Hints at Autumn
As we near the conclusion of summer and its abundance, some items become rarer and rarer, less and less plentiful. Our supply is shifting but this week, we will continue to provide many of our summer regulars, with some hints at autumn.
Cherry Tomatoes, Heirloom Tomatoes (dwindling supply), Zephyr bicolor summer squash, Mild Peppers (Bells, Carmens, and/or Shishitos), Hot Peppers (Jalapeno, Anaheim, Hungarian Hot Wax), Cucumbers, Red Okra, fresh Delicata squash, Herbs as available (basil, oregano, sage), Eggs, and Flowers.
Last week, we spoke about the anxiety we feel as we move from summer to fall crop varieties. “Is our timing going to work?” “Will we have enough?” “Will there be a serious lull in production?” “Will our shareholders be disappointed?”
We’re new to farming at such a scale, but we understand that anxiety, uncertainty, risk, worry are certainly not uncommon emotions for farmers, conventional or otherwise. With so much traditionally out of your control, it takes acceptance and compromise and of course, faith. As CSA-based market gardeners, we have a significant advantage that many traditional or conventional farmers don’t have.
It’s not crop insurance, heavy machinery, or automated reaping and sowing technology. It’s not easily-applied pesticides, herbicides, or potent synthetic fertilizers. No doubt these tools make farmers’ lives easier, provide greater control, peace of mind for many, and a veneer of crop health. But we’ve chosen to approach our project the hard way with the significant advantage being the support of our generous and gracious shareholders.
Some folks joined the CSA to promote organic and sustainable practices. Some folks simply wanted to know their growers personally. For some, the closeness and transparency is essential to feeling confident about what they eat. Some joined to support friends. Some supported our project for all the reasons above.
We try to be transparent. It’s easy when we get to celebrate a healthy crop like our spring beets, carrots, and broccoli or our summer sweet peppers. It’s uncomfortable to admit our failures when we lack supply, plan poorly, experience a hardship, or simply make mistakes.
Conventional farmers often have modern, sometimes destructive, technology to clean up these messes and realign their confidence. We have the grace and patience of our supportive community. It has been a special, emotional experience for us and we are so thankful for all of you.
After the harvest moon, when our growing season truly concludes. We’ll be able to take a breath and reflect wholly on what went well and what went poorly. We’ll be able to evaluate our successes and failures and makes plans for ideal success in future seasons. We will be able to plan wisely based on some obvious lessons learned this season: don’t plant so many hot peppers, be wary of herbicide contamination, take irrigation and weed control more seriously, don’t underestimate sweet corn.
This week, we’ll finally have ripe Delicata squash to distribute. This may be our favorite squash variety. As we’ve mentioned before, it’s a sort of summer/winter squash hybrid. It can be eaten fresh out of the field, rind and all. It can be cured and stored like a winter squash. Our Delicatas this week are uncured, and should be eaten fresh like a summer Zucchini or Yellow Squashes.
Our basic, common preparation goes as follows:
Slice the top stem and bottom off the squash.
Split the squash in half vertically and scoop out the seeds.
Cut half inch slices horizontally.
Oil & lightly salt the slices & an oven pan.
Oven at 400-425
Bake 20-30 minutes, flipping halfway.
Let us know what you think!
Despite how hot it has been, egg production has been steady and we are happy to provide everyone with their requested amount of fresh tasty eggs this week!
Continue to share with us your recipes! This week we had enough of a surplus to enjoy a tomato, pepper, onion & egg frittata for Saturday brunch.
For those who have expressed interest in wholesale meat shares, we will begin processing this week. We’ve had some conversations with a few individuals personally but if you’re interested in purchasing a whole share for your freezer, please let us know in response to this email or face to face during pickups or deliveries.
We don’t know that there is local protein available that matches our quality: grass fed, pastured, rotationally grazed, individually named, Morckel Meadows born and raised, without hormones, without antibiotics, completely non-medicated, all natural.
Thanks again friends. Stay cool.
Erin & David