Category: CSA

CSA Season is Starting

June 18, 2010
Welcome to the 2010 Lida Farm CSA season! This is our 5th season operating a CSA in the Pelican Rapids area, so we should know what we’re doing at this point!
If you’ve come to this blog looking for news from the farm this spring and past winter, you’ve been sadly disappointed since I write little in the off season. But now that produce is coming in expect an entry every week about the going-ons at the farm, what’s in season and in the CSA box, and my general musings about small farms and the like. We also highlight a recipe each week which features a veggie in season.
Overall spring has been good as we get ourselves organized for summer. Spring is a time we ramp up on projects we just can’t pull off in July or August when we get on a treadmill of plant, harvest, wash and repeat.

For example, This year we offered a chicken share where people pre-arranged whole broilers which we’ll deliver late summer or early fall. Now that we’ve promised all these people some 250 chickens, we actually need to raise them. Part of that is giving them a place to live, so my carpenter father-in-law Don and I have been diligently building a lean-to off the side of our woodshed (mainly Don…he’s the professional. I just haul tools and stuff for him). It still needs some tin for the roof, but the hard part is done we hope. As you can see from the picture, the lean-to juts into our pasture, so, when the chicks arrive they will have easy and free access to grass and pasture.

In the box:

Salad Mix
Napa Cabbage
Spinach
Baby Bok Choy
Strawberries
Daikon Radish
Catalina Dressing
Taken from the U of M nutrition program that Maree teaches at Pelican Rapids Elementary
Ingredients:
2/3 cup canola oil (or other vegetable oil)
1/2 cup sugar or equivalent sugar substitute
2/3 cup ketchup
1/2 cup lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
Mix all ingredients well. Store in refrigerator.
Serving Size: 2 Tablespoons

Annual Membership Drive

March 3, 2010


Well, we’re getting ready for another season and we’re putting out the call for members!

This little blog entry is like my own form of an annoying public radio membership drive: “We can’t do this without you, the members…” And this is absolutely true. Seriously. We can’t. We will be starting hundreds and hundreds of transplants soon, a big risk when you consider the tending, planting, weeding, and harvesting that comes between us and a finished vegetable crop. If we didn’t have our CSA membership who already paid up to receive a share of the season’s harvest, we’d be a bit more hesitant about putting all those plants in the ground hoping somebody’s going to purchase all that produce when harvested.
We are changing up our CSA program a bit this year. We continue to have a “regular” CSA share ($400) where you receive a delivery of a mix of produce every week, but we’ve also added a couple other options:
  • The “every-other-week share” ($225). The name kind of says it. You get a delivery every other week and we’re starting this especially for couples who get overwhelmed by a regular share. Chet and Paulette Nettestad of Pelican Rapids were our every-other-week trial run last year, and, from talking with them, it seemed to be a good amount for two people and worked out well.
  • The “a la carte share” (increments of $100). This is a customized delivery every other week, and, like an a la carte menu, you choose what you want from our online order system (www.localdirt.com) earlier in the week and we deliver on Fridays. Think about it as having a tab with us. You put in $100, $200, $300 at the beginning of the season and we keep track of what you order and let you know your balance monthly. On our site we also carry Organic Valley dairy products, meats, and eggs you can order too. This is a “use it or loose it” option. You will have from now until December to use your tab and whatever is leftover will be donated to Lutheran World Relief, because it’s a little harder for people around the world to feed themselves than for us here…I like their approach to sustainable rural development and I’m a Lutheran.
  • The “chicken share” ($60). You receive 6 chickens (5-6 lbs) in three deliveries from late summer to early fall. The chickens will be whole, frozen, and plastic wrapped just like a whole chicken in the store.
So, if you are interested in becoming a member of Lida Farm, please get in contact with us. Our e-mail is lidafarmer@gmail.com and our phone is 218-342-2619. Call with questions…you won’t be bugging us. Our brochure about our CSA program and the order form are linked below. But please make sure we are not filled up for the season and you’re in our delivery area before sending in the order form.
Click here for a brochure about our CSA
Click here for our order form

It’s really cold in Minnesota (CSA Week 16)

October 9, 2009

Wow, didn’t it get cold last night? It’s a bad sign when there’s already frost on everything before you go to bed and the sky is clear as a bell. We’re guessing it was about 25 degrees, which really puts a final end to the season. Few things go through a freeze like that, even the beet greens where pasted to the ground. We have the white stuff forecasted for tomorrow, so selling at a farmers market in snow will be a first! Maree wishes our camera worked, because we’d like to have record of it.

End of season logistics: If you’re in the neighborhood, please just drop off the last wax box…if not, don’t worry about it. Also expect an end of season survey in the mail. We really do want to know how the CSA season worked for you. It’s also an opportunity to let us know if you’re interested in being a member next year….as a current member, we give you first chance to re-join before opening up to others.
Thank you for being a member this season. Our door is always open. If you haven’t gotten a jack-o-lantern pumpkin, please come on out and we’ll set you up.
In the box:
Tongue of Fire Beans: this is an heirloom dried bean. Simply shell them and use as any dried bean. There are not many, so I’m thinking of them as something to add to a soup.
Potatoes
Hubbard Squash: this is the big blue-colored one.
Buttercup Squash
Spaghetti Squash: yellow and long in color
Haralson Apples: a good baking and cooking apple
A couple sweet onions
A couple white onions
Popcorn: this needs to be dried quite a bit before popping. Pull back the corn wrapper and hang like you would indian corn for at least a couple of weeks in a dry sunny place.

The Logistics of Local Food (CSA week 13)

September 18, 2009
Local foods and buying directly from the farmer has been something I’ve seen grow and grow every year I’ve been in this kind of work. But one big issue that has continued to plague local foods is the logistics. What I mean by this is that it still isn’t convenient for you as an eater to access all the things you would like to get locally…instead, you have to go to 5 or 6 individual farmers to get your stuff. Get a CSA membership for your veggies, contact somebody in the fall to buy a quarter of beef or half a hog, go across town to get that good local bread. I hear this from people too from members and farmers market patrons.
Coordination amongst us small growers to supply people more variety only makes sense to me. It doesn’t add up to have a bunch of growers all driving around with small amounts of food and make the eaters work harder at finding us. This is why we’ve been working on adding other things to the mix of things we deliver. You’ve seen me write about having Organic Valley butters and cheeses available to be delivered with your produce. Also, we partnered with Kendra to offer a flower share and some members took me up on that, getting flowers delivered with their produce for the last 12 weeks. Talking to members and others, I also got a sense of what others are looking for and I have arranged with a grower friend of mine by Fergus Falls to raise some broiler chickens for you. She is raising the chickens to two sizes: some up to “fryer size” (3.5-4 lbs) and others up to “roaster size” (5-6 lbs.) . Fryers will be available starting next week.

We’re finally figuring out some of the logistics of all this and have an ordering system set up at a site called local dirt, where you can easily order up what you’d like on a weekly basis. We will deliver with the CSA box until the end of the season and plan on keeping some things available through the winter as well: http://localdirt.com/ This is a nice tool which makes all this ordering stuff really easy for us as growers and easy for you as eaters. You find what you’ll like and just add into your shopping cart like at amazon.com or something….we’ll keep updating with new things like produce “extras”.
This is not something just for CSA members…if you know somebody who would like to get “on the route” just have them contact me…we’ll deliver for no charge in the area from Pelican to Detroit Lakes or people can certainly arrange to pickup at the farm. We’re really looking for people to see if we can make a go of this…
Put it on your calendars! We’re having our 3rd annual harvest party here at the farm. The date will be Saturday October 3rd, starting at 5:30. Plan on eating dinner at 6:00. We’ll supply the main dish and beverages, you supply yourself and a side dish for a potluck meal. This is a great way for you to meet other members, see the farm, and pick out your jack-o-lantern. Please let us know if you plan on attending.
Every year I put together a box I’m really proud of….this is that box for the year. Lots of variety and things I’m excited to see, especially that celery! I’ve never been able to grow it well before, so I was just beaming this morning harvesting the stuff.
In the box:
Italia pepper: red and green long pepper…really sweet
Colored pepper: some aren’t fully colored, but I wanted something in the box
Poblanos: A really mild hot pepper which look just beautiful. See cornbread recipe below.
Dozen sweet corn
A slug of tomatoes: they are in in a big way, so you get a good half dozen
A small bunch of fresh oregono
One oversized turnip with greens
Carrot bunch mix: there are two varieties here, atomic red and satin (white one). I especially like the satin, which have a good distinct flavor.
Celery
Snap Peas: a variety called Sugar Ann, which is edible pod, so don’t shell.
Yellow Cippolini Onions: A nearly forgot this onion out there, but it’s an Italian variety people really like for roasting or kebobs. Good intense flavor, but still mild.
Athena Canteloupe

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Skillet Corn Bread with Roasted Poblano and Oregano

Bon Appétit | July 2004

This moist bread is best fresh from the oven, but it can also be made ahead and reheated.

Yield: Makes 8 servings

ingredients

1 medium poblano chile* (about 3 1/2 ounces)
2 cups yellow cornmeal
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
3 large eggs
1 cup whole milk
1/4 cup sour cream
1 tablespoon minced fresh oregano

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter

preparation

Char poblano chile over open flame or in broiler until blackened on all sides. Enclose in paper bag 15 minutes. Peel, seed, and finely chop chile.

Preheat oven to 350°F. Whisk cornmeal, flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and black pepper in large bowl to blend. Whisk eggs, milk, and sour cream in medium bowl to blend. Mix in poblano chile and oregano. Add egg mixture to dry ingredients and fold in with rubber spatula; do not overmix.

Melt butter in 10-inch-diameter ovenproof skillet with 2-inch-high sides over medium heat, swirling to coat bottom and sides of skillet. Remove from heat. Spread batter evenly in skillet. Bake until corn bread is golden brown around edges and tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 30 minutes. Cool bread 15 minutes in skillet. (Can be made 6 hours ahead. Cool completely in skillet. Rewarm in 350°F oven 15 minutes.) Cut bread into wedges and serve warm from skillet


CSA week 11

September 4, 2009

If you noticed I missed last week’s newsletter. This is the first time in the four years doing a CSA. Sometimes in the season, about this time, you “hit the wall” in much the same way a marathon runner “hits the wall.” When thinking about this, in many respects we CSA growers are like long-distance runners–we need to be consistent and steady to produce a good box each week for 16 weeks.

The lack of heat is still the weather story around here. This is the second week for melons. We’re glad to have them, but they are late. Some things you may not even notice, like the okra that never comes to market because the plants just sit there doing nothing. I’ll complain about it, but my sympathies are with other farmers out there like the one I talked to last week: 600 acres of soybeans and he doesn’t see them making a harvest. Boy, that makes my 2 acres where some things are good and some bad not too bad a problem really. This is why sustainable ag types highly appreciate diversity in crops…if one thing “crashes and burns”, there may be another which does well. In many respects, we’re trying to bring back a tradition on farms where many things were produced from a couple hogs and a steer to garden produce, grains, hay. Even if the growing season went to pot, at least you could feed yourself.

In the box:
Leeks: keep refridgerated and cut lengthwise to clean out before using…dirt gets into the leaves.
Carrots
A couple tomatoes
Dill: This is for using the frawns, not the seed head like in pickling. See recipe below.
Cherry Tomato mix
Corn: mostly a white variety called Silver Queen. It’s pretty mellow and I love the name. Last week’s yellow variety is called Bodacious, which is another cool name.
A red onion
White Potatoes
A couple peppers: The small slender one is an Anaheim (slightly hot, really mild) and the other is a Cubanella (sweet, not hot).
Cauliflower
Cantaloupe: most of you got a variety called Athena, others got an “eastern type” called Halona, which has prominent ribs
A couple cukes

Cucumber, Mustard, And Dill Salad
From Gourmet | October 2004

2 teaspoons white-wine vinegar
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
1/2 teaspoon salt, or to taste
1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
1 tablespoon mild olive oil
1 large seedless cucumber (usually plastic-wrapped; 1 lb), peeled
2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill

Whisk together vinegar, mustard, salt, and sugar in a bowl, then add oil in a slow stream, whisking.
Halve cucumber lengthwise and remove seeds with a small spoon, then cut halves crosswise into 1/8-inch-thick slices.
Add cucumber and dill to vinaigrette, tossing to coat.