Farm News Crop Forecast
U-Pick Recipes Nuts and Bolts
Greetings!
Part 2 of 3, of farm history:
For the first 2 years on this land — 2006 and 2007 — we lived in town in a small apartment near the library. It was underneath Martha Scheutzle — before Martha’s was “Martha’s”, and it sure smelled good! We even saw pies on the windowsill sometimes.
Our other upstairs neighbor was Brian Machacek. One day we were unpacking a hopper in the stairwell, and he walked up the stairs all curious and friendly. We noticed a part was broken and he said, ”Oh we can make that in my family’s shop. I like to do stuff like that for people.” Brian was exactly what Ben needed, teaching him welding, fabrication and repair in a very well outfitted shop – and he was ok with Ben’s strange hours too! For many years Ben commuted to that shop to work on our tractors or new ideas we had for equipment etc.
We later made friends with two other people who had lived in that same apartment. Ken Harter took Ben on as an unskilled helper for a couple winters and taught him basics of construction and general building repair. Carl Ericksen worked on our rusty old cars and trucks with a great sense of humor, and taught Ben along the way too, talking him through some projects to do on his own. And Dave Otterness hadn’t lived in that apartment – to our knowledge – but also had great patience and skill with our rusty-but-trusties, and a limited budget.
Our first year was a great learning year. Neither of us had grown up on farms so our only experience growing things was working for others. We thought we could, but didn’t really know if we could grow things! We therefore hand-picked our first 7 CSA members, most of which are still with us! Shout out to Jay & Kirsten, Mary Ellen, Marci & Keith, and Kelly & Anne!😘 We set up the CSA under a market tent, in the shade of Babe the Blue Ox (the F-350).
We also went to the farmer’s market on 7th street for a few years (again some of our customers are also still with us 🥰Thank you Susannah, Kari, Terri, Nancy, Jerri, and I am sure there are more of you!) and sold to St. Olaf College. Being at market introduced us to a lot of people and helped us understand more about what we were good at and how best to run the farm. At the same time our partnership with St Olaf really helped us develop the wholesale and institutional side of the business. With Executive Chef Peter Abrahamson’s help, we got to experiment with what crops might work well for us for wholesale and how to fit that into a CSA farm. Peter’s commitment to seeing us succeed helped us through some hard moments too – after the softball sized hail of August 2006 he stopped by the farm unannounced to see how things looked, and offered to buy anything that needed to get moved out of the field quick before it rotted. That’s not a normal buyer! We brought them a couple hundred pounds of damaged bell peppers the next day and he made sure they got chopped and used right away.
Just Food Coop was one year old when we started out, and we worked closely with them right away. Strider Hammer, the produce manager there for many years, and Leona Openshaw, the local produce buyer for even more years, were excellent at teaching us nuances of wholesale relationships and steadily buying and promoting whatever crops worked well for us to sell them.
We loved the combo of wholesale and CSA! At that point, we were only growing on 4 acres and didn’t have a barn, so in 2007 we kept using our truck for shade and storage and washed on used pallets outside. Late in 2007, Mary Ellen offered to sell us the land so we were able to move into the house and then in 2008, we built the red barn. With the lending help of USDA Farm Service Agency (FSA), we paid a barn builder to save an old post and beam barn that was slated to be torn down in Mankato and have it reconstructed here, with the building crew and a couple community barnraising days. This is where you pick up your vegetables! We knew very little about building and had lots of experts advise us and help us get that barn built – the list is too long to write out, it was a lot of people. Then John Saurer and Ben built and finished the roof. Aaron Wills, dreaming about planting blueberries next door, climbed around up there for a day or two too! We had salvaged some windows from a dumpster in town after the hail in 2006, and Erin’s parents Jay and Kirsten Johnson framed them in the south wall for us.
In 2010, we harvested a baby!
Over the course of all these years, we slowly increased our CSA membership and wholesale partners. More on that and our wonderful employees in Part 3, in the next newsletter in two weeks!
Crop Forecast
It’s so nice to have a wider variety of veggies coming in! Carrots and cukes really take the cake for us. (But we haven’t made carrot cake yet.) These are the nicest early carrots we remember ever having — bigger and tastier, and good yields in the field. Usually we figure they’ll be smaller and yield very low, but not this time. That was a nice surprise.
We really like how the hottest and most humid days are only coming in 2-4 day stretches. It’s enough to meet our desires — jump start crops, wilt some weeds we’ve pulled or cultivated, and dry out leaves to prevent plant diseases– but not so many hot days it stresses the crops out. And our current rain pattern of 1-2″ every 10 days or so is hard to beat. We have to do a little irrigating in between the rains but it gives us plenty of days to keep going at the weeds — and get away with a few delays too.
This week we’ll have plenty more cucumbers, summer squash and zucchini. With the carrots, red beets, cabbage, broccoli, kohlrabi and scallions that makes for a pretty nice bag of stuff! Also to choose from — the last of the salad turnips and boc choi.
Leaf lettuce and greens look fantastic, but the head lettuce and radishes is done. They doesn’t handle the long days and heat well so we don’t plan/plant for harvesting them in July. Plenty of kale and swiss Chard.
The big fall carrot planting is in the ground, and germinating! This week we’ll also seed fall beets and radishes. Fall cabbage is planted too. After this our planting list is smaller, mostly of faster growing things — lettuce and greens, plus kale and spinach in a few weeks.
No blushing tomatoes yet! They’re getting bigger though, so hopefully in a couple weeks we’ll have them.
What’s for U-Pick?
Peas made it through the hottest days just fine, and should be great this week. Looks like a longer than usual season for them — they’ll probably start to fade out next week and be gleaning by the week after. Thanks to the folks who made it out over the weekend to keep some from going by.
If you don’t see good plump peas where you’re standing, walk further into the planting/ farther from the barn, and you will probably find abundance.
There are some sections that have gone by , those peas are super plump and whiter/lighter in color, and tougher and drier to eat. But keep looking up higher or down the row and you will find good ones!
Pick peas with two hands – hold the plant with one hand and pull off the pea with the other. Or get fancy one-handed and hold the stem between two fingers while your thumb pops the pea off. The key is don’t yank on the vine.
Beans surprised us and came in last week! They’re in front of your cars. We’ll have a limit this week so check the board. Soon they will be unlimited.
Wow what a Strawberry year, and all from just one planting! We’ll try to take good care of both plantings this summer and fall to set us up well for a similar harvest next spring.
Cilantro – the current planting is bolting aka starting to flower — the flavor changes in a way that some people like and some people don’t, so try it and see what you think. The next planting will be in by the end of the week.
Dill – is looking great!
Basil is doing great!
Also extra bonis this year — extra thai basil! It makes an amazing Thai meal. We have a lot and will be opening it this week, over near the solar panels. We will also be opening nasturtiums there BUT not all the other herbs there are ready for picking so please only pick herbs from those beds that have a white sign.
The best way to pick basil is to pinch the tops off, at a leaf joint which has new leaves waiting to grow out. That was the plants grow more growing tips or tops which can be pinched. Ask Erin or Alex if you’re unsure about this, we’re happy to show or explain.
This spot in the newsletter will keep you informed, and always check the U-pick board when you’re here to see what’s available and picking amounts.
Nuts and Bolts
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 : Lettuce Mix for $6 / lb . Green Cabbage for $1/lb. Kale for and Broccoli $3 / lb. Carrots and Beets for $1.25 / lb.
From Maura in the Medicinal Herbs Garden:
It has been wonderful meeting so many kind and optimistic people over the past couple of weeks! Taking care of the medicinal herb garden has come with some learning curves but I have loved every minute of it.
It’s the 4th annual HerbFest at Keepsake Cidery located in Dundas. From 12 noon to 4:30 on Sunday 13th, 2025. Attendees can enjoy a variety of vendors as well as presentations and demonstrations from local herbalists along with guided plant walks. It is free admission and all are welcome to join a day of fun! As well as connecting with spirited herbalists such as LuAnn Raadt. Any questions about the festival or medicinal herb garden feel free to contact me at mccabem013@gmail.com or 507.581.4185. Hope to see you there!
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. Then just tell them to introduce themselves to us in the barn, just so we know and we 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, Alex, Camille, Elliott, River, Sai Dang and Crew
RECIPES
Chocolate Beet Brownies
1/2 cup butter (or 1/4 cup butter and 1/4 cup applesauce)
4 oz. unsweetened chocolate
4 eggs
1 cup brown sugar (packed)
1 cup applesauce
1 tsp. vanilla
1-1/2 cup unbleached white flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. baking powder
1 cup cooked beets or 15 oz. can beets packed in water, drained and mashed;
1/2 cup finely chopped almonds
1/2 cup wheat germ
Melt butter and chocolate over low heat. Set aside to cool.
In a separate bowl, beat eggs until light in color and foamy.
Add sugar and vanilla and continue beating until well creamed.
Stir in chocolate mixture, followed by applesauce and beets.
Sift together flour, salt, spices and baking powder and stir into creamed mixture.
Fold in wheat germ and almonds.
Turn into greased 9×13-inch pan and bake at 350° for 30 to 40 minutes.
Cool before cutting into squares.
Cabbage Slaw with Miso-Honey Vinaigrette
Salad:
¼ purple cabbage
¼ green cabbage
1 medium carrot, peeled
1-2 small daikon radish, peeled
4 green onions
Dressing:
1 tablespoon white miso paste
1 teaspoon fresh grated ginger
1 clove garlic
1 tablespoon peanut oil
1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
1 teaspoon sweet mirin vinegar
1 teaspoon rice wine vinegar
1 teaspoon honey
1 tablespoon white sesame seeds
1 tablespoon black sesame seeds
1 lime, juiced
Cut peeled carrot and daikon into 3- to 4-inch matchsticks pieces, set aside.
Remove outer layer of green onions, discard.
Cut off the darkest green at the top of the onion (just about 1”) and the root, and discard both.
Cut into 3- to 4-inch strips.
Cut cabbage into thin strips, keeping purple and green cabbage separate.
Toast sesame seeds in a small pan on the stovetop until they start to brown if using white sesame, or for about 2 minutes if using black.
Remove from the pan and reserve in a small bowl.
Combine all dressing ingredients in a mixing bowl, grating the ginger with a micro-grater and mincing the garlic with a knife.
Mix well to completely dissolve the miso, making sure there are no small chunks remaining.
Add sesame seeds, reserving a small amount for garnish.
Dress purple cabbage lightly and put in one half of your serving bowl.
Do the same with green cabbage and add to other half of the bowl.
Dress carrots, daikon and green onion and arrange on top of the cabbage.
Top with slices of avocado and sprinkle with extra sesame seeds and a handful of cilantro leaves.
Open Hands Farm 