CSA Week 10: Savoring the waning days of summer

Our 2025 team at Rising Phoenix from left, John, Amelia, Kristina and Heather-Marie. Our intern Amelia will soon be leaving us to go to college at UW-Superior. We’re going to miss her hard work and amazing attitude. We could not have done all we’ve done this season without the help of her and our farm manager, Kristina.

Welcome to Week 10 of the 2025 summer CSA season. This week is a Group B week, which means full shares in all locations pick up and half shares at the farm pick up.

In their shares this week, members will receive the following vegetables: carrots, Thai basil, summer squash, head lettuce , cherry tomatoes, slicing tomatoes, cucumbers, sweet peppers, hot peppers, scallions and beans. Shares will also include either red cabbage, green cabbage or yellow cauliflower.

A looming thunderstorm sweeps in from the West. We’ve been fortunate to have avoided direct hits from the many storms that have hit the region this year. With changes in the climate, summer thunderstorms bring with them the threat of torrential rain without warning.
Flower bouquets available on online store

This week is all about sunflowers!  We have an abundance of sunflowers in all shapes and sizes.  Bouquets will be full of these sunny beauties along with amaranth, dara and scabiosa. Both sunflower and mixed-flower bouquets in the field right now, so we are able to offer a few more bouquets to CSA members this week.

Vegetables on the store: shishito peppers, summer squash, pickling cucumbers and more

Flower bouquets available on online store

This week is all about sunflowers!  We have an abundance of sunflowers in all shapes and sizes.  Bouquets will be full of these sunny beauties along with amaranth, dara and scabiosa. Both sunflower and mixed-flower bouquets in the field right now, so we are able to offer a few more bouquets to CSA members this week.

Vegetables on the store: shishito peppers, summer squash, pickling cucumbers and more

We are also selling a variety of specialty vegetables and other items in the online store: pickling cucumbers, shishito peppers, summer squash, herbs and other items. Please place orders by 10 a.m. Tuesday morning to allow for processing.

This newsletter includes a roundup of news from the farm as well as information and recipes. Feel free to jump to the bottom of the newsletter to find the section titled, “This week’s veggies and recipes.”

News from the farm

Heather-Marie and some farm visitors working on a flower crown project.

August is always a full month for John and me. His eldest daughter and her family, along with his mother, all come, at staggered times in August. It’s also time with my family at a cabin in Port Wing that my parents rent every year.

There’s also the Carlton County Fair, where we usually enter our produce and flowers.  It’s a month full of family and fun. 

Last week Brenna (John’s eldest) and family were here and it was so fun to watch the kids running around the farm eating and playing.  Frequently, we would see the kids amongst the tall vines in the high tunnel snacking on tomatoes or cucumbers.  It made us laugh to ourselves at how much these Brooklynites flourished. 

On our last night, I laid out all of my wreath-making supplies, and dried flowers, and we made flower crowns.  I helped the kids but the adults gathered around the table and made their own.  It was the perfect end to their visit. 

There are whispers of school starting, which makes everyone slightful wistful.  John heads back to teach at UMD in two weeks.  We’re trying to relish this last month of summer. 

It’s also a transition on the farm to fall:  We’ll start seeding flowers (cress) and veggies (daikon radish, spinach and arugula) that we’ll see later in September and October, which feels so far away. 

To me, August feels like summer’s last chance to throw heat, and storms, and abundance at us for one last show of the glory of the season. 

Enjoy it all. 

Fall is just around the corner.  

This week’s veggies and recipes

Summer means lots of simple meals outdoors.

These week we don’t have recipes as much as we have photos of dishes that we made in hopes that they will inspire you to try new things. For us, cooking in late summer means keeping the ingredient list small and letting the vegetables do the work.

We’ve had great fun sharing meals with both family and friends in the past few weeks. Here’s a glance at some of what we’ve prepared.

Gluten-free zucchini cake
Gluten free chocolate zucchini cake

From Gluten Free on a Shoestring

I just made this and it was amazing!  I did a couple of things differently though…I had two 8inch pans and one didn’t seem to be big enough so I split

  • For the cake
    3 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped
  • 1/2 cup (112 g) vegetable oil
  • 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  • 2 cups (280 g) all purpose gluten free flour
  • 1 teaspoon xanthan gum (omit if your blend already contains it)
  • 1/3 cup (27 g) Dutch-processed cocoa powder 
  • 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1 cup (200 g) sugar
  • 2 eggs (120 g, out of shell) at room temperature, beaten
  • 1/2 cup (4 fluid ounces) warm water
  • 3 cups shredded zucchini

For ganache

  • 8 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped
  • 1/2 cup (4 fluid ounces) heavy whipping cream (can also use coconut cream)

Directions

  • First, make the cake. Preheat your oven to 325°F. Grease or line a 9-inch square baking pan and set it aside.
  • Place the 3 ounces chopped chocolate in a small, heat-safe bowl over a pot of simmering water (making sure the bowl does not touch the water, and the water does not boil). Stir until almost all of the chocolate is melted. Remove from the heat and continue to stir until all of the chocolate is melted and smooth. Add the oil and vanilla, stir to combine and set aside to cool briefly.
  • In a large bowl, place the flour, xanthan gum, cocoa powder, salt, baking powder and sugar, and whisk to combine well. Add the melted chocolate and oil mixture, and mix to combine. Add the eggs and water, and mix to combine. The batter will be thickly pourable. Add the shredded zucchini, and mix to combine. The batter will be thick. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan, and smooth into an even layer with a wet spatula.
  • Place the pan in the center of the preheated oven and bake for about 40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with a few moist crumbs attached. Remove the cake from the oven and allow to cool in the pan until firm (at least 20 minutes).
  • Once the cake is cool, turn it out onto a wire rack placed over a piece of parchment paper, and make the ganache. Place the chopped chocolate in a medium-sized, heat-safe bowl. In a small saucepan, bring the cream to a simmer. Pour the cream over the chopped chocolate and allow to sit for a couple minutes so that the chocolate begins to melt. Mix until the chocolate is melted and the ganache is smooth. Immediately pour evenly over the top of the cake. Allow to sit at room temperature until the ganache is set. For a firmer ganache, place the cake in the refrigerator for 30 minutes before slicing into squares and serving.
Summer squash lends itself well to casseroles. He didn’t use a recipe, but John made a squash casserole this week that used coconut milk and no dairy. He started by braising summer squash, fennel and carrots in a mixture of olive oil, butter and bit of cooking wine. He then added a mixture of eggs, coconut milk, Thai basil, parsley and other herbs and put this in a casserole dish, topping the mixture with panko bread crumbs. It was moist and flavorful.

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