CSA Week 12: Tomatoes, carrots and potatoes in this week’s boxes

We’ve been enjoying some dramatic skies and fall-like conditions at the farm. The nights have been cool enough that we have closed up our high tunnels so the tomatoes, cucumbers, flowers and peppers all think it’s summer outside.

Welcome to Week 12 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, fingerling potatoes, red or green cabbage, basil, summer squash, cherry tomatoes, slicing tomatoes and cucumbers.

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.”

No online store this week: Bulk orders and Fall Share signups coming soon

We are a little short staffed this week, so we will not be doing any special orders on the online store.

However, we will soon be offering bulk orders of tomatoes, storage potatoes, flowers and other items. Signups for our three-week Fall Share will be opening up soon.

We give current CSA members the chance to sign up first because opening it to the greater public.

Bad news about garlic harvest
Most years, it takes a team of people and our flatbed trailer to harvest and process all the garlic from our field. This year, one wheelbarrow and an additional tote was all it took thanks for a parasite that infected last year’s planting.

Most years, garlic harvest is a day-long endeavor involving lots of help from family and friends. This year, John harvested the garlic by himself in about an hour.

That’s bad news.

Sadly, we will not be able to offer bulk garlic for sale this year. As is the case with many farmers in this region, our garlic planting from last year was tainted with a disease called aster yellows that is carried by a bug called the aster leafhopper, which thrived in the region during last year’s drought conditions.

We lost about 80 percent of our crop from last year and will have to assess what we have harvested before deciding how much we can replant. We do anticipate being able to put at least a little garlic in both summer and fall shares, but we’ll know more about inspecting the harvest.

Last year, we harvested an estimated 250 pounds of garlic and replanted about 60 pounds. This year, we will be lucky to have 60 pounds harvested in total.

While this is certainly disappointing, we won’t let it keep us down. We have been consulting with one of the state’s top garlic growers, Jerry Ford of Living Song Farm, and will be buying new seed garlic from him to plant this fall.

End of season celebration reminder
Our video invitation to join us for our end of season celebration.

We’re excited to invite all the people with a connection to this farm to join us September 6 at 3 p.m. for our Potluck and End of Season Celebration. Come help us mark this farm’s 15th anniversary and our fifth year here in Barnum.
We hope you’ll join us!

Please RSVP to the calendar invite or the email you should have received so we know if you can join us. We’ll send out more details about what to bring and what to expect, but it should be a relaxing afternoon with games, farm tours, a fire and a potluck.

Summary: Here’s our chance to gather, celebrate the season and eat great food.  This year we are opening up this event to the community as well. We’ll have a potluck meal, a bonfire, games and a chance to explore the farm or just hang out and relax.

This week’s veggies and recipes

Heather-Marie’s grandmother’s German potato salad is a favorite at the farm and at most family gatherings.
Grandma’s German Potato Salad

Heather-Marie’s maternal Grandmother was a great cook.  For her 80th birthday, the family put together a cookbook of her favorite recipes.  When Heather-Marie made this recently she sent a text to all her Philly cousins and they all said they still had their copy of the cookbook and make this recipe frequently.

  • 5 lbs small potatoes
  • 2 cups celery* (since we don’t grow celery, steamed chard stems work just fine)
  • ½ lb chopped bacon
  • ¼ cup vinegar
  • ½ tsp pepper
  • 1 cup chopped onion
  • ¼ cup chopped parsley
  • ½ cup oil or more
  • 1 ½ T salt
  • Parsley for garnish

Cook potatoes in boiling water until tender (about 20 minutes).  Be careful not to overcook them.  Cook bacon in a frying pan, drain on a paper towel.  Peel and slice potatoes thin.  Add celery and onion.  Stir seasonings into combined oil and vinegar and add to the potatoes while still hot.  Allow to marinate overnight in the fridge.  Next morning, check to see if more liquid is needed, add pickle juice (sweet) or chicken broth.  Garnish with more chopped, cooked bacon, parsley or hard boiled eggs, sliced.  For American-style salad, add just a little mayonnaise. 

Curried Potato/zucchini soup (or yellow squash)

Heather-Marie has been making this soup for ages.  It’s one of her favorites.  In the recipe there are instructions for making your own curry powder.  Heather-Marie hasn’t bought curry since and she gets a lot of compliments on it.  Enjoy! 

  • 4 T butter
  • 2 large onions, coarsely chopped
  • ½ tsp curry powder (from homemade mix of ½ tsp each of turmeric, cayenne, black pepper, cumin and ground     ginger; 2 tsp ground coriander)
  • 6 c water
  • 3 tsp chicken bouillon, or vegetable
  • 3 tsp mushroom or vegetable bouillon
  • 3 c diced potatoes
  • 1 tsp salt
  • ½ tsp pepper
  • 6 c chopped zucchini or other summer squash

Cook the onions with the curry powder in the butter until soft.  Add the remaining ingredients and cook until potatoes and zucchini are soft.  Purée and taste for seasonings. 

In