Week 13 CSA Newsletter (Sept 13-19, 2020)

CSA Newsletter Week 13

September 13-18, 2020    |    “A” Week

RADISHES (from Wayward Seed Farm) ~ store in the fridge in a plastic bag for up to 2 months. Try pickling them or roasting them with other root veggies.

CHERRY TOMATOES ~  You can store them on the countertop if you plan to eat them within a few days. For longer storage, put them in your fridge in a plastic bag. You should try to eat these within a week. They can be roasted or turned into sauce too!

GLOBE TOMATOES (2) ~  You can store them on the countertop if you plan to eat them within a few days. For longer storage, put them in your fridge in a plastic bag. You should try to eat these within a week. They can be roasted or turned into sauce too!

ORANGE SWEET BELL PEPPERS ~  Sweet peppers are just green peppers that have stayed on the plant longer and turned color! They’re sweeter in taste, and I love to roast these and then store them in a vinegar salt brine in my fridge. Check out the video here.

SNACKING PEPPERS  ~  These peppers are super popular with our CSA members. Snack size. Sweet. Store in the fridge in a Green bag. Use within 2 weeks. You can also easily flash freeze peppers whole or chop them first.

POBLANO PEPPERS (4)  ~  Slight heat. Great for stuffing. Store in the fridge in a Green bag. Use within 2 weeks. You can also easily flash freeze peppers whole or chop them first.

CABBAGE (Wayward Seed Farm)  ~  These will last FOREVER in your fridge (okay, maybe 6-8 weeks). Store in a cool, dark place in a plastic bag. I like to saute mine in a pan with some olive oil until it wilts down. Throw in some kosher salt and mashed garlic. My boys eat it up!!

SWEET CORN (NOT ORGANIC) ~  These will be passed out as an “extra” in a special plastic bag along with your bin. Store sweet corn in its husk in the fridge. Corn will turn starchier the longer you store it, so try to enjoy it in the first 3-5 days.

Danielle Kuhl made a simple sangria from last week’s fruit share.

FRUIT SHARE – PS: It’s “A” Week!

NOTE: The final Fruit share week will be Week 17 of our season. That’s because the fruit share only runs 16 weeks, and we started it on week 2 of our regular veggie season. Since week B folks got their fruit share first, that means that “A week” members will get their final share on week 17. B week members get their final fruit share on week 16.

APPLES  – store these in a bag in the fridge. We’ll post the variety when we know more

PEARS — from Quarry Hill Orchard – if they are still hard, you’ll need to leave them on the countertop for a few days to soften up. THEN put them in the fridge to slow the ripening.

CHEESE SHARE:

Garlic chevre (TurkeyFoot Creamery), Lake Erie Wabash, and Charloe.

MADDIE & BELLA COFFEE SHARE:

Costa Rica Tarrazu — tropical fruit/ bright acidity/ citrus

Farmer Kurt and Josiah plant lettuces and bok choy.

It FEELS LIKE FALL! Finally! What a nice relief from the heat, right? Just like that, we are switching to a new season. We got a nice rain last week on Labor Day. Although that made it a bit complicated to harvest for the CSA boxes, it gave me a break from the irrigation duties (which is always appreciated).

I was able to squeeze in some transplanting before the rain with Josiah. We got in our bok choy and lettuces for the last boxes of the CSA. It’s actually a little late for the bok choy to get in the ground. I missed the planting windows because of the hot temps — I knew they wouldn’t survive as babies in the field with that heat. But I decided to throw them in the ground and pray for the best. Jed seeded some cut lettuce for us too. It’s so great to be able to delegate planting jobs to my boys now — they’ve come a long way from their toddler days.

The crew removed the plastic mulch from our old onion and summer squash beds.

We pulled out some plastic mulch from the old zucchini plants and onion beds last week. Seems strange to be cleaning up the fields. The tomatoes are doing their final push the next 2 weeks. The vines are beginning to die back, and we’re doing our best to clean off the fruit as fast as we can move it. Feels like we just started tomatoes, and now they’re already finishing up.

Josiah and Jed show off the new trailer they’ll be using to make an automatic chicken waterer.

I bought a used trailer frame so the boys and I can create a DIY chicken feeder/waterer for next year. With the Webers no longer doing our egg share next season, we’ll be picking up the production a bit on our end. It’s currently a long walk out to the chicken palace and grazing area for the boys. Hauling water out there (especially if the Gator is being used) is quite a chore. The boys wanted to invest in a system where we can fill up a giant tank of water that uses gravity to drip down into the pen as needed. Same with the feed. So we’ve done some research on what farmers have done, and we’re going to fabricate our own solution. Should be a fun winter project.

Corinna canned her grapes into grape juice with the boys this week. This is always a fun tradition for our family.

You’ll start to see a shift in our final 6 boxes, as we move into the “cool weather” crops again. Root crops, lettuces, broccoli, cabbages, kohlrabi will begin to show up again. I’ve still got a TON of peppers in the fields — this is always the season of the CSA when you feel that reality. All of this year’s winter squash is coming from my cousin Steve Turnow. I wanted to give him a shout out, and make sure he gets the credit for that. (He’s also a customer in our CSA). Winter squash is something I decided to farm out this year — just didn’t have room in the rotation (and they take up a lot of space). Stevie is also a certified organic grower. If you’re reading this, thanks a bunch, Steve! The spaghetti squash looked amazing last week!

Got word from the Village of Elmore that I’ll be getting ALL the town’s leaves this year for composting. I used to split the spoils with another resident in town. Now I get all of them. This is going to mean a great fertility asset for my garlic this year. Speaking of which, I ordered my seed so we are good to go for next season! I plant that in late October. Travis (who used to work for us) bought some of my old garlic seed years ago, and now grows it in various places around Toledo. It’s ironic that I am now buying the same seed stock back from him years later. But I know it’s the good stuff!

Corinna and I have begun to talk about next year’s plans for the CSA and our farm in general. Quarry Hill Orchard has asked us if they can become a pickup site for our CSA, which would open up a new market out east. We’ve had enormous interest over the last few weeks on the part of new folks wanting to get into our program, and we’ve collecting people on a “wait list” for next year. I’m not sure if it’s Corinna’s marketing or just COVID, or what. But it’s made us ask some tough questions about our future. Do we want to scale the CSA? Can we manage more plates spinning? Do we dial back some of the sites? Can we shift some things around to make things easier on us next year?…

Itzell Krauss made 40 pints of tomatoes from her bulk order last week. Who else is a canning ninja?

I’ve decided I’ve got to find a way to build in more time on the farm next year. With me taking on more responsibility for my parents’ farm, I have found this year tough to manage the actual act of “farming” (seeding, making beds, managing the crops and crew), while also running all the deliveries and pickups off farm. We’re considering different ways we can shuffle the deck, so that I get 2 additional full days on farm next season. Some of those options are tough decisions, but ultimately we’ll have to decide what’s best for the long-term viability of our business (and Farmer Kurt! LOL).

Corinna spent last weekend teaching how to can tomatoes and sauce with CSA members: Analisa  and Nancy Turnow and Emily Burcin,  It was a long but productive day!

Corinna and the boys have finished 2 weeks of homeschooling. My boys told me all about the Trans-Atlantic Cable under the ocean seafloor the other day. And they’re even able to have a few simple conversations in German now. Corinna is fluent in German, and the boys are eagerly learning the language with the help of an online course too. I walked in on them yesterday as they were practicing “ordering peppermint tea” in German. Jed is still gaga about his remote control airplane hobby. He’s currently awaiting more parts. He likes to build his own test versions and then take them to the soccer field at Woodmore High School to try and fly them. He now talks about joining the Air Force so he can fix planes. I think we are going to enjoy this year of home-schooling. We’re even talking about taking the boys out west for a roadtrip once the season is over.

Finally, just a final word to say thank you AGAIN for your support this year. It is truly a dream come true for me to be able to farm. Corinna asked me last week, “Are you happy?” And I answered without hesitation: “Yes.” It’s hard this time of year — no doubt. But I’m doing what I love, running my own business. Raising up strong boys with good hearts. Loving wife by my side. Helping my community. It doesn’t get much better. Thank you for believing in this one farmer’s dream.

~Your Farmer, Kurt

You guys are making some seriously delish things with our box. Check out this bruschetta posted by Laurie Knueven.

WEEK 13 ANNOUNCEMENTS

1. Feeling overwhelmed with peppers lately? Then I recommend this blogpost we wrote last year that gives you several ways to deal with pepper overwhelm!
2. LAST CALL: BULK TOMATO CANNERS for pre-order.  According to my records, I have filled everyone’s order except 2 people. If you still haven’t gotten your order, I may have missed it. If you want to order a hamper (25 lb) of globe or roma tomatoes (30 lb), please email me at sharedlegacyfarms@gmail.com. Cost is $20 for the globes, and $30 for the Romas. We are coming to the end of the tomato season, so don’t wait too much longer! Please let us know how many you want, which types, and your last name and pickup site. You will pay when you pickup your order.
3. Are we doing a Thanksgiving share? Some of you have asked about our “Fall Booster Boxes” and if we are doing them this year. The answer is YES. We will likely do a pop-up Fall Booster. Kurt is still waiting to see how much product we will have left in the field. This will likely be an item we sell later in the season before the CSA is over.
4. When can I sign up for next season? If you’ve seen posts on Facebook or Instagram about “getting on a wait list for next year,” then you know that we are starting to gear up the “outside world” for early CSA signups. With COVID-19 we’ve had a surge of interest in next year’s membership. But don’t worry though! We hold your spot for you until October 25th. We give YOU guys FIRST DIBS on all the spots for next year. We will run a special “early bird” renewal registration the last 2 weeks of our CSA season. During those 2 weeks, you have the chance to renew your spot/share at a special rate and offer. You can also sign up for NEW share types. Then… on November 1st, after early bird period ends, we then open up our spots to the public (and our pre-paid wait list). In the meantime, do NOT sign up for the wait list if you see it advertised on Facebook. Just sit tight a few more weeks. I’ll make sure you know all about how to renew for next year. It’s our ONE time each year that we do a big marketing/sales push.
5. You can order additional items from the Shared Legacy Farms online store. Our store link is super easy to remember: www.sharedlegacyfarms.com/store. Just be sure to select the right pickup site that coincides with your pickup location. If the pickup option is greyed out or not available, it means you missed the window to order. You need to place your order 2 days before your site. I reload the store and set new pickup dates on Sunday afternoon.

Esther Hertzfeld made a homemade bouillon using our veggies. Here’s the link for the recipe. https://www.injennieskitchen.com/2010/02/homemade-bouillon/

WEEK 13 CSA RECIPES

Members: To save time each week, I’m now publishing the recipes only as a PDF. You can download these recipes here. This week’s recipes are:

Radish Tomato Avocado Salad

Fresh Cabbage and Tomato Salad

Mexican Street Corn Slaw

Potato Hash with Bell Peppers and Onions

Oregano Marinated Tomato Salad

Big Beans and Tomato Vinaigrette

Garlic Roasted Radishes

Corn Salsa

Four Ingredient Roasted Poblano Cream Sauce

Southwest Stuffed Poblano Peppers

Pear or Apple Cobbler

Cinnamon Apple Muffins
Pear Custard Pie