CSA Week 13 Newsletter: Teaching with dirt on my hands 

This week’s CSA share.

In their shares this week, members will receive the following vegetables:

Tomatoes (slicers and cherry), Swiss chard, broccoli, green cabbage, red fingerling potatoes, summer squash/zucchini, sweet onions, garlic, sweet peppers, carrots and an apple (from our friends at Farm Sol).

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 

The alarm went off at 6 and, with the days growing shorter, the sun had barely crested the eastern horizon as I forced myself up and out of bed. I started the coffee pot and walked to the window and looked into the sunlight, hoping it would stir me to life.

By 6:30, I was in the field with the walk-behind tractor, preparing beds for a planting of cover crop that will add nutrients and protect the soil from erosion over the long winter months. It was already time to get ready for next year’s growing season, even though this one is not yet over. I had a long list of chores and a short time in which to do it. I went into the high tunnel and harvested cucumbers. I then walked down the summer squash and zucchini beds, picking the largest before they grew too large – they seem to grow by the hour in late summer. I moved the irrigation line to get water on new plantings of arugula and spinach. I checked in with Heather-Marie, who was hard at work harvesting tomatoes and getting ready for the next day’s farm stand.

By 9, I was showered and in my Toyota Prius driving to Duluth to start my day as a journalism professor at the University of Minnesota Duluth in my first week back in school after a long summer break. Now that I’m back to teaching full time, Heather-Marie is left to do much of the work at the farm on her own, which she did for years before we became a couple.

It’s my 15th year as a professor at UMD, but only my fourth year of doing so as the partner of a vegetable farmer. It’s a busy life, but the combination of hard physical labor at the farm and the intellectual work of teaching and researching is a good one for both my mind and my body. 

Of course, there is also the reality that without my additional “off farm income” (as farmers call it), we’d not be able to make it. Rising Phoenix Community Farm is a sole proprietor business, owned and run by Heather-Marie with me working to assist her when my work permits.

In the past few years, we’ve seen the business slowly grow so that the income earned from the farm is now actually earning more than the cost of running the farm – in other words, it’s not losing money. The good news is that Heather-Marie now no longer has to work two or three other jobs to make ends meet. 

But the fact is that all of the fellow farmers we know in our region face this challenge. Farming demands everything from your mind and your body and offers little financial incentive. Almost without exception, even the most successful organic farmers that we know in our region have one member of the household working off the farm. 

And that’s nothing new.

If you look back on the four generations of the Johnson family that lived on our farm since the early 1900s, there was never a time when they could rely solely on the income derived from the food produced on this piece of land. In the early days, Ed Simpson would spend his winters with his mule team logging up north. Years later, Ed Johnson worked as a bus driver and as a custodian at the Barnum schools, while his wife, Ruth, took care of the dairy cattle and milking duties.

That doesn’t mean that area farmers aren’t trying to find creative, innovative ways to profit from their farms. A few are exploring ideas such as agritourism as a way to earn extra income. They offer lodging, host weddings and other events as they experiment with a model that will make farming a sustainable endeavor.

By 10 a.m., I was sitting in my office, catching up on emails, preparing for classes and mapping out my academic year. As I typed, I noticed that I had dirt wedged into the cracks of my hands and in my fingernails. On an average day at the farm, I’ll walk about 6 or 7 miles. By the end of farm season, I’ll have lost about 25 pounds (I still haven’t figured out how to keep that weight off in the winter months). 

My body felt tested from the morning activities, but as I settled into my routine, I felt as though the physical and mental exertion of my morning on the farm left me feeling strong and ready to use my brain. 

This week’s veggies and recipes

Cabbage

Coleslaw, two ways

Tangy Shredded Cabbage Salad

from the blog “Smitten Kitchen”

Heather-Marie has been making this slaw for years.  It’s the best slaw!  She would suggest tripling the recipe but you might not want to triple the hot peppers!

  • 2 c tightly packed, shredded green or red cabbage
  • 1 small Serrano chili, seeded and minced
  • 2 T fresh lemon juice, or more as needed
  • ¼- ½ tsp salt
  • ½ tsp sugar
  • 1 T canola oil
  • ½ tsp mustard seeds

In a medium bowl, toss together the cabbage, chili, lemon juice, salt and sugar.  Taste and adjust the seasoning.  (Look for balanced sweet/sour)

Heat the oil in a small skillet over high heat.  When oil begins to smoke, add the mustard seeds, covering the pan with a lid.  When seeds stop popping, immediately pour the oil over the cabbage salad and toss well.  Let the salad sit for at least 15 minutes before serving.

LEBANESE SLAW (SALATET MALFOUF) 

from Feasting at Home by Sylvia Fountaine

Heather-Marie recently made this for the first time.  We loved all the fresh herbs!

  • 16 ounces shredded cabbage (1/2 of a large green cabbage)
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 2–3 scallions, sliced
  • 1–2 garlic cloves, finely minced or use a garlic press
  • 1/2–1  cup parsley, chopped
  • 1/4 cup fresh mint, chopped
  • 1/4 cup fresh dill, chopped
  • 3 tablespoons olive oil
  • 3 tablespoons lemon juice, and more to taste
  • 1/2 teaspoon sugar
  • 1–2 teaspoons za’atar (optional)

Thinly slice or shred the cabbage and place in a large bowl with the salt. Toss. Add the scallions, garlic, herbs and toss again.

Pour in the olive oil, lemon juice and sugar and toss well. Taste and adjust lemon to your liking. You could let this stand 10-15 minutes after tossing, and then re-taste, letting flavors meld a bit.

Add za’atar to taste.

Notes

Slaw will keep 3 days in the fridge.

Sweet peppers, garlic

Stuffed Fresh Peppers

from Carol-Ann Bloom (Heather-Marie’s Mom)

Heather-Marie and her family grew up eating this thanks to their Mom!

(6 servings)

  • 6 large raw peppers (red/yellow/orange are sweeter than green), washed
  • 5 cups boiling water, lightly salted
  • 1# ground beef (organic preferred), or make vegetarian with meat substitute, or mushrooms, etc
  • ¼ c. chopped onion
  • ½ tsp. salt
  • dash black pepper
  • 2 cloves fresh garlic or to taste, chopped (optional)
  • 1 c. cooked rice
  • 1 can (15 oz.) tomato sauce

(Note: If more sauce is needed, can add a little more tomato sauce, cooking wine, or white wine)

Heat oven to 350 degrees*. Cut thin slice from stem end and around top of each pepper. Remove all seeds and membranes. Cook peppers in the boiling salted water 5 minutes; drain and cool quickly in cold water.

Cook ground beef and onion in medium skillet until onion is tender, then drain off fat. Add garlic and cook a couple minutes together. Add salt, rice and 1 c. of the tomato sauce; stir to blend; and heat through.

Lightly stuff each pepper with ½ c. meat mixture. Stand peppers upright in ungreased baking dish, 8x8x2”. Pour remaining tomato sauce over peppers. Cover; bake 45 minutes. Uncover; bake 15 minutes longer. (Some ovens vary – watch so peppers don’t dry out.)

*This recipe can be cooked stove-top as well over medium heat for the same length of time, but in a covered pot.

Red potatoes

Potato and Blue Cheese Salad  from Bon Appetit

Dressing*:

  • 2/3 cup olive oil
  • 1/3 cup apple cider vinegar
  • ¼ cup shallots, minced
  • 1 Tb parsley, chopped 
  • 1 Tb + ¼ cup fresh chives, chopped
  • 1 Tb Dijon mustard
  • 2 tsp honey
  • 2 tsp lemon peel, grated
  • S/P to taste
  • 3 pounds small red potatoes
  • 8 slices of bacon, cooked and chopped
  • ½ cup crumbled blue cheese (~2 ½ oz)
  • 1 hard boiled egg**, chopped

Whisk dressing ingredients together.  Cook potatoes for 8 minutes in boiling water.  Drain.  Add warm potatoes to the dressing.  Toss. 

Arrange lettuce leaves around a serving bowl.  Mound potato salad in center.  Sprinkle with bacon, blue cheese and egg.  Top with remaining chives.  Serve. 

*This makes a lot of dressing so pour a little dressing at a time to potatoes, to taste.

**When Heather-Marie first had this, it had about 4 HB eggs.  It was served over lettuce.  Delicious! 

Summer squash, Swiss chard, onions, garlic

Farmer-two-meal-veggies

Over the weekend we celebrated the holiday a few times with various friends and family.  We tried to keep meals simple.  We love cooking a vegetable and using it twice.  Here’s two meals with general ingredients that can be modified.

Meal One: Grilled squash

Mix of summer squash

Cut them lengthwise, coat with olive oil, salt and pepper

Cook on the grill until tender but not squishy.  Serve with burgers, brats, etc.

Meal Two- : Veggie frittata 

Leftover cooked squash, roughly chopped

  • Swiss chard, stems chopped, leaves ripped into bite size pieces
  • Sweet onion, chopped
  • Garlic, minced
  • Eggs (however many you need)
  • Fresh herbs
  • Za’atar, optional spice blend

Saute onions, garlic and chard stems in oven-proof pan.  Add chard leaves.  Add eggs, stirring to mix everything together.  When eggs are just about done, add the herbs, cooked squash, any herbs you want and sprinkle with the optional za’atar and stick the whole thing in the oven until set.  Serve right away.

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