Week 17 CSA Newsletter (October 11-17, 2020)

CSA Newsletter Week 17

October 11-18, 2020    |    “A” Week

LEEKS ~  Store these in your fridge in a plastic bag. You can use the green tops for making soup (or DIY broth). Wash the inside of the leeks well before cooking.

BIG ASS KOHLRABI  ~  These will be enormous! Store in the fridge in a green bag. The bulb will last for many weeks. To eat, peel off the outer skin. Then grate, chop or roast the inside. The greens are also edible — use them like kale.

HAKUREI SNACKING TURNIPS  ~  These popular white golf-ball size roots are sweet and can be eaten raw or roasted. Try baking them and mashing them with some potatoes too. The tops are also edible. Remove the tops and store them separately in a plastic bag in the fridge. Roots should be washed and stored in a bag as well. Use within 3-4 weeks. They’ll last even longer in a Fridgesmart container.

SWEET POTATOES (2.5 lb.) from MILE CREEK FARM  ~  Store your sweet potatoes in a cool, dark place, and use them within 6 weeks. Peeling is optional. Bake, roast, boil, or mash them.

ACORN SQUASH (NOT ORGANI) from Allison Bench’s farm (our cousin!)  ~  Store these in a cool dark place, where they will keep for up to 3 months. To eat, cut in half, scoop out the seeds, and roast at 400 F for up to an hour. You can also poke a whole squash with a fork all around and microwave for 4 minutes on each side, until the squash is collapsed. Serve with butter and brown sugar, or stuff and bake!

RED SNACKING PEPPERS  ~ Store in a Green Bag in your fridge and use within 2 weeks. These peppers are sweet and great for lunchbox snacks! Remove the seeds from the inside before eating.

POBLANO PEPPERS  ~ Store in a Green Bag in your fridge and use within 2 weeks. These peppers are a little bit spicy, and are great in salsas or Mexican dishes. Try roasting them or stuffing them with cream cheese blends before baking. Remove the seeds from the inside before eating.

This is an Asian pear! They have the shape of an apple, and the taste of a crunchy storage pear.

FRUIT SHARE

NOTE: This week is the final fruit share 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. 

PIXIE CRUNCH APPLES  – store these in a bag in the fridge. These are considered Quarry Hill’s “best” eating apple.

ASIAN 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. Asian pears are round like apples! They are crisp on the inside too!

APPLE CIDER — a half gallon of Burnham Orchard’s cider.

This week’s goat chevre is a rare one!! Farmer Dell gave us some of his super limited edition “black garlic” goat cheese!

CHEESE SHARE:

Goat: Black Garlic chevre        Hard Cheese: Wabash Erie Canal (Gruyere), Charloe (award-winning)

MADDIE & BELLA COFFEE SHARE: Warehouse Blend

Howdy everyone! I can see the end of the line! With just 2 more weeks to go until the end of our CSA season, we are counting the days. It always feels like the end of a marathon race this time of year. But as the end draws near, we get  our second wind, and I am definitely feeling it!

Big news: Corinna and I just booked a 5 day trip to Scottsdale, Arizona, leaving the day after our CSA is over! Our big thanks to Beth and Matt Deakins, who offered us their time-share. It’s going to be just Corinna and me without the boys for a few days in the sun, near a pool, thinking about nothing. What an awesome gift! But not to worry! Four days after we get back from Scottsdale, we’re heading BACK onto the road with the boys for an extended 2-3 week road trip to the Grand Canyon and Utah, to show our boys some of the beautiful National Parks out west. We’ll be camping most of the time, doing a lot of hiking. The boys will be helping plan out the road trip as part of their homeschool. This is a first for us as a family. We’ve NEVER been able to get away for 3 weeks in the winter, much less the summer. But with our homeschooling, we have that option this year. Corinna and the boys are beyond excited.

Hopefully by now you also know that this Sunday, Oct. 11, is the opening day to renew your CSA share for next season. Corinna told me to tell you again that if you want an egg share, you should be sure to sign up on the first day. I actually dropped the eggs to 90 dozen just to be safe. If those sell out, we’ll see if we can add in some more in the early summer, once we have a better idea of egg production. But for now, we’re playing it safe to make sure we can meet our commitments! You have until the last day of our CSA to renew your share at the special discount and bonus.

This is a seed drill. It “drills” seeds into the soil. I use it for cover crops and soybeans.

This week we finished up planting our cover crops. I have about 90% of my entire acreage planted — which is pretty incredible. Normally I am running behind schedule with this, and I don’t always get them in on time. I have Glen to thank for this — he has been running the big seed drill all week long. It feels great to know my soil is prepped. There will be rye popping up soon! (Is it weird that this geeks me out?)

The crew spent most of the week harvesting for CSA boxes, pulling more poly off the melons, and cutting tomato twine (see picture below). Yes, the tomato beds are getting taken down. This coming week, they’ll pull the stakes out, and we’ll disc up the tomatoes for good. I’ll also have them strip the last of the peppers in the big field, and we’ll call the summer crops done.

Our crew: Manuel, Catalina, Maria, Emanuel, and Jose, take down tomato twine from the stakes.

Our harvest crew (Manuel, Jose, Emanuel, Maria, Catalina, and Leo) is heading back to Florida soon. We wanted to send them off with a nice “bonus” for all their hard work, and Corinna and I are offering you an option to help with that by donating to our MoneyPool to “Tip the Staff.” We promise to steward this gift well and give 100% of it to our crew.

I should probably tell you that my final carrot crop didn’t make it. I’m really bummed. Looks like I just missed the planting window again. When I planted it, it was during a major hot spell, and they just didn’t germinate well, even though I watered them in. With daylight hours diminishing, these weren’t going to make it to the size I needed. It’s a bit of a blow, because I know everyone looks forward to my winter carrots (and the magical sugars they produce). Who knows, maybe they’ll be ready this spring. I’ll keep them planted and hope for the best. Hopefully next year, by adding 2 additional days to my time at the farm each week, I won’t be missing the planting windows I need.

Here is Jed’s latest creation. He decided to paint this one!

Jed continues to amaze us with his airplane engineering. It’s all he talks about! He built another plane this week and has been flying it every second he can. We have him scheduled to visit the Toledo Aviation School for a tour next weekend, and he’s really excited about it. Now he talks about getting a pilot’s license….

My mom came to the farm this week to do a drive-through of the fields. She wanted to talk about next year’s crop plan. Yes, believe it or not, we are already talking about things like that. I have to make decisions NOW about which kinds of cover crops to plant (and where to plant them), based on how I need to amend my soil in those various locations. So if I know we will need to plant a BUNCH of melons again next year, I need to think about WHERE we will put them (since they can’t go in the same place). I was able to get some feedback from Mom about how we can grow for her next year, and what worked and didn’t work for them, too.

The last of the peppers are being picked in the field. These come from the high tunnels, which will still hold peppers a few weeks longer.

I’ll be picking up sweet potatoes this week from Mile Creek Farm — one of the partner farms in my organic co-op. We contracted with them to grow all our potatoes and sweet potatoes this year. What a good decision that was. I haven’t had to deal with the potato beetle or worry about low yields. I’m learning what crops my soil grows really well, and which ones it doesn’t.

Got another load of milled rye flour this week! We’ve formed a partnership now with the Knuevens, who also have a stone mill. They milled this rye for us, and we are finally back in the rye flour business! I hope you have enjoyed our partnership with the Knuevens this year. I know I’m excited about adding a couple pints of ice cream to my share each week next season! It’s been fun being a part of their growth and watching them thrive. Thank you for helping support ALL our local vendors. You are keeping an important resource alive. Until next week!

~Your Farmer, Kurt

WEEK 17 ANNOUNCEMENTS

1. TIP THE STAFF Money Pool! Every year, we offer our CSA members the opportunity to help us “tip” our crew. We have 6 members this year who have helped us harvest and keep our farm running: Jose, Manuel, Emanuel, Maria, Catalina, and Leo. If you’d like to make a donation, I have set up a PayPal MoneyPool here. We’ll be sharing the gift with them in 2 weeks. You can make your gift anytime before October 31st. This is completely optional! Go to www.sharedlegacyfarms.com/tip
2. FRUIT SHARE MEMBERS: PLEASE READ! The final Fruit share week will be THIS WEEK. That’s because the fruit share only runs 16 weeks, and we started it on week 2 (“B” week) of our regular veggie season. Since “B Week” folks got their fruit share first, that means that “A week” members will get their final share on week 17.
3. Early Registration for next season’s CSA begins on Sunday, October 11, at 8 AM sharp. Be sure to read the section in last week’s newsletter that spells out all the details. I will be emailing and posting in the facebook group all week long, breaking down the important details you need to know. You can register for next year at this link: www.sharedlegacyfarms.com/early starting at 8 AM on Sunday, October 11th.
4. This week: BIG ASS KOHLRABI Photo Contest — This week you’ll be getting a “big ass kohlrabi” in your box. This variety can grow as large as you head! We want to see how big your kohlrabis are! Take a picture of yourself holding your giant kohlrabis and post them in the Facebook group!! I’ll pick my favorite shot on Saturday, and you’ll win a fun foodie prize! Hashtag your entry #bigasskohlrabi OR (if that’s uncomfortable for you to type out) #giantkohlrabi

5. 

   This week we’re running a Giant Kohlrabi Photo contest. I want to see how big your kohlrabi is compared to your head! Show me your picture! I’ll pick my favorite winner on Sunday.

6. EGG SHARE CUSTOMERS: PLEASE READ! This week will be the final week of eggs for WEEKLY egg shares. Biweekly egg shares do not get an egg share this week. (Remember how we doubled up on eggs earlier in the season?… Do the math, and you’ll see how it works! LOL). We want to thank Weber Ranch for an awesome partnership these last few years. This is their final season with us!
7. How does the final pickup work NEXT week? Do you get to keep your boxes? Next week (Oct. 18-24) ~ not this week ~  will be our final CSA pickup. You will not be allowed to take the plastic bin home. Instead, we will pack the product inside a plastic bag insert inside your tote. We’ll remove this plastic bag and place it in your car upon pickup. IF YOU HAVE ANY EXTRA CSA TOTES OR GREEN HAMPERS OR CRATES, WE ASK YOU TO PLEASE RETURN THOSE THE NEXT 2 WEEKS.

Tiffany Gradel made these Delicata squash rings last week — her first try at Delicata anything! She loved it!

WEEK 17 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:

Sweet Potato and Kale Hash

Garlic Herb Chicken Sweet Potato Sheet Pan Meal

Roasted Squash with Sesame Seeds and Cumin

Acorn Squash Lasagna

Roasted Carrots and Hakurei Turnips

Roasted Hakurei Turnips and Radishes

Poblano Potato Leek Soup

Leek, Turnip and Rice Soup

Leek and Kohlrabi Fritters

Crock Pot Apple Pear Cider

Asian Pear Galette with Cardamon Whipped Cream