A magical evening was had by all at the Summer Evening Farm Dinner this last Saturday night! We were so excited for this event that celebrates local, seasonal, and organic food on a Community Supported Agriculture farm! We had over 60 guests on Saturday night dining with their farmers and getting to know one another around bountiful tables filled with the best the Midwest has to offer!
A drizzly afternoon had us worried that we were going to get rained out on Saturday night, but a light mist is all that we experienced. We had tents set up for the musicians, the food and the beer, but the diners did not have tents over their tables!
Turtle Stack Brewery which is a microbrewery out of La Crosse, WI arranged beer pairings for each course that was a perfect match for the South Western themed dinner. Momma Jane (my famous Mother, armed with experience and equipment catering weddings and events throughout her life) did all of the cooking. This woman is where I got my hard work ethic from and she also happens to be a phenomenal cook that feeds her guests well! She was even sending people home with peach pie with whipped cream and zucchini brownies in saran wrap. Adam and I tried to spend the night talking and visiting with our valued CSA members. It has been fun seeing returning guests from year to year for this 5th annual dinner.
For the dinner we even had live music! Our daughters take violin lessons with Pam Hughes, a local violin teacher, who organized a group of musicians along with a handful of her students, so our daughters got to perform their fiddle repertoire for the evening with a banjo player, percussionist, keyboard player and their peers. The musicians were fed well and were generous with their talents which created a beautiful ambiance for the evening. The recipes in this week’s newsletter are from the Southwestern themed dinner this weekend.
Now we can look forward to our free Fall Potluck that will be held on Sunday, October 2nd! The Fall Potluck is always a wonderful event as well! We offer wagon ride tours around the farm, cider pressing participation with our old-fashioned hand-crank cider press. The Fall Farm event is always a Potluck Extroardaire. We usually make chili and cornbread and pumpkin bars. Our daughters are also talking about offering pony rides for tips for small children 10 and under.
Our farm events are designed to create opportunities for you, our CSA members, to come out to the farm and have an experience here. We want for you to feel connected to the place where your food comes from and to create memories here. We believe in food transparency and want for you to ask us questions about how your food is grown and to know more about what it takes to bring this food to your table. We want for you to celebrate with your farmers and the crew members the bountiful harvest. And we want to celebrate the harvest with you!
I know that we are CSA farmers to the core because no other style of farming appeals to my heart other than CSA farming. The connection to you, the community members and supporters of our farm is foundational. You are the buzz in our buzzer. You are the flavor in our food. You’re the fun in our funky. The cool in our cool-aid. The spring in our step. Put short- we appreciate you!
What’s in the Box:
Curly Green Kale- Lovely green bunches of kale this week. Kale keeps best in a plastic bag in the fridge.
Tomatoes- Either a pint of cherry tomatoes or one pound of mixed tomatoes. Our tomatoes are just starting and the plants look more healthy than they ever have before! Tomatoes will ripen on your countertop.
Eggplant- Either an asian eggplant or a standard eggplant for every member this week!
Green Beans- .7 lb bags per member. Green beans are such a lovely summer treat. They make such a nice vegetable addition to a quick summer meal!
Broccoli- 1 or 2 heads of broccoli this week. The broccoli has not been enjoying the wet weather so much this summer. We cut them a little smaller becuase all of the rain and moisture we’ve had this year will cause decay inside the head. We hope they made it to you in good condition!
Celery- Some of the celery heads were cut open this week to remove any bad centers. We cut the plants apart and bunched the stalks to salvage what we could from the patch. We may have one more giving of celery before celery seson is over.
Cucumbers- 2 or 3 cucumbers per member this week. We are now picking from our 2nd and 3rd successions. After these plants wane,we wikl be done with cucumbers for the year- so enjoy them while they are here!
Zucchini and Summer Squash- 1 or 2 per member. This may be the last week of summer squash… the plants are not producing much at this point. It was a good run this year- we will see you next year summer squash!
Onion- One white onion for everyone.
Melons x2- Everyone receive one yellow doll watermelon… be careful with them as they crack easily. In addition you may have received either a canteloupe or a spansh melon.
Sweet Corn- 5-6 ears per member. The electric fence around our sweet corn is working well now. The raccoons have not been in lately. Enjoy!
Next weeks best guess: Sweet corn, melons, cucumbers, brocolli, onion, green beans?, tomatoes, kale or collards, eggplant?, celery, carrots?
Recipes from the Dinner
Appetizers:
Soutwest Salsa Rice Bites from Oldways
Southwest Veggie WonTon Cups from Peas and Crayons
Tomato Tart from the Pioneer Woman
Salads:
Southwestern Kale Avocado Salad with Honey Lime Dressing from Sweet Peas and Saffron
Mexican Coleslaw Recipe from No Spoon Necessary
Soup
Black Bean Tortilla Soup from Farm Flavor
Desert
Chocolate Zucchini Cake from Sallys Baking Addiction
