Summer 2024
Hey CSA members!
How was your week? Did you enjoy everything in the box? Thanks to those of you who shared recipes and gratitude this week. It’s so lovely to hear from you!
We’re officially halfway through the CSA, only 8 more boxes left. As much as we love everything the season brings, the end of July is where it really starts to feel hard for us farmers. We’ve been working between 8-12 hour days for 6-7 days a week since early May and that wear and tear is starting to show. Pearce works a full time job and in addition uses his early mornings and many of his evenings doing tractor work, moving irrigation, and supporting me in harvesting and weeding.
For me, the work of raising food is obviously so powerful and important, but as the season pushes me to my limits, I really start to feel the work of farming on my body. No matter how much we complete on the farm, the list seems to never end and my body is craving some real rest. As much as Pearce and I wanted to mow and weedwhack the farm this weekend, we just couldn’t rally and chose to rest on the couch and watch the olympics. Things on the farm are bushy and need some cleanup, so hopefully we’ll find it in us to clean things up this week. We also need to do some final plantings for the season. Our fall planting window is closing quickly, so we’re feeling the pressure to start seeding fall greens like lettuce mix, spinach, arugula, and radishes. Most likely, we will push through the burnout and complete what we need to so food can be secured this fall.
Our CSA harvests are also picking up in difficulty. During the early season we spend lots of time bunching greens and harvesting herbs, but now that the summer fruits are ready, we spend lots of time picking beans and harvesting cherry tomatoes. Today alone we picked 70.5 lbs of beans! Expect another tasty pound of green/purple beans in your box tomorrow. If anyone wants to start harvesting with us on Tuesdays for CSA, I would be willing to hire you onto the team! Please spread the word and ask around to see if anyone wants to work one day a week with us to boost us through the summer harvest season. I would need someone to help for 8 hours every Tuesday for the next few weeks.
This week things on the farm started to dry out as well. We actually ran the irrigation lines on Sunday to water the crops, and of course, on Sunday evening we got SLAMMED with a rainstorm! I’ve never seen so much rain come down from the sky. It’s safe to say that the fields are very well watered! The wet, humid summer is taking it’s toll on some crops though, our second succession of basil gave way to mildew, and the first succession of summer squash slowed down production quickly with some unmanaged weeds and added moisture.
Regardless of all the things we’re feeling, we still have TONS of food to share, and joyful moments to keep us pushing. Like, on Saturday I had a little helper (Milo) join me at the market. He THRIVED. Market is his new favorite place. If you ever need more veggies (or want to check a square off on the bingo board!) feel free to come visit me at the market in Stillwater. I attend the market every Saturday morning from 7:30am-12pm. You can find me across from the Historic Courthouse at the parking lot on 3rd St. and Pine St. Hope to see you there!
CSA Member Bingo!
How is your bingo board filling in? Are you able to complete some of the activities?
Once you complete four of the bingo board activities IN A ROW, you will win a little treat from the Stillwater Farmers market. There’s beautiful beeswax candles, hot sauce, tasty jam, and more at stake!
As you complete activities on the board, mark them off or take a photo to record your progress and email me when you’ve gotten four in a row!
In your box….
Here are photos of what you’ll find in your box this week!
Large CSA
Small CSA
Some Inspiration…
This week you recieved a kohlrabi in your box! If this veggie is new to you, kohlrabi is in the same family as kale and cabbage, but has been bred to produce a bulbous stem. You can eat the inside flesh of kohlrabi. I recommend chopping off the leaves, peeling the outer skin, the slicing thin. You can eat the slices raw, or you can add them to any veggie stir-fry, soup, or stew. Kohlrabi is also excellent as a quick pickle in the fridge. I ran a little short on kohlrabi, so if there’s not one in your box, I doubled up your radishes for the week!
This week, I got my quick pickle fix in. I made pickled red onions, and pickled cucumbers. Nothing beats a tasty, crunchy pickled veg! I also made some fermented cucumber pickles (thanks for the inspiration Laura and Behzad from Toxyfree!) and I will do a taste test on those soon.
Here is my recipe for quick pickled radishes, but feel free to make the brine, and quick pickle any veggie you’d like! you can even combine different veggies in the jars. Anything will do. I’ve even seen a chef pickle some beet stems!
I also enjoyed some kabobs on the grill this weeked. We used pork chops from our pigs and onions, cherry tomatoes, and summer squash so they were 100% farm fresh kabobs! A true taste of summer.
Hope this is a little inspiring to you, and I cannot wait to see how you use your veggies this week.
Soil and sunshine,
Eleanor