Shifting Seasons: Summer CSA ’11 – Week 12
Has it happened to you yet, where you look out the window to see the sun setting WAY earlier than you feel like it should? This happens to me every year. Even though things so subtly change – the shortening of the days, the yellowing of the hillsides, the change over of crops ” sometimes they just hit me and feel so sudden.
It’s dark now when I pack the truck for market on Saturday mornings. The cucurbit field (where the zucchini, cucumber, and melons are grown) is no longer green and bushy. It’s been mostly tilled in and seeded with oats as a cover crop. Today we finished the last greenhouse seeding ” crossed off the last item on the last page of the 2011 greenhouse seeding calendar. Douglas wore a wool hat this morning. Weeding is almost a distant memory. Our barn floor is covered with onions that are curing, to be stored through next spring. Apples are falling from the tree at the Pioneer fields. And did I mention Douglas wore a wool hat this morning?
I welcome the change. Autumn in my mind is a deliciously beautiful and cozy time of year. As a student and then teacher, the school year always added to this time a feeling of possibility and opportunity. Now, as a farmer, autumn still carries all those traditional associations for me, but it also carries new ones. It’s a slower time of year. There is still much work to do, but the insane pulse, throb and push of growth begins to wane. We get to pull back on the throttle a bit and add more things to the social calendar. Autumn to me as a farmer also means delicious meals. There’s no better time of year to eat in Wisconsin than after the high heat and before the first frost.
In your box this week you will receive the last of the melon and the last of the sweet corn. You’ll get 8 ears of corn, though some of them will be small. You will each receive a bag of tomatoes, about 3 pounds each. Most will be red slicers, but you may receive one or two heirlooms. These are the stranger looking, harder to grow, but much tastier ones. Only some drop sites/types will get sungolds. I have a master tally sheet that ensures that everyone receives them in equal measure. Beets will be a choice option this week. We harvested enough for each member to get 1 beet. If you don’t want your beet, please take it from the choice box and but it in the swap box. That way the beet lovers out there can make sure they don’t go to waste.
With all this talk and thinking about the end of summer, I feel it’s a good time to mention our winter shares. We are still accepting registrations for these shares. The winter share is either 2 ($120) or 4 ($225) large boxes of storage vegetables. We deliver to the same sites as we do for the summer, and it’s a great way to keep on eating local and supporting your local farmer through the colder months. You can learn more about our winter share by clicking here and you can download a registration form here.
Have a great week & enjoy your veggies! Sincerely, Mike, Cassie, & Zea
In the Box:
- Beets (CHOICE BOX)
- Broccoli – EOs
- Cucumbers
- Green Beans ” REGs
- Garlic
- Hot Wax Pepper
- Leeks – EOs
- Muskmelon
- Onion, Sweet
- Potatoes – EOs
- Sweet Corn
- Tomatoes, Red Cherry “ EOs
- Tomatoes ” Sungolds – Various
- Tomatoes, Slicers & Heirlooms
- Watermelon – REGs
- Zucchini
REGs = Regular members only
EOs = Everyother members only
This Week’s Recipes:
Summer Week 12 – Wednesday, August 24th: Everyother Group B
