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Harvest Week 7 - July 15, 2010
A Note From Your Farmer...
This week's box
Now is the time of year when it starts to get really fun trying to decide what we will pick to go in the box. Part of the decision of what goes in the box derives from what is ready to be harvested in a particular week of course. Tomatoes, for instance, will not be ready to go in everyone’s box for another couple weeks (though 21 shares did receive cherry tomatoes this week). Part of the decision comes from what will not keep for another week (i.e.—lettuces just have a short period of time which they are harvestable especially during the heat of summer). Another factor that contributes to my choice of one vegetable over another is how much I think members will want over the course of the season. There are items, kale for instance, that we could put in the share boxes almost every week through out our season. The more we pick them, the more they produce. However, I know there is a balance between giving an abundance of certain item and giving too much. There are other items that we know we could harvest in a particular week but if they can keep for another week and the box is full we will do this. (We did not harvest carrots this week because I knew that they would get even larger if left in the ground for another week).
Putting together what is in a box for a certain week requires a bit of experience in knowing what our members want, a bit of an art in wanting different colors, textures and flavors, and a bit of forecasting in predicting what the weather will be like for the next week.
This week’s activities
Last week was a productive week on the farm. We got the weeding done on the fall carrots, tomatoes, peppers, melons and eggplant. In addition, we were able to get all of our indeterminate tomatoes as well as cucumbers trellised. We also spent Saturday doing our final transplanting of cabbages, broccoli, cauliflower, chard and other items that will be ready to harvest into September. There were roughly 20 beds of (each 3 rows, 250’ long) that were planted on Saturday and Monday.
In addition to these activities, we spent many of our days harvesting. Our share members receive the bulk of what Ploughshare Farm grows. In addition, we realize that there is only so much of items such as beets, kale, lettuce, etc that can fit in our member’s boxes or that our members would actually want on a weekly basis. Plus we grow roughly 20 percent more vegetables than our 300 member CSA calls for. Because of this, Ploughshare Farm works with the Emergency Foodshelf Network to provide fresh vegetables for those that would otherwise be unable to afford it. This week for instance, we sent down over 900 lbs of food to EFN including kales, lettuces, and Napa cabbage. Part of the funding that makes this possible comes through share members who have donated to the “Harvest for the Hungry” Program. Included below is additional information about the program and a link to our website where you can donate.
Donate to Harvest for the Hungry
Harvest for the Hungry is a partnership with community supported agriculture (CSA) farms to provide fresh, locally-grown produce to Minnesota households facing hunger. We are asking donors and CSA members to help us purchase produce from Minnesota and Western Wisconsin farmers for local hunger relief.
When contributing to Harvest for the Hungry, you support local growers and help us deliver fresh nutritious foods to the tables of hungry families who cannot often afford the luxury of fresh, locally-grown produce.
All produce collected through the Harvest for the Hungry program will be delivered to our network of food shelves, on-site meal programs and hunger relief agencies for free.
You can donate online at: http://ploughsharefarm.com/store/315
Storage and Frozen Shares:
Now is the season that we are making plans for our Storage Share and (you can also order a frozen share as well). Talk to most anyone who received a Storage Share in previous seasons and they will tell you what a great bargain these shares are. You get a significant amount of produce for a very good value.
Email me directly in order to order a share. gjbrever@midwestinfo.net
Fall Storage Share
This share will supply all the fall storage vegetables that your family will need for the months of October, November and December. We will deliver these shares October 15th, November 12th and December 10th. Each delivery will include 50-75 pounds of produce including potatoes, of carrots, onions, winter squash, cabbage, kale leeks, daikon radishes, beets, celeriac, rutabaga, turnips, brussels sprouts, garlic, and pie pumpkins. These shares are a great option for saving money on meals especially during the holiday seasons. Most of these vegetables keep very well just in a heated garage (just above freezing) or a cool basement.
The price for the fall share is:
$278 for metro members
$231.75 for rural site members
There is a 3% discount for paying by check (use coupon code 4565)
Week 7 Newsletter
7/15/2010 10:46am by Gary Brever
Harvest Week 7 - July 15, 2010
| This Week's Share * Cabbage (savoy, green or red) * Cauliflower * Cilantro * Fennel * Dill * Salad Mix * Green Romaine * Butterhead Lettuce * Summer Squash * Scallions * Basil * Beets * Kale (Full shares only) * Cucumbers (most but not all shares) |
|
A Note From Your Farmer...
This week's box
Now is the time of year when it starts to get really fun trying to decide what we will pick to go in the box. Part of the decision of what goes in the box derives from what is ready to be harvested in a particular week of course. Tomatoes, for instance, will not be ready to go in everyone’s box for another couple weeks (though 21 shares did receive cherry tomatoes this week). Part of the decision comes from what will not keep for another week (i.e.—lettuces just have a short period of time which they are harvestable especially during the heat of summer). Another factor that contributes to my choice of one vegetable over another is how much I think members will want over the course of the season. There are items, kale for instance, that we could put in the share boxes almost every week through out our season. The more we pick them, the more they produce. However, I know there is a balance between giving an abundance of certain item and giving too much. There are other items that we know we could harvest in a particular week but if they can keep for another week and the box is full we will do this. (We did not harvest carrots this week because I knew that they would get even larger if left in the ground for another week).Putting together what is in a box for a certain week requires a bit of experience in knowing what our members want, a bit of an art in wanting different colors, textures and flavors, and a bit of forecasting in predicting what the weather will be like for the next week.
This week’s activities
Last week was a productive week on the farm. We got the weeding done on the fall carrots, tomatoes, peppers, melons and eggplant. In addition, we were able to get all of our indeterminate tomatoes as well as cucumbers trellised. We also spent Saturday doing our final transplanting of cabbages, broccoli, cauliflower, chard and other items that will be ready to harvest into September. There were roughly 20 beds of (each 3 rows, 250’ long) that were planted on Saturday and Monday. In addition to these activities, we spent many of our days harvesting. Our share members receive the bulk of what Ploughshare Farm grows. In addition, we realize that there is only so much of items such as beets, kale, lettuce, etc that can fit in our member’s boxes or that our members would actually want on a weekly basis. Plus we grow roughly 20 percent more vegetables than our 300 member CSA calls for. Because of this, Ploughshare Farm works with the Emergency Foodshelf Network to provide fresh vegetables for those that would otherwise be unable to afford it. This week for instance, we sent down over 900 lbs of food to EFN including kales, lettuces, and Napa cabbage. Part of the funding that makes this possible comes through share members who have donated to the “Harvest for the Hungry” Program. Included below is additional information about the program and a link to our website where you can donate.
Donate to Harvest for the Hungry
Harvest for the Hungry is a partnership with community supported agriculture (CSA) farms to provide fresh, locally-grown produce to Minnesota households facing hunger. We are asking donors and CSA members to help us purchase produce from Minnesota and Western Wisconsin farmers for local hunger relief. When contributing to Harvest for the Hungry, you support local growers and help us deliver fresh nutritious foods to the tables of hungry families who cannot often afford the luxury of fresh, locally-grown produce.
All produce collected through the Harvest for the Hungry program will be delivered to our network of food shelves, on-site meal programs and hunger relief agencies for free.
You can donate online at: http://ploughsharefarm.com/store/315
Storage and Frozen Shares:
Now is the season that we are making plans for our Storage Share and (you can also order a frozen share as well). Talk to most anyone who received a Storage Share in previous seasons and they will tell you what a great bargain these shares are. You get a significant amount of produce for a very good value.
Email me directly in order to order a share. gjbrever@midwestinfo.net
Fall Storage Share
This share will supply all the fall storage vegetables that your family will need for the months of October, November and December. We will deliver these shares October 15th, November 12th and December 10th. Each delivery will include 50-75 pounds of produce including potatoes, of carrots, onions, winter squash, cabbage, kale leeks, daikon radishes, beets, celeriac, rutabaga, turnips, brussels sprouts, garlic, and pie pumpkins. These shares are a great option for saving money on meals especially during the holiday seasons. Most of these vegetables keep very well just in a heated garage (just above freezing) or a cool basement.
The price for the fall share is:
$278 for metro members
$231.75 for rural site members
There is a 3% discount for paying by check (use coupon code 4565)
Facebook
Reminder: Ploughshare Farm is on Facebook. Become a “Fan” of Ploughshare Farm by going here.
It’s a great way to catch additional pictures of the farm and the crew. We also list the vegetables (approximately) you will be receiving on the Monday before delivery. Suggest to your friends to become fans as well so that together we can help promote Ploughshare Farm.
Cookbooks
We highly recommend the cookbook, "From Asparagus to Zucchini" put out by the Madison Area CSA Coalition. It gives essential tips on how to use many of the typical vegetables you will be receiving in our CSA. I have gone ahead and ordered 75 of these books (even though only 30 of you bought one in advance). I hope they will be in for the next delivery. Go to our website to order online and receive yours. : http://www.ploughsharefarm.com/store/312 $18). At that time we will submit our order to the publisher and should receive copies in early July.
T-Shirts
We would like to get another order of Ploughshare Farm T-shirts. You can preorder your shirt at http://www.ploughsharefarm.com/store/312
Show the world that you are a Ploughshare CSA Member with this originally designed T-shirt. Made with Certified Organic cotton.
On the front: Ploughshare Logo
On th
e back: The act of putting into your mouth what the Earth has grown is perhaps your most direct interaction with the Earth." Francis Moore Lappe (Author of "Diet for a Small Planet")
From the interns...
In the great Kurosawa film, The Seven Samurai, “granddad” is the wisest man in the peasant village. When the frightened farmers ask him what they should do about the recent bandit raids, voicing their concerns about making tribute payments of grain and their eldest daughters, the old man cuts them off by saying “We’ll Fight!”. He tells them to find hungry samurai who will defend the peasants for no other payment than the food to feed their sword arms. They find seven. I am one of the seven this year at Ploughshare. And a CSA, like a peasant village in feudal Japan, has much to fear. There is the always certain uncertainty of weather, the threat of too little rain, too much rain, crop destroying winds and hail, below freezing temperatures, the organic foods market, and even bandits (we call them potato beetles). This morning looking out the window of the leaky trailer which I have called home since April, I saw the straight line winds blow rain across the barnyard and push the trees, raking leaves from their branches. But even in the wind and the rain I saw people. Running scared, yes, but going out to face the terror of the winds. They were my fellow samurai farmers, racing from one farm building to the next, gathering their rain gear, preparing for another day of harvest, fearful of the weather, the rain, the warnings of tornadoes, but planting each footstep on the earth, into the mud, each footstep a young cauliflower, always growing, despite all terror the heavens might try to smash it with, because it must grow. This is the way of the samurai farmer. To cling to the earth, and to fight.
- Max
Cabbage
This week you will find a head of savoy, green or red cabbage. Savoy has crinkly light green leaves and a mild flavor and the smooth-leaf green and red variations offer a more pronounced flavor. Regardless of which variation you received, keep your cabbage in the fridge and it wi
ll last for a couple of weeks. To prepare, remove the outer leaves and cut away the core. Rating it raw in salads is great as is a light stir fry, sauté or braise.
Use your cilantro this week to create the delicious cabbage slaw from the Madison Area Community Supported Agriculture Coalition cookbook:
1 head cabbage, cored and quartered, sliced thin by hand or processor
1 pound carrot, peeled and chopped
1 bunch cilantro, chopped
1/3 cup apple cider vinegar
2 Tablespoons salt
1 Tablespoon ancho chili powder
Toss all ingredients, let stand for 1 hour, toss again and serve as garnish for tacos, side dish for sandwiches or as a picnic salad.
Cauliflower
Providing us with valuable protein and minerals as well as vitamins A, B, C and E, the immature flower buds of the cauliflower give our whole system a healthy boost. Nutrients can be lost a bit with cooking, especially overcooking, so enjoy this tasty vague raw or lightly steamed, braised, glazed or roasted. Keep your cauliflower in the fridge loosely wrapped in plastic and use it up within a week or so.
To prepare, take off the outer leaves and if you like, separate the florets by cutting the florets from the core at the base. When cooking your cauliflower, only cook until tender enough to pierce with a knife. A simple steamed cauliflower tossed with some butter, olive oil, and/or lemon juice is as easy as it is delicious. Or for a really special addition to your cauliflower, try sautéing over medium heat: 1/4 c olive oil, a few chopped anchovy filets (or more if you love them), minced garlic, and some red pepper flakes. After about 5 minutes the anchovies will start to break up. Add steamed cauliflower (slightly underdone) and turn up the heat to high and cook a few minutes more until the cauliflower is coated with oil and heated all the way through. (From Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything)
Cilantro
One of the most distinctive herbs, is a member of the carrot family and is actually the leaves of the coriander plant. Used widely in Mexican, Carribean and Asian cooking, these leaves add a fresh and delicious dimension to cooked and raw foods. Unless of course you are one of the unlucky few for whom cilantro has a soapy taste. The belief is that these people have a genetic variation in the taste perception gene.
But for the rest of us, fresh cilantro is fantastic. Use it to make guacamole, top soups, tacos, salads, anything you can think of. For a simple and delicious guacamole, mash several avocados with a fork, add chopped cilantro, a small red onion and a squeeze of lime juice. Eat on chips, veggies, burgers, or just with a spoon.
Addional Recipes
Kelibasa and Cabbage
Ratatouille
Margharita Pizza
Sauteed Kale
Reminder: Ploughshare Farm is on Facebook. Become a “Fan” of Ploughshare Farm by going here. It’s a great way to catch additional pictures of the farm and the crew. We also list the vegetables (approximately) you will be receiving on the Monday before delivery. Suggest to your friends to become fans as well so that together we can help promote Ploughshare Farm.
Cookbooks
We highly recommend the cookbook, "From Asparagus to Zucchini" put out by the Madison Area CSA Coalition. It gives essential tips on how to use many of the typical vegetables you will be receiving in our CSA. I have gone ahead and ordered 75 of these books (even though only 30 of you bought one in advance). I hope they will be in for the next delivery. Go to our website to order online and receive yours. : http://www.ploughsharefarm.com/store/312 $18). At that time we will submit our order to the publisher and should receive copies in early July.T-Shirts
We would like to get another order of Ploughshare Farm T-shirts. You can preorder your shirt at http://www.ploughsharefarm.com/store/312Show the world that you are a Ploughshare CSA Member with this originally designed T-shirt. Made with Certified Organic cotton.
On the front: Ploughshare Logo
On th
e back: The act of putting into your mouth what the Earth has grown is perhaps your most direct interaction with the Earth." Francis Moore Lappe (Author of "Diet for a Small Planet")From the interns...
In the great Kurosawa film, The Seven Samurai, “granddad” is the wisest man in the peasant village. When the frightened farmers ask him what they should do about the recent bandit raids, voicing their concerns about making tribute payments of grain and their eldest daughters, the old man cuts them off by saying “We’ll Fight!”. He tells them to find hungry samurai who will defend the peasants for no other payment than the food to feed their sword arms. They find seven. I am one of the seven this year at Ploughshare. And a CSA, like a peasant village in feudal Japan, has much to fear. There is the always certain uncertainty of weather, the threat of too little rain, too much rain, crop destroying winds and hail, below freezing temperatures, the organic foods market, and even bandits (we call them potato beetles). This morning looking out the window of the leaky trailer which I have called home since April, I saw the straight line winds blow rain across the barnyard and push the trees, raking leaves from their branches. But even in the wind and the rain I saw people. Running scared, yes, but going out to face the terror of the winds. They were my fellow samurai farmers, racing from one farm building to the next, gathering their rain gear, preparing for another day of harvest, fearful of the weather, the rain, the warnings of tornadoes, but planting each footstep on the earth, into the mud, each footstep a young cauliflower, always growing, despite all terror the heavens might try to smash it with, because it must grow. This is the way of the samurai farmer. To cling to the earth, and to fight.- Max
Cabbage
This week you will find a head of savoy, green or red cabbage. Savoy has crinkly light green leaves and a mild flavor and the smooth-leaf green and red variations offer a more pronounced flavor. Regardless of which variation you received, keep your cabbage in the fridge and it wi
ll last for a couple of weeks. To prepare, remove the outer leaves and cut away the core. Rating it raw in salads is great as is a light stir fry, sauté or braise.Use your cilantro this week to create the delicious cabbage slaw from the Madison Area Community Supported Agriculture Coalition cookbook:
1 head cabbage, cored and quartered, sliced thin by hand or processor
1 pound carrot, peeled and chopped
1 bunch cilantro, chopped
1/3 cup apple cider vinegar
2 Tablespoons salt
1 Tablespoon ancho chili powder
Toss all ingredients, let stand for 1 hour, toss again and serve as garnish for tacos, side dish for sandwiches or as a picnic salad.
Cauliflower
Providing us with valuable protein and minerals as well as vitamins A, B, C and E, the immature flower buds of the cauliflower give our whole system a healthy boost. Nutrients can be lost a bit with cooking, especially overcooking, so enjoy this tasty vague raw or lightly steamed, braised, glazed or roasted. Keep your cauliflower in the fridge loosely wrapped in plastic and use it up within a week or so.To prepare, take off the outer leaves and if you like, separate the florets by cutting the florets from the core at the base. When cooking your cauliflower, only cook until tender enough to pierce with a knife. A simple steamed cauliflower tossed with some butter, olive oil, and/or lemon juice is as easy as it is delicious. Or for a really special addition to your cauliflower, try sautéing over medium heat: 1/4 c olive oil, a few chopped anchovy filets (or more if you love them), minced garlic, and some red pepper flakes. After about 5 minutes the anchovies will start to break up. Add steamed cauliflower (slightly underdone) and turn up the heat to high and cook a few minutes more until the cauliflower is coated with oil and heated all the way through. (From Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything)
Cilantro
One of the most distinctive herbs, is a member of the carrot family and is actually the leaves of the coriander plant. Used widely in Mexican, Carribean and Asian cooking, these leaves add a fresh and delicious dimension to cooked and raw foods. Unless of course you are one of the unlucky few for whom cilantro has a soapy taste. The belief is that these people have a genetic variation in the taste perception gene.But for the rest of us, fresh cilantro is fantastic. Use it to make guacamole, top soups, tacos, salads, anything you can think of. For a simple and delicious guacamole, mash several avocados with a fork, add chopped cilantro, a small red onion and a squeeze of lime juice. Eat on chips, veggies, burgers, or just with a spoon.
Addional Recipes
Kelibasa and Cabbage
Ratatouille
Margharita Pizza
Sauteed Kale
I am so proud of the work (and I know it is a lot of work) that is being done at Ploughshare Farm......
You are touching so many lives by the work you are doing and the wonderful organic vegetables you are producing......
Keep up the good work!!
Peace N Love Jeanie
Wondering about the box - do we return for re-use?