What's in the box?

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 Mustard / Asian Greens bunch

celery

potatoes

broccoli

sweet and bell peppers

Delicata and Sweet Dumpling Winter Squash

Sage

Tomatoes

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Mustard / Asian Greens bunch

Potatoes

Delicata and Sweet Dumpling Squash

Cauliflower

Sage

Broccoli

Tomatoes

Sweet and Bell Peppers

Notes on the box.....

So the Mustard / Asian Greens bunch might be new and somewhat challenging for some of you.  My advice is to have a taste of each leaf raw, just a nibble, to see if you like the spicy and bitter flavor of the different greens.  If you like them raw, I suggest giving them a good rinse then chopping them up and dressing them with a sweet dressing such as a honey mustard.  If that seems too much for your taste buds to handle, they are nice added to Asian noodle soups or sautéed and served with a little toasted sesame oil.  They will store for about a week in an open plastic bag in your fridge. 

The Celery is best used more as an herb.  It's not like the long tender stuff from California, but it is very flavorful.  Chop it (leaves and all) and saute with peppers and onions for gumbo or any other type of savory soup.  It's also good in raw salads, but you have to chop it up or it is too tough to eat!  Good in stir fry as well, but cutting it into smallish pieces is key to dealing with it's toughness!  We think the flavor makes it worth it.  Let us know what you think! 

This is just the beginning of the Winter Squash.  Delicata is a favorite of ours.  It doesn't hold as long as other Winter Squash, but it can be enjoyed in many different ways and it's easy to prepare.  The skin is nice and thin and can be eaten.  We really like it prepared simply and eaten as "rainbows" as Otto says.  The skin of the Sweet Dumpling is also edible.  Store Winter Squash on your counter until you are ready to eat it.  It does not need to be refrigerated.  If you notice any soft spots forming, be sure to trim it off and eat the rest right away. 

Fresh Sage can be stored like other herbs with the stems in a small cup of water on your counter or in the fridge.  It has a very strong flavor that compliments roasted squash, potatoes, pork, and ground beef very nicely.  You can chop it up, fry it in a nice chunk of butter, and then serve it with gnocchi or squash ravioli for a very quick dinner. 

Recipes....

[yumprint-recipe id='21'] Quinoa Stuffed Sweet Dumpling Squash

Mushroom Soba and Miso Braised Mustard Greens

Baked Eggs in Whole Tomatoes

On the farm...

So many glorious bees on the sunflowers!

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Pumpkin time for the harvest party

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Otto and his buddy, Ira. He made a lot of new friends at the Harvest Party!

We had a really wonderful time at the Harvest Party.  Thanks so much to everyone that came out!  We were cut a little short because of the rain, but we couldn't complain too much since it was so badly needed.  People brought some wonderful food to share and the kids had a total blast and impressed us with how easily they took to the farm.  Not afraid of a little dirt or a huge stack of hay!  We hope everyone that came got a jack-o-lantern before they left and that you will come and visit again soon.  If you weren't able to make it out, please know that you are ALWAYS welcome at the farm.  Let us know when you want to come out and we can make sure to be here.  We love meeting the people who eat the veggies that we grow.  We love hearing what you think about the CSA and getting your input.  (By the way, thanks for the encouraging and positive responses to last weeks blog.  It means a lot to us!)  Next season we plan on having more farm events to get more people out.  There was just too much going on this year!! 

Cows grazing....

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And in the milking parlor

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What's in the box?

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heirloom and slicer tomatoes

cherry tomatoes

red and green peppers

broccoli

canteloupe

watermelon

green beans

oregano and savory herb bunches

Single Share

same as above minus the cherry tomatoes

Notes on the box...

We will start putting herbs in the box regularly at this point in the season since we know that some folks might not have been able to keep the herbs in the herb pots going.  Savory has an intense peppery flavor and is excellent for seasoning beans, poultry, fish, and ground pork.  It is the herb with the thin pointy leaves.  Fresh Oregano has a milder flavor than dried, so feel free to use liberally.  It's great in any Italian dish or in a greek salad.  It tastes great with tomatoes!  To keep your herbs fresh, put them in a small glass of water and keep them in your fridge or on your counter.  They will keep for quite some time in this way.   

Recipes...

[yumprint-recipe id='20']Broccoli with tahini sauce

Broccoli Parmesan Meatballs

On the farm...

We've had a couple sprinkles here since our last big rain around the 4th of July. That makes just over 2 months without any significant rain. Many of our fall crops we were put in the north field where they are out of reach of our irrigation. The reason we were forced to put these crops out of reach of our irrigation was because it was so WET earlier this year that we couldn't plow ground without causing some long term damage to the soil. So we made the next best decision, which is hurting quite a bit at the moment.  If only we could predict the future...

Broccoli will continue to come in, but the heads are small. Same for cauliflower. Hardly any of the thousands of row feet that we've planted of spinach has come up. Same for salad mix. Spinach needs cooler temps to germinate and as you may remember, we didn't have much for cooler temps in August or September.

All lists of aches and pains aside, It isn't uncommon for us to be apologizing for a less than desirable box at some point in the season. We've had a good run here for the last 4 weeks or so. But we are looking out to Halloween now and given the present state things are in, I can say that this isn't going to be the best fall we've ever had.  It might rank down there at the bottom. We had been really hopeful for a good Fall after the lousy Spring, but it may not shake out that way. 

Many members won't ever read this, and some will leave us because they feel like they've not gotten a 'good deal' on produce, or that we didn't give them what they expected. We understand this. But what those members are missing out on is that we as farmers are on a better farm, with better soil (as we improve it), closer to our members, closer to our fellow CSA farmers and peers. We will continue to get better at this thing called CSA. We may be having some unexpected problems, but one season is like the passing of one day in farming. What was done 2 months ago cannot be undone or changed, but it directly impacts here and now. I've said this before, but being a member is not a sprint it's a marathon. Have no doubt that we've put everything we've got into this. Literally. Because we trust that you all will be there. You have been so far....  First year on a new farm problems have been drastically enhanced by some severely weird weather.  We have talked to farmers who have been farming for 15 years and up to 30 years, folks from the DNR, and conservationists.  They have all agreed that this season has been the "weirdest" weather that they have ever seen.  Weird weather may be something that we as farmers have to get used to and adapt to.  It's not easy having every season be drastically different from the one before, but we are learning to be prepared for anything!  On that note...

The farm is looking a little yellow.  Lots of the green is beginning to give way to brown, but it's still very beautiful out here!  We hope that you can join us September 14th for our harvest party!  We will begin tours and having fun at 3 PM and have dinner a little later (around 5 or 6).  We will provide meat for the meal, please bring a side dish or dessert!   We will be listening to some music by our wonderful crew members and friends and having a bonfire!  You are welcome to camp on the farm, if you wish, or there’s a nice campground at Clear Lake just 6 miles from the farm.

To get to the farm from the Twin Cities- take 94 East to the Baldwin exit, go North on Hwy 63 until it turns into Hwy 46, go North on 46 and turn Right onto Cty Rd A, turn left onto 95th Street.  You can go through Stillwater if you don’t like to drive the interstate, but the traffic is often backed up on the weekend.  Our address is 260 95th Street, Clear Lake, WI.  You can search “Turnip Rock Farm” in google maps to find the quickest way to us!  

Please RSVP via email turniprock@gmail.com so that we know how many folks to expect!  We look forward to meeting you or seeing you again at our new farm! 

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oregano

What's in the box?

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watermelon

cantaloupe

bell peppers

tomatoes!

heirloom tomatoes

hot pepper

carrots

green beans

broccoli

sweet corn

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 same as above, except eggplant instead of broccoli

no hot pepper

cherry tomatoes

Notes on the box...

 If you got a cantaloupe that looks greenish and doesn't smell like a ripe, sweet melon place it on your counter for a few days to allow it to ripen more before eating.  We had some members report that their melons were over ripe last week and in an effort to avoid that from happening again, we picked them slightly under ripe this week.  Let us know if you have any problems with them. 

We planted two more successions of sweet corn, but one became "overdone" and was no longer sweet and tasty, so we regretfully had to let it go.  Total bummer as it was looking very beautiful... So this week there is less sweet corn in the boxes and it's the last of it for the season :( 

Remember: DO NOT keep your tomatoes in the fridge!  They will get mealy and the flavor will suffer.  Store them on your counter with the stem end down (on their shoulders) as they are seen in the pictures above.  Use the more ripe ones first.  If you find yourself with more tomatoes than you can eat in a week, you can put some in the fridge if you plan on cooking them.  You can also freeze whole tomatoes (core them first) for use in sauces and soups during the winter.  Their skins slip right off as they are heated.  They do take up quite a bit of freezer space, though! 

Recipes....

[yumprint-recipe id='17'] 

[yumprint-recipe id='18'][yumprint-recipe id='19']Martha Stewart's Tomato Recipe round-up

and her Green Bean Recipes

On the farm...

We hope that you can join us September 14th for our harvest party!  We will begin tours and having fun at 3 PM and have dinner in the barn a little later (around 5 or 6).  We will provide meat for the meal, please bring a side dish or dessert!  We will also enjoy some music by our wonderful crew members and friends!

Tour the new farm, see where your food comes from, share a meal, enjoy a bonfire later in the evening!  You are welcome to camp on the farm, if you wish, or there’s a nice campground at Clear Lake just 6 miles from the farm!

To get to the farm from the Twin Cities- take 94 East to the Baldwin exit, go North on Hwy 63 until it becomes Hwy 46. Go North on 46 and turn Right onto Cty Rd A, turn left onto 95th Street.  Our address is 260 95th Street, Clear Lake, WI.  You can go through Stillwater if you don’t like to drive the interstate, but the traffic is often backed up on the weekend.  You can search “Turnip Rock Farm” in google maps to find the quickest way to us!  

Please RSVP via email turniprock@gmail.com so that we know how many people to expect!  We look forward to meeting you or seeing you again at our new farm!

calves!