Farm News Crop Forecast
U-Pick Recipes Nuts and Bolts
Greetings!
September weather can go a few directions, but this sunny warm pattern is by far our favorite. So many crops are still growing, or ripening, and modest warmth plus clear sunny skies is the best for keeping them healthy and making fall harvests easier. We love dirt even when it’s mud, and we love work, but mud usually makes for more effort and more time to get the same task done, sometimes for lower yields. So keep on coming, blue skies and 80s/60s!
Ben was walking around looking at beets, radishes and cabbages today, and thinking about the amount of growth they have to do before the busiest harvest weeks of October, stocking up for winter — “c’mon everyone, you’ve got 4-5 weeks and then we’re gonna put you in the cooler! Now’s the time. Go for it!”
We’re so grateful we’ve managed to have an abundant year so far, and so many crops look good for the fall. Some long-season crops that were planted and trying to start growing during the month-long deluge and the cloudy weeks that followed — melons, winter squash, tomatoes, some carrots — have limped to the finish line and yielded 30-75%. Mostly 75%, thankfully! It was really just one carrot planting that hit 30% yields.
For the fall share, with many things yielding normal / closer to 100%, that means we still have a pretty great share! Spinach is looking worse and worse and might be the one big bummer of the fall. We have some this week but might not next week or after. It seems liek that carzy hot Monday a couple weeks ago stressed it out too much. Spinach does not like heat!
But it looks like we have a steady flow of everything else. Even carrots since we plant so many for the wholesale side of the business. We’ll have to learn more about the spinach plantings while we fill up on red peppers, cauliflower and tomatoes!
Crop Forecast
Garlic — this is the last of 6 weeks of garlic in the share. Then it will continue to be for sale in the barn for $1.25 / head. As you know it’s super flavorful and a lot of garlic punch for your buck-25!
Melons!! This week, to end our pretty-good-given-the-year melon harvest, it will be mostly the big pink watermelons, which are an excellent heirloom variety called Crimson Sweet. Cantaloupes are done now but had a good run for a cool year. In the next couple of weeks we may have spaghetti squash ready to eat! Hardly a melon, but a good transition to squash season. The rest of the winter squashes will take a couple more weeks or more to ripen/taste good. Yields look about 75% in that field too but there should be enough for a good selection all fall.
Spinach Ugh. We’ll have a limit on this week, pretty small amount to go around. And maybe none next week, hopefully it can grow out of its yellow and rotting funk. (Do you ever feel like you have a yellow and rotting funk?)
Tomatoes — There have been fewer per share as they’ve yielded in that 75% range, but we should still have them throughout September. The latest planting is the lowest yielding this year — it just stopped growing and making new flowers about two weeks/ one foot before it usually does. Fortunately the quality is good, so the tomato-ing continues.
Onions— Now we’re into the storage onions, which are cured and can be stored on your counter, basket, closet etc — room temp with some airflow is best.
HOT Peppers — Hots do not like a cool season :(( The plants really are tropical heat and sun lovers, and currently look about half their normal size and fruit load. We’ll have 1 per week but maybe not as long as usual.
Celery – our celery is “cooking celery” — it has strong flavor and fibrous stalks, which most folks don’t enjoy for ants-on-a-log or dipping etc. It’s not blanched (covered with soil to make the stalks more tender) or self -blanching (bred for more tender white stalks but we think harder to grow here) . But it has more flavor for soups, stocks etc. We’ll have it for a few weeks before celeriac is ready (celery root – same species, bred for the root not the stalk, and stores all winter.)
Also for the next couple weeks — Green Peppers and increasing amounts of reds and oranges, Cauliflower, beets, carrots, eggplants, peppers, onions, broccoli, celery, cabbage, lettuce and greens plus kale and chard. We’ll let go of the very small amounts of summer squash and Cukes, probably next week.
What’s for U-Pick?
Cherry tomatoes , similar to the last planting of bigger tomatoes, just didn’t have what they needed to become the jungly, tall, loaded plants we usually have. They’re still pretty dense with fruit though and we should have them a couple more weeks.
Beans — We watered them again and wow they have taken off! South of the greenhouse, the western rows are loaded with beans that need to be picked this week. Please check the board for limits – probably unlimited but check just in case.
Basil and Cilantro – still crazy (good) after all these weeks.
Flowers go on!
This spot in the newsletter will keep you informed, but always check the U-pick board when you’re here to see what’s available and picking amounts.
Nuts and Bolts
From LuAnn in the Medicinal Herbs Garden:
I have a couple organized activities happening at the Medicinal Herbs Garden in September!
Make It and Take It Fire Cider Activity
It’s the season to make fire cider at Open Hands Farm by the medicinal herbs garden! Craft your own quart(s) of fire cider using provided veggies from the farm along with fresh, vibrant herbs from the medicinal herbs garden, specific to your tastes and needs. All you bring along is a cutting board and a sharp knife for slicing onions, peppers, and other veggies. Your handcrafted fire cider will be ready to support your health through the coming months (as well as spicing up your salads in place of plain vinegar). To learn more about fire cider, check out this page of my website.
There will be two identical sessions offered during CSA share pick-up times:
Thursday, September 5: Come anytime between 1:00 – 6:00 p.m (happened last week)
Tuesday, September 10: Come anytime between 1:00 – 4:00 p.m.
The cost is $30 per quart, payable at the activity.
Please be sure to sign up here so that I can have enough ingredients prepped.
Winter Health Remedy Making
Learn tips for staying healthy through the upcoming holiday season and winter while making a pint of Fire Cider, a pint of Onion Garlic Honey Syrup (my go-to for coughs), and a bonus herbal remedy (to be determined by which herb(s) are most vibrant at the time of class). Please bring a cutting board, knife, and scissors for preparing remedies.
Sunday, September 15, 2:30-5:00 p.m. at the Medicinal Herbs Garden
The cost is $40, payable at the class. (Minimum of 5 people necessary.)
Please sign up here for the Winter Health Remedies class
Bulk Produce for You
Check here each newsletter for what we have available for extra purchase.
To place a bulk order, simply email us at least 2 days ahead of the day you’d like to pick it up. Orders can be picked up at the farm during our regular pickup hours, but it doesn’t have to be your share pickup day. Usually we can make an order on the spot, too.
This week’s selection is : Cabbage for $2/head, Chard for $3/ lb, Beets $1.25/lb, carrots $1.25/lb, Globe and Asian Eggplant $2/ lb. Green and Red Bell Peppers $2/lb. Watermelons $1 lb (Big Pink Crimson Sweets only). Lettuce soon, and maybe spinach, but still not yet.
Share Pickup Hours TUESDAY and THURSDAY 1:30-6:30 pm.
Change Pick-Up Day Form — Click here. Please fill out this form instead of emailing us. Thanks!
Where is the farm? 4151 320th Street West, Northfield.
Please Drive Carefully —Children are everywhere.
If You Send Someone Else to Pick Up Your Share — Please forward them the basic pickup video in this link , which was also sent in an email earlier in June. Also tell them to introduce themselves to us in the barn, just so we know and can show them around.
We love having all of you come to the farm! Thank you for making it such a great place to be!
Your farmers,
Erin and Ben, with Allia, Alexandra, Elliott, Lynne, River, Seneca, Sai Dang and Crew
Recipes
Cauliflower Pasta with Tomato, Cheeses, and Herbs
¼ cup olive oil, divided
3 cloves garlic, minced (about 1 ½ tsp)
1 medium head cauliflower, broken into bite-sized florets
1 tsp salt
3 Tbsp water
2 cups tomato puree
2 tsp finely chopped fresh parsley
1 tsp finely chopped fresh thyme or ½ tsp dried thyme
freshly ground black pepper
1 pound uncooked pasta
2 Tbsp butter
1 ½ cups grated cheddar cheese
½ cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese plus more to taste
2 tsp finely sliced basil
Heat 2 Tbsp of the oil in a large skillet over low heat.
Add the garlic, saute for 1 minute.
Add the cauliflower and sprinkle with 1 scant teaspoon of salt.
Turn up the heat to medium-high and saute for 5 minutes.
Add 3 Tbsp of water to the skillet, cover, and cook for 5 minutes more.
Stir in the tomato puree, parsley, and thyme; bring to a simmer, and cook for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Season with pepper to taste.
Cook the pasta according to the package directions. Drain.
Transfer the pasta to a large bowl.
Pour the cauliflower sauce over the pasta and toss to coat.
Stir in the remaining oil and the butter, cheeses, and basil; toss until everything is well combined.
Garnish with more Parmesan cheese if you desire. Serve hot.
Miso-Glazed Grilled Asian Eggplant
One ¼-inch piece fresh ginger, peeled and coarsely chopped
1 garlic clove, coarsely chopped
¼ cup white miso
½ teaspoon hot red-pepper sauce such as Sriracha
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
2 teaspoons sugar
1 tablespoon mirin
1 tablespoon water
4 Asian eggplants, cut in half lengthwise
Sea salt and freshly ground pepper for sprinkling
Canola oil for brushing
3 green onions, cut on the diagonal into ¼-inch slices
In a blender, combine the ginger, garlic, miso, pepper sauce, vinegar, sugar, mirin and water.
Blend to form a smooth puree.
Sprinkle the eggplant halves lightly with salt and pepper and lightly brush all over with oil.
About 15 minutes before you plan to serve the eggplant, prepare a medium-hot fire in a grill.
Place the eggplant halves, cut side down, on the grill, cover the grill and cook until the flesh just starts to char and soften, 6 to 8 minutes.
Turn the eggplant over and cook, covered, until just tender, 3 to 4 minutes more.
Brush the cut sides of the eggplant with the miso mixture and cook, covered, until the eggplant is tender and the glaze has browned in spots, 3 to 4 minutes.
Transfer the eggplant to a warmed serving platter, sprinkle with the sliced green onions and serve immediately.
Serves 4.
Open Hands Farm 