Summer CSA Week 19

Farm News

Oh, wow, only two more CSAs left in the Summer CSA. This will be the last week that we see our Meat Only CSA members and this will be the last meat pick up for our Meat & Veggie members. That means that next week is our last Vegetable Pick up and the last Bend Farmers Market of 2024. Wow, 20 weeks here and gone.

It certainly feels like the season is winding down in that glorious, end of season sort of way. Which is great, honestly, nothing can sustain a summer growing season forever. The soil needs to rest. The farmers need to rest.

And our diets–meaning the kind of food that we customarily eat and not the restrictive lose weight sense of the word–have begun to show the telltale signs of switching into winter nourishment. Speaking at least for myself, slow cooked rich meals made in my oven or my pressure cooker have really begun to simmer to the top when I start thinking about feeding myself. Stews, roasts, and roast chickens. Sauces rich in cream or with a cooked down wine base. Potatoes, onions, and winter squash are replacing the cucumber salads and variations of “everything on a lettuce base” that is my normal summer run. I’m not saying I don’t or won’t miss crunchy cucumbers or vine ripened tomatoes, only that I am really starting to lean into those rich winter flavors.

And the farm is reflecting this change too. We have flipped most of our hoop houses into their Siberian Kale winter splendor. The potatoes, onions, winter squash, daikon radish, garlic, and chickens and pork are almost all tucked into their winter storage homes waiting to nourish us through the cold months ahead.

We have all really enjoyed riding the wave of the growing season with you this year and are excited for the last week with you all next week! Thank you all for your continued commitment to local agriculture, ecosystems, and economies. From our farm to your home, we appreciate you and our gratitude, like Asian greens in August, overflows.

~ Alison

P.S. Don’t forget to sign up for your Winter CSA! First CSA is in just about 1 month, November 7! Click HERE for more info and to sign up!

Save the Date: Customer Appreciation is Sunday, 10/27

• Sunday, October 27, 11a-3p
• Live Music, 12-1:30

Join us for a day on the farm: come treasure hunting/gleaning, grab some small plates from the kitchen for lunch ($2-$4/option), listen to live music at the Farm Store, and celebrate the end of the growing season and the arrival of winter.

Bring your family, friends, and selves.
Bring your shovels, buckets, gloves, and maybe your gardening clothes.
Please don’t bring your dogs! This is a no-dog event!

We hope to see you there!

Summer CSA Pre-Sales are Open

Buy your 2025 Summer CSA today (or at least before November 10) and use coupon code 25earlybirdsummer when buying your CSA.

With 25earlybirdsummer you’ll save $50 and be invited to our Early Bird CSA dinner in early June, a night of farm dishes, live music, community, and a special farm tour. This deal ends on November 10 so sign up now!

After chatting with many of you this season, we would like to introduce a change in our missed pick up policy! We want to reimburse you for missed Vegetable CSAs. For each missed pickup, we will add Market Bucks to your account.

• Small: $25/missed pickup
• Medium: $35/missed pickup
• Large: $45/missed pickup

This way you can pick up extra veg later or purchase some pickles, grains, honey, or meats. All you have to do is send us an email and let us know you will be missing your pick up!

The 2025 Summer CSA will look similar to the 2024:

• Pick ups in Bend on Wednesday, Sisters on Sundays, and at the Farm Store Wednesday-Saturday.
• Small, Medium, and Large Meat and/or Vegetable CSAs.
• Foundations and your choice vegetable options each week.
• Varied meat CSA based upon enjoying a whole animal.

The fall colors are here! Cabbage green fading into the deep dark green of winter squashes right next to the browned out corn stalks and orange winter squash!

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:

Beets
Broccoli
Cabbage
Carrots
Fennel
Greens (could be Chard, Asian Greens, or kale)
Green onions

hot peppers
Leeks
Napa cabbage
Potatoes
sweet peppers
Tomatoes
Yod Fah

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 whole roasting chicken

+/- 1 package ground beef

1 whole roasting chicken
1 pork blade steak

+/- 3 packages ground beef

1 whole roasting chicken
+/- 5 packages ground pork

+/- 5 packages ground beef