Maplewood Organics

We spent a better part of the last two days making sauerkraut. We managed to make about 370 pounds of it, less than I had planned on. Some of our heads of cabbage were a bit smaller than they should have been. We'll move our barrels to the shop close to the corn stove to ferment for about 6 weeks. Then we'll put the barrels in Eric's parents' basement for storage. We'll pack the jars as we need them from there!

We've been having computer problems more and more with our five-year-old computer. We really need to get a new one that's faster and has more storage. Until then, please bear with us as we attempt to get our newsletters and blog postings up on time. Sometimes it just won't work out!

Winter

CSA Newsletter

Volume 2

Issue 1

October 22, 2009

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Week 1

Welcome to our second fall/winter CSA! Thank you so much for joining us in extending the local food eating season. This year we doubled our shares offered and still sold out and have a waiting list. Next year we’re going to maintain the number of shares but go even further and add two more pick-ups of mostly storage crops in January. We would love to be able to offer year-round produce to our members some day. We’re on our way! We’d love to hear your suggestions along the way.

Local Harvest website blog (

http://www.localharvest.org/farms/M13345): Go here and click on "Read Our Blog" to view our posts and past newsletters with recipes.

Garden Progress

Our late crops are doing well in the field. We are having trouble with voles eating our beets and Swiss chard roots. I’m looking into what to do about it. We have a number of barn cats that hunt around the gardens, but they obviously aren’t completely taking care of the problem.

We’ve been working bit by bit on clearing out the debris in the garden by the house. Last weekend, Eric, the farmer, spread manure in 2/3 of the big field and plowed it in. We’ll apply compost next and topsoil in the low areas.

This weekend, Brian and Eric will be harvesting 200 heads of green cabbage for use in our 2009 batch of sauerkraut. We plan to spend Monday and Tuesday processing the cabbage.

I just applied for and was given a grant to conduct on-farm research in season extension. I’ll be starting this project in November. This preliminary research will make our farm eligible for more in depth research projects with better funds in the future. I’ll keep you up to date on this year’s project and the results.

Bulk Beef Packages

We offer a variety of bulk beef packages, starting with our 12 pound sampler at $120 with a 10% savings right up to our 180-pound Family package at $1500 with a 15% savings and a few sizes in between. You can also have your beef custom cut by purchasing it from us by the hanging weight ($4.50 per pound). This means that you would work directly with the butcher of your choice to have the beef cut and packaged the way you want and pay the cutting and wrapping fee directly to the butcher.

We also sell our beef by the cut right at the farm. You may preorder from us any time, and we’ll make sure your meat is ready for you to take along with your vegetables right when you pick up your Winter CSA share. Just give a call or send an email to check availability! We hope you’ll try our beef. We don’t think you’ll switch back after you’ve had a taste of ours!

Box Contents

Beet greens, leeks, carrots, lettuce, kale, onions, acorn squash, cabbage, potatoes, Swiss chard, parsnips.

New Next Week

Butternut squash and sauerkraut.

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Recipes of the Week

K’s Potato Leek Soup (from pinchmysalt.com)

3 tablespoons butter
3 leeks, thinly sliced*
1 medium or large onion, chopped
6 – 8 russet potatoes, thinly sliced**
3 1/2 cups chicken broth (or enough to barely cover potatoes)
1 cup heavy cream
salt to taste
fresh ground black pepper to taste

1) Melt butter in a large saucepan over medium heat then add onions and leeks. Cook, stirring, until onions are limp and just slightly brown.

2) Add sliced potatoes to saucepan then pour in enough chicken broth to just barely cover the potatoes. Continue cooking over medium heat until potatoes are tender. Using a potato masher, mash and stir potatoes until desired consistency is reached. As you mash the potatoes and the soup thickens, turn down heat and stir frequently with a large spoon to prevent scorching on the bottom.

3) Add one cup of heavy cream (or more if you desire) and salt and black pepper to taste. Cook 15 minutes more over low heat, stirring frequently, then remove from heat and serve.

Notes: *Make sure to

clean leeks thoroughly and slice only the white and light green part of the leeks. **You don’t need to peel the potatoes as the peels add to the rustic texture of the soup. But make sure to scrub them thoroughly and remove any obvious blemishes before slicing. Although we always make it with chicken broth, this can easily become a vegetarian soup by simply using vegetable broth instead.

Kale And Parsnips

www.justvegetablerecipes.com)

Cheesy Cabbage Casserole

•1/4 cup butter

•1 small white onion, chopped

•1 head cabbage, chopped

•3 tart apples, thinly sliced

•1/2 teaspoon salt

•1/2 teaspoon pepper

•1/4 cup milk

•1 1/2-2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

1.In a large deep skillet over medium-high heat, melt butter. Add onion, cabbage, apples, salt and pepper and sautee for about10 minutes until crisp-tender.

2.Add milk and cheese and combine well. You maybe tempted to add more milk, BUT, there will be more moisture after it has baked.

3.Pour into at least a 2 quart casserole dish. Cover and bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes. Uncover and bake additional 10-15 minutes.

1 c Onions, halved & sliced
1 c Parsnips, halved & sliced
1 tb Corn oil
1 c Water
2 tb Ginger, minced
1 qt Kale, veins removed & cut into bite-sized pieces

Saute the onions and parsnips in oil for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally to prevent burning. Add the water and ginger. Cover and simer for 4 to 5 minutes. Add the kale and continue cooking 4 to 5 minutes longer. Stir occasionally but keep the saucepan covered otherwise. Serve hot.

(from

CSA Newsletter

Volume 5

Issue 18- Farm

October 15, 2009

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Week 18

Here it i

Local Harvest website blog (http://www.localharvest.org/farms/M13345): Go here and click on "Read Our Blog" to view our posts and past newsletters with recipes.

Garden Progress

Everything is gearing down of course. Now that we’ve had a hard frost crops that weren’t producing much anymore are really done. Soon we’ll be bringing in all the sauerkraut cabbage and plowing under the big field. Some of the winter CSA crops benefit from the frost and will taste really great now. Another frost or two and they’ll be about perfect. I haven’t looked under the row cover yet, but it should have kept the frost off the more tender crops.

We’ll still be applying compost and seeding down empty beds with winter rye as late as we can. After this week, we shift to the winter CSA with only one harvest and delivery day a week. I must say we’re ready for the slow down. It’s getting awfully cold washing vegetables in the milk room. Our fingers are pretty numb and stiff by the time we’re done preparing your carrots and beet greens. Maybe someday we’ll look into heating the milk room for this time of year!

Farm News

Our most exciting news this week is that Eric and I bought our first tracotr. It’s a Farmall A Cultivision. It was built in 1947, pre-chemical farming era. Most tractors built for the kind of farming we do without chemical herbicides we made in the 1950s and before. We got a really great deal on the tractor, plows and harrows. We are now starting to look around for cultivators to buy and build. This is a very exciting acquisition. It means that we won’t have to rent or lease a tractor for our garden anymore!

Repeat for some of you:

Thank you to everyone who has filled out our survey. There’s still time to fill it out if you haven’t had a chance yet. Or if you feel comfortable doing it, you can send me an email or give me a call with your feedback. The great thing about the online survey is you can be totally anonymous. It very helpful to know what everyone wants. We’re in the process of compiling the data to see what crops are most and least desirable. There are of course different people who want more and less of the same vegetable! For instance, many of you want lettuce for salads every week. Others want more potatoes. Some of you were overwhelmed by the lettuce and potatoes. We did a better job this year than ever before of planting crops multiple times to be able to offer them week after week. The best examples are peas, beans, yellow squash, and lettuce. We’ll keep at it and keep improving next year. We plan to get closer to having lettuce at least as a choice every week. We’ll plant our broccoli and bok choy in multiple plantings. We’ll also be returning all of our melons to the greenhouse. We had such great success for two years, followed by two years of disappointing results in the field. Back to the greenhouse we go!!!

Recipes of the Week

Maple Baked Butternut Squash

3 tablespoons unsalted butter

3 tablespoons apple butter
3/4 cup maple syrup, plus more as needed for basting
1/4 cup apple cider
2-3# (1 large) butternut squash, peeled, halved lengthwise, seeded and cut crosswise into 1/4-inch thick slices
3 medium-sized tart apples, peeled, halved, cored and cut into 1/4-inch pieces
2 tablespoons dried cranberries

1. Preheat oven to 400?. Oil a medium-sized (13"X9") baking dish.
2. Combine butter, apple butter, 3/4 cup of maple syrup and apple cider in a saucepan over medium-low heat until mixture melts, stirring. Increase heat and boil until mixture is slightly reduced, about 5 minutes.
3. Arrange 1/3 of squash slices in prepared baking dish. Top with half of apple slices, then 1/3 squash slices. Arrange remaining slices of squash and apple on top, alternating squash and apple slices. Season top with freshly ground pepper. If using unsalted butter, lightly season with sea salt.
4. Pour maple syrup mixture over casserole and cover tightly with foil. Bake casserole until squash in just fork-tender, about 45 minutes. Turn broiler on and broil an additional 1-2 minutes until top is golden brown.
5. Sprinkle with cranberries and serve, spooning juices over vegetables.

Garden Medley from

http://danazia.wordpress.com – with a few small modifications

1 bunch of baby carrots

1 bunch of baby beets and their greens

1 bunch of kale (or any other greens – Swiss chard, turnip greens, bok choy…)

3 to 4 cloves of garlic, minced

1 spring onion, sliced (or any other small onion or green onion)

1 to 2 tablespoons of olive oil

1 -2 tablespoons of your favorite vinegar

¼ cup of feta cheese

Salt and Pepper to taste

2 tablespoons of fresh garden herbs of your choice (or 2 tsps. dry herbs)

Hand full of nuts

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Cut the carrot and beet tops off and scrub them till nice and shiny. Save your beet greens and put them in a jar of water like a beautiful bouquet, while they wait. (This will get them all perky.) Put your roots in a small baking dish and toss them in one tablespoon of olive oil and bake till you can poke a knife through them, about 45 minutes or so. When they cool, cut them into halves. Some people like to remove the skins of the beets, but I like them and they provide more nutrients.

Wash the greens and chop them up into bite size pieces. Now, heat the remaining olive oil to medium high in a skillet that has a lid. Throw in the garlic and onion and sauté for a minute or two till they become translucent and aromatic. Then add the greens and herbs and sauté with the onions and garlic for a few minutes. Add a tablespoon of vinegar and put the lid on and simmer, stirring here and there for about 8 to 10 minutes, adding a bit more vinegar when needed. When the greens are done, add a bit of salt and pepper, place them in a pretty bowl and artfully put the carrots and beets in the dish. Sprinkle the snow white feta cheese and nuts on the top and serve with pride. This dish is saving America’s farms.

s, the last CSA pick-up of our regular season (the winter CSA starts next Thursday). Thank you all so much for being members of our CSA this year and for trying some of our other products! We hope you’ll join us again next year as we continue to improve our shares. I will continue to blog throughout the winter. I’ll try to post something at least every other week if not more, so please check in for updates. I think you may be able to sign up for emails when I do post something. Check it out below.