What's in the box?

Spinach
Red Romaine
Butter head lettuce
Salad mix
Green Garlic
Herb pot
Napa Cabbage for large and medium
Baby bok choy
* our first radish and arugula plantings washed out in the monsoon, more was planted for future boxes

Notes on the box.

The delivery route is going to be changed around a little bit from last season. Northeast, Robbinsdale and Roseville will be later in the day. most other will be close to what they were last year. Look out for the YOUR CSA BOX HAS BEEN DELIVERED email to let you know when you can pick up.

A few CSA notes for our new members: Be sure to meet your host at your drop site. They are wonderful people who will be able to help you if you might have questions or concerns.

Please unload your veggies into your own bags or tote and then collapse the veggie box by unfolding it and making it flat. Put your flattened box into a neat stack as a favor to your host. We will reuse them! Be careful not to rip your boxes when you unfold them. Bend the flaps away from the slots instead of pulling the flaps up to get them out. The boxes aren't cheap and they aren't recyclable, unfortunately. Help us reduce waste and cost by not ripping the boxes, please. Thanks!

Feedback is appreciated! . Problems or questions? We are here for you!

We are hoping to host more parties this summer in effort to meet more of you and get you out here on this farm that you eat from and help to create. We are excited to be part of the Eat Local Coop Farm Tour this year! Open farm on July 15 from 10-4. If you are a CSA member coming out that day, please introduce yourself! We'd love to meet you and share the farm with you.

Everything in this weeks greens and salad heavy box (except the herb pots) will store best in your fridge.

Herbs can be replanted in your garden, into individual pots, or kept in the pot the arrived in. Keep in a sunny spot and water as needed. Pots contain some combination of the following: basil, parsley, sage, thyme, and oregano.

Spinach, lettuces, napa, and bok choy will all keep best in a plastic bag in your crisper drawer. Spring is always heavy on greens as we wait for fruiting crops to come in later in the season. Now is the time to enjoy salads with every meal! We've been enjoying serving pasta dishes on beds of greens and having taco bowls and proteins on top of greens.

Cosmic Wheel Creamery Cheese Shares.

We've been having a good Spring! We got some nice write-ups from the Star Tribune and the Cheese Underground Blog... and are happy to be getting some cheese out into the wider world. We've shipped cheese all the way to Milwaukee, Madison, and LaCrosse! And you can also find our cheese in the beautiful new case at the Wedge Co-op as well as weekly at the Mill City Farmers Market and North East Farmers Market.

The cheeses to kick off the 2017 CSA season are our feta which is wonderful on a spinach salad or a pizza or homemade falafel sandwiches.

And the other cheese is our camembert style called First Snow. This is looking to be a seasonal cheese available in Spring and Fall/Winter. But luckily this made it into the CSA boxes for you! It's perfectly ripe. If you like a stinkier cheese, you can hold onto it in your fridge for another week or maybe 2, but you should enjoy it soon! Grab a baguette, a bottle of wine, and a friend and enjoy this special cheese treat! For best texture and flavor let it come to room temperature before you eat it.

Recipes.

Ramen Napa Cabbage Salad

Roasted Bok Choy

Baby Bok Choy Salad with Sesame Dressing

Spinach Feta Orzo

On the farm.

Hey everyone! welcome to 2017 season.
Mild winter, soggy spring, and now its looking like it could be a droughty summer. But really, who knows?!

In the past we've used the blog to just talk about what's happening on the farm from week to week, which i still hope to do. But I also wanted to try and take this time to try and fill in some gaps about who we are and why we do what we do.

As a member of our CSA you have said ' I trust you, you are my farmer, and I will take the risk of farming with you'. Farmers work in a very high risk low reward environment, but are essential to our existance. What kind of farms we have around us determine the culture and the quality of our rural areas and what kinds of foods everyone can access. Thanks for the vote of confidence. We exist here in Clear Lake WI, because you said YES to CSA!

So, to start off. let me introduce ourselves for those who don't know.

Im Josh, born in Iowa, and moved up to MN in 2003 for a farming job.

Rama, born South Louisiana, Moved to MN and attended MCAD in 1998

Otto age 6, he likes bugs and making potions

Sadie age 3 she likes changing her clothes and playing with Otto.

We started Turnip Rock farm in 2009 in New Auburn WI, it was extremely rocky and so we moved to Clear Lake WI 2013 with the hope to be closer to you all, farm more land with less rocks, and expand the dairy herd. All of those things have proven to be worth the trouble after a few, rocky in different ways, transition years. We are feeling our roots well planted into our farm and we are so grateful to be here and be your farmers.

Farm stats:
total acres; 80
Employees; 4 full time and 3 part time
2017 crew:
Liberty - livestock manager and herdsman
Andrew, Jeannie, and Lilly - Full time veggie wranglers
acres in vegetables:4
acres in pasture: 56
number of cows: 21 plus 13 young stock and 11 calves so far
pigs 14
sheep 22

Vision: an oink oink here and a moo moo there. Animals are essential to a truly sustainable farm. We respect their nature and are grateful to be able to care for them. A whole farm ecosystem with each element working together.

Mission: make agriculture great again. follow natures pattern, take what we need and give back. Nourish our community!