And so it begins! Nearly 7000 bulbs of garlic to harvest, cure, & clean!
 
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Week Nine! - We are providing the e-news for ALL shareholders, however only Full Share and Week A Half Shares pick up this week!
 
In case you have not gotten a chance to read it yet, here is our CSA Shareholder AgreementMissed a newsletter? Check out our newsletter archives on our website!

We are in the middle of summer, but fall will be here before we know it. Don't want the fresh veggies to end? We still have some fall/winter shares available! Details and registration is on our website here: 
 
Farm News by Farm Manager Evan

Welcome to week 9 of the Wellspring CSA.

  First things first, these last 3 or 4 days have been just about the most perfect day a farmer could ask for: warm dry days, without being to warm, with steady rain during the night.  The only minor complaint is the cold nights.  It is difficult for tomatoes and peppers to ripen with nighttime lows of 55-60 degrees.  But I have total faith that it will start warming up a little (hopefully just at night) and we will get a bunch of ripe fruits soon.

  Speaking of peppers, you will notice there are two varieties of peppers in the share this week, one hot and one sweet.  As I mentioned in the newsletter 2 weeks ago all of the rain we got in early June stressed out our pepper plants.  They are recovering nicely and have (had) some nice fruit on them.  Most of the plants are fairly small and were not producing any more flowers.  If we let the pepper ripen the plant would not produce any more fruits.  By cutting them off we are forcing the plant to grow bigger and put on more flowers and thus more fruit.  Rather than compost those peppers we pulled off the plants, we decided to give them out in the shares. Some are small, but each share should get a sweet and a hot pepper. Consider it a teaser to the bountiful harvest we will get in August (*knock on wood).

Worker Share Karen Gill tying up freshly harvested garlic.

The other exciting news of the week is the garlic harvest.  Today we harvested almost 4 rows of beautiful garlic.  The garlic is great to eat fresh, and we hope you enjoy it in your share, but in order for it to store for any length of time it needs to be cured.  To cure it we tie up bunches of garlic from a string out of the sun and rain and with as much airflow as possible.  To accomplish this we hang the garlic in one of our covered hoop houses with a fan and shade cloth and in our shop.  The idea is to completely dry out the outer skin of the garlic without it baking in the sun.  After 2-4 weeks of curing, the garlic can be cut down and stored for months in a cool dry place to be used throughout the winter or set aside and used as the seed garlic for next years crop.

  I hope you like this weeks share as much as I liked growing it.


Wellspring News by Executive Director Angie

Wellspring is a member of FairShare CSA Coalition. This coalition of Wisconsin organic farmers must pass a peer review for membership. Our membership enables us to attend additional farm training through classes and/or farm day visits. It also allows us to be a part of promoting Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) to positively impact our local food system and economy. We also receive the opportunity to have families in need receive Partner Shares support to receive a share on their own. The annual drive for donations to support this fund are held from now through August 8th
Your donation to the Partner Shares program helps families eat fresh, healthy food through membership in a CSA farm!

  • $28 - Average weekly cost of one CSA share (FairShare farms)
  • $146 - Average weekly cost to feed a family of 4 on a budget (USDA)
  • $300 - Maximum discount available to Partner Shares households
Click here to be taken to our web site to make a secure donation for the Partner Shares program (2nd button) or our Educational programs (1st button).
What's In the Box and Where Does It Go? 

 

CROP                          FRIDGE?            NOTES/VARIETY

 

Cabbage                       Yes                         Green or Savoy

Lettuce Head                 Yes                 Magenta or New Red Fire           

Green beans                 Yes                    not washed, bagged   

Pickling Dill                    Yes       

Broccoli                         Yes                            side shoots!

Beets                             Yes                              Red Ace

Kale                               Yes                            Red Russian

Onion                             No                   not cured! Ailsa Craig Yellow

Garlic                             No                   not cured! German White

Peppers                        Yes/No        one hot and one sweet (mini-see notes above)

Cucumber                     Yes                  put in warmest part of fridge

OR Squash                  Yes/No          if in fridge, put in warmest part

Storage Tips 
The onions and garlic are fresh! We have not cured them, so they won't keep for months. Don't refrigerate it. It will be fine on the counter or in the pantry (don't forget about it!). You should use it within the next few weeks. Beans are bagged and NOT washed. They should be washed just before eating. For the beets (and all root veggies in general), the roots should be cut from the tops and stored separately to prevent the greens from wicking moisture out of the root and making for some limp beets or carrots.
 Though we wash most of the vegetables after harvest, it is impossible to get every last bit of dirt off of them all. Therefore we recommend giving all the greens another wash before storing in a bag/container with a piece of paper towel, in your crisper drawer. Later on in the week if your greens start to get limp, remember that this does not mean that they are rotting, it simply means that they have lost some water weight.  A quick soak in ice cold water will rejuvenate them. 
    
   For best storage practices for all your fresh fruits and veggies, check out this great resource from the Berkeley Farmers Market
 
Save those scraps! Keep the stems, trimmings, peels, etc from your veggie prep each week in a gallon bag in the freezer. When you accumulate enough, you can make a delicious, homemade vegetable stock...from seemingly nothing at all! Check out this blog post for the details on how to do it.
 
Recipes from Farmer Heather

Garlic: Finally! This stuff went in the ground last October, so I have had to wait anxiously through the long winter and extremely wet spring to see how all 7000-some garlic babies fared. We had to buy all new garlic seed last season which was an expensive investment, but I am happy to report the crop we've pulled so far looks great! Since we just started harvesting the garlic yesterday, the stuff in the box this week is not cured. Fresh garlic has a less intense flavor than cured garlic (like the kind from the grocery store and the kind you will get in later boxes). This fresh stuff still is delicious and the large cloves make it perfect for roasting! Trim off the top, drizzle w/ olive oil,  sprinkle some salt/pepper, and wrap it in foil. You can roast it in the oven or on the grill until it gets soft enough to stick a bread knife into it. Then smear that goodness all over other roasted/grilled vegetables or some toasted bread - sliced on a bias of course because you are fancy! Big thanks to shareholder and supportive significant other, Jeff Haneline, for helping me last fall when I had to pick up 135 lbs of seed garlic from the Dane County Farmers Market. 

Cabbage: In case you missed it, the newsletter from Week 7 has lots of "Slaw" recipe ideas. You can find that one in our newsletter archives on our website. Sick of slaws? Ferment! I made my first batch of kraut the other week, and it is a perfect cold & savory bite on a hot day. You can ferment any veggie, but be wary of textures since fermenting breaks the veggies down. Start with crunchy veggies like beets, carrots, cabbage, radishes, beans, etc. A mixture is always fun to try, so don't think you have to stick with cabbage. Also, if you don't have any crocks to ferment in, no worries! You can do it in a mason jar:

How to Make Homemade Sauerkraut in a Mason Jar

Makes 1 to 1 1/2 quarts

What You Need

Ingredients
1 medium head green cabbage (about 3 pounds)
1 1/2 tablespoons kosher salt

1 tablespoons caraway seeds (optional, for flavor)

Equipment
Cutting board
Chef's knife
Mixing bowl
2-quart widemouth canning jar (or two quart mason jars)
Canning funnel (optional)
Smaller jelly jar that fits inside the larger mason jar
Clean stones, marbles, or other weights for weighing the jelly jar
Cloth for covering the jar

Rubber band or twine for securing the cloth

  1. Clean everything: When fermenting anything, it's best to give the good, beneficial bacteria every chance of succeeding by starting off with as clean an environment as possible. Make sure your mason jar and jelly jar are washed and rinsed of all soap residue. You'll be using your hands to massage the salt into the cabbage, so give those a good wash, too.
  2. Slice the cabbage: Discard the wilted, limp outer leaves of the cabbage. Cut the cabbage into quarters and trim out the core. Slice each quarter down its length, making 8 wedges. Slice each wedge crosswise into very thin ribbons.
  3. Combine the cabbage and salt: Transfer the cabbage to a big mixing bowl and sprinkle the salt over top. Begin working the salt into the cabbage by massaging and squeezing the cabbage with your hands. At first, it may not seem like enough salt, but gradually, the cabbage will become watery and limp - more like coleslaw than raw cabbage. This will take 5 to 10 minutes. If you'd like to flavor your sauerkraut with caraway seeds, mix them in now.
  4. Pack the cabbage into the jar: Grab handfuls of the cabbage and pack them into the canning jar. If you have a canning funnel, this will make the job easier. Every so often, tamp down the cabbage in the jar with your fist. Pour any liquid released by the cabbage while you were massaging it into the jar.→ Optional: Place one of the larger outer leaves of the cabbage over the surface of the sliced cabbage. This will help keep the cabbage submerged in its liquid.
  5. Weigh the cabbage down: Once all the cabbage is packed into the mason jar, slip the smaller jelly jar into the mouth of the jar and weigh it down with clean stones or marbles. This will help keep the cabbage weighed down, and eventually, submerged beneath its liquid.
  6. Cover the jar: Cover the mouth of the mason jar with a cloth and secure it with a rubber band or twine. This allows air to flow in and out of the jar, but prevent dust or insects from getting in the jar.
  7. Press the cabbage every few hours: Over the next 24 hours, press down on the cabbage every so often with the jelly jar. As the cabbage releases its liquid, it will become more limp and compact and the liquid will rise over the top of the cabbage.
  8. Add extra liquid, if needed: If after 24 hours, the liquid has not risen above the cabbage, dissolve 1 teaspoon of salt in 1 cup of water and add enough to submerge the cabbage.
  9. Ferment the cabbage for 3 to 10 days: As it's fermenting, keep the sauerkraut away from direct sunlight and at a cool room temperature - ideally 65�F to 75�F. Check it daily and press it down if the cabbage is floating above the liquid.Because this is a small batch of sauerkraut, it will ferment more quickly than larger batches. Start tasting it after 3 days - when the sauerkraut tastes good to you, remove the weight, screw on the cap, and refrigerate. You can also allow the sauerkraut to continue fermenting for 10 days or even longer. There's no hard and fast rule for when the sauerkraut is "done" - go by how it tastes.While it's fermenting, you may see bubbles coming through the cabbage, foam on the top, or white scum. These are all signs of a healthy, happy fermentation process. The scum can be skimmed off the top either during fermentation or before refrigerating. If you see any mold, skim it off immediately and make sure your cabbage is fully submerged; don't eat moldy parts close to the surface, but the rest of the sauerkraut is fine.

Store sauerkraut for several months: This sauerkraut is a fermented product so it will keep for at least two months and often longer if kept refrigerated. As long as it still tastes and smells good to eat, it will be. If you like, you can transfer the sauerkraut to a smaller container for longer storage.

 

Beets: Just like the Aussies do! Put beets on your next sandwich or build the entire sandwich around the beautiful pink gems:

Roasted Beet Sandwich with Hummus and Feta

 

Yield: 3 sandwiches

Ingredients

6 slices of your favorite type of bread, toasted
6 Tbsp hummus of your choice
� of a onion, sliced
Couple handfuls of Arugula or leaves of lettuce
3 Tbsp Feta or goat cheese, crumbled
3 Beets, fresh with skin still on, stems trimmed
1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
few slices of cucumber

Instructions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Scrub your beets clean and make sure the stems are trimmed off. Keep the skin on and dry them. Place the beets in the middle of a pretty large piece of foil (large enough to fold over the beets to make a pouch). Drizzle the beets with olive oil and sprinkle with the salt and pepper. Fold the foil to make a pouch so that no beet juice will squirt out into the oven. Place the beets in the oven for about 60 minutes or until tender when pierced with a fork. Once the beets are done, let them cool a bit (you can run them under cold water) and peel them, they should peel easily (Caution: beet juice stains so be quick to clean it up). Slice the beets once they are peeled. Toast your bread and then spread your hummus on one piece of bread per sandwich then add some arugula and onion. Next, place the beet slices on. Top with a sprinkle of feta, salt and pepper. Top with your other piece of bread and take a bite of heaven!


Food Photos 
red fire lettuce
New Red Fire lettuce head
OR Magenta lettuce head
green beans
Green beans
red ace beets
Red Ace Beets

 

Patty Pan Squash OR
cucumber
Cucumber
picklingdill
 Pickling Dill
cabbage
Green Cabbage
OR Savoy Cabbage
Onion

   

Garlic

 

red russian kale
Red Russian Kale
broccoli
Broccoli
Assorted mini sweet peppers

Assorted hot peppers

 
Upcoming Classes, Workshops and Events at Wellspring!
 

For more information and to register for classes, please visit www.wellspringinc.org or call (847) 946-5565

 

 

  

Organic Baby Food Making With Master Preserver Christina Ward
Thursday, August 7th - 6 to 9 pm  

Many baby foods can be overly processed and contain synthetic ingredients. Join Master Preserver, Christina Ward, in this hands on class to learn how easy it can be to make your own baby food with fresh, organic produce! Preparation, storage and recipes tips will be covered. Students will work together to make their own baby food to bring home. All supplies will be provided. 

 

Cost: $50 until 8/4, $55 after.

 

Seasonal Produce Cooking Class - Brunch!

With Chef Greg Leon of Amilinda

Saturday, August 9th 
10 am to Noon 

Impress your family and friends with brunch made from seasonal ingredients! Chef Greg Leon will lead demos, tastings and give cooking tips. Recipes to take home! Come hungry!

 

Cost: $30 till 8/5, $35 after.

 

Seasonal Produce Cooking feat. Tomatoes
- with Chef Greg Leon of Amilinda
Thursday, August 14th - 6 to 8 pm
tomatoes wk 14

Wellspring offers a series of monthly cooking classes, inspiring and teaching students how to use various veggies during peak season! In each class, a chef demonstrates recipes using the featured produce of the month and provides healthy cooking tips. Attendees enjoy tastings of each dish, with an accompanying glass of wine, and receive recipe handouts to take home. Highlighted seasonal produce for August is Tomatoes!

Cost: $30 till 8/11, $35 after.


Tasting Tour of Wellspring Organic Farm
Thursday, August 21th - 6 to 7 pm

New in 2014, Wellspring will be holding "Tasting Tours"! Tour participants will learn about all the systems and processes that work together on a diversified, organic veggie farm while walking the fields and, of course, sampling veggies in peak season!
 
This is a great opportunity for shareholders to see how their veggies grow out in the field!

Tours are capped at 20 people to keep groups interactive and personal.
 Cost: $9/ adults, $6 for children 12 and under. 

Family Farm Day 
Saturday, August 23rd 
- 10 to 11:30 am
 
Bring the whole family out to experience a morning on an organic farm! Feed and meet the Wellspring Chickens, participate in hands-on activities and garden based games, interact with our worm bins, and of course, enjoy tasting seasonal veggies!  
Cost: $5 per family member, Ages 3 and under are free. Sign up early as this program does sell out!

 

 

 

 

In This Issue
Farm News
Box List
Storage Tips
Recipes
Food Photos
Upcoming Events and Classes