CSA Newsletter // Week 4

Greetings All,

I hope you guys had a great weekend!! It went by very fast for me because I was so busy I didn't have any time to realize how fast it was going! Ben has been sick the past week and a half so that means that all of his normal work is my work- but thank God he is feeling better now! I have a special appreciation for my husband...

We got some results back from the labs (after he went in and got fluids, too), and he has a really bad stomach bug & they had some name for it that had like 17 letters, lol! So he's already taking antibiotics and pro-biotics, to help with his gut health. He is feeling better, and he's up and working on and off- 'back to normal' is in sight!!!

One thing that I was very grateful for is that we have such an amazing team... Monday was such a struggle to get everything harvested and packed and out for delivery. We were also down 3 employees this week to different summer camps. So with everyone on the team seeing how hard Monday was, they volunteered to start at 6am on Tuesday. Keep in mind these are young adults and teenagers; they all care about what we do so much! They hear me talk about how stressful deliveries can be when we're behind (I hate having folks waiting on us- I feel terrible wasting your time!) So they all pitched in and came an hour early to start harvesting and we were on time!

One thing that Ben is very thankful for is coming out of his sickness and feeling better, and being able to assess the fields. That's one of the best jobs around here, walking the fields and seeing what's growing and how fast. What we'll be harvesting this week and next. He already watered the onions and beets because with our heavy ground they grow so much better with the wet soil- Ben is back at it and doing so much better!!! He still has some catch up with cultivating because the weeds got away from him this past week, but he's got a good start to getting on track again.

One bit of housekeeping: Please make sure you're collapsing your boxes after you pick up your produce. Our hosts offer their home to make the connection with our farm and your families easier on all of us. We just want to make sure everyone is doing their part so that our hosts aren't left with a big stack of empty boxes to take care of, that's not a proper 'thank you' for hosting. Please collapse your boxes every week :) If you want to watch a video, jump over to our FB where I posted one very recently and it shows you how to break them down easily. Thanks for your help!!

Summer Squash are doing great! Flowering like crazy and there are lots of little ones on already! Zucchini is also doing really well. Our first patch and second patch that we planted were weeks apart but the second patch caught up to the first patch (which was all weather related!). We are planning on adding this to your CSAs this week, read more about the difference between them below!

SWEET CORN!

It is almost ready!! We were hoping it'd be ready for this weekend and starting the farm stand but it's still just a few days away. So next week, we will FOR SURE have sweet corn in your CSAs!!! That also means we will have our farm stand open in Zimmerman at Hardware Hank! Next weekend on Friday July 18th, will be our first day out at the farm stand with lots of produce and our pork products, too! I'll share more about the stand next Friday in my newsletter in case anyone wants to pop in there to see what we have available!! :)

*For our New Folks this season, this is the ONLY farm stand we have. It's the only place to buy our products outside of our CSA Shares (we don't attend farmer's markets). We're open Fri-Sun there at Hudson's Hardware Hank! Fri 9-6, Sat 9-6 and Sunday 9-5.

TOMATOES: 

Something that everyone who grows tomatoes struggles with is how to support the plants to keep the branches from cracking and breaking when they're loading on with tomatoes. In a lot of smaller or home operations, you can use the metal tomato cages, just put them on when the plants are young and walk away basically. You can use clips to attach them if they get too heavy, or train the branches as they're growing so that they're supported properly.

We have several thousand tomato plants here between all the different varieties we grow. Ben ties his tomatoes, like the other farm he worked for when he was a kid. He was tying tomatoes at 10 years old and has applied the same strategy to his own tomato plants now. The way it works is you pound a 1x2 lathe strips. They come in 8 foot lengths but we cut them in half so they're all 4 ft long. Each one of these 4 ft long posts is pounded into the ground about 4-6 inches so it's got plenty of strength to hold up to the weight of the tomatoes as they put fruit on. The pattern is 2 tomato plants, a stake, 2 more tomato plants, another stake, all the way down the field. It's quite pleasing to look at it from the edge of the field because it's really pretty!! We can reuse these 1 by 2s for several years, there isn't really a system to it, we just burn the ones that break every spring and buy more as necessary.

We use a special twine for tying tomatoes. You tie it on the end and then push the foliage up and the loop it around the next 1x2 strip. Then onto the next, and the next, all keeping the twine tight so it supports the plants. We tie tomatoes 3 times in a normal season, once every few weeks we'll get another tie on them to support the plants as they're putting fruit on! They're looking really good but Ben wished we had more tying done right now- we're a little behind but it'll be AOK, the plants look really healthy and happy!!

WHAT YOU CAN EXPECT NEXT WEEK:

Jumbo and Family Shares: Kohlrabi, Red Potatoes, Broccoli, Cauliflower, Zucchini/Summer Squash, and Basil!! Single Shares: Kohlrabi, Red Potatoes, Broccoli, Zucchini/Summer Squash, and Basil!!

You'll notice there is always one or two less varieties in the Single Shares and as the smallest share size, you get a smaller quantity of the varieties listed vs the larger boxes. The Single Share was designed for 1-2 people, so we try to give portions that are appropriate for 1-2 people.

KOHLRABI These will be quite a bit bigger than you've seen so far this spring. That's not a bad thing though- they are still really nice and there is a lot more 'meat' to them as they grow larger. That's part of the reason that I'm going to share my favorite kohlrabi recipe with you this week!!! Once you peel the outside away, you shred the kohlrabi like you'd shred potatoes. Then press all the water out/ dry as much as possible. We make fritters with them. It sounds fancy to some folks, but just think 'meatball' haha! It's basically like a kohlrabi meatball that's smooshes out so it is more flat. We use bread crumbs, eggs and seasonings. You can pan fry them or bake them in the oven. We like them a little crispy, so we usually cook them on the stove top with a little oil.

RED POTATOES

You can see from the picture Ben sent me yesterday- this is his 'test dig' on the potatoes to see what kind of yield is under those plants and how big they are. Of course there is a variety of sizes because none of them grow at the same pace, which is why in the commercial industry they're sorted by size by machines, the smallest potatoes are always worth the most $!

Red potatoes are easy to use- they're something that everyone already knows and loves. These have a low starch content compared to other varieties of potatoes and they hold their shape well when they're being cooked. Whereas, a russet potato would just fall apart if it's boiled (which is why those are best for mashed potatoes). Red potatoes are best for potato salad or even fried hashbrowns because they keep their shape!

Red potatoes are different in the spring vs the fall. In the spring the skins are super thin and in the fall the skins are much thicker and provide protection for the potato. In the spring the skins are so thin that if you look at them funny the skins will fall right off. I have heard some older folks refer to the 'finger nail test' which is referring to the age/freshness of a potato. If you can use your fingernail to rub off the skin, it's a new potato! That is good because of course we want them fresh! When you get your potatoes this week you'll know exactly what I am talking about with the fingernail test ;)

*Store these new potatoes in the fridge! In the handbook there is a section on this and it does explain that later in the fall you will store the potatoes differently. Right now, we suggest storing them in the fridge because the skins are so thin they are more delicate. In the fall when the skins are thick, we suggest storing them in a cool dark place and not the fridge.

BROCCOLI & CAULIFLOWER

I put these in the same category because you can use and clean these the same way. One thing I want to mention is that EVERYONE is getting broccoli this week!! The Jumbo & Family Shares are getting the Cauliflower this week. I imagine next week we'll be adding Cauliflower to the Single Shares.

Broccoli and Cauliflower are susceptible to the same pest, the cabbage worm/ moth. Read below to learn how to get them off your produce.

Copied from last week's newsletter in case you missed this, it applies to BROCCOLI AND CAULIFLOWER: "We don’t use pesticides if we don’t absolutely have to. We harvest them right away in the morning and put them in the wash tank with a burlap sack over the top of them. Let them sit for an hour or so, which will essentially drown the worms. Then we take all the broccoli heads out of the tank and let them dry slightly before we add them to your CSA boxes. I think we can all agree, we would rather see a bug or two than be applying some sort of pesticide to your produce.

Our suggestion is to soak them at home too, because there is nothing good about finding a hitch hiker. I fill my sink halfway full and then put about a tbsp of salt in the water, and about a quarter cup of vinegar and then let it soak in the sink for a half hour just to be sure. Some folks just use vinegar or salt in a sink full of water, but in my opinion if you have both in your kitchen already you may as well use both. They're inexpensive and most importantly, you won't be able to taste any difference after you rinse off your broccoli!"

PURPLE CAULIFLOWER!!! This is so exciting. It's such a fun variety to bring into your kitchen and I am pumped to say we are going to be harvesting some of these this week!!!! The White and Purple Cauliflower will be flip-flopped. Obviously we can't give you both in the same week, so we're going to be writing down who gets which color and then providing the opposite for the next time the get into your CSA boxes! Last season we didn't have ANY of our thousands of purple cauliflower heads that were harvestable because of all the rain, they all got spots on the heads & they were too damaged to use them. This growing weather is great for these! Cauliflower in general can be touchy when it gets too much rain, but since these have started heading we haven't had much rain, which is fantastic!

**Because it's obvious that I run out of room here pretty often, I want to remind you that if you're looking for info on storage, there is a whole Farm to Table Storage Guide available just for our CSA Members. When you're done reading here, you can go back to the email I sent and scroll down to the very bottom where you'll see the link for the PDF for the Farm to Table Storage Guide!! :)

ZUCCHINI/ SUMMER SQUASH!

Is a variety that comes in a great deal of sizes and shapes. Just like us! The important thing is that we need to embrace the zucchini and the crook neck summer squash at whatever size they are. Summer Squash are pictured above, they have a narrow top with a wider base. The zucchini are mostly the same diameter all the way down, and they can be either green or yellow. The green and yellow zucchini taste the same and the reason we grow both is for fun. Who doesn't want a mixture of colors in the food we're enjoying?!

To make sure that we're all on the same page, ALL of these are technically in the summer squash family ... which are differentiated from the winter squashes (like acorn and butternut for example) because they are constantly producing flowers and more fruits. Whereas winter squash set fruit one time and then those continue to grow and ripen. A summer squash doesn't need to ripen, it's ready to eat whenever it's harvested, unlike the winter squashes.

When we go out and harvest any of these summer squashes, we go through the entire patch and take every one that's big enough. Since they grow SO fast, some can be thinner and shorter, and others can be larger and thicker. I think it's important in our CSA journey to mention that every squash has it's purpose!

Thinner smaller zucchini are best suited for eating in salads, or a stir fry for example because they hold their shape a bit better than the larger ones. Larger zucchini are best suited for grating to make fritters or zucchini bread! Another way to use the bigger zucchini is to cut them in half and scoop out the middle/seed area and use them like a boat. Recipe is on the blog for sausage stuffed zucchini boats!

***These are on your list as zucchini/summer squash because we don't know what yield we are going to have in these first harvests. So I document this, just like I document the purple and white cauliflower. We do a lot of flip-flopping to make sure we're sending out all the produce we grow, it's just a more efficient way to utilize our fields.

BASIL

We all know and love basil for it's use in bruschetta. If I could stop right here, I would, because to me there is nothing better! We do have more basil coming so we're hoping to send more with you once we start harvesting our tomatoes!

Straight out of the handbook:

To store: Basil is very sensitive to cold. Do not refrigerate fresh basil; it will turn black. To keep just-harvested basil fresh, strip the lower leaves off the stems (the ones that are much smaller) and place stems in a glass of water on the kitchen counter. Just make sure leaves aren't in the water because it'll soften the plant and it won't hold as long.

**This drives me nuts when I am buying basil in the off-season, it's almost always in the refrigerator section, and then it goes bad on my counter within a few days!!

Wrap the stripped leaves (or all your basil if your fresh basil arrives w/o adequate stems) in a dry paper towel and keep in an airtight container at about 50 degrees or room temperature.

Traditional Basil Uses: Try chopping it and adding to butter, cream cheese, or your favorite pasta sauce. Make a batch of pesto or simply puree extra basil with a bit of olive oil and freeze it in ice cube trays for later usage. It pairs well with tomatoes, eggplant, peppers, green beans and summer squash. Because it is so fragile, it is best to add basil near the end of a dish’s cooking time. Or even after it's been removed from heat.

WRAPPING IT UP

William and Kelsi (our oldest and youngest), are here making a garden next to Kelsi's playhouse and the chicken run in the background. These retaining wall bricks were leftover from the replacement hydrant project from a couple weeks ago. They were moved and not replaced, so they needed a 'home' and the kids made a perfect spot for them! Awh farm junk at it's finest ;) The plan is for flowers to be in this spot. I have a big bag of mixed wildflower seeds that Kelsi spread here and I gave them the idea of putting some sunflower seeds in there too. So hopefully it will fill in nicely, but we expect it to take a season or two for those perennial flowers to take hold and produce well.

I just picked Karli up Friday morning (our middle child), she was at Camp Jim this past week in Pillager. We missed her this week!! She's happy to be home but the only one she rushed to greet when we got home was all of our kitties. She's an animal lover! We have 4 male cats that are all neutered (2 we inherited with the farm, 2 were our family cats) and then we found a stray this spring that was dumped in the swamp and we named her Fiona.. Think Shrek, the movie, haha. Karli is back to the real world now- but she had a blast while she was away with her cousin!

I spent yesterday morning tending to the bees with my Dad, identifying brood, honey and drone combs. The bees are looking great and they're doing a great job in the field!! Then my Mom & I went on a little road trip and brought a bunch of junk tires to the landfill, which is an hour and a half round trip to find someone to take the tires that previous farm owners left behind. Then moved onto cleaning the auto shop and installing new cabinets and a lovely piece of plywood for the 'countertop' that I designed, haha! These were old cabinets from a remodel (our friend was doing, so they were free, yay!) and the plywood came from the pile of wood we have on hand all the time for our projects. We got 2 junk vehicles moved out of here too, which is fantastic! Trailers moved, tractor implements moved, we were mowing like crazy to 'take back' some of our yard that was overgrown. It was definitely a full day!! Ben also had his own full day- helping with some clean up inbetween his tractor jobs!

Today after I send this out, we will be headed down to Elk River. We rented a field from Uncle Dan for potatoes because our ground here isn't great for potatoes. It's sugar sand down there in that part of Elk River, which is perfect for potatoes! We have grown them here before too, but they just don't produce as well, and we want A LOT of potatoes ;) So Ben has his tractor on the trailer and strapped down, ready to go down there and use the trencher to help lift some of the potatoes. But make no mistake, we don't have a potato digger, God gave us each two anyways: our hands. When you start your own farm from the ground up, you have to acquire equipment as you go. A potato digger is definitely on the wish list, but with the thousands on the price tag it's not something we've pulled the trigger on yet.

The reason we're harvesting in advance of the CSAs is because it's in a field 30 minutes away. Everything else is harvested the morning of CSAs, you guys already know that. But potatoes we have to dig the night before because we don't have a crew of 5 that can go down there (because who would do the work here tomorrow morning?). So we've got the potatoes to dig, animals to care for, I need to get into the pack shed and organize some of the boxes for Monday, and then we have a baseball game tonight!

We have 3 baseball games back to back. Sunday, Monday and Tuesday night. Our tournament is next weekend!! Have I ever mentioned that there is nothing better than watching your kids play sports? Dance, basketball, swimming, anything on a team. Watching them with their peers and seeing them make friends- there is nothing better than that! I'll be rushing home after deliveries so I can make it to William's last games, before the tournament! It's always a busy time on the farm but I wouldn't trade it for the world.

Cheers to a big week ahead!!

Eat Good & Be Well,

~The Farmer's Wife