Picking corn & other news

Mist is such a staple part of fall and winter mornings here on the farm. It has returned.

In spite of the return of our morning mists, this week mostly just felt like a post-script from summer. Oh, the dry and the warmth have continued! Casey keeps telling me about summer crops in the field that are putting on new growth and setting new fruit — seemingly freakish sights for October. But the forecast is for a deluge to begin any minute now, so I suppose fall really is here.

As one of our many big fall harvests, corn has been on our mind. We grew a patch of field corn this year that is quite large for our standards and extremely small by the standards of most conventional growers. Also, we grew field corn (dry corn for animal and human food rather than for silage or sweet corn), which is not really something farmers can reliably grow here in the valley, our summers generally being much cooler than those in the midwest. Nonetheless, we have these goals of feeding folks from this place, so corn we will grow.

Our neighbor began harvesting it for us tonight actually, and the ears are beautiful. It’s quite a sight to see ear after ear after ear just sliding off the conveyer of the picker. He quit before finishing and will return tomorrow, after which we will scramble to pick up all that corn and get it dried for the winter. Scurry, scurry, scurry. We feel kinship with all the squirrels this time of year as we race to make best use of all the crops we grew this summer. Many of the vegetables will over-winter in the fields, but all the grains, nuts, and storage veggies need to come in. So, we scurry.

This newsletter also contains loads of newsy bits, so I’m going to end this now and leave you with some fun photos of the corn picking that happened earlier this evening:

You can't really get a good sense of the scale in this photo, but this is a full size corn picker working through a relatively miniature four and a half acre corn field. Look at all those ears!

To get a better view of the picking, the family climbed to the top of our farm pick-up truck's cab.

Please do take a moment to read through all of this week’s little updates and news. A lot is going on in our farm community this month! And, enjoy this week’s vegetables!

Your farmers, Katie & Casey Kulla

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Pumpkin Patch CSA Open House, Sunday October 26, 2 – 4 pm

Our fall CSA Open House is coming up! Please join us for a fun afternoon. The festivities include:

  • Pumpkin picking!
  • Live music by a new local trio, Awaken Jane (I am so excited to hear them play!!!)
  • Farm tour by Farmer Casey (starting at 3 pm)
  • Pepper variety tasting

Directions to the farm: Take HWY-18 to the Dayton exit. Drive through Dayton and head south on Wallace Rd / HWY 221. Stay on that road for about seven miles. Turn LEFT onto Grand Island Rd (you’ll see signs for Heiser’s Farm, which is also on the island). Go over the big bridge onto Grand Island. At the first intersection on the island, keep going straight. You’ll go over another small bridge. After that bridge, turn RIGHT onto the gravel driveway (there’s a Carlton Plants sign at the road). Follow the gravel driveway until it ends at our farm! Parking will be along the gravel, so when you start to see cars, park and then walk the rest of the way in.

Let’s all keep our fingers crossed for fine weather! Some years we’re basking in sunshine at our pumpkin patch open house, and other years it’s been a deluge. So it goes! Join us either way!

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Cookbook updates/clarifications!

I’ve already heard back from many people with recipe and servings ideas for the forthcoming farm cookbook! Hoorah! There have also been a few common questions, so I thought I’d address those now:

  1. No name? Really? I love my recipe and want credit! Yes! I hear you folks! I underestimated the deep level of pride people would have for their favorite recipes! Therefore, I have decided to include contributor names unless someone specifies otherwise (I figure someone out there might not want to be named). If I have some overlap, I’ll give credit in a way that makes sense.
  2. My recipe is more of a real recipe. Do you still want it? Ha ha — YES! It sounds like I perhaps over-emphasized that it was ok to submit simple serving suggestions. Real “recipe-like” recipes are also welcome, but please keep in mind these things: I cannot publish recipes that are taken straight out of another publications. Your recipe needs to be your own or somewhat altered/modified from the original source. Also, if the recipe calls for multiple vegetable ingredients, please be sure they are seasonally compatible! And, finally, please know that I will likely edit recipes a bit to create some consistency throughout the cookbook — but I will not alter the content in any way that would affect the heart of the recipe itself!
  3. Will I be able to buy a copy or extra copies? Yes! The first recipients of the cookbook will be our 2015 CSA members, but we will also make the cookbook available for purchase too so that folks can buy extras as gifts or so that other people in the community can enjoy these efforts. Since this book will be quite a collaboration, we have decided to donate any proceeds from possible cookbook sales to a local charity.

Please let me know if you have any other questions! Direct recipes and servings ideas to our email farm (at) oakhillorganics (dot) org. Your responses so far have been wonderfully inspiring!!!!

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2015 sign ups? Oh my, I have already had people ask me about 2015 sign-ups. I still feel like summer is winding down, and yet another year is starting to show up at our doorstep in so many ways! I just wanted to let people know that we will have all the forms and info ready by early November so that you can sign up before finishing out the 2014 season (I know many of you like to get your paperwork done early so you can forget about it later!). Soon, folks! Soon! And, thanks for your eagerness.

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About Delicata squash!

Our winter squash harvest matured early this year (along with so many other crops). We actually brought it into storage many weeks ago, but it seemed premature to start giving it out when we were still in the thick of all the summer goodness. We decided we’d at least wait until the summer squash was finally done. This week is that week! So, in spite of the continued warm, sunny summer-y weather (which we hear will end tonight), consider this the true beginning of fall!

These squash may be new to some folks, so I’d like to introduce you to one of our CSA’s favorite fall foods: Delicata winter squash. Delicata squash are a cinch to cook and so very delicious. Here are two simple cooking suggestions:

First, wash your squash with running water. I like to do this, because the skin on a delicata is thin enough that you can eat it once the squash is cooked, so it’s nice to make sure it’s free of any dirt from the field. Next, you can chop off the stem and cut the squash in half length-wise. Scoop out the seeds and place the squash cut-side down on a baking pan. I like to rub the skin with some olive oil and sprinkle with salt. Then bake at 375-400° until the squash is tender and the cut edge is caramelizing. We call these “delicata boats,” because they make a great vessel for holding all kinds of other dishes, turning simple food into something rather special. Here are some ideas for filling your “boats”: browned ground beef, cooked kale, cauliflower rice, roasted sweet peppers, etc etc etc. You can also just serve them as is (not filled). Again, you can eat the whole thing, so it’s easy to just cut with your fork and eat!

The second idea begins the same way: wash your squash and cut off the stem. This time, however, carefully cut through the squash to make 1/2 inch (or so) thick “rings.” Each ring will contain seeds, which are easy to scoop out with a butter knife. Lay these rings on a baking pan with a bit of butter or oil. Sprinkle with salt and roast at 425° until slightly browned on both sides and tender (flip halfway through). “Delicata rings” are a favorite in our house, because they are especially fun to little hands to pick up and eat.

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Meet this week’s vegetables:

  • Delicata winter squash — See above for more info about this wonderful fall food!
  • Sweet peppers
  • Hot peppers — I think folks have given these peppers a try and found that they are awesomely delicious and not too hot. So, we thought we’d keep going with them while they are in their peak season. If you find yourself getting overwhelmed with the quantity (because, really, not every household can consume lots of hot peppers in one week), these are super easy to put up. Just pop whole peppers in a freezer bag and place them in the freezer. You can pull them out as you need them in the winter and let them thaw for a bit on the counter before removing seeds and chopping. We always freeze lots of hot peppers for use in chilis and other dishes through the winter. It’s amazing how good a hot pepper can taste in February.
  • Tomatoes — The same method works for tomatoes too. We like to can tomatoes for sauce, but we also make sure we put a few bags in the freezer too, since it’s so easy and we love adding tomatoes to winter and spring dishes.
  • Cauliflower
  • Kohlrabi — Here’s a vegetable that many people still find challenging. We understand. Part of the challenge is that sometimes kohlrabi (especially certain varieties) can get woody and eating a woody kohlrabi sort of defeats the point of kohlrabi. The point of kohlrabi is that it’s like eating a delicious, smooth/crispy, sweet broccoli stem. We eat most of our kohlrabi raw — we simply peel and slice it and use it for dipping in all kids of good things (squash-a-ganouj, for example). Or we’ll even just eat it plain. Now, it’s not really a vegetable that lends itself well to a veggie peeler. I prefer to use a paring knife, because the skin is rather thick. I usually begin by chopping off the top and bottom, so that I have a flat surface to work with. Then I set that flat surface firmly down on my cutting board and carefully peel down with my paring knife. We also like adding finely chopped kohlrabi to winter salads, such as slaws (it makes a great slaw all its own too!).
  • Collard greens
  • Potatoes
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