Final week of the main season!

What's in the box?

garlic
onions
peppers
hakuri (aka salad) turnips
carrots
brussels sprouts
dino(lacinato) kale
broccoli or cauliflower
yukon gold potatoes
diakon radish
cabbage (savoy for small, storage for medium and large)
winter squash (butternut for medium and large, acorn or sweet dumpling for small)
salad mix (medium and large)
vitamin green (large)

Notes on the box.

It's the last box of the main season!

Diakon radish will hold in your fridge for quite a long time. It is great to use in kimchi or shredded and added to salad.

We had to take the brussels sprouts off the stalks to fit them in your boxes. They are best roasted in your oven or on the stovetop. Bacon and brussel sprouts? YES.

Cheese Shares.

I ran out of the waxed paper that I usually wrap the cheese in and had to use plastic wrap.

The yellower cheese is a variation on an English style cheese. It is aged two and a half months and tastes like Summer to me. Great all purpose and snacking cheese.

The cheese with the quilt design tape on the wrapper is our gruyere type aged 6 months. It goes perfectly with roasted vegetables or melted into any kind of galette, grilled cheese sandwich, or to top off a chunk of bread on french onion soup.

Did you know that if you signed up for a Season Extension, you can get cheese and eggs added on to that? YES! So if you would like to add that, please let us know and we can add it to your account.

Recipes.

please check back!

On the farm.

We are wrapping things up and very grateful for the warmer weather to harvest and pack the last box of the main season. Sam had his last day with us last Friday and Ben and Dana will be heading off at the end of this week. Haley will stay on to help out with the season extension shares (last chance to sign up!). We can't say enough about how great the crew has been this season. Super strong, competent, resilient, thoughtful, and fun people picking and packing your produce this season. They also planted and tended to each seed, weeded the crops, helped with problem solving, and caring for animals on the farm. We cook and share lunch together and live in a family style setting all season long. It's a very challenging job and takes adjustment as a lifestyle. Farming certainly isn't for everyone, but we could confidently say that anyone on our crew this season is fully capable and would make a great farmer!

There is a survey in your email and we hope that you will take some time to fill it out and let us know how the season went for you, what you would improve upon, and any other thoughts you might have. This season we took out the section about quantities of each individual crop. It is so subjective and in the past we have had a quarter of respondents saying "too much", a quarter saying "not enough" and half saying "just the right amount" of any given crop. We will continue to try to grow the best quality possible and include usable quantities of vegetables each week. We DO need to hear about any quality concerns that you may have had so that we can improve. We did have a few instances of boxes toppling over in the back of the delivery van and crushing peoples tomatoes and possibly bruising other veggies. We are looking into tote style boxes for next season. We will have to find something affordable that works with our share sizes, but hopefully that will happen for next season. We also know that the melons were pretty spotty as to good and bad ones this year, and that some of the radishes in the spring were overgrown. Please do let us know of any other areas of improvement that we can work on!

Overall, I'd say this was a pretty good season. The spring was great with perfect weather. The Summer was okay with some sudden cold weather that threw us and some crops for a loop. Then the warm fall came with way too much rain during what is normally the driest part of the season, so that has been a little difficult. But we didn't have any major pest infestations, we are noticing the effects of the soil building and improvement that we have been working on, we are working out systems to gain efficiencies, and we are still and always learning and adapting.

We've been really pleased with the feedback that we've gotten on the cheese and happy to have the resturants and stores that we've brought it to be very receptive. Raw milk cheese from 100% grass fed cows is quite rare and we hope that the choices that we make in raising our animals and in the cheese making process are noted for how unique they are! Starting a new business and learning the ropes for marketing cheese has been full of learning and challenges, but we are loving it all and will continue to develop this side of our business in hopes of creating a balance and harmony on our farm between our lands fertility needs and our animals and our own work load.

We will be holding off on 2016 signups likely until January. Don't fear, though! Our previous members always get first dibs on shares and we will let you know as soon as we are taking sign-ups! If you are a returning member, you will ALWAYS get priority in signing up.

Also, we will be emailing you periodically to let you know about Winter farmer's markets that we will be attending with some storage crops and with cheese. We are planning on making some gift baskets for the holidays for pickup at the markets, so be on the lookout for that!

We are so grateful for your support and commitment this season. We would not be here without it! Thank you for your contribution to relocalizing the food system, supporting our small family farm, and for voting with your forks and dollars for an environmentally sustainable and just agriculture!

Week 18; October 15, 2015