Hello CSA members!
This is the last week for the 2021 CSA season. It’s bittersweet for me because it’s been so much work putting so much thought, heart, time and energy into it every day since February. There is still much to do at the farm over the next few months but less hours will definitely be welcome because pushing so hard all season takes a toll on the body. So as the days shorten and nights cool, and things grow slower now I will pace myself through fall cleanup and do some every day along with the harvesting and markets continuing through October and even Mid November for Dane County Farmers Market. If you all need any veggies come see me at the market stands! Soon I will update the website to add sign up for next season and I will let you all know when that is ready. Besides the clean up of the fields there will be some major work going on for structures coming down and making room for the farm to transform into an even more productive small farm in the future. This last week was dry again and we have gotten almost no rain this year. Today there is a light sprinkle going on but man has it been a long, hot and dry season. Probably the driest and hottest I’ve ever seen with the exception of 2012. Never the less this last week of CSA we have a lot of stuff for you including a lot of peppers! (https://basicbluesnation.com) They have been loving the heat and are pretty much in their prime this week. Here is the crop list for the last shares.
Cherry Tomatoes: These are going strong thanks to the new greenhouse I finished a couple years ago now. In the past our outdoor cherry tomatoes would pitter out in early August usually to disease or end up tasting watered down so this give us up to two extra months of cherry tomatoes to enjoy and much better quality.
Curly Kale: The green that keeps on giving this year, our curly kale is packed with protein and great fried or baked into kale chips or sautéed in sir fries or pasta dishes.
Garlic: Our garlic is savory and well cured and good for fighting bad cholesterol and seasonal colds. Last night I grilled some whole on the grill until it got nice and soft with peppers and chicken.
Pea Shoots: Our staple salad green and micro green around here, these are great for salads, sandwiches, burgers, tacos or with eggs and avocado toast in the AM!
Jalapeno: These chili peppers are good for adding spice to almost any dish. Be careful cooking with them as the oils can burn fingers and things so again I usually wear a disposable glove when cooking with theses or a separate knife and cutting board can help.
Shishito pepper: These mild japanese chile peppers are best when they are seared in some oil until they are well browned and add some sea salt to them for a great flavorful side dish. They are good on homemade burgers, pizza, or tacos too!
Sweet Peppers: A mix of bell peppers and Italian frying peppers will be in the shares this week. As many as we can muster.
Aja Rico and Rio De Oro Chile peppers: The first of these red chili peppers is the Aji Rico which have a slightly wrinkled look and are thin walled and very fruity and tasty, the Rio De Oro is cone shaped with thicker walls and both have some heat raw but when cooked they are pretty mild so they are great to use raw in fresh pico or you can cook with them to spice up your stir fries or other dishes with a reasonable amount of heat and lots of good flavor.
Summer Squash/ zucchini: Either or this week with some yellow squash or zucchini just cause we have it and its’ good with everything. I really like to grill spears of it and brush it with teriyaki sauce.
Thats our crop list for this week folks! I am completely out of employees for the year, its been harder than usual to keep help this year which a lot of employers are having issues with but its the end of the season so i’ll just do the best I can with clean up and the final weeks of markets. I may have to eliminate shishitos out if I don’t have time to get all the work done or on the brighter side if I have time and there is enough eggplant I will add that to shares so hopefully we will have shishitos and eggplant in there. I may also add poblanos but I haven’t harvested them this week yet but if there are enough I will add those too! I hope everyone enjoys the shares and stays safe out there this fall and winter. Thank you for being CSA members this season. It’s been a pleasure to grow for you and feels great to feed the community and have you all as part of it and i’m thankful for you all! We had a great strawberry and tomato season this year despite the dryness and I hope you all enjoyed everything. Thanks again and I’ll let you all know when the next season sign up is open. -Kyle
