CSA - Week 4

Half way through July already, awfully cliche, but summer is flying by!

We are finally starting to see some good progress in the fields, broccoli is beginning to head up, zucchini and summer squash are blossoming and setting fruit, and some of our herbs which were in standing water a couple weeks ago are starting to look much better!  We harvested garlic this week, it was a bit earlier than I had wanted, but didn't want to risk the heads starting to rot in the wet ground.  It can be used now or for longer storage life it should "cure" for a couple of weeks in a warm, well ventilated area out of direct sunlight.  A garage or storage shed works great.

Recent apple orchard activity - we hung sticky traps, which are large yellow cards coated with nasty smelly sticky gunk that attracts flies, including apple maggot flies which are our major pest concern between now and harvest.  The cards catch some of the flies and allows us to monitor levels and know when it becomes necessary to spray.  The Prima apples are sizing up nice and the McIntosh are not far behind!

This weeks share is still on the light side, but expect some more heft starting next week.  Week 4 contents:

• Garlic
• Collard Greens
• Radishes
• Snap Peas - They are loving the cool wet weather!

Have a good rest of the week.

-Wade

CSA - Week 3

This week and next week will be on the lighter side as we transition from produce grown in the hoophouses to crops grown in the fields.  The very wet and fairly cool weather in June has us 1-2 weeks behind where we would like to be, but a couple of weeks of 80s and sun should get us back on track.

This weeks shares will include

• Carrots
• Snap Peas
• Chives

Extra chives can easily be frozen for future use.  Following is link with a step by step process http://www.wikihow.com/Freeze-Dry-Chives

Also one of our shareholders (thank you Jessica!) has shared a couple of delicious chive recipes:

• Lobster & Chive Bisque
• Bacon and Chive Jarlsberg Burger

Following are a few photos of the recently built wash station, blackberries in the fruit hoop house, a couple of the fields, and getting the vegetable hoop house ready for round 2 of planting.

Hope everyone has a great week!

CSA - Week 2

Looking for some warm, dry days, seems like we have gotten rain on a daily basis for a while now!

Most of this week's share comes from the hoop house, but we also get our first harvest from the fields with snap peas.  We planted garlic for the first time last fall, while it is in a lower part of the fields and not appreciating all of the extra water, it has produced some nice scapes. For those of you who have never tasted or seen a garlic scape (includes me until this year) following is a brief description: 

While the garlic bulb is growing below ground, the garlic plant also produces a curly stalk, know as a scape. with a large bud on the end which if left to develop will eventually flower.  It is recommended to cut the scapes before they flower so that the plant concentrates it's energy to producing a larger bulb below ground.  Turns out the scapes are not only edible, but quite a delicacy.  They definitely smell and taste like garlic, but a bit more subtle.  You can chop them up and use just like regular garlic cloves.

This weeks shares include:

• Red Romaine
• Beets
• Turnips
• Snap  Peas
• Garlic Scapes

There are two featured turnip recipes this week, each has butter and sugar in them, like vegetable desserts!

http://dfo-recipes.weebly.com/this-week.html

And, if you don't have  a favorite beet recipe, following is a simple but delicious one for roasted beets  http://dfo-recipes.weebly.com/roasted-beet-slices.html

Hope everyone has a great 4th of July weekend!

CSA - Week 1

Ahhh, the thrill of the first week of share distributions.  Hectic and nerve wracking as we scramble to make sure everything is ready, mixed with the excitement of finally getting to harvest and share the good stuff that we have been watching grow for the last month and a half.

As this may be the first CSA season for many folks, following are just a few random thoughts on what to expect and a couple of hopefully useful links.

• The first several weeks of the season are lighter shares, usually lettuces, radishes, peas,etc.  The shares will get larger and heavier as we move into the season
• Most of the crops are harvested and directly put into the cooler to chill,  Items such as beets, radishes, carrots which are in the ground will be washed and then cooled.  Greens that have a lot of rain splashed dirt and sand will also usually be quickly dunked in water and then cooled.  However we don't individually review each leaf of lettuce, beet green, etc as a result  you may still find some dirt or a stray slug, snail, or bug tagging along,  So its always a good idea to rinse and inspect you produce prior to consuming.
• Lettuce and greens like to stay cool with high humidity but not wet.  A salad crisper is a valuable storage tool, but if you don't have one available, wrap the greens in a damp paper towel and place inside a plastic bag in your refrigerator. This should keep things nice and crisp for up to or more than a week.  It will also crisp back up greens that are slightly wilted
• A couple of links to kitchen items that we use constantly throughout the season:
  • Salad spinner - http://www.walmart.com/ip/Cookpro-605-Salad-Spinner-4.5qt-With-Locking-Straining/41080295
  • Crisper - Tupperware FridgeSmart

This weeks share includes:

• Leaf lettuce
• Kale
• Radishes
• Chicken

Following are a couple of recipe links.  The first is to our Kale Chip recipe which can be found with others on our Recipes page.  The second one is the roasted chicken recipe that I have used for the last 5 chickens I have roasted.  It's from Pioneer Woman, (who I am a big fan of)

http://dfo-recipes.weebly.com/kale-chips.html

http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2010/04/herb-roasted-whole-chicken/

June Update

We wrapped up the final part of our primary planting this past weekend, getting in the fall squash, watermelons, green beans and the 3rd planting of sweet corn.  The recent rains and warm temperatures have crops (and weeds) sprouting quickly!

The chickens are filling our nicely, and doing an excellent job of removing insect and larvae pests while working lots of fertilizer in to their pasture area.

The outlook for apples at our leased orchard this fall looks to be a bit disappointing compared to last year.  While we had great blossoms for the McIntosh, Primas, and Red Delicious, the weather conditions during bloom were not great for bee activity and as a result  we didn't have good pollination and actual fruit set appears pretty light.  I'm still optimistic that we should have a harvest to include with shares, but we probably won't be producing any Grandpa's Grand Applesauce this season :(

On a more exciting note, the first shares of the season will be available the week of June 22, with the first pickup day at the farm being Thursday June 25 at 10:00am

Pickup days and times are as follows:

Pickup Location	Day	Times
Flagstar Bank, Troy	Wednesday	4:00 - 5:00
Farm	Thursday - AM	10:00 - 11:30
Farm	Thursday - PM	5:00 - 6:30
Farm	Friday - AM	10:00 - 11:30
Farm	Saturday - AM	10:00 - 11:30

I will send a separate email to shareholders confirming the day and time I have everyone signed up for.

And even more exciting....we are starting to get some early strawberries from the hoop house, I am planning on distributing as we harvest over the next 2 weeks.  Watch your email for your strawberry pickup time!

Looking forward to seeing everyone soon!

May Update

It has been a much drier spring this year and with the recent trend of warm temperatures we have gotten an earlier start to our field plantings. This past Thursday we put in all of our potatoes, almost 3 weeks ahead of last year!  Tilling the fields this spring has also been more efficient, with fewer passes with the tractor thanks to our new Land Pride tiller.  It's wider than our previous tiller and covers both tire tracks, it's also a reverse rotation tiller which does a better job of working in previous year crop residue and produces a finer seed bed with only one pass.

The chickens have all feathered out and we moved them onto pasture last week, its amazing how quickly they transition from sitting inside the coop eating from feed trays, to scratching and digging and enjoying the outdoor buffet of insects and grasses.

Color is returning quickly to the orchard, as the gray bare trees now all have green leaves and the early varieties are adding in lots of pinks and whites as blossoms begin to open.  It looks like it should be a strong year for the Prima and McIntosh varieties as they are loaded up with blossoms, the Red Delicious look about average while it looks like an off year for the Golden Delicious following a bumper crop of them last fall.

The first week for CSA share pickups looks like it will be sometime in mid June, we should be able to firm up the date over the next couple of weeks.  Also - we are working on partnering with another small local organic farm with a large laying flock,  to begin offering an "egg add-on" to shares.  Hopefully more to come on this over the next week!

Fuzzy and yellow

Both chicken coops are now full of chicks!  Feel free to bring the kids by to hold and feed them anytime, the next two weeks are ideal as the cuteness factor does go down as they start to feather out....

Spring 2015

It’s been a while since our last update, and there has been lots of good stuff going on.  First, a big thank you to all of our CSA shareholders that have signed up for the 2015 season.  We are now completely sold out and looking forward to another great year!

Winter pruning in the orchard is completed, despite the crazy cold temperatures and a busy schedule we managed to get another 110 trees trimmed up and looking respectable.

Golden Delicious prior to pruning

Golden Delicious after pruning

Mobile chicken coop #2 still needs a paint job on the outside but the inside is well appointed and ready for move in! We are expecting the arrival of our first batch of chicks today (I’m waiting for a call from the post office as I type this).

I was slightly more disciplined this year in my seed starting, other than some intentionally early tomatoes that will go into the hoop house shortly, I and managed to wait until mid-March for everything else.  With the nicer weather they are able to start spending some time outside as well!

I’ll probably jinx myself by saying this, but the fields are drying out quite well, and hopefully we’ll be able to get some snap peas, and other early cool weather crops in soon!

Hope everyone has a chance to get out and enjoy the beautiful weather this week!

-Wade

2015 CSA Shares Now Available

Just 54 more days until spring!  While we still have plenty of winter left to get through, it’s never too early to start thinking about all of that delicious fresh produce that will be available again soon.

We will be offering both full and half share sizes again this year.  2015 prices are -

• Full Shares – $500
• Half Shares - $300

We have added a simple online signup form that makes registration quick and easy, and an online payment option as well.  A $100 deposit will hold your share, with the balance due by May 15th.

Check out our CSA page for pictures and week by week listing of share contents from 2014.

We are looking forward to a very productive year and can’t wait to see everyone out at the farm!

Grandpa's Grand Applesauce - a great Christmas gift!

Looking for a unique, locally made, great tasting gift this Christmas season?  Consider sharing the gift of delicious Grandpa's Grand Applesauce.  All four varieties are available in either our standard 24 ounce jar, or our sampler size 7.75 ounce jar.  Or check out our 4 jar sample wooden gift box!  Grandpa's Grand can be found in several retail stores across Southeast Michigan or ordered conveniently online from our website, and you can always stop by the farm and pick some up as well!

Congratulations to Estala Pong

Estala was the winner of the Fall Farm Tour drawing for a delicious organic broiler chicken from Decker Farm and Orchard

Week # 16 - Final shares for the season

Wow!  Where did the time go?  The old adage of "time flies when you're having fun" sure applied to me this past year, it was a very enjoyable and memorable first CSA season, and none of it would have been possible without my awesome shareholders.  Thank you so much for your support and encouragement! 

Production of Grandpa's Grand Applesauce is in full swing, this week's shares will include your choice of either Red Carpet (Red Delicious) or Gold Rush (Golden Delicious) varieties.  

Share contents:

• Chickens
• Parsnips
• Leeks
• Turnips
• Bell Pepper
• Onions - green, yellow, red, and white
• Rosemary
• Applesauce
• Gourds (not edible, but for decorations)

This weeks featured recipe is Roasted Leek and Potato Soup

Lots of projects planned for the "off season" to get ready for 2015, including planting garlic,  building a 2nd mobile chicken coop, expanding the planting fields and fences, prepping for blueberry and raspberry planting in the spring, and hopefully finding an inexpensive used manure spreader.  I'll try and keep everyone updated on the progress. 

Thanks again for a great season!

Chickens are in the Freezer!

Batch #2 of chickens is now in the freezer.  It was a heftier bunch of birds this time, with the average weight right where we were targeting, at around 4-1/2 lbs.  Feed to weight ratio also improved.  We picked up another old trailer frame, so included in the winter project list will be to build mobile coop #2 so that we can run two batches at a time starting next spring! 

Shareholder chickens will be included in this week's shares, for non shareholders - give me a call or shoot an email and we can coordinate pickup up times for your chickens.

Week #15 Update and Pepper Drying Guidance

Its really starting to look like fall this week, lots of color in the trees!  To help you decorate for autumn, this week's shares include indian corn and corn shocks.

Share contents for this week:

• Golden Delicious Apples
• Yellow Zucchini
• Bell Pepper
• Jalapeno Pepper
• Cayenne Pepper (see drying recommendations below)
• Acorn Squash
• Beets
• Radishes
• Onion
• Red Cabbage
• Indian Corn Bunches
• Corn Shocks

Pepper Drying Techniques:

1.  First, wash the peppers and lay them out on a towel to dry.  Once the peppers are nice and dry simply cut off the tops and cut them lengthwise into halves or quarters.  (note: You will want to wear gloves when you’re handling a lot of peppers, so I’d recommend putting on gloves before touching the peppers. )
2. Place your cut peppers on a cookie tray lined with parchment paper and cook at 200 degrees for 3-5 hours, depending on the size of the pepper pieces. After 2 hours or so you’ll want to check the peppers about every 30 minutes to see if they are dry. You know they’re ready when the pepper piece crumbles when pressed between your (glove wearing) fingers. If the pepper pieces are at all flexible then the peppers aren’t dry yet. Some pieces will finish before others, so just remove any pieces that are done each time you check and allow them to cool completely before storing.
3. Once all of the pieces are dried, cooled and done you can put them in a glass container to store, use your blender to grind them into crushed pepper pieces, or even continue to blend them until they form a powder. Store your finished pepper pieces or powder in an airtight, glass container away from light and moisture.

Don't forget the Lapeer County Fall Farm Tour is this Saturday from 10:00 - 4:00.  Tour map and farm information can be found at :

Fall Farm Tour Information and Map

Week #14 Shares and Fall Farm Tour Info

This week's shares include:

• Russet Potatoes
• Tomatoes
• Cherry Tomatoes
• Bell Pepper
• Yellow Onion
• Acorn Squash
• Zucchini
• Oregano
• Chives
• Golden Delicious Apples

This week's featured recipe is my mother-in-law's Pork and Acorn Squash, it is delicious!

Pork and Acorn Squash

We are excited to be part of the Lapeer County Conservation District's Fall Farm Tour, which will be held on Saturday,  October 4th from 10:00am - 4:00pm.  We will be providing tours of the hoop houses, vegetable fields, and chicken pasture, along with providing samples of Grandpa's Grand Applesauce, our variety specific applesauce made from our own organic apples. The Fall Farm Tour is a great opportunity to check out some really cool farming operations in southern Lapeer county, if you have some free time, we would highly encourage you to come join us next Saturday!

Fall Farm Tour Information and Map

Chicken Update

Our chickens are now about 6-1/2 weeks old and starting to "fill out" nicely.  They are raised on a completely organic diet, and spend only their nights inside.  Barring any predator or illness issues we should have an extra 10-15 birds available for sale after share distributions the week of October 6th.  Pricing is $5.00 per pound.  Hoping that they will dress out in the 4 to 5 pound range.  If you are interested, please shoot me a text or email and let me know how many you would be interested in.

Week #13 shares

This weeks shares include:

• Green/yellow beans
• Beets
• Cabbage
• Tomatoes
• Cherry Tomatoes
• Yellow Onion
• Green Pepper
• Jalapeno Pepper
• Russet Potatoes
• Oregano
• Parsley
• Golden Delicious Apples

This  week's featured recipe is Cabbage Rolls, it utilizes 4 items found in this week's share (cabbage, onion, tomatoes and oregano).  We made the recipe last night along with roasted beets, it was delicious!  We used a couple of Orange Valencia tomatoes which gave the sauce a cool orange color.

Cabbage Rolls and Roasted Beets!

Week #12 Shares

Wow, what a wild weather ride over the past week, last Friday we were picking apples in 90 degree heat and this morning I was not overly warm in a sweatshirt and jeans while harvesting!  The bell peppers are finally getting some color, the red, orange, and yellow add a nice contrast to all the green.  We made the first batch of our McIntosh variety applesauce on Tuesday, lots more to get processed over the upcoming weeks! 

1st batch of "Mighty Mac" variety applesauce, featuring our McIntosh apples

This weeks shares include:

• Bell Peppers
• Jalapeno Peppers
• Cayenne Pepper - be careful, these are hot!
• Swiss Chard
• Red Kale
• White Potatoes
• Cherry Tomatoes
• Tomatoes
• Beets
• Zucchini
• Broccoli
• Basil
• Chives
• McIntosh apples

Following is a link for a great Zucchini Lemon Muffin recipe, thanks to Evie Thomas for sharing the recipe and for the delicious samples!

Zucchini-Lemon Muffins

Week #11 Shares

Back to school week for a lot of people and also the beginning of apple harvest season!  Despite the late spring and cooler than normal summer, apples are actually ripening on time or even a little earlier than expected.  With the limited, all organic spray program we used, a lot of the apples fall into the "applesauce use only" category, however there are still a number with just minor blemishes that will be in shares starting this week.

This weeks shares will include:

• McIntosh Apples
• Cabbage
• White Russet Potatoes
• Green Beans
• Jalapeno Peppers
• Cherry Tomatoes
• Tomatoes
• Zucchini
• Cucumber
• Sweet Corn
• Carrots
• Basil
• Oregano

Looking for a use for those large zucchini other than zucchini bread?  Check out this recipe for baked zucchini boats:

Baked Zucchini Boats

Week #10 Shares - Labor Day Weekend!

Seems like it was just Memorial Day, and here we are at Labor Day already.  What a great summer it has been!  The harvest continues to be strong, with overflowing totes again this week.  The chickens are now out in the orchard, gobbling up bugs and spreading fertilizer, and fall planting was largely completed this week with carrots, turnips, green onions, radishes, snap peas, swiss chard, lettuce and spinach all going in the fields and hoop house.

This weeks shares include:

• Green/Yellow and a couple random Purple Beans
• Beets
• Cucumbers
• Zucchini
• Sweet Corn
• Basil
• Parsley
• Chives
• Red Potatoes
• Tomatoes
• Cherry Tomatoes (if you can return the pint containers each week that would be awesomely appreciated)
• Green Peppers
• Jalapeno Peppers
• Red Kale
• Leaf Lettuce
• Romaine Lettuce

Clare has updated the recipe site with a couple of new additions:

Grilled Green Beans

Chocolate Beet Cake

The following are also good ideas for this week's share:

Kale Chips

Roasted Beets

Cooked Beet Greens

Hope everyone has an enjoyable and safe holiday weekend!