We are still taking orders for the 2027 season! We’ve had a great response so far but of course we are not done until we are sold out. Help us get past this awful task by signing up today! You can order through our online store or for current members simply send in a down payment of $100 (or more, your call) by check, Zelle or PayPal. New members should go through our store.
The season is over. If you show up at the farm this week we will put you to work. And so will our drop sites (actually I’m not sure about this but be prepared).
What will we have this week?
Well for me, some much needed rest. For the Friends in Need food-shelf we’ll be delivering a bunch of leftover produce. For the rest of you we don’t have anything this week, or for the next approximately 33 weeks (unless we consider six-packs which would be available in the spring prior to the veggies).
Farm News
Hopefully everyone is aware that the season is over. If you are not aware, you are now.
Farm Season in Review
tl:dr There were some things that did extremely well, some things that did extremely poorly and some things that fell somewhere in the middle. Plus we had weather, pests, and diseases.
So first of all, one thing that makes this season unique that we’ve never encountered in past seasons (that is why it is unique) is that we had no severe weather — the type of weather where you lose crops or hoop house plastic to the wind, hail or an over-abundance of rain. This is shocking to me. Never have I not had to worry at least once during a season that the hoop house plastic would no longer be on the hoop house when I awoke in the morning. I don’t know if this was true across our delivery area but I hope so. We seem to be in the shadow of the Twin Cities when the severe stuff comes from the west or northwest so there are times when others get hit harder than we do. Hopefully your neighborhood was as lucky as ours.
Speaking of weather, though we had a couple of frosts near the end of the September, it wasn’t until around October 16th that we had our first killing frost. This was likely the latest killing frost we’ve had here. And as I understand it, the Twin Cities officially has not had a freeze yet this season. That seems quite late to me. Also of note, the tomatoes in the hoop house are still producing after the season has ended! That has never happened in the past. I guess this year’s weather was unique, just like every other year.
Next, it was extremely nice that the cucumber beetles took their sweet time arriving to eat all our cucurbits. Because of their leisurely pace our cucumbers, squash, melons, watermelons and pumpkins produced beyond expectations. Since these pests do not over winter, they have to migrate here from the south and typically ride storm systems. I suspect, but of course cannot be certain, that the lack of storms from the south had a direct influence on the lack of cucumber beetles. Now if we could only have this storm-lackage every season.
Continuing the bug theme, other insect pests like flea beetles, squash bugs and potato beetles were right on time this year. All these insect pests overwinter here in Minnesota — something many of us have in common with our insect brethren. Flea beetles were especially bothersome and long lasting (as are some of our human brethren). Unlike past seasons, flea beetles stuck around until early September when typically they are gone mid to late August. Potato beetles were fairly typical of past season and squash bugs seemed to be fewer than the past. I wish I knew why the differences from year to year so I could take advantage of the knowledge…
The weather seemed to be stuck in certain patterns this year — either wet for a long time or dry for a long time. Overall it was dry, but it seemed to rain every time the broccoli started to head up — something that causes diseases and therefore negatively affected our crop. But the heat was great for the heat loving crops like winter squash and sweet potatoes. We had one of our more successful sweet potato harvests ever!
Which brings us to another factor affecting the season — our continuing defense against the marauding deer. When we put up the inside second fence it kept the deer bamboozled for a while and allowed our plants to not be consumed. Once the weeds grew up around the second fence the deer seemed to not notice it and so were no longer confounded. We did have some deer damage this season but I estimate at least a 90% drop. We plan to reinstall the secondary fence in a different configuration to allow us to take the riding lawn mower between the two fences to cut down the weeds. This hopefully keeps the deer completely at bay.
From a business side sales were down 15% from the previous season which was off about 6% from the previous season. I’m not sure what we need to do to sell out our shares every year. It seems like we have good member retention but recruiting new customers is always a challenge. Any help from you is appreciated! Tell both your friends and all your neighbors!
Our staff this year did a phenomenal job. It was so nice having experienced workers who are self-sufficient. Makes my job so much easier. I felt i had more time to do the one-off items that frequently get passed over so that I can help accomplish the things that absolutely have to be done. We still didn’t have enough workers to get everything harvested on time. If we could sell out we could afford additional staff time. A farmer can dream can’t he?
So overall I feel like this season was quite successful from a farming perspective and a little less so from a business perspective. I hope you enjoyed the season as much as we enjoyed growing the food that feeds your family. We appreciate all your support and look forward to seeing you again next season!
Recipe of the Week
Just because the season is over doesn’t mean the recipes have to end! Here is one I made this past weekend that I’ve made before but couldn’t find the recipe so wrote up a new recipe.
Butternut Squash Chili
Ingredients
- 1 Butternut squash peeled and cut into bite size pieces
- 2 T Olive oil
- 1 Onion diced
- 1-2 cloves Garlic crushed
- 1 16 oz can whole tomatoes or equivalent fresh tomatoes cored and roughly chopped if fresh
- 2-3 T chili powder to taste
- 2 tsp salt or to taste
- 1 tsp sugar or honey
- 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
- 1 15 oz can chili beans drained and rinsed
Instructions
- Heat oil in large pot.
- Add chopped onions and cook until soft.
- While onions cook, peel and chop butternut squash into bite sized pieces.
- When the onions have softened, crush garlic into onions. Heat for 1 minute until fragrant.
- Add butternut squash to pot. Stir.
- Add tomatoes to pot and stir.
- Add chili powder, salt, sugar and Worcestershire sauce to pot and stir.
- Heat to boiling. Once boiling, reduce heat and cover. Simmer for 1 hour — stirring occasionally — until squash is soft.
- Once squash is cooked, stir rinsed chili beans into the pot. Heat for 10-15 minutes until beans are heated through.
- Serve with optional shredded cheese, sour cream and/or sliced jalapenos.
Notes
Joke of the Week
A grain farmer and a CSA farmer meet in a bar. After a few drinks the CSA farmer asks the grain farmer, “What’s it like to be a grain farmer?” The grain farmer responds, “Well, if you started out in the morning and headed west you would not reach the end of my property until sundown. The next day if headed east you again would not reach the end of my property by day’s end. Same north and south”.
“Ahh, I know what you mean,” replied the CSA farmer. “I have a tractor like that too”.
As always, do not hesitate to send in questions, comments, jokes, share orders or anything else you think would be interesting and helpful!