Summer CSA Week 17 – It’s a Meat Week!

Farm News

Fall vibes. It’s a feeling that is going around right now. Cooler temps, shorter days, smokier air, kids back in school. This past week you might have noticed the arrival of fall when you picked up your CSA share. The carrots and beets were bulked. There weren’t that many tomatoes. There wasn’t an overloaded amount of vegetables on the stands. And, you also might have noticed that the overall amounts took a little dip. All of this is pretty seasonally normal.

This past week we were in between successions. We map out all the things way back in December without really know exactly what is going to happen (the first frost, super high temps, smoky days, when your irrigation district messes up and totally shuts down your irrigation for a few days). This means that sometimes things don’t happen on our schedule.

In an ideal world successions come on and peter out in perfect … succession and we wouldn’t be inundated by too much of something. Indeed, that is what we plan and hope for. But then reality strikes and the perfectly planned and not overwhelming amounts of produce turn into too many fennel or asian greens too many weeks in a row and then a random, not super prolific week in the middle of September. ‍♀️ But we really should be getting back on track next week. Tomatoes. The next succession of corn coming on. Hopefully more melons. More varieties of hot peppers as we get deeper into fall.

The other thing that fall brings is the returning towards the core of the farm. Right now we are finishing successions in the 25-acre. Winter storage crops are getting harvested and stored, and the summer lettuces, melons, greens, and such are finishing their productive cycle. All these rows are being being replaced by cover crops and next year’s grain crops and we are replanting and will begin harvesting more from the 2-acre.

The 2-acre affords us so much more protection then the 25. It is fully fenced so the deer and elk that are beginning to move down from the higher elevations and right into the farm can’t get at the fresh heads of lettuces and other yummy things. We are also set up best in the 2-acre to deploy row covers over crops which gives them a little insulated boost so they will come to size in time for the last Summer CSA on October 9.

The cycle of the summer CSA is most profound at these tipping points in the season. Rest assured, we planned it perfect with you in mind, now we just need to get the vegetables back on board .

~ Alison

Winter CSA sales are open

Let last year’s Winter CSA members tell you why the Winter CSA is so special!

This week I thought we would take a photo tour of our animal friends. We share the farm with, among many others, our Dairy Queens (Amiga in the milker and Strawberry Moon in the round pen), pigs and their piglets (of which there are at least 35 at last count), a miniature donkey named Bitty, two wild mustangs (Ari in his corral and Leo grazing), two Black Mouth Currs (Mack, the black and blonde one, and Sloane, the blonde), and a brindle pup named Olive that is head of HR.

Veggie CSA

Every week, we include this section with what we think will be coming out of our fields and hoop houses for the CSA pick up. Keep in mind, that we send this email on Monday just as we start harvesting for the week. That means this is a guess/estimation/extrapolation of what we think we are seeing in the fields. Sometimes we are spot on, but other times we are not.

Harvest List will probably include:

Basil
Beans
Beets
Broccoli & cauliflower
Cabbage
melons
Carrots
Chard
Cucumbers
Eggplants
Fennel
Fresh onions
Green onions

hot peppers
Kale
Leeks
Lettuce heads
Napa cabbage
Potatoes
Rhubarb
Salad mix
Summer squash & zucchini
sweet peppers
Tomatillos
Tomatoes
Yod Fah

Meat CSA

Each week we will let you know what you can expect in your meat CSA. Occasionally (although we try very hard for this not to happen), we do the math wrong and your CSA might look different then what is here. Embrace the surprise, we really tried not to have that happen.

Check the links below and the Wednesday email for recipe ideas and more information.

1 package steaks (this will be one of the following: rib steak, ribeye, New York, top sirloin, flank, skirt)

1 bone-in chop
1 pack bacon
+/- 1 package ground beef

1 package steaks (this will be one of the following: rib steak, ribeye, New York, top sirloin, flank, skirt)
1 package bacon

1 package pork country style ribs
1 package chuck roast
+/- 3 packages ground beef

1 whole roasting chicken
2 packs boneless pork chops
1 pack sliced ham

2 packs beef short ribs
+/- 4 packages ground beef