Fall news (and lots of it!)

Last week was time for our big fall greens planting. Casey waited until the appropriate window opened in the biodynamic planting calendar and then went to work with the seeder on Friday afternoon sowing arugula, beets, turnips, fava beans, and more! These are all crops that will go into the winter as very small plants and then grow in the late winter or spring for cold season harvesting. We are planning and preparing for 2016 in so many ways!

When I say “Fall news,” I mean fall news. No waxing poetic about the seasons this week (although I certainly could easily after this glorious Autumnal Equinox day!) — I’ve got some nitty-gritty details to share with you so that we can all be on the same page at this point in the year.

Last week’s payment reminder apparently left a lot of people wondering when this year’s CSA season actually ends! So, first important news is a calendar of important upcoming dates:

• October 1 — Final CSA payment due (unless you made other plans with us) — I emailed out account statements last week that should contain your total due, but email or check in with me if you have any questions!
• Sunday, October 25, 2 – 4 pm — Pumpkin Patch CSA open house on the farm! More details to come in future newsletters.
• November 19 — Our final 2015 CSA pick-up! It is our hope that returning members will have committed to 2016 by this date. No worries — we’ll make it a really easy process for you. We’ll have a form at pick up where you can put your name and the number of items you want next year. If you miss the really-easy form at pick-up (or just need more time to decide), we’ll have a still-pretty-easy CSA sign-up form on our website that you can submit to us any time. (New members can use that one too!)
• Wednesday, November 25 — Thanksgiving Holiday Harvest! For those of you who are new to this tradition, just before Thanksgiving and Christmas, we offer an opportunity to place special orders for food (either just for your own storage/use or for your holiday meals!). We’ll email a list of available items several days beforehand, and you email us your order for pick-up on Wednesday at the storefront. More details to come. (Folks who have ordered turkeys can pick them up this Wednesday or at the farm on Monday, Nov. 23 after they are slaughtered.)
• Tuesday, December 22 — Christmas Holiday Harvest! Same idea as above (including Dec. turkey pick up). More details to come!
• January 1, 2016 — We will mail out our 2016 CSA confirmation materials and start taking payments for 2016 (hopefully returning members will have committed much earlier in 2015 so that we can be planning!).
• Thursday, January 14, 2016 — Our first 2016 CSA pick-up! Same time, same great location!

Next item of business: survey reminder! If you haven’t had a chance to take our very quick 2015 survey, you can do so now here. Thank you for your feedback! We appreciate knowing about your experience as we continue our never-ending goal of offering a superb local eating experience to our community!

Third item of business: meat! We only have two more months left in 2015, and we want to make sure that everyone gets access to the meat they want before we take our little winter break. We will continue to keep the freezer well stocked at pick up in that time, but we also have stewing hens available for order. We’re taking them to the butcher in early October (they will be available for pick up on October 8). We also have pork, lamb, and beef available for order as whole or half animal, providing you with a full range of cuts for your freezer. It takes us a few weeks to organize such details with our butchers, so if you are interested in that option, please start talking with us now! Also, we still have some turkeys available for order for Thanksgiving and Christmas! All of our animals are pasture-raised and fed only organic feed when supplement is needed! You can find out more information about meat and place orders on our website here (stewing hen orders can be placed with me at pick-up).

Finally, 2016 news! 2016 already got a mention a few times above. We’ve been planning for our next season for months now, of course. We have to in order to get the right seeds in the ground at the right time provide sweet things like winter squash. But now we’re close enough to see more details of that next season, and we feel really good about sticking with what has worked so well for us for years and years now: a 45 week-long season of delicious vegetables, where you choose you share size and choose your items each week. We love our storefront and will stay there. Even the price will remain the same!

You might wonder, will anything change in 2016? Of course! Each year has its own vagaries — its own joys, challenges, delights, and surprises. On your end, you’ll arrive at pick-up each week to find a diverse harvest of seasonal produce, with some fun new surprises thrown into the mix as we try new varieties. On our end, we’ll continue to do the good work of growing food with some big changes that we hope will help us engage the farm in our eleventh season with fresh energy, enthusiasm, vision and focus. I’ll write more about some of those changes in future newsletters, since they are worthy of more extensive and thoughtful elaboration. But suffice to say for now: we are excited about next year already! And, we are enjoying this fall immensely. More to come on all those good things. In the meantime, if you’re already ready to commit to 2016, I’ll have the easy-commitment clipboard at pick-up tomorrow ready for you. (I know! It’s early! Don’t worry if you’re not ready! I just know that some of you are!)

Thanks for reading all our news! Here’s a cute kid pic to reward you for your effort. End of summer fun!

That’s a lot of news for one newsletter! Thanks for reading it all! I hope you can absorb it all in one sitting (and I’ve kept it all as brief and concise as possible!). I’ll offer useful reminders of relevant notes as we go along, of course. But I wanted to provide plenty of stuff for those of you who like to plan ahead and see what’s coming!

And, this week there are vegetables to be eaten! Lots of beautiful fall vegetables. This season offers such a wide range of delights — the best of the warm and cold months. Just tonight we ate some of the last of this summer’s zucchini along with some of the first of the fall’s delicata winter squash. Enjoy this week’s vegetables!

Your farmers, Katie & Casey Kulla

Meet this week’s vegetables:

• Chehalis apples — When you’ve got farm kids around, they don’t just ask for an apple. They ask for very specific apples. Lately, Rusty has been requesting “Chehalis apples” when he wants a snack. They taste especially good with peanut butter.
• Asian pears
• Salad mix
• Peppers — This week we’ve got a mix of sweet, green and hot peppers! We’re coming into the season of sweet peppers, which are definitely a favorite fall crop around here.
• Sauce tomatoes
• Tomatillos — Lots!
• Basil
• Parsley
• Kale
• Chard
• Beets — I discovered my new favorite beet combination this week. I have mentioned many times how much our household loves roasted beets. And this year I’ve really perfected my preparation. I find that if I roast beets at too high of a temperature, the outside gets crispy before the insides are soft (beets seem to be a denser vegetable, requiring longer cooking times than many others). So lately I’ve been roasting slightly larger chunks (one or two-inch pieces) at a slightly lower temperature (375°) … with plenty of butter of course. They take quite a while to cook through and get crispy, and in that time I stir the pan several times to make sure the beets are cooking evenly and get thoroughly coated in the butter. When they are crispy outside and soft inside, they are ready! Now for the best part. Serve them with plain yogurt. I did this the other day, and it was absolutely divine. I mean, really truly amazing. The tangy yogurt paired perfectly with the sweet beets. I am hooked on this food combination.
• Carrots
• Potatoes
• Delicata winter squash — We have been eating delicata like crazy lately. If you’re new to these squash, they are a sweet winter squash with a tender edible skin, making them particularly well suited to cook methods that leave the skin on. My favorite preparation method right is to make delicata “rings.” I wash the squash and then slice them cross-wise into 3/4-inch wide ring shapes. I use a butterknife to gently scrape out the seeds and pulp from each ring, then place them on a baking sheet with butter. I roast them at 425°. Once the first side has turned crispy brown, I carefully flip each ring with tongs and then let the other side brown. At that point, they should be soft all the way through. I serve the rings whole on our plates, and we pick them up and eat them with our fingers. They really are like donuts.
• Spaghetti squash — See last week’s newsletter for info about how to cook these squash!
• Giant scallions — These may just be the biggest scallions you will ever see. You can use them raw, or chop and cook them like you would any onion. Don’t forget that the greens are delicious too! They might be a bit hot raw, but chop them and throw them in with the rest of the scallion as you prepare your meal! They are like a very onion-y green — perfect for pairing with other cooked greens like chard and kale.

And this week’s extra goodies from the farm:

• Eggs — $6/dozen — The kids and I have been going on lots of “field trips” lately, often bringing a long a hearty snack or picnic lunch. My personal “go to” item for such a repast is the simple yet lovely hard-boiled egg. Such a portable package of nutrition and energy! Even better when farm fresh from pastured hens!
• Bratwurst — Only a few packages left! $12/package (1 lb)
• Pork chops — $12/lb
• Ham & bacon — Coming soon! We are still waiting final word from the butcher about these items being ready for pick-up. If they are not available for tomorrow, then they will surely be available for next week! No nitrates-added!
• Lamb — Lots of cuts, prices vary
• Ground beef — $7/lb
• Tote bags — Have you checked these out yet? They are the sturdiest tote bags we’ve ever seen and big too. They hold the same volume as a standard paper grocery bag, but with a lot more strength. $10 each
• Bumper stickers — FREE! Have you taken one yet? Or two? Or three?