On the Nineteenth Summer Share delivery out of 20, we are both excited and sad to see the end of the 
Brussels Sprouts standing tall just after harvest beneath the Maple Treeseason so near. Excited because we have worked so hard for so long and our bodies are tired and our minds are weary. We’re excited because it means that winter is coming and restful days are ahead. We’re sad because it means that the work we love will be over for the season. Sad because the fruits of our labors will be over and the fresh vegetables that have been so abundant and plenty all summer long will soon be in very short supply and limited to a few storage items that we manage to get stored away in the root cellar.
Even after the Summer Share deliveries end on October 14th, our crew continues to work in the fields right up until the week before Thanksgiving. We’ll be busy pulling storage crops out of the ground like carrots, radishes, potatoes, and beets. We’ll be planting garlic and mulching garlic and strawberries. We’ll be packing out Fall Shares and Thanksgiving Shares. We’ll be cleaning the plastic mulch out of the fields and preparing the grounds for winter.
Thankfully, the foods that Fall offers on a Midwestern CSA farm are unique and special. We see crops like Brussels Sprouts and Sweet Potatoes. We harvest rutabaga and celeriac root. We squeeze the last out of the pepper and tomato patch and we warm our homes with the smell of winter squash cooking in the oven. Leeks, broccoli and red cabbage oh my!
What a journey it has been! What a delicious ride it was to eat our way through an entire season with a Small Family Farm. How colorful and bountiful are the fruits of this earth? Are we not so blessed? Do we not have so much to be thankful for? Even for those of us who are versed in this experience, there is always something new to be learned each season. New recipes to try. New vegetables to fall in love with all over again. New friends to share this experience with.
It is my hope that you, whether this is your first our your tenth season with us (or with eating local vegetables), you feel both inspired and more capable when you cook. I wish for more families to eat more vegetables, but I also wish for more cooks. I wish for your children or your parents to be inspired by your choices and that you discover new confidence in yourself when you pull out your cutting board and knife. Meal planning is work, but it is honorable and important work. 
Todd, Adam and Joe from left to right with a truck fulla poatoes after a potato harvest.
I secretly hope that you’re going to miss these little boxes off goodis when they stop coming. I know I will! I will miss the smiling faces that show up to help on this farm and the rich community that happens here. I will miss the warm sun on my back and even the feeling I get after a hard days work in the fields handling this food. We can all take solice in knowing that the 2016 growing season is nearer than we think. Time will soon enough slip us right into early June and we can eat our way through another trip around the sun together next year.
Brussels Sprouts- Yep, this is what brussels Sprouts look like when they’re growing on their stalks! We left the kitchen work to you of snapping them off of the stalks and cookin’ them up to however fits your fancy. They will fit in your fridge a little better and potentially even keep better if you snapped them off of the stalks and stored them in a plastic bag until you use them.
Red Cabbage- Hard to miss this big guy at the bottom of your box. Red cabbages will keep quite well in your fridge for a couple months if you don’t get to eating this up right away.
Butternut Squash- Butternuts are probably the best selling squash in the market. These gusy are everyone’s favorite. Their texture is very thick and creamy and has a rich, orange color. Loaded with beta carotines. Makes wonderful baby food if you have babies in the house! 
Farmer Adam selects Butternut Squash for the boxes this week.
Rutabaga- These are the lone, foreign looking root in your box. Commonly mistaken for a large turnip with it’s purple shoulders. Rutabagas also keep great in a plastic bag in your fridge for months, but if you can’t wait to eat it, they’re wonderful peeled, boiled and mashed with butter. They are also great cubed and tossed in a soup, stew or crock pot with meat.
Sweet Potatoes- Yep, Sweet Potatoes! Two pounds per member. These guys are a long growing season too! Sweet potatoes are hard to grow in the midwest because of thier long growing season. Once they are harvested they need to be “cured” in an 80 degree envioronment with 90% humidity. We have a special little room on the farm that feels like a tropical rainforest curing our sweet potatoes. They will also continue to cure and sweeten a little more if left on your countertop. No need to put these guys in your fridge, they’ll sweeten up on your countertop.
Leek- Take a leek? Every part of the leek is edible, but the most tender and delicious parts are the whitest parts of the stalk. We use them all the way up to the tips where they start to turn dark green. Use leeks in your cooking like you would an onion. They’re in the onion family. You can also feature them in a potato leek soup.
Parsnips- Half pound per member. These are the white roots that look a little like carrots in the bags. Parsnips are also teriffic keepers.
Sweet Bell Peppers- Still no frost on the farm but with just two summer share deliveries left, we started picking them green to clean the plants up in case frost ever does decided to come. You’ll see a lot more green peppers in your box this week.
Kohlrabi- Either a white or a purple kohlrabi. They are so sweet and cruncy in the fall. Very nice looking and tasting kohlrabi! Don’t forget that the greens are edible!
Collards- Speaking of edible greens, one hefty bunch of collards.
Hungarian Hot Wax Pepper- One of these guys to add a little hop to your step.
Jalapeno Pepper X2- Two Jalapenos per box this week. They’re spicy, there’s no doubt about it.
Tomatoes- Just about one pound of tomatoes per member this week. Production is really waning fast. Since they’re not really ripening much on the vine these days, we will likely give green tomatoes next week.
Broccoli or Cauliflower– Either a beautiful broccoli or cauilflower for each box this week.
Mini Sweet Peppers- A couple mini sweet peppers in the bag with your tomatoes. They have been partially or mostly green, so don’t mistake them for a hot pepper.
Recipes
Pasta with Collard Greens and Onions
