Week 10; August 11, 2016

What's in the box? 

mint
new potatoes
tomatoes! and heirloom tomaotes
bell peppers
summer squash/ zuchinni
sweet onions
broccoli
sweet corn
braising mix/ baby kale
green top beets (large and medium)
watermelon
 

Notes on the box.

Please note:  veggies are hydro-cooled and rinsed, but we suggest doing a final wash at home before eating to remove any remaining dirt. 

Store potatoes and Tomatoes outside of the fridge.  Watermelon doesn't have to be stored in the fridge. Everything else can be stored in the fridge. 
This year, like last year, we had a disease in our watermelon (and cucumbers this season).  So unfortunately this looks like it will be all for watermelon.  We test the melons for readiness based on a few clues from the plant (checking tendrils to see if they have dried) but the disease affects the plants and so sometimes some of the melons that we thought to be ripe may not actually be.  It's a big disappointment to have another bad melon season this year.  We moved to a raised bed system after last season hoping that would help, but it didn't.  We will be looking into different varieties of melons and hopefully find one that is naturally more resistant to this disease and will do better in our soil for next season.  The good news is that the cantaloupe is looking nice! 
For beets, some folks got a variety called Cylendra that is a longer tapered beet.  We really like how easy it is to peel.  Other people got golden beets.  The beet greens are edible and can be used in place of chard or spinach in recipes.  Remove tops from beets and store in a plastic bag in your crisper.
Sweet corn should be stored in the husk in your fridge.  The sooner you eat it, the better!  The sugars start to turn to starch after it's picked, so eat soon for the best flavor. 
Sweet onions are not cured and should be kept in your fridge.  They are so nice and mild.  Perfect for potato salad, piled onto hamburgers or BLTs, or if you are Otto or Sadie, you can eat the whole thing like an apple! 
Store tomatoes with stem side facing down on your counter.  The flavor and texture changes if you store them in the fridge, so we suggest storing on your counter.  If you don't get to some of them and they start getting too ripe, I will usually put those tomatoes in the fridge and use them for cooking.  

Cosmic Wheel Creamery Cheese Shares.

With all the tomatoes this week, I had to try pulling fresh mozzarella for everyone.  Enjoy it ASAP.  We like it very simply sliced and eaten with sliced tomato with a drizzle of good olive oil and maybe some balsamic vinegar and salt.  Fresh basil is nice if you have it around.
The aged cheese this week is Deneb with is our Gouda style.  It is aged 9 months and has a natural rind (gouda is usually waxed).  We made the summer squash pizza from last weeks blog and used the Deneb in that recipe and it was quite good. 

Recipes.

Watermelon Mint Sorbet
Seed, cube, and freeze your watermelon.  When it is frozen, put it in your blender or food processor with the juice of 1-2 limes (you can add the zest, too) and a few sprigs of mint.  Blend, scoop, and serve!

Corn, Bacon, and Parmesan Pasta from Smitten Kitchen

Roasted Beet Hummus

On the Farm.

A HUGE THANK YOU to Haley's mom Diane! She has been working with us all week!  So generous and adventurous.  She's done an awesome job keeping up with the crew, even in the heat! We now know where Haley gets her strength, great attitude, and all around lovliness! 

Turnip Rock FarmerComment
Week 9; August 4, 2016

What's in the box? 

Sweet Corn! 
New Potatoes
Broccoli
Bell Peppers
Zucchini/ Summer Squash
Tomatoes!
head lettuce
carrots
sweet onions
 

Notes on the box.

Nice box of Summer favorites! 
Remove tops from carrots before storing.  These guys got pretty big.  Nice for cutting up and dipping into hummus or grating for salad or carrots cake.  Some shares got purple carrots, but we had pretty poor gemination on them, so there weren't enough for all. 
Sweet corn should be stored in the husk in your fridge.  The sooner you eat it, the better!  The sugars start to turn to starch after it's picked, so eat soon for the best flavor. 
Sweet onions are not cured and should be kept in your fridge.  They are so nice and mild.  Perfect for potato salad, piled onto hamburgers or BLTs, or if you are Otto or Sadie, you can eat the whole thing like an apple! 
Store tomatoes with stem side facing down on your counter.  The flavor and texture changes if you store them in the fridge, so we suggest storing on your counter.  If you don't get to some of them and they start getting too ripe, I will usually put those tomatoes in the fridge and use them for cooking. 
 

Cosmic Wheel Creamery Cheese Shares.

Fresh cheese curds!  Perfect snack for a hot day.  Or you can add them to salads or put some into a soup at the end as a nice cheesy garnish.  Or go classic and fry em up!  To get the squeak back, let them warm up. 
Moonglow is our alpine style cheese.  It's so beautiful and golden.  Nice for cooking, but also wonderful on its own. 

Recipes.

Liberty's Carrot Salad
fresh carrots grated (about a pound)
1 handful finely chopped parsley (or carrot tops)
1/2 sweet onion finely chopped
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/2 cup olive oil
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
2-3 pinches Red pepper flakes
salt and freshly ground pepper to taste Kosher or coarse sea salt

Herbed Pasta with Sauteed Summer Vegetables
Dice sweet onion, bell peppers, and summer squash or zucchini and sautee in butter until tender in an oven safe pan.  Once tender, top veggies with cheese of your choice (cheese curds, mozzarella, grated cheese) and put in broiler until cheese is melted and slightly browned.
While your veggies are cooking, make your pasta.  Put a handful of herbs of your choice (basil, parsley, oregano, mint) into food processor or blender with one clove garlic, some olive oil, lemon juice, and a little salt.  Puree.  Mix blended herbs into warm pasta.  Put veggies on top of the pasta. 

Tonight's dinner here at the farm. The Moonglow cheese is going to be really nice with it!   Summer Squash Pizza from Smitten Kitchen

Grilled Corn and Cheddar Quinoa Salad

 

On the Farm

Today is the first delivery of meat for our Eat Like a Farmer and meat share members.  Your Meat Share is in a large box with an insulated box liner.  Feel free to bring the whole box home, but please bring it back to your drop site next week so that we can pick it up and reuse it.  The box liners aren't cheap! 
Try to pick up your meat share ASAP after we drop it off and send the email to get it into the freezer.  Please email or call if you have any questions or issues. 
The chicken in the shares are a slower growing and more flavorful breed called Freedom Rangers or French Rangers.  They are great foragers and have much fewer health issues than the standard chicken which is called a Cornish Cross.  The freedom rangers don't have the giant breast and they grow quite a bit slower, but the flavor is quite a bit better.  I suggest roasting at least one of them as simply as possible with just some garlic, lemon, salt and pepper and butter or oil rubbed on the skin so that you can enjoy the flavor of this type of chicken.  We hope you enjoy the first meat delivery!  The next one will be pork in late October. 

Next weeks boxes will have more of the same sorts of summer goodness.  No lettuce or carrots next week, though.  But beets will be included and and maybe melons will be ripe!
 

Turnip Rock FarmerComment
Week 8; July 28, 2016

What's in the box? 

broccoli
red long onions
cucumber
lettuce
new potatoes
first of the tomatoes! (medium and large)
hakuri turnips
green bell peppers
summer squash/zucchini
carrots
garlic
 

Notes on the box.

Please note:  all veggies are hydro-cooled and rinsed, but we suggest doing a final wash at home before eating to remove any remaining dirt. 

We always look forward to the first BLT week!  Here it is!!  We are enjoying veggie sandwiches multiple times per week at this point in the season.  Piled high with cucumber, onion, lettuce, tomato, and peppers and some cheese!  Or fajitas with onion, peppers, and zucchini and summer squash and beans! 

Remove tops from carrots and turnips for longer storage. 
New potatoes and garlic are both not cured, so they won't store for as long as the ones you typically get from the store.  Try to use them within a week or two.  Store them out of the fridge.
The very first of the tomatoes are coming ripe!  Store them on your counter with the stem side facing down.  If you cut into one but don't use the whole thing, move it to the fridge. 
Red long onions should be stored in your fridge.  You can use them raw or cooked. 

Cosmic Wheel Creamery Cheese Share.

Quark flavored with Basil, Garlic, and Nasturtium flowers!  A little taste of summer for nice sandwich or wrap spread.  Or just spread right onto crackers. 
Vega is a nice snacking cheese.  It's a good melter, too.  I hope that you enjoy it.  It's one of my personal favorites! 

Recipes.

Broccoli Quinoa Salad with Butterilk Dressing from Bon Appetit

Zucchini Flan from NYT

Chocolate Zucchini Cake in case you are feeling too healthy

Grandma Sara's Summer Mush - I know this doesn't sound so great, but I don't know what else to call it and it tastes so yummy!  It's how my grandma used to cook squash from the garden at her home in South East Texas.  Slice summer squash and zucchini (more than you think you'll need because you will cook it down) and dice onions.  Put a nice sized knob of butter or bacon fat (or other fat) in a pan and add the onions.  Saute until translucent.  Add Squash/zukes and cook down, stirring, until they become a kind of mush.  Salt to taste.  You can fancy it up by adding some fresh thyme or other fresh herbs if you like.  Serve with biscuits or rice and hot sauce or red pepper.

On the farm.

Okay, we've had enough rain for a bit here.  The melons and tomatoes really don't like it!  It's supposed to get pretty warm again, but not as humid, which will be nice for those Summer crops that often get taken out quickly by foliar disease brought on by too much dampness.  Speaking of summer crops, looks like Sweet Corn will be coming next week! 

Hey!  Are you looking for something fun to do not too far from the city, but want to get out of town?  A to Z Produce and Bakery (AKA Pizza Farm) is in Stockholm, WI and is one of the very first places that began doing Pizza on the Farm.  Their pizza features wheat, veggies, and meat from their farm and Cosmic Wheel Creamery mozzarella from our farm!  We've had a farm crush on the A to Z farm for a long time.  This week I delivered their cheese myself when the delivery service didn't pick-up and was so glad I had an excuse to make the drive down there!  I was treated to some breakfast pizza, fresh peaches from a peach tree on their farm !!! and had some nice laughs with the farmers there.  I really recommend you visit.  Bring a picnic blanket, some plates, make a salad to bring to go with your pizza, and get ready to relax and enjoy a beautiful atmosphere and see an amazingly beautiful farm.  Check it out!  Tuesday evenings 4:30-8 PM though October. 

CSA members, we just need to tell you that we love you and appreciate you so much.  Thank you for letting us be your farmers!  This time of year is lovingly referred to as "the heart of darkness" by CSA farmers.  We are weeding like crazy, harvesting, planting, and sweating.  We often feel pretty run down and stressed out at this point, but we are so grateful to be able to do this work without the added stress of trying to find markets for produce that is already grown.  The CSA model is why we are here and why we are able to do this work that we love.  Thank you for letting us do this work!  This article by the New York Times has the local CSA farming community abuzz and feeling a lot of gratitude for those of you that stick with and understand and support the true meaning of CSA.  Take a moment to read it if you have the time! 

Turnip Rock FarmerComment