Erehwon Farm CSA Newsletter Week 10 of 19  August 14, 2005 Farm Report We had a nice rain this week of 1.1 inches, enough to soak the ground about 4 inches deep.  We immediately organized weeding parties to pull out the big ones that wouldn’t come out when the ground was dry.  The Suevels came and pulled an awesome amount of crop- overshadowing button weed and saved the pumpkins and melons.  Barb Hicks and the Kulzers came and helped pull some of the toughest grass that ever lived in a garden.  After one workout we came back to the tent, Beth took one look at us and exclaimed, “Have you been mud wrestling?”  Jenny Gresko came out and picked beans.  She brought her son Andrew and his friend Victor who helped me change the big tire on the tractor.  Robin Migalla visited and picked all the tomatoes we needed for the Wednesday subscribers and the Thursday market.  Arsenio Sala helped harvest and prepare for the Friday pickup.  A big thanks to the volunteers! On Wednesday and Friday several subscribers took advantage of U-Pick in the bean patch and the grape tomato row (I’m just too lazy to pick those itty, bitty tomatoes!).  It was quite a delight to see children in the rows learning to pick.  I spied little Eva Goldberg with a cherry tomato in each hand and a big grin on her face under her sun hat.  Hopefully, we can have a place for you to pick something every week or so. Our major task this week was to get all the fresh weeds mixed into the compost piles and we have started to compost the big piles of corn stalks that we scraped off the field in the spring.  We welcome additions to the compost pile from our subscribers: 1. Bring anything organic that is compostable (woody materials and sod are difficult for us to deal with) 2. Place materials in the west pile near our white tent. 3. A subscriber must bring the materials to the farm.  You may bring appropriate materials from your neighbors but please be present when they are delivered so we can avoid bothering the museum employee who lives on the property. 1st Annual Farm Potluck, Subscriber and Volunteer Appreciation Day, and Squash Toss Mark your calendars for Sunday afternoon, September 25.  We are calling for volunteers to help us design and construct a catapult and/or slingshot capable of hurling a 5# squash far into our field.  More details will be forthcoming. From Your Garden This Week Standard shares should include: We should have some nice cherries and a few more slicers – get your tomtao-dish recipes ready! Lettuce Greens (Spinach or chard) Eggplant Potatoes Summer Squash (small ones) We might have a few peaches or something else. Extras:  Pick  3 or 5 for jumbo subscribers (See answer to email below for guidelines ) Beans Summer squash (You may have all you like – delivery customers should specify the number of pounds) Carrots Mini cabbage (2) Beets Baby beet greens Kale Chard Peppers (Sweet or Hot) (If you want a large quantity, just specify how many you would like) Cucumbers Tomatillos Herb List Dill(,We have dill heads for pickling. An extra consists of 10 heads and additional heads can be purchased at the rate of 5 for $1.) Basil—regular, lemon, lime, Thai, dark opal (purple with a wonderfully strong flavor)(pesto sized bag available if you ask) Chives, Cilantro, Lemon Balm, Marjoram, Mint—spearmint, Oregano, Parsley—flat leaf or curled,  Rosemary, Sage, Thyme, Winter Savory Announcement OD Tapo IMI, subscriber Gerald Brillowski’s amazing steel drum band will be performing at the Elgin Riverfest on Sunday, August 21`st, 6-9:30 pm (http://www.odtapoimi.com/) for more info.  If you’re in the audience, hold up a big tomato or squash and he will recognize you as a fellow Erehwon subscriber! We Get Mail Hi Tim, My week is starting to look a bit hectic this time around. I'm not sure I'm going to make it out this week, but if I do it will either be early Wednesday or early Friday morning. The purple beans are really quite good - much more flavorful than the standard green variety. They do turn green, but it's a much darker green than the average green beans. I suspect these babies are loaded with antioxidants! For extras this week, I'd like a pesto sized bag of basil, carrots and a cuke or two. Hugs, Robin Purple beans, purple peppers, purple eggplants, purple potatoes (I think we have some planted somewhere), I wonder what will be next! tf Hi, Tim, The tomatoes were sooooo good!!! Whenever I see the beets as a choice for extras, I have to smile. For extras this week we'll take: BEETS, fingerling potatoes and kale. Thanks, Scott and Claudia Paquet (Elgin drop-off) “Beets will make you smile”, a message from the Midwest Beet Growers Association  tf Now I'm confused...does my standard share include a pesto-sized bag of basil, if I ask, or does asking for a pesto-sized bag of basil make it one of my extras? (And along with that question, do my extras replace standards?--just wondering, as my neighbors, who didn't order extras, had as many bags as I did with my three extras!) I'm sure you'll have a great time at my expense with this one, Tim!! So, if I understand correctly and can have three more extras (besides the pesto-sized bag of basil), please send beets, peppers, and a bag of dill our way!! With your wonderful tomatoes and basil in abundance, I've discovered chopping up the usual version of fresh mozzarella salad is wonderful, with a few red onions thrown in for good measure and all well drizzled with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. A good pesto made with your basil is also tasty mixed with sauteed fresh veggies and pasta. Umm good... And several of us discovered that taking bites of these two dishes together was a wonderful experience as well! Jane Halteman OK Jane, let’s try to clear this up as we have received some similar comments about extras.   First, this applies mainly to delivery customers who order their extras.  Farm pickup customers should find a supply of each listed item – we take all the excess to the farmers’ markets so we can pick more to put out. If we happen to run out of an extra you fancy, Kate or one of of our other helpers will run out and pick it for you.  Let’s decide now that you get one herb plus the number of extras listed for the week.  If you have a pesto bag every week*, that’s your herb – you can use your extras if you want more herbs.  We have a few subscribers who either don’t have email or don’t usually respond.  We often pick a few items to put into the bags for subscribers who did not order extras. All that said, it’s probably not possible to cover every condition without constructing a book the size of the Tax Code so I propose this guideline: Let’s do what seems fair.  I’ll put into your bags each thing you ask for if I have it.  You decide what’s reasonable (Any subscriber who gets totally out of line may get one of the stones we are collecting from the field in their bag). If we miss an extra one week, you can order an extra exrta the next week.  If you are on vacation one week and cancel delivery, you can ask for something the next week to make up for it.  tf *If there is a particular herb or green like kale or chard that we have a good supply of, you can ask us to put you down to get it every week and we’ll put it into our system. Hi Tim, Thanks for all the squash. I've never had such fresh, crunchy purple peppers before, they were great. I also agree that your produce is way better and fresher than Whole Foods. This week for extra's I would like Fingerling potatoes, kale and 100 sweet peppers (well, you did say to let you know how many!) only kidding 10 or as many as you have. Pesto size basil. I would also like to buy 4lbs of yellow beans. Thanks Bimla Bimla, I’m visualizing you in a bathtub full of sweet peppers.  Hey, I’ve an idea!  You could be the January picture in our Ladies of Erehwon Farm Pinup Calendar.  Would anyone out there like to sign up for the other months?  I’ll volunteer to be the photographer (he-he-he)   tf. Hi, Tim! I wanted to let you know how much we are enjoying our subscription this year. The two of us have been eating like kings this summer. I have made some dishes these past few weeks that, while very simple in nature, the ingredients were so fresh and pure it was four- star amazing. I'm going to make a green-veggie lover out of that boyfriend of mine yet! He will eat his green beans and like it. I'm going to try my hand at freezing those beans, too. He can't escape the green bean. I have also become a huge fan of your onions. I put them in almost everything. You need to plant more next year. I also agree that making the right-hand turn into your driveway (even out, too) on a Friday rush-hour can be very intimidating and I try to give the people behind me plenty of advance warning. Let me know when I can come & work on the weekend. I'm feeling the need to get my hands dirty. Cheers! --Heidi Thanks for the kind words Heidi.  For anyone else who would like to get their hands dirty we are organizing a Saturday morning work and discussion group.  Pull weeds, get a workout, and have some great conversation!  Just come at 10 a.m. and I’ll have work available.  Tf Hi Tim, I'd love small potatoes and an eggplant for my extras -the Hansbergers will be out of town so I plan to eat their stuff too! Hey, Mother Earth News has a wonderful article on CSA's this month; I'll loan it to you if you like. -And the farm is astonishing in this weather. Thank you for this wonderful oasis on the food chain! Jenny Jenny, thanks for your help, enthusiasm, and support! Hopefully, we can have a really short food chain – we pick in the morning, you eat tonight!   tf Hi Tim, I wanted to remind you Mike or I will be out this afternoon. For our extras, may we have carrots, beet greens and squash, and I will buy an extra pound of beans, kale and chard and cucumbers and tomatillos. I have not been to the farm before, I may not leave. Thanks!! – Oh, it should rain this week, I am going on vacation – never fails. Hi, Tim & Beth! For extras this week, we'd like sweet peppers, fingerling potatoes, and a pesto-sized bag of basil (preferably lemon or Thai). Hope your new fridge is still working well.  We are glad for the extra space in our garage.  The flower arrangements Beth made for Lombard Mennonite Church were just fantastic -- thank you!  By the way, would you like the large glass vase back?  Or has it already made its way to you somehow?  Let me know! Peace, Dennette The sleek, shiny Hotpoint with the top-loading freezer is awesome.  I set the temperature on level 9 (thinking the warmest setting for keeping some tomatoes).  Turned out that number 9 is the coldest and the tomatoes were almost frozen on a 90-degree day! We’ll take back the vase to be recycled. Thanks! tf