Category Archives: csa

In the Share: Week 7 extended season

November 16, 2016csa, sweet potatoesFarmer Rebecca

SWEET POTATOES orange-fleshed Beauregards

LETTUCE MIX More mix from the fields

LEEKS

SWISS CHARD

ARUGULA

SPINACH

BROCCOLI/GAI LAN

ROOT MIX A mix of radishes, turnips, beets and carrots

HERB CHOICE thyme, rosemary or dried herbs

NEXT WEEK: The 2016 CSA season is over.

FARM REPORT:

What a week! As I said in an email to the membership after the election, no one is going to build a better world for us. That is true no matter who is in the White House. We must work together to create a world that is just, fair and based on love and mutual respect. In our small way, these lofty goals were visible this past Sunday at the CSA meeting. Thanks to all who participated. For the full rundown on what transpired, check your email inbox. We appreciate everyone’s interest and support of our plans for sabbatical in 2017.

The end of the CSA season has arrived with the final shares to the extended season members. This usually is cause for bittersweet celebration at the farm. The first shares went out in mid-April, almost 7 months ago. Since then we have been on a weekly CSA schedule that is relentless. Until now. We are looking forward to the winter work of maintaining equipment, organizing the barns and planning for the year ahead.

In the Share: Week 24

October 19, 2016csa, high tunnel, lettuceFarmer Rebecca

LETTUCE F This hot weather is kicking the lettuce out of the high tunnel, where it would “normally” be cozy during frosty fall days. Instead, it is all going out in the next two weeks.

GREENS CHOICE F/P Kale, gailan, chard or arugula

BROCCOLI, CAULIFLOWER OR SPINACH F

BULB FENNEL F/P See Tom’s post for a bit more on this ferny bulb.

SWEET POTATOES F2/P1 Full shares get some of each type, partial shares have to choose.

LEEKS F/P Potato-leek soup is the recipe on Tom’s post. yum.

RADISHES OR BEETS P

GARLIC F

HERB CHOICE F cilantro, dill or cutting celery.

NEXT WEEK: Regular season folks, you are on your own. Extended seasoners: lettuce, greens, hakurei turnips, bok choy, sweet potatoes.

FARM REPORT:
We were just lightly nipped by the frost last week and most plants survived. Then summer came roaring back and sent the crops into a heady growth. The last couple of morning harvests have started with your farmers frowning at the exuberant green growth in the high tunnel. What can hold for the extended season and what needs to be picked now is the trouble. Perhaps this warm weather will have us eating peppers in November.

We began deconstructing the summer crops this past weekend. There is a long way to go to clean up the fields and prepare them for the winter. All are welcome any Wednesday or Saturday mornings to join in the work from now until Thanksgiving.

In the Share: Week 4

June 1, 2016csa, mulching, potatoes, sugar snap peas, tomatoes, weedingFarmer Rebecca

SUGARSNAP PEAS F/P It is hard to judge how many will be ripe when we pick them with the CSA tomorrow, but the plants are loaded with fruit. We will try to get some to everyone on Weds. By Saturday and next week we should have lots more.

SPECKLED ROMAINE LETTUCE F/P A lovely tender romaine heirloom that has a tendency to burn out in the heat. Lucky for us it has headed up nicely for this week’s shares only.

BUTTERHEAD LETTUCE F Smaller heads this week, the butterhead season is about done. We have more red leaf lettuce and green romaines that will hopefully keep us in salads through June.

BROCCOLI F/P Bunches include standard broccoli and it’s cousin, gai lan. I hear broccoli leaves are the new kale.

SWISS CHARD F

TATSOI OR KALE P

TURNIPS AND RADISHES F/P The first of the spring roots have taken their time, but they have turned out to be a nice intro to the root harvest.

GREEN ONIONS OR GREEN GARLIC OR GARLIC SCAPES F

HERB MIX F/P Dill, herb fennel, parsley and cutting celery. See Tom’s post on herb identification.

BOK CHOY F Our white-stemmed varieties are growing handsomely. If you haven’t yet stir-fried, I recommend the finished product. Tom’s making one with tatsoi and green onions right now.

NEXT WEEK: Lettuce, peas, turnips, greens, kohlrabi, beets and herbs.

FARM REPORT:

May is a make-or-break month. If you get the plants in and the weather holds, it sets you up for a good summer. If it storms and rains and stymies your planting schedule, you are in for a rough ride. Last year’s 30+ inches of rain in the months of May and June gave us fits.

happy potato plants

This May was actually really great. We received a nice amount of rain, but not too much.

The CSA crew on Saturday helped us with mulching our other big block of tomatoes and peppers. It is a messy job, but it pays off in cherry tomatoes so totally worth it.

In the Share – Week 24

October 21, 2015csa, outstanding in the field, peppersFarmer Rebecca

SWEET PEPPERS F/P Everyone gets a bag from the last haul out of the fields.

LETTUCE F/P butterhead or red leaf

ESCAROLE F See Tom’s post about it and it’s starring role in the Outstanding in the Field dinner.

GREENS CHOICE F/P Gai lan or bok choy. The choice for the partial shares include escarole.

ROOT MIX F A bag of beets, carrots, turnips and whatever else we can glean from the fields tomorrow.

HERB CHOICE F/P hot peppers, chives, thyme, sage or dill.

GARLIC F We had more garlic than we thought, so here’s an extra dose. It should keep well into winter if kept cool and dry.

TOMATOES F A mixture of ripe, ripening and green tomatoes. The last of the season.

BROCCOLI P We have a small harvest this week, just enough for the partial shares.

SWEET POTATOES F/P choice of white or orange.

NEXT WEEK: The fall extended season begins with harvests from the high tunnel: lettuce, greens and roots plus some items held over like potatoes and onions.

FARM REPORT:
This week your farmers got a off-farm break for the first time since March. The Outstanding in the Field dinner started the fun on Wednesday.

Linda Hezel, from Prairie Birthday farm, began with a toast.

By Saturday afternoon, we were driving south to Fort Scott, one of our nation’s military outposts on “the permanent Indian frontier” as it was considered to be back in 1842.

Heading home on Monday we hiked through the tallgrass prairie at the Mine Creek Civil War battle site near Pleasanton, Kansas.

Now here it is Tuesday and we are faced with the last week of the 24-week CSA season. For many this is goodbye for the year. A hearty hug of appreciation is sent to all of you who weathered 2015 with us! Community Supported Agriculture kept our farm afloat through pretty tough weather conditions this year and we cannot thank you all enough.

Despite a year’s worth of rain in two months and then no rain for two months, we have somehow managed to continue to find crops to harvest each week. From our varied crop list (about 40 in total) we lost many but were surprised by others that survived and even thrived. The carrots rotted but we had one of our best harvests of white potatoes ever – over a ton in total. The peppers, eggplant and okra rebounded from the rains and produced a bounty of fruits.

A special thanks go to Megan McQueen and Semra Fetahovic who apprenticed at the farm this season. They started back at the end of March and seven months later, 44 hours a week, they have successfully completed a job well done. Best wishes to them both!

And thank you to all who participated in the success of another season. To steal a phrase, it takes a community to raise a farm!!!

Saturday morning CSA members dismantling the cherry tomatoes

In the Share – Week 14

August 21, 2013beans, csa, flowers, watermelonFarmer Rebecca

MELONS (F/P) Full shares get the yellow-fleshed variety called Peace. Please don’t dismay at the color, it is our best melon year after year. The partial shares will get cantaloupe instead. We hope to switch the options next week as more fruits ripen in the fields.

TOMATOES (F/P) Another fine week in the tomato patch.

GREEN BEANS (F/P) The first tender picking of our late planting. You’ll have the choice of standard type or Roma flat-podded beans.

HERB CHOICE (F) Basil or hot peppers.

SUMMER SQUASH OR CUCUMBERS (F) A first sampling from the last planting of the season. Welcome back summer squash!

EGGPLANT (F/P) Just one or two this week.

SWEET PEPPERS (F/P)

ONIONS (F/P) Yellow onions this week.

SALSA PACK OR OKRA (P)

NEXT WEEK: More tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, beans and summer squash. Garlic and carrots return.

FARM REPORT:

It has been an eventful week, as it always is during the peak of the summer harvest. Friends and family have joined in the work and we have covered a lot of ground. On Saturday, the CSA members spruced up the low till beds in preparation for the Harvest dinner in September.

More folks are headed here tomorrow after answering the call for bean-pickers. Thanks to all who signed-up. We should have enough pickers to cover the 1400 feet we planted back in July. The plants are beautiful and covered with fruit and flowers.

Meanwhile, the laptop with the email program we use is down and so I’ll be brief and leave you with one of the many monstrous sunflowers towering next to the farm house.

In the Share – Week 11

July 31, 2013cover crops, csa, high tunnel, tomatillos, wash areaFarmer Rebecca

Tomatillos

SALSA PACK (F/P) The lovely tomatillo shines this time of year. Just add a tomato and chop it all up. Or roast it and it’s even better.

TOMATOES (F/P) More reds and pinks this week with a smattering of other colors.

CARROTS (F/P) Big, orange carrots out of cold storage.

GARLIC (F/P) The first garlic of the season: Musik, a hardneck type with big, juicy cloves.

SWEET PEPPERS (F/P) More sweet yellows and purples. Ripe red peppers are coming soon.

EGGPLANT (F/P) Lots more of these beauties. Check Tom’s posts for the past few weeks for recipes.

CHERRY TOMATOES (F) We will get some to the partial shares next week.

BEETS OR CUCUMBERS (F) The last of both for a while.

THAI BASIL, ITALIAN BASIL, SUMMER SAVORY OR HOT PEPPERS (F)

NEXT WEEK: more tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, and salsa packs. Potatoes and onions.

FARM REPORT: Rain at last. It had been about two months since the farm had any, so the 1.3 inches that fell on Monday was much appreciated. We got a lot of seeds and transplants in before it came so things are off to a good start for the fall.

flail-mowed sorghum Sudan grass

Tom mowed down the high tunnel’s cover crop of sorghum sudan grass and will soon incorporate it with the spader. The soil will get a month to digest its green dinner before we start planting in September.

During the summer harvest season we spend many hours in the wash and pack area. All of the remodeling we did this past winter is paying off with plenty of cold storage, tables for sorting and sinks for washing. It’s a pleasant place to be during the heat of the day or during a rain storm.

Rebecca and Lauren. Luke with Shawn and Monica. The Rouyers: David, Amelia and Frido.

What to Do With Your Share—Week 10

July 24, 2013community supported agriculture, csa, eggplant, fair share farm, summer pastaFarmer Rebecca

Right now we are in the midst of the best eggplant harvest we have seen on the farm. The fruit of this solenaceae beauty is quite captivating when you are lucky enough to be the picker. A bucket, and then a crate of all shades of purple achieves a level of visual stimulation that is not an everyday occurrence.

So we realize that it is eggplant season at Fair Share Farm like never before. We urge you to enjoy eggplant over the coming weeks. It is as perfect as we can grow it, and we do not know how fleeting it will be.

In last year’s survey 60% of the membership said that the amount of eggplant they received was just right, 12 percent said they wanted more, and 28% said they wanted less. We think the survey shows that we are serving a community of vegetable eaters, though 28% have other preferences.

To help the 28% we are working on some killer apps for eggplant. This fiber rich vegetable has more recipes for it than any other. For us, some of the best start with roasting the eggplant. So here is a primer on that step, and tonight’s recipe.

Roasting Eggplant
Last week’s eggplant meatballs is a good example where it is good to have some roasted eggplant on hand. So is baba ghanoush, or tonight’s Summer Pasta. Roasting is a great way to pre-cook eggplant so you can use it in a variety of dishes.

The instructions are simple:
Cut top from eggplant. Cut long eggplant lengthwise, round ones into 1/2 inch rounds. Brush with olive oil (seasonings optional), and roast in an oven for about 20 minutes at 450 degrees F, until eggplant is soft.

Summer Pasta
This dish is also simple.
Cook a pot of the pasta of your choice.
Roast some eggplant, let cool and chop coarsely.
Chop 1 to 2 tomatoes coarsely
Chop 3 to 4 tablespoons of basil.
Combine in a pan with some olive oil and cook until tomatoes are warm
Add pasta, toss. Season with salt and pepper.
Serve with fresh or grated cheese.

What to Do With Your Share—Week 4

June 12, 2013csa, strawberries, upick, wilted lettuce saladFarmer Rebecca

Week 4 already. We are nearing the blending of the spring and summer seasons. We are continuing our harvest of the spring crops and tending to the growing and flowering summer veggies. Right now is when we have a convergence of the pea, strawberry, lettuce and garlic scape harvests. It is an amazing combination to enjoy while it lasts. Summer can wait.

In the Fair Share Farm 2013 calendar the photo for June is of several recipes that may just have their ingredients in your fridge. The sugar snap pea salad, broccoli pasta salad, and Asian cole slaw are all good choices.

Another suggestion is an oft-used home-made dressing of ours, creamy garlic. So good and even tastier with a few strawberries thrown in.

To help you alleviate the lettuce bonanza you are experiencing we have a final suggestion, wilted lettuce salad. Like any green, lettuce can be cooked. It is actually one of the easier greens to cook, as it is difficult to under-cook, and it cooks quickly.

Wilted Lettuce Salad
1 large head of lettuce (we used a romaine)
3 green garlic or garlic scapes
3 hakurei turnips or 1/2 cup julienned kohlrabi
1 tbsp olive oil or butter

Dressing:
1 tbsp of honey or 2 tsp sugar
1/4 cup cider vinegar
1/4 cup olive or other salad oil
1 tsp salt

Trim the top off the lettuce if needed. Trim off the bottom and fan the leaves under water to rinse out any dirt.
Heat the olive oil in a skillet and add the chopped garlic and hakureis. Stir and saute for 3 minutes.
Coarsley chop the lettuce head (you only need 4 or 5 slices to chop it up) and add to the pan. Add the salt, stir and cook for 3 to 4 minutes.
Take the skillet off the heat, add the dressing and toss.
Serve with crushed nuts or dried fruit as a garnish.

Cover Cropping
Feeding the soil is a full-time job, and this week more work was done in that department. The plastic of the high tunnel was removed to give the soil a breath of fresh air, and some rain on its face. We think that the sorghum sudan grass and cowpeas we seeded will germinate well, and add some much needed organic matter to the soil.

Taking off the high tunnel plastic

Meanwhile, we took a few last looks at our yellow clover patches before flail mowing them today, in advance of spading them in. A legume, yellow clover provides nitrogen to the soil, and takes in other nutrients and minerals.

Lorne strolling through the clover

First CSA Pickup Delayed One Week

May 15, 2013community supported agriculture, csa, fair share farm, feed the soil feed the people, frost, strawberries, tranplantingFarmer Rebecca

First up, the 2013 Fair Share Farm CSA season will start next week on 5/22, not this week as originally anticipated. The exceptionally cool and wet Spring this year has slowed the growing process here at the farm dramatically. And, being 30 miles north of the city, we are even slower than all of you in the heat island of KC.

chickens moved to the field and pecking in the grass

But, things are growing, despite one last gasp of cold on Mother’s Day morning, when a frost visited the farm. While the forecast for the night was 39 degrees, we knew that a clear night can bring problems, so we covered all 1,300 feet of strawberry plants to protect their tender blossoms. By morning, with the tiny daggers of frost stabbing everywhere, we were happy that we learned our lesson in 2011 when similar conditions severely damaged the crop.

multiply by 1,300 feet to see why we are hopeful for a good strawberry year

Other plants had been uncovered last week and were presumed to be able to handle mid-May weather, but have been set back a little and are showing the signs of wear from Spring 2013. In particular, the 1,400 broccoli plants we planted and mulched are “buttoning up”, forming penny sized heads 3 to 4 weeks before there anticipated maturity. Peas have also struggled through things. And today we jump to 90 degrees.

mass of tomatoes at the greenhouse on Sunday awaiting transplanting

But we have many more plantings to go, and yesterday set 400 tomato plants in the ground, to go along with the 700+ pepper plants and 400 eggplant and 200 summer squash that were put in the ground today. We have three main plantings each year—Spring, Summer and Fall. So even if our early shares suffer a bit, we are starting anew with the 2013 Summer crops and are hoping for less griping about the weather.

planting tomatoes on Monday

transplanting peppers on Tuesday