CSA Update

Greetings from the Farm,

This is our final CSA week of the 2009 season.  We hope that everyone has enjoyed being a part of the Beautiful Earth Family Farm CSA.  It was a very cool and cloudy Summer, which did bring some challenges but it also brought extended growing seasons for some of our favorite crops, all in all things balanced out very nicely and according to the forces of Nature.  A recent article from the Bio Ag Resource Project compared this Summer in the Midwest to the Summer of 1915, which was known as the year with no Summer....  it is interesting to think about how this time will be viewed in the years to come....   We appreciate and thank you for your support throughout the season.

Please note:  Members that usually pick up in Chelsea, will have their shares delivered on Monday evening - please leave your plastic tote on the porch if you won't be home, and we will leave the refund check for the deposit - Chelsea Farmers Market is officially closed for the remainder of this year.

While this is our last real week of harvesting, we are now working to complete the Fall clean up work and get the Garlic planted.
We are removing all of the equipment from the fields (tomato stakes, cages, irrigation and plastic mulch, etc.).  We will then cover those fields with cow manure, so it can take its time and feed all of the beneficial soil organisms and create a humus rich soil to plant in next year.  When the Garlic is in,the last of the manure is spread, and the fields have been tilled, that will mark the final ending of the farm-working season.  Winter is a great time to read through all of the seed catalogs and go through the process of selecting varieties and seed for next year.

This week's shares will contain:
$5 a 6oz bag of Pea Shoots - these are exellent eaten raw as a salad, in a salad or sandwich, plain as a snack, chopped and atop a stirfry or soup; they can also be lightly stirfried.
$3 Baby Turnip Greens - these are best lightly braised and served as a side dish to a spicy or rich entree.
$2 Collard Greens
$2 Curly Kale Greens
$2 Lacinato Kale Greens
$2 Baby Lettuce Heads (red, romaine, and green leaf)
$3 Broccoli
$2 Daikon with tops - you can use this raw as a mild radish, or chop and cook in soups, stews or amongst steamed vegetables.  One of our favorite ways to enjoy it is to grate the daikon raw over a salad, and use the tops as a fresh final ingredient to a brothy soup.
$4 Spaghetti Squash and Pie Pumpkin or Long Island Cheese Squash or Butternut Squash (we had an issue with the squashes sugaring up in storage and developing soft spots - this is why we are not able to give everybody the same or as much squashes as we had hoped).
$4 Bag of Red and Yellow Onions
$1 Red Cabbage 
$30 Total Market Value

Thanks again.

Sincerely,
Adam and Chandra Mitchel