2018 CSA ~ Week 16

September 18, 2018

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SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENTS:

Thanks for your patience with not receiving the weekly reminder emails the day before your delivery. I have been checking out other options, but the ones I am exploring will take a while to set up and I just haven’t had the time to do so at this point in the season. Hopefully, your blog early in the week will work for now…..

WHAT’S IN YOUR SHARE THIS WEEK;

  • Pears (Star Krimson or Red Bartlett)
  • Collards
  • Broccoli
  • Lettuce
  • Carrots
  • Basil
  • Corn
  • Peppers
  • Onion
  • Red Kuri Squash

RECIPES:

Sweet & Tangy Collard Greens

Coconut Bacon Collard Greens

Stuffed Red Kuri Squash w/Walnuts and Beans

Vegan Carmelized Red Kuri Pasta w/White Wine & Olive Oil

Red Kuri Squash Curry w/Chard & Coconut

Peanut Noodles w/Chicken & Pears

This week we’re happy to have Pears in your box….CSA Member Lisa Plumb offered this recipe as one of her favorites….thank you Lisa!

Harvest Pear Crisp

  • 6 cups pears, cored & cut lengthwise into 1/2″ thick slices (about 3 lbs.)
  • 1 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
  • 1/3 cup sugar
  • 1 Tbsp cornstarch
  • 1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon, divided
  • 1/3 cup all purpose flour
  • 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 3 Tbsp chilled butter, cut into small pieces
  • 1/3 cup regular oats
  • 1/4 cup coarsely chopped walnuts

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees
  2. Combine pears and lemon juice in a 2 qt. baking dish: toss gently to coat. Combine sugar, cornstarch, and 1 tsp cinnamon: stir with a whisk. Add cornstarch mixture to pear mixture: toss well to coat.
  3. Lightly spoon flour into a dry measuring cup: level with a knife. Place flour, 1/2 tsp cinnamon, brown sugar, and salt in a food processor: pulse 2 time or until combined. Add chilled butter: pulse 6 times or until mixture resembles coarse meal. Add oats and walnuts: pulse 2 times. Sprinkle flour mixture evenly over pear mixture.
  4. Bake at 375 deg. for 40 minutes or until pears are tender and topping is golden brown. Cool 20 minutes on a wire rack: serve warm or at room temperature.

With the turning of the season, which has happened very quickly this year, we’re beginning to harvest the fall crops. This week you will see the first of your Winter Squash, beginning with the Red Kuri.

Winter Squash store best in a cool, dry, dark place with good ventilation. They should keep for up to a month or more, depending on the variety. You can also incorporate Winter Squash into a beautiful arrangement for your table. They won’t keep quite as long at room temperature, but if they are sitting on your table, you might be inspired to eat them more quickly. Once squash has been cut, you can wrap the pieces in plastic or waxed paper and store them in the refrigerator for 5-7 days.

This week  you will also see your first Pears, either the Star Krimson or Red Bartlett.  If the pears are not ripe, store at room temperature in a single layer until they darken in color. Once they are ripe, store in the refrigerator where they can actually last for a few weeks. Again, if you want to speed up the ripening, put them in a paper bag with a ripe banana or apple.

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Last night the That’s My Farmer team held the fundraising dinner at Party Downtown. We hosted a sold out crowd and the food was amazing! Party does a fabulous job of taking in the food that the participating farms had to offer, and creating a delicious menu with it. The majority of the funds brought in will go into the Low Income Fund to

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help those in need afford subsidized CSA Shares next season. Party Downtown is awesome at supporting local farms by purchasing their produce for their restaurant downtown on 8th Ave., and also at the Friendly St. Market. Look for their soon to open Party Bar in the space vacated by Red Wagon Creamery, attached to their existing location. Thank you Mark, Tiffany and crew, and thanks for all of the attendees and your very generous donations to the cause.

FARMER PROFILE:

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This week our farmer profile is all about Nicholas Tippins. Nicholas is experiencing his first season on the farm, and came to us at a time when we really needed him. It was at the height of the season and we had two crew members who needed to leave. The temperatures were consistently in the 90’s and our crew were working so hard, putting in long days. We advertised for crew on Craigslist, but Nicholas just happened to arrive in town, and having worked on farms before, did a little research on the farms in the area and called us…..serendipity!

Nicolas was born in Oregon, grew up in Wisconsin and has lived and traveled to many places. After graduating from a Quaker High School boarding school, he was accepted to college but deferred for a year to do some traveling first.  He met a medicine man who would become his spiritual teacher, which then lead to a 2 year journey to study in India.

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For the first 6 weeks there he strived to be the most uncomfortable he could be, to help him learn to let go of his attachments. He studied with teachers of Hindu, Sikh, and Tibetan Buddhist traditions, learning meditation and yoga. It was the most amazing and life changing experience of his life. He also met the love of his life, Cassie, there!

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He returned to the US in 2015, to Wisconsin, and worked on farms in that area, as well as establishing his own academic and book editing business. He’s also worked as a cook in a Farm to Table restaurant, and while in India, met tourists at the bus station, and helped them to find accommodations there.

Nicolas loves to write and is currently writing several children’s books. He also loves to read and his current favorite author is Andrew Harvey, who writes about Sacred Activism….

“The one hope for the future lies, I believe, in Sacred Activism – the fusion of the deepest spiritual knowledge and passion with clear, wise, radical action in all the arenas of the world, inner and outer. We have very little time in which to awaken and transform ourselves, to be able to preserve the planet, and to heal the divisions between the powerful and the powerless. Let us go forward now with firm resolve and profound dedication.”  Andrew Harvey

Linda: If you could change anything about yourself, what would it be?

Nicholas: I would like to have more humility, to be more present to appreciate the simple miracle of everything.

Linda: What do you like to do when you’re not working?

Nicholas: I’m working on my own writing projects. I enjoy being in nature, playing music and doing my spiritual practices. I feel like those things are my “real” job, and making money is just a way to support those things.

Linda; What books do you like to read, or what movies do you like to watch?

Nicholas: Some recent favorites would be Anna Karenina, the Little Prince, & The Giver. A movie I recently enjoyed was “The Horse Boy”.

We are sure enjoying having Nicholas on our crew this year, and hope that his journey allows him to return next season. He usually has at least a half smile on his face at all times. His gentle, serene presence is a benefit to the crew and through the craziness of the harvest season, although his quick wit, and subtle humor continually catch me off guard. We’re glad the universe led him here to spend the summer with us!

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Just for fun…Jordan pulled this carrot out of the field….so many carrots, so little time!

We hope that you all have a wonderful week ahead and enjoy your box of veggies!

Linda and all of your Winter Green Farmers