CSA Week 16: What Farm Aid can teach us about the power of community

Welcome to Week 16, the final week 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 their final summer shares of the season.

In their shares this week, members will receive the following vegetables: Yukon gold potatoes, carrots, broccoli, green beans, romaine lettuce, parsley, cucumbers, sweet onions and a tomato. We are also hoping to include cherry tomatoes and summer squash, but this will depend on availability.

Lots available on online store: Flowers, peppers, more

Online store: We have a lot of great items available on the online store this week: Flower bouquets, mixed hot pepper medley, poblano peppers, sweet lunchbox peppers and lettuce mix. We have exactly one spot left Fall Share signup.

Reflections on community

It was ironic that we didn’t understand the significance of Farm Aid 40 coming to Minnesota because we had been too busy, um, farming.

It has been a busy end of the season, and we went about our routine and chores on Saturday not thinking too much about it. But sometime in the evening, we were told that we could watch the streaming online, so we went out to the barn and fired up our projector and at once became transfixed. 

Now in its 40th year, Farm Aid is a nonprofit that works to support family farms through financial help and advocacy.

The music is the big draw at Farm Aid and many of the performances were powerful and inspiring, including some of the protest songs by the venerable Neil Young.

But, for us, it was the stories of the farmers and farming advocates that really captured our attention. The short video stories recounted the stories of individuals who have devoted their lives to protecting family farms for nearly a half century.

We cheered as we saw the stories of friends, including Hannah Bernhardt, owner of Medicine Creek Farm and a passionate advocate for small scale farms through her work with the Minnesota Farmers Union and others.

It’s so easy to be discouraged right now. The national dialogue has been polluted with hate and vitriol, fueled by polarizing messages that threaten to infect our view of the world and our neighbors. 

Watching stories of the work that farmers and farmer advocates from the past 40 years, we were reminded that there is something we can do to fight against these negative forces.

And it all starts in our communities.

We moved to Barnum in the summer of 2020 and now feel like we have found our home.

We may not agree with our neighbors on many issues, especially on topics that are clearly broadcast by political parties in an attempt to pit us against each other. But we all share a love for the community that we are a part of and the land that we are fortunate enough to be stewards of if only for a short time.

Farm Aid reminded us of our values and the mission statement we drafted as we envisioned what we aspired to become:

Rising Phoenix Community Farm was born out of a desire to connect people and their food.

We want to work outside and be in harmony with the land, the seasons and the soil. We want to grow vegetables.

We want to grow community.

We want to educate others about the importance of seeing the local, community connection to food systems.

We want to dispel the myth that local, organically grown food is only for the affluent.

This should be something anyone, regardless of race, class or background, can enjoy.

We are going to continue to do our best to be good neighbors, to be good stewards of our land and soil. We are going to continue to do the one thing we know brings everyone together, which is to produce local food and feed it to our community, to our neighbors, to our friends, to our families, to ourselves 

We are going to do our best to be kind to not get sucked into divisive rhetoric that accomplishes nothing and tears at the fabric of our communities.

As our farm season winds down, we are preparing to say our goodbyes to our farm stand customers, our CSA members and our restaurant customers, all of whom encourage us and support us. We’re so grateful to you all.

You have motivated us through the difficult days and inspired us to work hard.

We hope you’ll join us in working to build an even stronger community.

This week’s veggies and recipes

Grilled Romaine Salad with Buttermilk-Chive Dressing

INGREDIENTS:

SALAD

•  4 heads of Romaine lettuce
•  1 small red onion
•  2 tbsp olive oil (or cooking spray)
•  ½ cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
•  Salt and pepper to taste

BUTTERMILK-CHIVE DRESSING

•  ¾ cup buttermilk
•  ½ cup mayonnaise
•  2 tbsp chopped chives
•  1 tbsp minced green onion
•  1 garlic clove, minced
•   ½ tsp salt
•   ¼ tsp freshly ground pepper

DIRECTIONS:

1. Prepare Dressing:

   • In a bowl, whisk together buttermilk, mayonnaise, chives, green onion, garlic, salt, and pepper. Set aside.

2. Prepare Vegetables:

   • Discard tough outer leaves of Romaine, and cut in half lengthwise, keeping leaves intact.

   • Peel the red onion and cut in half, then cut each half into 4 wedges.

   • Brush Romaine and onion with olive oil or spray with cooking spray.

3. Grill Vegetables:

   • Grill onion wedges until desired doneness.

   • Place Romaine halves, cut sides down, on the grill. Cook for 2-3 minutes, or until just wilted.

4. Assemble Salad:

   • Divide grilled Romaine halves on serving plates.

   • Top with grilled onion wedges.

   • Drizzle with buttermilk-chive dressing.

   • Sprinkle with freshly grated Parmesan cheese.

   • Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Simple Roasted Broccoli

1 head broccoli, stems removed and set aside, florets cut into bite-sized pieces

Olive oil

Sea salt

Black pepper

Heat oven to 400 degrees.  Lay out the broccoli on a sheet pan and drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Roast 25-30 min.  We roast ours a bit longer until they are crispy.