Shared Legacy Farms Week 5 Newsletter, July 10-16, 2022

Farm Newsletter Week 5

July 10-16, 2022    |    “A” Week

Catie Riker shared this Salad Board picture last week.

What’s in the Box this Week?

RED LONG TROPEA ONIONS ~  These onions are often called “torpedoes” at our farm, due to their torpedo-like shape. Because they are not cured, these fresh onions will need to be stored in a plastic bag in the fridge and use within 2 weeks. To prep: Peel the onion’s skin and cut off the roots and top.  To freeze: Cut or slice onions to desired size and place in freezer Ziplock bag. Remove all the air and seal. It helps to freeze them in 2-3 cup increments.

GREEN CABBAGE ~ Place dry, unwashed cabbage heads in the refrigerator, preferably in the vegetable bin. The outer leaves may eventually get floppy or yellowish, but they can be removed and discarded to reveal fresh inner leaves. Store for up to 3 months! To prep: Rinse the cabbage under cold water before use. Cut cabbage head first into quarters, then diagonally across the wedge. Be sure to remove the stem end and triangular core near the base. To freeze: Choose how to cut your heads based on your end use. Cook in boiling pot of water for 90 seconds. Douse in ice water to stop the cooking process. Drain the cabbage and dry as much as possible. Place in Ziplock freezer bags based on your portions you plan to use, and remove as much air as possible. Put in freezer.

KALE MIX (of Dinosaur and Red Russion) ~  To store: Place kale unwashed, wrapped in a sealed plastic bag in the crisper drawer of the refrigerator. Best used very fresh, but may last for a week. To prep: Wash leaves in basin of lukewarm water to remove grit. If your greens have thick stems, you must remove them. Fold each leaf in half and slice out the stem. Then stack the leaves up and slice them diagonally into 1-inch-wide strips. To use: Saute in olive oil. Use in soups, spaghetti sauce, pesto, quiche, or kale chips. You can also eat the stems. To freeze: Blanch washed greens for 2-3 minutes. Rinse in cold ice water to stop the cooking process, drain, and pack into airtight containers. Stems can also be frozen.

WHITE KOHLRABI with tops ~This plant was developed by crossing a cabbage with a turnip! The edible part of the plant is an enlarged section of the stem that develops just above the ground. It has a crisp interior like a potato.  Store kohlrabi globe and leaves separately. The bulb will last for 2 weeks refrigerated in a plastic bag. Wrap leaves and stalks in a plastic bag and keep in the crisper drawer of the refrigerator. To prep: Rinse under cold running water just before use. Cut the outer skin off with a knife. Trim off the remains of the stalks and root. Grate, slice, or chop as desired. To cook: Cut raw kohlrabi bulb into sticks for a refreshing addition to a raw vegetable tray or grate it for salads. Try raw kohlrabi smeared with peanut butter. Lightly boil, steam or bake it, or add it to stews and stir-fries. To freeze: Cut into cubes or slices and blanch for 3-4 minutes. Place into ice water bath to stop the cooking. Drain and dry. Place in Ziplock freezer bag.

Grab my free Kohlrabi Ebook here.

ORANGE CARROTS (1 bunch) ~ 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.

Fresh garlic must be stored in the fridge.

FRESH GARLIC (NOT CURED) ~ This garlic will be fresh, which means you should store it in your fridge and use it within 10 days to avoid the growth of mold. The other option is to leave it out on your counter for 3 weeks and let it cure. To freeze: Leave the skins on and place individual cloves in a Ziplock bag or Mason jar; then freeze.

BASIL (8 oz) ~ Basil is very sensitive to cold. Do not refrigerate fresh basil; it will turn black. Instead, strip the lower leaves off the stems and place stems in a glass of water on the kitchen counter like a flower. To prep: Mince well. Add to butter, cream cheese, or your favorite pasta sauce. Make a batch of pesto with pine nuts, Parmesan, olive oil, salt, and garlic. To dehydrate: Remove leaves from stem and place on a piece of paper towel on a glass plate. Cover with another piece of paper towel. Microwave plate on high for 1 minute. Leaves will be dry. Crinkle them with your finger and place them in a dry container, such as a Mason jar with a lid. To freeze: Basil does not freeze well. Instead, make a batch of pesto and freeze it flat in Ziplock bags.

TURNIPS with tops (1 bunch) ~ Turnips are a root vegetable, related to arugula and radishes, which are members of the mustard family. Large or old turnips can be unpleasantly “hot” if not cooked properly or combined with the proper vegetables (like potatoes), but younger turnips add great zip to dishes. They are best in the fall or spring, when they are small and sweet. To store: Remove the greens from the turnips and store in a plastic bag to use within 3 days. The turnip roots should be stored in a plastic bag in the crisper drawer of your fridge for up to a week. To prep: Cut off the green tops (which can be eaten as well). Wash and cut the white roots into wedges or slices. To cook: Serve raw with dip in a veggie tray. Or grate and add them to a salad. Turnips are delicious when roasted with other root vegetables (like carrot, potatoes, rutabaga, garlic). Add a turnip or two to your favorite mashed potato recipe. Or add them into soups and stews. To freeze roots: Blanch for 3 minutes in hot boiling water. Cool in ice water for 3 minutes, drain and pack into freezer containers or freezer bags.

zucchini and cute shoes

SUMMER SQUASH MIX ~ 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.

WEEK #5 ADD-ON SHARES: We are Week “A” 

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.”

Esther Hertzfeld made this cheesecake and topped it with a mix of all her leftover fruit from the last fruit shares.

WEEK 5 FRUIT SHARE:

BLUEBERRIES  ~ To store: Store blueberries in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. Use a vinegar bath to kill off bacteria and lengthen their shelf life.  To prep: Rinse gently just before using. To freeze: Choose ripe berries. Wash and sort out the mushy ones. Let dry in colander for 10 minutes. Place them in an even layer on a large cookie sheet (with a lip) or any container you may have and put in freezer overnight until frozen. Then pack them into a freezer bag, removing the air, and seal.

BLACKBERRIES ~ (from Niese Farms in Pandora, OH) To store: Store in the fridge in a single layer on a shallow tray covered with a paper towel. Wash them just prior to use, or use a vinegar rinse to kill off bacteria and extend their shelf life. To prep: Rinse gently just before using. Watch out! They’ll stain! To freeze: Choose ripe berries. Wash and sort out the mushy ones. Let dry in colander for 10 minutes. Place them in an even layer on a large cookie sheet and put in freezer overnight until frozen. Then pack them into a freezer bag, removing the air, and seal.

RASPBERRIES ~ To store: Store in the fridge in a single layer on a shallow tray covered with a paper towel. Wash them just prior to use, or use a vinegar rinse to kill off bacteria and extend their shelf life. To prep: Rinse gently just before using.  To freeze:  Place them in an even layer on a large cookie sheet and put in freezer overnight until frozen. Then pack them into a freezer bag, removing the air, and seal.

Last week’s flower bouquet share from Clay Hill Farms. Photo Credit: Danielle Kuhl

CHEESE SAMPLER:

Wabash Erie Canal (Canal Junction Creamery) – Aged 4-6 months The main flavors of this raw Comte-style cheese are a delicate balance of brown butter and roasted nuts with a sweet finish; think Comte meets Gruyere. Wabash Erie Canal is an excellent cheese for tasting on its own. Its firm texture and mellow, yet complex flavor will appeal to most people, even those who sometimes hesitate to try an artisan, natural-rind cheese. Wabash Erie Canal is named after one of the two canals that intersected in the town of Junction, just north of the farm.

Charloe (Canal Junction Creamery) – Aged 2 months. Winner of Good Food Award – 2012, 2014, 2019; 2nd Place – American Cheese Society – 2017; Charloe is a beautiful washed rind cheese with an edible orange-hued rind. It has a smooth, creamy texture and an assertive taste. Charloe starts off with sweet cream and butter flavors and finishes with an essence of toasted peanut (no peanuts added) and semi-sweet chocolate. As it continues to age the flavors become more pronounced.

Chocolate Raspberry chevre ~ MacKenzie Creamery Blow your mind good goat cheese flavor

Ice Cream Flavor of the Week:

EGGNOG from Knueven Creamery. It’s Christmas in July!! 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:

GUATEMALA HUEHUETENANGO : Maddie & Bella Coffee Company ~ Try saying that one! Sugarcane, honey, chocolate, sweet orange citrus, red wine

Do Organic Farmers Spray?

Organic Pest Management Revealed!

If you signed up for our CSA because we were “certified organic,” you may be wondering, how do you keep those bugs off? What exactly are you doing different?

This article is designed to answer those questions. (Cuz I know you’re asking them).

The reality is that pest management is a necessity for every farmer. Why?…

Because no one likes finding flea beetles in their Napa cabbage or worms on their broccoli — (even gracious, accommodating CSA members).

Americans expect perfect produce.

Grocery store chains also have strict quality standards as a result. If our produce is scarred, misshapen, or marked with a few holes — it’s rejected. (I don’t blame them. They’re just delivering what their customer wants.)

This week, I want to peel back the layers and educate you about how organic pest management works for us as organic growers.

I’m also going to bust a common myth — namely that certified organic farmers don’t spray.

Because we do.

Is your mind blowing up right now? And before you freak out, keep reading because there is WAY more to this story. I’ll spell it all out by the end of this article….

To continue reading this entire article, click here.

FARMER KURT’S FIELD NOTES

I enjoyed some time off this weekend, did you? The harvest and production crew was given Monday off. (They harvested on Sunday instead for the CSA). And my packing crew came early in the morning on July 4th to make sure your boxes got packed. Corinna and I took the boys to the 4th of July family reunion to do some swimming in the pond and visit with cousins and aunts and uncles. I was actually able to stay there for 3 hours and truly be present.

In years past, it seems I’m always running around putting out fires and feeling stressed out. This year has been different so far. (I’m waiting for the other shoe to drop). I have taken steps to delegate more of the to-do list to my awesome crew. (Having a great crew has been a game-changer; we’ve also increased our org chart by several people this season). I also have a big white board in my barn office that maps out tasks for the day and the week. This helps my team see the overall plan and jump on a project if they finish their task early. Instead of the plan living in my head, everyone can see where we are going, and it helps them prioritize their decisions on my behalf.

This weekend was the great Garlic Harvest! A handful of you showed up to help out! I’m grateful. This process involves driving an undercutter bar with my tractor under the garlic beds to loosen the soil. Then the crew pulls the stalk from the ground one by one and taps off any residual dirt. These get put onto wagon. My crew will pull these back to the pack shed area to “process” them. They’ll need to dry out and cure for a few weeks in our greenhouse (although I’ll use some fresh garlic for your boxes too). Then we’ll need to clean them up — cut the stalks off and trim the roots… maybe tear off the outer dirty layers to make them shine bright white. If you’ve never had my garlic, you’re in for a treat. These are grown for their size and flavor. I can’t wait.

The Koepflers helped pull 3 beds of garlic at the Garlic Harvest Party!

This week, I set up PART 2 or my irrigation plan. I laid out main pipe to all the major sections. Friday I worked on setting headers for the tomatoes and all the drip tubes. We came back from our 4th of July party around 6:30 PM, and my boys helped me weed and install drip tape under all the peppers beds. We worked until 11 PM, and Jed and Josiah were rock stars! They didn’t complain, even though they had just come off a full day of swimming and being “on vacation.” They knew I needed to beat the 2 days of rain that were coming. (Trying to install drip tape in a muddy bed is a no-go).

Josiah lays the drip tape for the peppers.

Incidentally, I thought it would be interesting for you to know that we do pay our boys as employees of the farm. They each work about 8-10 hours a week for us, and we are teaching them the value of hard work and an earned pay check. Corinna and I are pretty passionate about making our kids work at this age. (Josiah is 11, and Jed is 14). They’ve always had farm chores, and now that they’re older they are being given more responsibility within the CSA operation itself. I know they wish they could spend their summers just having fun and relaxing, but I think it’s important for them to practice the skills of teamwork, responsibility, accountability, and some physical labor too.

Polo cleans up scallions. This crop is a time-consuming crop to prep. First there is harvest and bunching. Then it comes in to be washed. Sometimes we have to trim the tops and roots too.

It only rained an inch this week. We were able to dodge the bullet. A lot of farms around us weren’t so lucky. This truly has been a great year so far, weather-wise. I would rather have too little water than too much. I can always control my water usage with a well. It’s harder to compensate when I can’t turn it off. As a result of that one inch of rain, the zucchini (which had stalled) literally grew to size in 24 hours. So I set my crew on to harvesting them Wednesday morning. We have a beautiful crop, and you should see them here for a while. The cucumbers also look fantastic! I started harvesting from the trellis this week, too. And I am so unbelievably excited about how they look.

The garden beds around the house are pretty much done for a while now. Their job is to grow the early season stuff — salad, greens, herbs. I ripped out the plants in one high tunnel and we’ve planted cucumbers inside. Jose had the suggestion to hang string from the ceiling of the high tunnel and train a leader vine from each plant to crawl up. So we are going to try this vertical grow method out! (I love how my growers are taking initiative and sharing ideas with me! )The rest of the garden beds will soon be cleaned out and replaced with “cover crops” — which they sorely need. These beds have been over-taxed and could use a nice long refreshing rest.

Kurt talks with Victor and Sonia from Urban Wholistics/ Sonia’s Organics.

Our friend Sonia from Sonia Organics came to tour our farm this Friday. She brought one of our employees, Victor, along too. They loved seeing how our farm was laid out, the systems we had in place, our irrigation and growing practices, why we cover crop, the biodiversity all around…. They are in the early stages of building their own community-urban-garden project in Toledo. Their vision is to teach the kids in their neighborhoods about growing their own food and eating healthy. Their “main campus” acts as a nature-school where kids can show up every day and learn from Sonia and her team. Eventually they hope to buy up more abandoned lots through grant money to turn them into satellites of the main campus — a mushroom growing lot, an herb garden station, beehive, etc. Kids would get shuttled from station to station, depending on what they want to learn. We gave them a bunch of veggies and gooseberries to take back with them for the kids. I am so excited to grow this partnership and help them achieve their vision. We’ve been looking for something to help support for a long time that is bigger than us. This is it.

Thanks to Kate Lynn for this beautiful box photo from last week.

We have family this week! Uncle Torsten (Corinna’s brother) arrived. Corinna has been taking some time off to spend with him and the boys – taking walks, going on bike rides, flying RC airplanes, playing cards, Catan, and Escape Room games (Corinna loves these). Corinna’s dad arrived Thursday. We’ll be showing him our life this weekend, taking him to get ice cream, going swimming, lots of long talks… all the things you do with your Grandpa. He hasn’t visited our farm in 8 years. We are really looking forward to spending time with him.

~Your Farmer, Kurt

WEEK 5 ANNOUNCEMENTS

1. Our NEXT CONTEST is underway!! Play SLFarms Bingo with us this month!
   Contest runs through July 20, and you are encouraged to compete in our SLF Bingo Board competition. To play, download a copy of this PDF file of the Bingo Board. Fill in 20 of the 25 boxes over the next 3 weeks! Some of them are EASY (you may already have done them), and some are little more challenging. Post a picture of your Bingo board when you’re ready in our Facebook group with the hashtag #CSABingo2022. I’ll choose 3 random winners from this pool of submitted boards on July 21st, and you’ll receive a $50 gift package of flavored olive oils from the OliveScene.com.
2. Our final Farm Dinner of the year will take place on September 10th, catered by Cork and Knife Provisions under the watchful eye of Master Chef Joseph (formerly of Degage Restaurant). Tickets will be $75 each. More details will come in a couple weeks about how you can book your seat. But save the date now!
3. Watch our weekly Live Unboxing video this Tuesday around 8 PM inside the private Facebook group. Cadie Jardin, our CSA coach and dietitian, will show you what’s in the box, share storage tips and ideas for how to use your product. You can find the Facebook group at this link. If you aren’t on Facebook, we download the unboxing video into the digital Academy library (which you all get free access to). Reach out to me if you can’t figure out how to get into the Academy. (www.sharedlegacyfarms.com/academy) — note: you should NOT pay for a membership to the Academy. You get in for free with your membership!
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: , along with my brother Arik’s honey, local maple syrup, rye flour, and a few extra eggs from Jed/Josiah.

Amy Marah Beam shared this idea in the FB group: I made absolutely bonkers taco salads for dinner with our SLF lettuces, onion, garlic scape, and I even had some cilantro left from a couple weeks ago. Dinner salads like this and Buffalo chicken or Greek chicken salad help us plow through all the salad greens we get for the first few weeks of the CSA season.

WEEK 5 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!

Basil Vinaigrette

Oven Roasted Carrots and Kale 

Kohlrabi and Carrot Slaw 

Zucchini Kohlrabi Carrot Fritters with Herb Yogurt Sauce

Sautéed Kohlrabi, Onions and Basil

Kale and Cabbage Slaw with Walnuts 

One Pot Beef and Cabbage Stir Fry

Spiced Chickpeas with Wilted Kale and Roasted Carrots

Cucumber and Hakurei Turnip Salad

Carrot Zucchini Mini Muffins

Blueberry Raspberry Muffins

Lemon Blueberry Bars