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Weekly Greetings CSAers!
Fall has arrived and with it the transition from summer crops to the fall varieties that go well with comfort foods like soups and stews. Many of the items for the remainder of the season like onions, potatoes, cabbages, beets, winter squash, etc store very well for future meals.
The tomato season this year was amazing and Issa and his crew harvested over 120 tons (240,000 lbs) of them this year, this was triple the amount of last year. Depending on the weather you may also still find peppers and eggplant in your shares, along with cauliflower that has finally decided it wanted to leave the fields for your dinner plates. You may also find broccoli in your shares for like cauliflower the fall crucifers are on their march to your homes, but it may be a bit spotty, so if you don't see them this week, they may be there the next. We will be taking a break this week on potatoes, but not to worry there are plenty in the fields. With help of many of our members and other volunteers (over 500 participants), we harvested over 100,000 lbs of potatoes to go to food banks all over the Front Range!
Kohlrabi has been a topic of some emails in regards to them being too large. Not to fret kohlrabi eaters, these larger ones contain the highest sugars of the year, and they will store extremly well too. Enjoy them simply raw or added to stir fries, or a variety of meals.
Lastly, check out the section below about Trade Boxes. If you are someone that has received something in your share that no one in your family will eat, and will go directly into the compost, please use the Trade Box so other members can find a home for it.
Have a great week and enjoy your shares!
This weeks shares may look something like this:
Single Share: Cauliflower, spinach, romaine, red feather kale, Napa cabbage, pie pumpkin, gold nugget squash, broccoli, red beets, red onions.
Couple Share: Cauliflower, spinach, cilantro, green onions, romaine, red feather kale, savoy cabbage, pie pumpkin, gold nugget squash, broccoli, red beets, red onions.
Family Share: Cauliflower, spinach, parsley, green onions, romaine, savoy cabbage, red feather kale, pie pumpkin, gold nugget squash, broccoli, red beets, Rocky Mountain sweet onion, red onions.
Single Fruit Share: One full peck bag of Golden Delicious apples.
Double Fruit Share: Two full peck bags of Golden Delicious apples
Bread Share: Garlic Rosemary
Mouco Cheese Share (one round per share): Camembert
Haystack Goat Cheese Share (one log per share): Farmer's Choice
Windsor Dairy Cheese: MacIntrye
Contents of the box may vary depending on weather, timing of the harvest and the whim of the farmer!
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Trade Boxes
What to do with that veggie that you don't like you ask, well the Trade Box my friend. At each of our pickup sites you will find a Trade Box (if you don't please let us know). This box is there for you to put veggies that you don't want to bring home for you know no one in your house will eat them even if they are dipped in honey and sugar. Conversely, if you see something in there that you like that someone else didn't, you can take that home with you. We have talked about ways to offer some customization to the shares, but the logistics and systems at the farm are simply not in place yet to be able to offer that, so for the time being this is what we have come up with.
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Member Emails
"Hi there! Just wanted to say thanks for your great newsletters and amazing produce each week. I'm happy to get whatever we get, whether it's red, green, white, orange or purple!
Also--those sugar pears from Black Bear Farms were incredible! So sweet, almost like there were granules of sugar in the flesh! I for one would love more of those, and I appreciated the variety in the giant pear harvest."
"Thank you so much for all the wonderful fruits and vegetables I get a single share and there are so many wonderful things each week I have to share with all my neighbors and they may join next year! I have done allot of experimenting and the best so far has been a vegetable sheppard's pie and a pear pie. Your recipes are yummy too. It feels so good to know some of us are going back to a more simpler way of eating. My parrot Darby O'Gill is a big fan of yours and La Luna my dog loves your carrots and broccoli.
Many thank to you and all your hard workers I can actually feel the love each time I pick up a new share. "
"This is my third year as a member and I just want to let you know that this is the best year by far!!!! We have gotten such a wonderful variety, and not a whole lot of things we don't know what to do with or are so tired of because there was so much! I get a family vegetable share, single fruit share, bread, eggs and flowers and we love it all. I hope that the winter share will be as good as the summer. I ended up throwing out a lot of bitty potatoes last year because a person can only fix so many marble sized potatoes! I love the winter squashes with a few pumpkins. Hope there will be plenty of butternut, spaghetti etc.
Thanks for a wonderful summer of healthy delicious food!"
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Pumpkin and Potato Soup w/ Kale
2 tbs olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
3 to 4 cloves garlic, minced
3 tbs miso paste (a flavorful soy product, can be found in Japanese and health food stores)
3 quarts water
1 lb potatoes
1 pumpkin, about 1-3/4 pounds, to yield 1 pound when peeled and cubed
1/2 bunch kale, leaves only, washed and torn into bite-sized pieces
3 tbs minced parsley
Red wine vinegar to taste
Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
Hot ground pepper, to taste
Grated Parmesan cheese to pass at the table
Heat the olive oil in a heavy soup pot. Add the onion, reduce the heat to moderate, and cook until the onion is just wilted. Add the garlic and miso; stir until the miso dissolves and colors the onion and garlic. Add the water. With the pot covered, bring liquid to just below the boil. Reduce the heat and simmer. Meanwhile, scrub the potatoes and cut them into 1/2-inch cubes. Peel and cut the pumpkininto 1/2-inch cubes. Add them to the pot. Simmer for about 20 minutes, or until the potato has cooked. The pumpkin will break up and thicken the soup. Just before serving, add the kale, the parsley, and the seasonings. Cook just long enough to wilt the kale, less than 1 minute. Pass the cheese at the table. Note: If you plan to serve the soup over several days, just add a little kale with each reheating.
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Recipes
 We want your recipes! If you have a recipe that has been in your family, or one you just created and would like to share it with us and the greater CSA community, we would love if you would send it to us. We are building a recipe resource for the CSA for members to use when looking for things to to with their weekly shares. If you have a recipe you would like to share, please send it to Howdy@grantfarms.com |
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Who's Your Farmer?
Your CSA Team
"When I'm at a Chinese restaurant having a hard time with chopsticks, I always hope that there's a Chinese kid at an American restaurant somewhere who's struggling mightily with a fork."
~Rick Budinich
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Back To The Start
Farming has changed and is continuing to, both in good ways and in bad. Farmers typically do not have much control in all the directions they take, for the retailers and thus consumers dictate much of the trends. It has been lately that consumers have helped farmers move in a more beneficial direction in both regards to the food they grow and raise and the way they do it. Check out the link below for a cool video that helps explain this. Your support in CSAs, farmer's markets and all local food helps us all!
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Baked Golden Nugget Squash
1 pinch Salt
1 pinch Cinnamon
1 dash Black Pepper
2 tbs Brown Sugar dark or light
1 1/2 tbs Butter
Wash the squash, cut in half lengthwise, and scrape out the seeds and string portion. Pierce a hole in each end of the squash halves and sprinkle each squash cavity with a pinch of salt, a pinch of ground cinnamon, dash of ground pepper, 2 teaspoons dark or light brown sugar, and 1 1/2 teaspoons butter. Arrange squash in a baking dish. Pour boiling water into the pan to a depth of 1 inch. Bake, covered, in a 400°F oven for 45 minutes, or until squash is tender. Serve.
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Spinach and Pepper Pita Pizzas
4 mini whole-wheat pitas
2 ounces thinly sliced trimmed spinach (2 cups)
1/2 cup thinly sliced roasted red bell peppers
2 to 3 ounces shredded Havarti cheese (preferably dill-flavored)
Coarse salt and ground pepper
Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Place pitas on a baking sheet. Top with spinach, peppers, and cheese, dividing evenly. Season with salt and pepper. Bake until cheese is bubbly and golden brown, 5 to 6 minutes.
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