Farm Newsletter Week 12 (Sept 11-18, 2023)

Farm Newsletter Week 12

September 11-18, 2023    |    “B” Week

What’s in the Box this Week?

LEEKS ~ To store: Cut off the green tops (save those greens and put them in your veggie freezer bag to make veggie stock). Loosely wrap unwashed leek bottoms (with roots attached) in a plastic bag and store them in the crisper drawer of your refrigerator where they will keep for 2 weeks. To prep: Cut the leek about 1 inch above the white part, where the leaves begin changing from dark to light green. Save the unused greens; they’ll give great flavor to your next vegetable stock. Slit the leek lengthwise and soak it in lukewarm water for 15 minutes. Fan the leaves under running water to dislodge dirt, then pat dry. chop the white part of the allium finely. To use: Use leeks in salads, casseroles and soups or wherever you’d use onions. They can be braised, boiled grilled, or steamed. To freeze: Cut the white parts of the leek into slices and flash freeze in Ziplock bags.

MIXED SNAP BEANS (purple, green, yellow), 1 QUART (see picture above)~ To store: Store unwashed beans in a Debbie Meyer Green bag in the veggie bin of your fridge for up to 1 week. Rejuvenate limp beans by soaking them in ice water for 30 minutes.  To prep: Wash beans. Cut off the tips and remove strings. Cook whole or chop. These beans do not need to be shelled. To freeze: Remove tips. Blanch in boiling water for 2 minutes, rinse in cold ice water for 2 minutes, drain, dry well, and pack into airtight containers.

WHITE POTATOES, 1 QUART (Mile Creek Farm) ~ To store: Keep unwashed potatoes in a cool, dark, dry place, such as a loosely closed paper bag in a cupboard. They will keep for two weeks at room temperature. Light turns them green, and proximity to onions causes them to sprout. Don’t put them in the refrigerator, as low temperatures convert the starch to sugars. To prep: Scrub well and cut off any sprouts or green skin. Peeling is a matter of preference. In soups, the skins may separate from the flesh and float in the broth, but when baked, pan- fried or roasted, the skins acquire a crisp, crunchy texture. To cook: Boil potatoes in water for 20-30 minutes until tender. If desired, mash them. Use potatoes in soups, hash browns, and salads. Roast sliced or whole small potatoes with fresh herbs, salt, and olive oil at 400 degrees until tender, about 20 minutes. To freeze: Cool cooked or mashed potatoes and freeze them in a Ziplock bag.

Karla Lewis made this tomato powder by dehydrating her tomatoes.

BEETS (MIXED COLORS), NO TOPS, 1 QUART ~ Store the beet roots, with the rootlets (or “tails”) attached, unwashed, in a plastic bag in the crisper bin of your refrigerator. They will keep for several weeks. To prep: Just before cooking, scrub beets well and remove any scraggly leaves and rootlets. If your recipe calls for raw beets, peel them with a knife or a veggie peeler, then grate or cut them according to the recipe. To remove the skins, you can roast them in foil or boil them, and the peels will slip right off. To freeze: Boil or bake beets until done. Cool them in ice water or let them come to room temperature. Remove peels. Trim the beets into 1/4 inch slices or keep them whole (if they are small). P

CHERRY TOMATOES, MIXED COLORS (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 (1) ~ 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.

RED GLOBE TOMATO (1) ~ The basic slicer tomato. Store these on the counter until ripe. Then transfer to the fridge to keep them from spoiling. Tomatoes can be frozen whole in a Ziplock bag with their skin on. These will have a lot of juice in them. They are great for canning whole tomatoes or making juice, FYI.

Delicata squash is a winter squash that will store for about 4 weeks.

DELICATA WINTER SQUASH (2) ~  This winter squash is oblong and cream-colored with dark green stripes and flecks along its length. They are harvested in the fall months. To store: Store in a cool, dry, dark place at around 50 degrees, but make sure they do not freeze. Under the best conditions, they should keep for 3-4 months. And they get sweeter in storage as the starch converts to sugar. To prep: To bake, slice in half lengthwise, scoop out seeds, and place facedown on a cookie sheet. Add 1/2 inch of water to pan. Bake at 400 degrees for 45 minutes until shells are soft and starting to collapse. Remove and fill with butter, brown sugar, maple syrup, seasoning or fillings. You can also just cut the squash into rounds and bake it. the skins of this squash are edible. To freeze: Simply cook squash and mash or puree it. Then pour it into ice cube trays or directly into Ziplocks and freeze.

SWEET CORN (4 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.

Jen Wuertz pickled celery last week! What a neat idea! It created a lot of buzz.

COLLARDS (Wayward Seed Farm) ~ To store: Wrap the leaves in a Debbie Meyer green bag and store in the crisper. Use within a week if possible or until the leaves turn yellow. To prep: Remove the stem with a knife. Use the leaves fo wraps, stirred into soup, braised with bacon, in a stir-fry, pesto, chili, salads, or served alongside ham hocks. To freeze: Blanch 4 minutes in boiling salt water. Soak in ice water bath for 4 minutes. Drain, let dry, and pack into Ziplock containers.

LOTS OF DIFFERENT SWEET PEPPERS: RED SNACK SIZE SWEET PEPPERS (1 pint); ITALIAN RED/ORANGE FRY PEPPERS (4) ~ 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.

CUSTOMER PHOTO OF THE WEEK!

Cordula Mora shared this great kitchen tip on how to quickly soften cold butter using a warm glass. Lots of minds blown with this tip! Keep your ideas coming! I try to pick a favorite post every week.

WEEK 12 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.”

Jed shows off a yellow watermelon

Fruit Share (not organic):

YELLOW WATERMELON ~ These come from Bench Farms. Store in the fridge if possible. (They’re big). Eat within a week.

BLONDEE APPLES ~ (via Quarry Hill Orchard) – These have a yellow skin, and are a crispy, sweet eating apple! Store in the fridge in a plastic bag in the crisper drawer.

TABLE GRAPES (Seedless) ~ (via Quarry Hill Orchard) These are the Reliance purple variety, seedless. Store them in your fridge, wash before eating. I would eat them within 5 days.

Ice Cream Flavor of the Week:

Chamomile Honeycomb from Knueven Creamery.Be sure to stop by their truck at each of the pickup sites to grab your milk and ice cream order.

Coffee Flavor of the Week:

Sumatra Orang Utan: Maddie & Bella Coffee Company  (sweet chocolate, velvety, balanced)

Canning tomatoes can now be pre-ordered

DID YOU PRE-ORDER YOUR CANNING TOMATOES?

You can now pre-order Canning tomatoes (30 lb) from the farm. To place your reservation, FILL OUT THIS GOOGLE FORM. Price is $1/lb, except for golden romas, which are $35 for 30 lbs. They come in a wax box. You’ll be asked for your name, email, phone, pickup site, and how many of each variety you want.

These tomatoes may not come to you next week! We have over 50 orders, and so we are doling them out in waves to the different sites. I’ll send out an email (or call you) a day before your pickup to let you know they are coming. Payment is expected at the time of pickup. If you do not show up to get your tomatoes, you will be put at the bottom of the wait list.

You can choose from these two tomato canner products:

1. 1. ROMA TOMATOES — you’ll get 30 lbs of these classic, RED, oval-shaped, paste tomatoes.
      1. These are best used for sauce and salsa, since they have a lower water content.
      2. Price: $30
      3. Please specify if you want GOLDEN romas. We have a limited quantity of these. They are priced at $35 instead.
   2. GLOBE TOMATOES – you’ll get 30 lbs. of the classic round tomato.
      1. These are best used for canning whole tomatoes.
      2. This will be enough to can 8 quarts (or 16 pints) in your canner.
      3. Price: $30

Can you see the difference between these two melon varieties?

Can You Tell These Melons Apart?

Did you know there are different types of watermelons?… red, orange, yellow, seeded, seedless…

And it takes a trained eye to spot the difference between all of them. I still remember the early years when I assumed they were all red! I didn’t pay attention to the size, shape or patterns. I went out to grab a watermelon from the bin, only to find it was yellow inside!

What’s wrong with this melon?! I thought I’d gotten a ‘bad’ one. I showed it to Kurt, thinking it was some kind of mutant.

Oh no, my friends. Those yellow and orange ones?… they’re like candy. And most people don’t know they exist!

So how do you tell the difference? Kurt patiently held up two watermelons and explained that the main difference is in the striping. Take a look at the picture above. You can see that one has thicker dark stripes — that’s the seedless red. The one on the right has thinner dark stripes — that’s a yellow.

?*#&@(

I can see it after my eyes focus — it reminds me of an optical illusion. Sometimes we have packing errors by our pack team because it’s hard for them to tell — especially if the melons accidentally got mixed into the same bin.

Glad we have farmers who can tell the difference.

7-DAY CHOPPED CHALLENGE: Collard Comfort Foods

It’s our next CSA Challenge, and this one features a tricky ingredient: Collards.

How it works:

1. Create a “comfort food” dish that uses collards in some way. NOTE: It MUST be a “comfort food” AND use collards in order to qualify for judging!!
2. Take a photo of the finished product and post it by September 18th at 8 PM in the private Facebook group (or email it to me).
3. Hashtag it #collardchoppedchallenge so we can find your entry!
4. You can only enter this week’s challenge ONCE.

Now this challenge is different than others, because it’s actually ALSO our qualifying round for the “CHOPPED: SLF Edition” competition, happening at Cork and Knife Provisions on October 13th.

Four winners will be chosen from this week’s challenge, and they will face off for 2 rounds in our own rendition of the famous “CHOPPED” TV cooking show at Cork & Knife’s kitchen and dining room on October 13th. In each round, our contestants will have to create an appetizer, main, or dessert in 30 minutes, using the mystery ingredients provided at their station.

Don’t worry! SLF members will be invited to attend this ticketed event on October 13! Guests will watch the competition unfold, cheer on their favorite contestants, order bevs and snack on the light menu, and listen to the rounds of judging.

The winner of the Chopped Competition on October 13 receives the enviable title of “SLF Chopped Champion” as well as a sweet prize package.

If you think you’d be a great contestant for Chopped: SLF on October 13, then please submit an entry for the Collard Comfort Food Challenge by this next Saturday, September 18!

NOTE: We will host a second Chopped Challenge in a few weeks to find our final 4 contestants! So if you don’t get chosen for this one, you can still have a chance to qualify later with a different contest.

(PS: If you don’t want to compete in the Chopped Competition, you can still participate in the Collard Challenge — just make sure you tell us in your post that you don’t want to be considered during judging).

Kurt lays electric conduit in the break room.

FARMER KURT’S FIELD NOTES

This time of year is always a sprint. I’ve been getting up at 4 AM to either hop in a truck to run a wholesale delivery, or head out to spray while the wind is still calm. Late nights on top of that. Corinna made me come in and sleep for an afternoon the other day. Someone showed up wanting to see me, and she didn’t tell me about it. Something about “protecting my sleep” she said. I had a God-moment the other day when God made it rain — right in the middle of my big list of things to do. And I had this feeling I was supposed to stop and rest instead. So I did. It’s easy to get caught up in the to-do list, but it all manages to get done. I’ve been thinking about how I really need to hire a “middle-manager” for the CSA in the season — someone to just organize the CSA to-do list — there is so much involved there. That would help  me a lot. I’m paying attention to those moments when I feel really stressed, and writing down the tasks that I’m doing in those moments — just to see if maybe I can outsource some of those next season.

I’m laying conduit!! I haven’t had any luck with finding an electrician to come out here for this small job on the farm. So I finally pulled out YouTube and figured it out myself. That should be a tshirt: “Figure it out.” My pack team on Wednesday finished up around 8:30 PM and they were doing their last hour “in the dark” — the pack shed has no light! So that was a wake-up call that I need to find time. Plus, our Field to Table dinner table is coming soon! I can’t have Chef Joseph’s team tripping in the pack shed trying to find things in the cooler.

I bought some new shelving for the pack shed that has given me alot of extra space.

I installed a new shelving system on the wash bay area last week. Jed helped me. It stands against the back side of the barn. I now have a way to store all those harvest bins that were clogging up the concrete bay. It’s relieved some congestion. Corinna bought a bunch of new black containers to store our store orders in from Home Depot, too. The ones we were using were just too big, and ended up being so heavy that they were breaking the handles! It’s funny how little changes like shelving and bins can streamline your operation!

Big wholesale order of peppers went out this week, as well as fennel. These wholesale orders have been a game-changer for our business. The CSA helps out with needed cash flow on the front end of the year, but historically that cash flow runs out around end of August, unless we have strong wholesale orders to bring in more revenue. Our big contracts with the Ohio Food Bank project have been that extra boost. For the first time in ten years, we are not stressing about income. It feels great. Thanks for your extra orders in the online store too every week — we’ve seen a nice bump there, which really helps us keep things flowing here at SLF.

Tanya Thorbahn learns how to drive the big box truck

I taught Tanya how to drive the big box truck this week. Tanya always drives to the Sylvania site with me, and I was so tired on the way back, that she offered to drive. She did great, so I’ve decided she can now officially drive it! I took a picture of it — she seemed kind of excited!

Sorry for pulling the Delicata squash last week at the last minute. We had so much to harvest on Monday morning. It’s  not just the harvesting, but it’s also the washing. Everything needs to move through our line washer — and I just didn’t have time to get the winter squash through. Rather than make the pack crew wait another hour, I opted to pull it from the box. You’ll be seeing a lot of different winter squashes in the next few weeks! Some of them are grown here at SLF. Some are grown next door by my cousin Steve Turnow, who is also certified organic.

Corinna has been canning tomatoes every second she gets. That  means the kitchen is chaos (and pretty hot). I hope you take advantage of the bulk tomato order in the next 2 weeks.

I don’t plan on having a U-Pick this year, since a lot of the tomatoes are going to a wholesale order for the Food Banks. The vines are already dying back pretty good. Remember that tornado that came through Elmore a few weeks ago? Well, the straight-line winds from that storm knocked down the whole row of cherry tomatoes, so they lay on the ground for 2 days. Now they’ve got Alternaria solani  which is “tomato blight” — those vines won’t last much longer.

PENTA Career Center seniors visit the farm for a tour.

We hosted PENTA Careeer Center’s Culinary seniors at the farm on Wednesday. We do this every year. Janae (the Senior Chef at PENTA) is one of our CSA packers, and she loves to bring her class to show them how a real vegetable farm works. We let them pick their own corn, show them the watermelon patch, and this year they helped us top the basil and bag some cherry tomatoes for the CSA boxes. There were about 30 of them. They always feed us really well…

Corinna and I are going to see comedian Jim Gaffigan on Saturday night in Indiana with my sister and brother-in-law. Derek and I share the same birthday month, so they organized a birthday gift outing for us. I can’t wait to laugh my head off!

Glen is working on fixing up my Tilmor stale seed bed tool. I broke the basket element on the back. I’m taking this tool to the Midwest Mechanical Weed Control Field Day in late September. (I’m actually one of the event organizers!) This tool will be one of the featured pieces being shown off to new farmers as an innovation. I’m excited!

Snap beans for this week grew in a low tunnel.

This week you’re getting some of our snap beans that we grew on trellis system! Noah and John are responsible for all that! They’ve done a great job of managing the garden beds near the house and making sure we have lettuces most weeks of the summer! By the way, there are 18 weeks in our season, meaning our final box will be on the last week of October. So we still have a few more weeks to go! We have PLENTY of food out there — even though tomatoes will be wrapping up soon! Until next week!

~Your Farmer, Kurt

Last week’s box.

WEEK 12 ANNOUNCEMENTS

1. Tickets for the Field to Table Dinner on Friday, September 22, at 6 PM are now available at this link. Tickets are $90 and includes everything, including gratuity.

   An evening under the stars with your fellow CSA members! Join us at our farm as Chef Joseph and the team from Cork & Knife Provisions delights us with an amazing dinner menu, using veggies sourced from our fields. ​View the menu here.​

   • Arrive early to enjoy appetizers and walk our fields
   • Optional wagon ride tour around the farm.
   • Welcome beverage
   • Live music provided by guitarist Tim Oehlers
   • Evening campfire to mellow out the evening
   • A pretty incredible view of God’s country…

   Meet the other members of our CSA, mingle with your farmers, watch Chef Joseph work his magic up close and personal, and join us as we celebrate the many hands that bring local food to our community! Only 60 tickets will be sold.  Due to liquor license laws, we are unable to include alcohol with dinner. However, you are allowed to bring your own wine/beer/etc. A welcome beverage, water and coffee will be served.

2. Save the Date! Our Farm’s “Chopped! SLF Edition” Cooking Competition will take place at Cork and Knife’s beautiful location in Toledo, on October 13th. Our contestants for this competetition will be chosen from this week’s Collards Comfort Foods Challenge. We’ll sell tickets to the live event, where you can watch our finalists duke it out for the coveted prize of “Grand Prize Winner.”
3. You can now pre-order Canning tomatoes (30 lb for $30) from the farm. To place your pre-order, FILL OUT THIS GOOGLE FORM. If you cannot fill it out, then email me your order. Tell me how many boxes you want and what type (Roma or Globe), and what your pickup site is. I’ll send out an email a few days before your pickup to let you know they are coming. .Payment is expected at the time of pickup.You can choose from these two tomato canner products:
   1. ROMA TOMATOES — you’ll get 30 lbs of these classic, oval-shaped, paste tomatoes. These are best used for sauce and salsa, since they have a lower water content. Price: $30
   2. GLOBE TOMATOES – you’ll get 30 lbs. of the classic round tomato. These are best used for canning whole tomatoes. This will be enough to can 8 quarts (or 16 pints) in your canner. Price: $30
   3. GOLDEN ROMA TOMATOES — you’ll get 30 lbs. of the orange roma tomatoes. These are priced a bit higher at $35.
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); cauliflower (40), chard, leeks (30), Asian pears, nectarines, yellow watermelon, torpedo onions (no tops); Dragon Tongue beans,  yellow potatoes, celery, Gingergold apples, nectarines, kohlrabi, tomatillos, shishito peppers (10 count); carrots (40), red beets, gold beets, jalapanos (4-pack); red sweet snacking peppers; Italian fry peppers; poblano (4-pack); ground cherries; Flavor Burst bell peppers, Jimmy Nardello peppers, globe tomato 4-pack, cherry tomatoes, green tomatoes, heirloom tomatoes; fresh dillweed, fresh cilantro, Esme bunched arugula (limited), banana peppers (hot or sweet); eggplant (3 types); maple syrup, Rowdy Rider sauces (hot sauce, sweet bourbon glaze, and BBQ sauce); extra flower bouquets, Tuscan Olive Oil

Cory Wolin shared this gorgeous photo of chilled corn soup with microgreens

WEEK 12 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!

Big Beans and Tomato Vinaigrette
Southern Bacon Dripping Collards and Corn
Quick Collard Greens
Collard Greens with Bacon
Easy Roasted Delicata Squash
Roasted Delicata Squash and Tomatoes
Potato Leek Soup
Tomato Leek Tart
Grilled Leeks with Leek Tomato Salad and Citrus Dressing
Bell Pepper Tomato Salad
Garlic Roasted Cherry Tomatoes
Roasted Red Peppers and Cherry Tomatoes with Ricotta
Sheet Pan Chipotle Cheddar Corn Enchiladas
Cowboy Candy
Fresh Tomato Salsa
Grape and Apple Pie
Apple Spice Waffles