Week 15; October 2, 2014

What's in the box?  

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 pak choi

delicata and sweet dumpling winter squash

bagged spinach

head lettuce

broccoli

bell peppers

onion

green top carrots

cauliflower

Single Share

pak choi

delicata or sweet dumpling winter squash

bagged spinach

head lettuce

bell peppers

onions

carrots

cauliflower

arugula

Notes on the box...  

We've been enjoying spinach everyday this week.  It's so versatile, you can throw some in a soup at the very end of cooking, you can add it to lasagna, you can use it as a raw salad green, you can simply steam them down into a silky tender bunch of emerald goodness.  We hope you are enjoying it, too.  If you can't get through it in the week, you can steam it down freeze it in a freezer bag for later use.  

 Winter Squash can be stored on your counter until you are ready to use them.  The skins of both of these varieties are edible, but it is thinner, so the squash may not keep as long as other varieties.  Slicing and roasting these varieties together makes for a beautiful dish.  Recipes are below.  

Always remove the tops for your carrots when storing so they don't become soft and bendy.  Though, if you have soft, bendy carrots and tops, you can use them for soup stock.

Recipes...

Lots of roasted vegetable recipes links this week.  It's oven on weather!  

 Miso Harissa Delicata (and/or sweet dumpling) Squash with Carmelized Onions

Roasted Delicata (and/or Sweet Dumpling), Pomegranate, and Arugula Salad

Sriracha Cauliflower Bites with Peanut Dipping Sauce 

Spicy Roasted Pak Choi

A raw soup recipe for our vegan raw friends...  Our backyard mushroom logs are really popping, so we will be having a quick, cooked version of this soup with canned coconut milk.  Raw Coconut Pak Choi Spicy Soup

Italian Spinach Orzo Soup 

On the Farm...

Hey!  It's time to sign up for Winter Shares or, if you'd like to, sign up early for next season!  We put a flier in the box explaining why we really need you to go ahead and sign up for next season if you enjoyed this season.  This will be the online paragraph with the same information:  

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The last box of the regular season will be on October 23rd, just 3 weeks away.

If you are enjoying your Turnip Rock Summer CSA, we invite you to join us for 4 more weeks added on to the end of the growing season.

You can sign up for a Winter Share online that will deliver a full size box every Thursday at your usual pick up site from October 30- November 20th (the week before Thanksgiving).

The crops will be cold sweetend greens like lacinato and curly kale, collard greens, spinach, salad mix, brazing mixes, arugula, and head lettuce. Also storage crops like Butternut, Acorn and Pie Pumpkin, brussel sprouts, carrots, onions, beets, cabbage, and daikon radishes among other goodies.  

The cost of the Winter Share is $152 for 4 weeks and is a full size box. Many veggies store well into the winter with little extra care.  We have only 40 spots still open. So if you are interested, please sign up soon!  You can sign up by going to your account and adding the Winter Share, or you can simply email us (turniprock@gmail.com) and we will add it to your account for you.  

 Also, while you are there, we encourage you to reserve your spot for 2015 by going to your account and signing up for next season, with a minimum payment of 1/5th of your total. Egg shares sell out fast and the best way to get one is by signing up early.  We will not be expanding our CSA!

We need your support this fall as we are building an AMAZING cheese share option that no other CSA will have.  There will be very approachable farmstead, raw milk, aged cheese, and super fresh squeaky cheese curds made right here on our farm and going right in your box! We will keep you posted on progress, but we need an infusion of cash to complete our cheese making space to get it up and running in time for next Spring!  Your early sign up and signing up for a Winter share would help greatly!  Please contact us with any questions.  

MANY THANKS!  Your farmers, Josh, Rama and Turnip Rockers

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Signup
Signup

To add the Winter Share, go to your accountand press the Add Subscription button.  The Winter Share option should show up.  To sign up for 2015, you can go to your account, choose the season "2015" and then add a subscription.  If you have any trouble at all or any questions, please let us know!  There's often hiccups when we first put this out and we will try to fix any of them quickly!  

If you are splitting a share and want to sign up on your own next season, You can also follow this link to sign up for 2015.

As returning members can use the coupon code RETURNIP for a discount on your share, if you'd like to!    If you are a dropsite host, you will have a different discount code that will be emailed to you.  

Signing up early ensures that you will be charged this seasons price, if we find we need to raise the price of the shares.  Egg share options are first come first serve and we aren't expanding our flock!  Also, If you think you can handle the amount of veggies included and you easily went through your half share, please sign up for a full share! Thanks!

Picture time!

We took advantage of the last of the warm sunny weather that we saw in the forecast and enjoyed some puddle play in the packing shed.

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The weather cooled off at the beginning of the week and the leaves colors keep getting better and better.  The oaks are just starting to turn bronze.  Fall is so beautiful this season!  

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It was a cold, windy day and we found a cute garden gnome out in the field!

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We were shorthanded as a flu took down a couple of our employees.  We called in for reinforcements.  Thanks for helping out, MJ!  

Week 14; September 25, 2014

What's in the box?  

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spinach (loose leaf)

pie pumpkin

red onions

cabbage

arugula

radishes

cauliflower

oregano

salad mix

green top carrots

bell peppers

vitamin green

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loose leaf spinach

green top carrots

bell peppers

radishes

arugula

purple onions

oregano

salad mix

Notes on the box...

Lots of leafys this week!  Be sure to remove the greens from the radishes and the carrots before storing.  You can eat radish tops and add them to the vitamin greens, arugula, or spinach when cooking if you like. 

The cabbage this week is a storage variety and will keep in your fridge for a long long long time.  It's great for cooking, but also good for fresh eating and great for kimchi. 

Pie pumpkins shouldn't be stored in your fridge.  They will sit on your counter easily until Halloween if you like to get into the spirit of the season (it's fall!) or you can eat it!  Cut pumpkin in half, remove seeds and stringy stuff in the middle, place cut side down on a lightly oiled baking dish (or you can add about a 1/4 inch of water to the bottom of the pan, and roast at 400 until the pumpkin skin looks browned and slightly puffy and you can easily stick a fork into the pumpkin.  Remove from oven, allow pumpkin to cool, and scoop out the tender mash and use in recipes that call for canned pumpkin, or squish into a freezer bag for later use.  Or mix with a little butter and cinnamon and honey or maple syrup for a really nice sweet treat.  Alternately, you can remove seeds, remove the skin from the pumpkin with a vegetable peeler or knife, and cut it into cubes for use in soups, stews, or roast veggies mix. 

Recipes...

[yumprint-recipe id='53'][yumprint-recipe id='52']Flourless Pumpkin Pie Muffins

Smitten Kitchen Cauliflower Slaw

Quinoa Cauliflower Patties

Skillet Poached eggs in Spinach

On the farm...

How about those colors??  They are really changing out here and we are loving the cool air and all that fall brings.  The season is winding down and the vegetables are sweetening up beautifully. 

Yes!  We still have Winter Shares available!  They are really more of a fall extension share.  4 more weeks following the last CSA delivery of the normal season.  They will go until the week before Thanksgiving.  If you are unable to sign up, just email us to let us know that you would like to sign up and we can add the share to your account.

Thanks so much to everyone who came out for the harvest party!  We had a really great time and were having so much fun that we forgot to take pictures (until the double rainbow showed up!)  We were talking about how amazing it has been to see kids that we first met when they were just little ones that are now towering above at least Rama's head!  And how we've had members that have been with us since the beginning and who have become friends by meeting at farm events over the years.  We invite everyone to become attached to Turnip Rock and to think of the farm as your own.  It's so great to see familiar faces and to meet members that we've had for several seasons and to meet new members and your friends and family.  Just like you want to know where your food comes from, it's so rewarding for us to know where the veggies we grow are going and who is enjoying them!  We are happy to be your farmers!  We hope everyone enjoyed themselves and will be able to make it out to the farm again. If you weren't able to make it to the farm this season, please know that if you are ever in the area, you are welcome to come by!  Give us a heads up and we will gladly show you around and maybe even share a snack or some lunch.  

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Sadie sampling carrots
Sadie sampling carrots
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A big hug from the sky! A double rainbow right over the barn after the harvest party rainstorm!
A big hug from the sky! A double rainbow right over the barn after the harvest party rainstorm!
Turnip Rock Farmer Comment
Week 13; September 18, 2014

What's in the box?  

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bell peppers

sage

pak choi

vitamin green

green top carrots

leeks

green beans

green top beets

broccoli

tomatoes and green tomatoes

onions

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onions

sage

pak choi

vitamin green

bell peppers

broccoli

green top carrots

tomatoes and green tomatoes

Notes on the box...  

Pak Choi is the same as bok choi and is perfect for stir fry.  We had a wonderful stir fry of onions, peppers, broccoli stems, green beans, and pak choi with scrambled eggs and ginger.  It was really wonderful and fast!  The key to good pak choi is to cook it briefly so that the stems stay crunchy and the greens aren't mushy.  We don't usually grow pak choi or bok choi, but it's Rama's favorite vegetable and we decided you should try it if you haven't ever had it before!  Let us know what you think!  Is this a happy addition or too "out there" of a vegetable for your taste?  

Green tomatoes can be stored on your counter, shoulders down, until they turn ripe.  OR you can eat them green!  Fried green tomatoes, anyone?  A favorite end of Summer treat!

Recipes...  

[yumprint-recipe id='50'][yumprint-recipe id='51']Sweet Green Tomato Hand Pies

Fried Green Tomato with Bacon Grilled Cheese Sandwich

Green Tomato and Chipotle Mac and Cheese (make it extra yummy by adding some fried sage!)

Oven Friend Green Tomaotes

Roasted Green Beans with Creamy Dipping Sauce

Thai Style Steamed Fish with Pak Choi

Chicken Sausage Patties with Apple and Sage 

On the farm...

Reminder:  Harvest Party will be September 20th.  Come between 3 or 4 to look around the farm, climb on tractors, visit animals, and have a ride in the farm gator or go kart!  Dinner will be around 6 and we will provide burgers.  We ask that you bring a side to share.  Feel free to BYOB.  After dinner there will be a bonfire.  You are welcome to camp at the farm or check out some of the local campgrounds in Amery or Clear Lake.  RSVP to let us know if you plan on coming out!

And this event is happening the day before the harvest party:

AN EVENING OF MUSIC

with Chris Koza and Rogue Valley

$7

September 19, 7pm at Hungry Turtle Farm

410 125th Street | Amery, WI 54001

Known as one of the Twin Cities most dynamic live acts, Rogue Valley and lead singer/songwriter Chris Koza are an internationally-recognized band who perform regularly at top Twin Cities’ venues, festivals, and have extensively toured the US sharing stages with artists such as Lucinda Williams, The Jayhawks, and Nellie McKay among others. Their songs have been featured in television and film, most recently in Twentieth Century Fox’s The Secret Life of Walter Mitty.

Tickets Here!

Beautiful weather for harvest!  

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 A nice farm lunch with the recipes from last week

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 A visit from the local Future Farmers of America.  

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 This weekend was the Amery Fall Fest.  Our little town's fair and celebration.  We didn't get to enter the pie contest (but congrats to our good friends at Sleepy Root Farm who placed!)  We had some great ideas for a float for the parade next season, and we just might be joining the Amery Clown Club!  The biggest excitement for all of us was the preview opening of Farm Table Resturant that is going to be sourcing from the Hungry Turtle Co-op Farms and other local farmers.  We were able to enjoy a superb burger from Bull Brook Keep's beef on a brioche bun with home made heirloom tomato catsup.  The best burger we've had in a long time out here in rural Wisconsin!  We will let you know when the farm table will be open for regular business.   In the mean time, there are tickets for sale to a special Grand Opening Dinner.  It's gonna be a good one!  

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We still have Winter Shares available.  They are really more of a fall extension share.  4 more weeks following the last CSA delivery of the normal season.  They will go until the week before Thanksgiving.  If you are unable TO SIGN UP online, just email us to let us know that you would like to sign up and we can add the share to your account. 

Turnip Rock Farmer Comments