Hello!
Welcome to Week 6!
It is Monday evening and Chris and I are going over the chores for the farm crew to do while we're off to Arthur, Illinois for a few days. Arthur is located 4 hours south in central Illinois, the heart of Illinois Amish Country! Other than our pick-up truck and a few others driving through you'll find mostly horse drawn buggies and plenty of bicycles on the vast flat open roads.
So, why are we going to Arthur? No, not vacation! We're visiting the only USDA poultry processing facility in the entire state of Illinois. We have been involved in many conversations about the need of a USDA processing facility in Northern Illinois but are still waiting to see it in the works. Four hours doesn't seem like a long time to travel but when you need to be at the facility by 6 am we need to start driving our chickens down by 1:30 am! We do have the chance to stay over night, while we wait for the chickens to freeze, and take advantage of touring Amish farm fields. In your next newsletter I'll post some pictures from our trip.
With this news, we are pleased to announce that our broilers will be for sale beginning on Wednesday July 14 at the on farm pick up and at both our farmer's markets in Chicago, 61st Street and Logan Square. We didn't raise our broilers last season so I know there are many of you, including us, who have been waiting a long time for these pasture raised chickens!
This week's bounty:
Broccoli
Yellow Summer Squash/ Green Zucchini
Cucumbers
Green Curly Kale
Swiss Chard
Garlic
Shiitaki Mushrooms*
This week's fruit share: from Mick Klug Farm
Harbinger Peaches
Sour Cherries
Gold Cut Apricots
The Shiitaki Mushrooms are from our friend farmer of River Valley Ranch. In 1976 Bill and his son Eric Rose founded River Valley Ranch and have been producing beautiful mushrooms and other specialty crops without the use of pesticides or any harmful chemicals. They are located in Burlington WI and have a store on the farm. It would be a great place to go for a visit and see the mushroom farm and shop at their store. For more info go to http://www.rivervalleykitchens.com/. Shiitaki mushrooms are great tossed with pasta, sauteed with onion, made into a soup, carmalized, so many choices. Since we just added this to our share we don't have it on our recipe page. Try these: www.allrecipes.com/Recipe/Shiitake-Angel-Hair-Pasta/Detail.aspx. Shiitake mushroom gravey for so many reasons: www.naturalmushrooms.com/gravy_recipe.php. Enjoy!
Sour cherries are definitely for baking. Here is your chance to show off your baking skills. If you don't have the time to use them up right away you could store your cherry pie filling with 3/4 cup sugar to 1 quart of sour pitted cherries. Pack in an airtight container with 1/2 inch of head space of use a freezer bag. These will last from 10 to 12 months in your freezer. However, if you're ready to bake try this Sour Cherry Pie with Almond Crumble, www.smittenkitchen.com/2010/07/sour-cherry-pie-with-almond-crumble/
Make it a date!
Our Second Annual Organic Farm Tour: August 7 at 1pm - 2:30pm. Rain date will be the following weekend, August 14. Please send me an email to let me know that you'll be coming. I will need a head count and car count. If the heat keeps up this summer you'll need to bring water, a sun hat, sun lotion, closed toe shoes (absolutely no sandals!), your camera, your children, sorry no pets, and all your questions. We are looking forward to seeing everyone on the farm!
We have been giving out two complimentary tickets for our CSA members to visit the famous Lipizzan Horse Show here at Tempel Farms. If you didn't get your tickets please let us know and we'll get them to you. You don't want to pass up this unique and sophisticated show. Please visit our website for more information on show days and times, http://www.tempelfarmsorganics.com/ .
Volunteer and future farmer in training, Erica, harvesting purple cone flowers for market.
Enjoy the bounty!
Your farmers,
Tania and Chris Cubberly
