Farm Newsletter CSA Week 10 (August 28-Sept 2, 2023)

Farm Newsletter Week 10

August 28 – September 2, 2023    |    “B” Week

The swiss chard has been out of this world huge this year. Here’s packer Tara Baranowski showing off a particularly big bunch. These were actually hard to put into the CSA boxes last week!

What’s in the Box this Week?

FRESH CELERY (1 bunch) ~ Farm-fresh celery often includes skinnier stalks than what you’d find at the grocery stores. They are celery flavor bombs! To store: You can wrap your celery tightly in foil and place it in the fridge. This will keep it crisp for weeks. If you don’t want to use foil, try chopping the celery into smaller stalks and putting them in a bowl of water in the fridge. To prep: Rinse well. Cut a half-inch off the base. Cut the tops off the celery. Save these for your freezer scrap bag and make broth later! You can also save the tops and use them for salads, for dried herbs, or DIY celery salt. To freeze: Freezing celery is not recommended.

CARROTS (from Wayward Seed Farm) ~ To store: Remove the green tops as soon as you can, leaving about an inch of stems. Refrigerate these carrots in a plastic bag. You can also store them in a bin of water (like celery) to keep them crisp, changing out the water every few days. Save the tops in a plastic bag. To prep: Organic carrots don’t need to be peeled. Boil 2-inch cubed carrots in rapidly boiling salt water, uncovered, for 7-10 minutes. Fresh carrot tops can be chopped into a green salad or stir-fry too! The greens can be dried and used as an herb like parsley. To freeze: Blanch cut coins for 3 minutes in boiling salt water, dunk in cold ice water for 3 minutes, drain, let dry, and pack in airtight container.

CHERRY TOMATOES (pint) ~ To store: We store our cherry tomatoes in the fridge for longer shelf life, but bring them to room temperature before eating. Wash well. Tomatoes can be frozen whole with the skin on. The skins will slide right off when they thaw. Simply pop the washed tomatoes whole into a Ziplock bag. Thawed tomatoes are appropriate only for cooking sauces, salsas, or purees.

HEIRLOOM TOMATO (2) ~ Heirlooms are known for their flavor, but they have a VERY small shelf life, so eat them on the first day. You’ll also see cracks and scarring on these tomatoes. This is normal. To store: Do not refrigerate tomatoes. Store them at room temperature out of the sun stem side down.

GOLDEN ROMA TOMATOES (4) ~ Romas are also called “paste” tomatoes. They are oval shaped and more mealy inside. Because they don’t have as much “juice” as a globe tomato or heirloom, they are often used for making things like tomato sauce, ketchup, or even salsas. These romas are an unusual golden color, which makes them even more striking.

SUMMER SQUASH (3) ~  To store: Store squash unwashed in a perforated plastic bag in the vegetable bin. In the refrigerator they keep for about a week. To prep: Rinse under water to remove the dirt or prickles, and slice off the stem and blossom ends. Then slice or chop. Scrape out seeds from baseball bat sized zucchinis before using them to bake. To use: Slice tender, young summer squash raw into salads. Try them in stir-fry or with pasta. Lightly steam (4-5 minutes) and dress them with fresh herbs or pesto. Or coat squash lightly in oil and roast at 350 degrees whole or sliced in half for 15-45 minutes. Stuff whole squash with your favorite stuffings. Bread them and make zuke fries. To freeze: You can freeze grated zucchini for use in breads and muffins. Squeeze as much liquid out as possible before adding to the freezer bag.

This Zucchini Corn pie recipe took the group by storm last week! Have you jumped on the train yet?

SWEET CORN (6 ears) ~ (not organic, non-GMO, from David Bench Farms) ~ To store: Refrigerate sweet corn as soon as possible with husks on. The longer you wait to eat it, the more sugar will turn into starch, and the corn will lose its \ sweetness. To prep: You can eat corn raw or cook it in the husks. Shuck the cob by pulling the husks down the ear and snapping off the stem. The silks will fall off as you cook the corn. Rinse under cold water. If you see a green worm, just cut out the damaged section — the rest of the cob is still edible! To cut the kernels off the cob, stand the cob upright on its base and run a sharp knife from the tip of the ear down to the base. To cook: Steam corn in 1-2 inches of water for 6-10 minutes, or drop ears into boiling water for 3-6 minutes. Season with butter or salt. You can also grill corn in the husk — place the corn in its husk in water for 10 minutes — then place on grill for 15 minutes. To freeze: Blanch on the cob for 3-5 minutes, rinse under cold water, and drain. Cut off the kernels with a knife, and then pack it into airtight freezer containers.

HEAD LETTUCE (CRISP HEAD) ~ To store: Store unwashed lettuce in a plastic bag in the refrigerator. To store lettuce that you have already washed and dried with a spinner, place back in a plastic bag with a dry paper towel in the bag, and place the package in the vegetable crisper bin. Use within 4 days. To prep: Slice the head at its base with a knife and  let the leaves fall open. Discard any damaged or leathery outer leaves and tear large leaves into bite-size pieces. Wash leaves in a basin of cold water. Dry in a salad spinner.

LOTS OF DIFFERENT PEPPERS: POBLANOS (4), JIMMY  MARDELLOS (2), ITALIAN RED FRY PEPPERS (3) ~ You’ll receive Jimmy Mardellos, which are a long, skinny SWEET pepper. You’ll also get 3 Italian red or orange sweet frying peppers. AND you’ll get 4 green poblanos. (These will have some mild heat to them).  To store: Refrigerate peppers unwashed in a sealed plastic bag in the crisper drawer for 1-2 weeks. To prep: Cut in half and remove the seeds from the inside. Slice, chop or mince. Try making stuffed peppers! (These can also be frozen). To freeze: Wash and dry peppers. Freeze whole or cut into bite-size pieces and place in Ziplock freezer bag, removing as much air as possible.

This is what one pound of seed garlic looks like. EIGHT builbs. This costs $26 for us to buy from the seed provider. Garlic is our most expensive seed.

EGGPLANT ~ 1 piece (Tuesday sites only) ~ To store: Wrap unwashed eggplant in a towel (not plastic) to absorb any moisture, and keep it in the veggie drawer of your refrigerator. Or store unrefrigerated at a cool room temperature. Use within a week and it should still be fresh and mild. To prep: Eggplant is usually peeled. The flesh will brown when exposed to air. To prevent browning, coat in lemon juice or keep submerged  in water. To use: Brush 1/2-inch to 1-inch slices of eggplant with olive oil or melted butter and broil or grill until brown. It also makes an excellent baba-ganoush dip. Casserole: chop eggplant into cubes. Layer in a pyrex dish with tomatoes, onions, mozzarella, and basil. Sprinkle with olive oil and salt and bake at 400 F for 25 minutes. To freeze: Peel and cut into slices 1/3-inch thick. Blanch for 2 minutes in steam. Cool immediately in cold water. Package in layers with each slice separated with two pieces of wrap.

GROUND CHERRIES (Thursday sites only), 1 pint. Husk cherries, also commonly referred to as ground cherries or husk tomatoes, are small pale orange fruits wrapped in a crinkly, paper-like husk. They look a little bit like small tomatillos. Their flavor is a cross between a tomato and a pineapple. To store:  Store in their husks in a paper bag in the refrigerator for seven days. To prep: Remove the husks and rinse the fruits before preparing. To use: Mixed with berries, they make a great addition to desserts. You can also make a preserve out of them. Add with jalapenos and cilantro for a great salsa variation. And you can always just throw them into a salad. To freeze: Remove husk. Throw the cherries into a Ziplock bag or Mason jar and freeze.

CUSTOMER PHOTO OF THE WEEK!

Robert Seaney wrote an impassioned plea on behalf of his farmers, to save the garlic for seed.

This week’s prize for “Post of the Week” goes to Robert (Bob) Seaney. Bob has been a long-time member of our CSA. In fact, he and Kurt regularly go out for beers a few times a year. This week, he wrote a beautiful “essay” to our CSA community, educating them on our recent garlic shortage dilemma. In the process, I think he brought awareness to everyone, AND he elicited 91 comments of support from our members. We heard a resounding voice: “Yes! Keep the garlic for seed! We don’t need to have any this season.” We felt incredibly supported as a result of this post, and it confirmed our business decision to save the garlic for seed. Thanks Bob, for advocating for our needs and finding a way to get a LOT of people to rally around us.

WEEK 9 ADD-ON SHARES: We are Week “B” 

Odd-numbered weeks of our CSA season (week 1,3,5) are called “A” weeks. And even-numbered weeks (week 2,4,6) are called “B” weeks. If you have any kind of non-veggie, bi-weekly share, you have been assigned to either “A” or “B” week for the season. If you get a cheese share, it always comes on Week “A.”

Fruit Share (not organic):

 BARTLETT PEARS ~ (via Quarry Hill) Orchard – Store on the counter until they ripen. Then put in a plastic bag in your fridge crisper. Wash well before eating. Not organic.

NECTARINES ~ (via Quarry Hill Orchard) Store these on the counter until they are no longer hard. Then put in a bag in your fridge. Remove pit before eating, or eat out of hand.

CANTALOUPE (Bench Farms) ~ The cantaloupe have been outstanding this season! So sweet! Store in your fridge. Wash the outer rind, and cut the fruit in half. Remove the seeds. Then cut into slices and eat out of hand. OR remove the rind and chunk up the fruit for your next fruit salad or dessert!

Ice Cream Flavor of the Week:

Maple Pecan from Knueven Creamery. Note: be sure to stop and pick up your ice cream from the Knueven milk truck at your pickup site! They will be located either right before or after your veggie pickup. Your farmers will not be passing this out in their delivery line.

Coffee Flavor of the Week:

Dog Days of Summer: Maddie & Bella Coffee Company

Kurt does his field walk to determine the week’s box

FARMER KURT’S FIELD NOTES

This week we sustained some field damage from 2 pretty big thunderstorms. On Wednesday night, the first blast came through from the north and dumped 3 inches of water on the farm overnight. The weather system just hung over the farm without moving. We don’t often see weather come from the lake. We woke up to find a section of our outer row of tomato beds had been pulled out by the wind. There was so much water that loosened the soil bed, and then the wind (and the weight of the tomatoes) pulled the whole section out. These were our cherry tomatoes, and they are now lying on their side. We took comfort in the fact that the stakes hadn’t snapped. (That would have been impossible to fix).

Our tomato plants fell over in the high winds of this week’s storms.

The next night, a second storm blew through around 11 PM — this time from the northwest. Corinna and I woke up to a huge rattling sound against our bedroom window. That’s when I checked my phone to find out we were in a tornado warning. We don’t have a basement. (Normally we drive down to our crew’s house and huddle in there, but with the crazy wind and darkness, we opted to stay in the house this time). The worst of the straight line winds were over in about 5 minutes. But we got another 3 inches of rain that night, and when I checked the next morning, more of the tomatoes were laying on their side, pulled from the muddy ground. There was a reported tornado that passed just to the east of Elmore, so it was apparently pretty close to us! We were lucky! We’ll need to repair the damage to the tomatoes this week as soon as it dries out a little. I’m not sure if I’ll lose the fruit on the side that’s currently face-down in the mud. We’ll have to see. Corinna told me that our CSA customers in Port Clinton and Catawba got hit pretty hard. On her way to the pickup site Thursday, she saw high water everywhere, lots of flooding and cars underwater. It kind of made the “damage” on our farm seem trivial in comparison. Our hearts are going out to all of you who have had your lives upended by Mother Nature.

Fieldwork wise, I was able to do a lot of cultivating of weeds right before the storms hit. Jed did some tractor work on the former rye field — it was pretty messy work and took a lot of passes. My neighbor Josh has been taking the remains of the old sweet corn — we chop it up and give it to his cows. He mows my grass pathways and gets to keep the bales for his cows too. In return, he gives me free manure to spread on my fields, and he plows my driveway in the winter. Always take care of your neighbors!

I sold my old sprayer to Clay Hill Organics this week. I dropped it off and gave them a training on how to use it. If you recall, I bought a new sprayer a few weeks ago, so this will help offset that cost. It was time to upgrade to a better model. My aronia berry bushes were completely stripped by the crew this week. We shipped those off to Mulberry Creek Farm. They are going to take them and turn them into wine! I’m glad I didn’t take those bushes down.

The crew harvests the aronia berry bushes. I like these bushes because they also give us some privacy from the bike path.

Many thanks to Bob Seaney for his supportive Facebook post about the garlic! Last week, I was sharing how Corinna and I were torn between keeping all the garlic for ourselves (to save for seed next year) or giving some of it into the CSA boxes as a “share” of our yield. It’s admittedly a better business decision to keep it all for seed. But we still feel obligated to keep you happy as customers and give you a prized element in the box. It was helpful to see many of you come out of the woodwork and tell us it would be okay if you didn’t see any in your share this year. Thanks for that show of support. I asked Corinna to take a picture of a pound of garlic, just so you could get a visual of just how little that is. It amounts to around 8 heads. This one pound of garlic costs me $26! It’s a little crazy when you see it, isn’t it, because if you bought something like that at the grocery store, you might pay $7?…  You can see why many CSAs don’t even try to grow garlic in their shares. It’s just not very profitable.

Josiah helped with getting these cantaloupes onto the Seagate truck!

The Seagate Food Bank truck was out this week to pick up two large bins of melons. We have been swimming in cantaloupe and watermelon, and can’t find enough buyers. Normally, if I have too much of a crop, I would just not pick it. But in the case of melons, you HAVE to clear the vines, or the fruit behind it won’t continue to mature. So even if I can’t sell it all, I still need to pay the labor to harvest it. That meant I was playing the part of a “melon dealer” this week. I called so many people, trying to move melons. In the end, we opted to donate them rather than compost them. I know those watermelons will go fast at the food bank!

Karina and Merrilee cut their own basil at the beginning of Pesto Fest this Sunday.

Pesto Fest happened last Sunday. It was fun seeing all of you blasting away on your food processors and blenders. I heard there were a few issues trying to get electric to work at some of hte stations — haha. Still don’t have electric in the pack shed, but we made it work! I also got to enjoy some delicious pesto in our dinner afterwards. Not really knowing how much pasta to make, Corinna made 8 lbs of spaghetti — enough to fill an entire roaster. With about 15 people in attendance, it was a bit too much. So we all had a good laugh about that. (And we know have lots of pasta frozen in the freezer). She’s including her tomato corn salad that everyone raved about in the newsletter recipes this week.

My guys helped me bottle up my cherry beer.

Noah and John helped me bottle my cherry beer yesterday. John seemed a little unconvinced that it would actually turn out, because we waited about 4 weeks too long. But I did it anyway, and we’ll see in a couple of weeks if it tastes good.

I had a surprise food safety inspection by the ODA (Ohio Department of Agriculture) this past Monday. The way this works is that I usually get a call about 30 minutes before he arrives. Normally these take about 30 minutes, but I got a pretty thorough inspector, and suddenly 3 hours were gone from my life. I was pulling out documentation at the kitchen table, and showing him around the farm, answering detailed questions about cleaning logs, food safety processes, and more. I don’t get too worried about these, because we run a pretty tight ship here. But I did get dinged for having a dog running around my dad’s melon patch. (We’re supposed to keep all domestic and wild animals out of our fields). And he found an open melon rind in the field — evidence that we had been snacking on melons “on the job.” There are  few things Corinna and I will have to discuss about the egg and cheese share for the future, but all in all, we did well.

Mom celebrated her birthday last weekend, so attended her party. (Jed made the angel food cake for that). And, Jed started school this Monday at ANSAT. Corinna and I are back to tag-teaming it with the daily drive. I do the morning run. Corinna does the afternoon. Unfortunately the timing is tough because she is gone while we are packing the CSA trucks. We had a few packing errors this week as a result. She knows all the little details and changes that customers make — things like “Pull this order out and store it in the cooler, cuz they’re coming on Friday…” and “3 bulk corn bags go on this truck, and one on the other…” and “There were so many store order bins, we had to put them in two places — half are in this cooler, and half are THAT cooler…” We’re trying to figure out a better way to write ALL the things down that are in her head, so that I can accurately pack the truck in her absence. Thanks to all of you who were on the receiving end of some of those errors this week, and just know we are working on a solution.

~Your Farmer, Kurt

Alyssa Baker was the winner of this Freezer Soup Bag Challenge Prize!

WEEK 10 ANNOUNCEMENTS

1. Congratulations to Alyssa Baker, for winning the Freezer Soup Bag Starter Kit Challenge! She got a pretty sweet prize basket this week. We really enjoyed seeing all your entries, and my virtual assistant is working on curating many of the recipes and turning it into a PDF guide for all of you next week!
2. When are Canning Tomatoes coming?… I know you are waiting so patiently for them. Farmer Kurt will know by the end of the week when we can start taking pre-orders. DON’T WORRY. There are LOTS of tomatoes, but they just haven’t’ started turning red in large quantities yet. VERY SOON. Starting next week we will allow you to place a pre-order with us via email, and then we will fill them week by week as we are able. You’ll pay upon pickup. They will come boxed for you, and we’ll offer globe tomatoes (for whole or juice), and Romas. We’ll also offer a limited number of golden romas and heirloom (Polish Linguisas). Price is $30 for a 25 lb. case.
3. BULK CORN can be ordered in our online store. We’ll have this for the next 4 weeks. The best time to buy bulk corn is in August, when the ears are largest. A bushel bag goes for $35 and includes 64 ears. We only have a limited amount of space on our trucks, so if we sell out, just hang on tight and be ready to order next week. If you want to learn how to freeze sweet corn, watch our video tutorial here. I recommend the Corn Cutter from Pampered Chef (affiliate link) to make it a whole lot easier, as well as an angel food cake pan or bundt pan.
4. 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 36 hours before your site. We harvest the product on Monday and Wednesday mornings — early. This week, the store will have: sweet corn (by the bushel, or half dozen, not organic); carrots with tops; kohlrabi, red beets (bulk or by the quart), golden beets, bulls-eye beets, tomatillos, shishito peppers (10 count); Amaranth (Greens); jalapanos (4-pack);  red potatoes (Mile Creek Farm); basil, flavor burst lime-green bell peppers, green tomatoes, Zestar apples, parsley, head lettuce, heirloom tomatoes, cherry tomatoes (limited); banana peppers (hot or sweet); fresh celery; swiss chard; yellow sweet onions, orange seedless watermelon (not organic); cantaloupe (not organic); yellow peaches (not organic); honey, Rowdy Rider sauces (hot sauce, sweet bourbon glaze, and BBQ sauce); extra flower bouquets.
5. Save the Date! The next Field to Table Dinner will be Friday, September 22, at 6 PM. We will open ticket sales in NEXT week’s newsletter. 
6. Save the Date! Our Cooking Competition “Chopped! SLF Edition” will take place at Cork and Knife’s location on October 13th. Details will be in next week’s newsletter for how you can apply to be a contestant in the competition, as well as how CSA members can buy tickets to attend the competition and watch! (Drinks and food will be available for purchase at the event as well).

Lindsey Simpson shared this chocolate beet muffin picture. This recipe is a very popular way for our members to eat beets.

WEEK 10 CSA RECIPES

Members: You can download these recipes as a PDF here.   These recipes are designed to inspire you to use your box this week! Please check inside our private Facebook group to find your fellow members sharing ideas for what to make with their box! Share a photo and you might be featured in next week’s newsletter!

Sweet Corn and Zucchini Pie
Corn and Tomato Salad (BEST EVER) from Pesto Fest and Farmer Corinna
Grilled Parmesan, Garlic and Basil Corn on the Cob
Karen Ayers Famous CSA Freezer Marinara Sauce
Crockpot Tomato Sauce
Peperonata
Bell Pepper Salsa
Classic Fresh Salsa
Grilled Corn and Chipotle Pesto Pizza
Pickled Red Onion and Carrot Relish
Grilled Balsamic Carrots with Rosemary and Thyme
Fried Italian Peppers
Broiled Top Blade Steak with Herb-Flecked Tomato Salad
Grilled Eggplant with Cherry Tomatoes
Grilled Eggplant Stacked with Indian Spiced Beef
Southwest Stuffed Poblano Peppers
Frozen Melon Daiquiris
Fresh Pear Bread
Caramelized Pear Steel Cut Oats
Shrimp & Nectarine Salad