Week 7 CSA Newsletter (July 20-27, 2021)
CSA Newsletter Week 7
July 20-27, 2021 | “A” Week
The garlic is laid out in crates to cure for 10 days.
What’s in the Box this Week?
GOLDEN BEETS — These came from a pretty weedy bed, so the tops of the beets may not be so petty. Remove the tops from the roots as soon as you get home and store them separately in a green bag. Use them within a few days. Or add them into green cubes or make pesto! Store the roots in a plastic bag and leave in your fridge, where they will last for several weeks (maybe even a couple months). Just wash them and roast, boil, grill or eat raw.
SUMMER SQUASH (3) ~ You’ll receive a combination of green zucchini and yellow squashes. Try to eat these within 5-7 days, as their shelf life isn’t the greatest. Store them in a Debbie Meyer green bag in the fridge. Try using them in a cucumber salad in place of cucumbers, or making zucchini boats.
SWEET YELLOW ONIONS (1 bunch) ~ These will come with green tops. You can trim the green tops and use them to garnish tacos or salads or meat dishes. (You can also chop them up and freeze them for later use!) Store in your fridge in a plastic bag, and try to use them within 2 weeks. Simply chop or slice the bulb. You can freeze onions by throwing them in a Ziplock bag and freezing them raw.
Danielle Kuhl and her cocktails… have you been trying them?
CABBAGE – This has a long shelf life. Store it in a plastic shopping bag in the back of your fridge and use it within 5-6 weeks. Remove the outside leaves if they are soft. Cut out the inner core. Then try shredding it for a slaw; grilling cabbage steaks, chopping and sauteeing in some butter with garlic.
HEAD LETTUCE — Store these in a large Green Bag in your fridge and use within 5 days. Wash just before using.
CUT LETTUCE — More lettuce! Store your greens in a Green Bag in your fridge and use within 5 days. I wait to wash my lettuce until just before use. It seems to help it last longer.
CARROTS (maybe) — We’re going to try really hard to get these carrots out of our muddy weedy beds this week, but this is a “maybe” for the box this week. These may come without tops – depends on how hard they are to harvest. If so, just store the roots in a plastic bag and use within 4 weeks. If they come with the tops, cut the tops off before storing the roots. Use the tops for pesto, or dry them as an herb. Don’t feel guilty if you end up composting them. (I do this about half the time! LOL).
JALAPENO (maybe)– The peppers are just starting to form. We’ll see if we can get enough of these hot peppers to fill the CSA order. If you get a jalapeno, it will be just one… but that’s all you need to add a little pep to one meal this week. Use it in a salsa, as a topping for fish or steak, for pickling, or roasted. Store it unwashed in a plastic bag and use it within 7-10 days. To prepare, cut off the stem. Then chop or slice as needed for recipe. If you want to cut the heat, remove the ribs and seeds inside with a knife. (Wear some gloves if you are sensitive to the acid in the pepper). Then just chop the green pepper flesh.
Trish Jambor made a cherry rhubarb tart last week with her fruit share.
THIS WEEK’S ADD-ON SHARES:
It’s “A” week (for all our bi-weekly shares)
Fruit: Japanese plums from Eshleman Orchard in Clyde, Peaches from Quarry Hill Orchard, and blackberries from Burnham Orchard.
Maddie & Bella’s Coffee: Guatemala Huehue Tenango – sweet cocoa, walnut, stone fruit
Knueven Ice Cream Share Flavor: Blackberry Swirl
Bread Share Week 1 (ELMORE ONLY): Walnut Sourdough
Cheese Share: mBossie Cheddar, Black Swamp (Canal Junction Cheese), Gouda hard cheese (Turkeyfoot Creek)
Zac plays catcher during cabbage harvest.
When and Why Do CSA Farmers “Buy In” Vegetables for Your Share?
The last few weeks you may have noticed in the “What’s In Your Box” list, that some of our produce has come from other farms. These are called “buy-ins,” and we have a line item in our farm budget every year for them. This week I thought I’d talk to you about the role of “buy-ins” for many CSA farms, and why we follow this practice occasionally.
First, let’s start with a definition.
A buy-in is an item that we purchase from another farm/producer to fill a gap in our production.
It may seem against the whole concept of CSA that your CSA farmer buys vegetables from another farmer. After all, doesn’t a CSA membership mean that you ‘stand in the gap’ for your farmer and you’re willing to take the hit if he can’t produce enough product? You might think: “Won’t my farmer lose money because they have to pay someone else to provide my veggies?! And shouldn’t everything in my CSA come from my farmer’s fields?… Am I supporting my farmer if he’s buying in his products from other people?”
The Lenahans pose with their CSA box. SO CUTE!
We had all these same questions when we first started our CSA 14 years ago. And yet we found ourselves in a predicament every season. There always seemed to be gaps in our production, no matter what we did. We would lose a few crops every year to disease, weather, or sometimes farmer error. We wanted our customers to experience the value that we promised them. And we felt strongly that our customers should not pay for our mistakes. The “I’ve got your back” clause in the CSA agreement applies more to those “acts of God” that cannot be foreseen, and should be the exception, not the norm.
So we filled in the gaps when we could afford it with outside produce, but it always felt “weird” for us.
A rainbow leads to a pot of gold — which is apparently located in our back broccoli field?… LOL
As we’ve gained more experience, and learned from other CSA farmers, we have changed our perspective on buy-in’s. We now believe that buy-in’s should be a part of a CSA farmer’s production plan. And here’s why…
First of all, no farmer can realistically produce every crop. Some crops just don’t grow well in our soil or climate. For example, we will NEVER grow pecans or avocados in our region. Sweet potatoes and bok choy — they always seem to get hit with flea beetles or dry out before rooting. For some farmers, carrots are nearly impossible. If the soil is too packed, then carrots grow stunted. Not to mention, they get loaded with weeds. If you don’t have the bandwidth to weed your carrots regularly, you may just opt not to grow them.
Disease or pests can be an issue. We used to grow our own potatoes. But once the potato beetle arrived, we struggled in consecutive years to keep the pest at bay. We eventually gave up and opted instead to delegate that crop to a farmer in our co-op who had more experience and mastery with it.
If you don’t have the equipment to help you harvest or seed efficiently, it may be more cost effective to delegate a crop to another farm to grow.
Not having the right equipment can also be a reason behind buy-ins. For example, we don’t plant a lot of our own green beans, because we do not have a mechanical harvester. Picking green beans for 400 people would take all day. It’s more labor efficient to buy in those kind of crops a few times from someone who has the ability to harvest with a machine.
We’ve learned we have to make some compromises with the 100% “from your farmer” vision. We pick our battles and choose the crops that are easy to grow, that do well in our soil, and that fit our season.
Mother Nature always has a different plan for how the season will go than what we had envisioned. Whether it’s a long spout of rain or a sudden outbreak of powdery mildew or a sudden windstorm that breaks the tomato stems, weather events will have an effect on our yields. Although we plant about 20-30% more than required to “plan for” these crop failures, there can be times where the whole crop is still affected.
Harley has been sitting in the mud puddles. She got a bath on Friday.
We now realize that “failed crops” are the rule, not the exception.
Rather than expect you to pay for these expected failures, we now build this projection into the cost of our CSA. We don’t try to be super-human. And as we put our budget together in December for the next growing year, we plan on specific crops being bought in. From experience, we know that we’ll lose 5-10 crops per year that we had planned to put into the box. So we set aside enough money to be able to buy in that many times to replace it. Sometimes we use it all. Sometimes we don’t. Either way, we are prepared.
Cabbage transplants. Because cabbage does well in our fields, we are in charge of growing enough for both farms in our co-op.
As a seasoned farmer, Kurt now has strong networks and relationships with other strong organic growers that we can lean into as well. For example, we are a member of an organic CSA cooperative called “Great River Organics.” There are only 3 farms who make up this co-op. We created the co-op to expand our reach and influence as a wholesale provider, but also to provide us with a backup system in case our crops failed for the CSA. In a way, by partnering with other local farms, we can be a safety net for YOU collectively. We grow crops based on our strengths, and rely on each other to fill in the gaps.
I hope you can feel a bit more comfortable with the knowledge that your farmers do buy in products for your share from time to time. These items almost always come from our 2 partner farms in the organic co-op, and we will always tell you if we source them from elsewhere. We are proud to support our friends and local growers — who work hard to bring food to your table. This practice provides you with some insurance on your investment, and gives us a more sustainable lifestyle as a farm.
We bought a new upright freezer to restock our freezer meat.
FARMER KURT’S FIELD NOTES
Well howdy, everyone!! It’s your crazy Farmer Kurt coming at ya! Keeping it real! Uncle Torsten (Corinna’s brother) has been visiting all week. If you came to the farm, you may have noticed his tell-tale “Scamp” camper parked in the yard. The boys have been playing games and flying RC airplanes with their uncle. They also get to sleep in his camper every night.
We are in garlic processing mode! The rains this week meant we were doing a lot of “inside work” when we weren’t harvesting for the CSA boxes. I had a giant wagon full of freshly pulled garlic that my crew “processed” over a couple afternoons. They cut the top leaves off and prepped them so they could be laid in the “curing area” to dry out for the next 10 days. During this time, the garlic skin will become papery thin and dry out. The bulbs are huge this year — and there’s a lot. Looks like you’ll get it several times this season. I had hoped to give you some garlic this week, but I really should wait until it’s fully cured.
This entire wagon was once full of garlic. The crew is getting it ready to cure.
We’ve been hit hard by the rains this week. The fields are a muddy mess with lots of standing water. And the weeds are getting pretty bad in some places. I’m not gonna lie… we’re looking at some crop losses because of disease and weed pressure due to the rain. Luckily, it looks like next week is a dry week in the mid-80’s. The first priority when we dry out will be to handle weed pressure. Everything except the tomatoes is being threatened by weeds. Some of the crops are more desperate than others. I’ll have to make an assessment to see which of the crops should stay, and which will be a loss. As of right now, the peppers are at the top of the list to be weeded. They are right on the cusp, and I really don’t want them getting out of control. The Genovese basil is pretty over-run, and that may be a crop that we sacrifice this year. It’s so hard — I just don’t have enough man-power to get ahead of the game, and even if I did, I’m not sure that’s the wisest investment of my resources. Sometimes it’s easier to disk it under and start over with something else that can add value later.
Just be patient with us the next two weeks as we put some plans in place to pivot. This is the reason we have our CSA cooperative, Great River Organics. We can spread the risk out among our three farms and help each other out. And we’ll be trying to do damage control. We are right in the transition before “summer crop” season — corn, peppers, tomatoes.
Jed and Josiah are wearing cabbage leaf hats during harvest.
We had an abundance of cabbage ready to go this week. I took the crew out and pre-harvested for this week’s CSA box, as well as for a wholesale order I’d planned for. To harvest cabbage, we form a catching assembly line. One person harvests with a knife and throw it to the middle-man. That person throws the cabbage to someone on the trailer, who puts it in the storage bin. The boys were a part of this process, and got a little goofy wearing their “cabbage patch” hats.
Glen worked on the Hefty G tractor — this is a tractor we bought this winter to “fix up” so we could use it for weeding and cultivation this fall. (I need multiple tractors so I can get twice as much tractor work done at once). This project has turned into a beast, because I’m having trouble sourcing parts. So we’ve been fabricating and machining a lot of the parts ourselves. I spent half of Friday driving around Toledo trying to find the last parts I need. Still missing one last piece…
Three cheers for the Perrysburg site crew! I appreciate being able to just “show up” and let them take it from there! I have a great team!
I did another last minute seed order for fall crops. This should be my last time. My hope is to have plenty of root crops in the ground so that we can provide food for you for our “fall” Thanksgiving share and beyond.
I really need to tie the tomatoes ASAP. They look so beautiful, but they are growing so fast. I can’t get out into the beds because they are too muddy. I’m crossing my fingers that the storms this weekend don’t break the stems before I get to tie them.
The sweet corn harvester is out of the barn. My dad and Glen will be working this week to make sure it is in working order. The first picking will likely be Friday or Saturday next weekend, and that first batch will be exclusively for my parents roadside stand. I’m guessing that we’ll get our first corn for the box on week 9.
Corinna took the first of the pickling cukes off the field to make a batch of dill pickles.
Where are the cukes? I did have 3 strong beds of cucumbers planned for this year, but many of them had their stems broken by the high winds shortly after we transplanted them. I already pulled a bunch of them out and direct seeded replacements, but they didn’t all germinate as planned. I’ll need to assess how they’re doing under all the weeds this week.
I’ll be disking up the broccoli beds next week. They are done. Green beans are looking good, just weedy. I’ve got LOADS of onions in the pipeline. Eggplant is crushing it. Peppers are loading up — just need weeding. Tomatoes are gorgeous. Hoping to give you some green tomatoes this year too. The celery looks good. More kohlrabi coming. Winter squash plants are thriving. Beets are strong — I may just have to remove the tops.
It’s easy to focus on the things going wrong, and forget that we plan for this kind of thing. One of the reasons we are a part of Great River Organics cooperative is so that we have this resilience, and can count on each other to help make up the gaps in production.
Our thanks to Kendra Davis for stepping in last minute to do this week’s recipes! Cadie needed a personal day at the last minute, and Kendra was excited to do it. (I think she did a bang-out job, don’t you?) It really speaks to the community we’ve built here, that we can tap into so much talent! We also want to mention how AWESOME it was to read all your answers in this past week’s Giveaway Challenge. Every day, I enjoyed reading your testimonials and hearing how much our CSA has impacted your life. I think that was the most affirming challenge we’ve ever done!
Finally, we bought a chest freezer last weekend! Woo hoo! Saturday, we plan to take Torsten back to “Flite Fest” in southern Ohio to fly some airplanes again. Jed and Josiah want to show him their tribe. Thanks for standing behind us during these wet weeks. We’ll bounce back here once we can get those weeds under control.
~Your Farmer, Kurt
Last call for the July Salmon promotion this week!
WEEK 7 ANNOUNCEMENTS
- There are still a few tickets left for the July 24th Farm Dinner. Price is $100 per ticket. To reserve your spot, you must email Corinna at sharedlegacyfarms@gmail.com and let her know what date and how many people are coming. She will then mail you instructions for payment. The August 6th dinner is now closed.
- It’s time to make your pre-order for Wild Alaskan Salmon. This is the last week I’ll be promoting the July Salmon run. Aaron from CitizenSalmonAlaska.com will be shipping freshly harvested salmon all week. Remember, you can get the best deal when you place a large order, since shipping is built into the price you see online. Feel free to organize a group neighborhood or family/friends order, and have it ship to your house. It will arrive frozen via FedEx. Be sure to use our CSA’s unique coupon code to get 5% off your entire order. Look in your email or the facebook group to see the coupon code.
- Want to volunteer for a couple hours, packing the CSA bin? If you’d like to help out one time during a CSA Pack night (Mondays and Wednesdays from 4-8 PM), please email me at sharedlegacyfarms@gmail.com. We require our volunteers to be vaccinated if you want to be mask-less. Otherwise masks must be worn while working.
- You can order additional items from the Shared Legacy Farms online store. Golden beets, sweet yellow onions, arrowhead cabbage, red long tropea onions, Tuscan basil, curly kale, dinosaur kale, red beets (no tops), red radishes, rye flour, maple syrup, and honey. Our store link is super easy to remember: www.sharedlegacyfarms.com/store. We reload and open the store inventory on Saturdays, around 6 PM. 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, because we harvest the product early on Monday and Wednesday mornings.
These wraps look delicious!
WEEK 7 CSA RECIPES
Members: You can download these recipes as a PDF here. This week’s recipes were compiled by CSA member, Kendra Davis, who is stepping in for our CSA Coach this week (who needed a personal day). THANK YOU, KENDRA! 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!
ZUCCHINI AND TOMATO RAGU
CHOCOLATE ZUCCHINI BREAD
BEET, GOAT CHEESE AND HONEY TARTS
ROSEMARY ROASTED BEETS AND CARROTS
SLOW ROASTED ONION DIP
CAROLINA SLAW
HUNGARIAN CABBAGE AND NOODLES
ONION VINAIGRETTE SALAD
APPLE CIDER VINEGAR DRESSING
PEACH SALSA
PLUM BRIOCHE PUDDING
PEACH BLACKBERRY CRISP
GOLDEN BEET, ORANGE, MEZCAL, AND JALAPEÑO BEETA-RITA
COLD BREW PLUM ICE TEA
Fancy meals doing down in our Facebook group!
The Formula for the Sheet Pan Meal
I love easy meal prep.
And in the heat of the growing season, fast and easy is even more important.
I can’t tell you the number of days when 6 PM rolls around, and I have no plan.
“Looks like it’s scrambled eggs again for dinner, boys!”
Does this happen to you too?
A few years ago, during my giant research project of my CSA Master members, I discovered that many of them were doing something called “Sheet Pan Meals.”
“Google it,” said Shannon Hammond, one of my long-time veterans. Needless to say, I did, and what I found was an incredibly easy way to get a full meal on the table in under 40 minutes.
Sheet pan meals are just that — meals cooked entirely in a sheet pan in the oven, set at 400 F. And they’ve kind of changed my world. So much so, that I’m making sure everyone in my CSA hears about them.
Check out my Video demo of the Sheet Pan Meal below:
There’s a formula to creating a sheet pan meal, which I’m going to share below. Five key steps. Super easy.
Step 1: PREPARE THE PAN.
Choose a rimmed baking sheet pan and line it with foil or parchment paper. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. If you want the food to be crispy, place the empty sheet pan in the oven to pre-heat. For the same reason, avoid non-stick pans. That crusty color that comes from roasted veggies is the whole point!
Also be sure you get the right kind of sheet pan. You need something with a rim that keeps the juices from dripping out. There are all kinds of sizes. If you have a big family, you can use multiple pans to fit all the food.
(I like to make double portions and then have leftovers)
Line the pan with foil or parchment paper. This makes for easy clean up.
Step 2: CHOOSE YOUR VEGETABLES.
Choose hearty vegetables that can stand up to high heat. Pick veggies that are in season. You’ll want to make sure that your veggies are cut evenly so that they cook at the same pace. Also keep in mind that some vegetables take longer to roast than others. Things like potatoes and carrots for instance need a good 30-40 minutes. Softer veggies like mushrooms will need far less time.
If you’re cooking a more tender vegetable, simply add it to the dish later on in the cooking process.
Hearty Vegetable Options: potatoes, sweet potatoes, onions, zucchini, summer squash, beets, carrots, cabbage, kale, Brussels sprouts, bell peppers, broccoli and fresh green beans.
Other Veggie Options: More tender vegetables like cherry tomatoes, eggplant, mushrooms and asparagus, can also be used, but just be sure to add them later in the process so they don’t overcook.
Step 3: CHOOSE YOUR PROTEIN.
Add your meat to the pan. You may want to separate the meat to one side of the pan or on a separate piece of foil to keep the juices from running together. Pay attention to the size of the meat cut, so that it can cook in the 40 minute time frame. Fish will obviously need far less time to bake, so add that in later.
Be sure not to overcrowd the pan, or you’ll steam the food instead of roast it. If you have too much food, simply divide it between two pans, instead of one.
Good Protein Options: boneless chicken breasts or thighs, chicken drumsticks, pork chops, smaller cuts of beef, salmon or other fish, shrimp, and kielbasa/sausage.
Step 4: CHOOSE YOUR SEASONINGS. Use spices, oil, or glaze.
Ideally, season everything before it goes onto the sheet pan. Use kosher salt and freshly ground pepper as a basic start. I like to drizzle with olive oil or other glaze and toss in a large bowl before arranging it on the sheet pan. But if you’re in a rush, you can just do it right on the sheet pan.
Be creative with the flavors! Here are some seasoning options. If you use a glaze, be sure to brush the glaze on again near the very end of cooking time.
Seasoning options: extra virgin olive oil, thyme, oregano, basil, balsamic vinegar, lemon juice, maple syrup, Cajun seasoning, Dijon mustard sauce, barbecue sauce, teriyaki sauce, garlic, ginger, cumin, hoisin, soy sauce, chili powder.
Radishes on toast. Radishes are also good in a sheet pan meal.
Step 5: BAKE at 375-400°F FOR 35-45 MINUTES.
Temperatures range from 375-400°F for sheet pan meals. Depending on the vegetables and protein you’ve chosen, it may take anywhere from 35-45 minutes to cook thoroughly. Remember if you’ve chosen something you know will overcook in that period, you want to add it in later on in the cooking time. Check the protein and heartier veggies at 35-40 minutes to see if they are done. And be sure to flip or stir the food at least once during cooking.
Remember that not everything needs to be cooked in the sheet pan. You could for example cook the meat and veggies for fajitas on the sheet pan, but cook up a quick batch of rice or tortillas to supplement the meal.
Sheet pan meals are a great “vegetable exit strategy.” Just about every veggie can be roasted, so if you find yourself with leftover produce that needs to go, consider the sheet pan meal.
I’m pretty sure you’ll love it.