped

    Chard cut into ribbons

    Snap peas, chopped

    Green onions, chopped

    1/4 cup Cilantro, minced

    Tomatoes, optional

    2 eggs, whisked

    3 to 4 cups of cooked rice, cooled

    1/4 c water

    2tbsp soy sauce

    1 tbsp sesame oil

    Salt and pepper to taste

    Put 1 tablespoon of oil into a wok or large skillet.   When it begins to shimmer add the chopped onion, garlic, carrots, pepper, broccoli, and cauliflower.  Sauté a few minutes and then add the peas, chard and tomatoes.  Fry  until partially cooked, but still crisply textured. 

    Remove vegetables. Add remaining oil to pan or wok.  When the oil shimmers, add the rice.  Break up clumps and stirfry. Make a well in the center and pour the eggs into the well.  Scramble the eggs in the middle of the rice and when they’re cooked, add all the vegetables.

    Add water, soy sauce, sesame oil and salt + pepper.   Stir.   Top with cilantro and green onions

    For the farm crew,

    Jennifer