CSA Newsletter -- Week 9
Greetings All,
We had a great week of CSA Shares and harvesting a handful of tomatoes, too! We also got 8/10th of an inch of rain on Thursday that came down really nice and slow- it was SO nice to get some rain and now it looks like we're even going to get another shot this afternoon, which would be great! We'll take all the rain we can get right now, it's been 36 days and we've only gotten 1.4 inches through that whole time! I know I've mentioned watering around the clock but this last week before the rain, Farmer Ben took it to a new level; he hooked all of our livestock hoses to our house. Literally, just the spigot on the side of the house was taking care of all of the hogs and chickens because the other two big spigots were routed out to the fields. He spent the last week watering around the clock but now he'll have a little break from watering because of the rain!! 😍 That timely rain also meant that we got to plant the last of the crops for the season!! This field is totally filled now- but here is a pic of a few of our helpers getting these planted on Thursday.
In other news, I thought this was a great time of year to break my big toe. On Thursday I was leaving an appt and slipped in the parking lot, banged my knee up pretty good too. I told William I thought I broke my toe and he just laughed- there is no way. Then I went to the dollar tree with him to pick up some balloons and plastic tablecloths for his party today and it just hurt so bad I had to tell him I didn't have it in me to make it over to walmart for the last few things we needed. I knew that it was broken but I wanted to make sure it wasn't in my foot because it hurt so bad!
So I went in for an X-ray at an urgent care and sure enough, the top bone on my middle toe is split right down the middle. Thank goodness it didn't go into my foot!! So, I've got this super fashionable boot on and limping around pretty good now. If you guys know me, this won't keep me down for long but this weekend I'll definitely be babying this foot!! Today I'm taking a group of teenage boys down to the river to go fishing for William's party- I'll definitely have to stay on dry ground, no walking in the river or netting crayfish for me this time.
This coming week while I'm out delivering CSA Shares, I'll be bringing one of my kids with to be my muscles, that's for sure! I'm planning on delivering all week but that'll depend on how it feels too. After my car accident last year, Ben was well versed with delivering CSAs and where the boxes go- we deliver to 26 sites every week! (Before that- he had never delivered a single CSA Share for the previous decade..). So if I need him, I know I can ask him to help me but I think I'll do OK with my helpers coming along!
Luna, our big farm dog, is disappointed in me. Whenever I'm in my office, she's always tucked under my desk, usually sleeping on top of my feet. Today I felt so bad- I had to shoo her out from under my desk because I can't share this little space with a 100lb dog and a broken toe! I just feel so guilty because she didn't understand- she loves being under my desk- she's one of those pups who is never far away ❤️
ADD-ONS
We have two Add-on Shares that are still available; ordering closes August 31st! We offer the Fall Share, which is a larger quantity of storage crops for the off-season, and the Apple Share, which is a box full of honey crisp apples!
The Fall Storage Share is intended for Members who want to keep produce into the off-season. It is a larger bulk quantity of crops that store well. The varieties and quantities are listed above, including Winter Squash (many varieties), Russet Potatoes, Dried Onions, Red Potatoes, Carrots and Beets. In total, you'll receive TWO Jumbo Share sized boxes (1 1/9th bushel box), filled with produce that keeps well without a ton of preservation efforts.
The Fall Shares usually come the last 2 weeks of the season, you'll get reminder emails from me ahead of the deliveries too so that it's not a surprise. Same as the Honey Shares for those of you who ordered them- you'll be notified ahead of the deliveries!
All of our CSA Members will get at least two weeks of Apples this fall IN YOUR CSA BOXES, SweeTango & HoneyCrisps! We also offer full boxes of apples, which we call the "HoneyCrisp Apple Share". We buy so many apples from the orchard that we're passing the savings onto our Members, so it's only $60 for the ~22 lbs. That's cheaper than if you went to the orchard and picked them yourself! A lot of our Members get the Apple Share, they're getting a great deal and there is nothing like crisp fresh apples in the fall!! These are delivered the second to last week of the season & I also send a reminder email before they come with your CSA Share so it's not a surprise!
HERITAGE HOGS We still have a handful of Whole and Half Hogs available right now too! We take a deposit when you reserve your butcher date and then when it's closer I send you the materials on ordering your Pork Processing. The butcher shop calls you and gets your cutting instructions (after you've looked at the handbook/made your decisions), and then a couple weeks later you go to the butcher shop to pick up your Whole/Half Hog! There are several primal cut areas included with every Half/Whole Hog order: hams (back leg), roasts (front leg), bacon (belly), loin/ pork chops (side), ribs and trim for sausages. (Whole Hog orders are simply 2x as much as the Half Hog). You get to order what you like & what you'll actually use in your kitchen! If you want more info feel free to shoot me an email or browse our website, I've got lots of details online too. Our Whole/Half Hogs will be available until all of our hogs are spoken for, we still have a handful that aren't reserved yet!
Fall Shares & Apple Shares available through August 31st! Check out the online store with the Add-ons Shares here:
WHAT YOU CAN EXPECT IN YOUR CSA SHARES:
Jumbo & Family Shares: Spaghetti Squash or Muskmelon, Sweet corn, Red Onions, Banana Peppers, Jalapenos, TOMATOES! & Grape Tomatoes. Single Shares: Spaghetti Squash or Muskmelon, Sweet corn, Banana Peppers, Jalapenos, Red Onions & TOMATOES!!
We wanted to add Muskmelon to the CSA list because it's just starting to ripen and whenever they're ripe, we need to get them into your CSA Shares. We want to give you melons as many times as possible this season- that's our goal!!!
They don't hold well, so if they're ripening we HAVE TO be harvesting them and getting them into your CSAs as fast as possible. We only picked the first 4 yesterday but that means that next week we have the potential for harvesting 100+ every day. They turn that fast- you can walk the field and harvest one day and then the very next day you go out there and you can see more of the yellow melons from a distance in the nice green muskmelon patch- we pick the patch every day because that's how fast they go from being underripe- to ripe and ready!! It's wild how fast it happens; that's why we have these alternating with spaghetti squash this week!
If enough melons are ripening, great! If not, we'll be harvesting the spaghetti squash to take it's place this week, and then the following week we'll send muskmelon for you (which 100% that won't be a problem- this patch will be producing strong for at least a couple weeks once it really gets going!! )
One thing you need to know about farm fresh muskmelon is that it's harvested ripe, which means it has a shorter shelf life. The ones you see at the grocery store are harvested under-ripe and their shelf life is at least double if not triple as long as the melons we'll be sending with you these next few weeks.
Melons are just like every other species of plant on the earth- it's goal is to reproduce and the best way to do that is to push all of the sugars from the plants into the melons so that the high sugar content will cause faster decomposition and therefore germination success. I.e. it will be the absolute best tasting melon because of all the sugars- but it'll also expire faster! A fair trade off, I think ;)
If you can't eat your melon within a day- cut it up and get it in the fridge. The muskmelons have little seed cavities in the middle, scoop out the seeds and then slice into wedges and enjoy! Or leave it like a little "bowl" and put ice cream right in the middle for a treat- you do you!!
SPAGHETTI SQUASH: We are just starting to harvest these and it looks like there is going to be a LOT out there! Spaghetti squash are the first variety of winter squash every season and they're notably different than every other variety of winter squash, too. Remember, winter squash sets fruit that grows to maturity before ripening, which takes months. While summer squash, like zucchini, continually flowers and produces fast-growing fruit for weeks. To use, cut the squash in half, scoop out the seeds and rub a little oil oil on the inside of the squash cavity, a little freshly cracked salt & pepper too. Then bake face down on a baking sheet for about a half hour at 350 degrees. When you can pierce it with a fork (like a potato), it's done cooking. Take it out of the oven and transfer to cutting board, face up. Use a fork to "comb" the flesh from the outer shell and you'll notice it makes little stringy noodles! It's a fun texture to cook with and a lot of recipes use spaghetti squash because it's so healthy and a great alternative to traditional grain pasta!! JALAPENOS
We will put these in a bag inside of your CSA Shares this week! I'm sure you guys read these newsletters every week right? Haha! But just in case you don't read the newsletter there is one CSA hack I want to share with you: if you see peppers inside of plastic bags in your boxes, that means they're hot peppers. If the peppers are just loose in your box that means that it's a sweet pepper variety. So even if you don't recognize the pepper itself, you can tell if it's sweet or hot right away by knowing this little trick :) We do bag all of our hot peppers so they don't transfer their heat to the other varieties in the boxes!
"Weather checking" is what we call it when you see the little cracks on a pepper. That happens naturally and there is nothing wrong with it! It actually means it's a more developed pepper, depending on the type of pepper it'll be hotter or sweeter. It means it's been in the field longer, often meaning it's developed a thicker skin too which is a good thing too!
With the jalapenos- I already warned you that these will be hot! If you're not a fan of heat, I would recommend cooking the hot peppers because that always cuts the heat. If you really want to take the heat down a notch, blanch the peppers before you use them for jalapeno poppers and they'll soften a bit and lose some of the heat! (Cut in half, take out seeds and membranes and either steam or bake in the oven until you see the color change. When I'm in a hurry I'll boil them too- just for a couple minutes though, don't want them to get soggy).
Something that I make every year is pickled peppers! The brine is 1 part water, 1 part sugar, and 3 parts vinegar. Boil that together for a few minutes and pour over the sliced peppers, and you've got pickled peppers! I usually use jalapenos (with the seeds in) or I make a sweet pepper where I take the seeds out of the banana peppers and then slice them. To take the seeds out of a banana pepper (because they turn black in the pickling process- just not pretty), I use the back side of a little itty bitty spoon. Cut off the top of the pepper and work the back of the spoon down in there, loosening up the membranes and seeds, then tap it out! That way you can still have nice pepper rings for your canning. By the way- I do make those and sell them at the farm stand. What a well kept recipe, huh?! The brine can be doubled or quadrupled- whatever you want to make. For a quart sized amount/ big tupperware, I would do 1 cup water, 1 cup sugar and 3 cups vinegar. For canning, I use a mason jar to measure- 1 quart water, 1 quart sugar and 3 quarts vinegar.
BANANA PEPPERS
These are a sweet pepper with a thinner skin, I pickle a lot of mine but we will also use them in a stir fry as well, mince to top tacos or salads (they are very sweet tasting!) These are great for lunch box snacks too because they're so sweet, unlike many other peppers we're growing!
SWEET CORN:
When we decide what goes into your CSA Shares, every factor plays a role. I told Farmer Ben that I thought we should take a week off of sweet corn and he told me we have a couple more weeks of the prime-time sweet corn. That's not a variety of corn, but just meaning that it's the biggest, best tasting cobs because of the weather. They love the heat and long summer days! Towards the end of the season we have plenty of sweet corn too but at that point we have too many other varieties to add sweet corn into your boxes usually. There are so many varieties of produce that you haven't even seen yet because they're fall/winter crops!
We have corn this week and most likely next week, then we might be done for the season depending on what else we have to fit into your boxes! So if you're interested in freezing sweet corn, now is a great time!
RED ONIONS
Yes these are my absolute favorite and they belong in just about everything I can think of. Sliced on top of sandwiches, burgers, wraps, in the corn salsa, pico de gallo, tacos, it goes well with steamed red cabbage, the list goes on. We don't have nearly as many of the red onions as we do the yellow onions, but we ran out of room in the fields to plant more!
One thing that is really a bummer is that the weeds in that patch got the best of us. Meaning that the bulbs aren't huge, but we still have to pull the entire patch because if we don't, the greens will tip over here soon and then it's almost impossible to see where the onions are! So we're pulling them now because we want to make sure to get them into your boxes, but just know the bulbs aren't huge unfortunately.
TOMATOES!!!!!!!
We are picking mostly romas right now, but we've gotten a handful of the regulars picked last week too. Just a handful of baskets so far, they always take longer than the romas to ripen. We were able to get some romas into the bigger boxes last week but I didn't add it to the list because I really had no idea if we'd have enough and would rather surprise folks than disappoint them.
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. (We'll talk about that next week when I announe the canning options we have for ya'll).
We try to work both varieties in equally-regulars and romas. I always document who is getting what varieties each day of each week, that way I can stay on track! Of course this alternating thing is completely dependent on the quantity we're harvesting so there is no way to know in advance; but just know that we'll do our best as always to get you guys a great variety over the next bunch of weeks!!! I expect tomatoes to be in harvest and in your CSA boxes for at least a few weeks if not longer. We're adding Grape tomatoes to the Jumbo & Family Shares this week!! The following week we'll send those with our Single Share Members!! This is kind of like the green beans: it takes SO many hours to pick baskets of grape tomatoes (and green beans) that it's better for farm operations to alternate those bigger field tasks. That and there are only so many ripe ones (or beans big enough to pick) out in the field at one time. WRAPPING IT UP: I can't believe school is already right around the corner again! We've got our shopping lists that we'll have to tackle this week- yes I know I'm behind!! We have our sports meeting next week and we'll be doing open house at the school in no time. One thing that I would like to point out is that I was absolutely offended by the fact that Sams club added their 20 foot Halloween decorations to their displays already- what in the heck?! It's way too early for that stuff, let us enjoy the summer-time fun for a little longer!!🤣
I've got Williams' bday party at the river this afternoon and I've got our daughter coming with me to help make sure it goes smooth, since I'm not getting around very good right now- I still can't believe I slipped and broke my big toe! Of course, it had to be the right one too- so it's my driving foot, ugh! What great timing lol!!
I am a little stressed about my canning projects this season. I am in charge of CSA operations & deliveries Mon-Wed, and in charge of the farm operations here Fri-Sun when Ben is at the stand but we have employees here working. So Thursdays are my only "day off" of responsibilities to other people or livestock, so that's when I need to process veggies and get my canning projects done!!
I'm planning on doing my pickled peppers next Thursday, but don't forget about the salsa, and more jam- and more pickles too! I made 80+ pint jars already but those pickles are for sale. Now I need to get our own stockpile going and I just know there are only so many Thursdays during the farm season, lol! I just need a whole week off to work in my kitchen 😂
Every other day of the week is spoken for though- so I have to literally plan every week for what canning project I am tackling, and the stressful part is that some of these varieties only produce for so long, so I have to prioritize them. It's just hard to fit it all in!! With farming the only real constant is being busy trying to catch up- lol!! The to-do lists just roll into the next days and we do what we can every day! Gotta make hay when the sun is shining!!! XO ~The Farmer's Wife
