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September 13, 2013
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Volume 19, Issue 13
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Greetings!
A Note from the Production Manager Kate Ritger 
Greetings Subscribers and Friends!
Two logistical notes that have been overlooked ...
First, if you miss Thursday pick-up, you can come out to the barn Friday or Monday anytime between 8 a.m. - 7 p.m. The barn is set up for self-service with notes about what should be taken. Call if these days don't work for you.
Second, please call Kate with questions, comments, requests or responses to the newsletter. Do NOT click reply to the newsletter itself. Thanks!
Notes on the produce ... the tomatoes are dying back almost as quickly as they ripened. There are a few green tomatoes still on the vines, but we won't have significant quantities to distribute after this week.
The cantaloupe is still slowly ripening. I don't think we'll have enough for everyone this week, but we'll distribute them as widely as we can.
Peppers on the other hand, are still abundant. More eggplant is coming too. We'll have kale and collards through the end of the season (October 17), and Swiss chard until frost comes (which seems to be holding off for at least another week). And look forward to more salad greens next week, and daikon radishes.
Stock the Freezer with Pesto!
We'll harvest entire basil plants this week, so prepare to make pesto.
Jelly, Syrup, Juice and Pickles for Sale! At distribution this week we'll have jelly, syrup, juice and pickles processed in the monastery kitchen by Kate and the gardeners. They make great gifts! The sale will happen at the garden. St. Cloud folks, be in touch if you are interested in making a purchase.
Grape Jelly: $4 ½ pint, $8 pint
Grape Syrup: $3 ½ pint
Grape Juice (frozen, pasteurized and ready to drink): $4.50 ½ gallon
Dill Pickles: $7 quart
Dill Pickled Green Beans: $8 quart
 Huge, Yellow Onions! Thank You, Ed Ritger!
Have you ever ordered seedlings from a school or church plant sale? Well, my dad, Ed Ritger, thought he was buying 1 package of 100 yellow onions. When they arrived in mid-May he was surprised to receive 1000 onions--an entire flat! My dad quickly started distributing onions to anyone and everyone he knew, but no one could take very many. I happened to be visiting my family in Wisconsin at the time, and I said I had plenty of room, so took about 800. Thanks, Dad!
We Want Your Leaves!
After you jump in your piles of racked leaves this fall, please bring them to the garden. We want to use them next season for mulching the tomatoes and other vegetables. No branches or grass clippings please, but lots of leaves! Stock Your Freezer with Meat Beef, pork, duck, goose, and chicken! Christina Traeger of Rolling Hills Traeger Ranch has specials on meat to stock your freezer. Her animals are all 100% corn and soy free. Contact Christina at 320-293-2995, or britishwhitebeef@gmail.com to place your order now. Nutrition Education
Saturday, September 14, 10:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.
The Central Minnesota Sustainability Project invites us to join them at the Great River Regional Library Mississippi Room where JoDee Christianson, a Community Nutrition Educator with the University of Minnesota Extension program, will present information about nutrition, the benefits of fresh vegetables, and navigating grocery stores and local markets on a limited budget.
Canning and Preservation Class
Saturday, September 21, 10:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Due to popular demand CMSP will be co-hosting another canning and preservation with the African Women's Alliance at the Great River Library Mississippi Room. This class will focus on canning tomatoes. |
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Produce
Eggplant, cantaloupe, Swiss chard/collards/kale, beets, tomatoes, peppers, Krimzon Lee peppers, potatoes, onions, spaghetti/acorn squash, hot peppers and assorted herbs.
Bread of the Week
Rye
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Contact information
Ryan Kutter, Garden Director: 320-219-3389
Reminders
- Please bring back the cardboard flats for tomatoes; it saves me trips to the liquor stores.
- Please continue to bring reusable bags to pick-up. Thanks!
Distribution takes place every Thursday afternoon, unless otherwise notifed. -
4-6 p.m. at the Common Ground Garden---You really can't miss the barn at Saint Benedict's Monastery. Enter at the college entrance from Minnesota Street near 4th Ave SW. Make a right at the stop sign and follow the gravel road out to the barn.
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5-6 p.m. at St. John's Episcopal Church in St. Cloud. For a link on Google maps, click here
- If you are unable to pick up during the scheduled time, be in touch with me and we'll make other arrangements--a friend or family member can pick up for you, or we can find another time.
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Garden Evening Hours
Garden evening hours: Mondays 5-7 p.m. Guests, visitors and helping hands of all shapes and sizes are always welcome at the garden but especially on Monday evenings. Your assistance in the garden helps us live our mission of providing local produce to people throughout central Minnesota ... and its really fun! Come garden with us.
Please gather your "extras" and bring for us to reuse and recycle
brown paper bags
canvas bags
plastic grocery bags
gallon ice cream buckets
egg cartons
St. Joseph's Farmers' Market
The St. Joe Market is open every Friday, 3-6:30 p.m. Many vendors, music, children's activities, and more. Located near the St. Joseph water tower. Visit the SJFM website www.stjosephfarmersmarket.com for more information .
Follow us on Facebook! We've been posting photos of our planting and progress. |
Check our website for more ideas, and please share your recipes with us!
Can't use all of your veggies in a week? Here are some tips for storage - Scallions -- chop and put them in a zipploc in the freezer for later use.
- Potatoes -- store them in a dry and dark place, like under your sink or in the pantry. If you notice them getting soft (the same can happen with beets or carrots), they are getting dehydrated so cut them up and soak them in water for an hour or overnight.
- Carrots and beets -- best stored in the refrigerator in plastic bags.
- Summer squash -- grate and freeze it in a zipploc for bread, cake or to add to soup.
- Winter squash -- bake and freeze it.
- Tomatoes -- chop them up fresh and freeze, or make sauce or salsa and freeze or can it. (Check for proper canning methods.)
- Peppers -- chop them up fresh and freeze; roast them with a splash of olive oil and freeze.
- Swiss chard/kale/collards -- saute and spread on cookie sheets for freezing. Then transfer them to bags. Freezing them on the cookie sheets first will make it easy to pull usable sized chunks from the bag.
- Eggplant -- roast, puree and freeze. (A subscriber recently told me her 9-month old loved the roasted eggplant. Maybe freezing it in ice cube trays would be a good portion size for toddler meals.)
Want to add a little spice to your cooking? Take some hot peppers home, cut the stems off and pulse them in the food processor. Freeze the pepper paste in ice cube trays and keep some in the refrigerator. Add a teaspoon or tablespoon to whatever you are cooking.
Winter Squash with Apples
1 small buttercup or acorn squash
½ cup chopped tart cooking apple
2 tsp packed brown sugar
2 tsp butter or margarine, softened
½ tsp lemon juice
1/8 tsp ground nutmeg
Heat oven to 400°. Cut squash in half; remove seeds and fibers. Place squash halves, cut side up, in ungreased baking dish. Mix remaining ingredients; spoon into squash halves. Cover and bake 30-40 minutes or until squash is tender.
Kale Kraut Beets and Barley
Shared by our garden friend, Kate Tschakert
beets
onions
kale
garlic
olive oil
maple syrup
barley
sauerkraut
sunseeds
Havarti cheese
pepper, salt, and sauerkraut brine to taste
Cut the beets into one inch cubes and bake until tender. Sneak onions in with beets about 20 minutes into bake time.
Soak barley overnight (12 hours max) to remove phytic acid (phytate interferes with mineral absorption, up to 50%). Rinse, and bring to a boil with about an inch of water over the grain. Reduce heat, salt, stir, cover. Cooks fast, maybe 20 minutes or so.
Cut and massage Kale with onion, garlic, olive oil, lemon juice, maple syrup, and salt. Set aside.
Heat large skillet or pot on high. Add raw sunseeds once pan is hot. Stir constantly. Soon the seeds will start popping and browning. Continue stirring until most seeds have puffed and popped. Be careful not to burn them. Pour them out of pan to cool. Note: If you want them salted, add a bit of sunflower oil and salt just as they start to pop.
Once beets and barley finish cooking, put everything together in a bowl and admire Sauerkraut gifting. Beets a deep pickle flavor.
*Since I don't quite pickle yet myself, I often ride on the effort of other picklers and fermenters. When I empty out a pickle or sauerkraut jar, I often put daikon radish and cucumbers in to soak in the left-over brine.
************* Every week we will send several recipes that make use of the produce you are receiving in your bag. We also have a significant collection of recipes on our website at http://sbm.osb.org/ministries/common_ground_garden/recipes/. Please send us your own recipes, too--either favorites from your cookbooks or your own concoctions. |
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Contact information
commonground@csbsju.edu
Ryan Kutter, Garden Director, cell: 320-219-3389
Kate Ritger, Production Manager, cell: 262-339-7737
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 Common Ground Garden is a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) farm, where members purchase a share of vegetables and each week during the farm season receive a bountiful box of fresh produce. We pride ourselves on producing fresh, clean, healthful food picked at the peak of flavor and nutrition. As much as we are able, we grow our vegetables without the use of any chemical herbicides, pesticides or fertilizers. We use cover crops, rotations, compost and ingenuity to produce your food in a way that's healthy for you and for the community. When necessary for pest control or to combat disease, we use only products approved for organic gardening. |
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Common Ground Garden is the ministry of the Sisters of the Order of Saint Benedict.
104 Chapel Lane
St. Joseph, Minnesota 56374
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