Summer 2024
Hello!
Hope you all had a lovely August week. August is always a time to brace for change. Our summer is fleeting and small glimmers of the seasons ahead are just starting to fill the air. Fall is truly my favorite season, so I’m diving head into the change. I can’t wait for crisp fall breeze, apple season, crunchy leaves under my feet, frosty mornings…. it all makes my little heart so fuzzy. On the farm, fall starts to show itself in the form of crops finishing themselves off. This week we harvested all the onions and brought them to the greenhouse to dry out and cure.
Our garlic is also officially dried out and cleaned. We had a good garlic year. we planted 30lbs of cloves last fall and it yielded 100lbs of garlic! I’m pretty proud of that yield. We’ll sell some and put some in the CSA, but we’re saving a lot to plant for next year so we can expand our garlic production.
Our heirloom tomatoes have been coming in strong, and this week we sold a whole bunch to Brim Restaurant in Uptown! They are including the heirlooms in a new special on their menu, a burrata cheese, basil pesto and tomato sandwich on gluten free bread. Amazing. The rest of the heirlooms are headed to the Brim “Jammy Sammies” booth at the State Fair! You can find our heirlooms featured in their new “Marco Bowl”, tomatoes, ricotta cheese, and grilled flatbread ready to power you through the state fair! Please check them out, their booth is located at the north end of the fairgrounds.
Pearce and I LOVE the state fair and we will be volunteering at the Minnesota Grown booth on Sunday (8/25) from 9am-1pm. If you find yourself at the fair that day, please come and say hi! The Minnesota Grown booth is located in the Agriculture building.
Upcoming this week:
We will be harvesting ALL of our potatoes on Monday 8/26 afternoon, starting around 3pm. We will harvest until they are all out of the ground. Last year, a sweet crew of volunteers/friends made it happen and we are hoping for the same help this season! If you are free on Monday afternoon, PLEASE come help dig potatoes! We have a digger that we hook up to our tractor, so all you’ll need to do it collect the potatoes and put them in crates. Our employees will be there so you can meet them and hear their stories from the season, and Milo will be overseeing that we don’t miss any potatoes 🙂
Please text me (952-688-2114) if you are able to help with potato harvest on Monday. Can’t wait to see you!
Also, it was brought to my attention that some CSA members don’t have cars to drive out to the farm to volunteer. I am wondering if anyone wants to be a part of a little CSA member carpool groupchat? Anyone who needs a ride, or would be willing to give rides to the farm from the cities in the future can join. If you want to be a part of this groupchat, text me your phone number and I can get that established over the weekend. Thanks!
In your box….
Here are photos of what you’ll find in your box this week!
Large CSA
Small CSA
Some Inspiration…
This week I want to note that a couple of the veggies we’re grown by other farmers! I always struggle with variety this time of the season. All my energy seems to be sunk into tomatoes and potatoes and some of the variety in my field from earlier in the season has sailed its course, or my later successions aren’t ready to harvest yet.
Lucky for me, the acre farm plot I rent is situated amongst other emerging farmers who also raise organic mixed veggies, just a mere walk across the field from me. We are all a part of a larger farm collective called Big River Farms.
The Fennel was raised by farmer May Lee. She’s been growing food all her life and has been raising veggies at Big River for almost 20 years! She is truly who I look up to and she has taught me so much about farming. She farms under the name “Mhonpaj’s Garden” and you can find her and her produce at the Mill city farmers market on Saturday mornings.
The cucumbers were raised by farmers Dee and Zoua. They also rent 1 acre of land at Big River and have found their success at multiple farmers markets across the twin cities. You can read more about their farm endeavor HERE.
Super grateful for all the good food being raised around me!
Also, you’ll notice that the very first potatoes of the season are in your box this week! Get ready for a potato flood soon, they will probably be in your box until the end of the season. Potatoes store best in a brown paper bag, away from light, in your fridge (about 45 degrees F). If you keep them in your fridge, you can store them until March 2025, or longer! No need to try and eat through them every week, think of it as starting the big prep for the winter months. Hope you enjoy them!
Hope you enjoy the veggies this week, and let me know if you can make the Mondya potato harvest!
Soil and sunshine,
Eleanor