Greetings All!
I hope everyone had a good week. We are over the moon excited about the weather this next week! It's going to be in the 80s all week basically, blue skies, and next weekend is going to be a really hot one, too! Of course that could all change some, but overall we are VERY thankful for the nice weather coming up!
**Sorry for the late post, Guys! I just pulled up on the 4 wheeler from being out in the fields, literally counting the heads of cauliflower and broccoli. There is no other way to do it, we have to know what we've got. Last week we thought we'd have enough of them and the cool weather didn't promote the growth we were hoping for. So this weekend I wanted to wait until Sunday to let you know- so hopefully we're able to tell you more accurately what to expect this week with your CSA Share boxes.
The dilemma I've run into is that there is a lot of really nice big broccoli heads out there and quite a few really big cauliflowers too- those big heads take up a lot of space in the boxes and we're trying to flip-flop them from last week so it's just taking a little longer than normal to plan the boxes this week. I should share my mess of notes to show you how much effort goes into this, but I'll save you from the scribbles and just add the box contents below like normal ;)
Spaghetti squash are right on the edge- there are some that are ripe already but there aren't enough ripe ones to add to our whole CSA so we're going to wait a week and hopefully we'll have those next week for you guys.
The eggplants are growing nicely and with this hot weather I can almost guarantee those will be ready for CSAs next week, too. There are SO MANY flowers on the plants it's incredible. There are a handful of eggplant already set on the plant but there are SO many more coming up, it's crazy! About dang time :P
This week we're going to have cabbage for you guys! In most seasons we would have already added cabbage once or twice, but this season has been a little different. The cabbage is ready, finally!
Peppers are setting on really nice now, too. The muskmelon are starting to turn a yellow color and I'm hoping we might even have some of those by the end of this week. Muskmelon has probably the shortest shelf life of anything that we grow on the farm here. We harvest them when they're ripe so they have maximum flavor but with all those sugars in the melons, they ripen and then over-ripen in a matter of days. Fingers crossed, we might have some of those for you next week, too!
Life is good. Which is a change from the sorrowful email of last week, the weather literally dictates everything. Now that it's drying out some, we'll be able to tackle some of the weeds in the fields here. When it's wet, you can't cultivate or hoe or even pull the weeds by hand because they'll just re-root themselves. So this upcoming week will likely be the week of weeding, lol! We've got almost all the late season crops in the ground now- meaning we're not doing much more planting for the season- just a few more late beets and then our last crop of broccoli/cauliflower. So just a little more planting this season.
ONLINE STORE
Thank you for your interest in ordering extras from our farm! If you are interested in canning or freezing bulk produce, this section is for you. I've updated our online store on the website and now it's available for folks to place their orders online and check out right there.
Some folks prefer Romas for sauces in general because they have a lower water content and cook down a bit faster. The larger slicing tomatoes are great for juices and sauces too- they're a little sweeter than the romas and have more flavor overall I'd say. A lot of the times I'll combine and use both in my salsa recipe. So that it's got a good sweetness but it's also nice and meaty!
New this season: We also have the San Marzano tomatoes available. I've been told that they have a thicker flesh with fewer seeds, the taste is stronger and they're slightly less acidic. (I haven't had time to try to can with them yet).
Some folks can their tomatoes and sauces, and others freeze them. That's another easy option for you and it actually cuts out one step in the canning process. When I freeze tomatoes, I wash them really well and then cut off the stem area/ core. I cut them into quarters and put them in freezer zip lock baggies. I squish the crap out of those tomatoes to get the air out of the bags, lol, and then pop them in the freezer to take out in the winter when I have time to do the canning for my own family. I'll make salsa to sell at the stand and at our Fall Sale, but for our own family, my canning doesn't get done until the middle of the winter basically. I also freeze our peppers and onions; all of it goes into pre-portioned bags so all I have to do is let it defrost and then dump 4-5 bags of veggies together and VIOLA, salsa ;)
If you freeze your tomatoes, when you take them out of the freezer the skins fall right off. That's one way to cut that step from the canning process. Most folks start by blanching and peeling all the tomatoes before they start their sauces. If you freeze them first, the skins fall right off when they're defrosted!
Baskets of tomatoes are roughly 25-30 pounds.
ORDERING When you click on the product you're interested in, you'll notice there is a spot on each product item to enter in notes if you'd like. We plan to bring your tomatoes to you asap unless we hear otherwise from you. Some folks will buy tomatoes and write in on the notes line "Not this week, but the week of the 19th" or something like that. We pay attention to notes and plan on getting your tomatoes to you when it's convenient for you!
If you don't request any special date, plan to get your tomatoes with your next CSA delivery.
You can also order your sweet peppers, hot peppers and dried onions too. You don't need to order tomatoes to get the peppers/ onions, etc. If you know you want to freeze sweet peppers for the winter, you can place an order for just the sweet peppers. As the season continues you'll see me add different varieties in there like beets, carrots, potatoes, squash, a whole bunch of different goodies!
I even added an option for a dozen corn, because we get that request fairly often. If you're having a dinner party and want extra corn, simply navigate to the form and paying online is super easy. We also have sacks of corn online there too, in case anyone is planning on buying some to freeze for the off-season.
**This is only the second year we've offered the online store for buying tomatoes and these extras- please don't hesitate to reach out if you have an idea on how to make this more convenient for our Members! All suggestions are welcome, we want this to be easy, quick and convenient.
We deliver all the extra produce alongside your CSA so it's just a one-stop-shop for all the veggies you'd like!
For those of you who would prefer to email me your canning order- please feel free to do so! I understand that some of you have a more complex order than what we can do through the online ordering system.
WHAT YOU CAN EXPECT IN YOUR SHARES THIS WEEK:
Jumbo & Family Shares: Cabbage, Russet Potatoes, Cauli or Broccoli (whichever you didn't get last week), Zucchini/Slicing Cucumbers (opposite of last week), Jalapeno Peppers, Grape Tomatoes, & either Roma/ Regular Slicing Tomatoes! Single Shares: Russet Potatoes, Cauli or Broccoli (whichever you didn't get last week), Zucchini/Slicing Cucumbers (opposite of last week), Jalapeno Peppers, Grape Tomatoes, & either Roma/ Regular Slicing Tomatoes!
Cauliflower and Broccoli situation: The reason I had to go out and count today is because the patch is developing so unevenly. I'm sure it has to do with the cool weather and wet/low spots in the field but it's frustrating regardless. It's SO MUCH easier when the whole patch is producing at the same time because we know how many plants we planted and how much we've picked so far, etc.
We don't want to waste any part of these patches. If we let the broccoli get too big it'll bolt and go to seed. Especially with this hot weather coming. If we let the cauliflower get too big, it'll bolt and go to seed. So, what we need to do is harvest the biggest of everything in the patches. Cauliflower doesn't hold like broccoli does, so the plan is to harvest cauliflower for everyone who didn't get it last week. I know for 100% certainty that we don't have enough cauliflower to make it through the whole week of CSAs.
If you got cauliflower last week, you'll get broccoli this week. If you got broccoli last week, it's a 50/50 chance if you'll get cauliflower or broccoli this week. Sorry if that's confusing. Again, I wish it was straight forward because it's much easier for us when it is, and it's nicer for you guys to plan around. I apologize for any inconvenience with this.
Zucchini OR Cucumbers: We're going to alternate these again this week. Plan on getting the opposite of whatever you got last week. This patch produced like crazy over the weekend, oddly enough. There wasn't anything different about anything we were doing and we all-of-the-sudden got 2-3 times the yield on our last pick. That's good news! If you're getting bored with them, try making zucchini boats stuffed with noodles or rice and sausage for example. Try the cucumber appetizers that are stuffed into the cucumbers and cut into bite sized pieces with cream cheese, everything bagel seasoning and some garlic salt. There are quite a few recipes online if you look at our blog and type in "zucchini" for example. I want to mention this since it's something that's been on my mind for a bit. When we plan our CSA program we try not to repeat varieties too much. There are varieties that we could be harvesting and adding to your boxes every week, like kale, but we aren't doing that because we know that most folks don't want it every week. It should be sprinkled in throughout the season but it's certainly not a staple. The zucchini and cucumbers I would say are definitely a staple, they are something that a lot of us buy at the store every week in the offseason because they're easy to enjoy and use in the kitchen. But you'll notice we're flip flopping them so that you're not getting overloaded with one or the other every week. We took a couple weeks off all together. Soon enough, you'll get the last of the fresh cucumbers for the season... it's really not that far away.
Did you know that cabbage plants are enormous and their leaves are like giant fans? They're huge. The plants take up a lot of space in the field but that's OK- when we cut them and bring them into the pack shed we also trim off the outer leaves so you're only left with the tight head of cabbage. Those scraps go to the hogs, and they LOVE them. All of the veggie varieties from the brassicas family have nice firm, tasty leaves that have a nice crunch too.
Cabbage has a remarkable storage capacity. Just stick dry, unwashed cabbage in the refrigerator, preferably in the vegetable bin. The outer leaves may eventually get floppy or yellowish, but they can be removed and discarded to reveal fresh inner leaves. Cabbage can keep for 3+ months. Once cut, wrap it in a sealed plastic bag and continue to refrigerate; it will keep for several weeks.
Jalapenos!!!! I think everyone is ready for these. We've been watching them grow and patiently waiting to see enough big ones out there to add to our CSAs. This is THE week! We're excited to show you the new jalapeno variety that Ben grew this season. They're a lot longer and not quite as fat as the ones we've grown in previous seasons. These do match the scoville units, so these will be the same spice as the previous varieties we've grown.
Hot peppers in general will always come in a plastic baggie. I know you're probably thinking- why do we need the bag when we're all trying to do our part and reduce plastics?! Well, it's so that not everything else in your box gets spicy. If we had greens in there and jalapenos on top, the greens would be spicy. It's also to help differentiate your peppers because if you don't have time to read the newsletter and you pick up your box and think- what the heck are those peppers? You'll know if they're sweet or hot just by looking at them. The sweet ones are loose in the box, the hot peppers will always be bagged.
*I know some of you are going to wonder if you can return the plastic bags, and I appreciate your thoughtfulness. Very demure. Very mindful.... But we can't reuse the bags or binders or anything like that, because it's a food safety issue. Though it's a nice thought, please recycle if you can.
Jalapenos have a thicker flesh than most of the other hot peppers we grow, they're a perfect pepper for stuffing with added bonus points if you wrap them in bacon. Haha. All jokes aside, we do love jalapeno poppers and I even have a customer who makes them in bulk and freezes them. That way they're quick and easy to take out for the football games in the fall!
Russet potatoes are a higher starch potato which is part of the reason they're the best for making into mashed potatoes. They whip up light and fluffy! They are also a great baking potato because the texture allows for the flesh to fall apart inside of the potato. These have the best holding capacity of any potato and aren't usually dug until the later part of the fall because we like the skins to get thick on these. The holding capacity is dependent on that. I'm sure that you won't be storing the handful of potatoes that you get this week, but later this fall when we start selling boxes full of these potatoes, you'll appreciate the thick skins and holding capacity!
WRAPPING IT UP
I have spent about 3 hours total dicing up strawberries in the last few days. It's best when you have a system and you can do a lot at one time. That way you make the mess one time, clean it up one time. I start by rinsing all the berries and then taking them out of the strainer, cutting off the tops and then putting them into the blue bowl here. Then, I'll rinse those off again and if you put enough water in the blue bowl to cover the strawberries and gently move it around, the little leaf fragments will actually float to the top and then it's really easy to pick them out! One last rinse and then it's into the other bowl where I use a potato masher to crush the berries. Of course I put 4c in each freezer baggy and then freeze those in a gallon freezer bag (yes, 2x freezer bag to keep them nice). Right now, I've got enough berries to make 12 batches of jam.
That's a lot of jam! At the end of the day at the farm stand, if Ben has strawberries left over he brings them home for me to freeze. So instead of absorbing a loss, we're turning it into a little extra income. Of course it's quite a lot of time into making jams (especially that much lol) but it's all in an effort to reduce waste and use what we have at hand. Our friend in Zimmerman grows the strawberries and brings them to Ben at the farm stand, so these aren't our berries just to clarify. But they're grown without chemicals and harvested by hand, by an older gentleman who likes to stay busy. So technically it's his hobby, but he grows so many berries he could make it a full time job in the summer. It's a win-win for everyone and folks love seeing the strawberries at the farm stand, and the strawberry jam too!
This weekend we had our son's b-day party here at the farm. I've never been the cool mom to spend money on something like water balloons, they're so expensive and then the clean up, too... well this year my son asked about a dozen times and I folded. I figured we've got to have some sort of game or activity to keep these 12 yo boys busy. It was a lot of fun but the cleanup wasn't as much fun, haha! We'll probably remember this party fondly as the one-time mom bought water balloons.
We've marked this week on the calendar unofficially for years. This is ALWAYS the weekend that we start harvesting watermelons. William reminded me of that by asking for watermelons for his party, too.
Well, they're behind just like everything else at the farm right now. I felt like I needed a costume or disguise of some sort as I was checking out at walmart with my watermelon in tow. It was a welcomed side for the pizza we ordered for the party. My Mom & Dad came to help with the party since I'm alone on the weekends and it just feels better to have another adult just in case something happened.
Every year since covid basically, my Mom & Dad take the kids for 1 week at the end of the summer. That's this week.... I'm officially kid-free until next Friday. Some parts of me are thinking "Wow, I'm going to have so much time and I'll get everything done this week!" And other parts are thinking "How is my baby girl going to make it a week when she already video called me 3 x just today?".
My Mom sent me a snap last night from the beach in Duluth where they were sitting on logs and having a campfire. Looked like something you'd see out of the "Explore Duluth" catalog- it was so beautiful and the lake was so calm! They went up and spent the night at my uncle's house and then this morning the boys went fishing and the girls went shopping. Since my parents live in Apple Valley still, the kids will be doing all sorts of fun stuff down that way. The state fair of course, but I'm sure they'll go to the MN Zoo (right down the road from where my parents live), I'm sure they'll spend a fair amount of time down by the river fishing too. My mom never fishes so she just brings trash bags and collects garbage while my dad fishes, she claims it's a great way to get your steps in for the day. She's always been that kind of person though. We've got a saying around here: We should all be more like Betsy.
WRAPPING IT UP, CONTINUED.
I'll be honest: I am jealous. I'm jealous of the time they'll have with Gma & Gpa and all the fun stuff they're going to do. It's human nature to be jealous though; we want what others have. We want what others own. We want the experiences others possess.
The trick is loving them so much that we want these things for them even though we can't have them. We want them to go have a great time with their Grandparents. We want them to try new foods and stay up late watching a movie. We want them to witness something fun and exciting at the state fair. We want them to have this quality time with Grandma & Grandpa. We are so grateful that my parents prioritize this time with our kiddos.
Eat Good & Be Well,
~The Farmer's Wife
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