The People Behind the Farm: Cosmo

OK I realize that Cosmo is a dog, not a person, but he's definately a personality around Lida Farm and one who certainly has a role to play.

Cosmo's been with us now six years and knows his place in the operation. He makes an effort to greet most everybody who stops by the farmstand (whether they like dogs or not...I'm still waiting for him to scratch up somebody's car, since he's that friendly). Probably his most important job, however, is fighting rodents and other predators who would do the plants or animals harm. I think he survives mainly on a diet of voles, moles, and gophers in the summer. Also he keeps the airspace clear of any roving birds who may want to eat a chicken and guards the sweet corn from the racoons (although he's not perfect since parts of the sweet corn patch have obviously been ransacked by those thieves of the night). He's also good company too!

My big observation of the week is that farming moves really fast sometimes as evidenced by our losing 33 broilers this week in a matter of hours. On one of our recent scorching days, Maree went down to fill up their water and feeders only to find a bunch of chickens all laying on the ground, some literally belly up, with their tongues hanging out. Some were already dead and we tried for a couple hours to shoot water into those who were hanging on, although we lost some of them too. It was not a good day! And this all happened in the 4 hours we had last watered them. We have lots of insight about where we went wrong, but it just goes to show that you always need to stay on your toes. Reflecting on it, I think we often view farms as idyllic places where ma and pa just plod along doing their chores and not much ever happns, but, in reality, you'd be surprised at the pace...things can move just as fast here as the New York stock exchange.

In the box:

Bodacious Yellow Sweetcorn (maybe some white corn mixed in).

Yukon Gold Potatoes

Green Onions aka Scallions

A small head Romaine (summer lettuce isn't ever pretty).

Yellow Sun Carrots

Some Tomatoes (the dark purple one is called Cherokee Purple...great flavored, so eat fresh, not cooked).

A couple Cucumbers

Quinoa and Fresh Corn with Scallions

From "Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone"

3 ears of corn

2 cups vegetable stock or water

1 cup quinoa, rinsed

Salt and Pepper

1 T. butter or canola oil

1/2 cup thinly sliced scallions, including some greens

1/3 cup crumbled feta or grated cheddar

Shuck the corn, slice off the kernels, and set them aside. Reverse your knife and scrape the cobs to get the milk. Bring the stock to a boil in a saucepan; add the quinoa, corn scrapings, and 1/2 t. salt. Lower the heat, cover and simmer for 15 minutes. Turn off the heat and let stand for 5 minutes. Melt the butter in a small skillet, add the scallions and corn kernels, and cook over med-high heat until scallions are bright green, about 3 minutes. Toss them with the quinoa. Season with pepper and serve, garnished with crumbled cheese. Can be used as a side dish or a filling for tomatoes or zucchini.

The People Behind the Farm Series: Jane

Although I am pretty much the chief cook and bottle-washer around here, there are many others that play a significant part at Lida Farm that you may not be visible to you. I'm going take some time over the next few weeks to feature each, so you get to know "The People Behind the Farm."

Our first snapshot is of Jane Solie, our volunteer "apprentice" of the season. Jane has a real interest in sustainable agriculture and came to us this early summer requesting to help out to learn the craft of vegetable production. Jane has been living in Montana the last few years, but is from Detroit Lakes and is in the area for the season. Jane helps us with general production on the farm, aka "weeding" and helps each Friday harvesting, packing boxes, and some deliveries. She will be working on an 0rganic dairy goat farm this fall and winter-in Hawaii of all places! Sounds good to me.

It's very common for CSA operations like our own to take on apprentices each season. This is how I learned the ropes and it's also how current growers are training the next generation. I know that without Jane it would be much harder for us to produce a quality box each week.

In the box:

A smattering of bi-color corn

Summer Squash

Alisa Craig Sweet Onions

Garlic

A Couple Green Peppers

Bok Choi

Parsley

Basil

Cherry Tomato Mix

Yellow Taxi Tomatoes

Alcosa Cabbage

Specialty Red Japanese Radish

My Love of Tomatoes

Well,the tomatoes are starting to ripen. This is pretty exciting for me, because, although I raise a mix of produce, I really consider myself a tomato person. I consider it my true medium. You won't find too many in the box this week, because the first week is always a "hunt and peck" operation where I have to search high and low just to get a half case. But once they start going, it becomes an avalanche pretty quick.

So, what's so great about tomatoes you ask? There's a number of things.

• I like the huge variety of tomatoes. We grow 13-15 varieties-which seems like a lot-but it's absolutely endless. Even the names are good: Sungold, Green Zebra, and-my favorite-Nebraska Wedding (isn't that just a great name for a tomato?).
• I like endless tastes of tomatoes and how they change from season to season. Tomatoes are the closest thing we have to grapes around here. Considering on the soil, climate, weather, you get different tastes...terroir for you foodsnobs out there :) A real dry year produces vibrant sweet flavors. We've definitely had the heat, but we've been a bit wet, so let's see on taste this year.
• I like harvesting tomatoes. Things like carrots are just some you go out and harvest-there's no allure-but tomatoes are like a gold digging expedition. I crawl around under this big canopy of foliage, prospecting for big tomatoes, colorful tomatoes, ones with crazy shapes and so on. It's also a big harvest, which I have to approach as "hitting it hard" when the time comes, like a fisherman in high season. It's a great feeling pulling cases upon cases into the packing shed.

So, let the season begin. I can't think of a greater sign of high summer season!

In the box:

A smattering of tomatoes (Orange cherry ones are called Sungold, some small Taxi tomatoes)

Lettuce (Greenleaf, Redleaf, or both)

Beets (A bit on the small side, but I just couldn't wait any longer)

Red Norland Potatoes

Small Red Marble onion(s)

Native Gem Sweet Corn

Red Express Cabbage or Stonehead Green Cabbage

Lacinato Kale aka Dino Kale

Bunch of Carrots

Cucumbers

Kale Potato Soup

From "Simply in Season"

More of an Autumnal recipe, but would work well for this box.

1 bunch kale, chopped and steamed. Set aside.

1 T. butter

1 large onion

1 clove garlic, minced

Melt butter in soup pot. Add onion and saute until golden. Add garlic, saute another minute.

2 large potatoes, diced

2 cups hot water or broth

Add, bring to boil, reduce heat and simmer until potatoes are soft. Remove half of the cooked potatoes, puree the rest with the cooking liquid and return to the soup pot. Return reserved potatoes and steamed kale to soup pot.

3 cups water or broth

1/2 t. salt or to taste

pepper to taste

Add along with additional hot water or milk to preferred consistency. Heat gently until hot.

Growing with Three Kids

Our third child, Graham (look left), was born this April with much to-do. I'm still not sure his birth fit into the growing season well or not. It was good that he came before too much fieldwork got going, but it got us off our game a bit at the beginning of the season when getting on top of things is really important.

I'm often asked how we actually operate Lida Farm with now three kids and myself with a full-time job. And the only way to explain it is teamwork. Maree and I learned a while ago that both of us trying to do work outside just makes our marriage suffer because we are always arguing about who's "turn" it is to hold the crying baby or catch a kid before he or she drives their trike into the township road. So, we do a constant trade off. When I get home from work, Mar is often in the mood to get away from kids, so I watch them and make dinner as she works outside. Then she does the same for me on other nights and on harvest days. A definite balancing act!

In the box:

Stonehead green cabbage

Broccoli

Silver Rose Garlic

Small amount of braising mix (mix of greens bound with a rubber band)

Arugula (oakleaf-looking green that has a peanut-y taste)

Parsley

Red Norland Potatoes

Chives (to go with the potatoes)

Yellow beans

Summer squash mix (some zucchini, some yellow)

Arugula Pesto

From How to Cook Everything by Mark Bittman

2 cups arugula, washed and dried

1 clove garlic, crushed

2 T. walnuts or pine nuts, lightly toasted

salt and pepper to taste

Remove any tough stems from the arugula. Place it in a food processor or blender with the garlic, nuts, salt and pepper.

Add a 1/4 cup olive oil and pulse a few times. With motor running add additional olive oil to make a creamy sauce. Use within a day. Goes well with grilled chicken or shrimp.

Hail!

Seems like every year I write at least one "disaster" entry. For this season, our biggest disaster came Tuesday night and Wednesday morning. We had hail, serious rain, and a massive wind. Yes, this definately affects the plants, but, on the good side, this came at a pretty good time (if there is one). This is the time of year when tomatoes are not only small and green, but also hidden under a lot of foliage, so it will leave some pitting, but won't leave bid open sores on the fruit. If tomatoes were orange, ripening to red, it would be terrible.

Not that there's no issue with hail.

You will probably notice some holes in the Napa cabbage leaves and maybe some dents. The chicks in the new lean-to also got a bit wet through the whole ordeal too, so I had to carry a few under the heat lamps to get them going again.

FYI: Member workday this Sunday at 2 pm at the farm. This isn't anything mandatory, but if you'd like to get your hands dirty a bit, see the farm, and pull some weeds, please come. I promise to find something for you to do. We'll probably go til 4 or 5, so come for what you can.

In the box:

Napa cabbage

Cauliflower (not the best...it's a bit purple from the heat and sun, otherwise just fine).

Cukes

Summer Squash (the yellow variety called Sunburst and you'd use the same way as Zucchini)

Fennel

Green Beans

Green kale

Bunch of Carrots

Greek Fennel Skillet

(from Simply in Season)

2 cloves garlic (crushed or minced)

In a medium skillet saute in 2T olive oil for 1 minute

2 medium fennel bulbs (the white part of the fennel plant)

1 large onion

Add and saute until tender, 5-10 minutes

1 T lemon juice

3 medium tomatoes (chopped)

Add and cook over medium heat until part of the liquid evaporates, 10 minutes. Salt and pepper to taste.

1 1/2 cups feta cheese (crumbled) or mozzarella cheese

1/2 cup black olives (optional)

Stir in.

Mar and I gave this a try last season and really liked it. We served over crusty Italian bread, although it would work over pasta too.

Weird Produce in a CSA Box

What can I say? I strive to go long on the standard veggies, but what would a CSA be without a little surprise? You know when you open your box and find some real oddball veggie you need a botanical guide to identify.

Members often tell me this is part of what they like about CSA, although too many surprises tends to scare some people away. Still, I think you trying to hit a curveball every now and then is probably good for you...when you get that bulb of fennel in your box here in July, I hope you approach it as an adventure to reach out for that cookbook you never look at and try something new. I'm just as bad as anyone, making those dishes I've always done, but it's good to get out of my rut too.

I was thinking about this today when I was out picking fava beans. I have to confess I've never grown these or eaten these in my life, so they are a grand experiment. We had to do a little research to get a general jist to prepare them, especially since you just have a few. A simple way to use your fava beans is to shell them, boil the beans (just a few minutes), remove skin, and toss with olive oil and lemon juice and serve with a sharp cheese like pecorino or parmesan. Otherwise, you're on your own-good luck!

In the box:

English Peas (the ones you need to shell)

Deep Purple Scallions

Broccoli

Kohlrabi (these could also be added to recipe below)

Parsley

Fresh Mint (stuff that look like a weed)

Fava Beans (big monster beans):

1-2 little cucumbers (just a taste, but the first of the season!)

Black Spanish Onions (see recipe below)

Salad Mix

A bit of Spinach (every week for 4 weeks...are you tired of this yet?)

Raspberries (for some)

RADISH SLAW

This could also be good without the cabbage.

2-3 black Spanish radishes, scrubbed and grated
3 cups finely shredded cabbage
1 cup coarsely grated carrots, any color
1/2 cup thinly sliced green or red onion
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon sugar
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh parsley, cilantro, or mint leaves

In a bowl toss together the radishes, the cabbage, the carrots, the onion, the lemon juice, the sugar, the oil, the herb, and salt and pepper to taste.

Farming in June

June's a tough month in market gardening.

The guy I used to work for would always say, "If you have a good June, you'll have a good season." Sitting here in my 7th season after being an apprentice, I would have to agree.

June and into July is the only time of the year when a grower has all major activities going on at once: cultivating/weeding, planting, and harvesting. It's a tough balancing act, because, you can get sidelined concentrating on one and do a bad job on another. So, spending too much time on pulling weeds and hoeing and you may just forget about that second planting of beans or putting in cabbage or cauliflower for the fall. Or Thursday rolls around, and, although you have potatoes that need hilling and beets in need of weeding, you have to spend half a day picking strawberries and peas. Yep, it's a balancing act.

So, Ryan, how was June? Well, plantings are on and harvesting is going well, but those weeds are getting fierce. Good thing we have a long 4th of July weekend to do battle with them.

In the box:

Kohlrabi

Basil

Snap Peas (edible pod)

Red Oakleaf Lettuce

Strawberries

Spinach

Deep Purple Scallions

Some get Raspberries (others are coming in the next couple weeks)

Recipe: Ginger Stir-Fried Snap Peas and Fish Maree is reading this book called the "Art of Eating in" and the author has this website where she's posting some pretty interesting recipes.

Ducks in the Garden

Growing is all about the unexpected and usually the unexpected is a bad thing.

The other day my neighbor told me that my ducks were eating my lettuce and I thought "oh, they're probably eating that old bed of salad mix...what can they really do?" Well, I found out when I went out there today to find two little ducks had eaten about half of the head lettuce out there and I caught them red handed doing it!

Now I've read that ducks are good to have around a place like ours because they are supposed to eat potato bugs, but I've yet to see any truth to that. Instead, they are more like farm saboteurs than f'arm helpers.

Honestly, if you or someone you know would like to adopt these ducks, let me know soon. Otherwise their lives will be cut pretty short.

In the box:

Strawberries

Snow Peas

Spinach

Head Lettuce (either green oakleaf, red boston, or romaine)

Radishes (standard cherry belle or french breakfast-the ones which look like bobbers

Braising Mix (bunch with a mix of greens-weird purple one, mustard greens, kale): see recipe below

Spicy Braised Greens from the food network (http://www.foodnetwork.com)

(note: you probably didn't receive as much as a lb, so adjust accordingly).

Ingredients

• 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1/4 pound turkey bacon, diced
• 1 cup sliced yellow onion
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic
• 1 pound collard, mustard, or beet green leaves, or a combination
• 2 cups water
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions

Heat a large, 12-inch saute pan over medium-high heat. Add the vegetable oil to the pan, and when hot, add the bacon in the pan and cook, stirring often, until the bacon is well browned, 7 to 8 minutes. Add the onions to the pan and cook, stirring often, until softened, 3 to 4 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for 30 seconds. Add the greens to the pan and cook, stirring frequently, for about 1 minute. Add the water and salt and bring the liquid to a boil. Cover the pan and reduce the heat to medium-low. Cook until the greens are tender, about 20 minutes. Remove the lid, and raise the heat to medium-high, and continue to cook until most of the liquid has reduced, about 5 minutes. Taste and re-season the greens if necessary.

CSA Season is Starting

Welcome to the 2010 Lida Farm CSA season! This is our 5th season operating a CSA in the Pelican Rapids area, so we should know what we're doing at this point!

If you've come to this blog looking for news from the farm this spring and past winter, you've been sadly disappointed since I write little in the off season. But now that produce is coming in expect an entry every week about the going-ons at the farm, what's in season and in the CSA box, and my general musings about small farms and the like. We also highlight a recipe each week which features a veggie in season.

Overall spring has been good as we get ourselves organized for summer. Spring is a time we ramp up on projects we just can't pull off in July or August when we get on a treadmill of plant, harvest, wash and repeat.

For example, This year we offered a chicken share where people pre-arranged whole broilers which we'll deliver late summer or early fall. Now that we've promised all these people some 250 chickens, we actually need to raise them. Part of that is giving them a place to live, so my carpenter father-in-law Don and I have been diligently building a lean-to off the side of our woodshed (mainly Don...he's the professional. I just haul tools and stuff for him). It still needs some tin for the roof, but the hard part is done we hope. As you can see from the picture, the lean-to juts into our pasture, so, when the chicks arrive they will have easy and free access to grass and pasture.

In the box:

Salad Mix

Napa Cabbage

Spinach

Baby Bok Choy

Strawberries

Daikon Radish

Catalina Dressing

Taken from the U of M nutrition program that Maree teaches at Pelican Rapids Elementary

Ingredients:

2/3 cup canola oil (or other vegetable oil)

1/2 cup sugar or equivalent sugar substitute

2/3 cup ketchup

1/2 cup lemon juice

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

1/2 teaspoon onion powder

Mix all ingredients well. Store in refrigerator.

Serving Size: 2 Tablespoons

Annual Membership Drive

Well, we're getting ready for another season and we're putting out the call for members!

This little blog entry is like my own form of an annoying public radio membership drive: "We can't do this without you, the members..." And this is absolutely true. Seriously. We can't. We will be starting hundreds and hundreds of transplants soon, a big risk when you consider the tending, planting, weeding, and harvesting that comes between us and a finished vegetable crop. If we didn't have our CSA membership who already paid up to receive a share of the season's harvest, we'd be a bit more hesitant about putting all those plants in the ground hoping somebody's going to purchase all that produce when harvested.

We are changing up our CSA program a bit this year. We continue to have a "regular" CSA share ($400) where you receive a delivery of a mix of produce every week, but we've also added a couple other options:

• The "every-other-week share" ($225). The name kind of says it. You get a delivery every other week and we're starting this especially for couples who get overwhelmed by a regular share. Chet and Paulette Nettestad of Pelican Rapids were our every-other-week trial run last year, and, from talking with them, it seemed to be a good amount for two people and worked out well.
• The "a la carte share" (increments of $100). This is a customized delivery every other week, and, like an a la carte menu, you choose what you want from our online order system (www.localdirt.com) earlier in the week and we deliver on Fridays. Think about it as having a tab with us. You put in $100, $200, $300 at the beginning of the season and we keep track of what you order and let you know your balance monthly. On our site we also carry Organic Valley dairy products, meats, and eggs you can order too. This is a "use it or loose it" option. You will have from now until December to use your tab and whatever is leftover will be donated to Lutheran World Relief, because it's a little harder for people around the world to feed themselves than for us here...I like their approach to sustainable rural development and I'm a Lutheran.
• The "chicken share" ($60). You receive 6 chickens (5-6 lbs) in three deliveries from late summer to early fall. The chickens will be whole, frozen, and plastic wrapped just like a whole chicken in the store.
  

So, if you are interested in becoming a member of Lida Farm, please get in contact with us. Our e-mail is lidafarmer@gmail.com and our phone is 218-342-2619. Call with questions...you won't be bugging us. Our brochure about our CSA program and the order form are linked below. But please make sure we are not filled up for the season and you're in our delivery area before sending in the order form.

Click here for a brochure about our CSA

Click here for our order form

Lida Farm in Winter

What happens on the Farm all winter? Although you'd think that we would try to do nothing, I keep finding projects to do. So far has been a laundry list of repairs and maintenance which I've been trying to get to for a long time: fixing the sheep feeders that have been broken the last 6 months, cleaning the chicken coop, putting in a glass pane in the barn that I shattered 2 years ago...it goes on. One of the biggest projects was putting woven wire fence around the back pasture so those sheep have something to eat in the middle of the summer next year.

But probably the project I'm most proud of so far is our skating rink. Neither of the kids have skated before, but they did both get skates for Christmas this year. I figured there's no better place to learn than on the pond across the sheep pasture. It took a few hours of shoveling, scraping with an ice scraper, and taking water out of a fish hole with

a gallon jug, we were in business!

Me putting on the finishing touches, sweeping the snow off with the broom.

Willem's first skate

Neufchatal and Cream Cheese Special

We will be delivering again this Wednesday, November 11 throughout the area. I'm thinking we're the only organic dairy route in the nation, so join up to say you're on the cutting edge.

We have organic cream cheese and Neufchatal on special at $2.25 each and still have a good number of whole chickens for sale as well as some winter squash. Please order through our local dirt site to let us know what you'd like:

https://www.localdirt.com/user_product_list-a241.html?id=1535&type=delivery

We will also be doing one other delivery before Thanksgiving and will have our own lamb available at the end of the month. You can also arrange to pick up if that works better.

Orders for Sunday

Here at the end of the produce season, this is your last chance to stock up on some things before we go on vacation. We're sitting on a mountain of winter squash we're selling for a real deal at $5 for 1/2 bushel as well as the last of the onions and peppers.

We also got in a set of small roaster chickens (4 - 4.5 lbs) and still have the range of Organic Valley cheeses and butters available. Order up at our Local Dirt site http://www.localdirt.com/products-a213.html by Saturday evening and we'll deliver on Sunday afternoon. If you'd rather pick up on the farm on another date, that works too.

It's really cold in Minnesota (CSA Week 16)

Wow, didn't it get cold last night? It's a bad sign when there's already frost on everything before you go to bed and the sky is clear as a bell. We're guessing it was about 25 degrees, which really puts a final end to the season. Few things go through a freeze like that, even the beet greens where pasted to the ground. We have the white stuff forecasted for tomorrow, so selling at a farmers market in snow will be a first! Maree wishes our camera worked, because we'd like to have record of it.

End of season logistics: If you're in the neighborhood, please just drop off the last wax box...if not, don't worry about it. Also expect an end of season survey in the mail. We really do want to know how the CSA season worked for you. It's also an opportunity to let us know if you're interested in being a member next year....as a current member, we give you first chance to re-join before opening up to others.

Thank you for being a member this season. Our door is always open. If you haven't gotten a jack-o-lantern pumpkin, please come on out and we'll set you up.

In the box:

Tongue of Fire Beans: this is an heirloom dried bean. Simply shell them and use as any dried bean. There are not many, so I'm thinking of them as something to add to a soup.

Potatoes

Hubbard Squash: this is the big blue-colored one.

Buttercup Squash

Spaghetti Squash: yellow and long in color

Haralson Apples: a good baking and cooking apple

A couple sweet onions

A couple white onions

Popcorn: this needs to be dried quite a bit before popping. Pull back the corn wrapper and hang like you would indian corn for at least a couple of weeks in a dry sunny place.

Yearly Veggie Report (CSA week 15)

Wow, today and yesterday have been the worst harvesting ever. I was going to pull in potatoes, but that's way too difficult in this stuff. It's cold, wet, and miserable out there...stay inside and drink some tea or something (which sounds pretty good). All told, I do like bringing in fall crops...I just naturally feel like bringing in the end of the season harvest. Kind of like gophers or bears getting ready for winter, I think people get a natural instinct this time of year to pull in what they can.

Every year I do an end of season re-cap: th winners and losers of the produce season. I figure today is a good day to do that as I reflect on how the season went as I'm out in the machine shed cleaning up indian corn and winter squash.

In the winner category are all the cool season crops, which just loved this cool summer with a fair amount of rain. This includes kohlrabi, cabbage, broccoli, fall peas, leeks, spring greens like lettuce and salad mix and I'd have to throw in onions and beets as well. The grand champion of the year in my mind is celery...now I know this may seem like an odd one to you, but this is the third year trying to grow the stuff and typically it turned into a stalk 6 inches tall with the consistency of dental floss...so I was really excited about how it turned out this year! These crops grew well mainly because of the cool season, but there are some which did well just because I "got my act together", which is evident in the long corn season this year--I think we got it in the box for 6 weeks, which is the most weeks in a season. This is because I got three plantings done in the spring, each 2 weeks apart, which allowed them to be spaced out. Another thing we did was cultivate onions well with the help of our new tine weeder, so we got good-sized onions because of little weed pressure.

In the loser category we have a list longer than I care to mention, some due to the weird season, but some due to me doing stupid things out in the field. The causualties of bad weather include some hot season crops. First and foremost is the eggplant...it didn't even get into the box! It needed heat in a big way, but it also was under serious attack by the potato bugs this year...by far, the worst season ever with these guys. Our organic pyrethrin spray didn't seem to do anything to these bugs...I don't know if it's a tolerance issue or I simply had my timing off. Anyway, they also devastated bad crop number 2: potatoes. I even put in these fingerlings for this season, but they didn't get into the box either because they ended up being the size of small peanuts since the plants died back by the end of july, which is terrible. Still, the crop which just killed me this year was garlic. It was a comedy of errors on my part which destroyed this crop. I didn't get it planted in time last fall, so I had to treat as a spring transplant; then I pretty much killed it by running it over with our tine weeder cultivator when I never should have...I'm still kicking myself for it. Others I wasn't crazy about: strawberries, raspberries, spring peas, greens (swiss chard anyone?), edamame, and beans (although I loved the new variety we grew, Grenoble).

All told, it kind of evens out, although this isn't any consolation to those who love eggplant or garlic and just didn't get enough.

In the box:

Celeriac: some call celery root. You use whenever a recipe calls for celery...it keeps forever, just leave in crisper in fridge.

Rutebega: another standard root crop, some love it, others hate it. Try mixing in with potatoes and mash, about half and half proportions.

Cippolini onions: I had these for breakfast yesterday, sauteed with peppers and some tomato and put on eggs with some toast.

A sweet onion

Butternut squash: again, keep in a dry, sunny spot. The taste of winter squash actually improves with age...it'll taste better in a couple weeks.

Buttercup squash: the dark green ugly one with a button on the bottom.

A couple pie pumpkins: can use for decoration or bake for use in pumpkin recipes like pie or anywhere you'd use that canned pumpkin stuff.

A small canteloupe: end of the line, I just throught I'd put in the last of them.

Parsley

Sprig of Rosemary

A mix of peppers

A few heirlooms

The frost that never came (CSA week 14)

When I start harvesting winter squash I know for sure it's fall, whether I like it or not. Typically I harvest winter squash right after the first light frost, usually in mid-september. It has happened here every year for the last 6 years, so I figured this year would be the same, but I guess not. This is both a blessing and curse.

It's a blessing because we didn't really have a summer and this ended summer actually gets some of those crops across the finish line--I would have been really upset if half the tomatoes never turned red.

It's a curse because the frost forces me to let go of the summer crops. There's only so much you can cover a few thousand plants and so the frost typically brings all tomatoes, peppers, beans, corn, and eggplant to an abrupt end. I get really worked up about this, dashing around the night before trying to pull in everything I can. But the day after the frost, I experience a huge sense of relief...I can relax because all those tomatoes coming in at one time really causes some stress. It's all about picking and hopefully selling them in a really short window.

So, the summer continues and so do we. Peppers are actually turning color and that last set of corn actually ripened. By the way, I must apologize if you did hit some corn which tasted a lot more like field corn than sweet corn--an issue brought to my attention by some people I sold to at the market. The problem is that I planted sweet corn too close to the indian corn and they cross pollinated, making your silver queen take on the flavor of its neighbor...again, my apologies (I still have some more good corn at the farm if you'd like me to set you up to redeem myself).

As mentioned before, our harvest party will be saturday, October 3, starting at 5:30 with dinner at 6 pm. Please let us know if you are coming. We supply the main dish, drinks, and you supply yourself and a side. We look forward to hosting everybody....and we think the saturday evening will work better than sunday afternoon as we've done the last couple years.

Order extras at our Local Dirt site here

In the box:

Acorn Squash: dark, acorn shape. This has not been cured, so it will improve it's taste if you leave in a dry sunny spot in your house (we typically leave in the greenhouse to cure).

Delicata Squash: some call a sweet potato squash...very stringless and tastes sweet potatoy. Again, cure as you would acorn.

Russet potatoes: Small, I know.

Leeks

Cherry Tomato mix

A couple regular red tomatoes

A few Green Zebra tomatoes: yes, they are ripe at this stage. They are naturally zippy in taste.

Roma tomatoes: a good amount for saucing

Edamame: You don't eat the stalk...just pull the pods off and boil a bit in salted water. Rinse in cold water and eat.

Sage

Colored pepper mix

Cherry Bomb hot peppers: These are supposed to be hotter than jalapenos, but I don't buy it. They have a sweet flavor for a hot pepper I really like.

Red cabbage

Chickens, Chickens, Chickens

We got our first set of fryers in from my friend and fellow grower, Karen Terry of Fergus Falls. About 3 lbs in size, they are young and tender birds raised entirely on pasture with all organic feed. $6 each, click here to order at the local dirt site.

We'll have these available for delivery or pick-up at the farm until they are gone (I have only 24, so we're not talking a lot of birds here).

Karen will also be supplying us a set of larger birds in a couple weeks...more of a roaster size. While on the local dirt site, you can also arrange for other food for delivery or pick-up like cheese, butter, or extra produce like canning tomatoes or peppers. Frost has to be around the corner, so don't wait too long.

The Logistics of Local Food (CSA week 13)

Local foods and buying directly from the farmer has been something I've seen grow and grow every year I've been in this kind of work. But one big issue that has continued to plague local foods is the logistics. What I mean by this is that it still isn't convenient for you as an eater to access all the things you would like to get locally...instead, you have to go to 5 or 6 individual farmers to get your stuff. Get a CSA membership for your veggies, contact somebody in the fall to buy a quarter of beef or half a hog, go across town to get that good local bread. I hear this from people too from members and farmers market patrons.

Coordination amongst us small growers to supply people more variety only makes sense to me. It doesn't add up to have a bunch of growers all driving around with small amounts of food and make the eaters work harder at finding us. This is why we've been working on adding other things to the mix of things we deliver. You've seen me write about having Organic Valley butters and cheeses available to be delivered with your produce. Also, we partnered with Kendra to offer a flower share and some members took me up on that, getting flowers delivered with their produce for the last 12 weeks. Talking to members and others, I also got a sense of what others are looking for and I have arranged with a grower friend of mine by Fergus Falls to raise some broiler chickens for you. She is raising the chickens to two sizes: some up to "fryer size" (3.5-4 lbs) and others up to "roaster size" (5-6 lbs.) . Fryers will be available starting next week.

We're finally figuring out some of the logistics of all this and have an ordering system set up at a site called local dirt, where you can easily order up what you'd like on a weekly basis. We will deliver with the CSA box until the end of the season and plan on keeping some things available through the winter as well: http://localdirt.com/ This is a nice tool which makes all this ordering stuff really easy for us as growers and easy for you as eaters. You find what you'll like and just add into your shopping cart like at amazon.com or something....we'll keep updating with new things like produce "extras".

This is not something just for CSA members...if you know somebody who would like to get "on the route" just have them contact me...we'll deliver for no charge in the area from Pelican to Detroit Lakes or people can certainly arrange to pickup at the farm. We're really looking for people to see if we can make a go of this...

Put it on your calendars! We're having our 3rd annual harvest party here at the farm. The date will be Saturday October 3rd, starting at 5:30. Plan on eating dinner at 6:00. We'll supply the main dish and beverages, you supply yourself and a side dish for a potluck meal. This is a great way for you to meet other members, see the farm, and pick out your jack-o-lantern. Please let us know if you plan on attending.

Every year I put together a box I'm really proud of....this is that box for the year. Lots of variety and things I'm excited to see, especially that celery! I've never been able to grow it well before, so I was just beaming this morning harvesting the stuff.

In the box:

Italia pepper: red and green long pepper...really sweet

Colored pepper: some aren't fully colored, but I wanted something in the box

Poblanos: A really mild hot pepper which look just beautiful. See cornbread recipe below.

Dozen sweet corn

A slug of tomatoes: they are in in a big way, so you get a good half dozen

A small bunch of fresh oregono

One oversized turnip with greens

Carrot bunch mix: there are two varieties here, atomic red and satin (white one). I especially like the satin, which have a good distinct flavor.

Celery

Snap Peas: a variety called Sugar Ann, which is edible pod, so don't shell.

Yellow Cippolini Onions: A nearly forgot this onion out there, but it's an Italian variety people really like for roasting or kebobs. Good intense flavor, but still mild.

Athena Canteloupe

1 of 3

Skillet Corn Bread with Roasted Poblano and Oregano

Bon Appétit | July 2004

This moist bread is best fresh from the oven, but it can also be made ahead and reheated. Yield: Makes 8 servings 1 medium poblano chile* (about 3 1/2 ounces) 2 cups yellow cornmeal 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour 1/2 cup sugar 1 1/2 teaspoons salt 1 teaspoon baking powder 1 teaspoon baking soda 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper 3 large eggs 1 cup whole milk 1/4 cup sour cream 1 tablespoon minced fresh oregano 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter Char poblano chile over open flame or in broiler until blackened on all sides. Enclose in paper bag 15 minutes. Peel, seed, and finely chop chile. Preheat oven to 350°F. Whisk cornmeal, flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and black pepper in large bowl to blend. Whisk eggs, milk, and sour cream in medium bowl to blend. Mix in poblano chile and oregano. Add egg mixture to dry ingredients and fold in with rubber spatula; do not overmix. Melt butter in 10-inch-diameter ovenproof skillet with 2-inch-high sides over medium heat, swirling to coat bottom and sides of skillet. Remove from heat. Spread batter evenly in skillet. Bake until corn bread is golden brown around edges and tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 30 minutes. Cool bread 15 minutes in skillet. (Can be made 6 hours ahead. Cool completely in skillet. Rewarm in 350°F oven 15 minutes.) Cut bread into wedges and serve warm from skillet

The State Fair (CSA Week 12)

It's been a short week because of Labor Day. We actually took the weekend off to go to the State Fair on Monday. For us, it was pretty special because we were part of an exhibit on local foods at the Eco-Experience. Basically an organization called Renewing the Countryside did a series of profiles of local growers which they turned into an exhibit for the fair. You can check out our profile and pictures at http://communityofaplate.org/2009/08/17/lida-farm/ The kids really got excited seeing a picture of us there.

When sauntering around the fair, I started to imagine what it looked like 50 years ago. One thing for sure is that "Machinery Hill" actually had machinery on it instead of pickup trucks and riding lawn mowers. When looking around all I saw were deals on campers, 4-wheelers, and various "toys" for grown-ups and collectors. Call me a grump, but I get the impression that we're just trying to amuse ourselves to death. It's no wonder my grandparents' generation just gets so disgusted with the way things are...there's an ethic about work and usefulness we seem to have lost. Although I get as sick of work as the next person, there's a real pride that comes with doing some tangible work like growing produce for yourself instead of just idling away my time.

In the box:

Green stuffing peppers: the really big ones are King Arthur. Most are paired with a smaller one since there just weren't that many really big ones around. See recipe below.

Italia Pepper: This is a frying pepper which is typically used in recipes where you sautee at a high heat. Really a nice sweet pepper

Couple Jalepenos

Broccoli

Parsley

1 Canary Melon (yellow)

1 Sunshine Watermelon: This is a yellow watermelon. I'm a big fan.

1 Canteloupe: Your standard variety called Athena

A few Red Tomatoes

A couple Heirloom Tomatoes: The really wrinkly one is an Italian Heirloom called Piraform and the dark green/purple one is called Cherokee Purple. You may have one or another or both. they are ugly, but tasty.

Sweet Corn: Again, a yellow variety called Bodacious

A Couple White Onions

Purple Beans: A bit deceiving since they turn green when you boil.

Mexican Stuffed Peppers

From Simply in Season

4 green, yellow, orange, or red sweet peppers

Cut top off pepper and discard seeds. Steam whole peppers in 1 inch boiling water until tender, about 5-8 minutes. Remove peppers from water and set aside.

1/3 cup onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

In a large frypan saute in 1 T. oil.

2 cups tomatoes, chopped

1 jalapeno pepper, minced

2 T. fresh parsley, chopped

1 T. fresh oregano, chopped; or 1 t. dried

1 t. ground cumin

1/2 t. salt

1 bay leaf

Add and cook 5 minutes.

2 cups corn

1 1/2 cups cooked black beans

Add and simmer 10 minutes. Place peppers in oven-proof dish so that they stand upright. Stuff peppers with vegetable mixture. Any extra filling can be placed in dish next to peppers.

1/4 cup cheese, grated

Sprinkle on top. Bake at 350F to heat through, 20 minutes.

CSA week 11

If you noticed I missed last week's newsletter. This is the first time in the four years doing a CSA. Sometimes in the season, about this time, you "hit the wall" in much the same way a marathon runner "hits the wall." When thinking about this, in many respects we CSA growers are like long-distance runners--we need to be consistent and steady to produce a good box each week for 16 weeks.

The lack of heat is still the weather story around here. This is the second week for melons. We're glad to have them, but they are late. Some things you may not even notice, like the okra that never comes to market because the plants just sit there doing nothing. I'll complain about it, but my sympathies are with other farmers out there like the one I talked to last week: 600 acres of soybeans and he doesn't see them making a harvest. Boy, that makes my 2 acres where some things are good and some bad not too bad a problem really. This is why sustainable ag types highly appreciate diversity in crops...if one thing "crashes and burns", there may be another which does well. In many respects, we're trying to bring back a tradition on farms where many things were produced from a couple hogs and a steer to garden produce, grains, hay. Even if the growing season went to pot, at least you could feed yourself.

In the box:
Leeks: keep refridgerated and cut lengthwise to clean out before using...dirt gets into the leaves.
Carrots
A couple tomatoes
Dill: This is for using the frawns, not the seed head like in pickling. See recipe below.
Cherry Tomato mix
Corn: mostly a white variety called Silver Queen. It's pretty mellow and I love the name. Last week's yellow variety is called Bodacious, which is another cool name.
A red onion
White Potatoes
A couple peppers: The small slender one is an Anaheim (slightly hot, really mild) and the other is a Cubanella (sweet, not hot).
Cauliflower
Cantaloupe: most of you got a variety called Athena, others got an "eastern type" called Halona, which has prominent ribs
A couple cukes


Cucumber, Mustard, And Dill Salad
From Gourmet | October 2004

2 teaspoons white-wine vinegar
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
1/2 teaspoon salt, or to taste
1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
1 tablespoon mild olive oil
1 large seedless cucumber (usually plastic-wrapped; 1 lb), peeled
2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill

Whisk together vinegar, mustard, salt, and sugar in a bowl, then add oil in a slow stream, whisking.
Halve cucumber lengthwise and remove seeds with a small spoon, then cut halves crosswise into 1/8-inch-thick slices.
Add cucumber and dill to vinaigrette, tossing to coat.