Month: October 2010

With orange leaves and frosty mornings we come to our last week of the season for the CSA. It has been a great year and we are so thankful for mother nature giving us a great stretch of weather and for all of you sharing this trip through the farm season. In the modern, busy, and choice-laden world we live in, I find it amazing that so many of you are excited to commit the time and money to come to the farm each week and be given your menu, in the raw. That sustained commitment from all of you is the foundation for this community supported farm. From all of us farmers, we sincerely thank you.

Survey… We appreciate the 130 responses to our survey so far and hope that many more of you will be able to respond in the next week. So many of the great details of what happens here each week are the result of suggestions from years past. We really do look hard at your opinions and ideas when we begin planning for 2011 (next week). http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/3GT5H2N or grab a paper copy at pickup and hand it back.

Bring Boxes, Bags, Porters. We are planning on loading you up this week with many things so please come prepared! More bags, boxes and family members to help tote will be needed!

Rutabaga and Parsnips. The fall root line up is complete with rutabaga and parsnips. If you are perplexed about either –think roasting. $00 degree oven, chopped into one inch pieces, tossed in oil/butter and you are ready to roll. Check the website for more detail and ideas. http://crystalspringcsa.com/archives/category/recipes/rutabaga

http://crystalspringcsa.com/archives/category/recipes/parsnip

No justice, no peas. With all of the gifts we were given this year there has to be a martyr. Our planting of fall peas has fallen to a sudden 25 degree night last Tuesday. Peas are a hardy bunch but when the temps dip suddenly and severely they have no time to acclimate and they get burned. This is why we grow fifty crops –we like the overall odds for success.

CSA sign-up for 2011. Many thanks to all of you who have signed up for next year’s share. It’s been a great year and we hope to make next year even better. Your commitment to a share this fall helps us plan for the coming season. By signing up now you also get on our winter payment plan which divides the share cost over three payments in February, April and June. As always, payment in full is great too.

What to expect in your share this week…

Lettuce            Potatoes            Rutabagas

Brussels Sprouts            Carrots            Sweet Potatoes

Kale                                    Chard            Winter Squash

Parsnips                        Chickories

Winter Work. As winter approaches we have a long list of projects to tackle. The first in the queue is putting a new roof on the CSA barn. CSA member extraordinaire Phil Dostie is leading the effort to help with this along with support by longtime CSA member & friend Mark Wild of G.M. Wild Construction (gmwild.com). We are planning to strip and re-roof the barn Halloween weekend. If you would like to lend a hand (we need lots of on the ground help with shingle gathering) shoot me an email and I’ll sign you up.

Turkey for Thanksgiving. If you are looking for a locally raised turkey The Turkey Farm in New Sharon is still taking orders. These are naturally raised pastured birds and the best part is they deliver right here to the farm the day before Thanksgiving. Check out the website for more info… http://www.theturkeyfarm.com/

Remember last week’s newsletter, when I talked about the sweetening effects of frost on many of our crops? Well this week you will be taking home Brussels Sprouts that endured our first hard frost of the season. We had twenty-five degrees here this morning (Tuesday) and will be pressed to have enough time for them to thaw enough to harvest before the Tuesday share is ready at two o’clock. I won’t have enough time to taste test these beauties before all of you arrive today, but I’m betting they will be the garden equivalent of marshmallow fluff. I can’t wait. There are a couple of sprouts recipes on the website for those that need a friendly entry point for this sometimes maligned vegetable http://crystalspringcsa.com/archives/category/recipes/brussels-sprouts

Some good compliments for Brussels sprouts are butter, olive oil, nuts, mustard, the whole onion family, parsley, oregano, caraway and curry spices.

We are giving you the stalk that the Brussels grow on because it’s fun and helps keep the sprouts fresh. When you are ready to use them just pop them off the stalk and jump in. The stalk can be composted, given to vegan dogs or used in your next stickball game.

Next week will be the last week for 2010 Share!

Upic? You’ll notice the upic listing is absent from the newsletter. Last night’s frost was a doozy and really kicked everything out there. You are welcome to do some gleaning of herbs and flowers if you like. We are hoping that the snap peas will progress this week and we can let you into them next week…more on this next week’s newsletter.

Pumpkins this week and next! Starting this week we’ll be sending you home with pumpkins. We had a good crop of jack-o-lanterns this year so get ready to do some carving! There will be pumpkins available starting this week and the last week of the share as well. We should have enough for two pumpkins for each share with some extras for the kids.

Survey Time Continues! We’ve had almost a hundred survey responses, which is great but there are many more of you out there. It’s fine for family members/share partners to fill out their own survey. If you have come to the farm this year and eaten the share we want to know what you think. Please take a moment to fill out the survey online http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/3GT5H2N or grab a paper copy at pickup and hand it back.

CSA sign-up for 2011. Many thanks to all of you who have signed up for next year’s share. It’s been a great year and we hope to make next year even better. Your commitment to a share this fall helps us plan for the coming season. By signing up now you also get on our winter payment plan which divides the share cost over three payments in February, April and June. As always, payment in full is great too.

Spring Greens in 2011. With the addition of our new high tunnel we hope to start next years share in May with early greens distributions. Look for more info in our winter newsletters.

What to expect in your share this week…

Lettuce            Potatoes            Rutabagas

Brussels Sprouts            Carrots            Kohlrabi

Kale                                    Chard            Winter Squash

Asian Greens             Chickories            Sweet Potatoes

Winter Work. As winter approaches we have a long list of projects to tackle. The first in the queue is putting a new roof on the CSA barn. CSA member extraordinaire Phil Dostie is leading the effort to help with this along with support by longtime CSA member & friend Mark Wild of G.M. Wild Construction (gmwild.com). We are planning to strip and re-roof the barn Halloween weekend. If you would like to lend a hand (we need lots of on the ground help with shingle gathering) shoot me an email and I’ll sign you up.

What’s in Upic?……

Flowers      Herbs         Cherry Tomatoes

Frost arrived this past weekend without much fear or fanfare. The “official” fall frost date for this part of Maine is October 1, based on data from the past 30 years, so everyday beyond this date is a gift. Overnight freezes really do their damage on our light greens crops, lettuce most specifically. The cold temps and the shortening days will be a factor in texture, flavor and storage of this crop from here on out. The silver lining of the frost is that all of the heartier greens like kale will sweeten up in the cold.

In addition to better kale, the frost has also opened the floodgate to a whole host of other crops that need that kiss of ice to sweeten. Look for Brussels sprouts, rutabaga, parsnips, turnips and snaps peas in the next couple weeks. We also have a southern crop that doesn’t like the cold to offer as well, sweet potatoes! These last few weeks of the CSA will be heavy…so please bring lots of bags.

Pumpkins are coming! Whatever you do don’t buy pumpkins for Halloween. Starting next week we’ll be sending you home with pumpkins. We had a good crop of jack-o-lanterns this year so get ready to do some carving! There will be pumpkins available starting next week and the last week of the share as well, so if you are splitting there is no need to cut the pumpkin in half! We shoild have enough for two pumpkins for each share with some extras for families with many kids.

Cabbage crisis. More cabbage this week. This is a really great red cabbage that is some of the best we have ever grown (new asian slaw recipe on the website). A CSA member brought to our attention that on the other side of the world in South Korea there is a major cabbage shortage as heavy rains have caused a crop failure. The country is in a panic as cabbage (napa cabbage) is the main ingredient of kimchi, a fermented dish that they eat with every meal. We don’t know how good we have got it. Here’s a report from NPR that gives you an idea the depth of this problem. http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2010/10/06/130373720/cabbage-shortage-leads-to-kimchi-crisis-in-south-korea

It’s Survey Time! Every fall we ask for your thoughts about the CSA with our annual survey. This is the time to let us know where we are doing well and where you think we could do things better. You are the community support in this farm’s Community Supported Agriculture and we value your thoughts and suggestions. Every year we add to and adapt everything from the varieties we grow to the hours we are open for pickup based on your ideas. Please take a moment to fill out the survey online by following this link… http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/3GT5H2N or grab a paper copy at pickup and hand it back.

CSA sign-up for 2011. It’s been a great year and we hope to make next year even better. Your commitment to a share this fall helps us plan for the coming season. By signing up now you also get on our winter payment plan which divides the share cost over three payments in February, April and June. As always, payment in full is great too.

Spring Greens in 2011. With the addition of our new high tunnel we hope to start next years share in May with early greens distributions. Look for more info in our winter newsletters.

What to expect in your share this week…

Lettuce                 Potatoes       Celeriac

Cabbage               Arugula        Carrots

Kale                     Chard          Leeks

Asian Greens       Chickories   Kohlrabi

Winter Squash     Beets            Sweet Potatoes

Crystal Spring Farm Lamb. Order your whole or half lamb processed as you like and fill the freezer for the coming winter. Ask us for information.

Fall is here without a doubt. We adjusted our start time for the crew from 6 to 6:30 am this week because at 6 it’s dark! Last Friday was cloudy as we went down to harvest and had to start cutting “big” things like cabbage and chard that were easier to make out in the dim light than arugula and tatsoi. In addition to the waning light, the temperature swing these days from the mornings just above freezing (and soon just below) to the bright afternoons of sixty and sixty-five degrees are pretty glorious. Having such change just in a few hours makes each day seem like a season change unto it self.

You’ll find celeriac in your share again this week. We snuck this one in on you last week without much fanfare, but it does deserve some attention. Celeriac, otherwise known as celery root, is the hardy and hard working cousin of the dainty and, in my opinion, less friendly celery. Where celery has its place adding foundation flavor to soups casseroles and the like, celeriac refuses to be pigeon holed and, because of its starchy sweetness and mild flavor, can go with almost anything this time of year. Having been tortured with peanut butter & celery as a child I am not in love with celery but give me celeriac along with almost anything in your share and I can make a meal.  What do we do with this vegetable around the kitchen? First remove the ends with a sturdy knife and continue to peel the whole root until the rough skin is gone and only the off white interior remains. At this point anything is possible. You can grate it onto a salad and dress with a mustard vinaigrette; cube it and boil with potatoes and then mash it together with the spuds for savory mashed; toss with oil or butter and roast it with beets and carrots; slice into soups for all the flavor of celery and something to fill up your spoon as well. Check out the website for more recipes: http://crystalspringcsa.com/archives/category/recipes/celeriac

What’s ahead for the farm? As we come into our last month of harvest we always have an eye ahead to next year. A large part of the process of preparing for the year to come is looking at changes large and small we can make to the CSA to improve what we do here for all of you. Next week we will offer our annual survey both online (new this year) and on paper. By filling this out you will supply the answers to our winter questions about changes to vegetable varieties, adjustment to pick-up times, what you most like about coming to the farm, etc. What we do here is very much a work in progress and you help us make the farm better and better every year.

One big change we will be making for the coming season is the addition of May greens. Our new high tunnel by the upic field will allow us to provide 2 weeks of greens during the month of May for CSA members. Greens may not seem that exciting right now as we enter week 19 of greens in your share, but next spring after the cold dark of winter…they will seem like gold.

CSA sign-up for 2011. It’s been a great year and we hope to make next year even better. Your commitment to a share this fall helps us plan for the coming season. By signing up now you also get on our winter payment plan which divides the share cost over three payments in February, April and June. As always, payment in full is great too.

What to expect in your share this week…

Lettuce            Potatoes                        Celeriac

Cabbage            Arugula                        Carrots

Kale                                    Chard

Asian Greens             Chickories

Winter Squash            Beets

Crystal Spring Farm Lamb. We have a great crop of lambs this year. Order your whole or half lamb processed as you like and fill the freezer for the coming winter. Ask us at pickup for more information.

Hand and Hand Feast. We have tickets at the farm for the Brunswick-Topsham Land Trust’s 25th anniversary celebration Hand and Hand with the Land Sunday October 17^th from 4-7 pm at Frontier Café in Brunswick. Local Chefs and local farmers team up to make great food. What could be better? $40 per couple, kids are free!