(CSA Newletter: Week 33)
Meet this week’s vegetables:
- Arugula OR romaine lettuce — We’re already learning from our 2010 CSA survey results! Apparently, many of you love arugula, but some of you don’t even like it. So, this week a choice between arugula or romaine.
- Sweet corn — One of our top ranked vegetables in our survey results so far! Rusty loves sweet corn too.
- Sweet peppers — Another top ranked vegetable! Last week I enjoyed eating stuffed baked peppers at a friend’s house. She stuffed them with a mixture of rice, cheese, and meat, but this is a dish for experimenting with: try lots of yummy things (nuts, other chopped vegetables, bread crumbs, cooked greens)! After stuffing, bake covered at 375° until contents are bubbling and the pepper is becoming tender. Finish baking uncovered to let the tops brown.
- Broccoli — Fall broccoli has arrived! Every year, this late planting of broccoli is easily the most beautiful thing in our fields. (And, broccoli is another top ranked vegetable!)
- Tomatoes — Yet another top ranked vegetable! (No surprise there!)
- Cucumbers
- Summer squash/zucchini
- Potatoes — Yes, another top ranked vegetable. Roasted potatoes are a comforting and easy to prepare dish on a rainy fall day. We’re going to start moving into more and more of the ‘comfort’ food vegetables as we officially begin fall. Time to prepare your oven for lots of roasting and your stovetop for lots of soup!
- Garlic — And, yes, yet another top ranked vegetable. Also, this is the first of this year’s garlic crop! Now that it is properly cured and we’re entering the colder seasons, garlic will be making a more frequent appearance in CSA shares. This week’s variety is a ‘hard neck,’ which means that there is a stiff core inside surrounded by large cloves. It is generally easy to work with and has a mild flavor. Enjoy!
Casey and I have a running joke on the farm: anytime there’s a commotion, ruckus or generally loud disruptive noises, we look at each other and say, “ah, quiet country life!”
I can’t even remember how this joke started. Maybe a visiting friend made a comment romanticizing our life? Or, maybe we were discussing our long ago visions of life on a working farm? Either way, it has stuck, because often it is a most inappropriate way to describe our days here at Oakhill Organics.
Yes, our life can be quiet at times. It’s often very quiet in the winter, when we spend our days calmly drinking coffee and watching the rain fall. It’s also almost always quiet at night, which is a blessing. Usually, the only sounds at night are natural in origin: owls hooting, coyotes yipping, and the wind blowing.
But, our days are often full of busy man-made activity. Visitors stop by the farm; we hold meetings here; our employee Jeff and his wife Carri come and go from the field they farm and their wash station; friends come by for dinner. Also, my parents purchased the property next door last spring and are currently remodeling the beautiful old farmhouse, which means that contractors are coming and going all day (and sometimes even after dark!), using drills, saws, and other equipment.
Of course, there’s also the busy activity of our own farm: our “Gator” (a little diesel powered field vehicle) hauling vegetables out of the fields, the tractor mowing down cover crops, the pressure washer cleaning bins, the chickens clucking in their yard.
And, then there’s the noise from adjacent farms and roads: tractors driving down the road and working up nearby fields, irrigation reel guns blasting huge quantities of water into the air, and occasionally even the sound of overhead aerial sprayers flying over fields. “Ah … quiet country life!”
When I go into town, however, I am reminded that it truly is quieter out here — even on busy summer days when there is lots of activity on the island. But it still not as quiet as townies might dream!
As farmers ourselves, the hustle and bustle of living on a thriving agricultural island is actually a fun sensation too. We love noting who is driving irrigation into their fields first (or last) and watching large implements get towed down the road by giant tractors.
There is only one farming sound that irks us, which we won’t go into here (let’s keep it positive today!). But, hopefully that annoying noise will be turned off soon.
Whether we like it or not, the summer is shutting down. Last week’s heavy rains were a dramatic sneak peek of fall, which arrives officially this week. Fall is always my favorite season. I love everything about it: misty mornings, the turning of the leaves, orange pumpkins, roasted vegetables, and a return to quieter days on the farm. Our works slows down and so does the activity around us.
Another good thing about fall: the vegetables. This week’s share is chock full of vegetables that have been consistently ranking highly on the CSA surveys we’ve received so far. So, I have faith that you will enjoy this week’s vegetables!
Your farmers, Katie & Casey Kulla
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Final quarterly payment due October 1!
Those of you on the quarterly payment plan are about to finish up your 2010 payments! The last $240 payment is due on October 1. You can bring a check to pick-up or mail it to us: P.O. Box 1698, McMinnville, OR 97128.
I will be mailing balance statements soon after to check in with everyone about the status of their accounts. I haven’t had the ability to pay close attention to who might be behind this year, so the balance statement will give us all a chance to check in with a couple months left in the year (especially in case any monthly payers have gotten behind by a month of two).
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Make your voice heard! Turn in your survey!
The response to our 2010 CSA survey has been unprecedented! We’ve received 37 completed surveys so far — that represents a third of our current CSA members! We love hearing from you and are reading your responses with great interest (and compiling data on your vegetable preferences).
I will write a more thorough response and commentary on the survey results eventually, but I want to give more people the opportunity to turn in their surveys first. You can mail them to us or bring them by CSA pick-up. If we haven’t already, we hope to hear from you soon!
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Pumpkin Patch Open House: Sunday, October 24, 2 – 4 pm
Put the date on your calendar! Our final CSA Open House will be on Sunday, October 24 from 2 to 4 pm. This is our annual pumpkin patch event, where you can come and pick a pumpkin for free! We’ll also offer tours of the farm and have cookies and fresh apple cider.
