CSA Week 6: Farmers nationwide facing extremes — from flooding to drought

In their shares this week, members will receive the following vegetables: Snap peas, beets with beet greens, kohlrabi, carrots, Swiss chard, green cabbage or sprouted broccoli. Members may also receive summer squash or cucumbers depending on availability.

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

We both follow a number of farms on our social media accounts.  “Friends” is a strong word for people that you haven’t met in person but are on friendly terms with on a social media platform.  Many of these fellow farmers will ask each other questions, offer support and, basically just cheer one another on.  

In the past week, both of our social media feeds have been filled with photos and pleas for help from farmers in the Northeastern United States as floods have devastated farms and towns.  Some of the most heartbreaking scenes were posted by a seed company that we buy most of our seeds from that featured a farm that, where there were once rows of vegetables growing, now looks like a river bottom of mud. 

It’s heartbreaking.

Meanwhile here in Carlton County, we are experiencing “Severe to Moderate Drought,” according to the National Weather Service Northeast Minnesota and Northwest Wisconsin Drought Page . With no relief in sight, last week, we had to make the tough decision to set everything else aside and finish an irrigation system that we’ve been designing and redesigning for more than a year. 

Weeding would have to wait. We canceled our Friday farm stand. We put our heads down, and we worked through the weekend. With our soil as dry as chalk, we had few options.

With our business and livelihoods inextricably linked to the environment, farmers are keenly aware of the unpredictability of our changing climate. While one region may experience catastrophic flooding, another can experience record-breaking heat. 

We’ve been planting our last seedlings in the ground for fall harvests.  One particular planting of cauliflower looked absolutely gorgeous when we put it in the ground.  A few days later, after multiple waters, and after days of heat, most of the seedlings were dead, and we tilled it under.  

It’s hard to ignore what’s happening. It’s equally hard to know what to do about it.

As we all know from the devastating flood of 2012, no place is immune from what’s happening in the world.

It all feels a bit overwhelming at times, and we struggle to know how to respond. The challenge with something like climate change is that it feels hopeless. So the temptation is to do nothing.

For our part, we do our best to think about it daily. We eat local food as often as possible. We support local businesses. And we try to run our farm thinking hard about our use of fossil fuels, and we do not use any chemically derived pesticides.

We also know that we can do a lot more. We use a lot of plastic in our packaging. Many of the products we use in the field are made of petroleum-based materials. So, we will keep looking for alternatives.

On Sunday evening, the major work for our irrigation project was complete. It marked the culmination of more than a year of planning and work, with help from our neighbor Ed Johnson, who grew up at our farm and from our friends at the Carlton Soil and Water Conservation District, who offered advice and encouragement. We also got grant money to help with the cost from Carlton Soil and Water and from Lakewinds Food Coop.

Of course, the irony is that as soon as we finished installing the main irrigation line late Sunday evening, it started to rain. 

Highlights from the farm in photos

This week’s veggies and recipes

Beets and beet greens

Sushi Lettuce Cup

This recipe is from our friend, Desi, who runs Mama Roots Food Truck in Duluth.  We’ve been selling produce to her for about three years now and really love all the creative and delicious things she does with veggies.  Plus we also really appreciate that she focuses on what she makes each week with what’s available from all the local growers that she buys from.  Inspiring!

From her website: “My vision for Mama Roots remains steadfast: continue to extend the availability of nourishing meals for our region, educate any nay-sayers on the deliciousness and health-related benefits of plant-based meals, and continue to source produce and related ingredients from local, sustainable farmers in the beloved Twin Ports community” 

4 servings 

Serving size 1 cup sushi mix + 3 lettuce cups 

Dice beets (roughly 8 mid sized beets) in 1/4 inch cubes 

Place in 1 quart of Boiling water

Boil until beets are soft 

Strain and place in bowl 

Add 2 cups of cooked steamed rice 

Mix together with 4 tablespoons sesame oil, 2 tablespoons rice vinegar, 1 lime squeezed, 

Small strips of seaweed and sesame seeds, add 1 tablespoon agave if you desire mix to be sweetened 

Let cool in fridge 

Mix Mayo in blender with sriracha or wasabi power 

Dice (1) cucumber and chop cilantro for garnish 

Once mix is chilled, scoop In lettuce cups, pour sauce over cups and add cucumber cilantro garnish 

** for extra umami flavor add pickled ginger on top 

**side tip: you can shred the beet greens, quick sauté them with salt and add to sushi mix for extra flavor & nutrients 

Enjoy!

Tips for carrots, and other roots

In the earlier part of the growing season, you will find your root vegetables still attached to their greens.  That is because the greens are still tender enough to eat.  Later in the season the greens become tougher and roots like storage carrots, will have their tops removed.  

So a couple of things to keep in mind:

• Remove the greens promptly.  If left on for too long, roots will become soft.  
• Store the roots and greens separately. They will both keep longer. 
• Carrot tops are a tad bitter but can be used like an herb or as salad greens and can be pureed, made into pesto or salsa verde.  

Grilled Carrots with Carrot Top Pesto

“Farmstand Fresh” publication from Fine Cooking

For the pesto

Carrot tops from a 1-pound bunch carrots

• 1 cup loosely packed fresh basil
• 1 clove garlic
• ½ tsp kosher salt; more as needed
• ¼ cup pine nuts
• ½ cup olive oil

For the grilled carrots

• 1 large bunch thin carrots (about 1 pound), peeled or just scrubbed if the skins are delicate (if the carrots are thick, split them lengthwise)
• 2 T extra-virgin olive oil
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Pesto: Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil.  Trim the thick stems and any wilted greens from the carrot tops, and plunge the trimmed greens into the water.  Blanch for about 1 minute, then scoop them out and spin dry in a salad spinner (keep your water hot, as you’ll use it again).  Chop coarsely and measure out about 2 cups.  Put the blanched greens in a food processor along with the basil, garlic, salt, and pine nuts.  Pulse until you have a coarse purée, then with the motor running, pour in the olive oil and process until smooth.  Taste (be careful of the processor blade!) and add more salt if you like.  Set aside.

Grill the carrots: Bring the carrot top water to a boil again and blanch the carrots just until tender, 5 to 6 minutes.  Drain well, and when cool enough to handle, slice in half lengthwise.  Toss with the olive oil to coat and season with salt and pepper.  Heat a grill to medium-high heat (you may also use a cast-iron grill pan) and place the carrots cut side down on the grill.  Let cook until charred marks form on the underside, 2 to 3 minutes, then flip and grill for another 3 to 4 minutes.  Arrange the carrots on a serving platter and serve with a bowl of the pesto on the side.