Hello Members! (Click on continue reading to see whole newsletter)
This past week on the farm, we have seen much cooler weather and soon will transition to fall crops. This week in the box you will see winter squash! And radishes make their return. In the coming weeks, you will see fall crops like rutabaga, leeks and turnips, spinach, pac choi and brussels sprouts. The tomatoes and peppers are still holding on and you will see more sweet red peppers in the coming weeks.
On a sad note, our potatoes are a wash this year entirely. It is not often we have to pull the CSA risk card, but there was a perfect storm of untimely weather, leaf hoppers, Potato Beetles, blight and missed cultivation due to excessive June rains that we will personally have to buy potatoes this year if we want to eat them through the winter. This is a pretty hard pill for us to swallow as potatoes have always been one of our biggest crops both to grow, wholesale, put in CSA boxes and to eat. It's what cashflows our labor bills in the winter and keeps us in the markets year round. We have put in many hours and many thousands of dollars into a crop that is a 100% loss, but vegetables are not subsidized so we will see no income from them this year at all. So, all that is to say that you will not be seeing potatoes in your boxes this year. We are very sorry. It's not often we have a large crop like this go so sideways.
Other than that, pretty much all the fall crops are looking really great. They seem to like the rain, but are growing a bit slow due to the very cool nights and cool days. We just planted out last succession of lettuce out and hope to see that in the last box or the first fall boxes.
Please mark your calendars for our Annual Harvest Party and Pig Roast Saturday, October 5th
3 pm- late
Potluck, bonfire, pig roast, wagon rides, pumpkin picking, self-guided tours of animals and fields, apple cider pressing and The Beez Kneez honey demo!
We hope you and your family can make it out! Please RSVP by emailing us at blackbrook.farm.llc@gmail.com
You can always just show up, but it is nice to get an idea of how many people to expect!
As always, here are a few things for you to remember about the CSA and the boxes:
If you ordered meat, PLEASE RETURN YOUR FOIL PACKS TO US!
PLEASE RETURN YOUR BOXES ASAP! WE ARE RUNNING OUT, WHICH MEANS FOLKS AREN'T RETURNING THEIR BOXES!
ALWAYS take the box with your name on it that is from BLACKBROOK FARM! If someone is picking your box up for you, please tell them to take the box with your name on it from BLACKBROOK FARM! This is very important.
IF you can't pick your box up on THURSDAY, please communicate with me about this so I can arrange for it to be kept at the dropsite instead of donated or used.
Please return your box either the same week (bring a bag to empty your veggies into) or the following time you pick up your box. Please collapse your box and neatly stack it or put it where the other boxes are.
If you are half share, your box is delivery every other week ( unless you have rearranged your schedule with Harvie). Please remember to check if this is your week or not. Full shares are delivery every week. When your box is delivered on Thursday, a delivery email is sent out. EVERY one at that dropsite gets that email, even if you do not get a box that week. So it is important for you to know which weeks you pick up. Please email me with questions. Here is information on how to access when and where to pick up your box
We also have 100% pastured Pork extras for SALE! If you order pork from us in your share we put it in a foil pack very frozen and deliver it to you in your box. It will either be partially frozen or very very cold when you receive it. We also have Pastured Pork Packages for sale that we home deliver to your door. This is a great way to load up on all the cuts of a hog and get your good healthy fats! You can find our sign up share for that on our website or our Harvie site under shares. Let us know if you have any questions! Raising animals is a large part of what we do at Blackbrook Farm! You can also buy Pork Shares from us and we do free home delivery! This is a one-time share that you can sign up for anytime, and the price a little reduced depending on the size of the share you choose.
This is what may be in your box this week:
Tomatoes- The field tomatoes are petering out now, but the hoophouse tomatoes are still going strong. We expect for you to still get tomatoes almost until the end of CSA, even if just a few.
Cherry Tomatoes- So Sweet! Try with your salad greens or arugula, sliced onions, maybe roasted squash, goat cheese and Maple mustard Vinaigrette
Peppers, colorful- Peppers are turning more and more with each week. They get much sweeter when they are orange or red. Keep in a plastic bag in the fridge.
Sweet Corn (last week and less of it)- Just a couple/few ears for you this week. I hope you were able to try all sorts of ways to eat sweet corn! Or froze some of it. Until next year!
Melon (cantaloupe or watermelon) half shares- We wanted to make sure every member got 2 weeks of melons, so half shares this week get melons. Either a Cantaloupe or a Watermelon. Enjoy. They should all be ripe and ready to eat. Keep refrigerate at this point.
Pie Pumpkin Full shares- Usually right around Labor day we put a pie pumpkin in the box to signal the start of a new season. Pie pumpkin look great as a centerpiece but they also are lovely in a pie!!!
From Scratch pumpkin Pie! It's easy !!
Yellow Onions- Nice storage onions for you this week. Keep on the counter as these are not "cured" meaning their skins are dried and will hold for months.
Bulk Beets- half shares- A couple/few for you this week. You might get a mix of golden and red beets or just red beets. Roasted in a salad with the maple mustard dressing, beets are really good!
Roasted Squash and Beet Feta and Chickpea Salad
Roasted Acorn Squash and Beet Salad
Carrots- Full shares- Still as sweet as ever. Great raosted, too!
Orange Brown Butter Roasted Carrots with Sage
Thelma Sanders Acorn Squash- It's that time of year! These will store well, but why not cut in half and then in half moons, toss with plenty of olive oil and maple syrup and salt and roast until gooey and golden brown?! The best!
Parsley half shares- In general, we've had a tough herb year! We are glad we are able to provide you with this parsley once more! Enjoy!
sage full shares- Sage is such a great fall herb. We love to use it generously with roasted vegetables. you can hang to dry it, too, and then store in an airtight container for the winter.
Radishes- radishes are back! These are so crisp and fresh this time of year. Top them and store in a plastic bag. Slice thinly to put on a salad or top a piece of buttered and salted toast!
Arugula bagged half shares- I absolutely love an arugula salad, as long as you have a dressing that can balance it out with salt and sweet. Try the above recipe and add any roasted vegetable and cheese to it!
Spring mix full shares-We've also struggled to get salad mix into the box this year. We will hopefully have another week of this near the end of CSA. This mix looks really nice and fresh this week! keeps for 2 weeks in plastic bag. Double washed but we always recommend washing again!
Green Curly Kale- We recently got an email from a member asking for kale! we try to avoid putting it in the box more than like 3 -4 times since we know although lots of folks like it, lots don't! Try it heavily massaged with a good oil and vinegar dressing. Or with a soy/sesame oil/vinegar and tossed with sunflower seeds and goat cheese! Kale can be really good!
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so many tomatoes and this is just the hoophouse tomatoes!
Tacter!
We have Pastured Pork for sale 15,30,60 and 120 lbs packages! Email us for questions or if you are interested! or Check out our website and sign up info HERE!!!!!
Have a great week!
Ayla, James, Ronia, Edwin and the Crew
