Half share:  Salad mix, braising mix, turnips, radishes and chard

Hello CSA members!

Another sunny warm week is in the books, but some perilous sounding thunderstorms are looming in the forecast for the next few days.  If any of you missed the havoc that the thunderstorm played on the Whitefish Market last week, it sounds like there will be a repeat performance this week.  We’re starting a pool on whose tent collapses or blows away first!

In all seriousness, we could certainly use some rain, but it’s always bittersweet when that rain is associated with the dreaded four-letter “h”word.  For those of you who are terrible at scrabble, I’m referring to hail.   It’s really the one weather event that a farmer cannot mitigate, and with no adequate crop insurance available to small vegetable farmers, it poses one of the biggest risks we face.  At a time when Congress is about to pass a Farm Bill that provides massive crop insurance subsidies to all the large GMO commodity farmers (corn, soy, cotton, etc.), it sure would be nice if such assurances were offered to farmers whose livelihoods actually depend on it.  But, I gave up griping about our government’s priorities quite a while ago, so let’s move on to the share this week.

This week the share contains our nicest batch of salad mix this season…a perfect bed that was a joy to cut today.  There is also a bag of braising mix, which is made up of a wide variety of items, including Hong Vit radish greens, Hong Tsai Tai asian greens, mustard, baby chard, kale, spinach, edible radish flowers, lambs quarters, pea tendrils, and I’m sure some more that I’m forgetting.  This mix is best eaten lightly cooked, and we’ve included a couple ideas for recipes.  The hakurei salad turnips can be eaten raw on salads or cooked in stir-fry type dishes. The greens on the turnips unfortunately took a beating by flea beetles. The next batch has nicer looking greens. For the recipe below use your stir fry mix instead of turnip greens.  Radishes will either be the round red Rudolph variety (any guesses where the name comes from?), or the longer pink Hong Vit radish.  Again, they can be eaten raw on salad, or cooked lightly for a milder experience.   Lastly, the heat of June has brought about the first batch of cabbage…about two weeks early.  Since they have not all ripened uniformly, you will either be getting a sweet green cabbage, or a more saved looking Napa cabbage.  Both make great coleslaw!

Recipe Ideas:

http://jubileefarmblog.blogspot.com/2013/05/eggs-in-nest-braising-mix-recipe.html

http://noteatingoutinny.com/2012/06/06/roasted-haruki-turnips-with-israeli-couscous-salad/ ( you could also use your radishes roasted in this dish!)

It was a great day on the farm, and it was satisfying to see so much food come in from the fields.  We hope you are enjoying the CSA so far, and we’ll see you all tomorrow!

Half Share:  Butterhead lettuce, braising mix, lacinato kale, and bok choi

Hello CSA  members!

Whew…it sure is warm out there.  This time last year, Rebecca needed to wear her floaties to harvest the salad mix due to record rains, and this year we are drier than a dead dingo’s donger (yes, you can thank Google for that one).  Unfortunately, irrigation is one of those things that seems to take up endless amounts of time.  A little rain here and there is the difference between days off and days spent moving irrigation pipe. This year, the June Monsoon seems to be nowhere in sight.  With all due respect to the National Weather Service in Missoula, I had to laugh the other day when I read their commentary.  As a sign that tourism and recreation has overtaken agriculture in this part of the world, the discussion for the dry and hot forecast made no mention of how this heat affects farmers or our food system….other than to caution viewers that aftenoon winds might pose a risk to your napkins if you are out at a bbq!   Us farmers, I guess we’re never quite content with the weather.

Every year, the weather poses new challenges.  This year, after two mild winters in a row, we are noticing our insect pressure, especially from flea beetles, is extremely high…as evidenced by the pin prick holes in some of the produce.  We’ve also had aphids for the first time, although nature has provided us some reinforcements in the way of ladybugs.

The lady bugs have been busy eating aphids, and ummm, doing other things.

These lady bugs showed up on there own, which was a great relief to us.  This natural predator/prey concept, often referred to “biological control”  in the organic farming world, is a concept that seems lost on those practicing chemical intensive agriculture.  Endocrine disrupting pesticides or ladybugs?  Choice seems obvious to me, but then again, my views are often in the minority.

As we enter the 5th week of CSA on the farm, we are in a time of transition.  Over the past 4 weeks, we have harvested all the early crops out of our hoop houses, and have now planted these houses with warm weather crops such as basil, eggplant, peppers, tomatoes and green beans.  Every year, this transition results in a bit of a lull in offerings.  We also consider it the “seventh inning stretch”.  You’ve been eating a lot of greens so far, and there are a few more weeks of greens until we start to see some real diversity in the shares.  It’s about this time every year when the jokes start being made about all the greens.  Some times we laugh, sometimes we cry, but in the end, this is seasonal eating in this place called Montana.  If greens weren’t the most healthy food you could eat, we might actually feel bad about the situation.  But, given that our goal is to provide you healthy food amid a food system plagued by unhealthy options, we actually feel really good about the situation

Half Share: salad mix, spinach, collards, onions and bok choi

 Team Ten Lakes,

This is Joe filling in for Todd and Rebecca on the blog this week.In addition to our regular weeding-watering-harvesting routine and planting winter squash, fennel and two kinds of celery, this past week found us prepping the high tunnels that were formerly growing greens to grow tomatoes instead…our first succession planting of the season! The time it does fly.

Half shares:  Salad mix, spinach, radishes, kales, and arugula

Hello CSA Members!

It’s week three, and there is so much to cover.  First, just a reminder that the Whitefish Downtown Farmer’s Market starts tomorrow, and runs from 5:00pm to 7:30pm.  Whitefish CSA members can pickup their shares at our market stand (there is a separate tent on the side just for CSA pickup), and we should be ready to start handing them out by around 4:30pm.  Our tent is at the far north end (for those of you who are directionally challenged, that’s the end closest to the railroad tracks) on the west (left) side of the road (opposite the park).  Also, there are strict rules about us selling any produce before 5pm, so if you want to buy anything in addition to your share, you will have to wait….no exceptions!! (Unless you want to tangle with Rhonda).

Second, we are happy to final offer some photos.  We have been without a camera for far too long, so we finally bought a new one last week.  Only problem is we bought the wrong storage card, so the camera would only store two photos at a time.  Fortunately, our apprentice Nathan (a.k.a Astro) took it upon himself on Sunday to ride the 60 miles to Best Buy to buy us a memory card (and a new tablet), and then ride back, on his single speed bike wearing a pair of jean shorts.  I think we have a new candidate for the Cino Heroica this year!

110 miles ridden, 10 miles hitchhiked, went with the Samsung Galaxy. 8 hours.

I know that has nothing to do with vegetables, but the whole thing makes me laugh.  We’ve also stolen away a CSA member from West Glacier to help us out (thank goodness for the sequester!), and Dan has been nice enough to take a few photos pre-storage card.  He claimed he was only staying for the week, but he seems to really like it here, so you might not get him back until fall.

The field is starting to green up

Rows of brassicas, including the bok choi you’re receiving this week.

Lastly, we took a farm crew photo this evening after a long day of harvest and salad mix spinning (hence the apron).  Not to worry, Casey the black lab is omitted only because she was at  home to sleeping on her bed.  It’s shaping up to be a great crew and a fun summer!

Ten Lakes Farm Crew 2013

So, for some helpful cooking ideas this week we offer two.  First, if you are tired of radishes on your salad, or would like to be a bit more adventurous…..have you ever tried cooking them?  This recipe turns radishes into a savory root dish and offers a great way for you to eat the tops as well.  Second, arugula is a green that tends to be in the love/hate category…much like cilantro and okra.  Many folks love the added spice it gives when mixed in with their salads.  It also makes a delicious pizza topping when added right as the pizza is done cooking.  Having a dinner party any time soon?  How about this recipe.  Frankly, the petite toast part freaks me out a bit, but I like the concept.  How about putting it on a baguette or a bagel?  Sounds delicious to me.

Hello CSA members,

We’re happy to report that things are normalizing here at the farm.  Our second wave of apprentices showed up this week (Sandra and Nathan), a CSA member (Dan) is helping out, and Joe and Melissa will return by the end of the week.  So, we should have our groove back next week.  The rain has really helped things out, as the carrot and beet seeds are starting to germinate, and the peas of reaching their trellis.  We planted the potatoes this week, and corn and winter squash will be going in by the weekend.  So, while we’re still very much in the midst of spring, our eyes are looking ahead to summer.

The share this week is similar to last week, with the addition of green onions, oregano and mustard greens.  Hopefully you’ve all been eating lots of salads.  A member from West Glacier made a great point the other day….If you haven’t been to Genesis Kitchen in Whitefish (on Lupfer near The White Room Mountain Shop), now might be a great time to sample some tasty oil and vinegar options.  As an aside, we like to tell ourselves that the success of both these businesses can be attributed in part to the fact that both are owned and operated by Ten Lakes Farm CSA members. If you’re not sure what to do with the oregano, it makes a great salad dressing ingredient when chopped fine, or you can dry it for later use.  Rebecca has found two helpful recipes for this week to help out with the mustard green bunches.  But before I get to those, just a bit of housekeeping for the West Glacier members. All shares dropped in West Glacier are labelled with individual share holder names.  Please check the label thoroughly to make sure you take the right share.  If you don’t see your share, call me…don’t just take a share with someone else’s name on it.  More importantly, please do not try to be helpful by taking other friends/co-workers/neighbors shares who are out town unless they have specifically asked you to.  They have most likely asked someone else to pick up for them, and taking their share causes confusion and headaches for all parties involved.  This has been a chronic problem, and week #1 did not go so well this year.  If you, for some reason, end up making a mistake ….Please call me and let me know ASAP.  Returning shares back to the drop point a day or two later without letting anyone know about it only makes things more confusing.  I’m optimistic we can get it right in Week 2!

So, back to those recipes.  The first recipe  is a http://blog.fatfreevegan.com/2009/07/balsamic-glazed-chickpeas-and-mustard.html.  For those of you who don’t like the stronger flavor of mustard greens, this  second recipe, which can be found in the left column of this link (http://www.cakebreadranch.com/blog.html), sounds like a great option.

We’ll see you tomorrow!

Todd, Rebecca, and Ten Lakes Farm crew

Hello CSA members,

The first harvest day of the 2013 season is in the books, and I’m as tired as I remember being last year!  Takes a little time to work the old kinks out, but it’s good to be back in business.  Our third apprentice, Sandra, showed up this evening as we were finishing harvest and packing the cooler…hopefully she won’t be scarred by the experience  The sun and warm have been great, but we’ve really been lacking in the moisture department, so the rain this afternoon was a welcome change.  Even with all the  weather extremes this spring, things are looking good on the farm.  I am always amazed at what some of our plants can withstand weather-wise.  Much of our kale, bok-choi and broccoli has experienced multiple nights of 8+  hours of subfreezing temps with lows of 15 degrees with nothing more than a row cover over them, and they currently are looking great.  Here is a shot of the the high tunnel full of spinach and salad mix prior to harvest this morning.

92 feet of delicious greens

So, for those of you who are new members, WELCOME, and here’s a bit of the scoop.  The first couple of weeks of the CSA season, the shares will tend to be smaller because only the hardiest of crops can survive the Montana spring for a mid-May harvest (and these crops tend to be green).  As things warm up and growing conditions improve, the shares will begin to increase in size and diversity and color.  The CSA journey should be fun, because you will get a real-time look into what can be grown in Montana over the course of our short growing season.  By the end, we hope you’ll be pleasantly surprised.  For those of you who are uncertain to do with some of the items, we highly recommend using the internet for help.  We have recipes listed on our website (tenlakesfarm.com), and there are many great cooking sites out there that can give you new ideas or twists on old favorites.  Or, ask other share members when you see them.

I’ll keep it short and sweet for week #1.  We look forward to seeing all of you tomorrow (or Wednesday if you’re in Eureka).

Todd

All Whitefish pickups will take place on Central Ave in Depot park (at the Downtown Whitefish farmers market location next to O’Shaunessy Center)from 4:30-6:00pm. There will not be a  farmers market (it doesn’t start until May 28th) but we will be there. We will be set up in the park along the sidewalk on Central with a pile of white boxes, so we should be easy to find.   All shares are pre- boxed for safe transport to the pickup location, but you do not get to take the fancy box home with you.  Therefore, you will need to bring your own re-useable bags or boxes to transfer you share into at the time of pickup.

Glacier pickup will be located at the Mckeon’s house in Hewitt Homesites in West Glacier after 5:00 pm.  If you are unsure where that is, please contact us by Monday night. All Glacier shares are pre-bagged and will be labelled with your name to avoid any confusion. All half shares are in small cardboard boxes pre-bagged ( please leave the boxes folded up in the garage).

Eureka pick-up will be Wednesday at the Riverside Park farmers market from 4:30 until 6:30pm. You will see our tent set up with chalkboard sign out front. All shares are pre- boxed and ready to go. We will hand you your box so that you can empty the produce into your grocery bag. Please bring your own bag or box.  Those of you who chose to pick up at the farm will have boxes at the farm in our wooden pole barnwith your names on them. Please empty the contents from the box into your grocery bag. Directions to the farm can be found on our website, tenlakesfarm.com

CSA pickup protocol:

1. Always let us know your name (or name of your share partner) and if you have a half or full share. We deal with over 200 people during CSA pickup, so trying to remember everyone by face takes a little time ( but we really try!)

2. If you are going out of town, have a friend pick up your share or call us and let us know that you will not be coming. Please tell your friends about pick up protocol.

3. If you forget to pick up your share call us ASAP at 406-370-2890. We may still be in town and would love to get you your share. Otherwise call us and you can come to the farm to get it.

4. All splitting of shares must be handled by share members.   Shares are packaged for single household use, so bring extra bags so you can divide things up.  We will provide a table for you to work on.

Every Monday night, starting May 13th, you will receive your newsletter with a farm update, recipes and what veggies are in your box for that week.  There will be no email list this year, so you (or your partners) must subscribe to our blog in order to receive these newsletters.  Sometimes the newsletters get finished late so do not worry if it is 8pm and you have not gotten an update.  We often do not get in from the field until 9pm or so. Please let us know if you have any questions at all about the details.

Thanks for choosing us to be your farmers!

Rebecca & Todd and the Ten Lakes Farm Crew

We wanted to take a moment to say hello and let everyone know we have not forgotten about you.  We have been hard at work growing tasty vegetables for the upcoming season.   Weather depending, we are aiming at a CSA start date of May 14th.  The weather the next few weeks will really determine if our small seedlings mature to harvest size in that time frame, so we will keep you updated.  April has been a very finicky month with lots of cold nights and lots of wind, but so far things are hanging in there.  Should we suffer any setbacks, it might delay things a bit, but I am being optimistic for original start date.  (Do you like how calmly I wrote that….See how much our stress management has improved in 6 short years)  :)

On another note, we have noticed a trend this year of multiple people (more than 2) splitting half shares. Although this is totally fine with us we just want to make sure you are getting adequate vegetables. Imagine if you are four people splitting 16 dollars of vegetables a week. That is about 4 dollars per week per person, split among 5 or 6 different vegetable types. That means less than 1 dollar of each type of vegetable for the week. Again, you are free to split shares how ever you desire, but we want to make sure you understand what it means from a quantity standpoint and that you are making an informed decision. If you have questions or want to reconsider the size share, let us know ASAP before we hit our CSA limit.

We’d also like to introduce you to the first 2 of our 4 apprentices this season, Joe and Melissa Kreidel, who have been hard at work all week planting peas, kale, lettuce, and chinese cabbage in the fields.  Joe and Melissa come to us from Florida (not sure how they feel about snow in April) and are off to a great start.

Joe and Melissa planting the first brassicas

We’re excited to have another growing season under way, and we’re looking forward to seeing/meeting you all at the first CSA pickup.  We will be making all communication with  CSA members through this blog, so if anyone you know, including share partners, has not subscribed to the blog, please give them the word that they can do so on our website….tenlakesfarm.com. Also, if you have not signed up we are almost full so send in those forms soon!