CSA Newsletter -- Week 10

Greetings All,

I hope you guys had a great week! This was another big one for the farm. Every day is full- with one thing or the other. Since I broke my toe last week, I haven't been helping with any of the livestock chores; Farmer Ben is in charge! He's moving the chicken tractor around the house by the apple trees every day and taking care of all of our hogs too. My toe is sore still but it is feeling a lot better! It's not as sensitive to the touch anymore, but it still hurts if someone bumps into it or I step on it funny. It's the top bone in my big toe, split right down the middle, so there is nothing for me to do except ice it and put it up when I can, which I have been doing! I delivered all week and had my sweet little helpers with every day. One kiddo per day of the week, haha! Karli was first on Monday and she is a trooper but insists on getting coffee from caribou or starbucks, it's the little things she says, haha! Then we had Karli's back to school sports meeting so we went straight there and I swear I smelled like a straight onion patch sitting in the bleachers next to all of those other families... What do you expect after cleaning and handling hundreds of pounds of onions- poor Karli she has the stinky mom lol!! 😅 William's birthday was Tuesday so that was the day he came along with me delivering and then we went out for Culvers for "linner" (lunch/dinner) in the afternoon topped off with a trip to Cabela's and some new turkey decoys as his b-day present 🤣

Kelsi came along with me on Wednesday, she's just happy to do anything with me in a one-on-one situation. This time of year is fast paced, so having a little 'quality time' in the delivery truck and the treats to go along with it, is a real blessing!! We went to Menards for more jars (for my canning projects) and also to walmart where we got a really good start on our school supply list.

These delivery trips are just the afternoons too- think about all the harvesting, washing and packing that happens from 7am to Noon here at the farm before I leave for deliveries with my little helpers 😜 Holy cripes it was a big week!!

ONIONS We pulled a lot of these to start drying!! On Thursday Ben went out into the fields with a couple helpers and pulled a lot of onions to start drying them. These will sit out here on the benches with the fans blowing on them to help them dry faster. They're in an open-air area where they're protected from rain too, so all of that will help dry them faster too! Of course we're still pulling fresh onions for a while yet, which is just an onion pulled straight from the ground- exactly like what you got in your CSAs last week. The onions you see pictured drying above will have the flaky dried skin and look exactly like the ones you get from the grocery store- which is what we sell during the fall because they so hold well!! When the time comes, we'll be selling boxes full of these onions and they'll be available on the online store, along with other bulk produce.

Grape Tomatoes, Romas, Traditional Slicing Tomatoes & Carolina Golds!

TOMATOES

We are now accepting orders for canning tomatoes!!! We do have a handful of tomatoes available for this week, but I imagine a lot of orders will be going out the following week (August 31st- Sept 2nd) too. When you go to the online store and select your tomatoes you'll notice that there is a spot for notes too- so you can write in what day you want your order delivered with your CSA Share. I will text you when we're sending your tomatoes just fyi, that's why there is a phone number question.

We are selling regulars and romas in half bushels for $32. Tomatoes sold by volume, but the weight can vary a bit. A half bushel of romas is about 28# and a half bushel of regulars is about 25#. The reason they vary is because of the shape and size. Romas are smaller and more fit into the same size space, whereas the traditional tomatoes are all placed in there stem side down (because they travel better that way without bruising). Traditional tomatoes are also bigger than romas so they take up more space and there is more air space around them. So that's why the weight varies a little bit, just fyi.

Copied from last week because it's good to repeat again: Romas vs regulars: Romas are a smaller "plum" tomato variety, usually meatier but a little less flavorful (less sugar) compared to the regulars. The regulars are the traditional slicing tomatoes you'd get on your burgers, they're sweeter and they have a little higher water content than romas. When you're cooking down salsa or pasta sauce for example, a lot of folks like romas because they're not as watery, so you don't have to cook them down as long (to thicken the sauce or salsa). If you use regulars, there will often times be more flavor to your sauce, but it also takes quite a bit longer and you end up with a slightly lower yield with the end product (number of jars).

We also have peppers and onions available on the store!

There are onions, bell peppers and jalapenos! We put together these options for ya'll so it'd be easy to get your canning done. Also keep in mind that anyone can order these extras- even if you just want to make extra jalapeno poppers this week or some candied onions.

We will be offering even larger quantities (half bushel boxes full) in the last few weeks of the season so keep your eyes out for that. Now is not the time to order half bushels- the onions aren't dried yet/ ready for fall-winter storage. So give us a few weeks and we'll get those larger quantities of storage crops online too for those who want to stock up! FARM STORE Please remember that we're still accepting Add-on Shares through the end of August, so we've got ONE WEEK LEFT if you want to get the Fall Share or Apple Share for this Fall!

WHAT TO EXPECT IN YOUR CSA'S THIS WEEK:

Jumbo & Family Shares: Carrots! Sweet Corn, Anaheim Peppers, Bell Peppers, Spaghetti Squash-or-Muskmelon, & Tomatoes! Single Shares: Carrots! Sweet Corn, Anaheim Peppers, Bell Peppers, Tomatoes & Grape Tomatoes!

I want to start out with an apology because it's definitely my fault that we jumped the gun on muskmelons. Once we saw our first handful we were so excited- and honestly they really do ripen overnight/ very quickly once they start coming in! Well last week we harvested less than 40- so if you didn't get one it's because we harvested so few! I really wish they were coming in better but at this rate I'm not even sure if we can cover the Jumbo/Family Shares this week. So that's where we're going to start for this week, then I'll plan on giving the Single Shares muskmelons for the following week. The great news is that this week we have some fun new varieties for you guys!! We've got carrots in the line up, anaheim peppers and more tomatoes too!

CAROLINA GOLDS: These are pictured with the tomatoes above in those trays! These are a lower acidity tomato that we're growing for fun this season. Last week I ate one like an apple and thought it actually had better flavor than the traditional slicing tomatoes!

We just started plugging in the Carolina Gold tomatoes last week in some of our Wednesday Shares because we had just a handful ripe enough to send home with ya'll. I wanted to mention them here because a lot of folks will be thrown off by the color- they're orange-yellow when ripened!!

This is a fun one that we'll work in with your CSAs this season. Hopefully you guys enjoy them as much as I do!!

CARROTS

This is such a special time of year on the farm when we're starting to enjoy the later season varieties!! We include the tops at this time of year too- and I will add some info here for you to hopefully utilize some of your greens ;)

To store these, the greens need to be cut off to preserve the firmness of the carrot. If the greens aren't removed, the carrot will push moisture up into the greens which will wilt the carrots faster! These fresh carrots don't stay firm for long if the greens are attached or if they get too warm. They should be kept in the fridge at home in a tupperware dish (with the green tops cut off).

Fresh carrots don’t need to be peeled, but can be if that’s your preference. To use: (From the Farm to Table Handbook) Boil 2-inch cubed carrots in rapidly boiling salt water, uncovered, for 7-10 minutes. Eat carrot spears plain or dipped in hummus or creamy dressing. Combine carrots with other root vegetables for a roasted vegetable platter. Add carrots to a pot roast with potatoes and onions.

One of my favorites is actually roasting them. We just lightly coat them in oil and salt and roast at 400 degrees until veggies start to brown all over, which takes about a half hour depending on how big the carrots are. We will sell these in bulk this fall, but we're not offering bulk boxes yet!

ANAHEIM PEPPERS These are also called Italian Sauce peppers! These have a heat to them but they're not a blinding heat like some of the other peppers on the market, these have more flavor than heat and that's part of the reason they're roasted and then added to sauces. If you're going to use them in a sauce and you're concerned that it'll be too spicy, remember to cut out the seeds and membranes because that's where a lot of the heat is! These peppers are HUGE. They have been loving this heat and they're just gorgeous; super thick firm flesh that's great for roasting. Stuffed anaheim recipes are classic recipes, you can do them in so many ways (italian with garlic salt/ noodles or mexican with rice and beans/beef). Another idea for these peppers is putting them into a pineapple juice or sweet fruit juice as a marinade basically, cut large pieces and add them to your shishkabobs! If you put them into the marinade with the chicken they'll 'cool down' a bit too. I make them sound like they're so hot but they're really only hot to our midwestern standards- they're about 1/2 of the Scoville units of a jalapeno (the scientific measurement for spiciness in hot peppers).

If you don't have time to use these peppers this week, consider cutting these up and popping them in the freezer. Peppers don't need to be blanched, just cut them to size and pop them in a freezer bag (and squeeze out as much air as you can).

GRAPE TOMATOES These are coming for our Single Shares this week!! We have lots of these in the field and so many flowers on the plants still that it looks like we'll be sending these home with everyone several times this season!

WRAPPING IT UP: Remember how I mentioned last week that I'm stressed because I don't have enough time for canning, and I don't have a stockpile yet at all?? Well, I did make a dent in our pickled peppers late last week!! I processed 2 bushels of peppers and turned them into a LOT of pickled jalapenos (hot), banana peppers (sweet) and some jars of both jalapenos & banana peppers!

I gave you the recipe for the brine last week, by the way :)

Did you know that when you "pickle" a vegetable like a pepper or even a cucumber, that you have to let it sit in the brine for a period of time so that it pickles itself? We could open these tomorrow and eat them if we wanted to, but they won't have nearly the amount of flavor or the right texture. They need to sit in the vinegar/water/sugar brine for at least a few weeks, but the only get better with age! 1+ year old pickled peppers are amazing but its almost impossible to keep them around that long lol!!

I am sorry this is a late-night-newsletter this week! This week's newsletter here was a bit bigger for me because I had to edit the website and get the online ordering stuff up and running for all of the onions, peppers and tomatoes. Sorry for the delay!! Of course, I mentioned this before, but this is also just a wild time of year. Gotta fit in all of the "lasts" before summer break comes to an end, shopping and check lists, practices (that start tmr!) and then we're back on a normal schedule for the kids again. This weekend I also took a little extra time for our family. We had my nephew's b-day party yesterday in Nisswa, which was conveniently located at a local beach there! ;) Went back to my Sister's for dinner and then we had church and a picnic today. So it was another full week and weekend!!

Hope ya'll enjoy your veggies this week and find some fun new ways to use them in the kitchen!!! XO ~The Farmer's Wife