What's in the box? 

• salad turnips

• red onions

• Romanesco

• red romaine hearts

• curly kale

• brussel sprouts

• garlic

• storage carrots

• scarlet turnips

• kennebec potatoes

• winter squash (butternut and a black futsu)

Notes on the box. 

Kennebec potatoes are really versitile, but are more on the starchy side, so work great as french fries or mashed or baked potatoes. 

The Red Romaine hearts will make a nice little salad or good on a sandwich or burger.

The skin of the black futsu squash is edible.  We love to cut it in half, scoop out the seeds, slice along the ridges into crescent moon shapes, coat in olive oil and roast in the oven (375 degrees) spread out on a baking sheet until tender.  You can use them to top a warm salad after roasting this way. 

Everyone gets Romanesco!  Cook as you would cauliflower or broccoli, but we love it roasted (pan or oven) the very best. 

Cheese Shares.

This week we have two cheeses that look very much the same, but whose flavors and textures are quite different.  Taste them side by side and let them inspire you!  I'm enjoying the Vega as a snack with some crackers and Riesling or cider. The Perseid is going to be grated on top of the nutty roasted Romanesco or earthy roasted brussel sprouts (or a combo of the two). 

Recipes. 

Haley's Curried Vegetables

In a pan combine over medium heat 1/4 tsp. cayenne, 2 tsp ground coriander seeds, 2 tsp. dry mustard, 1/4 tsp tumeric, and 1/2 tsp curry powder.  Stir around in the dry pan over medium heat until a shade darker and fragrant.  Add 1/2 cup water and your choice of vegetables.  Haley suggests chopped Romanesco, broccoli, or cauliflower, a diced onion, 4 cloves pressed garlic, diced potatoes,   chopped carrots or peeled and diced butternut squash.  Saute/ steam until vegetables are tender.  Add 1/2 cup coconut milk, 2 Tbsp lime or lemon juice, and salt and pepper to taste.  Serve over rice.  Great with dal. 

Pizzoccheri

• 1 stick butter ( 1/4 pound)
• 4 fresh sage leaves
• 1 clove garlic, peeled and smashed
•  3-4 small to medium waxy potatoes (red fingerling or yukon gold), peeled and thinly sliced
• 1 small head cabbage or 1/4 to 1/2 large head, trimmed and thinly sliced
• optional- shredded or very thinly sliced greens (braising mix, collards, kale, etc)
• 1/2 pound buckwheat noodles (pizzoccheri) or whole wheat noodles
• 1 cup semi-soft cheese, grated (you can also use cubed stinky cheese such as Taleggio)
• 1 cup harder, dry crumbly cheese or Parmesan, grated
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. In a small saucepan over low heat, melt butter with sage and garlic until butter turns nut-brown; be careful not to burn sage leaves. Set aside.

2. Cook potato and cabbage (and optional greens) in boiling water until they begin to soften, just 5 minutes or so. Add pasta to same pot and continue to cook until pasta is nearly done. Drain.

3. In a large oven-proof dish, spread a layer of vegetable-pasta combination, then a layer of grated cheeses, sprinkle with salt and pepper. Continue this layering until all ingredients are used, ending with a layer of Parmesan. Drizzle with melted butter and sage (discard garlic). Bake for about 15 minutes, or until top is golden-brown and cheese has melted. Serve hot or warm.

Turkey Meatballs and Greens.  We are making this with ground pork instead of turkey. 

Simple Kale Soup

On the farm.

It's the last of the boxes for the 2015 season!  We were happy to have a late fall and a nice season overall.  Haley who has stuck around to help out with the fall CSA boxes is soon to be heading off to Japan for a few months!  She will be working on some farms and eating lots of exciting foods and seeing the sights!  She's also planning on coming back to work with us again next season which we are over the moon excited about.  It will be her third season with us and so she is getting into the real nitty-gritty side of farming and helping us with planning, planting schedules, and managing! 

Winter for us this season will involve as many Winter farmers markets as we can go to selling cheese!  Come visit us at the Linden Hills Winter Markets indoors at Sunnyside Gardens.  We are making plans for holiday giftbaskets, so come check them out! 

There may also be Winter jobs again this season depending where we end up as we catch-up on book keeping and budgeting.  Hopefully we can get a little break and focus on planning for next season and taking care of the cows.  We are going to keep milking and making cheese as long as the cows are able to find grass to graze on.  Now that the vegetable CSA is wrapped up, they will get to enjoy grazing through what was formerly vegetable fields and eating the leaves left of kale, broccoli, and cabbage (in moderation so that the cheese doesn't taste weird!) 

Thank you all so much for joining us for the 2015 season!  We love being your farmers and hope you will join us again for the 2016 season.  We will let you know as soon as we open sign-ups!

Stay warm and eat well!

November? 

Hangers on

The farmer and the kale! the farmer and the kale! hi hi ho the dairy oh the farmer and the kale!

What's in the box?  

medium share (it was dark when I took  the picture, weird lighting!)

• Winter Squash - Delicata, Sweet Dumpling, Acorn
• onions
• potatoes
• peppers
• garlic
• curly kale
• leeks - medium and large
• hakuri turnips - small
• scarlet turnips - medium and large
• cauliflower - medium
• parsley - medium 
• green storage cabbage (a few small shares got savoy cabbage)

Notes on the box.  

Winter Squash do not need to be refrigereated.  All the varities in the box this week have edible rinds, though the acorn squash rind may be a little tough.  

The leeks were mostly swallowed by weeds this season.  Sorry for the small harvest of them!  

The turnips will store longer with the tops removed.  The greens and the roots are edible.  

The cabbage  is a storage cabbage.  It is really wonderful for making saurkraut or other kimchi.  Or you can make soup or roast it.  Or you can let it roll to the back of your fridge where it will keep for a few months!

If you find yourself with peppers rolling around in your crisper, you can dice them up, put them in a freezer bag and freeze them.  They are good in soups and such later on. Or you can roast them and then freeze them.  

Cheese Shares.

This week we have Antares, the cow milk manchego.  Some of the wheels got rubbed with olive oil, safflower, calendula, and chamomile flowers.  Others didn't get the rub on the rind.  Both are really nice and have an edible rind.  This cheese has been one of our most popular at market so far.  It pairs well with sweet flavors like grapes, but also goes well with olives and nuts.  It's very herbal and has some sharpness especially if you eat the rind.  The wheels with the rub have fruity and floral flavors which aren't as pronounced as the wheels without.  

Recipes.

Caldo Verde

• 1/4cup olive oil
• 12 ounces chorizo sausage, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
• 1 onion, chopped fine
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• Salt and pepper
• 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
• 2 pounds potatoes (red or yellow), peeled and cut into 3/4-inch pieces
• 4 cups chicken broth
• 4 cups water
• 1 pound hearty greens of your choice (kale, collards, or cabbage), stemmed and cut into 1-inch pieces
• 2 teaspoons white wine vinegar

1. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in Dutch oven over medium-high heat until shimmering. Add chorizo and cook, stirring occasionally, until lightly browned, 4 to 5 minutes. Transfer chorizo to bowl and set aside. Reduce heat to medium and add onion, garlic, 1 1/4 teaspoons salt, and pepper flakes and season with pepper to taste. Cook, stirring frequently, until onion is translucent, 2 to 3 minutes. Add potatoes, broth, and water; increase heat to high and bring to boil. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer, uncovered, until potatoes are just tender, 8 to 10 minutes.

2. Transfer 3/4 cup solids and 3/4 cup broth to blender (or use an immersion blender to blend potatoes and broth until thickened). Add collard greens to pot and simmer for 10 minutes. Stir in chorizo and continue to simmer until greens are tender, 8 to 10 minutes longer.

3. Add remaining 3 tablespoons oil to soup in blender and process until very smooth and homogeneous, about 1 minute. Remove pot from heat and stir pureed soup mixture and vinegar into soup. Season with salt and pepper to taste, and serve. 

Bell Pepper Salad

• 3 bell peppers, any colors, thinly sliced
• 1/2 onion, quartered and thinly sliced
• several salad or scarlet turnips, thinly sliced and halved
• turnip greens, chopped (optional)

whisk together dressing:

• 4 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
• 1 Tbsp apple cider or red wine vinegar
• 1/2 Tbsp stone ground or dijon mustard
• salt and pepper to taste

mix dressing and veggies together and allow a few minutes for flavors to come together

Cauliflower and Roasted Red Pepper Soup with Goat Cheese

Smokey Balsamic Red Pepper Compote with fried eggs

Cabbage and Mushroom Galette with Horseradish Sauce

On the Farm.

It's raining again!   This has been by far the wettest August and September that we have ever experienced while farming.  These are normally the driest months, making harvest a lot easier than it's been.  It's also caused the quality of certain crops to be not as great as usual.  And the warmer weather is good for the growth of some crops, but others prefer cooler temps to size up or sweeten up.  Weird weather, but we are doing our best to cull out the bad produce and give you only the best of what we have.  

The Harvest Party is this weekend!  We will have pumpkins to bring home, cheese for tasting, pulled pork, farm tours, and a bonfire when it gets dark.  We will also have some sun art paper for a little art project and plenty of tractors to climb on and a big sand pile, too.  The forecast is looking beautiful and clear.  Hopefully this one won't end with a sudden thunder storm as the last few harvest parties have!  We will start the fun around 4 PM and eating around 6 PM.  We ask that you bring a side or dessert to share and you can bring your own favorite beverage.  Kids and guests are welcome, so feel free to bring your friends.  Unfortunately, our dogs don't like other dogs. Sorry!  No pets, please.  Let us know if you are planning on coming and how many people you'll be bringing.  

Please let us know if you have any questions.  For directions, you can search google maps for Turnip Rock Farm and we show up!  Remember that weekend traffic in Stillwater can be pretty bad, so you may want to take 94 over the river.

We want to say a big Thank You to our Peak Season members.  This is the last box of the peak season.  We hope that you have enjoyed your CSA experience with us!  We will let you know when we open sign-ups for next season, or you may sign up for our Winter Share, information is below.

If anyone wants to sign up for our season extention, please go ahead and sign up for a Winter Share.  It's listed as a Winter Share, but it's really more of a Fall share that extends the regular season for 4 more weeks after the last delivery of the regular season goes out.  Our Eat Like A Farmer members are already included, but we have space for others that would like to get 4 more deliveries of storage veggies, frost sweetened greens, and other Autumn treats.  We only offer one share size for this option, so you may want to find a friend to split with if you have a smaller household.  You can check out last seasons blog posts to get an idea of what you may get in your Winter Share.  We have also added the option to add on eggs and cheese along with the veggies. Contact us if you have any trouble with the sign up or any questions.

a beautiful bounty of bell peppers

way to pick up some squash!

Haley and the cauliflower

It is officially Autumn!  A nice warm start to it.  Dana, Ben, and Sam gathered apples from the wild apple trees that we have on the farm and pressed cider.  Photos by Dana.

cleaning up the barn from the onions and garlic curing

the sheep found some burrs!

Wild grapes

ben and the apple tree

wild apples

farm love!

What's in the box?

all shares have same items unless noted in smaller quantities for small shares

• broccoli (large shares only)
• sweet onions
• green top carrots
• head lettuce (large and medium)
• summer squash/ zucchini/ patty pan squash
• cucumbers
• green beans
• celery
• bell peppers
• heirloom tomatoes

eat like a farmer share bonus - garlic!

Notes on the box 

We just read an article about how cucumbers will keep better at room temperature.  I store ours in the fridge because I like them cold when I eat them, but if you'd like to store them on your counter, apparently that's the way to go! 

Remember to remove the tops from your carrots as soon as possible.  Then store them in a plastic bag. 

Heirloom tomatoes should be stored at room temperature.  Refrigeration changes the texture and makes them taste mealy.  If they are getting over ripe or you plan on cooking with them, you can put them in the fridge.  We try to send some that are less ripe and some that are ripe to eat when you get them so that you can have tomatoes throughout the week.  

The celery is probably unlike the stuff that you are used to from the store.  It's got a lot more flavor!  It's great chopped and put into salads or cooked in soups or stir fry.  The leaves can be used like you would an herb.  If your celery goes limp, soak in cold water and it will perk up again.  Store in a plastic bag in your fridge crisper (or wrap it in foil before storing).

Celery, bell peppers, and onion make up the "holy trinity of cajun cooking"  so now is a prefect time time try a gumbo, jambalaya, etouffee, or red beans and rice recipe! 

Cheese shares

This week we have feta and the Tomme.  This tomme is aged a bit longer than the last one you had, has a rind that was brushed and washed to keep mold from growing on the rind.  It is from later in the spring when the grass was really taking off.  You can see how much more yellow the cheese is because of the early spring grass (as opposed to the hay the cows were eating from the last tomme make).  The longer aging is making more nuttiness come through in the flavor. Yum!

Feta, cucumber, and tomato salad with a little balsamic vinegar?  YES. 

Recipes 

Have you grilled zucchini or summer squash, yet?  Try it!  Cut zukes and squash into long slices about 1/4 inch think, brush with olive oil, salt and pepper, and grill until tender.  serve hot and save some in the fridge to make grilled veggie sandwiches the next day. 

Summer Salad

1. peel cucumber, cut in half and remove seeds, slice into half moons
2. dice tomatoes
3. sweet onion, diced finely (optional)
4. mix veggies and drizzle with a small amount of balsamic vinegar and olive oil
5. salt and pepper to taste

Summer's Bounty Enchilada Casserole (from Farm-fresh and Fast)

ingredients

• 1 Tbsp canola oil
• 1 onion, diced
• 1 bell pepper, diced
• 1 hot pepper, seeded and finely diced
• 1 zucchini, diced
• 1 summer squash, diced
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
• 2 cups cooked brown rice
• 1 tomato, diced
• 2 cups enchilada sauce, divided
• minced fresh cilantro
• 2/3 cup crumbled feta or queso fresco
• salt and pepper to taste
• 18 (6 inch) corn tortillas
• 1 cup shredded monterey jack cheese
• sour cream and salsa

directions

1. heat oven to 450.  heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat.  Add onion, bell pepper, hot pepper and cook until slightly softened (about 5 min).  Add zucchini, squash, and garlic and cook for 4 more minutes.  Stir in the beans, rice, and tomatoes and cook until warm. 
2. Transfer the pepper-zucchini mixture to a large bowl.  Mix in half of the enchilada sauce, the cilantro, and the feta.  Season with salt and pepper.
3. to make the casserole, spread 1/2 of the enchalada sauce in the bottom of a 13 x 9 inch baking dish.  layer 6 tortillas over the sauce.  spread half of the filling over the tortilla.  Repeat with another layer of 6 tortillas and the rest of the filling.  Add one more layer of tortillas on top.  Spread the remaining cup of enchilada sauce over the casserole.  Sprinkle the cheese on top.  Cover with foil and back for 20 min.  Remove foil and bake for an additional 5 min or until the cheese begins to brown.  Let cool 5 min before serving.  Garnish with sour cream and salsa. 

Super-Fresh Ratatouille

• 1/4-1/2 cup olive oil, divided
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1-2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 large or 2 small zucchini, chopped
• 2-3 medium summer squash or patty pan squash, chopped
• 3 medium tomatoes, chopped
• 1 cup broth
• 1 bay leaf
• salt and pepper to taste
• chopped fresh herb of your choice such as basil or oregano

1. In a large pot with a  lid, heat 1 Tbsp oil over medium heat.  Add onion and garlic and cook until soft.  Remove from heat.
2. in a large skillet, heat 1 1/2 Tbsp oil and sautee zucchini and squash until browned (add extra oil if necessary) Add to the onion mixture
3. Add remaining ingredients except herbs to the onion- squash mixture.  Return pot to heat, cover, and cook for 20-25 min stirring occasionally.
4. Remove bay leaf and adjust seasoning.  sprinkle in herbs and mix in. 
5. Serve mixed into pasta, as a sandwich filling, or over creamy polenta as a main dish. 

Ground beef, Smoked Sausage, and Cabbage Jambalaya

suggested by members Susan and Rob.  In case you still have some cabbage!

Roasted Zucchini Tuna Melts (celery, zukes, onion)

Green Beans with Almond Pesto

On the Farm

Kelsie is heading off to grad school in Montana.  She makes beautiful pottery and has plans to make crocks and larger pieces.  Kelsie's positive outlook "If anything can go right, it will!", humor,  optimisim, and fun spirit will be missed.  Her willingness to step up and pitch in whenever and however needed will also be missed.  But the world needs more of Kelsie's amazing pottery!  Thank you so much for everything you have done and all you have shared with us, Kelsie!  Come back and visit anytime (and make it soon so that we have melons for you)!

We are excited to invite you to a party at the farm on August 22.  We will have a little optional work time before the party around and then we will be grilling and have games and a potluck.  We will start at 3 and have supper around 5 or 6. Bring your recipe for your dish... potlucks often become recipe swaps! 

 Our fall harvest party will be September 26. It'll be a potluck and we will have farm tours and music in the barn in the evening!  We hope that you can make it out to one or both of these events!  Bonfire at both events. 

Now, some beautiful photos by Dana

and now some more farm life...

What are these flying saucer things?  Patty pan squash!  Use as you would zucchini or summer squash.

Did you know that a head of broccoli is a bunch of tiny flower buds?  Here's what happens when a head of broccoli isn't harvested...

broccoli flowers!  the bees like them.

Farm cat, Whitman (named for Walt Whitman) on the prowl for whatever critter is taking bites out of our greenhouse tomatoes.  Get 'em! 

pack line!

If you are missing a carrot, I think I know where it went.

happy farmer!

sweet Kelsie!  "I don't even like celery and I like this celery"

Keep on rockin in the free world!

Next week...

• more of the summer favorites PLUS...
• field tomatoes
• sweet corn!
• new potatoes!
• more broccoli