What's in the box?  

Carrots
Tomatoes
Cilantro
Radishes
Sweet Peppers and Bell Peppers (none hot)
Delicata Squash
Baby Kale - bagged
Arugula - Bunched
Onions

Notes on the box.

Tomatoes, Onions, and Delicata Squash should all be stored out of the fridge (though you can put tomatoes in the fridge if you plan on cooking them). 
The Delicata Squash has edible skin.  That makes it the perfect squash for making roasted half-moons.  Cut in half lengthwise, scoop out the seeds, then cut into half moons.  Toss with a little olive oil and salt.  You can add spices at this point, too.  Chili powder, berbere, parmesan and Italian seasoning, etc... Roast at 400 for 15 minutes, flip and cook for another 15-20 min.  
Everything else can go in the fridge.  Arugula is the bunched greens and can be chopped for fresh salad, made into a pesto, or chopped and added to hot pasta to wilt it before eating. It has quite a bit of holes from flea beatles (the bugs that destroyed our fall brassicas like broccoli), but don't worry, the holes don't taste like anything!  Remove greens from the radishes.  Radish Greens are edible if you can't get enough greens!    

Cosmic Wheel Creamery Cheese Shares.

This week we have two different batches of Circle of the Sun.  One was made in early Spring of this year and the other was made in early November of last year.  It's fun to taste them together to see the variation and how much the cheeses change based on how much hay vs. grass the cows are eating, the time of year, and how long it has aged.  

Recipes.

Warm Kale and Delicata Squash Salad
Roasted Squash Bowls with Arugula and Apples
Roasted Delicata Squash with Cilantro Chimichurri
Sheet Pan Roasted Red Pepper and Tomato Soup

On the Farm.

REMINDER:  Harvest Party and Land Stewardship Fundraiser on September 22!  We do hope you can make it out for delicious food, fun farm tours, and movies in the barn.  We will start at 4 PM and we do hope you can make it out!  

More rain.  After so many dry weeks we've really gotten quite a lot of rain in the last 2 weeks.  Almost 6 inches!  Thankfully not nearly as much as some of our farmer friends in Southern Wisconsin.  We've seen some photos of washed away top soil and drowned crops that are heartbreaking.  We hope everyone there gets a chance to dry off!  

Squash is harvested, and safe in the shed. Potatoes are dug and stored. Tomato trellis is pulled. And the weather has cooled down and the light is looking like fall. We still have a big carrot harvest and Brussel sprouts to look forward to and garlic to plant in Mid October. But this is the time that things begin to slow down a bit.

This transition back into fall crops is going to be a little awkward with so many brassica crops missing due to dry hot weather and more flea beatles than we have ever seen. But we have tried to fill in with some new crops, and we'll see how it goes. By no means will the box be empty. This season marks my 15th year managing a CSA. Every year is a new adventure.  

3 more weeks to go for the main season which ends September 27. 
We have chosen to roll out the last 4 season extension boxes right after the main season is up. Putting the last of the vegetable deliveries October 25. 

We are anticipating another meat share delivery, October 4, we will have pork and lamb! Just in time for a delicious fall roast.  We do have extra meat, so inquire for more details. 
 

Sadie and a giant pumpkin on a tractor!

Fencing rig

Sadie and Hannah washing greens

leopard frog friend in the greens

pigs enjoying some whey

Otto’s stick fort and some wild apples

going for a walk in the fall light

What's in the box?  

celery
beets
lettuce
onions
cucumbers
tomatoes
peppers (all sweet, no hot peppers)
spinach

Notes on the box.  

Everything except tomatoes and onions should be stored in the fridge.  The peppers are all bell peppers, sweet peppers.  The tiny ones are lunchbox peppers that we grew as a trial.  We are considering growing more for the boxes next season.  They are fun little snackers.  None of the peppers are hot.  
Spinach is back!  Nice and tender, you can chop it for salads or cook it down.  Yum!

Cosmic Wheel Creamery Cheese Shares.

Moonglow and cheese curds.  Enjoy!

Recipes.

Creamy Garlic Roasted Red Pepper Pasta

Italian Style Stuffed Peppers

Julia Childs Baked Cucumbers with all variations

Chocolate Beet Brownies

Pickled Beets 
If you can, you can make these, can them, and give them as gifts later.  If you don't can, refrigerator pickles are a great option!  
Prep beets- wash and cut off tops leaving about 3 inches of the stems on to prevent color bleeding.  Place beets in a pot and cover with water.  Boil for 20-40 minutes depending on size.  Remove from boiling water and run under cold water.  Skin should come off easily.  Cut beets into preferred shapes (slices, large dice, or wedges).  
Make pickling syrup by boiling 2 cups of vinegar (any combination of white and cider vinegar that you prefer.  You can also add a little balsamic.  Add optional spices.  Good options are whole mustard seeds, a few peppercorns, a clove or 2, garlic, etc.  
Pack beets into hot sterilized jars and pour in hot pickling syrup, leave 1/2 inch headroom.  Add 1 tsp salt per quart or 1/2 tsp per pint to the jars.  Put the lid on and allow to cool then refrigerate for a week before eating.  Or put them in a canner in a boiling water bath for 30 min.  

On the Farm. 

Join us for an event, here on Sept 22.  We’ll be showing some short documentaries in our barn, pot luck, hay rack rides, starts at 4.  This event will also be a fundraiser and membership drive for the Land Stewardship Project.  There's a suggested donation of $10 to see the documentaries.  The money will go to LSP and can be your membership fee to join LSP.  LSP has been one of the most supportive organizations for small scale family farms.   They are doing great work to protect our environment and keep our rural communities vibrant by encouraging more small scale diversified farms.  We hope you will join us!  

3.7 inches of rain here last week.  We needed all of it. Breaking the longest dry spell we’ve had all summer and in what seems like in two years. 

Cucumbers are done this week. Tomatoes are winding down. Peppers will go until frost. All the winter squash is ripe and we should have some in the box next week. Sadie and Otto are back in school.  Fall is coming quick!
Carrots are coming along with more spinach and baby kale mixes. Fall broccoli and cauliflower will not be on the menu this year due to a crop failure, flea beetles, mostly. This is a first for us, but apparently we were not alone.  Talking to some of the neighboring farms the same thing happened to them. Too hot and dry for too long for the tender plant starts.  I think we can make up for the loss in some other crops. 
4 more weeks of main season deliveries. If you have an Eat Like a Farmer (or vegetarian farmer) share you have season extension and that will be 4 more deliveries after the main season.

Meat!  We have a few extra meat packages this year.  All of our animals are vital to our farm’s fertility and eco system. They allow us to sequester carbon and capture value from waste.
Our pastured heritage breed hogs raised on locally grown barley, whey from the creamery, and "seconds quality" veggies.  Cuts include, bacon, chops, ground, brats, shoulder, ham, steaks, ribs, hocks. 
Half hog 65# 430$ 
Quarter hog- 30# 210$

100% grass fed Ground beef 30# 180$ 

Details are on the website or just send an email if you are interested. 

All meat is raised here and processed in a USDA inspected facility, in Siren WI. Everything will come frozen and delivered to your drop site. 

We are having a little technical difficulties with pictures today.  Hope to update later.  

Thanks!!

What's in the box?  

Sweet corn
Cucumbers
Romaine
Bell Peppers/ Sweet Peppers/ Biscane Peppers
Tomatoes
Watermelon
New potatoes
Dragon Tongue Beans
Cantaloupe

Notes on the box.

Last round of sweet corn!  Last of the melons!  The new item in the box this week is New Potatoes.  It may seem late for them, but we plant them quite a lot later than most farms to avoid Colorado Potato Beetles that can munch down entire plants in no time.  Keep them out of the fridge and out of the light until you want to eat them.  
Forgot to mention last week that the beautiful purple speckles on the Dragon Tongue Beans will fade when cooked.  They still taste great, but if you want to keep that beautiful color, try them raw in a salad.

Cosmic Wheel Creamery Cheese Shares.

Feta and Antares (our cows milk Manchego).  If you want to store your Feta for a while, you can unwrap it and put it in a container of brine- 2 tsp of salt in 2 cups of water.  The Antares is a pretty strong cheese that is really nice cubed or grated onto a salad or enjoyed as a snack.  

Recipes.

Corn Pudding recipe by CSA member Kris Chew - Kris brought this for lunch one day when she came out to do a workday on the farm.  Everyone ate it up and love it.  It was a big hit!

1/2 cup butter
1/3 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup milk
1 cup sour cream
1 box (8.5 oz) corn bread mix
1 teaspoon corn starch
2 cups corn

Cream together butter and sugar. Add eggs, milk and sour cream. Stir in corn bread mix and corn starch. Fold in corn. Grease 9x13 pan and bake at 325 degrees for 45-50 minutes until set and lightly browned.

Veggie Sauce for Pasta - Quick and Easy!
This is really wonderful with some shrimp in it (Rama's parents are visiting from Texas and always bring some yummy gulf shrimp with them) but it's also really great as a vegetarian meal.  If you can get your hands on some fresh pasta, you have a really fancy and delicious meal in no time. If serving with shrimp, sautée them in butter until cooked with a clove or 2 of crushed garlic and remove from pan while you cook the vegetables.  
Dice an onion and several bell peppers.  Sautee them in bacon grease, butter, or your preferred cooking oil until onions are translucent and peppers are getting tender.  Add 2 cloves of crushed garlic and stir in, then add several diced tomatoes and continue to cook until tomatoes release juices.  Season to taste with salt and crushed red pepper.  Get extra fancy by adding come fresh herbs like parsley or basil.  Spoon sauce onto cooked pasta and enjoy.  

On the farm.

Believe it or not we are quickly approaching the end of the growing season. We only have  5 more main season deliveries left!
This delivery we wanted to give you pure summer... Because next week should be a little different. We are close to the end of cucumbers, tail end of tomatoes, this is it for melons and sweet corn. Beans days are numbered. 
The fields are dry. We’ve been irrigating and to get fall crops established, but even with the effort we lost our fall broccoli and cauliflower due to flea beatles. But shouldn’t notice too many holes in the box. We have some nice crops of spinach, radishes, beets carrots, lots of pumpkins coming on. 

Sept 22 we are having a party!  More details to come soon, but put it on your calendar!  

Tree Frog Friend

Tomato Cucumber Salad in a Pepper Bowl by Otto

Melon Catch!