May 9, 2019 - This Week's Box Contents, Featuring Stinging Nettles and Wild Ramps!

Cooking With This Week's Box

Wild Ramps: Ramp Pesto (See Below); Quiche with Ramps, Mushrooms & Brie; Nettle & Mushroom Pizza with Ramp Cream

Overwintered Spinach: Creamed Spinach & Parsnips; Alice Water’s Warm Spinach Salad

Overwintered Parsnips: Parsnip, Lemon & Poppy Seed Muffins with Lemon Drizzle;  Creamed Spinach & Parsnips

Chives: Green Garlic Toast; Carrot Tart with Ricotta & Herbs; Almond-Chive Salmon

Orange Carrots: Carrot Tart with Ricotta & Herbs; Carrot Cake Pancakes

Nettles: Nettle Chips (See Below);  Easy & Tasty Nettle Tea; Nettle & Mushroom Pizza with Ramp Cream

Green Garlic: Green Garlic Soup; Green Garlic Toast  

Quiche with Ramps, Mushrooms & Brie
(photo from thegourmetgourmand.com)

It’s time to get into the rhythm of “cooking out of the box!”  After a long winter, it feels good to have fresh greens and new vegetables coming in from the field.  Lets dive in with this week’s box contents.  With Mother’s Day coming up this weekend, I think we should treat our Moms (or yourself if you are the Mom) to a special Mother’s Day Brunch.  This Quiche with Ramps, Mushrooms & Brie served with Alice Water’s Warm Spinach Salad will make a lovely meal.  For a little added bonus, make a batch of these Parsnip, Lemon & Poppy Seed Muffins with Lemon Drizzle.

Nettle & Mushroom Pizza with Ramp Cream

We have two bunches of ramps this week, so even after making the quiche, there should still be enough to make a batch of Ramp Pesto (see below).  This is great to have in the refrigerator to make a quick pasta dinner.  Just boil some fettuccine and toss it with a few spoonfuls of ramp pesto.  Done!  Of course we could also use that second bunch to make this absolutely delicious Nettle & Mushroom Pizza with Ramp Cream!  This is one of my favorite spring recipes that was actually prompted by several members.  If you don’t use your nettles to make this pizza, you could always try this week’s featured vegetable for Nettle Chips (See Below).  This is a great way to eat your greens and these make a great afternoon or weekend snack when you just need something crispy and salty, but very simple.  If you’re really short on time this week, the easiest thing of all to make with nettles is Easy & Tasty Nettle Tea.  In the midst of a busy week this might be a good way to support your body and keep you well.

Green Garlic Soup
(photo from loveandoliveoil.com)

The nights are still a little chilly which makes me want to eat soup, such as this Green Garlic Soup.  This recipe makes 8-10 servings and calls for more green garlic than is in this week’s box.  I’d recommend cutting the recipe in half and using the entire bunch of green garlic supplemented with some chives.  If you aren’t into soup this week, use the green garlic to make this Green Garlic Toast.  This toast will go great with scrambled eggs (perhaps with some ramp pesto mixed in) for a light dinner or a hearty breakfast. 

If you have some chives remaining, use them to make Almond-Chive Salmon for dinner served with Creamed Spinach & Parsnips.  If you have any salmon left, mix it with mayonnaise to make a little salmon salad to take for lunch the next day.

This recipe for Carrot Tart with Ricotta & Herbs is a little bit more complicated, but it’s a lovely dish and would make a nice brunch item or eat it as a light dinner.  Of course, those sweet carrots might also be great used to make these Carrot Cake Pancakes.  This is a sure way to get children of all ages to eat their vegetables! 

We have a great week of meals ahead of us with all these options.  As we look ahead to next week, we are crossing our fingers that we’ll be able to deliver ramps again as well as more chives, nettles and green garlic.  We should also have some asparagus and red radishes to add to the box!  So, if you find more recipes you want to try, save them until next week!  Have a great week of cooking and I’ll see you back here next week!

This Week's Featured Vegetables:  Stinging Nettles & Wild Ramps--The Wild Things!

Spring has a beautiful way of nourishing us and giving us just what we need, even when we don’t know we need it!  The first of our double-vegetable feature this week is Stinging Nettles.  We wild harvest them on our farm, but also plant them in the field.  They need to be handled carefully, especially before they are washed and cooked.  They have little fibers on the stems that contain several different compounds including formic acid, which will give you a “stinging” sensation if you touch them with your bare skin.  “Why are you giving me a vegetable that will sting me?!  Are you trying to kill me?!”  No, quite the contrary!

Nettles are very nutrient dense and we consider them to be a “Wisconsin Super Food.”  They help our bodies wake up after a long, cold wet winter and help us purify our blood and cleanse our bodies.  They have anti-inflammatory and anti-histamine properties.  They are high in protein as well as carotenoids, chlorophyll, iron, calcium, magnesium, zinc, potassium, selenium and vitamins B, C, D and K.  Wow—that’s a lot of nutritional goodness in one plant!  Nettles give us that jump start we need in the spring and, they also taste great!  Cooking destroys the stingers so you can then safely handle them with bare hands.  We recommend cooking them before eating.  They have a rich flavor similar to spinach, but even better!  So no, we are not trying to harm you.  Rather, our intention is to give you something delicious and nourishing.

Use the bag as a "glove" when handling nettles.

Here are some recommendations for handling them.  First, many of these stingers are removed with vigorous washing, which we’ve already done for you.  Even though we’ve washed them, I would still recommend you handle them carefully and avoid touching with bare hands prior to cooking.  Some people are more sensitive to their sting than others, which is why we’ve also put them in a plastic bag to make it easier to get them home without touching them.  You can use the bag as your “glove” to hold the bottom of the bunch while you carefully remove the twist tie.  We do recommend you wash them in a sink of water after you’ve removed the twist tie.  While you are washing them, bring a big pot of water to a boil.  Transfer the nettles from the sink to the boiling water using a pair of tongs.  Boil them for 2-3 minutes and then transfer to a bowl of ice water to cool them.  Now you can handle them with your bare hands.

Some of the lower portion of the stems may be tough, so only use the leaves and tender upper stem portions.   You can pluck or cut these off the main stem after they are cooked.  Alternatively, you can hold each stem (with your gloved/bagged hand) and use a pair of scissors to snip the tender leaves off the main stem before you cook them.  Checkout this blog post we did on May 10, 2018 which demonstrates these processes and includes pictures.

Nettle leaves are perishable, so it is best to cook them shortly after you receive them.  It is better to store them in their cooked form for a few days until ready for use.  The cooking water makes a beautiful tea, so don’t discard it.  You can drink the tea either hot or cold and mixed with honey and lemon.  The water can also be used to cook pasta, rice, etc.  Nettles are often used to make soup, but you can also use them in pesto, or risotto and pasta dishes.  Nettles may be substituted for spinach in any recipe calling for cooked spinach.  They pair well with eggs, dairy, mushrooms, asparagus and other spring greens.

The second part of our feature is Wild Ramps!  Ramps are are one of the first green things to pop up in the spring.  They have a very short season lasting, at most, 4-5 weeks.  They have a unique flavor that is kind of oniony-garlicky, but honestly the best way to describe it is simply rampy.  They resemble a green onion, except they have tender, delicate lily-like leaves.  Ramps grow in the woods and, while they can be replanted to establish new patches, it takes a very long time for them to multiply and spread.  Many, us included, are concerned about the sustainability of ramps.  Because they take so long to multiply and replenish, it’s important to be mindful when harvesting them.  Ramps grow in clumps and we’re careful to only take about half the clump while leaving the other half undisturbed.  If you’d like to learn more about our harvest practices, please read our blog post from April 20, 2017.

Ramps may be eaten raw or cooked.  When raw they can be quite pungent, but the flavor mellows with cooking.  You can eat both leaves and the lower bulb.  Just trim away the roots.  Some popular ways to use ramps include risotto and pasta dishes.  Ramps also pair well with eggs in scrambles, frittatas and quiche.  Ramp pesto is another great way to use this vegetable and it’s our featured ramp recipe this week.  Ramps pair well with cream, cheese, bacon and other spring vegetables including mushrooms, asparagus, nettles and spinach.

The leaves on ramps are the most perishable part and should be used within a few days.  To store ramps, wrap the bunch in a damp paper or linen towel and keep them in the refrigerator.

 

If you’re looking for more recipe and use ideas for these two spring treats, check out the recipe archive on our website.  We hope you enjoy these spring treasures!

Nettle Chips

Yield:  2 cups

1 bunch nettles

2 Tbsp olive oil

1 Tbsp soy sauce or coconut aminos

Salt, to taste

1. Preheat the oven to 300°F.
2. Wash the nettles in a sink of cold water.  Using gloves or a bag over your hand, take the nettle stems out of the water and place them on a towel.  Gently pat them dry. 
3. Using a scissors, trim the tender leaves and upper stem off the main stem.  Put all of the trimmed leaves into a mixing bowl.
4. Drizzle the leaves with oil and soy sauce or coconut aminos.  Using a tongs, toss the leaves to thoroughly coat them with the oil and soy sauce mixture.
5. Spread the leaves on a non-stick baking sheet (or use parchment paper).  If you use low-sodium soy sauce or coconut aminos, you’ll want to season the nettles lightly with a sprinkling of salt.  If you use full sodium soy sauce, you may not need additional salt.  
6. Bake in the oven for 20-30 minutes or until crisp.  You will need to turn them once about halfway through baking.  Try to separate the leaves as best you can so they bake more evenly.
7. Remove from the oven and cool.  Taste one and add additional salt if needed.  They are best eaten immediately. 

Note:  If you have leftovers, crush the chips and use them as a topping to sprinkle on top of salads, eggs or buttered toast.

Recipe by Chef Andrea

Ramp Pesto

Yield:  1-1 ½ cups

1 bunch ramps, cleaned

½ cup toasted almonds or pine nuts

½ cup extra-virgin olive oil

½ cup grated Parmesan cheese (or other hard cheese)

3-5 tsp fresh lemon juice

Salt and black pepper, to taste

1. Cut the leaves off the ramps.  Roughly chop the leaves and set them aside.
   
2. Put the ramp bulbs and nuts in the bowl of a food processor and coarsely chop them.
   
3. Add  the cheese, ¼ tsp salt, black pepper, 3 tsp lemon juice and the ramp leaves.  Continue to process the contents while slowly pouring in the olive oil.  
4. Taste the pesto and adjust the seasoning with more salt, pepper and lemon juice to brighten it up.
   
5. Store in a glass jar in the refrigerator.  It’s best to pour a little extra olive oil over the top of the jar to preserve the color of the pesto.
   

Note:  If you do not have a food processor, you can also make pesto in a blender.  Of course people used to make pesto before the invention of electronic appliances, so you could also just use a knife and finely chop all the ingredients.

Ramp Pesto Serving Suggestions: 

• Toss a few spoonfuls with hot pasta
  
• Stir into scrambled eggs
  
• Use ramp pesto as the base for a delicious homemade pizza topped with mushrooms, bacon, prosciutto, mozzarella, etc.
  
• Spread on toast or a bagel with fresh ricotta or cream cheese
  
• Stir a spoonful into mayonnaise and use it as a sandwich spread or dipping sauce
  
• Baste grilled or roasted chicken with pesto
  
• Serve with seared salmon
  

Recipe by Chef Andrea

Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food….Meet Farmer & Chef Andrea!

One of the things we appreciate most about growing for our CSA program is the opportunity to connect with our members.  Forming a connection goes both ways, so we thought we’d start off the year by telling you a little more about ourselves.  I’ll share about myself this week and you can watch for Farmer Richard’s story coming in the next newsletter!

Chef Andrea preparing for a food demo.

I came to Harmony Valley Farm back in 2007.  I had signed on to be the seasonal farm chef from April through November and my primary job was to prepare lunch for the farm crew and dinner for farm residents Monday-Friday.  I was also asked to write articles and recipes for the newsletter and serve as a resource for CSA members.  I was a recent graduate of The Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York (CIA).  When I decided to go to the CIA, I was labeled as a “Career Changer Student.”  I was in my mid 20’s and had been working as a registered dietitian at the University of Virginia Health System.  I was a clinical dietitian and worked with nutrition support (tube feedings and IV nutrition) and saw patients in an outpatient GI (gastrointestinal) clinic.  While I had a great career going and enjoyed my work, I always felt like there was something missing and really couldn’t see myself continuing on that trajectory the rest of my career.  So I started looking around and stumbled across the CIA website.  I had never even considered going to cooking school, but after I went for a visit I knew that was the next step on my journey.

Chef Andrea roasting garlic in the farm kitchen 

I never imagined culinary school would lead me to being a farm chef, but on the other hand, I really couldn’t see myself as a restaurant chef either.  Honestly, I didn’t know what being a farm chef was when I got here.  I also didn’t really know what it meant to be “certified organic.”  I was mostly just intrigued by all the unusual things Richard was growing here!  My vegetable repertoire was pretty limited when I started, but I quickly figured out how to tackle new vegetables.  Eat it raw, eat it cooked, overcook it so I know what it means to be cooked just perfectly, do a little research and then start experimenting.  I learned to get creative with the vegetables we had available and how to prepare lunch for 35 crew members in a cost-effective way.  At the end of my contract, I was asked to stay and help manage some other parts of the farm.

Our "kids" are pretty cute!

Fast forward to today and I can hardly believe this is the start of my thirteenth growing season!  I have a lot of different responsibilities on the farm.  I manage greenhouse transplant production as well as the packing shed.  I schedule trucks, manage our food safety practices, do employee training, manage wholesale sales, go to the farmers’ market, troubleshoot refrigeration and electrical problems, schedule drain cleaning, take care of goat babies born in the middle of the winter, and basically anything else that may need to be done.  Another important, and really fun part of my life here, is to be a culinary resource for you, our CSA members.  My mission each week is to help guide you through the boxes.  When I write in the newsletter or on the blog, I try to imagine that I’m talking to you as if I were talking to you face to face at the farmers’ market!

So what else?  Simply put, I love food! I love experiencing flavors, smells, textures and watching food change and develop as I cook.  I love the life and energy we get from food and I LOVE the beauty of vegetable fields! I like to eat soup, leftovers and salad for breakfast.  I think eggs are an amazing gift from nature and eat them nearly every day.  I think everyone should be able to eat good food, and I cringe at how many boxes of cereal I ate to sustain me during my college days.  I’m jealous of CSA kids—I wish I were one.  At least I had the opportunity to be a farm kid and have fond memories of gardening with my mom, picking and preserving vegetables for winter storage and accidentally pulling all the parsley out of my mom’s garden in an effort to “help her with the weeding” (oops—sorry mom).  I love cookbooks, especially ones with beautiful photos, nice binding and interesting stories and commentaries.  I most often don’t follow the recipes, but use them for inspiration and to generate ideas.  I like to eat out in restaurants.  However I’m often disappointed because, honestly, the food we prepare at home is always so much better!

Farmer Andrea checking on her "babies" in the greenhouse.

I’m intrigued by soil and plant health and am amazed at how nature works.  I more fully understand now why eating organic food is so important for the health of our environment, but also our bodies.  If we choose food that is alive and healthy itself, it can help us live our best lives and feel good.  Food can be our medicine, but it can also bring us pleasure, joy and connection with people and places.  Food can open our eyes, minds, and hearts and can be the common denominator in a world of differences.  It allows us to travel and experience a little piece of another part of the world without even leaving home.

I believe that anyone can cook and no one should ever be intimidated by a vegetable.  Life is research and if a recipe doesn’t quite turn out as you thought it might, that’s ok. It might actually be better than what it was supposed to be! In the newsletters each week I try to offer you simple, doable, yet interesting and tasty recipes.  Sometimes I might include a recipe that is a little more complex or uses an ingredient that might be new to you with hopes of challenging you to do something you may have never done before.

Visiting with farmer friend, Mas Masumoto

I like to know where my food comes from.  I like to know the people who make and produce it.  I want to know what impact it had on the environment and I want my food choices to make a positive difference in someone else’s life.  I like to use olive oil grown and pressed at Frog Hollow Farm by Farmer Al, which is the most “local” olive oil I’ve been able to find.  I can’t get enough of Jamie and Diane’s shiitake mushrooms from the farmers’ market.  If I’m going to eat a nut grown outside our region, it’s going to be biodynamic almonds grown by my friend Gina at Marian Farms.  Her raisins are also quite spectacular.  I prefer cheese from the herd at McCluskey Brothers at Shillelagh Glen Farms.  I am slightly addicted to Faith Annaker’s (Fizzeology) fermented hot sauce, especially the sauce she made with OUR peppers!  I like to sit down to a meal and be able to give thanks for the hands that make it possible for me to enjoy such delicious, nourishing meals and for the many friendships I’ve developed with these people over the years.

I will be the first to admit I do not know all there is to know about cooking and vegetables.  I value learning from other people and appreciate it when members share their favorite recipes with me.  I want to know how you make the best use of your CSA box each week.    I want to know what evokes the “Happy Food Dance” in your household!

Lastly, I believe CSA is a good thing—for farmers, for the land, for our kids, our families and our future.  I hope you enjoy being part of our farm this season and I look forward to getting to know you better.

Community, Connection and Really Good Food!

“Vote with your food dollars.”

“Keep your money in the local economy.”

“Know your farmer, know your food.”

Are you familiar with any of these phrases?  What about “Sign-Up Now?”  Or “Join now so you don’t miss out!”  Hey, those are my lines and we’ve been using them a lot as we are trying to encourage people to sign up for CSA shares before the season starts in three short weeks!  “Miss out on what?  It’s just vegetables, what’s the big deal about CSA anyway?"  Does any of this “support your local food system” talk even matter? 

Andrea B. sampling grapes  (photo from localthirty.com)

Earlier this year, my friend (ok, we’ve only met once, but she’s awesome) Andrea Bemis released a film called Local Thirty.  This was one of the main films featured at Fairshare CSA Coalition’s Food and Farms Film Fest this past March.  While many documentaries about our food system over the past 10-12 years have been very informative and brought important truths to light, some have been pretty heavy and intense!  This film was different.  It was about food, forming connections, and finding a sense of “home.”  It focused on exploring your local food system and the positive impact that can have on our lives and our meals.  It was a welcome relief to watch a film about our food system that made me laugh, chuckle, yet still pushed me to think about my own food choices.

Andrea B. is a real live farmer who grows vegetables at the base of Mt Hood in Oregon along with her husband, Taylor.  In addition to farming, Andrea B also writes a blog called Dishing Up the Dirt, which is also the title of her cookbook!  If you’ve followed my CookingWith the Box articles on our blog over the past few CSA seasons, you’ll likely recognize her blog as I have shared many of her recipes along the way.  It all started back in September 2018 when Andrea B, her husband Taylor, and their farm crew (Adam and Rachel) decided to challenge themselves to source all of their ingredients from within a 200 mile radius.  They had 10 cheat foods each (eg coffee, lemons, black pepper, etc), but aside from those foods they only ate the things they could source within 200 miles.  Why would anyone do something like this?  They didn’t really have an end goal or mission they were hoping to achieve.  They used this time as a framework for learning and discovering their local food system.  What treasures (both food and people) were they missing?  It was about finding more of a sense of “home.” 

Andrea B with a freshly caught tuna!
(photo from localthirty.com0

As they prepared for and lived out the month of September, they had to do their research to find some of the ingredients they didn’t produce themselves.  Research for Andrea B went beyond the internet, she actually left the farm to visit people she’d never met before so she could learn more about what they were doing.  She had the opportunity to stomp grapes at a vineyard, take a wild fishing trip off the coast to catch tuna, visit a dairy farm and drink milk right from the cow, forage for wild mushrooms and walk the pastures on a neighbor’s cattle ranch.  And what became of all of this?

The final producer meal (photo from localthirty.com)

Here is Andrea B’s conclusion in her own words:  “Eating locally for me is about discovering and celebrating what we have, not mourning what we don't. It's about strangers becoming friends, and learning more about our landscape and the place we call home. When we start looking around and talking to each other, it becomes evident that we just have so much……When I first set out on a month long challenge to only eat ingredients produced within 200 miles of my home I had no idea how transforming that experiment would be. Eating the foods I found and prepared rooted me deeper into my home. They were the flesh of plants I touched and animals I knew. This made me feel more alive, wild and human. I found out that eating locally is about discovering and celebrating a bounty that is all our own and letting it shape a little bit of who we are. It's about joy.”

So does it really matter if you know your farmer?  Does it matter if you eat food from local sources?  Does the story behind the food you eat mean anything?  Does being part of a CSA or shopping at the farmers’ market impact your life in any way that‘s different than shopping at the grocery store?  Well for some people, perhaps these things don’t really matter.  But for me…yes, it matters and yes, it’s important.  Andrea B. is right, it’s about joy and forming connections. 

Food is political, food is social justice and injustice, food is linked to our environment and our economy.  But food is also relational.  It’s a bridge to bring our lives together.  You just don’t know what treasures you might discover and what stories you will unveil when you take the time to look.  Connection.  Whether we know it or not, we all need connection.  Every time you learn a little more about your food sources, you’re allowing a little piece of someone else’s world to become part of yours. This does bring joy, appreciation, respect and understanding.  It causes you to think outside of yourself and your own experiences while at the same time, bringing some stinkin’ delicious food to your tables!  Yes, I’m convinced that food tastes better when you know the story about where it came from.

The fertile soil and beautiful fields of Harmony Valley Farm

So back to the original question, does any of this “support your local food system” talk even matter?  I believe the answer is “Yes.”  At the very least, if you like to eat good food I guarantee you’ll find some of your best ingredients when you look locally.  The other part of this “Yes” is the community piece.  CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture, but this isn’t a one-way concept.  We need the community to support our farm, but the community also needs to be supported by those producing food!  In the end, we all have a part in this thing we call our local food system, or in Andrea B’s words, the place we call home. 

In closing, I’ll leave you with one last message.  Our deliveries start in just three short weeks, so Join Now So You Don’t Miss Out!  If you’re looking to add a new dimension as well as some joy and really great food to your meals, we hope you’ll not only join us for the 2019 CSA season but encourage you to see what other treasures you can find within your local food system this year.

---Farmer/Chef Andrea

NOTE:  Go to  www.localthirty.com for more information about Andrea Bemis’s documentary and how to watch the whole thing.  It’s only 46 minutes long, so make some snacks and kick back to watch it this weekend!

Thinking Beyond the Box: A Letter to Prospective CSA Members from Longtime Members Carol & Bob

If you are new to the concept of CSA and/or new to our farm, this letter is for you!  It was written by longtime CSA members of our farm, Carol Wilson & Bob Philbin.  We hope you’ll take a few minutes to read it and consider their insights as you think about joining a CSA for the 2019 season!  We did not ask them to write this letter, this is something they chose to do on their own as a way of sharing their perspectives of their CSA experience over the past 20 plus years. 

--Richard & Andrea 

Spring 2019

Dear Prospective Harmony Valley Farm CSA member,                                   

Pollinators planted alongside crops.

You have a bewildering number of choices about which CSA is right for you – length of season, variety of vegetables, cost, convenience of pick up location, day of the week for pick up, etc.  Another topic to consider is what the farmer(s) of the CSA are doing to address the health of our environment.  Richard de Wilde and Andrea Yoder, the farmers of Harmony Valley Farm, are conscientious stewards of the land.  They have a system of land management that both produces healthy and nutritious food for their members, and provides healthy habitats for insects and animals that are part of their comprehensive organic growing practice.  In addition their processes also address climate change by planting cover crops that sequester carbon thereby reducing the carbon in the atmosphere.  Farmer Richard has been planting cover crops for over 40 years, well before carbon sequestration was being talked about!  His farming practices are informed by science as well as by his decades of experience as an organic farmer.

As the plight of bees, monarchs, and other pollinators has become known, Harmony Valley Farm has included “pollinator packs” in the CSA share.  These packs have native flowers and grasses that offer “habitat and food sources for a variety of species that provide pollination services, help control pests, and contribute to keeping our ecosystem healthy and in good balance.”  Because of these packs, we now have a lovely patch of anise hyssop, silky wild rye, and other flowers and grasses to offer our neighborhood insects. 

Cover crop growing in our fields.

Harmony Valley Farm (HVF) has been our source for vegetables, beef, and pork since our adult children were young.  Richard and Andrea do not rest on their laurels, though they could!  They are always learning about and trying new vegetables, new varieties of vegetables, and new ways of helping their members to make good use of their CSA share. There are so many things to appreciate about being part of HVF including the informative, educational, and practical newsletters, the variety of vegetables, the value of the share, and the length of the season.   As part of the HVF CSA, you receive all of this AND the knowledge that you are part of the environmental and climate change solution.

You can learn more about HVF by visiting their website and by reading their blog.  Check out a newsletter or two to see how Andrea shares ideas and recipes for making use of all of the veggies in the box.

Good luck with your decision and we hope to see you at HVF Strawberry Day!

Carol Wilson and Bob Philbin

March Farm Update

By Andrea Yoder 

The farm is almost in full swing as we near the end of March and look forward to the start of April!  We’ve nearly filled our first two greenhouses with seedlings and will need to move into the third house early next week.  Most of our snow has melted away and, thankfully, we made it through the melt without flooding or too many issues.  We’ve enjoyed some beautiful sunny days and it’s been refreshing to have some warmer temperatures to go along with the sunshine! 

Our crew with the willow they've tucked away in the cooler.

Earlier this week the packing shed crew spent some time in the fields trimming the pussy willow and curly willow trees which took off as soon as the weather started to warm up!  We had just a little window of opportunity to get into the field and trim the pussy willow before the catkins (little fuzzy things) opened too far and leaves started growing on the branches.  Our trimmings are safely tucked away in the cooler to keep them from opening further.  We’re also happy to report that no one got stuck in the mud!  The fields are still very wet, but some sunshine and a little spring breeze should help them dry out over the next few weeks. 

Onions in the greenhouse waiting to be planted in the field.

Our first group of field crew will be traveling to Monterrey, Mexico this weekend to have their interviews at the consulate and hopefully they’ll be on their way to Wisconsin with visas in hand by the end of next week!  We’re looking forward to their return and wish them safe travels!  Once they’re back, the pace of the farm will kick into high gear.  We’ll spend some time doing annual training and we have a lot of spring cleaning projects to do, but as soon as the fields are dry enough we’ll be anxious to get some field work done!  Onions are scheduled to go to the field early in April and our first scheduled planting of salad greens, spring spinach, radishes, cilantro, etc is April 8!  We’re crossing our fingers that the weather will cooperate and make that date a reality!

Longtime CSA members, Carol & Bob.

We still have plenty of CSA Shares available and are anxious to fill up our sites before the start of deliveries in just 7 weeks!  If you’ve already signed up for your 2019 shares, you will be receiving a Welcome Packet early in April.  If you are new to our farm or still contemplating whether or not you want to join CSA this year, take a moment to read this letter from longtime CSA members, Carol & Bob.  They sent us this earlier this month and asked that we share it with Prospective CSA Members.  In their letter they make the point that the value of CSA does go beyond the dollars of vegetables in your box.  It is also an opportunity to take your food purchases beyond your plate and vote with your food dollars by supporting farms and systems that are in alignment with your own values.  

Have a great spring and stay tuned for more updates as spring unfolds on our farm!

February Farm Update

By Andrea Yoder

Happy February!  It’s hard to believe another month has passed us by since our last farm update, but here we are approaching the end of February.  Despite the slower pace of winter, we’ve actually had a lot going on over the past month.  Here’s what we’ve been up to.

Polar Vortex Sunrise on January 31, 2019

First, we’re happy to report we survived the Polar Vortex of 2019!  For those few bitter cold days, our valley was eerily quiet and still.  I have to admit they were also several of the most gorgeous, sunny winter days we’ve ever experienced!  The skies were bright blue and totally clear.   The sunrises in the morning were gentle as the sun woke up and shined a rosy smile upon our valley. The trees were so cold we could hear them cracking and moaning in the crisp, bitter cold morning air.  Before the cold set in we made sure the animals had extra bedding in their shelters and the cows got some of their “chocolate” hay to encourage them to stay inside the barn for shelter and warmth.  We made sure furnaces were working, drained any water pipes not in use and were diligent about doing frequent checks of employee houses as well as the packing shed.  All in all, it wasn’t so bad and we realize others in the region experienced much colder temperatures than we did.

Snow Mountain after clearing snow this Thursday.

I’ve lost track of just how much snow we’ve actually had throughout the month, 4-5 inches here, 6 inches there….the bottom line is it’s really starting to pile up!  As we started this week, our snow piles looked more like snow mountains and on Wednesday we got another 5 inches.  While we all enjoy a good snow  day, it has made it difficult to get our winter work done.  Nonetheless we’ve tried to make the most of our days and the packing shed crew and office staff have been working their way down the winter to-do lists.  The packing shed crew did a thorough top to bottom cleaning of the shop and lunch area….wow what a difference!  Everything looks much brighter and we love clean!  Nearly all the greenhouse flats have been washed and sterilized.  The potting soil arrived at the end of January and we have three big bags thawed out and ready to go.  We had hoped to start planting in our first greenhouse earlier this week, so last week the crew did a thorough cleaning of the nursery and finished setting up the heat table system on Monday.

Simon checking the water temperature as he sterilizes seeds.

Our plans didn’t quite play out as we had hoped for this week.  On Monday we received a couple big wholesale orders, which we are grateful to have.  Everyone shifted gears and we worked hard to wash over 1,000 pounds of burdock, a few bins of sunchokes, along with a few cases of radishes, turnips, and shallots.  Now that the orders are filled, our focus is back on getting some seeds planted!    This morning Simon set up our super high-tech (ok, not so high tech, but it works) seed sterilizer to hot water treat our onion seeds to remove any seed borne diseases.  We are happy to report we were able to start planting this afternoon!  Beatriz, Moises and Gerardo are enjoying a sunny day of greenhouse work.  They filled and pre-watered flats in the morning and Gerardo started planting this afternoon!  It was so refreshing to walk into the greenhouse after lunch and smell the wet potting soil!  It will take awhile to get all the onions planted and then we’ll need to move on to celeriac, leeks, lettuce, kohlrabi and more!

Snow falling on our Curly Willow & Fantail Willow Hedgerow 

This month’s crop report will be brief.  We’re happy to report the deer fence around the overwintered spinach field is upright, intact and doing its job to keep the deer out.  The spinach is nicely insulated with all this snow, so lets all cross our fingers and hope we have a good harvest this spring!  Last fall we were also able to lay the reflective plastic mulch and drip tape for this year’s onion field.  We put a deer fence around it as well to keep them from tromping across the field poking holes in the plastic.  Very soon we need to get out to the field to trim our willow hedgerows, but all of this snow will make it a bit of a challenge!  I have to say, the fantail & curly willow trees look pretty cool against the white backdrop and add some texture to the landscape!

Mike changing one of the tractor tires.

We’ve also taken advantage of winter down time to get some tractors repaired.  One of our little IH Super C cultivating tractors was hauled to a shop last week for repair.  This week the two Allis Chalmers WD 45 tractors that pull harvest wagons got new tires.  Thank you to Mike & Mark from our local Cenex station for helping us with this repair project!

Andrea spent several days this week visiting some of our buyer partners in the Twin Cities and scouted out our two new CSA sites including The Power House at St. Louis Park & Roseville City Hall!  Kelly  & Gwen continue to process CSA orders and have been working hard on getting our promotional materials up to date, putting together this year’s CSA calendar, and a whole host of other tasks!  We’re still working on finalizing our Thursday CSA route in Madison, but we’re almost finished!  We’re happy to have added new sites in the DeForest/Windsor and Waunakee areas.  We also have new sites on the northeast side of Madison as well as one on Sherman Avenue and another near Monroe St.  We’re excited to be partnering with several business locations as well.  Some locations are for employees only, however we do have several that are open to the public including one in Middleton!  Thank you for your patience as we have been working to put together all the logistics for this new route.  Now it’s time to fill the truck!

Promo materials we have been working on.

We still have plenty of shares available and would like to ask you for your help in spreading the word about CSA within your communities.  From past experience, we know that some of the most meaningful “advertising” happens when CSA members share their CSA experiences and encourage other people in their community to consider connecting to a farm.   We have a variety of materials we can send to you if you’re willing to help us extend our reach to your community.  We’d be happy to send pull tab posters, sign up forms, informational brochures/cards and we have New Member Coupons as well.  These coupons entitle a new member to receive $15 to $25 off their order and the referring member will receive a $20 coupon!  Just let us know and we’ll put together a packet of information for you.

Photo from DishingUpTheDirt.com

There are a couple of events coming up as well.  On March 5, Fairshare CSA Coalition is hosting a Food & Farms Film Festival.  They have a pretty good lineup of films including the new Local Thirty documentary featuring Andrea Bemis!!  For those of you who follow along in my Cooking with The Box articles throughout the season, you know I have an affinity for Andrea’s blog, Dishing up the Dirt.  I’m really hoping to be able to meet Andrea in person so we can geek out about growing, cooking and eating vegetables!

On March 17 we’ll be attending the Fairshare CSA Open House, now called the Find Your Farm event.  If you live in the Madison area, we hope you’ll stop in to say hello.  This is a great event to share with anyone who may be considering joining a CSA but hasn’t yet made the commitment.

That’s a wrap for this month.  In case you’re wondering, we’re only about 10 ½ weeks away from the first CSA delivery week!  Keep that in mind as we gear up for another winter storm this weekend!

January Farm Update: What’s in store for our 2019 CSA Season and more!

Hello from Harmony Valley Farm! As I write this, the snow has blanketed our valley in bright white!  While our fields are resting peacefully, we are reminded that our growing season officially starts in about 3 weeks with our first greenhouse planting AND we’re only 15 weeks from the first CSA delivery week!  Yikes…we better keep moving! 

We’ve been hard at work preparing for the upcoming season, but wanted to take a moment to connect with you and share a little glimpse into our winter world.  We also want to tell you about some of the exciting things we’re looking forward to for the 2019 CSA season.  Before we jump into 2019, lets take a brief look back at our 2018 CSA year.

First CSA box of 2018, with 2 bunches of ramps!

Last year set the record for being the latest first planting date in the history of Harmony Valley Farm!  After getting a foot of snow on April 18^th, we were relieved to watch it melt quickly allowing us to finally get into the fields to start planting just one week later on April 25^th.   It took focused determination and a lot of team work to get caught up, but we were able to pull it off and get back on track pretty quickly.  One of the benefits to a late spring is that the ramp harvest season was also several weeks behind, but just in time for our first week of CSA deliveries!  We were able to pack not one but TWO bunches of ramps in each of the first three boxes of the season. We also had an awesome asparagus season that started the second week of CSA deliveries.  Our new fields produced very well and we were able to pack generous amounts of asparagus for 5 weeks!  Despite the spring challenges, Mother Nature came through for us and we were still able to deliver very nice spring boxes with good value.

Last CSA box of 2018

Every year of farming has its own set of challenges, most often related to the weather.  That’s just something you sign up for when you choose to be a farmer!  After pushing through the late spring, we reached our weather climax with two big rain events late in August/early September that proved to be our biggest weather challenge of the year.  Nonetheless, we stayed in the game and were still able to pack beautiful, plentiful CSA boxes for our full 30 weeks of deliveries!  Over the course of the season we delivered about 64 different types of vegetables, and that doesn’t include the multiple different varieties of some vegetables such as seven different varieties of winter squash, three colors of beets, etc. 

As we look back, we are also reminded of some of our 2018 farming victories including a delicious 4-week strawberry season, 9 weeks of potatoes, and 7 weeks of sweet & beautiful sweet potatoes!  We try to include some of the more staple vegetables more frequently over the course of our 30 week season.  Last year we delivered some type of onion & garlic in EVERY CSA box ranging from chives, overwintered onions and green garlic in the spring to delicious white Spanish onions mid-summer and a plentiful supply of red & yellow storage onions as well as shallots and red cipollini onions to wrap up the season.  Two-thirds of the boxes included carrots and about one-third of the boxes included broccoli.  We also had a nice 10-week run on tomatoes starting late July and running through the end of September!  All in all, I’d have to say it was a pretty amazing season!

Black Futsu Pumpkin
photo from High Mowing Organic Seeds

So what’s in store for 2019?  First, we have a pretty new radish called “Diana.”  Diana is a fresh radish that’s round and has purple shoulders and a white bottom.  They are described to be “crunchy and sweet with just the right amount of spicy.”   I’m also excited to try the “Black Futsu” winter squash (also referred to as a pumpkin) which is a Japanese vegetable with “unique black, warty skin and nutty, fresh flavor.”  One source describes it to have “very smooth, fine grained flesh and a fruity flavor at harvest that lends itself to thinly sliced raw or pickled preparations…With its very edible thin skin, it doesn’t require peeling.”  We have a few more new winter squash varieties to trial including two new personal-sized butternuts called “Butterbaby” and “Brulee,” thought to be as delicious as our beloved Honeynut Butternut, but with better yields and longer storage potential.  We are also interested in trying “Tetsukabuto” which is described to be “the squash of choice for the Apocalypse!”  The word means “steel helmet” in Japanese.  With a name like that, it sparked our interest and I guess whomever is left after the Apocalypse can enjoy this “sweet and nutty” squash that is “versatile in the kitchen” and has “exceptionally long storage.”

Last June's celtuce harvest

We’re also looking forward to refining our techniques for growing some crops we’re less familiar with or would like to improve upon.  Last year was our second attempt at growing celtuce.  It was a lot of fun, but we learned a few things and think we can do a better this year.  Even after 40 plus years of growing sweet corn, Farmer Richard continues to set his standards high for growing the most delicious sweet corn.  We’ve secured our preferred varieties and Richard and the crew have refined their strategy to protect the crop from pests.  Last year was a pretty good year of sweet corn, but we hope this year will be even better!

Of course we continue to consider more ways we can develop greater resilience to the erratic weather patterns we fear are our new norm.  We have watched our soil and fertility end up in the creek bottom or road ditches after heavy downpours of rain that come too fast for the moisture to be absorbed.  We think about this a lot—what else can we do to keep our soil in place and prevent erosion?  We have tried a new approach of planting permanent short grass and clover in between beds of vegetables and pathways around and within fields where water drains off the fields.  We had some success with this last year and are planning to expand this practice this year.

Farmer Richard & CSA kids at the Harvest Party 2018

While we realize CSA may not be for everyone, we believe it can be a good fit for many and is intended to be a different model that goes beyond the act of just buying food.  Rather, the whole point of CSA is to connect an eater to the source of their food and a greater community.  This can become a much deeper and more meaningful experience for both the consumer and the farmer with values and benefits that far exceed that of a simple dollar.   We are excited to have the opportunity to continue growing for our CSA members as it really is the most meaningful part of our business.  We know there are values and benefits associated with participating in CSA that are hard to measure, but include health benefits of having a wide variety of plant foods in your diet, learning more about how and where your food is grown, visiting the farm and connecting with both the place and people, participating in the act of preparing your own food and doing so as a family.  These are just a few of the additional benefits CSA members have shared with us about their experiences, but I’m sure there are more. 

We are curious how our CSA boxes compare to shopping at a retail grocery store.  Every year we ask a CSA member to be our “Secret Shopper.”  Each week this individual compares the contents of the vegetable box we deliver to three different types of retail grocery stores which include a local food co-op, a larger natural foods grocery and a traditional grocery store.  We took a look at these reports as well as our own data from last year and wanted to share some of the results with you.

CSA box #19 from 2018 included 3 items not found in
grocery stores: fresh edamame, broccoli Romanesco, and
orange Italian frying peppers

Lets talk about dollar value first.  Our weekly CSA vegetable share costs $1050 and includes all 30 weeks of deliveries.  The average cost of a box is $35, although some boxes may have a value a little less than that while others might have much greater value.  If you were to have purchased everything that was delivered over the course of the season at one of these other retail outlets, you would have paid approximately $1300 at the food co-op and traditional grocery store or about $1200 at the larger natural foods grocery store.  Additionally, if you had purchased all of the box contents at our market stand you would’ve paid $1315.  The take home message here?  CSA members receive a value of 14-25% above the actual dollars paid for the share and would have to pay the higher price if they were to make the same purchases at a retail store.  

Sun Jewel Melons ready to be packed in CSA boxes

We also found that 13% of all items sourced at the large natural foods store were not organic and at the traditional grocery store 28% of the items were not available organic.  The food co-op was the only store where someone would be able to purchase all organic.   There were also items included in our CSA shares that were not available at any of the comparison stores.  This rate was lowest at the food co-op, but we still found that 22% of the items were not available.  At the other two locations about 30% of the items were not available at all.  Some of these items include some of our seasonal favorites like green garlic, sweetheart cabbage, sun jewel melons, French Orange melons, fresh edamame, purple beans, orange Italian frying peppers, broccoli Romanesco and colored cauliflower. We strive to provide a wide variety of vegetables over the course of the season to keep things interesting and fun, but also because it’s important to eat a wide variety of foods for their nutrients.

As the first month of this new year comes to a close, we thank you for being part of our community.  If you have already made the decision to sign up for a CSA share for this year, thank you!  If you are still in the contemplative stage, we want to remind you that we have an Early Bird Sign Up offer available until February 14.  

We also have two new sites in the Twin Cities area and are still working on refining our new Thursday route into Madison.  Some of our new sites for this route have been confirmed, so check out our sign-up form for these locations.  Be well and enjoy this winter season!---Farmers Richard and Andrea