CSA, Weekly Farm News

Weekly news from the farm!

Posted on by mhoadmin
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Greetings Everyone,

NOTE: We are delivering on Tuesday, November 26th so orders are due Monday November 25th by 8 AM. This is so that we don’t disrupt your Thanksgiving Holiday.

This is our last CSA delivery of the season and we can’t thank you all enough for supporting us this season. As we continue our transition from full time farming to agri-tourism your ongoing support makes it possible for us to work and live on this beautiful piece of land.

Agriculture it is a big contributor to climate change with vast lands in mono-culture, animals raised in Concentrated Animal Feeding Lots (CAFO’s) with their manure polluting our waters, food shipped across the globe increasing it’s carbon footprint and pesticides killing our insects.  So we thank you you for voting with your grocery dollars in eating locally in supporting highly diversified farms who encourage biodiversity. Greta Thunberg would be proud to know you’re helping to address climate change. One of her beliefs is, that while our policies dramatically affect climate change, there are things each of us as individuals can do in an effort to make positive change. You are making positive change by either being a member of a CSA or purchasing your food from the farmers market.  

So thanks so much for supporting us all season long, even when the crops seemed undependable with damage from pests and diseases.

Please let us know what you’re planning for this holiday so that we can share with our subscribers!!!

Your Farmers (and cleaning staff), Carl and Julie

NOTE: Your’re receiving this eNewsletter because you’ve either been a subscriber to MHO in the past OR if you’ve registered for our newsletters from our website.  Feel free to unsubscribe if you no longer wish to receive this eNewsletter!

CSA Shareholders: You can access our online store using this link, if using a desktop you will log in by clicking the icon of the person in the top right hand side of the web page, if you are using a phone click on the menu icon and choose the login option. All orders need to be placed by Tuesday at 8 AM so that we will know what to harvest for your share! Please return your boxes because we re-use them.  Orders will be ready each Wednesday after 8 AM. 
What is new and abundant this week!
Mixed purple, yellow and orange carrots!! We’re offering these to our Farmer Choice Shares because they are amazing roasted for a beautiful side dish with cilantro and yogurt and peanuts.  For those custom ordering, please specify if you’d like multi-colored carrots in your order notes.  Our purple carrots were very low yielding, so we don’t have many to share.  You’ll find this interesting list of recipes where it’s suggested that “carrots deserve a starring role” at the table, especially since they are in season, not to mention they’re sweet and delicious.
Green cabbage is such an amazing cool weather delicacy!!!  We don’t have as much diversity available this week because the hard frost killed many of our tender greens that we thought were protected underneath floating row cover.  So we’re promoting cabbage again this week! We love this vegetable because we can store it in our walk-in cooler and add a wonderful sweet and healthy crunchiness to our salads when we don’t have romaine. While we are happy eating slaw each week, we know you may not so we thought you might be interested in making Cabbage Pakoras (aka Cabbage Fritters) because they’re easy and delicious.  For a quick “go to” cabbage main entree, we enjoy these “Roasted Garlic Cabbage Steaks” because everything tastes better with cabbage.
Red cabbage, like it’s green cabbage sibling, is packed full with anti-oxidants. This vegetable is incredibly beautiful and flavorful, perhaps this may accompany cranberry sauce for your Thanksgiving spread? This recipe for Shredded Red Cabbage and Carrot Salad will use up a good portion of your share for one entree!!!
The Buttercup squash has cured!!!! We find these don’t store as long as butternuts, but the squash contains a lot of pulp, and when roasted, its natural sugars caramelize into an incredibly sweetness.  We use this squash for not only fresh eating, but in baked goods such as pumpkin pie and pumpkin bread. This squash is a winter squash so it has a hard skin. Buttercup is especially sweet with a much dryer pulp compared to other varieties we grow.  It’s deep orange flesh is especially delicious roasted, and among our favorite varieties pureed for soups and pies.  When we roast this squash, we leave the seeds and membranes in while baking, then scrape them out once the squash comes out of he oven. We feel the seeds add flavor!  An easy “go to” side that works for almost all of our winter squash varieties is by either roasting or grilling them. This curry roasted squash, is easy and delicious, but you may only need olive oil, garlic salt and pepper for your seasoning because the squash is so flavorful.  Squash pairs well with kale in this salad that is sure to satisfy your squash craving!
This Weeks Farmer’s Choice Shares
This week’s Farmer’s Choice Share includes: (share contents are subject to change based on our actual harvest.) We’re offering both a Farmer’s Choice Veggie and Farmers’ Choice Veggie & Meat Share.  Items common in both shares are listed first, followed by items specific to the veggie share the finally the veggie/meat share. The Farmer’s Choice Veggie & Meat share normally has smaller portions of vegetables. ) The following are included only in the veggie share: The following are included only in the meat share
What’s Happening on the Farm
Our guests have been reminding us how incredibly important Science Teachers are, so everyone please thank any science teachers you know for keeping children engaged.    We just had the most amazing guests stay with us whose children each wrote us a hand made thank you note about their farm tour!!! That’s especially sweet because hand written notes seem to be a dying art replaced by texts and emails. This families gratitude and kindness is priceless and we feel incredibly fortunate to have hosted them here at the farm!!!  The above note is from Hudson, a 6th grader, who is learning about contour farming, cover cropping and the importance of biodiversity in farming operations. This child is brilliant to recognize and ask about these things he’s learned in class, while touring the farm harvesting veggies for his meal.  I must say, I love his science teacher for teaching him these aspects of food production and its importance for our environment. We’re even more impressed that Hudson completely grasped this knowledge while in a classroom setting and could recognize these things while touring the farm.
With farming, the only constant is that there are no constants. Our garlic had already sprouted with tops that could be damaged with the forecast for record low temperatures for this time of the year so we did something we don’t usually do and mulched our garlic with hay. We tried this with our strawberries 20 years ago after the person we bought it from claimed there were no “viable seeds”, yet we ended up with a new hay field rather than strawberries. The only reason we’re trying it again is because we think with the extraordinarily warm fall, our garlic has a a lot of top growth, so we aren’t sure if the roots are established enough to survive these cold temps.  We are assuming that the hay will sprout but we hope we’ll be able to keep it weeded.  We figured the risk of losing our crop without mulching it, far outweighed the probability that we’ll be able to keep it weeded in the Spring.
Another adorable thank-you note from one of the children who stayed with us!!!  From the above note, can you tell which vegetable was this childs favorite to harvest?  They simply loved pulling roots, seeing purple cauliflower growing in the field, and even finding turnips.
This review from the family staying with us means everything and why we love sharing the farm with folks who aren’t used to eating their meals fresh from the farm. This note is encouraging that we can offer a farm experience that will educate others why small and highly diversified farms are important. “When we found Carl and Julies farm we were really just looking to get away from the hustle and bustle of life with our 5 children. I think sometimes we all take for granted what’s really in front of us. What we got in return we will never be able to repay them. There barn is clean and cozy and tucked away in the beautiful mountains. We have 5 children ages 3 to 11 we all slept comfortably. Carl and Julie gave us a tour that really changed our lives. See our kids like most everyone’s love chicken nuggets (preferably McDonald’s) and Mac and cheese and other kid friendly foods , Julie and my children walked around the greenhouses picking fresh organic veggies they were eating them right off the vine. I wouldn’t be believe it if I didn’t see it myself. She really got them excited. Next we all pet there horse, then Carl taught them about cows, we met two of there dairy cows. Then there was Argus there dog we would’ve taken him home if he would’ve fit in the car my kiddos loved him climbed all over him while he just laid there in pure joy. This was by far our kids favorite vacation ever. They will remember this for the rest of there life. What you get at Carl and Julies you can’t find anywhere else. We look forward to many more trips to visit them. ❤️”
mhoadmin

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