Hot October

Rusty told me today that he is a farmer. He DID grow a lot of pumpkins in the garden this year. He and Casey harvested them this weekend.

Most weeks, I sit down to write our newsletter with a head full of ideas. This week, I mostly just feel hot, which feels like a big fogginess instead of clarity in that place where my ideas come from.

What is this heat? One thermometer this afternoon read 87° … on October 6! I had packed away so many of our warm weather clothes, but here we are back in shorts. And, Casey is back moving pipe through our pastures too, because we might as well make the best use of this warm weather that we can! Presumably it will end.

Beautiful deadly poisonous mushrooms found growing in our yard.

Nonetheless, fall exists in this warm time too. Leaves are changing color on the trees, bringing even more golden beauty into these golden sunny days. Today, the kids and I rode bikes and walked to our neighbor Heiser Farms for pumpkin patch extravaganza (and this weekend, Casey and Rusty harvested the many pumpkins that grew in Rusty’s garden). The tractor has been busy working in fields and preparing them for cover crops and over-wintered grain plantings. And, even further proof that fall is here: we are mushroom hunting again! Last weekend we found our first tasty morsel, a beautiful patch of oyster mushrooms. We’ve found many more since, but not so much edible. More soon, I am sure.

Finally, Casey has returned to project mode. Certainly our weeks contain plenty of ongoing field and harvest work, but there is room in the schedule for him to ponder new projects. On the list for this fall are some fun things, including a new pick-up space for the Full Diet here on the farm, a greenhouse, and possibly goats (?). It’s fun for us farmers to to get a bit of extra time and energy for such new endeavors. Improving our farm and its systems is so very satisfying. We love the daydream and planning, the different kinds of work (Casey poured a concrete floor today!), and the resulting increase in efficiency or quality. Hoorah for seasons that allow us to breathe and step back and reconsider how we do things (and then act on those observations too!).

Anyhow, I think my heat-addled brain really needs a refreshing shower and to be sent to bed early. But before I go, I have three newsy reminders for you:

• First, if you haven’t paid the remainder of your 2014 balance yet, please do so ASAP! Email me if you need a reminder of your balance due.
• Secondly, a reminder that our own pumpkin patch fun is coming up on Sunday afternoon, October 26. More details to come!
• Finally, yes a cookbook is still in the works! I’ve been crafting an email to send out regarding submissions, and for some reason it has taken longer than I expected, but you will hear from me shortly. Hoorah!

The only remaining thing to say tonight is: Enjoy this week’s vegetables!

Your farmers, Katie & Casey Kulla

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Meet this week’s vegetables:

• Sweet peppers
• Hot peppers — Casey will provide clear markings to distinguish the peppers at pick-up, but if you forget when you get home, the small purple/black peppers are the hot ones! They’re not flaming hot — just about as hot as a good jalapeño (with similar yummy taste too). I’m pretty sensitive to heat, so I like these. If Casey or I put one in a dish (without seeds), it provides a perfect amount of heat without being overwhelming (heat lovers should add more, with caution!).
• Tomatoes
• Beets — Some people struggle with beets. I understand. I used to be rather ambivalent or even a bit scared myself. But our whole family loves loves loves beets now. The kids are happy to eat them as regularly as I am willing to cook them! My only challenge is making sure I start them cooking early enough, because, folks, if you don’t know: beets take a long time to cook. I am convinced that this is the reason many folks think they don’t like beets’ “earthy” flavor. The secret is that the do not have an earthy/dirt flavor if they’ve been cooked long enough. To give you an idea of how long to cook, I usually estimate at least twice as long as for potatoes of equivalent size. I generally do not peel my beets ahead of time but just scrub them clean and then chop. To speed up the cooking process, I almost always chop our beets into small bite sized pieces for roasting. We love how the edges will get sweetly caramelized when roasted in butter. But there are many other wonderful ways to eat beets — I hope to include lots of ideas in the cookbook, since this is a challenging vegetable still for many people.
• Chard
• Kale
• Cut lettuce
• Potatoes
  
• Summer squash & zucchini — As I mentioned last week, I know that some of these summer fruits are feeling all too familiar at this point in the season. Seriously, try to savor the summer squash and zucchini (along with the tomatoes), because they will end. Over the last few years, we have eaten so much summer squash and zucchini when it is in season that I really do mourn its absence when it finally finishes for the season. Just tonight we ate a summer-y stew with summer squash as the base. I sauteed onions and peppers in garlic, then added chopped zucchini/squash and tomatoes (along with plenty of butter) and let it cook (with regular stirring) for about an hour. At the end, I threw in some beef and pork that had cooked in the slow cooker today, and we enjoyed a truly delicious and simple dinner.
• Garlic