CSA NEWSLETTER -- WEEK 14
Greetings All,
I hope everyone is enjoying their veggies this week!! I know we enjoy seeing the season's transition and we welcome all the new fall crops around our house. Though I would like to point out that this year, the fall colors are really holding out on us so far! It was such a dry year I thought the trees would be more stressed than usual and start turning early... cue: a ton of rain in the last 2 weeks, after we didn't get rain for months, all summer basically!!
Fall is my favorite season, there is nothing better than jeans & sweatshirt weather 😍
Our pastured chicken drop off at the butcher shop and pick up the next day, both went really well!! We have really enjoyed raising chickens these past couple years and I'm sure as time goes on, we will expand and look to raise even more chickens this way.. it's what we ALL want to feed our families and we always run out!! The trick to running a farm is growing with integrity, growing what folks want to eat while also keeping up with demand..
We will have our chicken available at the Farm Stand in Zimmerman for the next two weeks and also at the Fall Sale here at the farm. I've officially made an event page for the sale here and would appreciate if you went online and 'followed' the event! I'll be posting more about the sales we're running and the fun varieties we have to offer. PS. I'll also be making more of my raspberry jalapeno jam for the Fall Sale this season!!
Here is the event page for our Fall Sale!!
This is our Blaine pick up site! You'll notice that there are going to be a LOT of extra boxes at the end of the season here. I will try to tape orders to your CSAs so you don't miss them.
Reminder that not this week, but next week, is our last week of CSA Shares for the season. So the LAST DELIVERY OF THE SEASON will be September 28th-30th depending on which day of the week you pick up. Next week, please plan to bring a reusable bag for your CSA pick up, so you can leave the boxes at the site for me to pick up. We will reuse them for harvest boxes in the coming seasons, so we appreciate having as many boxes back as possible.
If you're buying Fall Shares, Apple Shares, or boxes of onions, carrots, potatoes, etc. we understand that those boxes are also often times used for storage, and that's totally OK! We understand we won't get all of the boxes back, but we do appreciate what we can reuse :)
It's actually crazy how fast this season has gone. This harvest season has been so much more fruitful than the last couple years. Even with the drought this summer, we had irrigation on almost all of our crops and our yields were so good. It did come with a lot of effort, but I am so proud of Farmer Ben and what he's able to accomplish on our Family Farm! Thank you all for being a part of our CSA farmily this season 💕 We understand it's a big investment & we hope you've enjoyed your produce and all the tips and tricks we've shared along the way!
JUST IN: HUNDREDS of bushels of Honey Crisp and SweeTango Apples! We got our Apples from our orchard delivered!!!! This is so exciting- we wait for it all season long. We put apples INTO your CSA Shares and plan on getting you apples for both of the next two weeks. This week we'll focus on SweeTango Apples and the final week of the season we'll get you guys Honey Crisps!!
***APPLE SHARES WILL BE DELIVERED THIS WEEK!!! These are the boxes of Honey Crisp Apples that a lot of our Members ordered earlier this season.
We will be adding the SweeTango Apples INTO your CSA Share boxes this week, they're very sweet but they're a little softer when compared to the honey crisps. These are great for making into apple sauce or cooking apples for pies. Some of ya'll will even make apple pie filling to process/can, more power to you! If you've never made apple sauce (and even if you're just eating it fresh/ not canning it), I want to share how our dear Grandma Brown taught me to make mine.
We used the peeler and got all the skins off, cut off any undesirable bits and cores, and then put them in a pot with some water. When I asked how much water to add- she said, 'just a little bit' to cover the bottom. I was surprised it turned out so well because I had never made it before but that's exactly what I did. We cooked it on low heat at first for a while, and then turned it up to medium heat when the apples started breaking down and looking more like apple sauce. Keep cooking until it's the right consistency and that's it! I bet I added a half cup of water to a pot with 15 apples- it doesn't take much water, but the apples need to start cooking down so the water keeps them from burning to the bottom while they're warming up. Now that we've done it for a few years, I am more confident with it. Now I use the immersion blender in the pot with the apples after the cook and soften a bit. That makes it SO FAST. It literally takes me a half hour to make a whole pot. I don't add sugar or cinnamon but you can if you want. I also finally bought the tool that peels and cores apples all at one time, it's about $25 at walmart. If you're worried attaching it to your table will leave marks, you can also put a towel between the clamp and your table. The suction cup version also works good as long as you're not too aggressive/moving too quickly. You can also use that apple peeler/corer for making apple chips in the oven or the dehydrator!! Using the apple corer/peeler is an easy way to make apple rings!
If you're making apple sauce or rings, consider getting some of the 2nds that we have available on the store. Seconds just mean they are imperfect, ideal for processing or eating soon, but not great for long term storage. The SweeTango Apples are $25 a box and the Honey Crisps are $40 for the 2nds.
WHICH BRINGS ME BACK TO THE ONLINE STORE:
For those of you who haven't made it on the website yet to order your extra add-ons, I wanted to share that we have the weights off to the side of the product. So if you're wondering how much you get for the prices, it's on the product description for all these additional boxes of goodies! The most popular in the store right now is the mixed potatoes and onions.
We originally just sold boxes of reds, russets, and gold potatoes. Then one of our fantastic Members suggested a mixed box of all 3, so we thought, let's give it a try and see if anyone likes those mixed boxes. Last year we sold more of the mixed boxes than any of the other options on the website!!! We try to listen to what folks want because ultimately that is our ONLY GOAL! Make sure you have what you need during the season, and thereafter. And now that you're all experts on the starches in potatoes and what potatoes to use in different dishes, maybe that's the right option for you too?!
For potatoes, I store mine in a bin in the basement. I have a little fan going down there all the time because we live in a 1930's farm house, which I love for many reasons, but there is no air exchange in the basement. So the fan helps circulate air and with all the stored crops in the basement & it's worth having that little fan running to keep things nice for the winter. I put my potatoes in a bin with wood shavings, I'm sure there are so many other ways to store them you might even have a method already, but just sharing what I do. I use all natural wood shavings and layer in all 3 kinds of potatoes. My onions are kept in a cardboard box separate from the potatoes (with no shavings on the onions), and we use so many of those that I freeze some too so they're ready to get popped into my stir frys, added to taco meat, chili, sloppy joes, etc! Sometimes you just need fresh though.. so that's why I store them both ways.
I wanted to mention that I am going to leave the options on the website through next weekend on Sunday Sept 27th for those of you who would like to get some extra veggies. I had one Member say she was waiting for the Fall Sale because she likes to buy everything we offer but only wants a couple trays worth, not a whole box. I'm happy to say that we have something for everyone, literally!!
WHAT TO EXPECT IN YOUR CSA SHARES THIS WEEK:
Jumbo & Family Shares: Butternut Squash, Delicata Squash, Jalapenos, Banana Peppers, Carrots, Kale & Apples!
Single Shares: Butternut Squash, Delicata Squash, Jalapenos, Banana Peppers, Beets, Kale & Apples!
SWEETANGO APPLES
SweeTango apples are actually a cross between the ever-popular honey crisp and zestar! apples. It doesn't have the best holding capacity like honey crisps do for example, but what it lacks in storage, it gains in flavor. We are happy to have gotten these from our orchard and I'm happy to send home some treats with your CSAs this week!
***Reminder that the Single Shares get just as much fruit as the Jumbo & Family Shares :)
I cheated and pulled this picture from a few years ago to show you the seed cavity! This looks a little different than the other squashes you've gotten so far this season.
Butternut squash are one of the best out there. They're unique in that they're SO smooth. Ever wonder why it's always "butternut squash soup" on the menu at your favorite local diners? Because it's famous for a good reason!! It's never 'acorn squash soup'! These are the only squash I've ever used to make baby food out of. If you cook it like normal in the oven and then scoop the flesh out of the shell you can freeze it in ice cube trays for your little ones, individual servings of baby food! When we first started giving it to our kiddos we added a little water to it anyways, to make it a little more runny. We also used to give the kids the frozen cubes of squash in those little mesh bags for teethers. By now, I wonder if any parents even buy those?! I just thought it was good to let the kids get the taste of veggies young, while also giving them some nutrients and soothing their sore gums when they were teething!
These are also the best squash dollar for dollar. Look at my pic above, you can see that the seed cavity is right at the bottom and it provides a good value for the size of the squash. This is unique to this variety- none of the other ones look like peanuts or have the seed cavity concentrated right at the bottom.
DELICATA SQUASH The first thing is that I want to stop you from feeling overwhelmed with the squash. Yes you're getting several varieties of squash because we want you to try the different kinds we grow, but we can't even fit every variety into your CSA by the end of the year. So we're hand selecting one from each family of squashes so you get a good variety!! Keep in mind, these will last for months!! If you keep them in a cool dry place, we've had them last for our Members until the FOLLOWING fall. Actually, I just had a Member message me last week that she's ready to place an order for another bushel because she just ran out a couple weeks ago.
They're nutrient dense and can be used in a lot of ways, so if you're not on the squash train yet, I suggest you try it because you'll find it to be a great addition to suppers and it actually holds a ton of nutrients and minerals in each squash, unlike potatoes! Not bashing potatoes but squash holds a lot more for us nutritionally!!
Delicatas are one of the only squash that you can eat the shell. A lot of folks will make delicata squash fries because they're comparable to sweet potato fries but they actually hold together better because they have less water than a potato!
These are one of my favorites for stuffing the squashes because the seed cavity is long like a boat! If you want to take it up a notch, consider making a creamy wild rice soup and stuffing your squash with that- it's SO good!! That and wild rice & cranberries is my favorite stuffed squash (if you're feeling fancy throw some walnuts on there too!)
We have a lot of peppers here at the end of the season right now and while I want to be able to give you all of them, we're choosing jalapenos and also sweet bananas again this week. You've only seen either of those once this whole summer but it was a while ago... the banana peppers are beautiful colors now that they're ripening!! Some of the jalapenos have started ripening too, but they're still mostly green.
I am sending enough for ya'll to make poppers again! But if you don't have a plan or time to use them, you could always chop them up and freeze them to add into chili or pasta sauce later on. The sweet bananas are SO sweet now that they're ripening that I just eat them like an apple! Of course you can freeze these to take out later if you prefer, but they will be pretty soft because the flesh of a banana pepper is thinner than the flesh of a bell pepper. If you're like me and you like the flavor of the jalapenos more than the heat, you can also take out the seeds and membranes. Just cut the top off, then slice it down to the tip, then take out all the white bits and seeds. That's how I make my jalapeno raspberry jam too. It still has a little bit of heat, but nothing compared to if I left all the seeds and membranes in there!!
KALE I mentioned this last week- we cut it back a few weeks ago to make sure that it was nice young kale for this time of year. I'm sure you've noticed but we don't do a ton of greens after our lettuces are done for the season. Kale is a super food and I suggest the olive garden copy-cat recipe that I'll be adding to the blog this week!! WRAPPING IT UP
I am sorry for the midnight newsletter again! I just knew I wanted to send this tonight so that I can focus on packing Apple Shares tomorrow for our Monday deliveries. That takes a long time to sort all of those apples, and we don't have any help this weekend because everyone is out deer hunting 🤣Archery just opened this morning, so I can't blame the teens who work for us. They put in a lot of long days already this summer and they can have their weekend off!!
This morning I left the house at 7am for a volleyball tournament in Pierz with our middle daughter Karli. Then we brought a friend back home with her so she'd have some company while I worked in my office. So she's having a sleepover tonight, doing face masks and painting toe nails, while I get my work done. Win, win!!
Ben got home from the stand at about 6:45 tonight & fed the animals while I cooked dinner. He came inside, showered, ate dinner and went straight to bed. He likes to try to watch a little TV or scroll for a bit like the rest of us, but tonight he went straight to bed with the lights off lol! You can tell it's officially the fall harvest season, he's wiped!
We were just talking about how we have 7 hogs going into the butcher shop on Tuesday. He just informed me that we're out of several of our pork products right now- but not for long!! We'll have these processed and back here in time for the Fall Sale in October. Talk about fresh bacon!!
It's basically a circus over here, but we're thankful for our little circus and all who can see, learn, or laugh, from what we're doing here. It takes a village to support a farm ;) Thank you for joining us this season and tagging along with our newsletters <3
Hope ya'll enjoy your veggies this week!! We still have a couple weeks of fun crops to share, next week we'll have some more NEW ones you haven't even seen this season either! The harvest season is trailing off but we still have a lot to look forward to this fall!!
XO ~The Farmer's Wife
