Tag: recipes

Chef Inspiration

September 15, 2025

For those of you who made it to the Deep Roots Festival this weekend, I think we can all agree that the food was amazing. The guys at Spanky’s did a bang up job taking whatever we had in season and turning it into a something glorious. I was especially struck by how they combined our sweet corn, peppers, and tomatoes with some butter beans to make this corn succotash.

As I was sitting there eating with Mar and other festival goers, I was thinking, you know, this is how we should be eating all the time. On our good days, we certainly do. But, on the days we work too long or are simply out of juice, we eat like every other American on a weeknight – frozen pizza or some other pre-made thing – even though we have literally tons of fresh food sitting in fields surrounding our house.

So, the role of the chef? Get us inspired to do better! Fresh food in season doesn’t need to be complicated. This was Amy Thielen’s message at her demonstration at the festival and certainly one I needed to hear in this time of too many things going on. Get good ingredients, get slightly creative, and you’re good.

So I want to thank Zach at North Circle Seeds for hosting us and everyone who made this a great event. We started this as a way to celebrate the season and local foods. For myself, it just felt good to gather with a group of people as do this ritual as we transition from summer to fall. Maybe it’s just some deep tribal thing that’s in our genes.

  • Sweet Corn: Yes, this is the end. But this is a recipe that seems pretty close to what Spanky’s did on Saturday: https://eatsimplefood.com/butter-bean-succotash/
  • Yellow Onions: Cured in the field and will store at room temp in dry location
  • Carrots
  • Yellow Potatoes
  • Roma Tomatoes
  • A couple big Slicing Tomatoes
  • Spinach: Certainly not your baby spinach we’re used to buying – this stuff got big because it loves to grow when it’s wet and cool
  • Radishes
  • 1-2 Italia Peppers: Don’t let the long shape fool you – this is a sweet pepper
  • Buttercup Squash

Produce Labor on Labor Day

September 1, 2025

Well, we’ve hit the time of the season when too much is in season. What to pick? Can I pick it all in time? Welcome to farm labor 101. It can be a slog, but something certainly to appreciate on this Labor Day, a day we set aside to appreciate the worker.

As some of you know from reading this blog for a while, I grew up a blue collar kid in a blue collar town (East Grand Forks). Lots of times when people learn I farm, I’m often asked if my parents farmed. But I often say I come from a long line of landless peasants – we worked FOR the farmers, we weren’t the farmers. My grandpa made a career of being a hired man and working in the potato warehouses of EGF.

And that’s certainly a point to be made on this Labor Day. We’ve mechanized and modernized American agriculture a lot since my grandpa’s day. The migrant farm workers of my youth in the Valley are long gone, replaced by chemicals and vacuum seeders – no need to thin beets anymore. But in the world of fruits and vegetables, we’re still very much a labor dependent. Drones are not (yet) harvesting and bunching radishes or picking apples. That’s why we see such an impact on California produce with recent ICE raids. Those strawberries still need human hands.

But this newsletter is not about me adding my own hot take to a world awash in political pundits. Today, I simply want to appreciate all those who have labored the fields of Lida Farm with me including my family and all the apprentices over the last 10+ years: Kelsey, Mason, Sarah, Molly, Camila, Archer, Jane, Zach, Gretchen, Marissa, Maya, Emily, and Luke.

In the box:

  • Regular tomatoes
  • Golden Sweet Grape Tomatoes
  • Cantaloupe
  • Watermelon
  • Radishes
  • Salad mix
  • Mizuna: A Japanese green used in Asian cooking (could be mixed into a salad). A much younger me once made a video – see https://youtu.be/PlYV75UpST8?si=3-cQucxy8mcUoyot
  • Red Bell Pepper
  • Anaheim Peppers: Green long ones
  • A Couple Summer Turnips: The loose white radish looking things with tops. Actually quite similar to a radish, you’d simply slice and eat raw, not unlike a kohlrabi.

In the Box

August 26, 2025

Hey all – sorry time disintegrated on me yesterday! I got the box out the door and delivered in good time, but zero time til now to write you anything. At the very least, I need to let you know what’s in the box if you’re wondering about things. My apologies.

The only news worth noting is about this most recent study on the health benefits of the Mediterranean Diet: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/25/well/mediterranean-diet-diabetes.html Kind of validates my advise to just go with a whole food diet with plenty of fruits and vegetables – hopefully what we’re all getting through this CSA.

In the box:

  • Watermelon: I think most got our orange variety, New Orchid, but don’t be surprised if it’s yellow or red inside – the patches blend into one another.
  • Sweet Pepper Mix: All these peppers are sweet. About half are Shishito peppers, which are good sauteed aka frying pepper and the others are just straight up snacking types. See picture of cooking idea below.
  • Cherry Tomato Mix
  • Sweet Corn: This first patch is getting mature but certainly still has sweetness. Some really like corn at this stage, while, for those of you who don’t may consider a succotash situation (see below) or try it grilled. A lot of the grilled corn I’ve had seems mature – maybe that’s just how my Mexican neighbors like their corn? IDK. Pelican people – I don’t know if that corn is going to hold out til Friday -I’ll substitute something if it doesn’t.
  • Cucumber
  • Cilantro
  • Arugula: Tall oakleaf green. You can use in a salad with the lettuce, but this is standard arugula (not baby) so certainly lends itself to cooking. Think something like this https://www.sipandfeast.com/lemon-arugula-pasta/
  • Salad Mix
  • Radishes
  • Green Onions
  • Regular Tomatoes: Boy, these have taken forever to ripen and these are still the early small varieties.

This time of year I get tired of corn on the cob and try other things, such as this succotash I made for breakfast. I don’t do recipes…I typically just start sauteing things 🙂 I first did the shishito peppers on high heat with olive oil for a bit, followed by the corn cut off the cob (the picture is 4 peppers plus corn from one cob). After those got some color, I added in a clove of garlic and one tomato for the last couple of minutes and finished with a salt. Ate with toast. Could certainly add some feta or other cheese.

Slow Pouty Plants

August 5, 2025

“Where’s the sweet corn?” After being asked the fourteenth time at the farmers market on Friday, I had to admit to myself that plants are running late. Today is August 4th and I’d estimate that we have always had corn in the box by the beginning of August.

So what’s going on? Seems like we’ve had hot days, right? Yes, but think about the nights lately. Out after dark on Saturday night, it felt downright cold and I wore a jacket harvesting yesterday – on August 3rd! We certainly had a little hot streak in July that caused all those weeds to jump up a foot in height, but we’ve also certainly had a number of rainy cool stretches mixed in too. So I think the number of growing degree days is starting to catch up to us and we’re seeing the affects on slow development of heat-loving crops like corn and melons.

But, have no fear. Those ears on on the stalks and the plants are looking good! Melons are vined out well, fruit has been setting well on tomatoes, and, hey, we did finally get a pepper and cherry tomatoes in the box. As for the mid-season beans, I can’t blame the temperatures, but I do think my dog Miso bears some responsibility because deer keep eating the tops off. This never happened when Argo was alive and patrolling the wire.

In the box:

  • Cherry Tomatoes
  • A Couple Green Peppers
  • Sweet Onion
  • Red Potatoes: Maybe the most boring thing for a recipe, but I pretty much make a hash everyday…https://www.thecomfortofcooking.com/2012/09/potato-hash-with-bell-peppers-and-onions.html
  • Carrots
  • Bok Choy: I know this is a head-scratcher for many and it’s the third time in the box (these things just grow extremely well this year). Here’s a bunch of ideas: https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/photos/bok-choy-recipes
  • Mini Romaine Lettuces: Most people have 2 mini-heads, but a few had to receive an oakleaf lettuce.
  • Fresh Garlic: This is fresh out of the ground today, so fresh and not cured yet. You’ll see the wrappers around the cloves are not papery/dry. Fine to use just as it is, but you can certainly let dry down. Just leave a in dry, sunny location in your kitchen for 5 days or so.
  • Sprig of Basil: Would pair well with these cherry tomatoes and maybe a cuke from last week.
  • Flat-Leaf Parsley: Dark green bunch with red band.

Involving Others

July 7, 2025

When I started this farm in 2004, I had all intentions of pushing the whole thing along with just my back and good pair of Red Wing Boots. A typical ambitious dude in his 20’s who has energy to burn. I had no intention of working with others or needing the help of others. But, this work being what it is-lots of detailed labor that takes a lot of time-that’s a near impossibility. I certainly never saw myself as ‘the boss’ or ‘the supervisor’ of anyone.

But we age and our energy and ambition wane. Without fresh troops the army just slowly falls apart. But I’ve been blessed these last 20 years with a lot of people in my life who do jump in and take on some effort. We’ve hosted an apprentice each year since 2014 and I’ve done my best to get my own kids engaged in the farm – some days are more successful than others. And when multiple tracks of work are running with multiple people at once, it’s an incredible feeling.

Yesterday I had this feeling like the farm was hitting on a cylinders. Camila was working the pack house to prepare the green onions and cukes for today’s box, Willem was building the lean-to roof, and Graham was pushing stakes in the ground for the tomato trellis. My role was to bounce between them all to help start them and move each project along. Now let’s see if we can finish what we started and hopefully repeat some all-hands-on-deck days this month as it’s clear that the number of tasks is outstripping the capacity of me and Camila to take them all on. Typical for this time of year.

In the box:

  • Green Cabbage
  • Kohlrabi: Weird bulb thing – peel, cut, eat, simple.
  • A Couple Cucumbers: We have both varieties now ready in the high tunnel. The really wrinkly one is an English-type cucumber called Tyria. The other is a long variety called Tasty Jade.
  • A Couple Zucchini
  • A Couple Lettuces: One is a beautiful green butterhead lettuce and the other is a red lollo variety for some color.
  • Green Onions
  • A Bunch of Arugula: Bunch of greens with a red band. You can mix in with the lettuce and cukes in a salad or have on its own like in https://www.loveandlemons.com/arugula-salad/ People also top pizzas with arugula and add to pasta.
  • Daikon Radish: This is pretty mild radish which you can peel and eat just as you would any old red radish. But it’s also very common in Asian cooking like in this pickled Korean recipe: https://urbanfarmie.com/korean-pickled-radish/